I continue to be a major fan of OS, and have only one major continuing question about its potential limitation: Are abilities that cause/allow some to lead in OS well-correlated with the abilities required to lead in a day-to-day enterprise? This question may be a bit similar to whether great political candidates also make great political leaders. J.
-----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Harrison Owen Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2004 11:13 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Hierarchy Hierarchy for sure gets a bad rap. But as Michael points out, hierarchies show up naturally, even -- and maybe most especially -- in Open Space. Somebody has the passion, takes the responsibility and some other folks come along. I don't know what else you would call it. I call it Hierarchy. But -- and this is a BIG BUT -- it is a natural hierarchy totally dependant upon the situation, the people involved and the task they are undertaking. Change any of those variables and you will have a new organization/hierarchy. I think the critical thing is that it is natural, and therefore appropriate to that particular situation. The problem with hierarchies that not only get the bad rap, but fully deserve that rap, is that they are imposed, arbitrary, and un natural. I don't care that the CEO/MD was appointed by the Board and gets the big bucks/yen/marks -- that does not make him or her THE leaders. I think that went out with the Divine Right of Kings. Or something. One other problem with Hierarchy may also be that it is (unfortunately) an artifact of our graphics. When we draw our organizations they always seem to come out looking like an inverted family tree. A real odd tree with the branches in the ground and the trunk in the air. No wonder it dies. You would too if you had your head 6 feet under! But there are other graphics -- circles, spheres -- polycentric spheres in 3-D. Suppose you thought of an organization as polycentric spheres all overlapping each other to some degree. And at the center of each was the one with the passion who took the responsibility. Now tell me which way is up -- and does it really matter? Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20845 Phone 301-365-2093 Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Pannwitz, Michael M Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2004 9:00 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Modesty & 5 Simultaneous Open Spaces Dear Larry, the "team" I referred to, is the temporary organization created for the os-event (not part of the sponsor) made up of assistants, helpers, facilitator, documentation specialists, photographer etc.. This team has or rather gives itself a hierarchy. Its been a great learning field for me to look at these small "systems" that I am part of when involved with facilitating an open space and to tinker with "appropriate" structure or hierarchy. One of the principles that I try to stick to is the notion of the "fully present and invisible" facilitator...recent feedback has indicated that sometimes the hierarchy designed for the facilitation team actually supports this "state" in the eyes of the participants...extending the "fully presnt and invisible" mode to all team-members from the experience of the observing participants. My assumption in general is that every system has a hierarchy (more or less appropriate) (Ken Wilbur reports of more than 200 hierarchies that he had collected in his search for a "fit", eventually coming up with the concept of "holons"...noting that "Even those memes that don't recognize hierarchies - such as beige or purple - still have hierarchical structures. Everybody seemed to have some sort of hierarchy, even those who claimed they didn't.) The reason I am diving into this aspect: Where can I get a more practical and existential learning or remembering experience than in my actual praxis? And: (referring to Joelles comments about open space and hierarchy) I find it productive to look at "hierarchy" as a "given" in all systems and organizations without the popular stigma attached to the term (I looked it up in the Unabridged and there it is almost exclusively documented with that negative stigma attached). What would a system or organization look like in which hierarchy is eliminated? Appears, it would no longer exist. Selforganization, which surfaces especially visible in ost-events or when children play, brings forth hierarchy and structure. Yes, of a kind that has no designer! And of a kind that seems the appropriate vessel for creating "peace" out of chaos, confusion and conflict. Ok, what kind of hierarchy is appropriate for the " team" described at the beginning that "facilitates" the ost-event? Or, what kind of hierarchy is appropriate for the subsystem in the organization you are working with that has the role of "providing support to tenants and staff as they work together to enable the local clusters to make key decisionsen" Greetings from Berlin mmp On Sat, 27 Mar 2004 11:44:02 -0500, Larry Peterson wrote: >Michael: You said: > >"For me as facilitator working with teams (often groups of 7 or more) >its proven to be useful to consciously design the "hierarchy" for the >team and for the interaction of the team with other subsystems >(catering, publishing, facility management, the sponsors, child-care, >sound technician, press/radio/television, etc.) for the open >space-event (including pre-meetings, setting up the os, the os itself, >follow up)." > >I'm not sure I understand what you mean. I usually don't get involved >in "designing" the hierarchy in systems I'm in. Michael M Pannwitz boscop Draisweg 1 12209 Berlin, Germany FON +49 - 30-772 8000 FAX +49 - 30-773 92 464 www.michaelmpannwitz.de www.openspace-landschaft.de An der E-Gruppe "openspacedeutsch" für deutschsprechende open space-PraktikerInnen interessiert? 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