Working with Authority and Power in Organizational
Systems: An Online Group Relations Conference in the
Tavistock Tradition (September-November, 2006)
Our firm is proud to be the host and co-sponsor of the
first-ever group relations conference to be offered
entirely in cyberspace. This eight-week experiential
"online" conference in the Tavisock tradition
was offered in September of 2006 on the Invision Power
Board, under the directorship of Jeffrey D. Roth, MD.
Staff consultants were drawn from all over the world,
as were the members, who represented several countries
such as India, UK, China, Spain, and USA. The "director's
report" can be found on our Papers
page if you look under Jeffrey D. Roth, MD. The
conference
brochure can be accessed here.
Systems Psychodynamics of Virtual Teamwork:
The Role of Trust and Anxiety in Collaborative Group
Process (June-July, 2007)
Building on the success of the first online group relations conference that was offered in 2006, our firm once again mounted a global conference in 2007, dedicated to the study and exploration of "virtual teamwork.
Contemporary organizations face many complexities and
challenges related to distributed work that requires
collaboration across geographies, time-zones, strategic
business units, and partner organizations. Virtual teams
have become a fact of life, as talent becomes diffused
across the world, the marketplace becomes global, and
technology facilitates faster and more efficient communication
networks. Organizations are unable to compete in the
global market economy, unless they can perform large
quantities of work through geographically dispersed
virtual teams. This creates tremendous opportunities,
but also presents huge challenges related to whether
or not team members are able to make the most efficient
use of technology, given the role that trust and anxiety
play in the accomplishment or frustration of work. Holding
the paradox that arises from working in the mechanistic,
cold, and unforgiving environment of the Internet, while
meeting the socio-emotional needs of self and others,
can be very demanding and frightening for the senses.
Using a "systems psychodynamics" frame, the conference brings together for the very first time, two highly respected, but diametrically opposed group methodologies developed by the Tavistock Institute and National Training Laboratories (NTL) in an integrated event. While both approaches focus on the development and advancement of human potential, they are steeped in very different philosophies, which when studied together, can produce significant breakthroughs in understanding teamwork. Click here to download brochure.
Designing a Tavistock-based Conference in Cyberspace
(January 14 to March 14, 2008)
An international group of professionals representing the Tavistock, AKRI, NTL, and several other experiential group technologies, is currently meeting on the Invision Power Board to study the different aspects of designing a Tavistock-based conference in cyberspace. Fashioned after a typical Large Group event, the forum is meeting for eight weeks, and hopes to produce a full-length Online Group RelationsSM Conference, to be mounted by our firm in the summer/fall of 2008. The co-directors leading the design effort are Jeffrey Roth, MD and Haim Weinberg, PhD, with administrative and IT support from Anil Behal, MSM, MA, PhD.
Given our firm's strategic mission of connecting
people & ideas worldwideSM, we are already
engaged in future plans to further develop working alliances
for our global Online Group RelationsSM platform
where we would like to host "applied" conferences on
a variety of organizational topics such as executive
coaching, teambuilding, consulting, and organizational
assessment etc. If you are an experienced consultant
with a passion for working in a new frontier, and schooled
in the Tavistock, IFSI, or NTL traditions, please feel
free to contact us for more
information.
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