The epistemological struggles of change agents changing themselves

Article Abstract:

The field of organizational consulting develops its 'knowledge' through direct encounters with naturally occurring changes characterizing organizational life, and through active attempts to produce transformation. The field itself thus is subjected to enormous reformation as it rides the very tides of the changes it promotes. Through one lens, the discipline seems to have grown weary over the years, perhaps worn down by the magnitude of the tasks it has adopted. Through another lens, it appears to be entering a new level of maturity. Usimg the other articles published in this issue as data points, the author examines some epistemological implications of the field's coming of age, especially in the role of self-reflection in maintaining and restoring vitality. Four categories of change delineated in the literature - morphogenesis, morphostasis, development, and adaptation - are applied to the ways some of the authors in this issue wrestle with creating the field's 'knowledge.' Assumptions about certain time-honored practices, such as feedback in social systems and how we deal with measurement, are scrutinized and found to be in need of rethinking. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Organizational change, Organizational research

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A paradoxical approach to teaching group dynamics: first thoughts, first findings

Article Abstract:

This article reports on an attempt to create an experiential group learning structure based on the paradoxical principles described in Smith and Berg's 1987 work, Paradoxes of Group Life. This learning structure departs from the group-on-group design described by Gillette and McCollom in their 1990 work, Groups in Context, in the role prescribed for the facilitator. In this structure, the facilitator is active in providing directions for each of the first five experiential sessions, directions that are intended to prompt members to explore together the influence on group life of (a) contradiction, (b) group membership, (c) opposition, and (d) negotiation with authority. The article includes case material from a single course in which this method was used and includes the author's reflections on the opportunities and risks they observed in their initial attempt to put this approach into practice. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Social groups, Paradox, Social facilitation, Paradoxes

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A world of possibilities: implications for applied behavioral science

Article Abstract:

The USA tries to promote democracy in the Middle East, for the cause of "freedom and equality" , when the majority of the nations of the world are objecting. The two principles, equality and freedom, are essentially antagonistic and irreconcilable, and must be present in good measure for the opposite to exist.

United States, Public affairs, Social aspects, Political aspects, Democracy, Social science research, Endorsements, Equality, Liberty, Freedom

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