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A Work in Progress At DuPont: The Creation of a Developmental Organization

Here is a systemic overview of how one DuPont chemical plant near Memphis, Tennessee undertook a complex organizational transformation. The plant was a successful and profitable organization, but top management realized that to remain competitive in a changing world, they had to undertake a radical internal transformation. Their ultimate goal was to become a Developmental Organization—an organization in which every employee is a source of creativity and in which all employees are self-organizing.

The article describes each step in the process: the formation of Core Teams that take on some of the roles traditionally played by management but also serve as a vehicle for building important individual capabilities such as self-reflection, evolutionary systems thinking, personal development, and performance improvement. The emphasis here is on individual as well as organizational development, on personal growth and change as fundamental to the corporate effort on every level, leading to a new consciousness that gives all workers a creative responsible vision of themselves within the organizational system. 13 pgs