On the Critical Realism of the ‘Dark Mountain Manifesto’ in Relationship to the Myth of ‘Human Resources’

In these comments on the 'Dark Mountain Manifesto' of Kingsnorth and Hine (2014), and its authors' reflection on it five years later, I point out the origin of the three 'myths' of progress, human centrality, and separation from nature (as 'environment'). I see a straightforward relationship between these myths with the organizational myth of 'human resources' in which people at work are seen as  a trainable energy source of dubious motivation, rather than an embodied consciousness in unceasing transformation and self-development. (Note: the link of the blog referred to in the document below does not return you to this site). DARK MOUNTAIN rev Read More...

Is there a Bridge Between Social-Emotional and Cognitive Capability?

In this blog, I  point to the de-totalization of human consciousness that is presently  state of the art in research in adult development. This de-totalization occurs on account of the absence of research on the way in which the social-emotional capability, shed light on by Loevinger and Kegan, intrinsically relates to the cognitive capability researched by Basseches, Commons, and Bhaskar, as well as myself. This de-totalization shows the stark limits of present research in adult development. It reflects a broken humanism as we experience it every day now. Is there a Bridge Between ED and CD Read More...

Critical Facilitation: Developing Complex Thinking Through De Visch’s ‘Re-Thinking Game’

My colleague and friend Jan De Visch has recently made enormous strides toward a 'dialogically savvy app', -- an app that triggers deep and critical thinking in order to foster dynamic collaboration. The app is accompanied by the Re-Thinking Game, an implementation of DTF, the Dialectical Thought Form Framework. DTF is an ideal framework for preparing yourself to become a Critical Facilitator because it enables a learner to acquire the skill of 'building complexity' with clients, a process by which clients become aware of the 'terrible simplification' they perform on the real world by way of logical thinking. Jan is an graduate of the Interdevelopmental Institute (IDM) where he learned to think in terms of the moments of dialectic and their thought forms (see the many blogs on this computer to learn more). Below, have a look at what Jan has to say about the difference between conventional and critical facilitation (facilitation based on critical thinking). In Jan's and my definition, the difference between a conventional facilitator and a 'critical facilitator' is the following: A facilitator functions from a 'participant perspective.' He looks at an organizational system as an outsider and intervenes in it to achieve certain objectives. S(he) is... Read More...

Barriers to Using CDF

Given that CDF, the Constructive Developmental Framework, is more than a set of tools and therefore requires for its use a particular mindset, have you wondered what one might say are the main barriers to using it optimally? The short blog below is meant to give some answers to this question. Barriers to Using CDF   Read More...

Fuehrungsvorteile aufgrund der Benutzung von CDF, des Constructive Developmental Framework

Obwohl das Programm des diesjaehrigen Wiener Leadership Kongresses () keine Einfuehrung in CDF -- das Constructive Developmental Framework --umfasst, werden viele Kongressteilnehmer die sich aus der Benutzung von CDF ergebenden Fuehrungsvorteile wahrscheinlich kennenlernen wollen. CDF ist eine von Otto Laske erstellte Synthese von Forschungsbefunden der Harvardschule hinsichtlich Erwachsenenentwicklung seit 1975, die Dimensionen des kritischen Denkens der Frankfurter Schule mit denen des dialektischen Denkens von Roy Bhaskar verbindet.  Diese Methodologie ist seit dem Jahre 2000 am IDM, dem Interdeveopmental Institute, internationalen Studentengruppen in der Form von Zertifikatskursen angeboten worden. Sie wird heute von Otto Laske vorwiegend in der Unternehmungsberatung mit Fokus auf collaborative intelligence in teams  und neue Konzeptionen von 'human capital' eingesetzt. Der Leser findet unten (in downloadable form) eine kurze Auflistung von Vorteilen, die sich aus der organizationsweiten Benutzung von CDF ergeben, der auch eine kurze historische Vignette ueber die Entstehung von CDF beigefuegt ist. Geschaeftsvorteile und Anlass von CDF Read More...

Workshop ueber Developmental Interviewing und seine Anwendung in Potenzial-Orientierten Organisationen

Dieser Workshop der Firma Four Dimensions, Wien und Salzburg (), offeriert Personalverantwortlichen, Personalentwicklern, Beratern und Coachs eine Einfuehrung in Methoden fuer die Bestimmung des emotionalen und kognitiven Reifegrades von Individuen und Teams. Diese Methoden leiten sich aus Otto Laske’s Arbeiten am Interdevelopmental Institute (IDM), Gloucester, MA. her. Instruktoren sind Simone Rack, Rainer v. Leoprechting, und Otto Laske. Interessenten die an diesem Workshop teilnehmen wollen schreiben bitte an [email protected] Sketch of Workshop Agenda Wien Read More...