15th May 2007 | Draft
Three-stage Emergence of a Union of Imaginative Associations
Reclaiming the heritage of misappropriated
collective endeavour
- / -
Annex 1 of Emergence of a Union of Imaginative Associations: engendered by a Union of Intelligible Associations from a Union of International Associations
Introduction (reproduced from main paper)
Context
Evolution of knowledge management
Nature of an emergent Union of Imaginative Associations? Associations | Imaginative
| Union
Historical origins: Stage 0?
Three-stage emergence? (Table 1) (Annex
1)
Progressive dematerialization and virtualization of vehicle identity (Table 2)
Associated disintegrative processes (Table
3)
Reclaiming the heritage of misappropriated collective endeavour (Table
4)
Comprehending the transformative challenge of "stages" and their
relationship
Metaphors of stage separation and emergence
Distinguishing stages in the light of potential (mis)understanding (Table
5)
Conclusion (Table 6)
Detailed description of stages (exemplifying challenges in
other organizations) (Annex 2)
Stage 1: Union of International Associations (UIA1):
Contextual challenges | Internal challenges
Stage 2: Union of Intelligible Associations (UIA2):
Contextual challenges | Internal challenges
Stage 3: Union of Imaginative Associations (UIA3):
Contextual challenges | Internal challenges
Comprehension of stage separation (decoupling / detachment)
in transformation processes
Psychosocial energy from polarization within a cyclic pattern of enantiodromia
(Annex 3)
Implications of the cybernetics of cybernetics
Psychosocial energy
through a metaphorical technology
Schematic Denkmodel (Table 1)
Epistemological
domains
Global vs Local (in Table 1) | Positive vs Negative (in Table 1)
| Relationships (within Table 1)
Beyond the plane of Möbius: form and
medium in terms of the calculus of indications
Visualization: quadrant systems
/ Möbius strips
/ Klein bottles
"Sphering the Circle" (from 2D to 3D): a Klein-bottle
relationship "belt drive"?
Enantiodromia: cycling through the "cognitive
twist"
Psychosocial work cycle / heat engine
Psychosocial power and its generation
Emergent higher-order symbol as a cognitive/existential "keystone"
Indicative examples of 2nd and 3rd order environments
Conclusion
References
Introduction (reproduced from main paper)
This "story" explores the
underlying inspiration of the century-old Union of International
Associations (UIA) in its currently challenged effort to continue to function
as a clearinghouse for information on the diversity of bodies responding to
social challenges of every conceivable variety -- including major institutional
systems such as the United Nations and regional bodies such as the European
Commission.
The process of creation of the Union of International Associations from 1907
can be understood as an audaciously imaginative act -- at the origins of international
society as it is now known and prior to any form of international legal framework
through which the existence of any such body could be recognized. Although
it may subsequently be said to have acted -- despite the severe disruption
of two world wars -- in the name of international bodies present at its creation,
it cannot be said to have been representative of them in any conventional democratic
sense. This is especially the case following its reconstition in 1951 as an
institute based on individual membership. To a significant degree it has remained
an act of the collective imagination of those directly involved who have sustained
a highly productive pattern of self-funded activity over past decades. This
has also, to a certain degree, sustained the illusion of the existence of a "Union
of International Associations" as originally intended -- an illusion that
has contributed to the success of the initiative.
Efforts to reform and transform the UIA ("UIA1") are
here framed as having effectively engendered a distinct "transitional" vehicle,
usefully named as the Union of Intelligible Associations ("UIA2").
This has emphasized a strategic knowledge management function beyond the conventional
information gathering and classifying preoccupations of UIA1. The
fundamental challenge to UIA2, as presented here, usefully models
similar inadequacies in many institutions variously seeking to enhance collective
intelligence in response to information overload in the face of social and
strategic complexity.
Confronted by its own inadequacies, UIA2 is however understood
here as having itself created a context for the emergence of a Union
of Imaginative Associations ("UIA3"). This
could be understood as more relevant to the integrative possibilities and culture
of the times -- and to the strategic flexibility and forms of cognitive engagement
for which they call. These three different "stages" are first described
before subsequently exploring the necessarily unusual, counter-intuitive challenges
to how they may be fruitfully understood as interrelated -- if UIA3 is
to be of any significance.
A vital thread implicit in this story lies in the various understandings of
the "existence" of collective "international" bodies, the
ownership of their (intellectual) "property" in an increasingly open
information society, and the claims that may "legitimately" be made
on both by those who actively sustain them over decades. Such considerations
are especially relevant in the transition over a century through the colonial
era to one in which post-colonialist, participative values are upheld. The
emergence of a Union of Imaginative Associations is therefore presented (in
this Annex) as a progressive reclaiming of a heritage of misappropriated collective
endeavour.
Fundamentally, however, this exploration is not so much about a "UIA" but
rather about how comprehension is organized integratively in response to
collective challenges in the world -- and what can be learnt to that end
from the challenges and evolution of a "UIA". In this
sense the emergence of a Union of Imaginative Associations offers a template
for a radical reconfiguration of how these opportunities may be dynamically
encountered -- whether for the individual or for any collective initiative.
The intent here is not to explore any 3-fold ontology (or theology) of organizational
"body", "soul" and "spirit" -- as distinguished
in some management literature. Rather the focus here is on the nature
of distinct vehicles for collective intent -- and of how a vehicle of one form
may effectively be necessary in order to engender another of subtler form and
of greater integrity and efficacy, better adapted
to the challenges of the 21st century. Nor is the intent thereby to frame a potentially discriminatory
scale of excellence through privileging a particular form. As is shown (in Annex
3), distinct stages may well be more fruitfully understood as interrelated
as a cycle through which psychosocial engergy is generated -- such that the
seemingly subtlest necessarily engages in the process of engendering the most
concrete. Each stage may then be understood as a transitional vehicle through
which insight and action are expressed in response to challenges and opportunity.
The exploration raises the question whether the stages of evolution of "UIA" over a century reflect the evolution
of collective emphasis in the shift:
- from: information space as fundamental to an information
society (assumed
to be adequate to knowledge needs for strategy making)?
- through: knowledge space as fundamental to a knowledge
society (assumed
to be adequate to strategic insight)?
- to: an "imagination space" fundamental
to an "imagination
society" (assumed to be adequate for imaginative strategic
response) ?
In this context, it is therefore appropriate to celebrate the centennial of the
imaginative act, through which the Union of International Associatioins was created,
by another imaginative initiative appropriate to the 21st century and consistent
with the original inspiration -- namely the instigation of a Union
of Imaginative Associations.
Three-stage emergence?
The table below endeavours to portray the relationship between the various
stages. It presents each subsequent phase as being conceived and effectively
initiated during the course of the previous stage that thus provides a supportive
framework within which it was configured. Typically there is a degree of rupture
on the actual emergence of the new stage. It is in this sense that an initial
Stage 0 (UIA0) is presented in the table, since
until 1948 UIA1 was
effectively embedded within the Mundaneum, possibly to be understood
metaphorically as a "womb". The files
of UIA1 were literally then extracted from the archives of the Mundaneum
(to the latter's considerable dismay) in what might, in that metaphor, be termed
a caesarean birth. As discussed below, it is a matter of reflection as to whether
the emergent Stage 3 form,
painfully "birthed" from Stage 2, will represent the
mature form of a "UIA" that will in its turn "plant an egg",
be the "womb" for such
an "egg", or be an "egg" itself.
