Closed, Contained and Open-Ended Change

Senior proposes three different kinds of change situations, namely closed, contained, and open-ended change:

Closed change: Sequences of past events and actions that can clearly be recounted by members of the organisation. Everybody is able to say what happened, why it happened and what the consequences are. Everybody is also able to agree how such a sequence of events and actions will continue to affect the course of the business. This is called a closed change situation that normally applies to the continuing operation of the business in predictable circumstances.

Contained change: Other sequences of events and actions from the past that are less clear-cut. Members of the organisation can only say what probably happened, why it probably happened and what its probable consequences were. The impact of such a sequence of events on the future course of the business needs to be qualified by probability statements. This situation is characteristic of organisations operating in a partially predictable environment.

Open-ended change: Other sequences of events and actions arising from the past that continue to impact on the future, but which cannot readily be explained by the members of the organisation. This situation is characteristic of organisations operating in an unpredictable environment.

Situations may be close or far from certainty and have significant implications for the actions of managers as they attempt to choose appropriate strategies to deal with them.