Inter-Active Organisation

The Inter-active organization is Vision based, and functions as a whole. Just as Vision has the capacity to image the totality in organic unity, the Inter-active organization perceives itself in its connectedness as opposed to its several parts. Whereas the Pro-active organization approached itself in an analytical, reductionist fashion, seeking to identify problem areas which may then be isolated, fixed or replaced, the Inter-active Organization approaches itself as a totality in which parts may be arbitrarily identified as separable, discrete entities, but ultimately make no sense or have separate existence apart from the whole. The working model of the Pro-active organization is mechanistic with parts that may be replaced without changing the whole. The working model of the Inter-active organization is biological, in which parts are integral to the whole and no part may be replaced or altered without changing the whole in some essential way.

The relationship of Vision to what lies beyond it also represents an enormous potential for the InterActive Organization. Just as Vision ranged broadly over the world at large seeking forms and colors with which to enrich its image of that primal idea which emerged from the depths, so the Inter-active organization melds with its environment, seeking different and more powerful ways to express itself. While the pro-active organization was concerned with boundaries which become limits (“in here” and “out there”), the Inter-active organization is concerned with boundaries which become opportunities to engage the world in new and different ways. The distinction between “in here” and “out there” is still present, but no longer rigid; indeed, the Inter-active organization is concerned to reduce the rigidity and increase the flow. The ease with which the Inter-active organization engages the world at large comes in part from the Vision which provides a sense of centeredness and grounding which literally overrides the vicissitudes of day-to-day happenings, for powerful visions are by nature inclusive, and see each new happening as an opportunity to expand and enrich that Vision. The ease of the world-organization relationship also comes from the manner of self-perception held by the Inter-Active organization. In so far as the organization perceives itself as a whole-existing-in-a-world, as opposed to a collection of isolated parts-separated-from-the-world, relationship with the world constitutes no threat. Indeed, the only threat exists in the possibility of separation from the world, at which point, the organization would cease to exist in any meaningful way. The Pro-active organization, however, operating under the perception that it and its parts are separable entities, may come to the belief that existence apart from the world is a possibility.

Although Inter-active organizations may appear primarily in their wholeness, and perceive themselves as such, Reactivity, Responsiveness and Pro-activity all have their place under the appropriate conditions. Indeed, at any given point in time and circumstance, the organization may appear in any one of these modes, but it is not limited by them. In some sense, the organization seems to choose the mode appropriate to the circumstance. Thus, crisis is reacted to, customers are responded to, and the present and future are dealt with in an analytical, pro-active fashion. Overall, the organization maintains its sense of wholeness and intra/interrelationship with itself and with the world at large.

Thus, in practical day to day affairs, the Inter-active organization may appear like all others, but it possesses reserves that the others have not actualized and do not have available. Of course, to turn this new form of the Vision into reality, all the “old modes” of organizational being will still be necessary. Pro-activity to analyze and plan, Responsiveness to meet the customers’ needs, and Reactivity to handle the “glitches.” But for all the change in form and function, the Inter-Active Organization recognizes itself as itself, still true to its Vision. Just doing it a different way.

Inter-Active organizations possess superb flexibility, coupled with a profound sense of self, and openness to the world. Given these elements, the organization is well equipped to deal with rapid change, as the surrounding circumstances require new forms in which the Vision may be expressed. For all of their adaptability, however Inter-Active Organizations are still form-driven and form-based. Everything that they do eventually comes back to some form or structure to give it substance, reality, (“being there”), which is reasonable if only because the world at this point tends to define reality in terms of structure and form. However, it is at least thinkable that a day may come when change would be so rapid and complex that form, as such, no longer has much meaning, and therefore organizations must operate beyond form and structure.

Now for the big question. How and where do we find organizations that can combine these traits, not just occasionally, but every day of the week? – the Inspired Organization.

Harrison Owen, 1987