In Table 1, the darkness of the cell colour is an indication of the degree
of programme emphasis in terms of allocation of resources. The lightest grey
is an indication of a sustained interest requiring relative little allocation
of resources (notably in the case of online databases that may only be occasionally
updated).
Elaborating the time points in the table (further discussed in Annex 2:
Detailed description of stages (exemplifying challenges
in other organizations):
Stage 0: Essentially under the leadership and guidance
of Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine
- 1907: Creation of the Central Office of
International Associations, and the
subsequent establishment in 1910 of the Union of International Associations
as a federation (collective membership), within
the operational context of the
Mundaneum
- 1920: Reactivation in association with the Mundaneum following
the chaos of World War I; transfer of UIA responsibility for
international associations profiling to the League of Nations;
effective cessation of activity in 1934 following withdrawal of Belgian
government support
Stage 1 [chronology]:
- 1948: Post-war resumption of
activity, essentially
under the leadership and guidance of Georges Patrick Speeckaert (with
the benefit of a legacy of Henri La Fontaine) leading to the reconstitution
of the UIA in 1951 as a separate legal and physical research institute
(individual membership), following formal recognition
by UN-ECOSOC of responsibility of UIA for international organization
profiling. Editorial continuity was ensured by Eyvind Tew and Genevieve
Devillé
- 1970: Inception of the computerization
of databases and the transition to Robert Fenaux
as Secretary-General (Visualization
of the International Organization Network: the UIA as an international
data bank, 1970; Knowledge-Representation
in a Computer-Supported Environment, 1977). Significantly the
journal name was changed from International Associations to Transnational
Associations in 1977.
Editorial continuity
was ensured by Eyvind Tew, Genevieve
Devillé, Romuald Covalescu, Jacqueline Nebel, and
Anthony Judge.
- Implicit inception of a "Union
of Intelligible Associations" (UIA2)
as a strategic initiative from 1972 through extension of database
content in the development of the Encyclopedia
of World Problems and Human Potential (in collaboration
with Mankind 2000) and its subsequent editions -- interrelating
other "non-organizational" preoccupations that were the
key to the online relational database environment of Stage
2.
- Completion of in-house computerization in 1985 (with installation
of an early in-house network and implementation of a new classification
methodology) as a necessary, if disruptive transition, in order to
improve operations under severe budgetary constraints. Most hardcopy
archives on organizations from 1907 were donated to the Belgian Archives
in 1985.
- Collaboration with the United Nations University through the
programme on Goals, Processes and Indicators of Development (1978-1986)
- Consideration of appropriateness of renaming the "Union
of International Associations", or reinterpreting the implications
of its name in the light of its activities (Significance
in a Name: Union of International Associations) notably
in terms of the Varieties
of Union of International Associations based on the various
meanings that can be usefully associated with the three
terms ("union", "international" and "associations")
Stage 2:
- 1995: Progressive reorientation
to the web and the dissemination of hyperlinked database information.
The Secretaries-General of this period were Jacques Raeymaeckers,
Andre Onkelinx, followed by Anthony Judge in an ad interim capacity
(in response to an immediate financial crisis in 2004). Editorial
continuity was ensured by Romuald Covalescu, Jacqueline Nebel,
Anthony Judge and Nadia McLaren.
Information systems development was notably carried out by
Tomáš Fülöpp and Anthony Judge.
- Initiation and articulation of web strategy:
- 1996: launch of 1,400 page (non-interactive) website including
comprehensive lists and extensive demos from its databases on
organizations, world problems, action strategies, future international
meeetings, the biographical profiles, approaches to human development,
and human values. These included research papers produced within
the UIA context.
- 2000: key organizations and meetings databases were first made
available online in 2000
- 2001:
- 2001-2002:
- Systematic engagement with institutional
funding sources (typically
as lead agency in partnership with other bodies), notably
the European Commission and the World Bank, primarily on the initiative
of Nadia McLaren (with a minimum of formal support or understanding),
to develop the online potential of databases, notably leading to
the free online dissemination of the Encyclopedia databases from
1997:
The limited response by funding institutions to these substantive
proposals by viable coalitions, in comparison with the investment
in preparing them, is a strong indication of the problematic nature
of the assumptions regarding the utility and viability of knowledge
management as exemplified by a Union of Intelligible Associations.
- Recognition of long-term collaborative partnership with K G Saur
Verlag
- 2005-2006: Statutory authorities were faced in
June 2004 with a major financial crisis which resulted in the appointment
of Anthony Judge as Secretary-General ad interim who averted
the short-term challenge. The critical accumulation of governance
challenges and policy disagreements in relation to longer-term financial
pressures and ethical issues (including disregard of obligations
to staff as well as repudiation of both long-term soft loans and
related copyright arrangements with Mankind
2000 at the origin of Stage
2) resulted in the resignation
in January 2005 of Anthony Judge (from his role as Secretary-General ad
interim).
Other consequences included:
- 2005:
- 2006:
- Continuing collaboration with DFKI to
enable the international multimedia library project of dropping
knowledge (Enabling
a Living Library), effectively
completing and superceding the early ambitions at the origin
of UIA1 within the Mundaneum.
- Generation of a large database of questions (Generating
a Million Questions from UIA Databases: Problems, Strategies,
Values; Preliminary
NetMap Studies of Databases on Questions, World Problems, Global
Strategies, and Values), effectively achieving a different
form of closure for UIA2.
- Continuing difficulty to formulate a viable business
plan (despite foreseeable financial crisis in 2007), breakdown
in maintenance functions, marginalization of (non-Belgian)
senior management and collaborators, and effective abdication
of elected administrators (breaking a statutory commitment
of accountability to an essentially indifferent membership).
- In what effectively
constituted a "takeunder" rather than a "takeover",
the remaining
(Belgian, Dutch-speaking, female) staff were instead encouraged
(through a process typical of sects rather than of managing
a self-financing enterprise), to:
- act as a non-statutory, self-managing policy-making
body, functioning as a surrogate Bureau
- creatively set aside all constraints and cautions
(including documented learnings
from the past) as characteristic
of negative thinking
- develop their own initiatives (including rebranding "UIA" with
a new logo, without membership consultation)
- reallocate editorial staff to marketing, effectively
breaking a long-term content quality commitment to
users
- promote commercial address list marketing, effectively
framing NGOs as targets:
- breaking an implicit contract with spam-threatened
international associations (freely supplying information)
- undermining a long-nurtured reputation as an
independent nonprofit
clearinghouse
- revert to a Stage
1 strategy
(seeking to reactivate earlier initiatives, such as
training programmes for NGOs and an "International University")
--- despite much-challenged governance and financial
issues (and without seeking any insight into why earlier
initiatives had failed).
