[OSList] The Tyranny of Structurelessness

Daniel Mezick via OSList oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Mon Oct 5 13:50:34 PDT 2015


Howdy Harrison,

Thanks for describing the context of the Ralph Copleman story- I'm very 
thankful for that info.

I notice that, lots of times here, there are references made to notable 
OST episodes, and situations from times past...

...the "OST-mythos" as it were.

These mythical stories often have me wondering what I missed, and what I 
might now be missing. (Being clueless as I am.)

I'm sure these story-fragment postings are not posted with intent to 
exclude anyone, or to be discourteous, or unkind. More like: some good 
old basic camaraderie is taking place between some old friends.

Still: Do these "inside-story-fragments" on OSLIST tend to evoke 
feelings of exclusion in readers who were /not/ there at the time?

Not sure.

<CONFESSION>

As for me, personally, I sometimes find myself experiencing curiously 
odd feelings of exclusion, when a told-fragment of an old OST-mythos 
story lacks explicit context. So I can follow the story, you know? The 
terms "outsider" or "clueless" or  "not in the story" describe these 
feelings fairly well. "Not invited?"

I sometimes wonder if some of the hundreds of /other/ members of OSLIST 
ever feel this way...or if it is "just me."

</CONFESSION>

Daniel




On 10/4/15 2:59 PM, Harrison Owen via OSList wrote:
>
> “Everything is moving.”  .... Michael -- I remember that moment 
> very well. And Dan, I’m not sure the context, etc, would help very 
> much. But just for the record the odd phrase popped out at one of the 
> International Symposia on Organization Transformation which happened 
> to be taking place at a small college south of Seattle. I have no idea 
> why Ralph said what he did, and I’m not sure Ralph did either. But 
> then again a lot of marvelous stuff seems to burst out with no obvious 
> logic train. Indeed it may be that the lack of logic train enables the 
> thought?
>
> Â
>
> Whatever the genesis, the phrase wandered about my head for some time, 
> quite unattached, and it also happened that I was working my way 
> slowly through one of the masterpieces of 20^th century western 
> philosophy when a fuzzy connection began to form. The work was that of 
> Alfred North Whitehead, and the title: “Process and Reality.” 
> I’ve been through the book probably 4-5 times, and I am frank to 
> confess that I don’t think I really understand it. But then 
> again I’ve heard  a number of people with much greater credentials, 
> tenure, etc – say the same thing. But I did get that it had 
> something to do with, “Everything is moving.” And the more I 
> thought and read, the more I felt that the good philosopher had made a 
> small mistake on his title. It shouldn’t be “Process /and/ 
> Reality,” but rather “Process *is* Reality.”
>
> Â
>
> Now, Anna Caroline we come to “structure,” or perhaps I should say 
> the fallacy of Structure? Yes I know – we’ve all been taught that 
> structure is the precursor, the “determinator” of everything. My 
> face looks as it does because of my bone structure. My life proceeds 
> the way it does because of my social structure. My business works as 
> it does because of the organizational structure. And of course, 
> meetings happen the way they do because of meeting structure, which 
> apparently is the prime domain of “facilitators.” And even if 
> we hadn’t been “taught” all this, the primacy of structure would 
> appear to be blatantly obvious – as plain as the nose on your face.
>
> Â
>
> Unfortunately, it does seem to turn out that sometimes the blatantly 
> obvious is not necessarily so. For example just looking at things it 
> is pretty clear that the world is flat, or at the least bumpy flat. 
> And any fool can see that we are the center of it all – Sun, moon, 
> and stars whiz around us. But when we think about it, as we have been 
> doing for the last 500-600 years, the obvious isn’t so obvious.
>
> Â
>
> It is reasonable to ask what would start to make us think 
> differently – to the point that we begin to question the obvious, 
> and even come to see things in a different way? Taking a leap, I will 
> suggest that it all begins with the perception of anomaly. Things 
> just don’t make sense. Our eyes tell us one thing... but???? And 
> then we start making up stories to explain the apparently 
> unexplainable. We imagine different ways of looking at things so that 
> the nonsensical makes sense. Some of those stories get pretty strange, 
> but if they actually work – that is to say, help us to see in new 
> and useful ways – that’s great!
>
> Â
>
> There is, of course, a proper term for the activity I have been 
> describing. It is called Theory Building. And for whatever it 
> is worth, “theory” comes from the Greek “/theorein”/ – to 
> see. In a word, theories are ways of looking at things – likely 
> stories you might say.
>
> Â
>
> Now, at long last (too long?) we come to the odd story I was starting 
> to tell, to the effect that Structure is only a figment of our 
> imagination, a flash frame of a moment gone by. Interesting, and 
> helpful under some circumstances... but always partial and in a sense 
> illusory. What’s “really” happening is all flow. Everything is 
> moving – That’s Ralph’s story, and I guess it is mine too.
>
> Â
>
> So how did I get to such a weird condition? It was all about 
> anomaly – more particularly, the anomaly of Open Space. Everything 
> that I had ever learned told me that it could not work. Unfortunately 
> it did (work) – and not just once, but every time, hundreds of 
> thousands of times. Something was definitely weird. It seemed to me 
> that I had to re-consider all those things I thought I had learned, 
> beginning with the basics... such things as Structure.
>
> Â
>
> Common sense would say that Open Space works because we somehow 
> created a structure that enabled it to work. That’s the way things 
