The Transformation of Higher Education Institutions …
639
2 Evolutionary Stages
The evolution of universities mirrors evolutionary patterns of general societal and
human development. There are several theories of development describing these
patterns—from pioneers such as Abraham Maslow, Jean Piaget, Jane Loevinger,
Susanne Cook-Greuter, Lawrence Kohlberg, Clare W. Graves and others (Wilber
2001). The “emergent, cyclical, double-helix model of adult biopsychosocial systems
development” theory of Graves (1981)—an American professor of psychology and
colleague of Abraham Maslow—is especially suitable to describe complex change
processes and stages of value systems like those of HEIs. After Graves’ death in
1986 his theory was refined and introduced to the general public by Don E. Beck
and Christopher C. Cowan under the name of “Spiral Dynamics” (Beck and Cowan
1996) and became part of Ken Wilbers integral philosophy (Wilber 2001). This
chapter builds heavily on the logic and terminology of Spiral Dynamics and integral
philosophy.
Spiral Dynamics describes a distinct sequence of developmental stages of value
systems. As civilization turned from hunter-gatherer tribes to more complex forms of
social organizations, people’s value systems developed along, ideally as a perfect fit
with present challenges and environmental conditions. As a general tendency, each
stage incorporates several breakthroughs that enabled men to coordinate themselves
in networks of ever-increasing size and complexity, from tribes to kingdoms, early
nation states, organized world religions, transnational corporations, global markets
and the United Nations—to name a few milestones of human coordination. Each
stage represents a new way of dealing with arising challenges and simultaneously
includes and transcends the preceding stages, preserving and reframing foregoing
breakthroughs (Wilber 2001). Furthermore, the stages oscillate between a focus on
the collective’s and the individual’s needs within society, what led Graves to describe
human evolution as an upward spiral of outer and inner co-evolution (Beck and
Cowan 1996).
In the context of sustainable development at HEIs, the earlier steps of societal
coordination—as attributes of worldviews of tribes, empires and the like—are not of
interest. Instead, following the reasoning of Hedlund-de Witt (2014a) and MüllerChrist (2017), the focus will be laid upon the four following phases and their respective breakthroughs in organizing people. These breakthroughs are tightly linked
to their underlying value systems. According to Hedlund-de Witt (2014b, p. 194)
value systems or worldviews are “inescapable, overarching systems of meaning and
meaning-making that to a substantial extent inform how humans interpret, enact, and
co-create reality”.
It is important to note that none of the different worldviews is inherently better,
although they might differ in the way they fit conditions (Laloux 2014). Furthermore,
even though a society or person might gravitate around a certain worldview, all other
worldviews are still to be found in both societies and persons and can still be part of
a mature, peaceful and healthy expression of adult human behavior.
639
2 Evolutionary Stages
The evolution of universities mirrors evolutionary patterns of general societal and
human development. There are several theories of development describing these
patterns—from pioneers such as Abraham Maslow, Jean Piaget, Jane Loevinger,
Susanne Cook-Greuter, Lawrence Kohlberg, Clare W. Graves and others (Wilber
2001). The “emergent, cyclical, double-helix model of adult biopsychosocial systems
development” theory of Graves (1981)—an American professor of psychology and
colleague of Abraham Maslow—is especially suitable to describe complex change
processes and stages of value systems like those of HEIs. After Graves’ death in
1986 his theory was refined and introduced to the general public by Don E. Beck
and Christopher C. Cowan under the name of “Spiral Dynamics” (Beck and Cowan
1996) and became part of Ken Wilbers integral philosophy (Wilber 2001). This
chapter builds heavily on the logic and terminology of Spiral Dynamics and integral
philosophy.
Spiral Dynamics describes a distinct sequence of developmental stages of value
systems. As civilization turned from hunter-gatherer tribes to more complex forms of
social organizations, people’s value systems developed along, ideally as a perfect fit
with present challenges and environmental conditions. As a general tendency, each
stage incorporates several breakthroughs that enabled men to coordinate themselves
in networks of ever-increasing size and complexity, from tribes to kingdoms, early
nation states, organized world religions, transnational corporations, global markets
and the United Nations—to name a few milestones of human coordination. Each
stage represents a new way of dealing with arising challenges and simultaneously
includes and transcends the preceding stages, preserving and reframing foregoing
breakthroughs (Wilber 2001). Furthermore, the stages oscillate between a focus on
the collective’s and the individual’s needs within society, what led Graves to describe
human evolution as an upward spiral of outer and inner co-evolution (Beck and
Cowan 1996).
In the context of sustainable development at HEIs, the earlier steps of societal
coordination—as attributes of worldviews of tribes, empires and the like—are not of
interest. Instead, following the reasoning of Hedlund-de Witt (2014a) and MüllerChrist (2017), the focus will be laid upon the four following phases and their respective breakthroughs in organizing people. These breakthroughs are tightly linked
to their underlying value systems. According to Hedlund-de Witt (2014b, p. 194)
value systems or worldviews are “inescapable, overarching systems of meaning and
meaning-making that to a substantial extent inform how humans interpret, enact, and
co-create reality”.
It is important to note that none of the different worldviews is inherently better,
although they might differ in the way they fit conditions (Laloux 2014). Furthermore,
even though a society or person might gravitate around a certain worldview, all other
worldviews are still to be found in both societies and persons and can still be part of
a mature, peaceful and healthy expression of adult human behavior.