HARMONY

An Exploration of the play of dynamic forces in organisation space

Sanjay Doctor

Internship Assignment for the partial fulfilment of Phase II – IAOD-S

sanjay.doctor@gmail.com

Nov 2009

• Review of literature leading to a framework (construct): Option B and C

Table of Contents

Part One:

1. The OD perspective to the report 2. Esotericism and Integralism leading to a view of the Integral Man 3. Viable Systems Model and its view on organisations 4. Convergence of the Integral view and the Systems view 5. The concept of Health in Man and Organisations

Part Two:

6. Harmony versus equilibrium 7. Case History: Services Sector 8. Case Study: Social Development 9. Case History: Education Sector

PART ONE

Chapter 1: The OD Perspective to the Report

1. Organisation Development, referred to as ‘OD’, is an evolving field of work. Covering a wide field of social sciences, it has evolved to be an action or intervention upon a system channelised through an agent – the OD practitioner – either external or a times internal. The nature of this interface and intervention are varied.

2. This paper employs metaphors1; first to set a heuristic context of the inquiry2 within a framework of OD and then to offer a new metaphor for OD work.

3. The founders of IAOD-S have many years of practical experience in working with organisations and have created their own metaphors about OD3.

• Sushanta Banerjee holds the view of OD as a discovery of lifestyle of an organisation; its productivity, creativity, renewal and patterns of relatedness. Articulation of its problems, rather than a set of planned strategic and tactical moves, leading to bring about non violent change thru large scale participation. He focuses on the inter-connectedness of the problem, the people, the context and the solution. The aim is for greater alignment and coherence between people, their work and the organisation.

• Ashok Malhotra posits his view based on a dichotomic state of an organisation; if an organization is an instrument of purpose to fulfil some tasks, then OD could enhance that efficiency. Similarly, if an organization is a human community, then OD can support building and fostering that stance.  He believes that OD has three significant dimensions – (i) performance enhancement through building skills and competencies, (ii) health and hygiene to foster an internal ambience and well being and (iii) engagement at a collective level on existential questions; identity, history, environment, future, reason for existence.

• Raghu Ananthanarayanan, anchors his view in traditional Indian thought. He focuses on the principle of design and Vaastu. Alignment of each part with the larger whole is followed with role dialog. The OD practitioner creates the setting for dialog and thereby bring in human energy in role making versus role taking. The Indian idea of design looks at three dimensions: (i) Bhogadyam: the reason for the design (ii) Sukhadarsham: the efficiency and aesthetics (iii) Ramyam: the evocative nature. The aim of OD is to create and foster more ‘cells in the body of the organization’. To have more and more people picture a map of the whole of the organization, helping them to move beyond restricting themselves to their job responsibilities but also see their link responsibilities (responsibilities with each other) and their system responsibility (their responsibility to the organization as a whole).

• Indira Parikh, sets out the OD scope clearly, …‘refers to a set of interventions taken by the leadership of an organization to move the organization forward to a qualitatively different level of maturity’. She examines organisations through the phases of their growth. ‘Organization development is a process intervention which addresses the people issues and the processes with which people within the organization relate with each other, tasks, and the system. The focus is on performance or non-performance and achievement and stagnation at one level; and relationships across levels and organization culture at another level’4.

4. A theoretical base to the praxis is offered by Prof. Atul Sapre5. He shares the view of Ralph Stacey that, ‘organizations are communicative interactions that become stable over a period of time’. There are five characteristics that an OD consultant would looks for in understanding the group or organisation: (i) the level of information available with the group to complete its primary task (ii) the diversity in the group to increase creative inputs (iii) relationships existing in the group (iv) the power differences in the group (v) dealing with anxiety in the group. Based on these the OD consultant would make observations to bring latent processes into consciousness

and this is also an intervention. His advocacy is for OD's role in moving organization systems from the impulse to being complex coercive and then to pluralistic complex.

5. The above survey of OD praxis reveals a rich tapestry of waft and wefts. Upon this tapestry, the author will weave a metaphor for the diagnosis of human collectives.

Chapter 2: Esotericism and Integralism leading to a view of the Integral Man

6. Thought is a valid tool of perception. An esoteric view validates that beyond the sense organs lies the power of the mind to create constructs based on the cognition that comes from intuition and imagination. Survey of literature, brings much of this thought under the label of ‘esotericism’ and ‘occult’. However these are western frames, which describe the knowledge, Man acquired prior to the ‘scientific method’.

7. Sankhya Yoga, Tantra, appear to have initiated the world-views held by later day western Esoterica. The world-view at a phenomenal level, its creation, elements, relationships, the cosmology are well documented. Running parallel to this is the concept of Integralism that helps to understand the esoteric concepts that have now merged into a global ‘noosphere’6.

