640-83
 
Weekend Conference Presentation
Midday Keynote - June 22

The Accidental Theoretician And His Most Practical Findings

Presented by Barry Oshry

   
 

Abstract: In this presentation, Barry Oshry will trace the path he has been on since 1960, a path that has led to the development of the Organic Systems Framework, a framework that enables system members to see, understand, and navigate their ways productively through the many systems of their lives. He will describe how this theory has gradually evolved, tracing its history from his first eye-opening encounter with experience-based learning, to his large-scale classroom experiments at Boston University and elsewhere, and ultimately to the Power Lab and the Organization Workshop – two programs designed for others’ learning that also served as his basic R&D learning laboratories about organic systems. Barry will take us into the essence of this framework. Topics will include:

  • Seeing systems as organic wholes.
  • Seeing systems as patterns of systemic relationships and as patterns of systemic processes.
  • Predictable relationship vulnerabilities that stem from system blindness and that are frequently misdiagnosed and mistreated.
  • The difference between how systems are experienced on the inside versus how they are seen from the outside.
  • “Fixing” people versus helping people see, understand, and master systemic relationships and processes.
  • The systemic equivalents of Power and Love and how these play out in the widest range of human interactions.

Barry Oshry

Biography: Barry Oshry is a distinguished educator and a pioneer in the field of human systems thinking. His research, writing and teaching have focused on the human systems dynamics arising when people are in top, middle, bottom, and customer relationships with one another. He's been exploring with special interest the issue of "middles" in organizations, and he's written extensively on the subject. His research has also led him to investigate the dynamics at play when dominant cultures interact with “other” cultures. Barry received his Ph.D. from Boston University where he later taught and was Chairman of the Department of Organization Studies. He is the developer of the Power Lab, a weeklong total immersion leadership development experience, the Organization Workshop on Creating Partnership, and When Cultures Meet. Barry is the author of Seeing Systems, Leading Systems, and In The Middle. He is also a playwright whose stage productions include “What A Way To Make A Living,” “Hierarchy” and “Peace.” Since 1975 he’s been President of Power+ Systems Training, Inc. in Boston, which he founded with his wife and partner, Karen Ellis Oshry.

Contact: Barry can be reached by e-mail at barry@powerandsystems.com for additional information about this Weekend Conference session.

Website:
www.powerandsystems.com

Blog: www.seeingsystems.blogs.com

Twitter: twitter.com/barry_oshry

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/pub/barry-oshry/0/216/592


   
       
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