Customer Reviews

The Handbook of Large Group Methods: Creating Systemic Change in Organizations and Communities (Jossey-Bass Business & Management)

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Billie Alban and Barbara Bunker are well-known in the field of organization development, and in use of large group methods in particular. Their earlier work, Large Group Interventions, is considered THE basic introduction to the multiple methods that have developed for engaging whole systems in organizational change. The current book, which contains a wide range of case studies, shines because of Alban and Bunker's thorough analysis of what the studies have to say. Like good teachers they have organized the material in ways that make sense (e.g., "Working in Polarized and Politicized Environments," "Working Cross-Culturally"), allowing you to focus on the very issues that face you in your work with organizations. And like generous friends they share their own insights and experience, helping you to mine the case studies for all they are worth. I found myself reading all of what Alban and Bunker contributed and dipping in and out of the various case studies as particular issues caught my attention. I know this is a resource I will turn to again and again.

The Handbook of Large Group Methods: Creating Systemic Change in Organizations and Communities

by Barbara Benedict Bunker

I have read the earlier book, 'Large Group Interventions: Engage the Whole System for Rapid Change', by the same authors, in the late nineties. This book actually led me to their new book.

Although I find it very educational to read about how large group methods have been applied to deal with the six major challenges organisations & communities would face in the 21st Century:

- Working with widely dispersed organizations, & the problem of involvement and participation;

- Working with organizations facing a serious business crisis;

- Working with organizations in polarized & politicized environments;

- Working in community settings with diverse interest groups;

- Working at the global level & adapting these methods for cross-cultural use;

- Embedding & sustaining new patterns of working together in organizations and communities;

the part of the book that interests & fascinates me most is essentially the third section, covering Resources for Large Group Methods, as follows:

- Tools for Effective Transitions Using Large Group Processes;

- Graphic Facilitation & Large Group Methods;

- Using Interactive Meeting Technologies: Overcoming the Challenges of Time, Commitment & Geographical Disperion;

It goes to show that the collaborative technologies & tools to support large group interventions have made tremendous progress over the last few years.

I am quite intrigued as why the innovative work in embracing group genius of other consultants are not featured in the book, e.g. Jim Channon (large system imagineering with virtual reality experience) & Matt Taylor (creative augmentation with the artful integration of visual space technologies, collaborative environments & knowledge-intensive work processes). I have read about their respective exemplary work in 'Fortune' & 'Fast Company' magazines as well as in some other business books. This is my only adverse comment about the book.

On the whole, the book is a good resource to have in your personal library.

The strength of this book lies in the fact that it not only provides methodologies and resources for creating change in organizations in the 21st century; but also identifies how these methodologies actually work in practice.

A series of case studies ranges from addressing business issues at American Airlines and the BBC to managing change in organizations in Mexico and Indonesia. The reader is taken on a journey by those individuals who were responsible for implementing large group methodologies in their respective organizations.

By reading about these success stories and the methodologies they employ, you will be able to develop a plan for you own organization that will ensure a higher level of success that would otherwise be possible.

Walter Willigan, President, Willigan Consulting LLC

Trust Alban and Bunker to use their social science prowess and rich professional experiences to create an eminently pragmatic handbook for leaders of systems change. To their credit, the entire construction of the book also employs the very principles espoused by the contributors: inclusion of stakeholders, engagement of multiple perspectives, search for common ground, transparency, and appreciation for diversity. After soliciting cases from around the world, the authors organized them into helpful categories of interventions around "six challenges for the 21st century" and added their views on the issues created by those challenges. These chapter inputs are perfect executive summaries for clients who are mired in these dilemmas daily and are looking for solutions and they will help introduce the large group engagement methods the consultant is offering. Also invaluable is the authors' matrix of each case that delineates the organizational sector, the situation addressed, and the methods used--truly makes the text handy.

Although the book stands on its own merits for the sophisticated organization consultant, reading their previous Large Group Interventions (Jossey Bass, 1997) would give the appropriate context for the creative adaptations of the original methods that their latest book so well describes. The Handbook has not only added new methods (Appreciative Inquiry Summit, World Café and AmericaSpeaks) but, more importantly, it describes combinations of traditional methods along with new twists which are thoroughly described. Appropriately, there is a greater reliance on engagement principles for a change process instead of previously prescribed recipes for events in their prior book.