8. Integralism, postulates a 3-dimensional reality that is known by humans through its corresponding channels of cognition:

• The physical aspect of the Universe that is partly comprehended by the sense organs

• A realm of ideas understood by the human intellect and reason • The elusive dimension beyond sense organs and intellect known through intuition

9. Sri Aurobindo, proposed the Integral Yoga school of thought in 1914. The word ‘integral’ is used to encompass all three channels of cognition. It begins with the concept of a source of all existence in a Being and Consciousness that is beyond the perception of the physical reality of the Universe. It is eternal. All beings are connected to this Consciousness but in varied layers of separateness based on their ignorance of this Source. Human life is a manifestation of that source which then works itself to perfection by evolution. It manifests itself in the physical matter, then the mind and then into the spirit through the practices called Yoga. With the help of memory, imagination and intuition, the human organism can understand laws inherent in nature and use them for its growth and development.

10. It is described that human consciousness is folded into five layers, or sheaths, (koshas) around the central point, containing the self (chitta). The self is enveloped in the sheath of bliss; Anandamayi Kosha. Surrounded by this is the Ego and Intellect. Called the Vijnananmaya Kosha, in it resides the qualities that will, discriminate and determine. The next kosha is the Manomaya Kosha. Here is the Mind, the tool of consciousness that enables us to perceive the world and process the incoming information. Here reside the five senses. Then comes the Pranamayi Kosha. The place of the vital energy (prana) that enlivens the body. The most gross is the Annamaya Kosha which describes the physical body. The structure is shown in Table 1 below:

Table 1: The Structure of Koshas

Level Kosha (Sheaths) Seat / Core Description 1 Anandamaya Eternal Bliss Sat Chit Ananda 2 Vignyananmaya Ego and Intellect Will, discrimination and determination 3 Manomayi Mind Tool of consciousness and environmental interface

4 Pranamayi Vital Energy Prana 5 Annamaya Physical The animate body

11. Rudolf Steiner, was an esoterist and founder of Anthroposophy. He created an integral view from a for the western mind building upon the scientific method through Goethean observation7. There is a movement from understanding to imagination. Steiner postulates the following:

• The 3 fold construct of the human being as a thinking, feeling and doing being

• The bodies in living beings similar to the concept of koshas

12. In this view of integralism, the human being is seen in totality having an intra-connection between the Mind (thinking), the Heart (feeling) and the Limbs (doing). This is extended to a systems view of the human living system consisting of the nervous sensory system (NSS), the metabolic-lymphatic system (MLS) and the rhythmic body (RB). This is a tri-polar construct rather than the bi-polar construct. The bi-polar view is more popular today in literature review than the esoteric tri-polar view.

13. Alchemy speaks of three principles: Sulphur, Mercury and Salt. Their characteristics are given in Table 2 below:

Table 2: The Trinity principle in Alchemy

No Principle Seat Description 1 Sulfur (sulphur) MLS Fiery, breaking down 2 Sal (Salt) NSS Forming, structuring, precipitating 3 Merkur (Mercury) RB Rhythm, flow

14. Anthroposophy, the wisdom of Man, has an esoteric view of the Integral Man, that meets with a congruence of the ideas from integral Yoga. A comparison of the various sub-systems in living being is shown in Table 3 below:

Table 3: The Anthroposophical view of living beings

Level Body Seat / Core Decription Common with

1 Spirit Intuition The self 2 Ego Self –

Awareness The creative energy Unique to

Man 3 Astral Consciousness Seat of emotions, feelings Animals 4 Etheric Vital Energy Life principle – formative forces, Plants 5 Physical Physical –

Material The animate body consisting of:

• NLS – primarily centered in the nervous system, supporting thinking and perception

Minerals

• RB – including the breathing and the circulatory system, supporting feeling

• MLS – including the organs below the diaphragm, supporting willing

15. Integralism, the view adopted and held for this paper, assumes that a holistic view of the human being is more than that experienced by the sense organs and empirical data. The integration of this view with the scientific method of observation and logical deduction is adopted in this paper.

Chapter 3: Viable Systems Model and its view of Organisations

16. The Viable Systems Model (VSM) has been used as framework to place the enterprise into a model.

17. The VSM offers the concept of harmony and balance amongst 3 interacting parts – (1) Operations (2) Metasystem and (3) Environment

18. The structure, that is universal, makes a system viable or functioning:

System Number System Identification

System 1 : Primary activities.

System 2 : Stability and conflict resolution.

System 3 : Internal regulation and optimisation.