- Effective reversion to its early status as a Belgian information
initiative maintaining an international facade
- Culmination of a century of effort, to classify international
organizations and their documentation, with an unprecedented
focus on "classifying" aspects
of its own activities through the imposition of lifelong
confidentiality agreements on its own staff -- a symbolically
appropriate form of closure for UIA1 and UIA2 (following
its explicit commitment to
The Open Society of the Future: Report
of a seminar to reflect on the network of international
associations,
1973)
Stage3:
Progressive dematerialization and virtualization of vehicle identity
Table 2: Stages in "dematerialization" of preoccupations according to refinement of
understandings of "UIA" functions
(in response to learnings from misplaced concreteness)
|
| . |
"Stage 0" |
Stage 1 |
Stage 2 |
Stage 3/0 |
| . |
"UIA0" |
UIA1 |
UIA2 |
UIA3 |
| "Associations" |
civil society |
representative civil society bodies (+intergovernmental organizations) |
active virtual and conceptual entities focusing and enabling collective action
(coherent? harmless?) |
meaningful,
relevant, empowering associations |
"International"
"Intelligible"
"Imaginative" |
international
worldwide |
international (across geopolitical boundaries) |
cross-disciplinary (intelligible) relationships (across conceptual
boundaries) |
cross-boundary (potential, suggestive, implicative, inspiring) |
| "Union" |
universal
organization |
classification of organizations (+related meetings, bibliography, etc) |
integrated relational data sets relevant to collective action (organizations, problems,
strategies, etc) |
emergent order, patterns of coherence |
| globality |
globally extensive, hierarchically organized |
globally extensive, hierarchically organized |
globally comprehensive, relational networks |
globally comprehensible, experientially integrative significant associations (meaning intensive) |
| symbol of globality |
. |
image of Earth (from the Moon) |
spherical configuration of links in virtual reality (tensegrity, synergetics) |
Mandelbrot, mandala,
psycho-centric***??? torus? |
| system |
normalization, coordination |
diversity of natural and social ecosystems; general systems |
complexity sciences |
emergent systems; coherent implications |
| knowledge organization |
universal
classification (UDC) |
narrow knowledge, closed system; classification
(UDC) >
functional classification matrix |
broader knowledge, open system, logical extension; hierarchical and (relevant) functional hyperlinks |
counterintuitive,
lateral thinking; evocative,
attractive,
elegant, "seductive", entraining |
| "space" |
geopolitical |
information |
knowledge |
inspiration |
| time |
recordable past (memorable "has been") |
recordable past (memorable "has been") |
recordable present (online updating) |
emergent future ("might be") |
| urgency |
isolated longer-term concerns |
isolated longer-term concerns |
partially-related urgent preoccupations (isolated crises) |
highly interrelated urgent concerns ("crisis of crises") |
| focus |
documents |
information (documents) |
patterns; knowledge; know-how |
imagination, inspiration, innovation |
medium
|
paper-based
documentation; museum |
electronic from paper-based
documentation >> refererence books |
web; electronically
hyperlinked entities |
pattern resonance (morphogenetic fields)? |
relationships
(recognition) |
logical
membership
legal |
logical
membership
legal, operational |
logical, functional
membership
legal, operational |
potential, imaginative, complementary |
| unilateral |
bilateral/reciprocal |
loops in systems (networks) |
mobius? |
| cognitive engagement |
attribution of/to predetermined
categories |
descriptively (classification as a substitute
for knowing) |
intelligibly (knowing as a substitute for imagining
possibilities) |
engaging imaginatively (implication entrainment) |
| expression |
concrete action |
fields of practice |
preoccupations |
values |
| communication / dialogue |
face-to-face |
through formal representation |
electronic communication; learning environments |
meaningful, integrative implication |
| representativity, authority |
authoritative legitimate |
informed advocates (lobbys) |
expertise, excellence |
succinct; aphorism |
viability (sustaining
resources) |
subsidy |
marketed
information product |
competitive project funding |
self-funding; LETS? |
| ambition |
presentation and
representation |
representation
of civil society |
re-presentation
of action-enabling patterns |
pattern embodiment
("Be the Change") |
ethical,
accountability |
. |
token |
minority issue
responsiveness |
global engagement |
The above table indicates how each stage is characterized by a progressive
dematerialization (or virtualization) of the distinct "vehicle" for
the identity that it engenders and
"incubates" for the following stage:
- Stage 0/1: the identity is essentially
legal and focused on processing paper documents within a physical office
- challenged
by the logistics of the collection of information and normalization of
profiles.
- Stage 2: primarily characterized
by the virtual identity defined by strategic intent, independently funded
programmes, supportive software and groupware, relational databases and a "presence" in
cyberspace
- challenged by sustaining patterns of hyperlinks and deriving
meaning from them. Legally, efforts might be made to define
this identity in terms of "intellectual
property" -- although this is
increasingly irrelevant to a rapidly evolving cyberspace world characterized
by open source developments, most notably in the field of reference information.
- Stage 3/0: the
identity is primarily characterized by collective comprehension of imaginative
potential associations emerging from patterns of relationship
The process of virtualization may usefully be understood as a process
of disidentification -- well-understood metaphorically in the psychological
disidentification of a child from its parents. As a consequence, and as conventionally
understood, there is no active interface between Stage 1 and 2, or between
Stage 2 and 3, other than that internalized within the individuals operating
according to both logics.
Associated disintegrative processes
The dematerialization described above -- with the progressive emergence of
a subtler identity -- is necessarily paralleled by the progressive distintegration
of structures and processes supportive of the more concrete attributes of
earlier forms of identity that were effectivel,y superceded.
Membership indifference: Although token membership is a relatively
benign characteristic of many international associations, its consequences
become problematic in times of crisis, especially financial crises
calling for strategic decision-making -- most evident for UIA1 from
2004. The lack of financial obligation on membership of UIA1 compounded
their indifference to any statutory obligations in election and verification
of the work of administrators. It has indeed been the case that UIA1 neither
did anything for its members nor sought effectively to benefit from their
membership.
Faced with a severe challenge of institutional survival, it is clear that
such a membership could not be expected to respond in a timely manner, with
appropriate competence, to the strategic challenges and technical opportunities
of an emeging information society. Eminence is not an automatic guarantee of
competence, notably to ensure the viability of an enterprise. This might be
considered the dilemma of democracy in micrcosm -- especially one characterized
by an aging population, as much caring as in need of care. What may be valuable
as prudence, may prove fatal (as a "dead hand") when risks need to be taken
to survive.
Effective abdication of administrators: Faced with a range
of short- and long-term strategic and management challenges, those elected
to positions of statutory responsibility tended themselves to adopt strategies
of denial and decision-making avoidance. For many in key statutory positions,
a principle measure of their self-esteem is how little information they require
to make an informed decision with full confidence. The long-term, contractually-supported
publishing programmes of UIA were presented as obviating the need for detailed
comprehension of the viability of a multi-facetted, self-funded institution.
The apparent need for minimally awareness thereby gave unusual
significance to any process of being "briefed".
