Good question. I think the answer to your question is "yes." I think that given the process of OST people will make the best decisions they can and that the best part of their spirits will emerge.
I think too that whether or not Open Space is being used for a "bad" purpose very much depends on where you stand. For example, I have used Open Space with the Canadian Federal Government to figure out how to implement a treaty negotiation process. That same treaty process is despised in a community that used Open Space to figure out how to implement their Aboriginal title. Both sides are very much "the bad guys" to the other. One is the colonial power, harnessing the spirit of it's people to assert a racist and colonial agenda on First Nations, and the other are radicals who operate outside the law and who used Open Space to brainstorm possibly unlawful resistance to the colonial agenda. Who is the bad guy? Your gang example seemed extreme to me until I recalled the discomfort i remember feeling when I heard that Open Space Technology was used by Boeing. I was not, and still am not, especially enamoured with Boeing's role as an arms manufacturer, but did it comdemn the process? Nope. The process worked to harness the best of the spirit of the people to do the things that they needed to do. Did it make for better weapons? Is that even a fair question to ask? Chris -- CHRIS CORRIGAN Consultation - Facilitation Open Space Technology http://www.geocities.com/chris_corrigan 108-1035 Pacific Street Vancouver BC V6E 4G7 Phone: 604.683.3080 Fax: 604.683.3036 cor...@interchange.ubc.ca * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html =========================================================== osl...@egroups.com To subscribe, 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign up -- provide an email address, and choose a login ID and password 3. Click on "Subscribe" and follow the instructions To unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@egroups.com: 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign in and Proceed