System 4 : Sensors, adaptation, planning, strategy development.

System 5 : Policy, identity, goals

19. From a VSM perspective, the enterprise as a system can be described as follows:

Level Descriptor Observation 1 Policy Holder of source code and process algorithms. A fall back mechanism, referral

point for strategy. Usually holder of legacy systems. 2 Environment &

Development The executive officer who must scan the external environment to maintain the sustainability of the enterprise. A prospector and a developer.

3 Monitoring & Regulation

Internal distributor of resources, scan and generate feedback loops of control, homeostasis.

4 Coordination Supervisor of agents, work divider and agglomerator 5 Operations Work agents, task and function differentiated. Process driven.

20. The VSM perspective is a construct based on the Systems Theory. It derives from Cybernetics defined as ‘the study of feedback and derived concepts such as communication and control in living organisms, machines and organisations. Its focus is how anything (digital, mechanical or biological) processes information, reacts to information, and changes or can be changed to better accomplish the first two tasks’.

10. Chapter 4: Convergence of the Integral view and the systems view

21. The previous chapter has explained the view held for integralism. A congruence has been attempted in Table 4 below:

Table 4: Congruence mapping of VSM with Esoteric view

Level VSM Level Esoteric Level Pole Tendency 1 Policy Spirit NSS Information

2 Environment & Development Ego NSS Information

3 Monitoring & Regulation Astral RB Energy

4 Coordination Etheric MLS Matter

5 Operations Physical MLS Matter

22. The Ego, at level 2 is a great creator of organisation. A strong will action beings into being a purpose and explosive energy for creation. At nascent stages of development ,the will action brings into being the physical body and then Etheric forces begin the formative work of differentiation and therefore bring about a structural framework.

23. The Etheric body at level 4 works upon the Physical at level 5 to create a basic life system with limited complexity. As maturity sets in, the Etheric takes its energies to the NSS where it develops thought, the ability of the organisation to think and perceive. The systems interface with the external environment at all levels also increases.

24. The Astral body, at level 3, is the principle of metabolic activity and will action. This is termed as organisational motive energy. It is the seat of emotions, passions and human energy. It must also serve the purpose of homeostasis, regulating the various forces and levels. The role is for system optimisation rather than audit. Homeostasis is a machinist view for living systems. Heterostasis8, the ability to create appropriate responses in real time is a measure of its resilience. There is an influence of the cosmos ( external environment) composed of culture, science, society that influence organisation systems. However it is put forth that Man and therefore human organisations are to an extent emancipated from cosmic rhythms by having internalised many of the cosmic rhythms into the organs. In case of the organisation, this becomes the organisation culture or ‘lifestyle’, ambience ,etc.

25. The physical body encompasses the structure – systems and processes in organisation space. The human collective and the business ecosystem reside here as animate assets. Agents

metabolise at the micro level. Groups process crude resources and convert these to digested products for the external environment. A barter takes place at the system boundary. The Etheric works to a great degree with these agents for the formation and functioning of the system.

26. Information (energy) and resources (matter) are distributed as shown in table 2.

Chapter 5: The Concept Of Health in the Human Being and the Organisation

27. Wellness is an emerging paradigm that questions the binary view created by the scientific method. Humans, as other living beings, exist in more than an ‘on and off’ state. They are in the realm of iterations that reaches infinity.

28. The word ‘Salutogenesis’ has its roots in the Latin ‘salus’ or ‘salis’ meaning health; and the Greek ‘genesis’ meaning origin. It is a new paradigm in the western world against the ‘malady-remedy’ view held by pathogenesis. In the pathogenic model, the goal of the physical organism is homeostasis, a Greek-derived word indicating a similar or constant condition or state. Homeostasis is, of course, essential for health. The principle emphasized in Salutogenesis is Heterostasis (hetero=different), the organism’s adaptive and transformative power needed when meeting varying conditions and overcoming conflict for creating homeostasis. In meeting that which is foreign, the human becomes stronger. What becomes essential, then, is recognising the boundaries of physical and psychological endurance, and expanding them.

29. Aaron Antonovsky, medical sociologist, examined the survivors of the Nazi concentration camps and found that many had been able to build their lives from scratch. His investigation into how people manage stress and stay well, despite harmful experiences, led him to formulate the concept of Salutogenesis. Health is viewed as a continuum rather than a dichotomy. He pointed out that stressor life events are present with all of us, and they create tension. Coping with these tensions can have a pathological, neutral or even strengthening effect on our health.9

30. Organisations, as human collectives, can have a ‘Health’ property. To build on this, the dynamics of health in the human body is conceptualised. The Ego, the Astral work through the Etheric upon the physical body. The action has a temporal dimension and another of intensity. If each plays their role in perfect scripting, the human being would be an infinite being. However the forces many a times either act beyond their roles either temporally or in intensity. This disrupts a natural order leading ‘illness’ exhibited by symptoms.