The laissez-faire attitude was associated with a minimal paper trail relating
to the initiative or activity of elected administrators, notably recent Secretarys-General
or Presidents. Any risks were mitigated by the manner in which statutory meetings
could be used for a process of "self-laundering" through which responsibility
for past inadequacies was formally absolved -- or attributed to administrations
of the past. This pattern is of course a widespread characteristic of governance.
Although purporting to subscribe to ethical values, no effort was made to
formulate them -- in contrast to the practice in international bodies
sensitive to this dimension. This absence of standards undermined arguments
for accountability -- currently a widespread concern in relation to bodies
like the UIA. Whilst severely challenged ethically, any implications were avoided
by the limited accountability required by passive
Council and "Active" membership.
A significant gap was therefore cultivated betweeen the statutory responsibilities
of elected retirees from well-funded institutional environments (whether intergovernmental,
academic or corporate) who effectively abdicated responsibility
for the viability of the intiative in favour of Secretariat staff in order
to avoid accountability. Staff were employed at non-commercial salaries and
encouraged to subscribe to an altruistic ethos to mitigate demands for more
appropriate working conditions. This pattern is evident in widespread dependency
by governmentand corporate systems on the initiatives of civil society in compensating
for their inadequacies.
Operational constraints: It could be considered extraordinary
that an initiative like the UIA, specialized in the processing of information
on the universe of international organizations, was itself severely constrained
in its ability to articulate useful knowledge about its own challenging condition
and opportunities. This took several distinct forms:
- constrained ability to produce and distribute:
- administrative documents, especially relevant to it financial
situation, even when formally required
- formal letters, notably in the cause of instiutional and public relations
- proposals, notably in response to funding opportunities
- strategic business plans
- preference for a simplification of issues (effectively a "dumbing down"),
cultivating what was tantamount to "functional illiteracy", that
was not commensurate with the opportunities and dangerously
negligent in relation to the challenges
- erosion of collective institutional memory, ironical in a body seeking to
celebrate its centenary -- but tragically reminscent of the memory problems
of people of commensurate age and the difficulty of coherent dialogue with
them
Unfortunately a characteristic shared by members of the UIA Bureau elected
in 2005 was their direct association with the failure of past initiatives of
other bodies in which they had individually played significant roles. This
involvement has variously resulted in their cessation of activity (or its continuing
token operation as a "shell" emptied of significance), loss of investment,
bankruptcy, or even legal proceeds by those affected. Concern about the management
and strategic implications of such commonalities had not been voiced in the
statutory meetings of the UIA.
Consultancy errors: Although UIA1 made occasional
use of consultants for technical matters, and as an outsourcing device for
financial reasons, their use regarding its strategic and managerial
dilemmas was typically avoided -- rationalized in part by the financial implications.
In consequence, on those occasions when such expertise was sought, reliance
was based on those with direct or indirect association with the organization.
This resulted in processes which undermined the effectiveness
of the expertise due to inability (of all parties) to distinguish clearly between
advice and intervention offered: as friends of the organization (or of some
associated with it), as consultants in a pro bono mode,
or as elected administrators (or members) with formal responsibilities. Those
involved in this way also tended to shift between these modes in a manner that
could be readily labelled as unprofessional, especially in the absence of
any critical perspective on such dynamics.
Those active in this way in the period 2004-2007:
- were much constrained in their ability to communicate with each other in
order to develop a coherent approach (one resigned)
- focused their attention on Secretariat staff:
- avoiding any challenges
relating to decision-making and communication with the Council and wider
membership, notably on the part of their elected Bureau
- ensuring the marginalization of more senior staff with functional
titles and responsibilities, or line authority
- empowering more junior staff with no management or wider experience
- prided themselves on:
- their capacity to encourage staff to view their situation optimistically
in a positive light
- the degree of open-ended experimentation with the
creative potential of those effectively made responsible for strategic
decisions regarding the survival of their own jobs
- avoided consideration of:
- any cautionary signals
- statutory constraints on the changes they enabled, and the responsibilities
for them
- conscious or unconscious power relations, including
those introduced by those operating in a consultancy role
- ensured that:
- there would be no conceivable circumstances in which it would
be appropriate to conclude that their intervention had exacerbated the
situation -- possibly disastrously so -- or to question the benefit they
derive from that intervention
- absence of timely decision-making was not their responsibility, irrespective
of the financial disasters to which it might give rise
- external factors (such as a foreseen publisher cutback) could be used
as an excuse for strategic failure
The learning for an organization in the position of UIA1 is the
need to be wary of the mandate of
consultants:
- without management expertise relevant to a non-profit publishing enterprise,
but who are allowed to acquire the power to pretend to such expertise (or
to make others responsible for failure to manfest that expertise)
- who hold the personal conviction that all situations should only be framed
as positive -- including severe loss of income ("on their watch")
theatening the very survival of the organization
- committed to implementing experimental forms of organization -- without
constraints despite unproven relevance to the concrete situation
- free to reframe empowerment processes as enabling "self-management"
when they might otherwise be recognized as having questionable sect-like
qualities (verging on the "clappy-happy")
- never assailed by doubt
Collapse of polar
tensions: The rapid post-partum decline
of UIA2, can usefully be described in terms of a collapse in the
polar tensions (and strategic ambiguities) which enabled it to engender UIA3.
In the resorption of UIA2 into UIA1, it traded the complex
challenge of the strategic dilemmas of the emerging information society for
a simplistic strategy of earlier decades. This shift may be interpreted simply
as a transition to a distinct culture previously latent in a more complex organization.
The collapsed polar tensions include the following:
Table 3: Indicating
collapse of polar tensions and dilemmas
(NB: The transition from Culture A to Culture B may also be seen as the
resolution of a legitmate clash of cultures) |
| Culture A |
> |
Culture B |
| positive opportunities / negative constraints |
> |
positive opportunities (denial of the negative) |
| male / female staffing and perspectives |
> |
female-only perspectives (marginalization of male perspectives) |
| French / English administrative challenge |
> |
English-only (as the preferred alternative for Flemish staff) |
| international / national balance |
> |
Belgium-only (through lack of provision for non-EU staff) |
| multicultural / single culture |
> |
single culture |
| no meetings / minimum meetings (for administrative purposes) |
> |
frequent meetings (despite work pressure) |
| management documentation / minimum documentation |
> |
minimum documentation (avoiding preparatory or recorded articulation
of issues) |
| ethical / unethical |
> |
unethical |
| open (transparent) / closed (nontransparent) |
> |
closed |
| professional / unprofessional |
> |
unprofessional |
| statutory / non-statutory |
> |
non-statutory |
information (marketing) /
information (potential) |
> |
information (marketing) |
information management /
knowledge management |
> |
information management |
Bureau (Council) management /
Secretariat management |
> |
Secretariat management |
long-term (historical and future) /
short-term (doable and centenary) |
> |
short-term -- ahistorical |
| issue concern / neutrality |
> |
neutrality |
informed (critical) perspective /
documentary perspective |
> |
uninformed documentary perspective |
| voluntary / paid |
> |
paid |
| research / information (business) |
> |
information (business) |
value-based strategy /
business marketing strategy |
> |
business marketing strategy |
attributing strategic value to information /
attributing commercial value |
> |
attributing commercial value |
enabling people to do what needed to be done /
empowering people to decide
what needed to be done |
> |
empowering people to decide what needed to be done |
pride in organization strategic position and operational viability /
pride in individual power positions within organization irrespective of
viability |
> |
pride in individual power positions within organization irrespective
of viability |
| paper / electronic documents |
> |
wall documents (flip charts) |
Symptoms of "organizational sickness": Studies
of organizational development have shown that dysfunctionality
("sick organizations") tends to evoke illness in those people working
in such a context. Beyond absenteeism, the patterns of ill-health amongst those
associated with UIA1 therefore
merit careful consideration as indicators of dangerous organizational dysfunctionality.
