Dear Susanne, Thank you. I suppose there was an error in the typing and you meant good old Geert H. Hofstede. He was of great help since I jumped from Austria to Cape Verde. His dimensions or key differences have been helpful until now. At the moment I am surrounded by a culture which seems to have quite a high power distance level.
I tend to understand that OST is one of the quite transcultural instruments. But I am still at the beginnings of its application and what I am trying to discuss here is certainly also (or mainly?) related to my actual socio-cultural fitting process with my ambiente. In any case I feel, that there is a lot of conflict potential in the structure which Artur described quite clearly. Which leads me back to that other dicussion thread OS-conflict-mediation A fantasy Perhaps I should dare to do OST training for local people, being a beginner myself. Should I call it 'seduce some of them to apply OST with its steps, principles and the law? And to enter into such a discussion. If they would apply it, perhaps some of my questions will be reformulated or collaps to nonsense. Because then there would be representatives of different cultures involved into a discussion where they could participate with the background of their experience. Bernhard On Thu, 10 Jan 2002 09:41:57 +0100, Dr. Susanne Weber wrote: >Dear friends of the open spaces, >interesting topic, the nexus between culture and large group >interventions. What I find very enriching is the the work of Geert >Hostede about intercultural cooperation and management. He >comes up with several dimensions at the macro level of societies / >cultures: the dimensions are: > > individualist vs. collecticist orientation > materialist vs. quality of life orientation > uncertainty avoidance (f.ex. through securance systems ...) > power distance - vs. the acceptance of personal power > >(and for sure there is more - f.ex. the concept of time, of space >etc.) > >these dimensions were worked out as one of the results of a >complex empirical analysis - one of the classics, but still useful to >understand cultural dynamics better, I think. So I´m really very >much interested in the topic of culture effects or dynamics in the >work with large group interventions. In OSONOS Berlin two years >ago Harrison told us, that Culture didn´t matter and that Open >Space worked everywhere. I´m very keen to learn more about that. >Best wishes Susanne > > > >> Thanks for the conversation, Bernd, John, Jeff, Artur. Lots of >>complex and >> subtle issues here. >> >> John, I don't think that being too unattached to outcomes is a >>problem for >> most of us, just the reverse. I see a lot of strength in your >>willingness to >> wait for the group to take charge of its own meeting, affirming >>that the >> people in the room are fully competent to do just that. >> >> And I have been in groups with a major Dead Moose--some willing to >>talk about >> it, some too fearful. Sometimes my own un-anxious presence will >>encourage >> someone to begin the conversation. Sometimes not. I appreciated >>the >> suggestions of possible ways to open the conversation without >>violating the >> spirit of Open Space. >> >> I have had clients take me aside and ask me to be more directive, >>which I >> usually decline to do, in the belief that something important is >>going on. I >> have asked the boss to sit down and give someone else a chance to >>speak. I >> don't think there are any easy answers, but I truly believe that >>the people >> in the room have more power than they usually know, and I truly >>try to work >> myself out of a job as quickly as possible. Once I was fired-- >>that was a >> little quicker than I planned. >> >> I do see differences in working with groups in other cultures with >>people who >> have no history of being allowed to make their own decisions. I >>see this >> list as a major forum for us to share experiences and learn to be >>more >> sensitive to the different histories of different places. Thanks >>to Bernd >> for opening your experience to us! >> >> Joelle Everett >> >> * >> * >> ========================================================== >> [email protected] >> ------------------------------ >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, >> view the archives of [email protected], >> Visit: >> >> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > > >Dr. Susanne Weber >Institut fuer Erziehungswissenschaft >der Philipps-Universitaet Marburg >Wilhelm-Roepke-Strasse 6B >D-35032 Marburg >Tel. 0049-642128-23589 >Fax.0049-642128-28946 > >* >* >========================================================== >[email protected] >------------------------------ >To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, >view the archives of [email protected], >Visit: > >http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > ----- Bernd Weber [email protected], on 10.01.2002 at 15:23:01 Organization Development Consultant "DEVELOP YOUR CAPACITIES - MATERIALIZE YOUR VISION" C.P. 1462, Beira, Sofala, MOZAMBIQUE fone: +258-3-32 98 59, cellfone:+258-82-43 79 77 ----- WB-TrainConsult management- & human resources training, consulting & development ----- Gumpendorfer Straße 88b/18, AT-1060 Wien, AUSTRIA fone & fax: +431 596 86 57 ----- Anti-Virus precautions: 1) All attachments of my mails are mentioned by name in this e-mail Please do not open any other attachment! 2) Please send text documents in Rich Text Format (*.rtf) attachment(s) : None * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
