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

Arno Baltin arno at tlu.ee
Wed Dec 19 18:42:42 PST 2012


Dear Harrison

I enjoyed reading your post :)

Be well,

Arno

*    *


2012/12/19 Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>

> Good one, Kari! ("Is Open Space not working when there are many internal
> conflicts?")
>
> For me the place to begin is with a clear understanding of "working," and I
> find that there are at least three questions (meanings) here. You have to
> make sure you which one you are asking and answering. Specifically, do you
> mean, Does Open Space work in formal terms? -- i.e. people sat in a circle,
> opened a market place, etc -- The answer in my experience is, Yes at the
> 100% level. If you mean Does Open Space work as a productive activity? --
> were critical issues/opportunities raised, clarified, and usefully dealt
> with? Again the answer in my experience is Yes and pretty close to the 100%
> level. However, if you mean "works" as in "solves all problems forever and
> ever..." it gets a little more complicated, and depends greatly on the
> situation and context.
>
> There are multiple examples of Open Spaces involving large groups of very
> angry and/or confused people resolving major complex issues by the end of
> the closing circle. I wrote up one of the earliest in the opening chapter
> of
> the User's Guide. In that situation 240 people consisting of Federal, State
> and Local officials along with a equal number of Native Americans had the
> task of writing guidelines for the expenditure of $1.5 billion for Highways
> on Tribal lands. This group had been fighting for 2 years, and absolutely
> nothing had been accomplished. When the meeting began the group had only 2
> months additional time before the whole $1.5b would disappear back into the
> US Treasury. In the course of the gathering the discussion was indeed hot
> and heavy, putting it mildly. However, by the closing circle, the task had
> been accomplished, the guidelines had been created. To be sure, those
> guidelines had to be put in formal, legal language -- But by any reasonable
> standard it can be said that Open Space worked in and through intense
> conflict.
>
> In a different situation and context the question becomes more nuanced and
> complicated -- but the answer, simply put, is the same. Open Space works.
> For example, I am currently working with a relatively large organization
> (2000+ employees) which was described to me by several of the senior folks
> as "dysfunctional." When I asked what that meant they said something to the
> effect that the anger, low morale, missed communication, games playing,
> etc.
> was so severe that nobody really even knew what the problems were, and for
> sure the productive output of the organization was seriously compromised.
> They wanted to do an Open Space for their Washington people and did I think
> it would work?
>
> I had no problem saying, Yes. At least it always had worked so long as the
> participants fell somewhere within the genetic pool of Homo sapiens.
> HOWEVER, that is only the beginning of the story. The truth, it is really
> quite easy to enable any group of people, who share some common concern,
> albeit in highly diverse and conflicted ways -- to reach a point of
> intense,
> meaningful, and productive interaction and solutions. But that is just a
> start, albeit a good one -- and never to be confused with eternal
> salvation.
> What next?
>
> The simple fact of the matter is that if a group of people, having
> experienced deep, meaningful and productive joint activity (in the Open
> Space) are simply thrown back into the situation which caused all the
> dysfunction in the first place -- they are twice damned. They have seen the
> lights of Paris, and are definitely back on the farm. Now they know, as
> perhaps they never did before, just how really miserable they are, and
> worse
> yet -- they know it could be better. In an odd way, this is real progress,
> but very painful and not conducive to a long term, positive outcome.
>
> Right here we run head on into all the "nasty details" so well described by
> my friend Lisa H. ("...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....").
>
> But when it comes to finding the way forward, I have to take a different
> path than friend Lisa seems to be suggesting. If I understand her
> correctly,
> the critical next steps involve careful analysis of all the "nasty details"
> (I think we call it Systems Thinking) combined with strategic interventions
> (re-organizations, etc) to achieve the fix.
>
> This is a great idea and Grand Theory -- but frankly it gives me a massive
> headache. I simply can't think all that and I seriously doubt that anybody
> else can either. It is simply too massive, too complex, too interconnected,
> too fast moving. Mind boggling -- and I really don't think I am stupid,
> just
> finite human. And when it comes to designing useful solutions, the stakes
> have just simply gone off the charts. I don't think we can do that! But
> more
> to the point, my experience tell me, we do not have to.
>
> If we have learned nothing else in the 27 year Natural Experiment Called
> Open Space it is that Self Organization is powerful and effective. Left to
> its own devises, the organization (any group of people gathered together to
> do something) will in short order manifest orderly patterns that enable
> their efforts. Those patterns (structures) may be minimal, but they work.
> And if we provide some minimal initial focus (sit in a circle, create
> bulletin board...), what happens naturally appears to happen with even
> greater dispatch. All we have to do is stay out of the way. This is not a
> process we do, as in run, create, even facilitate. It is what we are, and
> it
> happens all by itself.
>
> Perhaps it is an unjustifiable leap -- but I absolutely believe that the
> only difference between the Organization of a group of people in Open Space
> and Organization of any other sort is a matter of size and duration. It is
> all self organizing. And in all cases it remains true: Organizing a self
> organizing system is not only an oxymoron, but stupid, a waste of time, and
> ineffective. Truth is the organization (organism) can and will do a much
> better job -- and virtually every effort on our part slows things down and
> effectively thrown a "spanner" in the works. Putting it in the baldest of
> terms, our efforts to organize the system and create the "fix" actually
> create most of the pain and dysfunction we seek to resolve. Self inflicted
> wounds.
>
> So when we follow the path that Lisa suggests, which of course is also the
> path that most all of contemporary management theory and practice supports,
> we are essentially adding fuel to the fire and creating new levels of
> potential dysfunction. Our "fixes" may seem to work for the moment, but in
> all too short a time we hear the magic words - Re-Organize! Re-Organize!
> The
> good news is that it does keep all managers, consultants, and I'm sorry to
> say, facilitators employed. But it is an odd situation: Seems we create the
> very problems we are then paid to resolve.
>
> Total heresy I know, but on the off chance that some grain of truth may
> reside therein -- what is the alternative? My experience says that the
> alternative is a simple one, and one we already know: Open Space.
>
> This might mean "doing an Open Space"--but more usually it would mean
> applying the lessons learned from our Natural Experiment in our everyday
> world of life and work. The lessons have been multiple, but we might start
> with the simple ones. For example, when starting a project INVITE
> participation -- DON'T Order it. And guess what, the right people will turn
> up. And when they do show up, get rid of the tables and work in a circle.
> And forget about the Program Plan; elicit the passions and responsibilities
> of those who cared to come. Well you get the idea.
>
> All of this is really the heart and soul of the 5th Principle "Wherever it
> happens is the right place." And we will learn, I think, that it can and
> does happen anywhere and everywhere.
>
> Goodness me, I have gone on. And indeed there is a lot more to go. If you
> are interested in my best shots to date, check out my last two books, "The
> Practice of Peace," and "Wave Rider." But better yet just start with your
> own experience and let it grow. It could really get exciting.
>
> So Kari -- Does Open Space work in conflicted spaces? You bet! And
> everywhere else as well.
>
> Harrison
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Dr.
> Potomac, MD 20854
> USA
>
> 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)
> Camden, Maine 04843
>
> Phone 301-365-2093
> (summer)  207-763-3261
>
> www.openspaceworld.com
> www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)
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>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
> [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Kári
> Gunnarsson
> Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2012 8:17 PM
> To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
> Subject: [OSList] Is it true that Open Space does not really work when
> there
> are many internal conflict?
>
> 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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