Vector of Organizational Change: Interactions

A vector is both a force or influence and a course or direction. There are four of what Dick Buchanan calls "Vectors of Organizational Change;" four "things" that can be used separately or together to affect organizations. The third of these are interactions.

Within organizations, people need to work together to get things done. But people have trouble working together; the Social needs to be created. Designers can create special products to do this, products that support and facilitate human interactions. By changing the way that people relate to each other, how people relate to the organization, and how the organization relates to people and other organizations, designers can change the organization.

Of course, you need something to do this--a product--but the product itself often isn't enough; it needs the art of design to bring it to life. And not just the art, but the art put to a particular purpose: to guide collective (inter)action. This requires focusing on both the tasks at hand and the goals of the organization and individuals. It is a summation and an integration of these things.

Originally posted on Sunday, April 3, 2005