It works everywhere - but it should't...

[Joelle Lyons Everett]

Artur--

I have a friend, Dr. G. Clotaire Rappaille, a French psychotherapist who is a
naturalized citizen of the United States, who currently does marketing
research designed to discover the archetypal meaning of various things in
different countries.

What he finds is that some meaning is cultural, and will vary from country to
country.  Some meaning is at the level of being human, the traits and
feelings we share with other people regardless of culture.  Some meaning is
biological, common not only to humans but perhaps to mammals and other living
things.

My guess from this is that to the extent that OST is truly cross-cultural, it
calls on the traits that we share as human beings or that we share with other
living systems.  And of course there is research demonstrating that
self-organizing is a characteristic of living systems of many kinds and on
many scales.

My other guess, responding to John's comments, is that the sponsors and
facilitators of OST need to be sensitive to and respectful of cultural dif
ferences that may be in the room.  I can imagine (and have occasionally
observed) that a participant who felt that their culture or person was not
valued might find it more difficult to join wholeheartedly in the
self-organizing of Open Space.

My two cents' worth

Joelle

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