We just learned that Jean Neumann’s articles and essays have been compiled in the book Apprendere per Cambiare, published on February 2017.
Congratulations, Jean, for this great work that will help guide Italian leaders, managers and change agents!
Here is an excerpt from the article written by Francesca Falcone and Antonio Sama about Jean’s book:
This is the first book that collects a series of contributions Jean Neumann has made with her work over the years. This work conceptualises the understanding of the complexity of the organisational change as an interdisciplinary scholarly practice with professional implications for change agents. The book is also the result of applying the Tavistock Institute’s traditions to the Italian Third Sector.
In February 2017 the first Italian edition of a selection of Jean Neumann’s articles was released by Maggioli Editori[1]. The book Apprendere per Cambiare. La ricerca azione per il cambiamento e la consulenza organizzativa[2] is a translation of Jean’s work on two levels. The first, and most obvious, is the translation from English into Italian. The second is less evident and more of a cultural and professional project: the translation of ideas.
The occasion for an initial translation of three of Jean’s articles (Chapters 1, 2 and 5 in this volume) was the idea of translating concepts, theoretical frameworks and professional practice around organisational change for Italian Third Sector organisations. Based on a formal collaboration between the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR) and C.N.C.A.[3] Jean and Antonio Sama delivered two residential education events in 2009 in Rome and 2013 in Lamezia Terme. The chapters were then translated for educational purpose and circulated only among participants.
The Italian volume contains articles and book chapters that cover almost twenty years of Jean’s publications from “difficult beginnings” in 1994 to the “Lewinian rules” in 2013. Jean’s work continues the long tradition of social sciences applied to understanding and addressing societal and organisational issues. The choice of material to be translated and published follows three strategic lines that can be identified, among others, in Jean’s work. The first is the integration of disciplines (mainly system psychodynamics and organisational sciences) relevant to understanding and supporting the complexity of organisational change projects. The second, logically following on from this focusses on the skills, competencies and abilities any change agent (internal or external) uses when it comes to work with their client systems. The third looks at how change agents (for example organisational consultants) can acquire and develop such skills and competencies as part of, or the core of their professional development.
To read the complete article, please visit the Tavistock Institute website.
