Issue:Care about ethics? or anything goes?

Convenor: IlseGrant?

Participants: Eddie, Koos


Summary of the meeting: The initial question arose after a 'success story' in the german os-list. A relatively 'new' os-practitioner had just facilitated an 'internal' os in a company with a controverse reputation in a transformation country. Probably neither he nor the public was aware what this company was all about and the question I had was: how to deal with this issue? Individually asked colleages had different ideas about it and thought it was an important enough issue to bring up in the osonos-group. Here are the results so far. Any additions/ other opinions are welcome:

- no such thing as a 'black list' for clients is appropriate

- not much point for 'guidelines' either, for every individual has other moral standards and approaches the issue differently

However, of course as an individual one can set standards with cooperating colleagues as to who to work for and under which conditions or not. E.g.:

- a willingness to change should be there

- openess to exchange

- if the top wants influence of the outcome a f t e r the event it should be clarified beforehand (givens! and be reduced to the absolute minimum).

It just can't be generalized. Or can it?

Besides, there was agreement about the following: to insist that as many stakeholders as possible should be invited (importance to have as much as possible in the room of the effected system). This could be called the 'responsibility of the os-facilitator'.

From a buddhist perspective there is also the view beyond duality, where there is no good or bad anymore. Everything just IS. Which is very much a perspective that os cultivates. As soon as there is anyone NOT welcome in os there's something wrong with os.

So, the two major questions can be summarized as:

1. Who do you / who don't you do os for?

2. What is/are the responsibility/ies of the facilitator? -> clarification of the givens, for one! And caring for the process rather than results.

Two others arose:

3. Is there something like an os-reputation to be 'defended' / 'protected'? Or does os take care of itself?

4. How far can ethics go before it is discriminative (as in exclusive / accusative / etc )?

For newbies: instead of giving them guidelines it is vital to ask the right questions (do coaching with them as well as training) and inspire them to ask the right questions. Let them find the answers themselves.


Follow up:


Online Comments: