Kegans Orders of Consciousness and Immunity to Change
Module Name: LEADERSHIP, STRATEGY AND BUSINESS:
This assignment seeks answers to the following 3 questions –
What are the main elements of Robert Kegan’s Theory of Adult Mental Development?
What are the implications for my professional practice of Kegan’s Theory of Adult Mental Development?
How useful an idea is immunity to change for me in my practice, professional role, and career?
What are the main elements of Robert Kegan’s Theory of Adult Mental Development?
Kegan’s model of constructive-development and in particular theory around adult
Development provides a picture of the many differing ways people have of being in the world and, in particular, the demands the world places on development and the capacity of adults to meet these demands. The theory describes the many different ways people have of meaning-making about the world. When people are able to hold their own and other ideas and ways of being and making meaning as different, potentially comprehensible, it opens up the possibility for deeper relationships and understanding.
Instead of the regular way people have of understanding difference which is to mistrust it or judge it wrong, Kegan’s theory gives us an insight into how we can make sense and understand what is different in the world as leaders in organisations and in our everyday lives.
Kegan’s theory is made up of a number of key elements these are: • Orders of Consciousness • Subject / Object Theory • Dynamic Equilibrium • Transformation • Competing Commitments and Immunity To Change
A number of assumptions underpin Kegan’s theory of adult development –
Orders of Consciousness not only refer to how one thinks but generally how one constructs reality from experience.
The orders are concerned with how we organise our social, thinking and feeling relationships.
Each order represents a different subject / object relationship.
Each order relates to the other- one order does not replace the previous, it is more
This assignment seeks answers to the following 3 questions –
What are the main elements of Robert Kegan’s Theory of Adult Mental Development?
What are the implications for my professional practice of Kegan’s Theory of Adult Mental Development?
How useful an idea is immunity to change for me in my practice, professional role, and career?
What are the main elements of Robert Kegan’s Theory of Adult Mental Development?
Kegan’s model of constructive-development and in particular theory around adult
Development provides a picture of the many differing ways people have of being in the world and, in particular, the demands the world places on development and the capacity of adults to meet these demands. The theory describes the many different ways people have of meaning-making about the world. When people are able to hold their own and other ideas and ways of being and making meaning as different, potentially comprehensible, it opens up the possibility for deeper relationships and understanding.
Instead of the regular way people have of understanding difference which is to mistrust it or judge it wrong, Kegan’s theory gives us an insight into how we can make sense and understand what is different in the world as leaders in organisations and in our everyday lives.
Kegan’s theory is made up of a number of key elements these are: • Orders of Consciousness • Subject / Object Theory • Dynamic Equilibrium • Transformation • Competing Commitments and Immunity To Change
A number of assumptions underpin Kegan’s theory of adult development –
Orders of Consciousness not only refer to how one thinks but generally how one constructs reality from experience.
The orders are concerned with how we organise our social, thinking and feeling relationships.
Each order represents a different subject / object relationship.
Each order relates to the other- one order does not replace the previous, it is more
Bibliography: Berger, Hasegawa, Hammerman and Kegan: “How Consciousness Develops Adequate Complexity to Deal with a Complex World: The Subject Object Theory of Robert Kegan”. Page 5:2007. Kegan, R. In over our heads: the mental demands of modern life. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1994. Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. (2001). How the Way We Talk can Change the Way We Work: Seven Languages for Transformation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.