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Greetings to All, <br>
<br>
For the past several years I have attended conferences of the Group
Relations community, and encouraged others to do the same. I've
studied their literature, and harvested some important learning as a
result. One of the things I have come to understand a little bit
better is the role of "authority dynamics" in self-organizing social
systems.<br>
<br>
Link:<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.akriceinstitute.org">www.akriceinstitute.org</a><br>
<br>
Over the past several years I've been using Open Space with intent
to improve the results of my work in helping companies implement
Agile ideas in their organizations. We do an initial Open Space,
then the folks get about 3 months to play with Agile (we carefully
use the word "experimentation" with management,) then we do another
Open Space after that, to inspect what just happened across the
enterprise. The initial and subsequent Open Space events form a
"safe" container or field in which the members can <i>learn</i>...
as they explore how to <i>improve</i> together by <i>experimenting</i>
with new practices, and see if they actually work. I call the
process Open Agile Adoption. <br>
<br>
Link:<br>
OpenAgileAdoption.com<br>
<br>
This seems to work pretty good. It seems to "take the air out of"
most of the fear, most of the anxiety and most of the worry that is
created. The key aspect is <i>consent</i>: absolutely no one is
forced to do anything they are unwilling to do. No one is <i>coerced</i>
to <i>comply</i>. Everyone is instead respectfully <i>invited</i>
to help <i>write</i> the story, and be a <i>character</i> in the
story...of the contemplated process change. Open Agile Adoption
encourages a spirit of experimentation and play. <br>
<br>
The spirit of Open Space is the spirit of freedom. Isn't it? In the
OST community, we discuss and talk a lot about self-organization,
self-management and self-governance. The Agile community also talks
about these ideas a lot. <br>
<br>
So I have some questions. What is really going on during
self-organization in a social system? What are the steps? What
information is being sent and received? From whom, and by whom? Is
the information about <i>authority</i> important? How important?
Can a social system self organize without regard to who has the
right to do what work? <i>How do decisions that affect others get
made in a self-organizing system?</i> <br>
<br>
Who decides about <i>who decides</i>? How important is the process
of <i>authorization</i> in a self-organizing system? Is
self-organization in large part the process of dynamic authorization
(and <i>de-authorization</i>) in real time?<br>
<br>
What <i>is </i>authorization? Can self-organization occur without
the sending and receiving of authorization data by and between the
members?<br>
<br>
Is Bruce Tuckman's forming/storming/performing/adjourning actually
decomposing the <i>dynamics of authorization</i> inside a social
system?<br>
<br>
The essay below attempts to answer some of these difficult
questions. I'd love your thoughts on it. Will you give it a look?<br>
<br>
<br>
Essay: Authority Distribution in Open Space<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://newtechusa.net/agile/authority-distribution-in-open-space/">http://newtechusa.net/agile/authority-distribution-in-open-space/</a><br>
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<br>
Kind Regards,<br>
Daniel<br>
<br>
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<p class="p1">Daniel Mezick, President</p>
<p class="p1">New Technology Solutions Inc.</p>
<p class="p1">(203) 915 7248 (cell)</p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1"><a
href="http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/">Bio</a></span><span
class="s2">. <a href="http://newtechusa.net/blog/"><span
class="s1">Blog</span></a>. <a
href="http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/"><span class="s1">Twitter</span></a>.<span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s2">Examine my new book:<span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a
href="http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/"><span
class="s1">The Culture Game </span></a></span><span
class="s1">: Tools for the Agile Manager</span><span
class="s2">.</span></p>
<p class="p1">Explore Agile Team <a
href="http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/"><span
class="s3">Training</span></a> and <a
href="http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/"><span
class="s3">Coaching.</span></a></p>
<p class="p1">Explore the <a
href="http://newtechusa.net//user-groups/ma/"><span class="s3">Agile
Boston </span></a>Community.<span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
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