> get done, or so I had been taught. But that’s not the way things 
> happened in Open Space. Structure emerged along the way and only 
> momentarily. Worse yet it (structure) seemed to have little to do with 
> the obvious power, connections, creativity.... all of which created 
> structures, and passed them by. And actually it always seemed to me 
> that the “structures” I “saw” existed only because I wanted to 
> see them – or perhaps that I “should” see them. But they were 
> only momentary wisps, figments – never to be mistaken for what was 
> really going on. Or so I’ve been thinking.
>
> Â
>
> Harrison
>
> Â
>
> Â
>
> Â
>
> Â
>
> Â
>
> Â
>
> *From:*OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] *On 
> Behalf Of *Michael Herman via OSList
> *Sent:* Saturday, October 03, 2015 6:31 PM
> *To:* JL Walker; World wide Open Space Technology email list
> *Subject:* Re: [OSList] The Tyranny of Structurelessness
>
> Â
>
> you remind me, harrison, of one morning news session years ago, 
> somewhere, probably OT... where ralph copleman walked to the center of 
> the circle and announced, all serious and mischievous at the same 
> time, "it's all moving!" Â
>
> Â
>
> then put the stick down and went back to his seat.Â
>
>
> Â
> --
>
> Michael Herman
> Michael Herman Associates
> http://MichaelHerman.com
> http://OpenSpaceWorld.org
>
> Â
>
> On Sat, Oct 3, 2015 at 1:47 PM, JL Walker via OSList 
> <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org 
> <mailto:oslist at lists.openspacetech.org>> wrote:
>
> I was thinking that maybe the antidote to the eventual tyranny of 
> structurelessness is to open space, again and again, until true 
> democracy can emerge.
>
> Â
>
> Juan Luis
>
> Â
>
> *De:*OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org 
> <mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org>] *En nombre de *Rosa 
> Zubizarreta via OSList
> *Enviado el:* sábado, 03 de octubre de 2015 12:19
> *Para:* Daniel Mezick; World wide Open Space Technology email list
> *Asunto:* Re: [OSList] The Tyranny of Structurelessness
>
> Â
>
> Hi Daniel,
>
> Yes, this is a key piece... I see it as very similar in some ways to 
> what Ken Wilber wrote later,
>
> about the "shadow side of the green meme". (Each meme has its own 
> shadow, as well as its own gift...)
>
> So, I love "green". I love circles, I love non-hierarchy, etc.
> And, part of the "shadow side of the green meme" is how ideologically 
> anti-structure it can become...
>
> to the point where some people may not even agree that OST does, in 
> fact, offer a very simple and effective structure.
>
> By way contrast, think of a situation where group of people (who don't 
> know about OST, and/or, who are having a power struggle around "which 
> process to use", and/or....  ) might easily spending a whole weekend 
> arguing /about /"how to self-organize ourselves"... with a great deal 
> more pain and frustration and a great deal less value.
>
> whereas, instead, IF someone knows about OST, and, a clear invitation 
> has been extended, and, there is enough trust/suspension of disbelief 
> so that participants are willing to enter into that format,
>
> then, we end up with a very simple and elegant structure that allows 
> people to self-organize beautifully....
>
> at least that's how i see it! :-)
>
> with all best wishes,
>
> Rosa
>
> Â
>
>
> */Rosa Zubizarreta/*
>
> /Developing Participatory and Co-intelligent Leadership
> Author of *From Conflict to Creative Collaboration* 
> <http://www.conflict2creativity.com>/
>
> /For more resources and learning opportunities, visit
> *www.DiaPraxis.com <http://www.DiaPraxis.com>*/
>
> Â
>
> On Sat, Oct 3, 2015 at 9:26 AM, Daniel Mezick via OSList 
> <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:
>
> THE TYRANNY of STRUCTURELESSNESS
> by Jo Freeman aka Joreen
>
> I find this essay extremely interesting. I hope you do, too.
>
>
>
> Here is a pertinent quote, from the essay:
> ".../the idea of "structurelessness" does not prevent the formation of 
> informal structures, only formal ones."
>
> /
> Circa 1970. Context: the women's movement. Quick summary of the main 
> points: from the essay...
>
>   * /During the years in which the women's liberation movement has
>     been taking shape, a great emphasis has been placed on what are
>     called leaderless, structureless groups as the main -- if not sole
>     -- organizational form of the movement. /
>
>   * /The idea of "structurelessness," however, has moved from a
>     healthy counter to those tendencies, to becoming a goddess in its
>     own right./
>
>   * /Contrary to what we would like to believe, there is no such thing
>     as a structureless group. /
>
>   * /This means that to strive for a structureless group is as useful,
>     and as deceptive, as to aim at an "objective" news story,
>     "value-free" social science, or a "free" economy. A "laissez
>     faire" group is about as realistic as a "laissez faire" society;
>     the idea becomes a smokescreen for the strong or the lucky to
>     establish unquestioned hegemony over others. /
>
>   * /This hegemony can be so easily established because the idea of
>     "structurelessness" does not prevent the formation of informal
>     structures, only formal ones. /
>
>   * /For everyone to have the opportunity to be involved in a given
>     group and to participate in its activities, the structure must be
>     explicit, not implicit. /
>
>   * /It is this informal structure, particularly in Unstructured
>     groups, which forms the basis for elites./
>
>
>
> Just in case you have not yet encountered the full text of this essay, 
> here it is:
>
> THE TYRANNY of STRUCTURELESSNESS
> by Jo Freeman aka Joreen
> http://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm
>
>
>
> Regards,
> Daniel
> http://www.OpenSpaceAgility.com/about
> http://www.DanielMezick.com
> 203 915 7248 <tel:203%20915%207248>
>
>
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