Dan, Google can often help. https://www.google.com/#q=ralph+copleman
ho
*From:*OSList [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] *On
Behalf Of *Daniel Mezick via OSList
*Sent:* Monday, October 05, 2015 4:51 PM
*To:* Harrison Owen; World wide Open Space Technology email list
*Subject:* Re: [OSList] The Tyranny of Structurelessness
Howdy Harrison,
Thanks for describing the context of the Ralph Copleman story- I'm
very thankful for that info.
I notice that, lots of times here, there are references made to
notable OST episodes, and situations from times past...
...the "OST-mythos" as it were.
These mythical stories often have me wondering what I missed, and what
I might now be missing. (Being clueless as I am.)
I'm sure these story-fragment postings are not posted with intent to
exclude anyone, or to be discourteous, or unkind. More like: some good
old basic camaraderie is taking place between some old friends.
Still: Do these "inside-story-fragments" on OSLIST tend to evoke
feelings of exclusion in readers who were /not/ there at the time?
Not sure.
<CONFESSION>
As for me, personally, I sometimes find myself experiencing curiously
odd feelings of exclusion, when a told-fragment of an old OST-mythos
story lacks explicit context. So I can follow the story, you know? The
terms "outsider" or "clueless" or "not in the story" describe these
feelings fairly well. "Not invited?"
I sometimes wonder if some of the hundreds of /other/ members of
OSLIST ever feel this way...or if it is "just me."
</CONFESSION>
Daniel
On 10/4/15 2:59 PM, Harrison Owen via OSList wrote:
âEverythingis moving.â .... Michael -- I remember that moment
verywell. And Dan, Iâm not sure the context, etc, would helpvery
much. But just for the record the odd phrase popped out at one of
the International Symposia on Organization Transformation which
happened to be taking place at a small college south of Seattle. I
have no idea why Ralph said what he did, and Iâm not sure Ralph
did either. But then againa lot of marvelous stuff seems to burst
out with no obvious logic train. Indeed it may be that the lack of
logic train enables the thought?
Â
Whatever the genesis, the phrase wandered about my head for some
time, quite unattached, and it also happened that I was working my
way slowly through one of the masterpieces of 20^th century
western philosophy when a fuzzy connection began to form. The work
was that of Alfred North Whitehead, and the title: âProcess
and Reality.â Iâve been through thebook probably 4-5 times,
and I am frank to confess that I donât think I really
understandit. But then again Iâveheard a number of people with
much greater credentials, tenure, etc â say the same thing. But
I did get that ithad something to do with, âEverything is
moving.â Andthe more I thought and read, the more I felt that
the good philosopher had made a small mistake on his title. It
shouldnât be âProcess/and/ Reality,â but
ratherâProcess*is* Reality.â
Â
Now, Anna Caroline we come to âstructure,â or perhaps Ishould
say the fallacy of Structure? Yes I know â weâve all been
taught that structure is the precursor, the âdeterminatorâ of
everything. My face looks as it doesbecause of my bone structure.
My life proceeds the way it does because of my social structure.
My business works as it does because of the organizational
structure. And of course, meetings happen the way they do because
of meeting structure, which apparently is the prime domain
of âfacilitators.â And even if we hadnât beenâtaughtâ
all this, the primacy of structure would appearto be blatantly
obvious â as plain as the nose on yourface.
Â
Unfortunately, it does seem to turn out that sometimes the
blatantly obvious is not necessarily so. For example just looking
at things it is pretty clear that the world is flat, or at the
least bumpy flat. And any fool can see that we are the center of
it all â Sun, moon, and stars whiz around us. But when we think
about it, as we have been doing for the last 500-600 years, the
obvious isnât so obvious.
Â
It is reasonable to ask what would start to make us think
differently â to the point that we begin to question theobvious,
and even come to see things in a different way? Taking a leap, I
will suggest that it all begins with the perception of anomaly.
Things just donât make sense. Our eyes tell us one thing...
but???? And then we start making up stories to explain the
apparently unexplainable. We imagine different ways of looking at
things so that the nonsensical makes sense. Some of those stories
get pretty strange, but if they actually work â that is to say,
helpus to see in new and useful ways â thatâs great!
Â
There is, of course, a proper term for the activity I have been
describing. It is called Theory Building. And for whatever it is
worth, âtheoryâ comes from the Greek â/theoreinâ///â to
see. In a word, theories are ways of looking atthings â likely
stories you might say.
Â
Now, at long last (too long?) we come to the odd story I was
starting to tell, to the effect that Structure is only a figment
of our imagination, a flash frame of a moment gone by.
Interesting, and helpful under some circumstances... but always
partial and in a sense illusory. Whatâsâreallyâ happening is
all flow. Everything is moving âThatâs Ralphâs story, and I
guess it is mine too.
Â
So how did I get to such a weird condition? It was all about
anomaly â more particularly, the anomaly of Open
Space.Everything that I had ever learned told me that it could not
work. Unfortunately it did (work) â and not just once, butevery
time, hundreds of thousands of times. Something was definitely
weird. It seemed to me that I had to re-consider all those things
I thought I had learned, beginning with the basics... such things
as Structure.
