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Hi Harold,<br>
<br>
You say:<br>
<p dir="ltr"><i>"..I struggle to translate is the concept of
coercion and authority from the vantage of "it's all open
space". Can we really be coerced? How are we all already "opting
in" to empower the "authorities"?</i></p>
<i>
</i>
<p dir="ltr"><i>"...Could we just be volunteering for the victim
part of our stories?</i></p>
<i>
</i>
<p dir="ltr"><i>"...I have some thoughts about this, but I wonder
what you would say to such a challenge to the relevance of
"authority" in OST?</i><br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr"><br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr">Hmmm...interesting questions for sure.<br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr">My current belief is that authorization dynamics are
central to the general dynamics of Open Space. And if it is "Open
Space all the time" then authorization dynamics as desribed in my
essay are also there... all the time. <br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr">Regarding the Open Space meeting format: If we begin at
the beginning; that is, at the start of arranging an actual Open
Space event in an organization, we immediately work to identify
and locate someone "duly authorized" by the organization, to do
the things the Sponsor does, and say the things the Sponsor says.
Someone to occupy the Sponsor role. To do that, the person
occupying the role must have substantial authority in the
organization, usually of the formal variety. <br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr">Right? Put another way: if the Sponsor is lacking in
authorization, can they actually be effective? Larger question:
Can the meeting still actually work? What about the post-meeting
follow-through?<br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr">So here we see how <i>authorization shows up a the
very start of any contemplated Open Space event inside an
organization</i>. <br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr"><br>
<br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr">One last thing: last time I checked, "victims" are kind
of rare in Open Space. Something about the subtext of "the Law of
2 Feet...."<br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
"...The Law of Two Feet concept was published in an <a
href="http://www.openspaceworld.com/brief_history.htm">article
by Harrison Owen</a>, a member of an organization advocating
Open Spaces Technology, a model for organizing meetings that's
based around open participation. Here's how Owen describes the
rule:</p>
<p dir="ltr">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
“...Briefly stated, this law says that every individual has two
feet, and must be prepared to use them. Responsibility for a
successful outcome in any Open Space Event resides with exactly
one person—each participant. Individuals can make a difference and
must make a difference. If that is not true in a given situation,
they, and they alone, must take responsibility to use their two
feet, and move to a new place where they can make a difference.”<br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://opensource.com/business/10/8/darwin-meets-dilbert-applying-law-two-feet-your-next-meeting">http://opensource.com/business/10/8/darwin-meets-dilbert-applying-law-two-feet-your-next-meeting</a><br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr"><br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr">Daniel<br>
</p>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/26/14 6:49 PM, Harold Shinsato via
OSList wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CABPuPOpssR6_zCjTMa8-SMc5qHCFSFQQCpErZyW_eqMTy58erw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<p dir="ltr">Fantastic essay, Daniel. I'm a bit freaked out by
Harrison talking about his "translator" after diving into
T.S.Kuhn's book where he says paradigm shifts require
"translators" because new and old paradigm holders live in
different worlds, where even common terms may be fundamentally
different.</p>
<p dir="ltr">What I struggle to translate is the concept of
coercion and authority from the vantage of "it's all open
space". Can we really be coerced? How are we all already "opting
in" to empower the "authorities"?</p>
<p dir="ltr">Could we just be volunteering for the victim part of
our stories?</p>
<p dir="ltr">I have some thoughts about this, but I wonder what
you would say to such a challenge to the relevance of
"authority" in OST?</p>
<p dir="ltr">Thanks,<br>
Harold</p>
<div class="gmail_quot<blockquote class=" style="margin:0 0 0
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Daniel...
You really did it! I think. Your language comes from a
place I don’t know... which is to say that I probably
wouldn’t say what you say in the way that you do (duh).
BUT when I run my “translator” it comes out sounding
pretty good! So... I can’t help with the questions you
have raised. Actually I think you are doing pretty well
on your own, and (hopefully) will incite others to a
similarly riotous performance. Thanks!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Harrison
</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext">From:</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext">
OSList [mailto:<a moz-do-not-send="true"
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target="_blank">oslist-bounces@lists.openspacetech.org</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Daniel Mezick via OSList<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, September 25, 2014 9:39 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org"
target="_blank">oslist@lists.openspacetech.org</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [OSList] Authority Distribution in
Open Space</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">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 moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.akriceinstitute.org" target="_blank">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 moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://newtechusa.net/agile/authority-distribution-in-open-space/"
target="_blank">http://newtechusa.net/agile/authority-distribution-in-open-space/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Kind Regards,<br>
Daniel</p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">-- <br>
<br>
</p>
<p>Daniel Mezick, President</p>
<p>New Technology Solutions Inc.</p>
<p><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="tel:%28203%29%20915%207248" value="+12039157248"
target="_blank">(203) 915 7248</a> (cell)</p>
<p><span><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/"
target="_blank">Bio</a></span><span>. <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://newtechusa.net/blog/" target="_blank"><span>Blog</span></a>.
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/"
target="_blank"><span>Twitter</span></a>.</span><span><span
style="color:black"> </span></span></p>
<p><span>Examine my new book:</span><span><span
style="color:black"> </span></span><span><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/"
target="_blank"><span>The Culture Game </span></a></span><span>:
Tools for the Agile Manager</span><span>.</span></p>
<p>Explore Agile Team <a moz-do-not-send="true"
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target="_blank"><span>Training</span></a> and <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
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target="_blank"><span>Coaching.</span></a></p>
<p>Explore the <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://newtechusa.net/user-groups/ma/"
target="_blank"><span>Agile Boston </span></a>Community.<span> </span></p>
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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
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Boston </span></a>Community.<span
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