[OSList] Open Space Case Study

[Linda Stevenson]

Hi, Jeff, Thanks for your acknowledgement and comments which are always welcome, even nitpicking! You raise some interesting points around what word best describes the territory furthest from certainty and agreement in The Landscape Diagram.  The labels "simplicity, complexity, and anarchy" are from the original diagram which Ralph Stacey designed to describe effective management decisions.  Iterations of that diagram have provided useful frameworks to help understand three distinct modes of organization across an organizational landscape.  In real life, they are not so distinct!  We've found the diagram to be a useful tool, a simple approximation which has its limitations such as the nuances which you have pointed out.  Reality is never so neatly packaged. Thank you for your thoughtfulness,Linda  
 > Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2012 17:40:48 -0700
> From: r.jeff.aitken at gmail.com
> To: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
> Subject: Re: [OSList] Open Space Case Study
> 
> Linda,
> 
> Wonderful article, and I concur with the appreciations of others on the list.
> 
> If I may offer one "nitpick" - not about what you wrote, but the work
> of one of your sources - it would be the use of the term 'anarchy' to
> try to describe the chaotic, unorganized realm of organization.
> 
> I studied political philosophy in another lifetime (so it seems) and
> the true anarchists in my reading of history have been much more
> aligned with the natural self-organizing of humans (like we see in
> OST) than with the destructive chaotic realm.
> 
> In particular I loved Theodore Roszak's writing about the 'mystical
> anarchists' (among whom he listed Gandhi, Buber, Tolstoy and others)
> who showed their understanding of the hidden powers of
> self-organization which reside in the human heart.
> 
> In a recent Art of Hosting training, the realm of the seriously
> destructive chaos was called "chamos", apparently a Greek word, a new
> term for me, which I appreciate.
> 
> Thanks again!
> 
> Jeff
> 
> Jeff Aitken PhD
> around San Francisco
> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Sep 30, 2012 at 11:23 AM, Chris Corrigan
> <chris.corrigan at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Linda…thank you for this article and for sharing your action planning process.  It's always very useful to consider the many ways in which a group's work in Open Space can be eased into existing context of an organization.
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > On 2012-09-29, at 3:21 PM, Michael M Pannwitz wrote:
> >
> >> Dear Linda,
> >> thanks for your case study!
> >> Although all I read was familiar to me, I intrigued myself with the real life example you researched and shared.
> >> I wonder why "implementation criteria" were formulated:
> >>
> >> (1) Alignment with the parish mission statement.
> >> (2) Approval by the pastor.
> >> (3) Identification of needed resources.
> >>
> >> My experience has been that those participating in an os-event in their own organisation or an organisation they know well will automatically reflect on whether and how their projects align with mission statements, how they can get the approval of CEOs that are required and are definitely ingenious in identifying needed resources.
> >>
> >> Did it work in spite of the "implementation criteria" or because of them? In the face of "whatever happened is the only thing that could have", its perhaps irrelevant...
> >>
> >> Greetings from Berlin
> >> mmp
> >>
> >> I will spread your Case Study in the local community!
> >>
> >>
> >> On 29.09.2012 15:41, Linda Stevenson wrote:
> >>> The following link will take you to a "case study" on Open Space I did
> >>> for a Catholic parish last year.  It will be published in the November
> >>> issue of the Human Resource Development International journal in November.
> >>>
> >>> http://awakeninginquiry.com/uploads/HRDI_Article_on_Open_Space.pdf
> >>>
> >>> Your questions and comments are always welcome!
> >>>
> >>> Linda
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
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> >>
> >> --
> >> Michael M Pannwitz
> >> Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
> >> ++49 - 30-772 8000
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Check out the Open Space World Map presently showing 384 resident Open Space Workers in 66 countries working in a total of 142 countries worldwide: www.openspaceworldmap.org
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