CASOS and OPE -- was Re: OS and Future Search

Harrison Owen owen at tmn.com
Sun Jun 27 04:51:16 PDT 1999


Denis wrote:

>Most seem to agree that we can have an Open Space ORGANISATION but it seems
>to me  the implication of the conditions above is that any such organisation
>must exist in the state prescribed by the conditions.  And I don't think
>that is even thinkable:(permanent) high levels of conflict and decison
>times of yesterday.

>Especially since we are trying to (re)solve that very situation!
************************************************************
Actually, I rather suspect that the nature of our world will continually
deliver conflict and short decision times. The issue then is not to
eliminate them, but to live creatively with them. I think that is what we
learn to do in Open Space. It might be useful to change the nuances of some
of the words -- ie "conflict." Personally, I don't see conflict as bad.
Indeed it can be quite positive. For me, conflict simply indicates that two
or more passions are engaged. The issue then is not to eliminate the
passions, but rather to open sufficient space so that they can usefully
work their intent.  Of course, it is also true that not all passions are to
be encouraged (Kosavo?)

********************
On the subject of Pre-conditions, Denis Wrote:


>For me it has much more to do with situation of OPE or Optimal Psychological
>Experience as codified by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi of Chicago University;
>otherwise known as Flow.
>
>He identifies the outcomes of OPE or Flow and includes the following:
>
>egolessness
>loss of awareness of time
>merged action and awareness
>intrinsic enjoyment of the activity leading to a desire to do it again and
>again.
>
>
>Things I am sure that we all recognise in OS.
>
>He postulates some necessary pre-conditions and includes the following:
>
>clear goal
>immediate feedback
>challenge is closely balanced with and slightly ahead of the skill
>narrowing of focus
>high levels of concentration demanded
>
>again all words we can recognise from our OS experiences.
>
>I would like to suggest that much more attention be paid to these
>preconditions than those postulated by Harrison since they are far more
>universal and (for me) engage a better possibility of the OS Organisation.
>
>Denis
********************************************************************

No problem with Denis's preconditions but usually I find that goals are
muddy, feedback erratic, challenges vastly exceed ability to perform,
things are always getting out of focus, and the older I get the harder it
is to concentrate on anything, let alone at a high level. So maybe these
are not pre-conditions, but ideals. If we had to have all those things
before we started, I sincerely doubt that an Open Space Organization -- or
indeed any other sort of organization -- would form.

Fortunately, I don't think we have to have these things, and here is where
the pre-conditions for Open Space and also, (I would argue)
self-organization seem to fit in. Over the years I found that whenever you
had a major issue characterized by high levels of diversity (people and
opinions) complexity (elements of the issue and it implications) conflict
(folks were really passionate), and a past due decision date (it had to be
done now) -- Open Space worked just wonderful.  Several years ago while
reading the work of Stuart Kauffmann (At Home in the Universe / Oxford) I
discovered Kaufmann's preconditions for self-organization in the biological
world. Seemed to me to be pretty much the same thing. So I came to (perhaps
the hasty conclusion) that the magic of Open Space was none other than the
magic of self organizing systems. One of Kaufmann's pre-conditions -- which
I think is critical to this discussion -- is that the whole mess be "on the
edge of Chaos" (and actually over the edge). It turns out that chaos is
essential for organization, at least self-organization. Strange thought!

Anyhow, if anybody is interested in  further details (this is pretty
sketchy) you might  check my article in the ODN "Practitioner" of last
Fall. And if that doesn't come easily to hand, check my website
<www.tmn.com/~owen> in the section called "Papers." You might be interested
in either "Emergent Order" of "Learning for Free." As a final resort, you
could wait for a year when my new (and hopefully last) book will come out
from Berrett-Koehler. My working title is "Organization for a New
Millennium: Self- Organization at work" Heaven knows what they will call it.

>From  Sun Jun 27 10:14:26 1999
Message-Id: <SUN.27.JUN.1999.101426.0500.>
Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 10:14:26 -0500
Reply-To: mherman at globalchicago.net
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Michael Herman <mherman at globalchicago.net>
Organization: Michael Herman Associates
Subject: Re: CASOS and OPE   --  was  Re: OS and Future Search
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<snip>

Most seem to agree that we can have an Open Space ORGANISATION but it
seems
to me  the implication of the conditions above is that any such
organisation
must exist in the state prescribed by the conditions.  And I don't think

that is even thinkable:  (permanent) high levels of conflict and decison

times of yesterday.

Especially since we are trying to (re)solve that very situation!


-------

thanks for your posting denis, it helped sharpen a few things i'd been
forgetting, as i'm trying to write an article here.  have to add the
following, snipet for now and will post the article as soon as it's
ready.  (though this article is the crux move i've been trying to make for the
last year in what's looking more and more like it might actually become a
book, much as i've tried not to write a book!  ...either way, when i can say
more here, i will.)

regarding your posting then, i don't think we are 'solving' or 'resolving'
these conditions in the
sense of making these conditions go away, but i do think we're learning
to live with the disruption and discomfort they cause for us.  to my
mind, our evolution toward larger wholes, more personal and inclusive
stories, more flexible structures and more creative actions is what
allows us to live with ever-rising levels of conflict, complexity,
urgency, and diversity.  evolution is our response to the
ever-deepening, ever-more-complex universe.

for me, it's exactly the same as the FLOW stuff as well, but in four
directions simultaneously, not just the one that csikzentmihalyi talks
about.  this is where i connect FLOW with ken wilber's four quadrants
(in/out, one/many), angeles arrien's fourfold way, harrison's four
conditions, and fast company magazine's four basic business questions
(how digital are you? recent cover story).


m




--

Michael Herman
...inviting spirit AND results in evolving organizations

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