Producing Change

The lowest three levels of this 7-level hierarchy are what we immediately think of as change because they directly produce actual change.

L1: Variation

L2: Alteration

L3: Improvement

Variation:  Level-1 Change

Variation is proposed as the formal name for the Level 1 category in Change-PH3. It appears to be:

1. the smallest possible difference that can reasonably exist.
2. the means by which higher level entities get realized.

There does not appear to be a suitable alternate name.
Synonyms include: adjustment, fluctuation, deviation, modulation, shift, transition, modification. However, each of these terms has implications that are not helpful for the present use.

Function: Variation is deliberately making a noticeable difference that is a potential step towards a new state, or presages the emergence of a new state.

Essence: Variation is the means by which any change is possible. All higher level changes must ultimately lead to variations in the present state of the entity.

Pressure:  If the analysis in the Architecture Room is correct, variation is primarily influenced by the performance pressure emerging from RL1-Action.

Result: From within, there is a noticeable difference that lacks significant value for the entity as a whole. From the outside, a variation appears as a fluctuation within a given state, that is reversible.

Use: Variation is activated when there is a need to test feasibility or acceptability of a change without full commitment to a permanent alteration.

Preoccupation: To sustain continuity and value of the entity despite fears of destabilization. Provision of the right degree of variation is critical: too much energy may force a definitive alteration (L2), too little energy may have no impact at all.

Hope: Variation is tried if there is a belief in sufficient flexibility within the entity, and the hope is that no negative reactions occur.

Fear:  There is a concern that what should be a small change gets out of hand and either snowballs or triggers undesirable and possibly irreversible results.

Failure: The inability to enable a variation suggests a rigidity that will stifle all change efforts at any higher level.

Responses:   Positive is acceptance. Negative is resistance or refusal.

Alteration:  Level-2 Change

Alteration is proposed as the formal name for the Level 2 category in Change PH3. It appears to be:

1. the smallest possible difference that counts.
2. what is conventionally imagined when change is mentioned.

There does not appear to be a suitable alternate name.
Synonyms include:modification, shift, formation, translation, transmutation, adjustment. However, each of these terms has implications that are not helpful for the present use.

Function. Alteration brings an unambiguously different and desired state into being without affecting the identity of the entity.

Essence: Alteration is a definite or pre-defined outcome for the change process.

Pressure:  If the analysis in the Architecture Room is correct, alteration is primarily influenced by the certainty pressure emerging from RL2-Inquiry.

Result: A noticeable significant difference that is recognized as such by the change agent and others involved or affected.

Use: Alteration is activated when there is an obvious remedy for an unsatisfactory state.

Preoccupation: Ensuring that people and systems generate and sustain the new state as defined and desired.

Hope: The alteration sticks and is not just a flash in the pan.

Fear: There will be errors of omission or commission.

Failure: If alterations cannot be introduced when necessary the entity will stagnate and may slowly deteriorate.

Responses: Positive is adoption. Negative is rejection.

Improvement:  Level-3 Change

Improvement is proposed as the formal name for the Level 3 category in Change PH3. It appears to be:

1. the smallest possible difference that is assigned value.
2. what is often assumed when change is mentioned.

There does not appear to be a suitable alternate name.
Synonyms include:advance, development, progress, enhancement, increase, upgrade, correction. However, each of these terms has implications that are not helpful for the present use.

Function. Improvement determines a way that the entity's current state could be better.

Essence: Improvement is the rationale for any change process.

Pressure:  If the analysis in the Architecture Room is correct, improvement is primarily influenced by the acceptability pressure emerging from RL3-Change.

See also improvement-L3 as the kernel of this hierarchy,
and its likely impact on all PH•L3 elements.

Result: A definite difference that has value for the entity.

Use: Improvement is activated whenever there is inefficiency, ineffectiveness, poor quality or causation of harm.

Preoccupation: Creation of facilitating mechanisms like incentives and constructive mindsets.

Hope: The improvement does deliver betterment all things considered.

Fear: There will be unintended consequences, something that is all too likely if the entity is a complex poorly understood system.

Failure: If improvements cannot be introduced when necessary, the entity will suffer and deteriorate.

Responses: Positive is enthusiastic welcome. Negative is reluctance.

Objections

"But wait!" you may say. "Aren't these three levels or elements of change all the same?"...

But is this functional differentiation important? ...

The discrimination is taxonomically important, because we expect to discover many other components to changing systems (PsH3) that are constituted by one or more of these three change entities. In addition, these different levels may well provide insights into corresponding perception methods or model paradigms (PH'3).

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To continue the formulations: of course improvement is not enough when the entity is considered in a temporal context, we need to ensure changes will persist...

• Continue to levels that support change.

Originally posted: 30-May-2024.