In the period from 2003, severe, even life-threatening, conditions were
evident in all those performing roles of Assistant Secretary-General, or with
major operational responsibility. This was also the case with the President.
Although possibly coincidental, it could be argued that these were the people
in some way obliged to internalize personally the conflicted decision-making
dilemmas of UIA1.
No significance was attached to this phenomenon.
Reclaiming the heritage of misappropriated collective
endeavour
A separate exploration (Reclaiming
the Heritage of Misappropriated Collective Endeavour: the case of the Union
of Intelligible Associations, 2007)
focuses on the various understandings of the "existence" of
collective "national" and "international" bodies, the ownership
of their (intellectual) "property" in an increasingly open information
society, and the claims that may "legitimately" be made on both by
those who actively sustain or develop such property over decades. Such considerations
are especially relevant in the transition over a century through the colonial
era to one in which post-colonialist, participative values are promoted and
upheld.
Introduction
Conflicting claims to territory and property: real or virtual
"Existence" of collective entities
Value context
Deprecated arguments
Exploitation of contractual relationships
Reclaiming a heritage
The emergence of a Union of Intelligible
Associations, or subsequently a Union
of Imaginative Associations, may therefore be understood as a progressive
reclaiming of a heritage of misappropriated collective endeavour.
Comprehending the transformative challenge of "stages" and
their relationship
The start of the 21st century inherits an immense variety of organizational
"bodies" -- "bodies corporate" -- understood to be established de
jure or
de facto. Many more continue to be created worldwide. However it is
also witness to the emergence of a multitude of "networks" and virtual entities within cyberspace
-- often "associations" of the most informal and ephemeral kind (listservs,
newsgroups, blogs). These are however well-recognized as a challenge to policy-making
by conventional bodies. Some bodies corporate also establish a "presence" in
cyberspace, and more recently in virtual worlds (cf Second Life: Your World. Your Imagination).
This period
also sees a degree of challenge to the rationale, credibility and mandate of
bodies corporate -- especially when many of their functions are increasingly
performed more effectively and rapidly through virtual organizations and loose
networks. What values do incorporated bodies really represent in contrast to
virtual entities? For what aspirations are they a more appropriate vehicle?
Concerns may be expressed for the demise of such a body -- possibly even articulated
in terms of the loss of its "soul" --
when valued activities are reduced (or "gutted") and distorted to
other ends, if only those of survival. Commentary on such tendencies also makes
reference to the fundamental importance of team "spirit", whether
as valued by its members or through efforts by "animators" to imbue
groups with such spirit to enhance their effectiveness, morale, creativity
or productivity.
The intent here is not to explore any 3-fold ontology (or theology) of organizational
"body", "soul" and "spirit" -- as distinguished
in some management literature.
Rather the focus
is on the nature of distinct vehicles for collective intent -- and of how a
vehicle of one form may effectively be necessary in order to engender another
of subtler form and greater integrity and efficacy. Nor is the intent thereby
to frame a potentially discriminatory scale of excellence through privileging
a particular form. As will be shown, distinct stages may well be more fruitfully
understood as interrelated in a cycle, such that the seemingly subtlest necessarily
engages in the process of engendering the most concrete. Each stage may then
be understood as a transitional vehicle through which insight and action are
expressed in response to challenges and opportunity.
Dimensions: There are however challenges to understanding such relationships,
as indicated by the following "dimensions":
- structurally distinctions can be made between an understanding
in terms of stages, then to be related within a cycle, then calling upon
a counter-intuitive twist. The challenge of stages lies in a propensity for
elitist distortions. The distortion for any cycle is the closure it may
imply against alternative perspectives ("circling the wagons", "us
and them", "gated
comunities"). Counter-intuition
calls for a challenging degree of self-reflexiveness ("I have seen the
enemy and them is us").
- distinctions in degree of cognitive engagement can be
made between a (safe) objective approach to any description, then to be opened
to the implication of the observer as an active participant in what is described
(whether stages, cycle, or self-reflexion), who may then be understood as
embodying or engendering those distinctions from a continuum of possibility
- contrasting distinctions with regard to integrity (as
variously understood) can be made between upholding a coherent set of values,
acting consequentially in the promotion of those values, and creating a focal
point for transformative cultivation of those values (as in "planting" educational
institutions or churches). Since each is implied by the other to some degree,
a particular challenge is recognizing the profound distinction between coherence
upheld, engaging in its promotion, and sustaining such coherence through
creation of appropriate institutions. The global integrity of the value set,
upheld in principle, readily obscures the integrative nature of
appropriately grounding that global understanding in practice.
- irrespective of the degree of engagement, in evaluating
performance distinctions
may be made between a heroic role, a role as (sacrificial) victim of uncontrollable
circumstances, and one of inappropriate response (whether resulting
from ignorance, negligence, or malign intent)
- distinctions between degrees of materialization of
integration,
ranging from incorporation (typical of UIA1), through virtual
organization based on pattern recognition (typical of UIA2),
to potential association (typical of UIA3). Incorporation in the
case of UIA1 may
be understood as aspiring to assembly of members rather than information.
"Union" in the case of UIA2 as members of a set (in
a logical sense). UIA3 as remembering -- in the sense of the
phrase: "We
can't put it together; it is together" (The
(Updated) Last Whole Earth Catalog, 1974), or Antonio de Nicolas (Remembering
the God to Come, 1988)
- personal bias (as noted earlier) and self-serving distortions / subjective,
complex adaptive ***
Metaphors of stage separation and emergence
The challenges to comprehension implied by the rich pattern of distinctions
(above) highlight the need to use metaphor to explore
ways of comprehending the relationship between UIA1, UIA2 and
UIA3. Metaphor is frequently used in the management literature to
explore the nature of organizational transition (Sonja Sackmannand, The
Role of Metaphors in Organization Transformation, Human Relations,
1989; Haridimos Tsoukas, The
Missing Link: a transformational view of metaphors in organizational science, Academy
of Management Review, 1991). This has been the theme of many studies under
the notional auspices of UIA1 (Documents
relating to Metaphor for Governance). Although a more extensive range
of metaphors might be usefully considered, the principal metaphors used are:
Each such metaphor of course introduces particular
distortions. Any such metaphors should be considered complementary, notably
to the extent that they overemphasize male or female bias. The predesigned
explicit staging characteristic of the rocket metaphor seemingly obscures the
structural emergence characteristic of development from an egg within a womb.
