Academy of Management EXECUTIVE

technique and examples of its application

merely to categorize and count

are described clearly in

the various beliefs of organization

this book. If the method works as

members. Porras suggests that

Diagnose and

effectively as Professor Porras

change agents must also facilitate

Manage

claims (and I tend to believe

a process by which people articulate

Organizational

him), it is likely because he has

their assumptions about how

paid careful attention to the problem

various problems or issues are related

of how to identify and visually

to each other. This is because

By Jerry L Porras.

represent assumptions about

concerted, focused action

Cambridge, MA:

cause and effect made by groups

depends on some underlying

participating in diagnosis and

agreement about the nature of

change efforts.

problems and their causes.

163 pages. $12.95.

In most respects, Stream

Facilitating the process of

Reviewed by William M.

Analysis advocates typical action

making organization members'

research ideas, e.g., soliciting information

implicit causal hypotheses salient

from organization

involves two steps. First, people

Associates, Inc.

members affected by problems or

must be given some flexible, general

_______________________

change, and forming a team of influential

heuristic for classifying beliefs

Stream Analysis is a method

managers to analyze the

(i.e., beliefs about structure,

for helping organization members

information and suggest remedial

social relations, technological

diagnose and solve problems. The

action. But it is not enough

etc.). Porras offers four categories

Stream Analysis: A
Powerful Way to

Change.

Addison-Wesley, 1987.

Bernstein, Ph.D., Burke

Academy of Management EXECUTIVE

(he calls them "streams") that are

problem correction.

to be intellectually stimulating,

similar to those suggested by

Serious OD practitioners

but the issues raised by OD work

Weisbord, Nadler and other OD

and managers contemplating

are so important and vital to us

writers.

change efforts will benefit from

today. Why are most OD books so

Once beliefs about problems

reading this book. The success of

intellectually barren?

and issues are categorized by the

change interventions often depends

I think it is because the

change management group, the

on people's ability to reach

"theoretical" sections of OD

assumptions about how they are

some concensus about complex

books are usually devoted to justifying

related need to be clarified. Porras

problems. I can't think of a better

OD methods with explanations

suggests a way to graphically

practical manual on the technology

that sound scientific and sophisticated.

depict both the beliefs and the

of assisting groups in problem

Instead of being

presumed causal connections between

solving and consensus building

experiments in thinking that raise

them. He also gives tips

than Stream Analysis.

questions and consider various alternative

about how to find the central

My greatest disappointment

solutions, OD theory

themes or "stories" that may be

with OD writing in general and

chapters "tell what is true" as if

embedded in larger, complex

this book in particular is that the

readers were students in an introductory

graphs. As a result of this process,

connections made between methods

psychology class.

organization members are likely

and underlying theoretical

I found Porras' use of social

to develop a shared view of

concepts tend to be vague or

learning theory as a rationale for

problems and their causes and a

uninteresting, or both. Maybe it is

his method to be anachronistic. In

shared commitment to plans for

unfair to expect a "how to" book

part, the social learning reference

Academy of Management EXECUTIVE

seemed geared toward legitimizing

irrelevant here, but by themselves

idea? What if organizations were

various concepts that a behaviorist

they neither stimulate thought

actually "closed systems"? Would

would consider "mentalistic":

nor add insight. The use of

social learning processes be different?

people think about choices;

Stream Analysis certainly raises

What if they are "open systems"

thoughts affect behavior; an individual's

as many questions about perceiving

but people believed they

thinking is affected by

causality as about social learning.

were ''closed systems"? Would

others in the environment; and so

Yet, attribution theory and

Stream Analysis still work? The

on. But who today doubts these

research, the area of social psychology

verbiage about organizational

things? The consumers of OD

interventions?

most concerned with the

"systems" needs to be reduced

processes by which people make

and refined, and the relationships

causal inferences, is not mentioned

between "systems" ideas and

once in the book.

learning clarified so that these

Porras also follows the standard

types of questions can be addressed

OD practice of telling readers

sensibly.

that organizations are complex,

Maybe the basic problem

"open systems" similar to

with OD "theorizing" is that it assumes

biological organisms. The relationships

that the system OD operates

between the "systems"

on is the organizational system

and the social learning ideas are

itself. But OD affects the

never satisfactorily drawn out.

organization only indirectly. OD

What is the centrally important

interventions such as Stream

I doubt it. Raising

the issues is like pushing against a
door that has been opened since
the decline of strict behaviorist
thinking. These issues have more
to do with the history of psychology,
OD, and OD writers than the
questions of OD clients or the real
problems encountered in the
practice of OD itself.
Social learning ide~as are not

Academy of Management EXECUTIVE

Analysis affect people's perceptions

structure, technology, social

wrong. Beliefs do tend to track

of the organizational system.

relations).

some underlying condition in the

They are efforts to influence the

The distinction between the

external world and building a category

"system of beliefs" (comprised, in

organizational system and the

organizational

scheme that has some face

part, of the set of assumptions

about what causes what) existing
in the heads of organization members.
Belief systems are heuristics
used more or less explicitly by
organization

belief system seems

absolutely basic. And it is of central
importance for understanding
a method such as Stream Analysis.
But is is never spelled out explicitly

members to make

by Porras. Instead he used

sense of organizational events.

the "system" idea to support the

The assumption behind OD work,

use of different categories for classifying

of course, is that changing the belief

peoples' beliefs about the

system of most organization

organization. That is, one part of

members (e.g., making it more explicit,

an organization is technological,

more normative, more connected

one is social, and so on. Hence,

to reality, etc.) may cause

the category scheme (the four

changes in individuals' behavior

"streams) maps onto something

and, in turn, changes in the organizational

real-the organizational system.

system itself (e.g., its

This is neither irrelevant nor

validity makes sense. But again, a

concept is used here primarily to
tell us something about a method.
Theory is used only as a rationale.
OD writing should get us to ask
new questions about basic, enduring
problems, not merely tell us
the answers to questions raised by
methods.