[OSList] Is it true that Open Space does not really work when there are many internal conflict?

[Lisa Heft]

Hi, Kári -

My experience is it is not the method / process that is the issue, it  
is that any process / one meeting does not shift behavior.
A single 'intervention' does not change behavior.
So often a meeting or retreat (Open Space or otherwise) is thought to  
be the thing that solves conflict, when actually it is a whole series  
of actions and relationships.
The higher the conflict, the more the relationships may have to be  
formed and fostered before there is any event such as a meeting.

Passion fuels Open Space. But if an Open Space or any other approach  
is just dropped in as the thing that is thought to resolve internal  
conflicts just like that - without looking at the whole ecology of  
communication, history, context, resources, differences, internal and  
external reasons for issues that feel like conflict, communication  
styles, what happens before and after the event, how the event fits  
into the ongoing work of the community or organization, and so on....  
then it may not yet be time to have the event - before other work is  
done. Sometimes it is as simple as helping an organization look at who  
does what tasks and re-arranging each role's tasks. Or doing an  
assessment of what is reasonable pay. Or giving the organization some  
sample structure for how to hold supervisor-staff individual meetings  
or quarterly evaluation.

So it is not the Open Space that does or does not work - at least in  
my experience - Open Space is great when there is passion, of course.  
It is the need to look at the whole picture and do assessment and  
analysis to see what is useful, when, why and at the end of that  
analysis, how.

I look forward to hearing others' input for Kári,

Lisa


On Dec 18, 2012, at 5:17 PM, Kári Gunnarsson wrote:

> Is Open Space not working when there are many internal conflicts?
>
> This is stated in one of the reports from the Wosonos2012 "The limits
> of Open Space"
>
> I believed that the passion fueling the conflict was the stuff that
> fuels the Open Space activities and without this fuel nothing real
> will happen for nobody will care sufficiently to have an opinion or
> take up a conflict.
>
> I am not able image the case where the many internal conflicts will
> inhibit the Open Space if the preconditions are fulfilled, perhaps
> someone could enlighten me about such a case.
>
> Is there a different approach that is better for such condition, will
> nothing work or will Open Space work?
>
> with love from Iceland and with a hope for an answer
> Kári.

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