At the recent Symposium on the Effectiveness of Health Promotion in Toronto there was considerable discussion of how prepared health promotion practitioners, researchers and funders were for changing times and situations. For example, one area of change and adaptability has to do with the use of the electronic venue for health promotion work.. Many organizations and institutions supporting health promotion initiatives are early users of computer-mediated communications (CMC), often limiting access to the Internet to a few senior staff. Some of the participants at the symposium discussed whether their organizations could integrate CMC into their work as a tool for information seeking, to provide information on health promotion effectiveness and to work together. Two organizations were singled out as having a current capacity to collect and post publications, and engage people in on-line discussions (OPC & HPRIN) but others felt 'electronically deprived", with limited access, capability or support in their organization. I suggest that a health promoting organization needs to be flexible and adaptable, have abundant information, be rich in relationships and enable all its staff, board members, users and partners to engage in on-going dialogue and action. Electronic communications can be useful tools in change processes but only if they are readily accessible, integrated into the work activity of an organization and linked to communities and organizations locally and globally. I am posting the following abstract of a discussion paper on organizational change as a contribution to the discussion of the effectiveness of health promotion organizations in 'change-ability'. ************************************************************ CREATING A CAPACITY FOR CHANGE IN HEALTH PROMOTION AND THE NON-PROFIT SECTOR a Discussion Paper on Healthy Organizational Change by Katie Michels, for the Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse Abstract Healthy organizational change is about transformation, creating capacity and an infrastructure for continuous learning, and understanding that every member of the organization is the organization. This discussion paper focuses on healthy organizational change in the context of unpredictable futures in health promotion and the non-profit sector. It explores the realities of, influences on, and approaches to healthy change within organizations. In our current reality, all human service organizations are struggling to survive and sustain their vision, their work and their people. Health promotion principles have many parallels to organizational change. Exploring these parallels and the emerging concepts of "learning organizations", "adaptive systems" and organizational "change-ability" may offer some practical strategies for creating a capacity for healthy organizational change, and perhaps encourage a deeper critique of the changing nature of our work. This discussion paper will be available in July 1996, in print and on-line through the Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse worldwide web homepage (http://www.opc.on.ca). A limited quantity of print copies will be available to individuals and organizations free of charge. Reprints will be available on a cost-recovery basis. ******************************************************** - posted by Alison Stirling [log in to unmask]