Understanding of such "nesting" over generations is partially exemplified
by so-called Russian dolls (Matryoschka).
Given the ambitious scope implied by the Mundaneum, in more symbolic
and archetypal terms some consideration might also be given to archetypal symbols such
as: Anima Mundi -- with documents understood as Prima Materia assembled in an effort to understand what animates the world.
Rocket metaphor: The comparison of the sequence to that of
a 3-stage rocket -- with UIA1 as the first stage through which the
launch of UIA3 is finally enabled, is consonant with a separate
exploration of an astrophysical metaphor as the basis for the organization
of knowledge space and the challenges of comunication across it (cf Towards
an Astrophysics of the Knowledge Universe: from astronautics to noonautics?,
2006). This notably makes reference to a later work of Paul Otlet (Monde:
Essai d'universalisme, 1935) as well as to the challenge of "escape" so
effectively explored by Erik Davis (TechGnosis: myth, magic and mysticism
in the age of information. 1998/2004) and reviewed as an Annex of that
study (TechGnosis -- Gnostic Escape in a Knowledge Universe: embodied in
a regrounding and re-Earthing process, 2007).
Reference is also made there to
the initiative of Joseph Campbell (The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: metaphor
as myth and as religion, 1986) in a series of symposia with that theme
touching on the implications of the Space Age for an appropriate new mythology.
This is consistent with the pioneering insights of the Renaissance scholar
Marsilio Ficino (Composing
the Present Moment: celebrating the insights of Marsilio Ficino interpreted
by Thomas Moore, 2001).
Within the astronautics metaphor, the performance of a "UIA" 3-stage
rocket (accepting the dematerialization of each successive stage), might be described in the following terms:
- UIA1: Union of International Associations
- space: documentation space (UIA0) or information space
(UIA1)
-- in support of an information society (Information
Systems and Inter-Organizational Space, 1971)
- objective: escape velocity for paradigm shift:
- fuel: concentrating, organizing and deriving (economic value)
power from resources
- viability: challenged by project
logic / economic / short-term / burn-up / hope-mongers ***
- long-term booster rockets:
- organization-related profiling (incl. biography and bibliography)
- meeting-related profiling (incl proceedings bibliographies)
- statistical data (for academic and market research)
- UIA2: Union of Intelligible Associations
- space: knowledge space -- in support of a knowledge society (not know-how?**)
- objective: eliciting meaningful patterns
- strategic / situation rooms / command-control / sauver les meubles
/ modelling
- excludes aesthetic creativity although rehearsing it
- viability: challenged by ***
- UIA3: Union of Imaginative Associations
- space: imagination/inspiration space -- in support an imagination/inspiration
society (in response to dropping knowledge***)
- objective: cognitive engagement with patterns
- imagination / nature / open-ended / possibility
- includes/dependent on aesthetic creativity
- viability: challenged by *** reality reframed
Game-playing
- statutory game-playing, typical of international NGOs acting in imitation
of the United Nations
- technical game-playing, typical of computer-based strategies in
response to the explosion of opportunity
- power game playing, typical of personal relations within many institutions
and of the relations between collective intiatives
- infinite games, in contrast to the "finite games" above (exemplified by
James P. Carse (Finite
and Infinite Games: a vision of life as play and possibility, 1986)
Metaphors of problematic stage separation: Given the role
of distinct stages, whatever the metaphor, particular attention can be given
to the use of metaphor in describing problems in stage separation:
- rocket case: failure of control, communication, energy
or mechanical closure processes, achieving orbit or escape velocity
- pregnancy case: infertility, birth disorders, eclampsia,
the painful process of giving birth, and the umbilical cord
- familial case: prolonged dependency ( "mummy's
boy" problem), sibling relationships -- cuckoo / eclampsia complementarity
- pathology: malnourishment, cancer, exhaustion, stress
***
- game-playing
new mindsets, paradigm -- umbilical ***
Metaphors of post-separation outcome: Also of interest is
the use of metaphor in understanding what happens to an earlier stage after
successful separation (post partum):
- rocket case: does the superceded stage remain in low-level
orbit (as a monument to past achievement), return to earth (to be recovered
for salvage or as a monument), or burn-up in doing so? Such possibilities
are especially interesting in the light of the problematic accumulation of space
debris in orbit around the planet, notably including spent rocket stages.
As memorials to old initiatives, should many organizations, whose transformation
potential is exhausted, be compared to such orbiting space debris -- whether
inert (like the sister organization of UIA1), or symbolically
active (like the parent of UIA1)? Should UIA1, like
the RMS Queen Mary,
be "towed into a parking orbit" where minimal activity can be sustained
-- and from which the globe can be scanned as from the observation deck of
the Empire State
Building --
with or without a skeleton crew? In this respect, it is noteworthy that
a number of "dead" international organizations continue to have
a ghostly post-mortem existence through online access to their archival databases
-- possibly the fate of UIA2.
- biological case: is the superceded stage consumed by the
next stage (as with some insects), simply abandoned, or respectfully cared
for?
- familial case: the Mundaneum has been successfully
funded as a museum by French-speaking Wallonia but, despite its maternal
role for UIA1, there has been little to no contact between them
for decades; similarly, following the discontinuation of use by UIA1 of the
Universal Decimal Classification in 1972, there was no formal contact with
its sister organization the FID (which championed the UDC until the end)*** postpartum depression
The superceded vehicle may not simply disappear but may continue to perform
tasks relevant to mindsets only perceived by some to be outmoded. Its function
may be reframed, possibly in commemoration of what it enabled in ensuring the
viability of the subsequent stage.
As indicated earlier, a story of larger scope would consider the relationship
of UIA1, as reconstituted after 1948, to the form initiated in 1907
(UIA0 ), acquiring the same name in 1910 , and how
that emerged, or became distinct, from the Mundaneum. ***
Evocative questions: It is a mistake to stretch metaphors beyond their usefulness, but some evocative
questions may be fruitfully considered. The challenge to comprehension raises
at least five distinct issues:
- why are a number of distinct "stages" apparently necessary
in any developmental process requiring some form of paradigm shift?
- is a minimum number of such stages required to escape unwanted or "dysfunctional" constraints
-- whether a physical gravity well or a cognitive gravity well?
- what is the requisite number of complementary metaphors needed
to encompass the subtlety of the distinctions between stages -- together
engendering an integrative pattern of understanding based on resonance
between them?
- what is the minimum number of distinct booster/guidance systems necessary
to initiate and sustain the stability of any "escape"?
- to what extent are these distinctions artificially made in response to
a continuum of transformation / metamorphosis?
As vehicles of human initiative and understanding,
and as focal symbols of collective pride and expertise,
which international bodies can be fruitfully compared:
-- to RMS Titanic (in ignoring vulnerabilities)?
-- to RMS Queen Mary (now permanently docked as an entertainment facility)?
-- to the space shuttle Challenger (having ignored engineering feedback)?
How should ambitions to captain or crew such vehicles then be understood
-- especially for what becomes their final journey? |
Distinguishing stages in the light of potential (mis)understanding
Misunderstandings are inherent in the succession of identities
of "UIA", whether experienced by those external
to their decision -making or those within them.
