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From the very beginning in the field of organization development and action research there has been a central role afforded to the role conversation plays in enabling change to take place in social systems. Kurt Lewin himself actively pursued and developed settings in which conversation was the foundation for attitudinal and behavioral change. After his death, his colleagues and subsequently the scholars and practitioners who took his seminal research and insights into the world of organizations continued to explore ways in which conversation in groups could facilitate individual, group and organizational change. From T-group to team development, from the confrontation meeting to large group interventions, from intergroup conflict management to dialogue conferences, the heritage of Kurt Lewin has stamped itself on the applied behavioural science approach to change management that we know as organization development. In more recent years the work of Bohm, Isaacs, Schein and others has contributed significantly to the development of how conversation can be structured. The flourishing of large group interventions - open space technology, search conferences, future search, whole scale change - have created structures whereby whole systems can engage in simultaneous conversation about the future of their organizations and communities. Another distinctive characteristic of organization development is the role played by the external consultant. In organization development, consultants work in a facilitative, process consultation mode whereby they work at enabling members of the client system to perceive their own issues, understand them and develop and take their own actions in their regard.
List of contents
1. Responsiveness in Organization and Management Theory.- 1.1. Responsiveness - An Issue Emerging from Practice.- 1.2. Responsive Aspects in Strategy.- 1.3. Responsive Aspects in Stakeholder Management.- 1.4. Responsive Aspects in Organizational Learning.- 1.5 Conclusion.- 2. Responsiveness and Communication.- 2.1. Communicative Action in Organizations.- 2.2. Conversations 'Make Sense'.- 2.3. Dialogue as a Reflective Mode of Conversation.- 2.4. Conclusion and Research Questions.- 3. Methodology.- 3.1. Epistemological Considerations.- 3.2. Characteristics of the Research Question.- 3.3. Interpretive Case Study.- 3.4. Participatory Mode of Inquiry.- 3.5. Research Design.- 3.6. Conclusion.- 4. The Learning Through Listening Project.- 4.1. The Omega foundation.- 4.2. Rationale and Design.- 4.3. The Story unfolds.- 4.4. Conclusion.- 5. Toward a Theory of Responsiveness in Organizations.- 5.1. Characteristics of Conversational Modes.- 5.2. Characteristics of Responsiveness.- 5.3. On the Relationship between Conversational Mode and Responsiveness.- 5.4. Conclusion and Propositions.- 6. Reflections on Responsiveness and Communication.- 6.1. The Dialogue Perspective.- 6.2. The Communicative Action Perspective.- 6.3. The Sensemaking Perspective.- 6.4. Conclusion.- 7. Implications and Conclusions.- 7.1. Theoretical Implications.- 7.2. Practical Implications.- 7.3 Implications for Further Research.- 7.4. Limitations.- 7.5. Toward a Theory of Organizational Answerability.- References.
About the author
Dr. Claus Jacobs promovierte an der School of Business Studies der University of Dublin, Trinity College. Als Research Fellow in der Imagination Lab Foundation, Lausanne, forscht er im Bereich innovativer Strategie- und Organisationsentwicklung.
Summary
From the very beginning in the field of organization development and action research there has been a central role afforded to the role conversation plays in enabling change to take place in social systems. Kurt Lewin himself actively pursued and developed settings in which conversation was the foundation for attitudinal and behavioral change. After his death, his colleagues and subsequently the scholars and practitioners who took his seminal research and insights into the world of organizations continued to explore ways in which conversation in groups could facilitate individual, group and organizational change. From T-group to team development, from the confrontation meeting to large group interventions, from intergroup conflict management to dialogue conferences, the heritage of Kurt Lewin has stamped itself on the applied behavioural science approach to change management that we know as organization development. In more recent years the work of Bohm, Isaacs, Schein and others has contributed significantly to the development of how conversation can be structured. The flourishing of large group interventions - open space technology, search conferences, future search, whole scale change - have created structures whereby whole systems can engage in simultaneous conversation about the future of their organizations and communities. Another distinctive characteristic of organization development is the role played by the external consultant. In organization development, consultants work in a facilitative, process consultation mode whereby they work at enabling members of the client system to perceive their own issues, understand them and develop and take their own actions in their regard.
