Abstract:

Leslie K. Jones, a North Carolina teacher, reviews Shapiro’s book about change theory and how to implement change in business organizations. Shapiro uses charts and diagrams to explicate her theory that Jones found helpful.

Citation: Shapiro, A. (2004). Creating contagious commitment: Applying the tipping point to organizational change. Raleigh, NC: Strategy Perspective

Full Text:

By Andrea Shapiro
2004, (199 pp./paperback)
Strategy Perspective
ISBN: 0-9741028-0-6
$17.95

Reviewed by Leslie K. Jones
Apex Middle School
Wake County Public School District (NC)

Change is something that all people and organizations deal with in
one form or another daily. Quite often change initiatives
fail to realize their potential in an organization.

Some change theorists are looking to the sciences these days to
clarify change: Margaret Wheatley incorporates organizational
change and physics theory; and Peter Senge and others incorporate
the biological sciences, expanding on human purpose in all
types of organizations. Other individual's have also written
about the spread of social epidemics, as Malcolm Gladwell
did in his book The Tipping Point (2002).

Dr Andrea Shapiro utilizes several early theories of change in
creating her simulation and workshop model. Kurt Lewin, she
notes, saw change as a process. Marvin Weisbord provides a
way to understand an organization; William Bridges incorporates
people and transition in a change situation; and Darly Conner
offers ideas about participatory management and the roles
they play in the change initiative.

Shapiro developed a computer simulation and workshop that utilizes
basic information from health studies in the spread of disease
in 1997. She is using the simulation and workshop to assist
business organizations in their change efforts. This book
provides examples from business organizations that have
successfully used the simulation and workshop to generate
change the organization desired.

I have taken a Leadership for Change course at a local university
where my fellow doctoral students and I studied and analyzed
different change theories and the theorist behind the theory.
Dr. Shapiro's was not one we investigated, which is one of
the reasons I was interested in reading her book. After spending
15 years in K-12 education and taking graduate courses at
local universities, I know that change is a process that can
have an astounding effect on individuals. Change in education
abounds.

I found her ability to clarify complex concepts stimulating.
She clearly spent time analyzing and applying the simulation
and workshop she created based on social epidemics to different
business organizations. Dr Shapiro explains how a level of
success is appropriate in organizations where the simulation
provided enhancement and expansion of the training and thinking
processes of change agents in the organization.

She has provided detailed diagrams and charts to explain how her
theory of change works and clarifying descriptions for the
diagrams. Having had a background in change theory helped
me to understand the book's content. Shapiro does not discuss
her simulation in detail, but refers to the simulation and
its use in relationship to the assistance she provides to
business organizations.

Creating Contagious Commitment offers an in-depth and clear presentation
suitable for business organizations. Without an understanding
of business systems, however, the book may be a challenge.
Even so, Shapiro's ideas suggest a new venue of research and
exploration that could prove beneficial in many educational
settings.

Should a teacher leader read this book? I believe it would help
to expand the thinking and understanding of how different
types of individuals respond to a change initiative and
help to identify and utilize appropriate people in the work
place. This book stimulates thought and curiosity on applications
in educational situations. Administrators and teacher leaders
at all educational levels would benefit from training and
application in change theory, especially as it relates to
the human component and the interaction between the organization,
administration, staff, and our client population. Developing
a period of trial and error in a safe place (suggested by
Shapiro through the use of the computer simulation) provides
leadership with some space to try out their ideas before
implementation.

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