Large Group Interventions
Introduction
This page informs you about 'Large Group Interventions'. A Large Group Intervention
(LGI) is a name for a broad range of methods that can be used to facilitate
and manage organizational change. Characteristic for LGI is that the whole
organization (or a representation of the organization) is involved in the
change process. Also it is not uncommon for a LGI that other stakeholders
such as customers, suppliers, financiers, and governments participate in
the process. The number of participants of a LGI can vary from 10 to 3000
participants.
General information about LGI
If you want to read
more about LGI's wander around on the following pages:
Click here to read an article by Robert H. Rouda. This article discusses the background and theory of large scale organizational change methods. Rouda informs you about the most popular LGI's such as: Interactive Strategic Planning, Future Search, Conference Model and Open Space.
Click here to read a chapter by Martin Leith called 'Creating collaborative gatherings using large group interventions'. This chapter, that is part of the 'Gower Handbook of Training and Development' (edited by Anthony Landale, 1999), includes a brief description of the main LGI methods (Future Search, Real Time Strategic Change, Participative Design, Open Space Technology, and Simu Real) and describes the common principles that underpin the methods.
Also by Martin Leith: Leith's Guidelines to Large Group Intevention Methods. These guidelines inform you about how to use LGI methods and collective gatherings to address complex strategic issues. For more information by Martin Leith see his homepage and his page on LGI.
On this page you can find assembled material by Carter McNamara about LGI.
Click here for a critical discussion of Bunker and Alban's book about 'Large Group Interventions'.
On this page you can read the article 'Towards a critical perspective of large scale interventions'.
Examples of large group intervention
Future Search (or Search Conferences)
To subscribe to the 'Open Space Listserve', click here.
Real Time Strategic Change
Real Time
Strategic Change (RTSC) is more than a large group intervention method:
it is a principle-based approach to transforming the whole organisation.
RTSC begins with contracting and scoping. This is followed by a leadership
alignment event which enables the formal and informal leaders of the organisation
to understand the RTSC philosophy, agree purpose and outcomes for the change
effort and make a commitment to moving forward together. (Source: Chapter
by Martin Leighl).
Read more?
Managing Change with Large-Scale, Real-Time Interventions, an article by Robert H. Rouda & Mitchell E. Kusy. Click here
On
Click here to view some sheets about Real Time Strategic Change.
On this page you can find an article on Real Time Strategic Change and how it can be used for strategy implementation.
Simu Real
Simu Real is a LGI developed by Don Klein. Simu-Real enables members of
an organisation to work together on a real organisational task so that they
can see the whole organisation in all its complexity, become aware of, and
skilled in, dealing with organisational dynamics, and determine what, if
anything, needs to be changed. The method is used to help organisations
explore differences, solve complex problems, redesign work processes, agree
goals and develop plans for realising them. The Simu-Real event takes place
in a large room which, when the participants arrive, becomes a microcosm
of the organisation in action. The departments or other organisational units
are located in different parts of the room according to their place in the
actual organisation. This is the ‘Simu’ part of Simu-Real. The ‘Real’ part
is the task or project that the organisation will undertake. The task is
conceived by a planning committee, whose members are drawn from the organisational
units. The committee prepares all aspects of the Simu-Real event including
the room layout and the decision making process (Source: Chapter
by Martin Leith).
Participative Work Design
Participative Design was developed in 1971 by Fred and Merrelyn Emery. They
developed the model as a faster and more acceptable alternative to the Socio-Technical
Systems approach, where a multi-functional task force redesigns the organisation,
usually taking a whole year to do so. A design created in such a way tends
to be flawed, because it is based on an incomplete assessment of reality.
Also, workers do not have ownership of the design, and this generates resistance
to change. And, perhaps most significantly, the organisation’s underlying
power structure remains intact. Whereas STS is based on what the Emerys
call the ‘bureaucratic design principle’, Participative Design reflects
the ‘democratic design principle’. This says that (1) those who have to
do the work are in the best position to design the way in which it is structured,
(2) effectiveness is greatly improved when teams take responsibility for
controlling their own work, and (3) the organisation increases its flexibility
and responsiveness when people are capable of performing multiple functions
and tasks. (Source: Chapter by Martin Leith.)
More information about Participative Work Desigh, see:
An article about Participative Design by Steve Cabana.
An
article about Participative Design by Frank Heckman.
Consultancies that work with LGI:
Vaughan Consulting Group
Vaughan Consulting Group helps organizations create strategic visions
supported with commitment and passion and help companies create organizational
structures that are participative and self-managed. Using cutting-edge
large group intervention strategies, such as search conferences and
participative design workshops, Vaughan aims to create a sense of community
in which employees are highly motivated to achieve a shared vision.
On this website you can also find some general information about large
group interventions and an overview of some possible large group methodologies
(e.g. search conferences, participative design, open space technology).
Click here.
Mediated Solutions Incorporated
MSI has experience managing large group intervention disputes including
poisoned work environment and government consultations. For example,
in the role as mediation service provider for the Walkerton Compensation
Plan, MSI has designed, convened and facilitated various multi-party
interventions between employees and management to address poisoned work
environments, and sexual harassment situations under the Human Rights
Code. These cases involved 25 to 400 employees in private and public
professional settings.
Colosseum
The Colosseum mission is to raise the profile and understanding of how
leaders and managers can best facilitate the never ending change processes
within their organisations. Their expertise is in five main areas: OD,
Change management, LGI, Conflict resolution/mediation, Management development
and training Colosseum works with LGI and provides some general information
about it such as: the purpose of GI, their key assumptions, and their
methods.
The PAR group
PAR (Participatory Research) is de naam van een interdisciplinaire groep
onderzoekers die zich bezig houdt met strategische probleemoplossing
en organisatieverandering. Het gaat daarbij om zogeheten 'messy problems'
in organisaties. Problemen die complex zijn, en waarover binnen een
(management)team duidelijk verschillen van opvatting bestaan, niet alleen
over wat het probleem is, maar ook over de vraag óf er eigenlijk wel
een probleem is. Verschillen van perceptie en belangentegenstelling
verhinderen een organisatie vaak om een probleem goed in kaart te brengen
en tot robuuste oplossingen te geraken. Beslissingen die genomen worden,
kunnen dan ook vaak op weinig draagvlak rekenen. De PAR groep heeft
een aantal (large group) interventiemethoden tot haar beschikking die
juist in deze situaties hun nut kunnen bewijzen.