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What started as a small "chat" now seems to be developing into
a full blown conversation. Wonderful! And as it proceeds, I think it is
most important to recognize that all of us (and certainly myself) are
venturing into uncharted territory. We are not alone on this expedition,
and there are some useful road maps created by the likes of Kauffman,
Wilber, Prigogene, Dawkins, Kelly, Coveney, Wheatley and many more. But
it remains true that the map is not the territory, the menu is not the
meal, and for sure the book is not the experience. Having said all that
it is clear to me that the global conversation on the subject of
self-organization has progressed well beyond the level of purely
hypothetical statements. There is some genuine experience here, and the
beginnings of what be called a practice (something to be done). <br>
<br>
Under the heading of <i>experience and practice</i>, I believe that we,
in what might be called the Open Space community, have a special, and
possibly privileged position -- our 15 year encounter with what I like to
think of as the Open Space experiment. Nobody, and certainly not myself
"designed" this experiment. And for sure the
"creation" of Open Space Technology out of my martini enhanced
brain had nothing to do with the conscious design of an advanced human
technology based upon the emerging scientific understanding of
self-organization. It just happened. To be truthful, I had been
fascinated with the work of Ilya Prigogene in the 70's -- but I never put
2 +2 together, until much later. But Open Space did happen, and it does
happen. And we have the opportunity, and I think responsibility, to
ask Why? How? and Where do we go next? And so to the
conversation...<br>
<br>
Tim Wrote:<br>
<br>
<i> Again until we consider the radical differences between <br>
organisms and their eco-environments and social organizations and the
<br>
meta-systems that constitute their environment, we will not have truly
<br>
powerful understanding for organizational change and transformation. I
<br>
suggest that because humans have the capacity for self-reflexive <br>
communication, and because social organizations exhibit that same
capacity, <br>
reflexivity is an emergent property of social organizations, which
manifests <br>
as the tendency for radical transformation. <br>
<br>
</i>Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. Rocks and human beings are
different, but both share a common substrata of existence. Thus if I drop
a rock and a human, both will fall (thanks to gravity), but the human
will typically <i>know</i> that he or she is falling, and have certain
<i>feelings</i> about the situation. The addition of <i>knowledge</i> and
<i>feelings</i> which collectively we might call awareness, certainly
makes a richer stew. And then when folks talk about it all
(<i>self-reflexive communication) -- </i>things do get complicated. Thus
when we consider the process of self-organization, or its more radical
and painful form -- Transformation -- in human beings (groups or
individuals), we would expect certain additional processes to handle the
added complexity. I think this is where Griefwork comes in. When Chaos
strikes a rock it keeps on being a rock or some transformed version of
it. When Chaos strikes us we commence to grieve the loss of what
was -- leading (hopefully) to the emergence of what might be.
Shock, Anger, Denial... Just think of 911. <br>
<br>
I think we see all this going on in our "natural experiment"
every time we open space. Things begin in Chaos -- there's confusion,
lack of answers, anxiety -- and if that weren't true -- why bother to do
Open Space? And if we keep our eyes open, we can observe the Griefwork
process commencing. Stories are told of how it used to be. Pain is
shared. Bitches expressed -- and over time as the group self-organizes in
a new form -- all of that leads to some form of vision, resolution,
moving on. At least it certainly can. And should you ask -- is that the
whole story? Probably not -- but at least it gives us a starting point
towards understanding the process of self-organization in the human
dimension. But it is just a starting point. <font color="#FF0000">Larry
Peterson</font> has a useful caveat...<br>
<br>
<font color="#000080"><i>The scientific phrase, “self-organizing” is
still “flat land”, it does not acknowledge the other quadrants. From a
spiritual perspective, at other levels of awareness the self that
self-organizes and the Self (and my self) are one.<br>
<br>
</font><b>And From Nino Novak<br>
<br>
</b>So - when I try hard to achieve a certain result, am I then hindering
<br>
self-organisation? (I don't think so, I rather think that my
"directed" activities are part of <br>
the process of self-organisation of the system I live in).<br>
<br>
</i>What I am suggesting is that the principles (Law?) of
self-organization are analogous to the Law of Gravity. All critters,
including us, are subject to the same laws, but that is not the end of
the story. We can build and fly airplanes, and presumably rocks can't.
However we would be very ill-advised to dis-regard the law of gravity. It
could be painful. By analogy, I suspect that all organizations are
essentially self-organizing systems, and that they (we, us, me) along
with all the rest of the cosmos do not escape. But just as we can learn
to use the laws of gravity for our benefit (planes for example) so also
we can learn to use the Laws of Self-Organization. But we must
<i>start</i> with a recognition of the laws -- which for me are the
primal "givens," and everything else is pretty much negotiable.
<br>
<br>
This insight or recognition cuts right to the core of much of the current
understanding of how organizations work, and how we work with
organizations. Many managers and executives at least say that their job
is to create and organize the system. I think it would be more accurate
(efficient and profitable) if they were to understand that their job was
to create and sustain the conditions under which self-organization may
occur and continue. There is a needed change of metaphors here -- from
<i>auto mechanics</i> who build machines to <i>gardeners</i> who
understand that at the end of the day, the flowers will grow all by
themselves, or not. Water and fertilizer help -- but the flowers do their
own thing. <br>
<br>
We have learned from Open Space that the one way to mess it up is to try
and control it. And a close second is to have a fixed attachment to
specific outcomes. Either or both of these things can bring the whole
process to a shuddering halt. This is not to say that we can't have
"intentions" -- or that we should not have hopes for a positive
outcome -- but when it comes to the details of the outcomes or how we get
there -- I believe the experience has been -- You have to Let Go. <br>
<br>
Having said all of that, I definitely take your point -- "<i>I
rather think that my "directed" activities are part of <br>
the process of self-organisation of the system I live in."
True, true, true -- </i>and I might suggest that the impact of your
"directed activities" will be vastly enhanced to the extent
that you understand (as you obviously do) the context in which those
activities all take place -- in the midst of a self-organizing system.
The bottom line is, you are not in control. None of us are -- although
maybe all of us are. <br>
<br>
Harrison<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<div align="center">
Harrison Owen<br>
7808 River Falls Drive<br>
Potomac, MD 20854 USA<br>
phone 301-469-9269<br>
Open Space Training
<a href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/" eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.com</a>
<br>
Open Space Institute <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org/" eudora="autourl">www.openspaceworld.org</a><br>
Personal website <a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~owenhh" eudora="autourl">www.mindspring.com/~owenhh</a><br>
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