Session 4:

This session focused on what causes change to occur and the differences between change in management and leadership. Environment, competition, scientific discovery, globalisation are few drivers of change. We also learnt today the difference between evolutionary(build-up slowly) and disruptive/revolutionary(complete turnover) change. I love the notion that if you want to lead somebody, you must have followers. This is very true as without someone who follows you, you cannot be a leader as you have nobody to lead! I like the idea of change being made due to continuous monitoring because i do not believe that reactive change is very useful in this modern world. We need a interactive/proactive change because it helps us to set aside from others as we prevent a problem from arising before it manifests!

One interesting part of the lecture was the New technology adoption chart: i myself am a early majority pragmatists as i normally do not take the risk to adapt a new technology before it has been thoroughly used and tested. But sometimes i wonder how the early prototype must be like because it is fascinates me to find out how certain innovations have occurred. I like the thought process that people go through when they use an item and how others build on these people's thoughts to make it reality!

I also liked the quote by W. Edwards Deming: "It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory." Some may believe that Deming is going overboard by saying that change is mandatory for survival but i beg to differ. I love the idea of change. I am one of those who cannot imagine doing the same thing over and over again! i like to change the way i do some stuff every now and then. And thus, i am in full support of this quote! for me life is boring when there is no change! Also, in this modern world where information changes every second, it is necessary for us to be adaptable to change as if we lag behind we may never be able to catch up!

A key takeaway from this lecture was about how for a company to survive/do well, there is a need to change the management along with a change in leadership. Many companies believe that employing younger generation may help to improve its standing because they know what the coming generation may want but if the younger generation have to follow the same management as the previous one, they can become restricted and thus company may not benefit from them. Hence, i believe that there is a need to change the way of managing the company too!

Although we discussed the differences in evolutionary and revolutionary change, i believe that more can be discussed on this issue as to whether change that has been occurring slowly in the past (evolutionary) may lead up to a change that becomes a revolutionary when it reaches a stage where it may completely overturn the way things are done after this change.

My personal rating for this session would be 8.5/10