Spirit of the times 2007

December 2007

World Work in Organizations

A very creative application of worldwork to organizational processes has been developed by Dr. Max Schupbach. His article (in German) about Change Management, is called “World Work, a multidimensional Change Management Model”. See his German article for more.

World Work and Slavery,
a short article by Ms. Charlotte Diamond of Montreal, Canada

Ms. Diamond who is in her 99th year (one of our aunts) produces many articles. One that recently caught our attention was on slavery. See the attached file.

Download "Slaves and Slavery" by Ms. Charlotte Diamond (PDF file 424KB).

November 2007

World Work in the Zurich-City Scene.

See Lukas Hohler’s amazing description of worldwork theory and practice, in German, in the midst of the Zurich-City scene.

Download "Process-Oriented Conflict Work in Zurich" (PDF file 76KB).

October 2007

Ashoka Awards, South Africa

We just heard that in 2001, Ms Myrna Wajsman Lewis won an “Ashoka Award” for public service. She “introduces Deep Democracy, a decision-making process, into public school curricula that enables learners to gain experience in decision making and group dynamics while also reducing prejudice-driven conflict among South Africans.” For more, see http://www.ashoka.org/node/2439

May 2007

Sri Lanka

During times when the news is filled with hopeless conflict, it is encouraging to read articles filled with sparks of hope.  See the following article about conflict work in Sri Lanka by a friend and colleague of ours, Errol Amerasekera.

Download Sri Lanka: Some Details of Large Group Process Work. (.doc file 41KB).

January 1, 2007

Have a Good Year - Less Harm and Better Relationships.

Iraq. What do we think about the current battle scene in Iraq?

When a dictator is removed by whatever process, some are helped. But at the same time, repressed conflicts reemerge. Reopening conflicts repressed by governments is not only bad. Ideally, the conflict situation could be an opportunity, and not only a problem for all the various communities involved.

Democracy begins with the innate need of each to be heard. With a listener who can move empathetically back and forth, repressed conflicts turn into better relationships. However to believe that democracy can be or must be “introduced” by an outside force is one-sided and naïve. Democracy is a natural process inherent in everyone. It needs to be “discovered”, that is shown to be a natural event in which everyone seeks recognition, whether you and I like them, or not. Any third party which thinks that democracy can be introduced rather than discovered-- at best creates more conflict, and at worst reminds some of dictatorships.  

Thus, when big bosses leave groups, organizations or nations, people are free to quarrel again. Anyone who has enough balance and centeredness, who respects and “moves with” all parties, reduces harm to all. That’s our goal; harm reduction; i.e. briefer intense conflict phases, and richer relationship processes for all. But we are not naïve. Just asking for someone to respect and move with all parties is a matter of outer and inner training! We don’t have enough such trained facilitators anywhere on this earth. It is up to each of us to start at home, to be part of and facilitate her and his own tensions. When we can do that well enough, we can tell our leaders to do so as well.