Category: Nature of Work

  Those interested in dialectical thinking will be pleased to know that Otto Laske's volume 2 of 'Measuring Hidden Dimensions'  of 2008 has been thoroughly revised and is in the process of becoming available again in the form of a three-part monograph under the title of this blog. The title does justice to the fact that the monograph has relevance far beyond applications in work contexts and is a must-read for systems thinkers venturing outside of the purely logical domain of intellectual endeavor. Since its first publication the scope of interest in complex thinking -- beyond the mechanics of using thought forms -- has broadened. Outside of being of interest to organizational thinkers, a broader, evolutionary, perspective , spearheaded by John Stewart and Lawrence Wollersheim, has emerged that centers on the planet's global crisis. These authors address two capital aspects of human flourishing: (a) self-evolution, and (b) meta-systemic wisdom the core of which is dialectical thinking (see https://www.evolutionarymanifesto.com/SpandaArticle.pdf, by John E. Stewart). Another target audience of the monograph comprises high-level systemic thinkers with an integral focus, whether they are active in think tanks, government, or intelligence agencies, as well as architects and artists whose work focuses on transformation. The three... Read More...

Self-development, in capitalistic society a mere appendix of professional education for the sake of playing an organizational role, is increasingly making a comeback as a personal goal. This come-back seemed out of the question until recently, being an outcome of attempts to consciously reverse the demise of liberal education by which universities reduced themselves to trade schools and job preparation camps. The factors involved in the re-emergence of me-first education are many, including the pandemic’s destruction of the conventional work world and gains in the social media/AI link. While still acknowledged only half-heartedly as to their importance, these factors together form the springboard from which new self-developmental curricula will emerge. Job and role holders, whose skills' half-life is shrinking by the day, are gradually realizing that managerially supported schemes of self-development are ploys intent on hindering taking full responsibility for one’s own development in the normative sense of adult development. Research at the Interdevelopmental Institute (IDM) since 2000, as well as the Institute's teaching practice of “develop yourself first” have made visible the deep interweaving of emotional and intellectual maturity, referred to in its Constructive Developmental Framework (CDF) as the interleaving of social-emotional and cognitive levels of adult development. That... Read More...

Consultants who have absorbed the Constructive Developmental Framework (CDF) are used to developing a big picture view of society, addressing in their thinking issues of societal importance. One of these professionals is my colleague Jan De Visch who has worked with CDF for more than a decade. Jan's focus has recently been what he chose to call 'collaborative intelligence' in organizations, a topic that for him is an managerial, epistemological, as well as ethical one. As his co-author of a book on Practices of Dynamic Collaboration (that appears at the end of May 2020 at Springer), I am gratified to post his recent thoughts about what the current health crisis could trigger when viewed in positive, transformational terms. Choosing the example of a Belgian company having to shut down its operations, Jan reflects on the changes that he witnessed  in how employees re-assessed the work they do, and on the new capabilities people showed in the pursuit of doing what they decided was an ethical imperative. The new book is a sequel to our 2018 book entitled Dynamic Collaboration which can be found at www.connecttransform.be, together with a 'Playbook' which is a compilation of its main insights. The day after... Read More...

The Laske Social Science Archive gathers Otto Laske’s writings on organizations written between 1999 and 2019, many of which have retained their value vis a vis new fashions of management thinking. Its sections are numbered chronologically. The Archive makes available both texts and slides, the latter for pedagogical purposes. The articles gathered are bundled according to topic. They can be downloaded free of charge. Archive VI gathers articles as well as teaching slides, copyrighted and to be used accordingly. Articles 2008 Anleitung zur kognitiven Prozessberatung 2010 Wirtschaftpsychologie 2012 Habecker MHD Bd. 1 Rezension 2012 Habecker, Jenseits aktiven Zuhoerens 2015 Der Mensch im Anthropozaen Workshop Slides (Folien) 2004 [Folien] Unsichtbare Dimension 2006 [Folien] Humanpotenziale 2007a [Folien] Einleitung in das Entw. Coaching 2007b [Folien] Konstanz-Berlin Einleitung in das Entwicklungscoaching 2007c [Folien[ Luzern Persoenlichkeitspotenziale 2008 [Folien] Einleitung in das Entwicklungscoaching 2013 {Folien] Einfuehrung in Tiefes Denken Eine Einleitung in dialektische Denkformen 2019 [Folien] Komplexes Denken Wien Read More...

The Laske Social Science Archive gathers Otto Laske’s writings on organizations written between 1999 and 2019, many of which have retained their value vis a vis new fashions of management thinking. Its sections are numbered chronologically. The Archive makes available both texts and slides, the latter for pedagogical purposes. The articles gathered are bundled according to topic. They can be downloaded free of charge. Archive V gathers articles written  DTF-based dialectical thinking as the developmental peak of adult cognitive development, seen from the ontological perspective of Roy Bhaskar's work on 'Dialectic: The Pulse of Freedom' (1993). The emphasis in these writings falls on the intrinsic relatedness of 'dialectical' and 'dialogical' thinking and the hypothesis that speaking in real time makes ontological truth claims regarding how the real world works (rather than being a mere behavioral activity). These articles pave the way from monological and logical to dialogical and dialectical thinking, for purposes far beyond organizational management. Cognitive assessment through case studies is seen as the royal road to mastery of critical facilitation in teams and social forums more generally. 2015 Creating Integral Collaborations 2016a An Integral Epistemology 2016c Dialectic Interpreted in the Logic of Commerce 2016e Laske on Bhaskar 2017a... Read More...

The Laske Social Science Archive gathers Otto Laske’s writings on organizations written between 1999 and 2019, many of which have retained their value vis a vis new fashions of management thinking. Its sections are numbered chronologically. The Archive makes available both texts and slides, the latter for pedagogical purposes. The articles gathered are bundled according to topic. They can be downloaded free of charge. Archive IV gathers explanatory as well culture-critical papers on CDF as an empirically grounded epistemology (theory of knowledge), including Wikipedia articles on CDF in English, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese, and comprehensive introductions to CDF for diverse audiences. There are also articles on work design and shared leadership seen from a perspective of CDF, including an article on developmental listening as the crux of using CDF expertly. Learning such listening by itself leads to a revolution of thinking, not only about the social world, but about the 'real world' as well. Wikipedia Articles 2013 English Wikipedia article 2014c Spanisch Wikipedia article on CDF 2016a Italian Wikipedia article 2016n Japanese Wikipedia 構成主義的発達論のフレームワーク Culture Critique 2012 CDF - End of developmental absolutism 2013 On the ethics of process consultation 2016d Human Systems in the Anthropocene 2016j What is everybody... Read More...