What is one of Kotter's principles of a Dual Operating System?

Kotter’s Dual Operating System supplements the hierarchical structure with a constantly-evolving network that follows five guiding principles. The first principle is that change is driven by “many change agents, coming from everywhere in the organisation, not just the usual few appointees.” Widespread voluntary participation gives the network the diversity, energy and speed needed to sense and respond to opportunities faster than a traditional hierarchy acting alone. This principle is therefore one of Kotter’s core rules for a Dual Operating System.

A. Change managed only by a central PMO contradicts Kotter’s call for broad, decentralised participation.

B. A “have-to” mindset is the opposite of Kotter’s “get-to/want-to” principle that fuels discretionary effort.

C. Creating two independent companies misrepresents the model; Kotter stresses “two systems, one organisation.”

1. Kotter, J. P. “Accelerate!” Harvard Business Review, Nov 2012, pp. 48-49 – lists “many change agents from everywhere” as Principle 1.

2. Kotter, J. P. Accelerate (XLR8). Harvard Business Review Press, 2014, Chapter 2, pp. 22-24 – five principles, first is “many volunteers drive change.”

3. DevOps Institute. DevOps Leader (DOL) v2.4 Courseware, Module 7 “Leading Change”, slide 14 – enumerates the same five principles.

4. MIT Sloan School of Management, 15.311 Organisational Processes, Lecture on “Networks & Change,” course notes p. 6 – cites Kotter’s five principles including “many change agents.”

5. Stanford University, MS&E 280: “Organizational Dynamics,” Spring 2019 reader, Kotter excerpt pp. 2-3 – reiterates principle of widespread volunteers in the Dual Operating System.