OSO and chaordic commons

[Harrison Owen]

At 06:44 AM 3/18/2002 -0700, Chris wrote:
>Jeff,
>
>I like this a lot - the notion of the chaordic process being useful AFTER
>opening space.

That is certainly an improvement. There is little question that
organizational purpose and vision are critical for performance. No
vision/purpose -- No Performance, at least pretty sub-optimal performance.
And I think we have plenty of experience indicating that Vision and Purpose
"statements" generated abstractly by a group (committee) or worse yet, an
individual -- have minimal effect on the effectiveness of an organization.
Typically such things are worth little but the paper they are written on.
On the other hand, when Vision and Purpose arise out of the ongoing life of
the organization, there is some real power. But I believe it is critical to
note which comes first. Vision and Purpose statements are simply an
acknowledgement of a present reality. They do not create it. So i guess I
am having a little trouble with "the notion of the chaordic process being
useful AFTER opening space" -- if by "chaordic process" you are referring
to the creation of Vision and Purpose. The chaordic process, so far as i am
concerned is opening space, and opening space initiates the chaordic
process. There are all kinds of semantic difficulties here, and I may have
gotten hung up on all of them... but I truly find Dee Hock's proposed
process for creating a chaordic organization to be a mis-understanding
(maybe a perversion) of his beautiful idea. Not only does his proposed
process require a great deal more effort than necessary -- but so far as I
know, it fails to bring home the bacon. Self-organizing systems
happen.  The notion of organizing (designing)  a self-organizing system is
simply a contradiction in terms. And for sure articulating Vision and
Purpose doesn't get you there -- unless you already are there.



>Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-365-2093
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.mindspring.com/~owenhh

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