Â
Common sense would say that Open Space works because we somehow
created a structure that enabled it to work. Thatâs theway
things get done, or so I had been taught. But thatâsnot the way
things happened in Open Space. Structure emerged along the way and
only momentarily. Worse yet it (structure) seemed to have little
to do with the obvious power, connections, creativity.... all of
which created structures, and passed them by. And actually it
always seemed to me that the âstructuresâ I âsawâ existed
only because Iwanted to see them â or perhaps that I
âshouldâ seethem. But they were only momentary wisps,
figments â neverto be mistaken for what was really going on. Or
so Iâvebeen thinking.
Â
Harrison
Â
Â
Â
Â
Â
Â
*From:*OSList [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org] *On
Behalf Of *Michael Herman via OSList
*Sent:* Saturday, October 03, 2015 6:31 PM
*To:* JL Walker; World wide Open Space Technology email list
*Subject:* Re: [OSList] The Tyranny of Structurelessness
Â
you remind me, harrison, of one morning news session years ago,
somewhere, probably OT... where ralph copleman walked to the
center of the circle and announced, all serious and mischievous at
the same time, "it's all moving!" Â
Â
then put the stick down and went back to his seat.Â
Â
--
Michael Herman
Michael Herman Associates
http://MichaelHerman.com
http://OpenSpaceWorld.org
Â
On Sat, Oct 3, 2015 at 1:47 PM, JL Walker via OSList
<oslist@lists.openspacetech.org
<mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org>> wrote:
I was thinking that maybe the antidote to the eventual tyranny of
structurelessness is to open space, again and again, until true
democracy can emerge.
Â
Juan Luis
Â
*De:*OSList [mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org
<mailto:oslist-boun...@lists.openspacetech.org>] *En nombre de
*Rosa Zubizarreta via OSList
*Enviado el:* sábado, 03 de octubre de 2015 12:19
*Para:* Daniel Mezick; World wide Open Space Technology email list
*Asunto:* Re: [OSList] The Tyranny of Structurelessness
Â
Hi Daniel,
Yes, this is a key piece... I see it as very similar in some ways
to what Ken Wilber wrote later,
about the "shadow side of the green meme". (Each meme has its own
shadow, as well as its own gift...)
So, I love "green". I love circles, I love non-hierarchy, etc.
And, part of the "shadow side of the green meme" is how
ideologically anti-structure it can become...
to the point where some people may not even agree that OST does,
in fact, offer a very simple and effective structure.
By way contrast, think of a situation where group of people (who
don't know about OST, and/or, who are having a power struggle
around "which process to use", and/or.... ) might easily
spending a whole weekend arguing /about /"how to self-organize
ourselves"... with a great deal more pain and frustration and a
great deal less value.
whereas, instead, IF someone knows about OST, and, a clear
invitation has been extended, and, there is enough
trust/suspension of disbelief so that participants are willing to
enter into that format,
then, we end up with a very simple and elegant structure that
allows people to self-organize beautifully....
at least that's how i see it! :-)
with all best wishes,
Rosa
Â
*/Rosa Zubizarreta/*
/Developing Participatory and Co-intelligent Leadership
Author of *From Conflict to Creative Collaboration*
<http://www.conflict2creativity.com>/
/For more resources and learning opportunities, visit
*www.DiaPraxis.com <http://www.DiaPraxis.com>*/
Â
On Sat, Oct 3, 2015 at 9:26 AM, Daniel Mezick via OSList
<oslist@lists.openspacetech.org
<mailto:oslist@lists.openspacetech.org>> wrote:
THE TYRANNY of STRUCTURELESSNESS
by Jo Freeman aka Joreen
I find this essay extremely interesting. I hope you do, too.
Here is a pertinent quote, from the essay:
".../the idea of "structurelessness" does not prevent the
formation of informal structures, only formal ones."
/
Circa 1970. Context: the women's movement. Quick summary of the
main points: from the essay...
ï·/During the years in which the women's liberation movement has
been taking shape, a great emphasis has been placed on what are
called leaderless, structureless groups as the main -- if not sole
-- organizational form of the movement. /
ï·/The idea of "structurelessness," however, has moved from a
healthy counter to those tendencies, to becoming a goddess in its
own right./
ï·/Contrary to what we would like to believe, there is no such
thing as a structureless group. /
ï·/This means that to strive for a structureless group is as
useful, and as deceptive, as to aim at an "objective" news story,
"value-free" social science, or a "free" economy. A "laissez
faire" group is about as realistic as a "laissez faire" society;
the idea becomes a smokescreen for the strong or the lucky to
establish unquestioned hegemony over others. /
ï·/This hegemony can be so easily established because the idea of
"structurelessness" does not prevent the formation of informal
structures, only formal ones. /
ï·/For everyone to have the opportunity to be involved in a given
group and to participate in its activities, the structure must be
explicit, not implicit. /
ï·/It is this informal structure, particularly in Unstructured
groups, which forms the basis for elites./
Just in case you have not yet encountered the full text of this
essay, here it is:
THE TYRANNY of STRUCTURELESSNESS
by Jo Freeman aka Joreen
http://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm
Regards,
Daniel
http://www.OpenSpaceAgility.com/about
http://www.DanielMezick.com
203 915 7248 <tel:203%20915%207248>
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