[OSList] Fwd: Re: Orgs that Failed to Implement Self-Organization?

Michael M Pannwitz mmpannwitz at gmail.com
Mon Jun 24 23:38:46 PDT 2019


Dear LISTige,

after getting his ok I am forwarding this note from David Osborne that 
was meant to reach all of us but only got to my mailbox.
Greetings from Berlin
mmp



Datum: 	Fri, 21 Jun 2019 09:32:52 -0400
Von: 	David Osborne <dosborne at change-fusion.com>
An: 	Michael M Pannwitz <mmpannwitz at gmail.com>



Michael,

Your email triggered a few thoughts for me.

My thoughts on self-organization are heavily influenced by lunches at 
the Glen Echo Inn with Harrison.  From these lunches, I learned several 
things that I have been practicing and working with for over a decade 
now related to self-organization. The first of which is the premise that 
you and others have shared here that self-organization is happening all 
the time...it's all self-organizing. We don't have to make it happen. 
What happens in Open Space though are that certain conditions are set 
that enable change to emerge ......rather than intractable, complex 
issues with diverse views staying stuck.

One different view I've had with Harrison is that we don't have to do 
anything at all ....we can just let it all happen. While this is true. 
I've had a human problem, I care. Passion and caring is part of the root 
energy that fuels both open space and self-organization. My caring has 
led me to want to figure out how can we influence the self-organizing 
process to lead to positive change the help whatever the broader 
organism is, group, organization, country, society, etc.

You raise the point about focusing on the"factors" that affect 
self-organization. That is where I've invested my time and energy over 
the past decade and what I've discovered is that while we cannot control 
change or the self-organizing process we can influence the speed and 
direction of change quite dramatically if we focus on and adjust these 
factors.  It's very powerful and I believe the future of change.

best to all,

David

*David R. Osborne*
Organization and Leadership Development

*
*6402 Arlington Blvd., Suite 1120, Falls Church, VA 22042
703-939-1777  | dosborne at change-fusion.com 
<mailto:dosborne at change-fusion.com>  | change-fusion.com 
<http://change-fusion.com/>


On Fri, Jun 21, 2019 at 3:53 AM Michael M Pannwitz <mmpannwitz at gmail.com 
<mailto:mmpannwitz at gmail.com>> wrote:

     Dear Jake and you others,

     I am intriguing myself with your quest for pitfalls in regard to
     "implement self-organization".
     If it is assumed that "self-organization" is inherent in all groups,
     organisations, systems and in all processes on this planet and in 
the universe and has been since the Big Bang, it would not be necessary 
to "implement self-organization".
     In fact, attempting to "implement self-organization" could in 
itself be the pitfall. This would jive with the notion that a sure fire 
way to
     impede self-organization is to mess with it (that is, control it).

     Picking up on what Rob just wrote
     "By definition self organisation occurs despite any efforts to make it
     happen."
     I suspect that
     "Self-organisation is hampered by efforts to make it happen."

     I also wonder if it would be helpful to distinguish between
     "self-organization" as we observe it everywhere around us (such as
     children self-organizing their game on a playground or a butterfly
     unfolding from a chrysalis or a break-out group in an os-event
     self-organizing their activities) and the "force of selforganization".

     Assuming  that the force of selforganzation is behind self-organization
     it might be useful to focus on the "factors" that would support an
     environment in which the force of selforganization can thrive, 
unfold...

     One of the stories we have is the development of OST itself. OST was
     dreamt up originally as a way to organize a conference in a few hours
     instead of a whole years work (a wonderful gift that was borne out of
     being bored with working hard). After it kept working in various
     settings with a vast minimum of pre-implemented structure, no
     panels, no
     speakers, only one facilitator... his originator began wondering on why
     it was working.

     We know the rest of the story and have payed attention to the 5 or 6 or
     7 prerequisites that now have been tested in thousands of events which
     need to be in place for the "force of selforganisation" to do its thing
     which we then perceive as "self-organization".

     Its simple but not easy.
     Is not facing that which seduces to twists, adulterations, creating
     surrogate cocktails...?

     Greetings from Berlin
     mmp




     Am 21.06.2019 um 04:04 schrieb Juliane Martina Roell (Structure &
     Process) via OSList:
      >
      >
      > Jake Yeager via OSList schrieb am 20.06.19 um 19:31:
      >> Hey everyone,
      >>
      >> Does anyone know of organizations that attempted to implement
      >> self-organization but failed? If so, do you know some of the
     factors
      >> that contributed to the failure? We hear about the successes, like
      >> Semco and AES, but rarely about the failures. I'd like to
     understand
      >> better what the pitfalls are and also what the success rate is.
      > Hi Jake,
      >
      > what do you mean by "implement self-organization"?
      > How would one go about doing that?
      >
      > Best Regards,
      >
      > Juliane.

     --     Michael M Pannwitz
     Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
     ++49 - 30-772 8000
     mmpannwitz at gmail.com <mailto:mmpannwitz at gmail.com>




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