The associated ambiguity may be exploited to various ends, excarbating the
misunderstanding.
Understanding of UIA1 is potentially confused by:
a sense of comprehensiveness with implications of hierarchical closure of
knowledge classification and legally institutionalized membership; reinforced
by UN recognition of UIA1 as a legal entity, cooptation of elite membership, implications
of "unionisation" (subsuming
initiatives of other bodies), and assumptions of special expertise. Any such
outmoded "imperial" roles may be dysfunctionally attractive to
those seeking to benefit from their association with it, whether organizationally
or personally. Mistaken assumptions may be made about the capacity to target international associations with marketing messages and campaign appeals. There may be a degree of deliberate exploitation of this
ambiguity to sustain credibility, attract resources and ensure operational
viability.
Understanding of UIA2 is potentially confused by:
failure to comprehend its status as a strategic intiative rather than as a legal entity; a focus on the strategic potential of its information for the promotion
of political agendas (eg UN system, advocacy bodies), commercial agendas
(eg meetings industry), security agendas (social network analysis for the
detection of threat). This may encourage an emphasis on mapping complex static
patterns of relationship and their visualization -- in a period desperate
for simple responses to complex problems, meaningful participative engagement,
enhanced by multimedia, and responsive to preferences for a variety of ways
of knowing. This confusion may inhibit recognition of the degree of successful adaptation
of UIA2 to the technical and conceptual developments of the complexities
and openness of the emerging knowledge society.
Potential confusion in understanding the role
of UIA3:
the seeming irresponsibility of emphasis on aesthetic integration, radical
individualism supported by the subjective dynamics of a virtual multimedia
environment with its problematic relationship to concreteness and long-term
initiatives (in the "real world"). Confusion is exacerbated by
problematic relationship to ungrounded dysfunctional subjective obsession
with arbitrary integrative comprehension (groupthink, "everything
connected to everything"), as well as the problematic distinction
from the dysfunctionality of faith-based initiatives (see below).
Interrelating possibilities for (mis)understanding : Such
potential for confusion may be explained and clarified in the following Table
5 -- adapted and developed from Arthur
Young's Geometry of
Meaning (1978).
Note that other adaptations (and commentaries) of potential relevance
to this exploration include a Typology
of 12 complementary strategies essential to sustainable development (1998), Characteristics
of phases in 12-phase learning / action cycles (1998), Typology
of 12 complementary dialogue modes essential to sustainable dialogue, Characteristics
of phases in 12-phase learning / action cycles (1998), Further
Constraints on Conceptual Container Design (Part
5 of Development through Alternation, 1983), Varieties
of experience of past-present-future complexes (2001), Functional
Complementarity of Higher Order Questions psycho-social sustainability
modelled by coordinated movement (2004). Some of these formed
part of the commentaries to Encyclopedia
of World Problems and Human Potential.
Table 5 (below) could be understood as a presentation of two modes
of institutional learning (including learning within institutions):
- from UIA1,
UIA2 to UIA3 (as noted above).
- "within" each
stage in terms of progression through levels of (mis)understanding and
projection by insiders or outsiders.
The symbols used in the table may be ignored. They
derive from the efforts of Arthur Young (as inventor of the Bell helicopter)
to relate the challenge of controlling a vehicle (operating in three dimensional
space) to the complexity of the 12 different physical factors (measure formulae
used in physics to describe the motion of a body) that needed to be taken
into account. He endeavoured to extend these insights to apply to learning
and action in psychosocial situations -- as being of equivalent complexity
at least.
It is assumed here that they are of relevance to understanding the challenges
of navigating in knowledge space as discussed elsewhere (Navigating Alternative Conceptual Realities: clues to the dynamics of enacting new paradigms through movement, 2002).
Table 5: Two
modes of institutional learning
(adaptation of an analysis of action-learning cycles by Arthur Young) |
| . |
UIA1
Acts
Abstract
Schematic
M0L = C
/ A***
|
UIA2
States
Motivated
Considered
ML = F .
/ I
|
UIA3
Relationships
Application
Follow-through
Commitment
ML2 = M
/ U
|
Conscious
(Re-volution) |
Unconscious
(In-volution) |
| T0 |
L.
Observation;
act of considering; position determination; reactive learning based
on immediate registration of phenomena; assessment of distance; "sizing
up"
|
ML.
Recognition of moment(ousness),
relevance (as related to leverage), significance (as in "matters of great moment");
weight of facts; bringing matters into focus |
ML2
Faith in current paradigm or perception of reality;
unexamined or habitual commitment to a process projection or understanding,
irrespective of inconsistent disturbing factors |
Timeless
awareness
Non-duration |
Unconscious registration of information |
| T-1 |
L./T
Adaptive change; reaction; passive adaptation or change of position in response to changing circumstances |
ML./T
Recognition of the momentum (of an issue) resulting
from a change, namely the consequential transformation of awareness or
perspective |
ML2/T
Decision or impulse to act or initiate a process determining the future |
Conscious
adaptive response
Awareness |
Homeostatic
equilibrium
Unconscious adaptation |
| T-2 |
L/T2
Spontaneous initiation of transformative action;
commitment to a new course of action |
ML/T2
Forcefulness engendered, experienced or embodied as a result of transformative action; constructive (or disruptive) action potential; enhanced sense of being |
ML2/T2
Achievement of a desired result by application of
understanding (and adjustment of implicit beliefs) in response to external
factors; working action on reality
|
Comparison
with norms or memory of previous experience
Self-awareness |
Auto-catalytic
response
Self-impulsion |
| T-3 |
L/T3
Control of transformative action |
ML/T3
Establishment of disciplined pattern of response;
consolidated or harmonious control of action potential; holding forces
in check |
ML2/T3
Power of acquired knowledge; know-how; integrated or embodied experience; capacity (including that of not acting); non-action |
Comparison
with previous comparisons
Awareness of self-awareness
Transendental discontinuity |
Uncoordinated
action
Victim of discontinuity |
Conscious
(Re-volution) |
Intentional
shift of
- perspective
- position
- reference
Range of conscious attention span
"Distance" from object of focus |
(see MLT0) |
Projection of an intended shift of perspective into reality |
. |
Time-binding |
Unconscious
(In-volution) |
Unintended
shift of:
- perspective
- position
- reference
Displacement of focus |
Unconscious impression of significance |
Subject to an unintended shift of perspective |
Space-binding |
Learning via... |
The above table is helpful with respect to the:
- "degrees of comprehension" of
UIA1, UIA2 and UIA3 -- especially
as models of institutional challenges in wider society to which they respond.
UIA1, UIA2 or
UIA3 are more readily understood at the "T0" level.
However such understanding may obscure appreciation of their respective endeavours
at levels T-1, T-2, or T-3. Such appreciation
may be as much a challenge to comprehension for outside observers as for informed
insiders. Whether UIA1, UIA2 or UIA3, there
may be a real challenge to expressing the insights associated with T-2,
or T-3. Inadequate efforts to do so may readily reinforce unfortunate
understanding of those endeavours -- especially pretensions and illusions
encouraging narrow ambitions. Such insights effectively reframe the understanding
of the nature and focus of the activity -- "what the initiative is really about".
