GOBSMACKED! Finally, the definitive diagnosis for the Open Space Syndrome!! I thank you. The world will thank you. Wonderful!!
Reminds me of a time I was opening space with a group of Southern Ute and Navajo (1st Nation People from the Southwest US). The topic was something pretty mundane like "roads and where to build them" -- but the experience was something else. Towards the end one of the Chiefs came up to me in a friendly way, looked me straight in the eye, and said, "What took you so long, White Man?" And some folks think that Open Space is a brand new idea??? Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Anne A Hiha Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 9:44 PM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: dominant and shy/Cultural Differences Kia ora Harrison I recently had the experience of opening space with a group of trainee secondary school teachers and a number of them thought it was a [New Zealand] Maori process because of experiences they had had on marae (traditional Maori communal areas) and I would guess that they linked that, with my Maori ethnicity and came to that conclusion. Anyway, it would seem the the 'Law of two feet' was a clincher because voting with ones feet is the modus operandi in many Maori communities including my own. It can get us to gatherings and away from them and is just part of what we do around here. When they discovered that it brought into the western organisational world from over yonder they were gobsmacked. Regards Anne ----Original Message Follows---- From: Harrison Owen <hho...@verizon.net> Reply-To: hho...@verizon.net To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: dominant and shy/Cultural Differences Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 17:23:28 -0500 There is no question that cultures make a difference, but over the years as I have participated in Open Spaces in more cultures and places than I care to remember -- I have been struck by how much the same it all is. For example, when people first hear about The Law of Two Feet the almost universal and immediate reaction is -- "Sounds great, but we don't do that!" And of course the feet do move everywhere and every time. Sometimes faster, and sometimes slower, but at the level of overall group behavior, it is same old, same old. Of course there are individual differences, but that seems to have more to do with personal preference, the challenge of the topic, as well as how hungry they are, the need for a cigarette, or the Toilette. So what could that tell us about culture and Open Space? Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of Arno Baltin Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 4:25 PM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: Re: dominant and shy Hi, > I would benefit from hearing a little bit more. Like Raffi, I sense > that you're communicating something significant here, something that > can help us to better understand ourselves and how we might be > perceived by others. > > john Well, I'll try some more. As I am not sure, where the misunderstunding lies I'll try two ways. 1. Lets take another examples of participant behaviour at OS: the bee. Some people feel at easy to change discussion groups, to listen some here and then move to next discussion, add something to it and move again. And then there are ones just staying from the beginning till the end in one group. Again it is possible to search for individual motives and preferences. Another way of reflecting on these differences is to find a cultural value dominant in particular group (where thesse persons come from). An interesting idea which comes from cultural difference descriptions is that there are groups (cultures) where it is OK do many different things at the same time (multitasking) versus on thing at time cultures (a person should finish on business before turning to another). So we could expect more bees on OS when participants share the "multitasking" cultural norm. And for participants from "one business cultures" to become bee is a challenge. 2. Could be the my speculations are not easy to follow as i am not good at explaining the idea of the impact of cultural differences on organizational behavior. Although there are several different models, the one I am most familiar is the G.Hofstedes one (and everyone can find more hints here): http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?CulturalDimensions What I am trying to say is that participants form different cultural background percieve OS differently. The same thing (law of two feet) might be a normal thing for one person, challegenge for other and tabu for third. And it depends not so much on the personality of this particular person but on the cultural norm he is accustomed to. For example here in Estonia (and this is just my opinion) discussions turn often into "fight" as we are prone to "one truth" as a value. One should discuss a topic till The Truth is found. It is rather hard to tolerate many equally right viewpoints at the same time. (And there are cultures where this is not the problem at all). So this cultural norm leads often to not writing anything down on the paper till The Truth is reached. At the end we will get too few proposals ... thank you for taking time to follow, Arno * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist _________________________________________________________________ Find the coolest online games @ http://xtramsn.co.nz/gaming * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist