OS for mergers and aquisitions

[Larry Peterson]

Romy:
I have used Open Space in a couple of "merger" settings successfully. Once
in a national church organization merging major units. The Open Space did
enable thee groups to create their new directions and working
relationships. There had been a lot of anger about the merger. There was a
lot of positive, combined energy coming out of the Open Space.

I recently led an Open Space with a theme "preparing for merger". A major
hospital that had been forced into a merger had the 150 key leaders (plus
some onlookers from one of the hospitals to be merged) to anticipate the
merger. The had great discussions about both the challenges and the
opportunities in the upcoming merger and began to explore strategies for
preparing various departments. The board level merger is still proceeding
very slowly (truly a government job) so they have not been able to take the
next steps yet.

Larry

-----Original Message-----
From:   Peggy Holman, Open Space Institute [SMTP:osi at TMN.COM]
Sent:   Monday, April 27, 1998 1:37 PM
To:     OSLIST at LISTSERV.IDBSU.EDU
Subject:        Fw: OS for mergers and aquisitions

This sounds like an exciting opportunity on very short notice.  If anyone
can give Romy some leads, please do.

(LGI = Large Group Interventions)
(M&A) = Merger and Acquisitions

Peg Holman

-----Original Message-----
From: Romy Shovelton <romys at compuserve.com>
To: Peggy Holman <pholman at email.msn.com>
Date: Monday, April 27, 1998 3:48 AM
Subject: OS for mergers and aquisitions


Peggy

I/we have an opportunity to provide Open Space/other LGIs in a MAJOR M&A
situation....

So, I am  looking for:

1) cases of where OS/ other LGIs have been used for the major culture
change work that is necessary around M&A
2) a quick summary of some of the M&A issues that might be addressed by
using a whole-systems, LGI approach.

Clearly I can create some thoughts of my own on 2), and.... it's always
good to hear ideas from colleagues - on the basis of modelling the best!!

I have to put a paper together by mid Tuesday (tomorrow), having heard
about the opportunity an hour ago.

Any help you and colleagues might be able to give, would be VERY welcome.

thanks hugely in anticipation,

Romy

PS it might be time for me to join the OSI!! What's involved?

>From  Tue Apr 28 11:59:02 1998
Message-Id: <TUE.28.APR.1998.115902.0500.>
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 11:59:02 -0500
Reply-To: mherman at mcs.net
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.IDBSU.EDU>
From: Michael Herman <mherman at mcs.net>
Organization: Michael Herman Associates
Subject: modified open space
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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hello everyone,

been catching up with this thread with interest.  thanks for your
question, birgitt.  it's fun to see so many people together here.  i was
just remembering what uwe said yesterday (in my time) about open space
being harrison's simple packaging of what so many others have talked
about before him, and thought i'd send something along here...

in light of uwe's comments, harrison's books seem same as any other
books, and by extension, the words "open space" seem not different from
the boxes of an org chart or a budget calling for $4.23 earnings per
share in the fourth quarter.  we all have our own experiences with each,
some deeply spiritual, some more technical and mechanistic, but in the
end, the meaning of "open space" must dissolve with all other structures
in the open space of everyday.  and, like every other simplification
and/or manifestation of spirit, must be rediscovered everytime we sit
with another human being, regardless of and including everywhere that
they or we have been.

seems to me that whether in an open space event or in everyday open
space, we can only be really present in one place at any one moment.
so, we have to be fully present here (wherever and with whomever that is
now) and trust that everything that is going on elsewhere will work out
when we get (fully present) there. so easy to say! ha!  my "bubbles"
piece that some have seen and others can view at the gosi and osi-usa
websites is my latest method at differentiating the technology and the
spirit of open space.   blowing bubbles is a simple, yet robust,
metaphor for what it means to breathe our life into magnificent,
physical, yet impermanent, structures.

can we ever create a permanent collective container to hold that which
dissolves all collective containers?  seems safer to carry the powder in
our pockets and mix up a fresh batch each morning!  like others have
already said, i think the powder is our personal understanding of the
principles and law.

best for now, michael