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At 01:49 PM 4/12/2002 +0400, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>I have heard skepticism regarding
OS from others who have participated<br>
in it, including one person who participated in one you did,
Harrison,<br>
(something about jails and South Africa). What I have heard is that
OS<br>
brings people into a very excited state. That doesn't necessarily
mean<br>
that there is follow through after the event even though the OS may<br>
have allotted time for it.<br><br>
Maybe like everything in life OS can't be expected to work perfectly
because its<br>
success depends on many variables.</blockquote><br>
Raffi -- I think it also depends on what you might consider
"working" to be. If your expectation is that the organization
will suddenly be energized, a new Director found, and that everybody will
take responsibility for identified actions, you might see some problem
with Open Space. However, if the truth of the matter is that the
organization is dead, nobody wants a director, and further action a
needless expenditure of energy, I would suggest that the Open Space
"worked" perfectly, but the expectations of outcomes might need
to be adjusted. Personally, I find it useful to have as few expectations
of fixed outcomes as possible -- except for one very important one --
which is that the people present will have the space and time to be fully
themselves and look honestly at their situation. Where they go from there
is totally up to them. <br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>My
favorite story on the subject happened a number of years ago when I was
asked to do an Open Space for a small consulting company (about 50
people) on the subject of "Their Future." By the middle of the
first afternoon, it was clear to everybody that they did not have a
future, and by 4pm they had essentially dissolved the business. The
President was not happy, but the people were vastly relieved. The
"end" of the company was something that everybody knew about,
but nobody dared say -- until the Open Space. It was truly liberating,
and in fact the folks then went on to create a whole mess of new
businesses with all that frustrated energy that was now freed up to do
something useful instead of pretending that they really liked how things
were.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Sometimes
the best result is a good funeral. Say good by to the old and move on to
the new. But surely neither Open Space (nor anything else so far as I can
see) can guarantee that Folks are going to do what they don't want to do,
even if somebody else thinks they should -- at least not in the long
term. Goodness knows, lots of Folks have tried, but eventually it seems
the people will do nothing at all (just sit on their hands) or revolt.
Neither of which is a useful outcome in my judgement.<br><br>
Harrison<br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<div align="center">Harrison Owen<br>
7808 River Falls Drive<br>
Potomac, MD 20854 USA<br>
phone 301-365-2093<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://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm" eudora="autourl">http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm</a><br><br>
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