IDM Publications: Papers & Lectures

These free downloadable papers are a subset of articles written by O. Laske & other authors in the field of human adult development.

  • Dialectical thinking and comparative text analysis: Application to the topic of the green economy. Analyzing texts other than interview transcripts based on the DTF Framework taught at IDM is a new application of CDF. Our paper presents an example of dialectical text analysis with a focus on i) the analytical framework and CDF methodology and, as analysis content, ii) key concepts of green economy. Our article compares two institutional policy documents, one authored by the European Commission, and one by the United Nations Environmental Programme. By Karin Ulmer and Bruno Frischherz
  • Better Thinking in a Global World: The IDM Approach to Teaching Dialectical Thinking Through DTF. The article describes a methodology for teaching dialectical thinking that is based on Laske's Dialectical Thought Form Framework (DTF; 2008). It outlines the historical origins of the framework; reasons for its focus on understanding others' thinking documented in transcribed speech; its capability to assess the phase of dialectical thinking development of individuals; procedures of dialectical thinking rehearsal; and the components of the associated IDM certification program.
  • Finding the real coachee: Sketch of a developmental epistemology of coaching. This article spells out the mental process used by an expert in the Constructive Developmental Framework in approaching the person of the coachee. It proposes that “the real coachee” is found in the coach’s mind only after s(he) has made a comprehensive — social-emotional, cognitive, and psychological — assessment, reflected on its findings, and has begun to relate the findings to the person assessed and coached. This is in contrast to the view that “the real coachee” is the physical person the coach meets in coaching sessions. It is thought that the “reality” of the coachee is a product of the coach’s work both as an assessor and a mentor of the person coached, and that outside of reflecting on, and working with, actual assessment findings there is no way to get to the core of the coachee’s concerns. The process by which this happens in the coach is seen as in itself developmental, regardless of whether development happens for the coachee or not. This entails the assertion that coaching is a mental process that links two human presences by way of a mental process that is rooted primarily in the coach, not the coachee.
  • Work Capability and Adult Development, a collection of articles [mostly in English] on the Constructive Developmental Framework (CDF) by IDM Researchers, published on April 1, 2010, by Pabst Science Publisher.
  • Introduction to Measuring Hidden Dimensions of Human Systems - Foundations of Requisite Organization (Volume II book excerpt)

    • This 25 page PDF comprises the Introduction to Volume 2 (2009) and also includes the table of contents of the book. It states the purpose of the book and the 7 principles of human capital management on which the book is based. In essence, the text shows that the so-called “intangible assets” of organizations can be measured by way of developmental assessment tools. The book presents a decision theory of human resources according to which talent management and strategy design are inseparable.

  • Change and Crisis in Dialectical Thinking: On the Need to Think Again When Getting Involved with Change

    • Published in Integral Leadership Review Volume IX, No. 5 - October 2009 http://www.integralleadershipreview.com/archives-2009/2009-10/2009-10-12-article-laske.php

    Dr. Otto Laske explores the concepts of “change” and “crisis” in order to put issues important in the current recession into perspective from the point of view of Western dialecticism, including what we know empirically about adult cognitive development. Specifically, he details the diffraction of dialectic into three moments and show that they need to be coordinated to grasp change in transformational systems. In conclusion, he briefly relate these thoughts to present organizational problems and leadership development programs. Dr. Laske makes a case for teaching especially upper-echelon teams the use of dialectical thought forms. The main source is his recent book on dialectical thinking as an ingredient of achieving requisite organization in companies, entitled Measuring Hidden Dimensions of Human Systems (IDM Press, Medford, MA, USA, 2009).

  • An Integrated Model of Developmental Coaching Published in Consulting Psychology Journal 51(3), 1999

    • This article outlines a coaching paradigm derived from constructive-developmental psychology, family therapy supervision, and theories of organizational cognition. The paradigm is one of transformative, developmental coaching and thus it differs from both cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic approaches. The paradigm is exemplified by a model of the mental space (topology) in which executive coaching is thought to take place. The paradigm and the model are developmental in a twofold sense, that of “ontic” development occurring in cognitive organisms maturing over their lifetime (“nature”) and of “agentic” development brought about by humans (“nurture”). An introduction to the model is presented, followed by the topology of the mental space of coaching, a summary, and suggested topics for future research.

  • Leadership as something we are rather than have

    • This article formulates and demonstrates the hypothesis that leadership and capability level are identical, and that measuring leadership behaviorally is as insufficient as is talking about it in developmental terms just “waving your hands” (i.e., without using actual assessments).

  • Why does your maturity matter?

    • This article is an informal introduction to why thinking developmentally in coaching is of central importance in practical and ethical terms.

See our Presentations page for more articles and presentations by Dr. Otto Laske and selected authors.

 
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