Source of Our Change Models

How did we arrive at our core models?
The best answer is probably “very painfully” both in terms of hard work, lots of research, and many “hard knocks.” There are, however, two general sources: academic disciplines and practical experience.

Our founder’s first experiences with organizational change occurred in the 1950’s when he worked with weapon systems / technology changes in the air force. Multi-billion dollar rollouts of new systems (or new airplanes) always had two pieces: (1) building the new airplane, and (2) implementing changes in an existing air force organization in preparation for flying that new airplane on a mission. The disciplines available at that time were what we now know as operations management, systems engineering, program management, and project management. Those disciplines formed the underlying foundation of Holland & Davis thinking about change.

Our founder’s love for big change received an interdisciplinary boost when he completed his doctoral work in management, statistics, and operations research. His academic career had him studying ... and then teaching ... organizational behavior, organization theory, and organization development (OD) at the doctoral level in a major university.  Applying those disciplines with their “people models” complemented the more technical approaches of foundation disciplines.

As our founder’s bag of tricks continued to grow, so did the number of players in Holland & Davis, bringing with them an eclectic set of degrees and disciples … from many different universities.  Engineering degrees and business administration degrees, human resources management degrees, psychology degrees, and even computer science degrees were added to the mix. (By the way, we developed a keen way of separating the good universities from the not so good universities … by using their ratings in football: With University of Texas and Oklahoma at the top of our rating list followed distantly by those on the lower rung of the ladder like Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania).

Take that mix of disciplinary backgrounds, and stir in hundreds of complex organizational change projects over 35+ years with tough clients in difficult business circumstance, and sooner or later you figure out what works (interdisciplinary models, practical approaches that are grounded in proven academic disciplines).