Hi Rosa:
Thanks for your kind
comments.
Some minor points. I
don't want to know anything (more) about post-modernism, but I do know
something (I think) about "social-constructivism" and "social
construction of knowledge" and you are right - Mannheim is not normally
included in the references, neither the US, or in continental Europe (I don't
know about the UK). But he is included in many studies on "sociology of
knowledge" (but in this domain, I think that Khun is the main reference),
and in some cases also in pedagogic works.
In what concerns Mary
Parker Follett, that I personally like very much, you are also right. She was
still sometimes referred some 20-30 years ago when talking about the
"Human Relations Theory of Management" (as a precursor), but today
she is rarely mentioned even in that domain.
If you have decided to
do a PhD, go for it! But after you have presented your thesis, came back to me
as I would like to know your opinion about the real value of a PhD... And
I will give some opinions of my own...
Regards
Artur
PS; a quotation from Mary
Parker Follett that could be written by an Open Spacer: “A large
organization is a collection of local communities. Individual and institutional
growth are maximized when those communities are self-governing to the maximum
extent possible.” (Mary Parker Follett, 1924)
________________________________
From: Rosa Zubizarreta <[email protected]>
To: Artur Silva <[email protected]>; World wide Open Space Technology email
list <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 4, 2014 8:38 PM
Subject: Re: [OSList] rest of the world catching up with Open Space...
Hello Artur!
Really interesting to hear about your work. And I appreciated your metaphor of
the fall of the Berlin Wall, as opening a Pandora's Box...
I also very much appreciate your point about how different ideas are
"discovered" and then later "forgotten",
only to be rediscovered again...
among other various projects, I am back in grad school now, enrolled in a PhD
at Fielding.
as one small example, it's amazing to me how among all the post-modernist and
"social construction of knowledge" stuff,
hardly anyone (at least here in the U.S.,) acknowledges the work of Karl
Mannheim...
in my mind, he made some significant contributions to revisioning the dialectic
from a "battleground" to an ongoing process of learning to work creatively with
different perspectives... which is what my own work has been about.
Another source of inspiration for me has been Mary Parker Follett... written in
the 20's, then largely forgotten till the 90's, when she was honored by Pater
Drucker as a "prophet of modern management," her insights still being at the
forefront of much of what is happening today...
Anyway, here's hoping you will find abundant opportunities to recreate your
"Metanoia Center" again!
with all best wishes,
Ros
Rosa Zubizarreta
Diapraxis: Facilitating Creative Collaboration
http://www.diapraxis.com
On Tue, Nov 4, 2014 at 7:43 AM, Artur Silva <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Rosa, Chris, Daniel,
Alan and all,
>
>
>
>Like Rosa I also
found the link to this article that Hamel and Zanini wrote to McKinsey through
a LinkedIn thread, but only today I had the time to read it.
>(http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/build_a_change_platform_not_a_change_program)
>
>I agree with others that
it is a marvelous article, that may explain to many large companies - in a
language that they can understand - concepts that we are aware of, but also
others that - as a community - we have never explored enough, namely
“collaborative
platforms” (more about that below).
>
>
>
>I also agree with Chris
that this could be an article written in the 80's or even before (except for
the Web). But I have progressively
discovered, in the last years, that a lot of brilliant ideas about very
different subjects (from education to sustainability, to transformational
change, to mention only some of them) have been written from the 50's to the
80's, and then disappeared from the radar of Universities, companies and the
media.
>
>
>
>
>The fall of the Berlin
wall was an impressive victory of democracy, but had also a very bad side
effect as it convinced everyone (and especially the radical conservatives),
that, if the communism was bad, then capitalism was good and it should
be increased, giving more power to the markets and increasing (uncontrolled)
free trade. The very dangerous results of that are now evident to more
people everywhere.
>[I remember, in the
closing circle of WOSonOS 2000 in Berlin, someone making a reference to the
fall of the Berlin wall as "opening more space" and I have though
that it was probably also opening a Pandora's box, but I couldn't find the
words to explain that - and it was also clearly off topic. I would react
differently if it was today - as also probably would he...).
>
>
>
>Like Chris, but in a
different direction, in this year I have been putting together an approach to
the transformational change of organizations, that I have called – as some of
you would expect - a "Metanoia Center".
>Indeed I had the opportunity
to work with two inter-related communities of a large Portuguese industrial
firm, where we have done:
>- Two revisions of
the literature, one about "Professional Communities" (Communities of
Practice, if you prefer that designation) and "Online Professional Collaborative
Platforms" that have been distributed to all the members of the two
communities involved (those reviews are in Portuguese);
>- one OST event on the
subject of "How to Improve Knowledge Sharing in Company X?" to whom
all have been invited and was attended by about 20 people, with the procedures
distributed to all the invitees;
>- The installation of an
online professional collaborative platform (similar to Zimbra's one) where all
the community was enrolled and could participate. [Examples of these types of
platforms from the Forrester's Report on "Social Platforms) are, for
instance IBM Connections, salesforce Chatter
>and Communities, Jive,
Microsoft Office 365, Zimbra Communities, Tibco tibbra)].
>
>
>
>Unfortunately, as this
was a program financed by the EU the time frame had a defined end. On the other
hand the project had a major delay as the former Project Manager was nominated
to
a foreign assignment, and finally a large part of the two communities have been
involved in a major project for a customer during part of our project. So, for
me, the results were inconclusive, but I look forward to repeat the experiment
anywhere I am invited to.
>
>
>
>I also think that, if
this article was available sooner, I would have the possibly to distribute it
to the high management of the company that have never been clearly involved :-(
>
>
>
>Regards
>
>
>Artur
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
> From: Chris Corrigan via OSList <[email protected]>
>To: Rosa Zubizarreta <[email protected]>; World wide Open Space Technology
>email list <[email protected]>
>Sent: Monday, November 3, 2014 8:52 PM
>Subject: Re: [OSList] rest of the world catching up with Open Space...
>
>
>
>I think the idea of a change platform is an excellent one.
>
>
>I have been putting together my own approach to this kind of work recently.
>i’ve been thinking of it as a kind of operating system with different layers.
>It’s about examining how I work with pretty much anyone - the kind of
>theoretical basis for my work, my own strengths and preferences and
>assumptions. On top of that are ways of seeing the world that I apply pretty
>consistently and on top of that, “apps” if you will that help work get done
>coherently.
>
>
>It has been a rewarding exercise to do this, and I can’t recommend it highly
>enough to others in this field. At the very least it helps make it clear to
>others what you do and why and it has the added benefit of allowing you to see
>your own assumptions about the way the world works.
>
>
>Having said that, yeah, this article seems very 1985. I’m pretty sure that
>even in the hallowed belly of McKinsey, this thinking is pretty dated. Being
>the self-appointed guardians of what is the gold standard of management
>consulting, it kind of bugs me when they publish stuff the rest of the world
>has known for years as if it’s the latest trend. Having said that, it’s
>always nice to pull out their stuff when confronted with a particularly
>traditional organization that is stuck in its thinking about change and
>complexity and strategy.
>
>
>Chris
>
>
>On Nov 3, 2014, at 7:07 AM, Rosa Zubizarreta via OSList
><[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/build_a_change_platform_not_a_change_program
>
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>
>
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