{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,16]],"date-time":"2026-05-16T00:59:06Z","timestamp":1778893146532,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2013,10,23]],"date-time":"2013-10-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1382486400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Systems"],"abstract":"<jats:p>We face a global crisis of un-sustainability\u2014we need to change trajectory, but have so far displayed a collective inability to do so. This article suggests that one reason for this is our entrenched approach to change, which has inappropriately applied mechanistic Newtonian assumptions to \u201cliving\u201d systems. Applying what has been learned about the behaviour of complex adaptive systems, we develop a pragmatic model for students of sustainability, who want to facilitate profound organizational and community change towards sustainability on the ground. Our model, \u201cone way forward\u201d, does not purport to be the only way but one possibility, grounded in a different understanding of the nature and dynamic of change as seen through the lens of complexity. In this way, it challenges more conventional change management practices. One way forward is a model facilitating evolutionary change in a social ecology\u2014one possible expression of a \u201cculture of community self-design\u201d as expressed by Banathy. Its theoretical foundations and its practical application (it is designed for practice) both have their source in a systemic view and in the principles that reflect the paradigm of complexity. Four central components  of this new model\u2014envisioning, core messages (values), indicators of progress, and experimentation\u2014are explored in more detail.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/systems1040066","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,10,23]],"date-time":"2013-10-23T13:34:50Z","timestamp":1382535290000},"page":"66-84","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":22,"title":["One Way Forward to Beat the Newtonian Habit with a Complexity Perspective on Organisational Change"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"1","author":[{"given":"Sam","family":"Wells","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The University of Adelaide Business School, 10 Pulteney Street, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Josie","family":"McLean","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The University of Adelaide Business School, 10 Pulteney Street, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,10,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1177\/1086026612474958","article-title":"Toward a theory of sustainability management: Uncovering and integrating the nearly obvious","volume":"26","author":"Starik","year":"2013","journal-title":"Organ. 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