• What is Cognition

• Cognition & Organizational Change

• Factors Affecting

• Mental Models

• Organization & Mental Models

• Cognition refers to a range of high-level brain functions, including the ability to learn and remember information; organize, plan and problem-solve; focus, maintain and shift attention as necessary; understand and use language; accurately perceive the environment; and perform calculations.

• Cognition in change management implies knowing when to launch change in an organization .

• The way in which a manager collects interprets information about the world outside the organization shapes his knowledge about change.

• The commonly observed phenomenon whereby employees and managers fail to update and revise their understanding of a situation when that situation changes, a phenomenon that acts as a psychological barrier to organizational change.

• Organizational factors

• Personal or human factors

Mental Models

• Mental Model is an explanation of someone's thought process about how something works in the real world.

• It is deeply embedded assumptions & generalizations we all carry regarding how the world works and our own actions .

• Mental models are subtle but powerful. Subtle, because we usually are unaware of their effect. Powerful, because they determine what we pay attention to, and therefore what we do.

• Mental models are strongly conservative: left unchallenged, they will cause us to see what we have always seen: the same needs, the same opportunities, the same results.

• Organizations have many mental models. In non-profits, mental models are likely to be built around the people served (“we serve the poorest of the poor”),

• around the role of the organization (“we are the agency of last resort” or “if we don’t provide a service, no one else will”), and

• around the nature of the activities performed by the organization (“we are advocates for change”).

• Behind every plan lies a gaggle of mental models, unconsciously shaping our decisions: about who will be served, what issues will be addressed, what actions we will permit ourselves to take, what outcomes are desirable, and what standards we will use to determine effectiveness.

• What many organizations call “planning” is simply a projection of their current mental models into the future

• Because mental models “limit us to familiar ways of thinking and acting,” every planning procedure must, at some point, expose and challenge the organization’s mental models.

• These mental models can serves as powerful constraints in an organization’s ability to gain new sight & innovations .

• These are important to consider and bring to surface because they shape how we understand ourselves, other people, and the situations we face.