Spiral dynamics, system cycles and new organizational models: Pearlescent enterprises

Abstract

According to C. Graves, D. Beck, and C. Cowan’s Spiral Dynamics theory, the development of a socio-economic system, including an individual, organization, society, occurs discretely by moving from one level to another under the influence of change in the dominant value system. The authors of the Spiral Dynamics theory point to 8 levels, marked with a uniform color — from beige to turquoise. In this article, based on the analysis of trends in enterprises’ organizational models, the list of known organizational forms is supplemented by a new model — “pearlescent organization”. This form of an organization aims to strengthen employees’ emotional attachment due to an increase in the enterprise’s internal diversity, adaptability, and flexibility of the structure. The model of synthesis of the theory of linear change of value systems and cyclical change of four phases of the enterprise’s state is also developed in the article. Each of these stages is characterized by the dominance of the object, project, process, or environmental subsystems of the enterprise. The conditions for the transition from one stage of enterprise development to another, particularly the transformation of the turquoise stage into the pearlescent one, are shown based on this model.