<html><div>>Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 17:36:24 -0400</div>
<div>>To: dwcox@PAWNEE.ASTATE.EDU</div>
<div>>From: owen <owen@tmn.com></div>
<div>>Subject: Re: A Perplexing Problem</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>At 02:54 PM 9/16/99 -0500, you wrote:</div>
<div>>>Open Space Colleagues:</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>I need the benefit of your thinking.</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>Let's suppose members (with passion and responsiblity) from
two</div>
<div>>>depts at a university (say A and B) are invited to come
together to</div>
<div>>>work on designing a new curriculum. The mindset of the
dean is to</div>
<div>>>extend genuine invitations to whomever wants to work on
designing</div>
<div>>>the new program. But further suppose that dept A wants
to house</div>
<div>>>the program after it's created. Dept A decides to
stack the deck</div>
<div>>>by sending all of its members to the joint project.</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>Open Space is built on the premise of inviting people with
passion</div>
<div>>>and responsibility to step forward. My question is
this: Can Open</div>
<div>>>Space be sabotaged by organization politics (i.e., turf
grabbing)?</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>I would greatly appreciate your thinking on this question.
Thank</div>
<div>>>you.</div>
<div>>></div>
<div>>>Dave Cox</div>
<div>>***********************************</div>
<div>>I think you would really have to work at the job. But. If
Dept A could </div>
<div>>really keep everybody else away, I suppose it could be done. If
I were </div>
<div>>concerned that something like you describe could take place, I
guess I would </div>
<div>>just enlarge the invitation list -- extend it to "anybody
who cares" -- </div>
<div>>students, potential students, folks who might hire the students,
folks who </div>
<div>>might work with the students... and anybody else -- just so long
as they </div>
<div>>care. Actually, that would be my inclination anyhow -- just to
get the </div>
<div>>highest levels of diversity possible, which always improves the
end result.</div>
<div>></div>
<div>>Harrison</div>
<div>></div>
<br>
<div align="center">
Harrison Owen <br>
7808 River Falls Drive <br>
Potomac, MD 20854 USA <br>
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email owen@tmn.com<br>
Website
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Open Space Institute website<br>
<a href="http://www.tmn.com/openspace" eudora="autourl">http://www.tmn.com/openspace</a></html>