Archetypes of system transition and transformation: Six lessons for stewarding change

The paradigm shift: Business associations shaping the discourse on system change

“…The actions of business associations, foundations, and businesses show that management scholarship around a paradigm shift in business practice lags behind what businesses are calling for and doing. There is a growing literature on system transformation in fields outside management (Abson et al, 2017;Bentz et al, 2022;Chapin et al, 2011;Dorninger, 2020;Fazey & Leicester, 2022;Geels, 2011). Fields where this conversation is active include geography, ecological, wellbeing, and other heterodox economics, Indigenous scholarship, systems change and transformation literature, ecology, and other biophysical scientific fields that recognize the need for transformative change, such as marine science, sustainability, and agroecology (Dasgupta, 2021;IPBES, 2019;IPCC, 2022).…”

A Theoretical Review of Socio-Economic Dynamics and Structural Transformation of Society: Traits and Constraints in Validating Response Processes Due to Unpredictable Factors

“…Smooth transitions are usually rare, especially in social and environmental domains, because there are usually strong social forces of resistance to change. According to Fazey and Leicester (2022), when smooth transitions do occur, they tend to be in commerce or technology, in which there is much wider acceptance that industries can be disrupted and replaced through the normal operations of the market. Smoother transitions usually occur when there is appropriate infrastructure to support each stage of system transition, enabling norms to be challenged, creative destruction, innovation, and renewal.…”

“…A natural and sharp failure of the dominant system occurs when trying to preserve it through the injection of assets into the maintenance of the lives of various institutions characteristic of the system without innovative development. Authors have provided a vivid example of the collapse of the socialist system after long-term artificial maintenance of its life (Fazey and Leicester 2022). Apparently, the changes of the late 1980s turned out to be belated and did not lead to the desired result of preserving the dominant social principles: the system somehow collapsed, but at the same time, innovation activity was weak, and the strategy for further development was based on the experience of developed countries.…”