Request for stories re: OS used to help determine training

Harrison Owen hhowen at comcast.net
Sun Jan 2 04:40:06 PST 2005


I am a little curious, Susan, what you mean by "diagnostic tool." In my
experience, every Open Space is a Diagnostic Tool - in the sense that what
shows up is what's there. I have often thought of OS as a collective
Rorschach test. Since there is no pre-determined content, everybody makes
their own content and interpretation. But OS does not stop with diagnosis.
It is simultaneously diagnosis, prescription, treatment and around again one
more time. I think my major learning is that the medical model used here
doesn't really work that well. I don't think it works all that well in
Medicine - but it really falls apart when applied to group behavior. The
linear description of "D-P-T" looks great on paper, but it is always
iterative, and often (always?) happens all at once. I think you should warn
your readers that if they use Open Space it will make a real mess out of the
nice, linear process that shows up in all the textbooks, medical and
organizational. When everything happens all at once, it is kind of hard to
figure out what you are doing, at least "doing" according to the old rules. 

 

Harrison   

 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20845

Phone 301-365-2093

Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>


Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org

Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan
Smyth
Sent: Friday, December 31, 2004 4:57 PM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Request for stories re: OS used to help determine training

 

Hi all-

I'm currently under contract to write a book for Wiley on a training and
development topic.  We want to include a recommendation to use OS as a
diagnostic tool.  Pleases contact me if you would be willing to share
experiences using Open Space to discuss a possible training or performance
improvement issue.  I've mostly used os to move forward strategy development
or improve specific issues like inclusion and racial harmony, etc.  

Thanks in advance for your help.  

Susan Smyth
Smyth Management Resources
2451 Covey Run S.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45230
513 624 7177
Fax 513 624 7277

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