The consultant contributors have been generous with details, for the most part, so that seasoned organization development consultants will feel comfortable employing these tested methods of engagement. On the other hand, there also could also be a warning sticker that reads: "Don't Try This Alone in your Ballroom!" because much of the success comes with years of experience working with diverse groups and learning what doesn't work. Partnering with such experts is the wisest way to dive into whole system change.

As a trainer of large group principles, I particularly appreciated the enhancement tools this handbook describes--Polarity Mapping (B. Johnson), Gestalt therapy, coaching theory, using professional actors for storytelling, graphic facilitation and more. I look forward to the 2017 iteration Bunker and Alban offer to keep us on our toes!

Elizabeth K. Olson

Preferred Futures, Inc.

In the complex, interconnected, global environment that most organizations work in daily, it is no longer possible for a few people "at the top" of the organization to have all the knowledge, expertise, and perspective needed for its success. At NovaLearning, we have used large group methods with colleges and universities for about fifteen years. I have constantly seen how institutions become better -- more focused, more strategic, but also more humane -- as they incorporate ideas and insight from across the system into their operation. When Bunker and Alban's earlier book was published, I was delighted because it captured well the range of large group approaches that had developed by 1996. This new handbook goes much further.

These are substantive case studies exceptionally well framed by Bunker and Alban's insight and experience. The diverse case study authors are generous in sharing at a level of specificity that makes real learning from their experiences possible. Each chapter is organized around the presenting challenge, the context and methodology (and why chosen), a detailed description of what actually happened, and perhaps most importantly, a set of reflections and insights that give the reader the chance to share in the authors' learning. I also found valuable the examples of how the innovative use of communication technologies can provide new opportunities as well as sometimes create unexpected limitations. I strongly recommend The Handbook of Large Group Methods to consultants who use or want to use large group methods. Individual chapters will also be important and provocative for corporate, academic, social, and political leaders and change agents.

Through the many cases presented, Barbara and Billie were able to present to the reader how the different Large Group Methods actually can be applied, and, specially, how they form part of a larger roadmap for systemic change. Interesting also how all cases have a reflections session, which is very usefull in giving actual or to-be practitioners concrete tips for implementation.

The combination of cases with theory about the methods and innovative ideas (for example, on the use of Technologies and Graphic facilitation)resulted in a superior learning experience and complements very well their first book ("Large Group Interventions: Engaging the Whole System for Rapid Change").

Last but not least, I was happy to note how there was a shift in attention from method to challenges that organizations or communities are facing - so a focus on impact and change. A book worth reading for those that are facing or will face large scale changes.

I agree with the reviewer who notes that something may be missing (other slices of large group imagination and so on) but what I see in this book is a 5 star original updating the first original work. I am also impressed by the manner in which the author-editors have engaged a total of 49 collaborators.

Despite its size this is an easy to read and appreciate book, and in my own limited experience within this literature, stands in a class by itself.

Key Point: Must recognize and engage ALL stakeholders, including those that may be "external" to "the system" but are either inputs or outputs or victims, etc.

Key Point: This literature has developed from the 1960's focus on the social psychology of organizations, to the social psychology of networks.

Key Point: Many Small Groups = a Large System (susceptible to whole systems methods) = Future Search and Shaping.

Key Point: Real time strategic change is now known as whole-scale change (I am reminded of Kirkpatrick Sale's seminal work, Human Scale

Five methods for planning the future:

+ Search Conference

+ Future Search

+ Whole-Scale Change

+ ICAA Strategic Planning Process

+ Appreciative Inquiry

This book was published before Jim Rough's pioneering work at the Center for Wise Democracy or Tom Atlee's Co-Intelligence Institute. See:

Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People

The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All

Large Group Methods (LGM) is very ably presented by the authors and collaborators as being ideal for working with diverse groups that have different cultures, structures, and priorities. I am reminded that we live in a world dominated by pyramidal organizations that still believe in top-down elite "command and control," and this book is therefore a revolutionary handbook for enabling bottom-up sense-making and localized social resilience.