Typically this would be variously understood -- or misunderstood -- by collaborators,
decision-makers and outsiders.
- appropriateness: in highlighting the challenge
that each stage (UIA1, UIA2 and UIA3) poses
for a subsequent stage -- that it may engender through its own inadequacies to
contextual challenges. The explanatory columns and rows of the table (on
the right and below respectively) help to indicate how the focus in each
row (whether for UIA1,
UIA2 or UIA3) becomes more "self-reflexive" and "intense" as
explored elsewhere (The
Isdom of the Wisdom Society: Embodying time as the heartland of humanity,
2003), notably in the light of insights of Arthur Young into the experience
of "inverse time" and "going more deeply into the present" when
the "dimensionality" of the experience increases. Furthermore,
from left to right, there is a transformation of focus from what might be
summarized as:
- UIA1: registering and ordering the objective
world and a directive impulse to control any changes to it
- UIA2: recognition of conditions and patterns
of relationship and the system of forces in play
- UIA3: responsiveness to conditions and
engagement with them in the light of creative insight into possibilities
- operational coherence: namely the difficulty from a UIA1 mindset
of understanding the coherence and operational viability of the essentially virtual identity
of UIA2 as
a creature of cyberspace -- through the traces relating to copyright, software
and groupware. Many organizations have been confronted by this challenge
in relation to the "reality" of
cyberspace initiatives -- notably in the light of striking successes and
failures, whether in terms of popularity or fortunes made (or lost). In the
field of reference information, for example, the viability of Wikipedia,
the largest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the internet, has
been a mystery in terms of conventional business models -- and a challenge
to UIA1,
if not to UIA2. It is therefore to be expected that from a UIA2 mindset,
comprehension of the coherence and operational viability of UIA3 would
be equally challenging (and even more so from a UIA1 mindset).
Whereas the potential of UIA2 is naturally associated with
the exponential development of cyberspace (including Web
2.0 and the Semantic
Web), such developments need to be contrasted with another striking
evolution that is more closely indicative of the potential of UIA3 --
and the difficulty of understanding it. This
is the strategic coherence of the faith-based initiatives as
has been only too evident in the case of the leadership of the Coalition
of the Willing in justifying intervention in Iraq with unprecedented resources
-- and the faith-based response of suicide bombers in totally undermining
that strategy -- both in thrall to religious dogma. The "incomprehensible"
nature of this "Stage 3" strategy is evident in the contrast now
recognized between "faith-based" and "reality-based" decision-making
at the highest level -- as noted in a much-cited article by Ron Suskind (Without
a Doubt, The New York Times, In The Magazine, 17 October
2004) regarding an exchange with an aide in the decision-making circle of
President Bush:
The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based
community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge
from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured
something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off.
''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're
an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're
studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating
other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will
sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left
to just study what we do.''
With respect to the above table, this faith-based reality might be understood
as a potentially problematic mindset associated with the "T0" level
of UIA3.
The same might be said of certain forms of "positive thinking",
especially as extolled in faith-based contexts (Being
Positive Avoiding Negativity: management challenge of positive vs negative,
2005). A distinct form of "Stage 3", more characteristic of the
emergent UIA3 discussed
here, is that associated with the enactivism typical of the T-2,
or T-3 levels. The enactivist
approach to "laying
down the path" may
be usefully contrasted with a common practice of "lying about the path" one
is walking -- whether to oneself or to others. (Walking
Elven Pathways: enactivating the pattern that connects, 2006).
Detailed description of stages (exemplifying challenges in other
organizations)
Annex 2 : Detailed description of stages (exemplifying
challenges in other organizations)
-- Stage 1: Union of International Associations (UIA1):
Contextual challenges | Internal challenges
-- Stage 2: Union of Intelligible Associations (UIA2):
Contextual challenges | Internal challenges
-- Stage 3: Union of Imaginative Associations (UIA3):
Contextual challenges | Internal challenges
Comprehension of stage separation (decoupling / detachment)
in transformation processes
Conclusion
Although the stage separation dynamics, and their comprehension, are explored
in greater detail in Annex 2, the insights from the analysis of the three-stage
separation are perhaps best summarized below in Table 6. This is a prelude
to the discussion of an integrative model in Annex
3: Psychosocial Energy from Polarization -- within a Cyclic Pattern of Enantiodromia where
the focus is on relating the stages in a cycle.
Table 6: Long-term
Global Dynamic of Individual-Collective Action-Comprehension
(illustrated by the 100 years of UIA methods and illusions) |
| . |
. |
Stage 0/1 |
Stage 2 |
Stage 3/0 |
+
Explicit
(intended outcome)
thesis |
"UIA" |
Empowering action through
collection and organization of information on hierarchies of representative
civil society bodies in all fields of activity as being authoritiative,
especially those assemblying them in response to coordinated intergovernmental
bodies strategies |
Enabling collective
action (and communication) through re-presenting information on complex
networks and patterns of relevant entities (indicative of dynamic systems)
using multimedia techniques to enhance integrative comprehension.
**Inter-Contact |
Enabling imaginative
associations to embody coherence. Personal immediacy
Self-reliance
Own coherence
Dynamic
2nd order cybernetics |
Global
context |
globe
legitmation of colonial exploitation |
globe***, spin, value reversal
counter-intuitive, lateral
surveillance
knowledge orverlaod |
(Second Life).
faith-based
cocoon
gated, forting-up
spherical |
Embodied
contradictions/
Creativity ambiguity |
"UIA" |
Faced with proliferation
of civil society bodies, UIA0/1 implied to be a prime focus
sought by IGOs (seeking a single voice and single channel), meetings
industry (seeking a single interface for marketing), academe (seeking
comprehensive statistics), or civil society advocacy groups (seeking
assistance and mailing addresses). Meaning in priciple does not readily
translate into meaning in practice. |
.
|
. |
Global
context |
. |
Emergence of complex models,
global plans, hybrid initiatives (WEF, WSF, etc), virtual organization
Unresolved response to stereotyping, groupthink and
unshared comprehension (alternative ways of knowing and recognizing
meaning)
cultural variety
scale and urgency
spin |
. |
-
Implicit
(unsaid,
unsayable, effective outcome)
anti-thesis |
"UIA" |
Information overload
and underuse. Democractic deficit. Apathy. Inadequacy of coordination.
Meaning dependency.
Hope-mongering |
Knowledge overload and
underuse
Recognition of inadequacy of "alternatives". Erosion of credibility
of authority. Undeliverability of programmatic promises, including reform.
Inadequate response to surprises. Gameplaying. Endemic corruption. Cynicism,
fatalism.
"Renegotiation" of human rights. Non-convergence on solutions. |
Grounding, embodying,
embodiment of collective...
inspiration overload and underuse;
suicide |
Global
context |
. |
. |
faith-based, conspiracy theory, spam, groupthink |
Some general conclusions are
of course proposed in the main paper Emergence
of a Union of Imaginative Associations: engendered by a Union of Intelligible
Associations from a Union of International Association
|
