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At 08:59 PM 8/13/2003 +0200, Jan Hein wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>SO, maybe OST is the proces and
maybe Chaordic is the structure that in<br>
combination holds the whole of divergence and convergence - if we
are<br>
to find a way to organize ourselves more authenticly
???</blockquote><br>
I think it may even be simpler than you suggest...although simplicity,
more often than not, seems to make approaches unacceptable. After 20
years with Open Space, I have come to the conclusion that creating an
Open Space organization is in fact a waste of time, for all organizations
already are Open Space organizations but they don't know it. Stated
this way, the notion appears as the height of hubris. Somehow
"we" know the truth and all the world is deluded. But with
slightly different words, the idea may become somewhat less outrageous.
My mantra has become -- Open Space works because self-organization works.
And prior to that -- all organizations are self-organizing, it is just
that some folks seem to think they did the organizing. When Dee Hock
discovered the Chaordic Organization -- it was in fact a
<i>discovery</i>, not a creation, I think. Quite happenstantially, and
contrary to all expectations, Dee found himself in the middle of a
self-organizing system called Visa. His brilliance was that he intuited
the essential nature of things, and treated the organization
appropriately. Surprise -- It worked. I think we do the same thing every
time we open space. So it is not about creation (as in creating the
Chaordic Organization or the Open Space Organization), but rather
acknowledgement and appropriate treatment. Still less is it about
"structuring" either the Chaordic Organization or the Open
Space Organization. One thing we know for sure is that given the
essential preconditions, structure (organization) happens. Once this
structure has emerged/manifest then there are some things we can do to
clean it up a bit, but creating structure is not something we need to do.
It happens all by itself. <br><br>
I believe there is enormous synergy possible between Chaordniks and
Spaceniks. First, we can share our growing, practical, on-the-ground
understanding of the nature of self organizing systems at the level of
human systems. This is not a theoretical endeavor, although theory is
always helpful as we seek an understanding of what we are looking at.
Secondly, I think there is much to share about how to best treat such
systems <i>appropriately.</i> One of the major learnings from Open Space
is that the imposition of arbitrary Control is not only a no/no -- it is
in fact the only way to insure that the Open Space will not work, or work
at less than optimal levels. In a word, appropriate behavior starts with
massive amounts of letting go of pre-determined outcomes. When we do
this, things work better. But this does not mean that we should become
totally uninvolved in the process. A workable stance seems to have a lot
to do with being totally present and absolutely invisible. And of course,
there is much more . . .<br><br>
Harrison <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 301-365-2093<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"><font color="#0000FF">http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm</a><br><br>
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