RE: "Critical mass is the square root of a population." WED

["Paul Hollingworth" <PH@4gm.co.uk>]

Dick,
 
From my own studies, Senge, Beer, Owen, Jacobs and I think possibly Beckhard
and Capra also, have all talked about the need for developing critical mass
in organisational transformation. As a concept (overcoming inertia) it is
not difficult to grasp. To my knowledge none of them have ever attempted to
propose a formula for determining what this mass might be. How would one
develop data to support it? By what method might someone be determined to be
a member (or not) of the critical mass set?
 
To quote Robert Jacobs in his book 'Real Time Strategic Change': "Think of
critical mass as being enough of the right people in your organisation to
'turn the tide' in the way you do business currently. The number and type of
people may vary widely by organization and circumstance.....To emphasize the
tremendous variation in defining 'critical mass', we have achieved
significant results working with groups comprising less than 1% of a very
large system and with others that represented 100% of smaller
organisations".
 
As for other sources, I have a feeling that Heero Hacqubord may have written
a paper on this subject in the early 90's, possibly for OQPF? Some other
denizen may have a better lead on this.
 
Everett Rogers' book 'Diffusion of Innovations' might make helpful reading
for you.
 
Your optimistic example also reminded me of something I read many many years
ago about Transcendental Meditation where they tried to determine what
proportion of regular meditators in a community would be needed to have a
positive impact on that community as a whole. This page might be worth
investigating:  <http://www.fek.su.se/Home/gus/PAPERS/Learnpap.htm>
http://www.fek.su.se/Home/gus/PAPERS/Learnpap.htm
Quote: Evidence from more than thirty-five studies suggests that the
practice of Transcendental Meditation by as little as one percent of the
population will have an influence on society as a whole. The corresponding
"critical mass" or "ordering nucleus" for the advanced TM-Sidhi program is
as small as the square root of one percent (to illustrate: This gives a
number of only 7,000 for the whole world).
 
Good luck with it. Don't forget to share your findings with the DEN!
 
Paul Hollingworth