hierarchy...was report from the field

[Michael M Pannwitz]

Where is "Hosting" nested in your "fifth organisational paradigm"?
Greetings from Berlin, intrigued
mmp
and dont forget to put San Francisco in your calender
is there a way to register?

Chris Corrigan wrote:
> Within the Art of Hosting community of practice, we have been looking at a
> fifth organizational paradigm, which is something like a combination of
> hierarchy, circle, network and bureaucracy.  Some of us have been 
> looking at
> what these four paradigms have to offer, for examples, hierarchy offers
> order and clarity, circle offers an equal reflective space, network offers
> an immediate ability to connect with whatever is needed, and bureaucracy
> helps channel resources where they are needed, "irrigating" initiatives or
> parts of an organization.
> 
> Certainly, each of these has a dark side, but if the benefits are
> illuminated and then transcended, you get a fifth organizational 
> paradigm in
> which all four can be somehow present and somehow something new is born.  I
> think we are increasingly seeing Open Space meetings as the embodiments of
> this fifth form, which has gone by many other names among those of us here
> on the list: InterActive Organization, Conscious Open Space Organization,
> Inviting Organization, Radiant Networking and so on.  There is something in
> the pattern of Open Space that, if it has not yet achieved transcendence of
> these four forms, at least leads the eye to what might emerge.
> Self-organization is clearly the key, or at least the gas in the engine.
> 
> I find it interesting that many of us who are devoted to these models of
> dialogic practice can see the larger implications for organizing human
> endeavours.  This connection between our practices and organizational forms
> makes for incredibly inspired thinking.  Not all facilitators see what they
> do as having broad implications for the way things are organized.  It
> remains, I think, the crux of the next level of investigations into what 
> all
> of these methodologies mean.
> 
> Great thread.
> 
> Chris
> 
> On 7/15/07, Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>> Raffi -- You will notice that I very carefully did not use the word
>> "hierarchy," but a quite different word -- "elitism." I am not sure that
>> is
>> the right word either, but that is the problem with words. Indeed,
>> hierarchy
>> itself (as you point out) is not a bad thing. Quite natural in fact and
>> very
>> useful. Heirarchy is a problem, however, when it is frozen and stuck. At
>> that point it becomes an "old" hierarchy reflective of a different time
>> and/or situation, holding power and authority very much in the fashion of
>> the Divine Right of Kings. That is what I would call elitism. The real
>> problem is that it is non-functional because it limits the capacity of a
>> system to adapt to a changing environment. This of course can go on for a
>> long time, and indeed some environments stick around for a bit. But at 
>> the
>> moment a stable environment seems to be more the exception than the rule.
>> So
>> Heirarchy, Yes. Elitism, No.
>>
>> In terms of our community of folks -- to be sure there is hierarchy, in
>> fact
>> there are multiple hierarchies constantly changing with time and tide, 
>> and
>> many existing simultaneously in a wonderful dance of conflict and
>> collaboration. I think that is fantastic, useful, and something to be
>> honored. However, if we ever got to the point where there was one,
>> unchanging hierarchy that would be the last moment you would be seeing me
>> anywhere on the premises -- even if, and most especially if, I was the
>> King
>> of the heap!
>>
>> I think Kaliya is absolutely correct in pointing out the utility of a
>> "repetitional meritocratic hierarchy" (WOW! -- the words sort of roll off
>> the tongue!!). And if I understand the words at all, I think that is
>> pretty
>> much what "we" are. I would also agree that experience, training, 
>> maturity
>> are critical -- in Open Space, as everywhere else. But I would take some
>> issue with the notion that, "Open Space Technology is fundamentally
>> different then these two community practices -- OST is not trying to 
>> build
>> an operating system or have 100,000 all collaborate on the same thing 
>> - it
>> doesn't 'need' the kind of hierarchy that technical communities do."
>>
>> From where I sit, the adventure we have embarked on is actually larger 
>> and
>> more complex than the "simple business" of creating an operating system.
>> Our
>> task (or at least the one I choose for myself) is not so much about
>> designing a system but rather the appreciation of the infinite complexity
>> and elegance of the self-organizing Human System. And this is not just
>> "music appreciation," performance is the name of the game. How do we
>> effectively live in this system, and maybe even more importantly, what 
>> can
>> we do to enable the system to live?
>>
>> I think of Open Space as a wonderful natural experiment in which 
>> thousands
>> of people are participating. The power of the experiment emerges when we
>> freely and openly share our experiences and understandings. And everybody
>> has a vital part to play. Those of us who have been around for a bit may
>> have a broader and possibly deeper view, but there is an almost 
>> inevitable
>> tendency to take some things for granted and get stuck in our ways. The
>> antidote for all of that is the arrival of fresh eyes with apparently
>> "dumb
>> questions." There are no dumb questions that are also real questions. 
>> Real
>> questions have no answers, they only open more space and take you deeper.
>> And when you have lots of space (up, down, sideways, wherever)-- then the
>> fun begins.
>>
>> Harrison
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Raffi
>> Aftandelian
>> Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2007 2:08 PM
>> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>> Subject: hierarchy...was report from the field
>>
>> Greetings friends and colleagues--
>>
>> Harrison you wrote:
>>
>> "The other day I got a note which said in part, "I was surprised to
>> find out that there was a hierarchy in the OST community and everyone
>> having
>> a specific place to hold, voices are not equal and politics prevails in
>> certain circuits  Just the same old same old... I'm not sure this is what
>> you envisioned with OST." I have no idea what the specific circumstances
>> were, and less interest in finding out. But presuming that we have the
>> creeping tentacles of elitism sneaking in - a good dose of the Law of Two
>> Feet and a clear recognition of the Universal License of Open Space
>> (everybody has one by birth) should do the trick. Or something."
>>
>> I would love to hear more from the person who wrote about hierarchy in 
>> the
>> OST community. What is meant by "hierarchy" here?
>>
>> Isn't there hierarchy everywhere? Is it a bad thing? The question is what
>> kind of hierarchy do we have in the OST community? Is it a hierarchy that
>> feeds us, strengthens us? And how do we choose to engage with it as a
>> community? Do we create the spaces to talk about the power differentials
>> within our practitioner community in a way that, well, builds more
>> capacity
>> within us?
>>
>> Quakers, for example, acknowledge that voices are not equal within the
>> life
>> of a Monthly Meeting. They have the concept of "weightiness" or a 
>> "weighty
>> Friend."  In other words, these are the elders within the Quaker world.
>>
>> And doesn't the OST world have its elders and sages?
>>
>> I, too, have heard (and thought) that the OST community is the "same
>> old...," - heck, some of that "same oldness" shows up on the list from
>> time
>> to time- *and* I do not know of a more generous, welcoming, inspiring
>> facilitation community. We either choose to engage with the OST community
>> as
>> it is, or...well exercise the law of two feet.
>>
>>
>> Raffi
>>
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> 
> 

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