[OSList] OST encourages avoidance of conflict

[Harrison Owen]

There is conflict, and then there is destructive conflict. I think they are two entirely different things. Conflict is an essential part of living, life, the total evolutionary process. Show me any organization that has no conflict and I’ll show you a dead one. Conflict occurs when two or more critical concerns (cares) but heads. Given sufficient room, they will find a way. Close that space and they will kill each other. My experience in Open Space has always been one of intense conflict combined with serious way finding. Parties who would ordinarily kill each other find common ground. And the air sizzles. Believe me, I’ve been there.

 

Harrison

 

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From: OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Harold Shinsato via OSList
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2018 5:25 PM
To: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Cc: Harold Shinsato
Subject: Re: [OSList] OST encourages avoidance of conflict

 

Daniel,

Interesting concern. I think I remember hearing this from a well respected management guru as a critique of Open Space. I can't help but wonder the following:

- How well do individual adults resolve conflicts when an authority figure forces them?
- How well do conflicting peoples or tribal communities resolve conflicts when they are forcibly held together by an imperial force (think Rome, USSR, pre-partition India, etc etc etc)

If you are dealing with children or developmentally challenged individuals - especially those who have violated others rights are are in prison - I can imagine there being some value to some level of compulsion or coercion here. But even there, it may temporarily resolve the fighting and damage, but not the children's growth.

If you are dealing with severe human rights being violated in tribal scenarios, I can see how that might justify gunboat diplomacy. But I can't imagine the tribal system will evolve to respect human rights without a huge additional investment from the gunboat diplomats. And it is all too likely that such interference may not only cause even bigger problems later on, but can also encourage exploitation of the less developed tribe/community.

Thanks for asking this question!

    Harold



On 1/30/18 2:07 PM, Daniel Mezick via OSList wrote:

I am hearing this pointed criticism from some quarters: That OST actually encourages conflict-avoidance via the Law of 2 Feet. In other words, people who need to be resolving conflict (or at least discussing it) can just avoid the touchy topic... and each other. 

Could this actually be true? If not why not? 

 

-- 
Daniel Mezick
Culture Strategist. Author. Keynoter.
(203) 915 7248. Bio. <http://www.DanielMezick.com/>  Blog. <http://www.NewTechUSA.net/blog/>  Twitter. <https://twitter.com/DanielMezick>  
Book: The Culture Game. <http://theculturegame.com/>  
Book: The OpenSpace Agility Handbook. <http://www.amazon.com/OpenSpace-Agility-Handbook-Daniel-Mezick/dp/0984875336>  






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Harold Shinsato
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