Changing Views On Change

Changing Views on Change

Changing the Way We Manage Change

To cope with the chaotic new business environment, organizations must find ways to manage the problems of change—but also the process of change itself. Yesterday's solutions are obsolete. Innovative solutions are rare, yet even the best require not only the efforts of individuals but other agents as well. Sims sees change agents throughout any organization and at all levels—line and staff people, human resource specialists, and those who have hitherto had little reason to tackle such tasks and have not been accountable for their outcomes. Unique models are presented for change interventions, along with techniques and tools that executives need to accomplish them. The result is a book that experienced executives will understand and utilize, but also one that will bring novices up to speed, providing new ways to use their own instincts and capabilities for innovation. Sims and his contributors challenge the traditional prescription for creating change, providing a compelling critique of accepted approaches to change management, highlighting the strengths of these approaches and emphasizing what can be extracted to foster change. Each author provides insights into the competencies, skills, and values required for the rapid and successful creation of lasting change. In doing so, they also reemphasize that there is no universal approach to change management, and that the need for innovation, flexibility, and adaptability remains dominant.

Sex Changes

The last half-century has seen enormous changes in society’s attitude toward sexuality. In the 1950s, homosexuals in the United States were routinely arrested; today, homosexual activity between consenting adults is legal in every state, with same-sex marriage legal in Massachusetts and Connecticut. In the 1950s, ambitious women were often seen as psychopathological and were told by psychoanalysts that they had penis envy that needed treatment; today, a woman has campaigned for President of the United States. Mark Blechner has lived and worked through these startling changes in society, and Sex Changes collects papers he has written over the last 45 years on sex, gender, and sexuality. Interspersed with these papers are reflections on the changes that have occurred during that time period, both within the scope of society at large as well as in his personal experiences inside and outside of the therapeutic setting. He shows how changes in society, changes in his life, and changes in his writing on sexuality - as well as changes within psychoanalysis itself - have affected one another. One hundred years ago, psychoanalysis was at the cutting edge of new ideas about sex and gender, but in the latter half of the 20th Century, psychoanalysts were often seen as reactionary upholders of society’s prejudices. Sex Changes seeks to restore the place of psychoanalysis as the "once and future queer science," and aims for a radical shift in psychoanalytic thinking about sexuality, gender, normalcy, prejudice, and the relationship of therapeutic aims and values.