<html><div>>From: Minhhanh@aol.com <Minhhanh@aol.com></div>
<div>>Subject: OST application for conflict resolution</div>
<br>
<div>>>I recently participated in a meeting of a religious
organization to develop a</div>
<div>>>national mentoring program. For this purpose, it was
successful. I just</div>
<div>>>finish reading the User's Guide for OST. I'm just
wondering how it would</div>
<div>>work for conflict resolution in a Christian church congregation
setting. Do</div>
<div>>you have any material or case study on this application?
Thank you.</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>Minh-Hanh Nguyen</div>
<div>********************************************</div>
<div>I have found little if any difference between churches and other
organizations, except possibly that churches are sure they are different,
which is an opinion that they share with all other organizations -- and
so we are back where we started. But on the subject of conflict, and its
resolution -- I have never found any organization (church or whatever)
that could not handle conflict in Open Space and benefit from the
experience. The whole situation can become quite interesting, not
to say nervous making -- especially for the facilitator and the
sponsoring group... but all the folks (participants) do very well, and
learn an incredible amount. More importantly, it appears that all the
energy (Spirit) previously locked up in the conflict is now free to go to
work in new, and useful ways. but this new situation creates its own
problems. Personally I think the problems are good ones to have, but not
everybody would agree.</div>
<br>
<div>Essentially, Spirit gets loose and starts working in new ways --
which means almost inevitably that old structures, ways of doing things,
institutional hierarchies, bureaucracies, those who thought they were in
charge -- are all in trouble. As a consequence I always find it useful to
have a pointed conversation with folks before we start to the effect that
if their intent and desire is to rid the institution of conflict AND
return everything the nice orderly way it used to be --- Please, please,
don't use Open Space. The conflict can be exorcized -- but
the old way of doing things will go as well.</div>
<br>
<div>Conflict for me is not a bad thing -- indeed it is a positive sign
that something is still alive, somebody still cares, passion is present.
The problem is that different people's passions collide and conflict with
each other, or with the structure everybody is operating in -- or all of
the above. In short something has to give, and in the interim people
spend more time and energy fighting each other and the "system"
than doing what they really want to do. </div>
<br>
<div>Helping the people is no great thing. Just give them some more space
(Open Space) and they will typically find a useful way to go. At least
they always have in my experience. The poor system is a different thing.
Faced with passion/feeling/caring on the loose -- lots of old
structure/systems will just be blown away. So if the concern is to
preserve the institution as it has always been the use of Open Space is
absolutely contra-indicated. And since many churches seem more concerned
with the preservation of institutional forms (particularly old ones) than
just about anything else -- Open Space can definitely be
problematical.</div>
<br>
<div>Churches, of course are not alone when it comes to a certain rigor
mortis in their organizational life. Indeed, they may be better than most
if only because the words Spirit, passion, renewal, resurrection -- to
name a few -- are still part of the organizational vocabulary even if the
full implications of these words are not fully attended to. </div>
<br>
Harrison
<br>
<div align="center">
Harrison Owen <br>
7808 River Falls Drive <br>
Potomac, MD 20854 USA <br>
301-469-9269 (phone) <br>
301-983-9314 (fax) <br>
email owen@tmn.com<br>
Website
<a href="http://www.tmn.com/~owen" eudora="autourl">http://www.tmn.com/~owen</a><br>
Open Space Institute website<br>
<a href="http://www.tmn.com/openspace" eudora="autourl">http://www.tmn.com/openspace</a></html>