Harrison et al Inter-esting discussion.
I would guess almost everybody on the OSLIST believes in participatory democracy. It is very easy to impute virtue to the bottom, because it is usually excluded or marginalised. Theodore Zeldin (An Intimate History of Humanity) said it well: "Only when people learn to converse will they begin to be equal. The enemies of conversation are rhetoric, disputation, jargon and private language or despair at not being listened to and not being understood." But, let's not forget the perversity of oranisations. Organisations have structures and, in the West, these are pyramids. Somebody sits on the top of all those pyramids, surrounded by senior teams and boards. The reason lasting change rarely comes from the pyramid is simply because the top doesn't like to share power. In fact, most tops have clawed their way to that position, holding onto power as long as they can. Also structures are very real barriers to participation. And so it has been all through the ages whenever people came together and create "the organisation" with is rules and structure. Now, here's the dilemma: people in power usually decide who is going to tamper with their organisation. Somehow, therefore, large group processes have to deliver benefits that support the top by involving the bottom, delivering tangibles as well as intagibles. When people come to facilitators looking for help, you don't have to sell anything - just find the most appropriate process with the best outcomes. In all other examples, the facilitator is selling, one way or the another. Do we sell Open Space? Damn right we do. If we are not successful, there is a lost opportunity for positve change. Kerry Napuk * * ========================================================== 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