Key point: whereas the first book focused on methods, this book focuses on challenges, the challenges rather than the methods are driving the practices.

Here are my fly-leaf notes. Some books I read to learn in depth, others I read to learn what I do not know and persuade myself the authors are essential future consultants. This is such a book. In my lifetime I cannot learn what these 49 collaborators articulate so capably.

WIDELY-DISPERSED ORGANIZATIONS

+ Defining and holding the vision

+ Tolerance for Ambiguity

+ Relationship-building

WHOLE-SYSTEM ENGAGEMENT WITH COLLABORATIVE TECHNOLOGY

+ 10% technology, 90% human interaction

+ Higher quality goals and strategies result

+ Faster decision making

+ Rapid global stakeholder alignment

+ Enhanced organizational readiness for implementation

+ New model for governance as well as participation

ORGANIZATIONS IN CRISIS

+ Focus

+ Timeline

+ Openness

+ Involvement

+ Preferences stimulate engagement

+ Seek coherence

- Directional

- Relational

- Task

- Contextual

POLARIZED AND POLITICIZED ENVIRONMENTS

+ LSG methods are more respectful of differences

+ Trust & Transformation

+ Multiple competing interests accomodated

+ Clearing the air

+ Working with tensions

+ Seven Principles

- Focus on common ground

- Rationalize conflict

- Manage conflict

- Expand individuals' view of the situation (beyond egotistic)

- Acknowledge history of group conflict and feelings

- Manage public airing of differences

- Reduce hierarchy as much as possible

COMMUNITIES WITH DIVERSE INTEREST GROUPS

+ Different from organizations, less structured, more ambiguous

+ Need sponsorship and sustainability of effort

+ Need representative planning groups from across the community

+ Skilled facilitators are essential

+ Conclude by recognizing, recording, and tracking commitments

WORKING CROSS-CULTURALLY

+ Be aware of what you do not know

+ Relationship-oriented, NOT "USA Work Before Pleasure"

+ Respect desire to maintain distance and privacy

+ Pace of decisions can be very slow

+ Respect desire to be part of a collective voice instead of an individual on the spot

+ Four Worlds

- North = intellect

- South = feeling

- East = intuition

- West = pragmatic

+ Conversations are for:

- Relationships

- Possibilities

- Action

EMBEDDING NEW PATTERNS

+ Patience

+ Respect self-organizing tendencies

+ Keep it simple

The resource section contains three additional contributions. The middle one, on graphics, captured my attention.

GRAPHICS:

+ Engage participants

+ Focus and ground energy of group

+ Provide space where participants feel heard

+ Bridge cultures

+ Surface unheard voices

+ Provide summative and integrative function

+ Provide continuity and enhance sustainability

I have personally witnessed the effectiveness of graphics at Nexus for Change and Bioneers. It is a hugely impressive technique for eliciting, capturing, and visualizing the disparate contribution of many individual minds. Those who are able to execute this function are gifted.

My eye was also caught by Covision's fast feedback cycle (bottom to top):

+ Ambivalence

+ Awareness

+ Understanding

+ MUTUAL Understanding

+ Alignment

+ Buy In

+ Commitment

The book ends with a reading list (part of what persuaded me it is better to engage these talents than try to replicate their knowledge), short bios of the very impressive collection of 49 collaborators, and a first-class index.

This is an important book. See also:

The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems

The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter

How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Updated Edition

The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World

One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization

Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

I am limited to ten links. See also Group Genius, Five Minds, Smart Mobs, Wisdom of the Crowds, Wealth of Networks, Revolutionary Wealth, Infinite Wealth, Wealth of Knowledge, Army of Davids, etc.

This Handbook is a valuable, broad scope look at public and private sector systems currently engaged in change iniatitives around the world. Relatively free of jargon and untried theories, these field-tested case studies will appeal to a wide spectrum of readers from organization leaders and HR professionals to business school students. I came away with some important new ideas for my work and avoided a few pitfalls after reading the book.