Sioux Thompson's Developmental Stages

Sioux Thompson's talk about organizational development was definitely thought provoking. Overall, I found her discussion of development progression of individuals to be of the greatest interest to me. According to Sioux, there are four development levels (D1-D4). The first of these, the lowest level, refers two those who are learning a skill for the very first time(s). These individuals have a very low level of competence as they are new to the skill, yet they are very much committed to learning the skill. Individuals at the second level of development have attempted the new skill, experienced numerous failures, and still haven't learned very much. These individuals are no longer committed to succeeding given their failures. At the next level of development, individuals have learned from their failures. These individuals have not yet mastered the skill, but they have had some success. At this point, they are learning from their failures, progressively succeeding more often, while failing occasionally. Individuals at tis level are becoming increasingly committed as they see that they are capable of success. At this point, individuals can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The fourth and final level of development represents the point at which the individual has basically mastered the skill. Individuals no longer fail, are very comfortable with the skill set, and have a high level of commitment to using the new skill given their confidence.

After learning about the levels of development, we took this model to the next level by assessing what strengths and needs individuals at each level would possess. In looking back at this part of the assignment, and putting it in perspective with my other MBA coursework, I think this model is strongly correlated to Maslow's hierarchy of individual needs. According to Maslow, individuals have five levels of needs, those being (from lowest to highest): physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. Individuals must first satisfy lower levels of needs in order to attain the next level in the hierarchy.

In Sioux's example of learning use a manual transmission, I noticed that Maslow's hierarchy closely fits with each development level. At the first developmental level, Sioux had both physiological and safety needs. As she obviously needed food/water/shelter before even considering driving a car, and once in the car she needed to feel secure in order to take the first few steps in learning the skill. Perhaps this safety came from the seatbelts, or the fact that she was learning in a secluded parking lot. She also needed to feel safety at the second level of development as she was becoming frustrated and losing interest. If she didn't feel safe at this point, she would surely quit. At this point, she also needed to have a sense of love/belonging from her friend who was teaching her. This kept her working to learn despite her failures. In the third level of development, she was at the point where she needed esteem. This is because she could now see that she was beginning to succeed, and this brought satisfaction and increased commitment. Finally, once mastering the manual transmission at the fourth level of development, Sioux had reached the need for self-actualization. She was now at the point that she would continue using and pursuing this skill for some higher purpose. Perhaps she would one day teach someone else this skill.