31. In the psychological realm, Salutogenesis is concerned with building a ‘sense of coherence’, a feeling for what connects everything that exists. Aatonovosky considered this as the main determinant of the position a person will have on the health-ease / dis-ease continuum and to move towards the health-ease end of the continuum. It varies from person to person and consists of three components: comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness.

32. Comprehensibility refers to the extent to which one perceives internal and external stimuli to be understandable. Manageability refers to the extent to which on perceives one to have adequate resources to meet the demands posed by the stimuli. Meaningfulness is the extent to which one finds life to be meaningful not only in the cognitive but also emotional state. It is the motivational factor. A person with a high degree of meaningfulness will invest more energy into processes for coping because it is felt to be worthwhile. Together, the collective will evolve a group salutogenic state, a ‘Sense of Coherence’ enabling it to deal with the above.10

33. Therefore the integral view of health is one of pathology and of well-being. They exist in the realms of understanding and imagination.

PART TWO

Chapter 6: Harmony Versus Equilibrium

34. To reach an aspired state of balance for an organisation is a system objective. This is referred to as an equilibrium of various forces acting upon the system both externally and internally. Another view, more process oriented, would be to instil processes in the system so that it is always adapting itself to the forces and thereby remain in harmony.

35. Equilibrium is a concept from the scientific method. Thermodynamics looks at a equilibrium as a state in which ‘A system in which all processes of change have gone practically to completion is considered to be in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium’. Change has ceased. From an outlook of life, which consider ‘All life is process”, the term equilibrium is almost a dead state.

36. Harmony is a concept that lends itself to imagination and has a philosophical basis as expounded by Professor N.N. Panicker, scientist and Gandhian philosopher as he explains the logic in his article, Evolution of Humanity :

Aum Shanti: These two words express the aspiration of humanity for evolution towards harmony and peace. They denote an attitude of life and a way of living. Aum represents harmony - harmony among creation, sustenance and dissolution; harmony among body, mind, intellect, harmony among individuals, neighbourhoods and the world. Harmony, from Greek 'harmos' (= joint), is literally yoga. Yoga is which joins (Sanskrit - yujyate anena yogah).

Yoga leads to Shanti. Shanti means peace - peace with oneself or inner peace, peace within community and universal peace. Peace from Latin 'pacisci' (= to agree), is a state of tranquillity. From harmony to peace is literally an evolution from joint to agreement, from congruence to unity. Peace comes to individuals from harmony in living, to communities from living in harmony with neighbours.

37. Therefore a method for Organisation Diagnosis can be to ascertain the quality of harmony of the system. Harmony can be ascertained as the nature of interaction of the forces of the Ego, Astral and Etheric bodies on the physical and on each other. Issues of Power, influence, conflict are in this domain. The contribution that an esoteric view makes is that whilst an equilibratory state is achieved through cybernetic control on the various forces through positive and negative feedback, an harmonious state can have higher altruist values like sacrifice, fuzzy logic, love that will allow the system to function without implementing binary rules to the letter. That is the way of human social units where discernment and self regulation to fit into a larger whole holds the key to harmony. Forces are not externally regulated as much as self regulation and adaptability that will may induce the other forces in the system to regulate themselves for system well being and resonance.

38. To test the hypothesis, 3 case studies of organisation are presented with an esoteric OD diagnosis.

7: CASE STUDY 1: SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTAL SECTOR

The Client System: The organisation began 30 years ago as an informal environmental management group. It grew into an environmental education resource centre undertaking ecological restoration projects funded by external donors. It has now grown into a 100-plus staff, professional services vendor for ecological restoration projects on a Build–Own-Operate-transfer basis, mainly governmental projects.

The People: JB is the founder and chief executive of the enterprise. He came to India more than 40 years, influenced by Mother’s agenda and became an Aurovillian. He is assisted by a group of old-timers who have risen through the ranks and are at manager ranks. There is a floating population of employees

from and around Auroville who work in specialist units and another floating population of international volunteers who help in documentation, project monitoring and any other special task allocated to them.

The Symptoms:

• JB faces a disconnect with the people who are unable to cope with his multi-tasking abilities. JB wants the organisation to one of imagination and flexible enough to adapt in real time to his directions

• Projects deadlines and deliverables are not being met. Utilisation of funds in many cases is over budget.

• New funds have reduced leading to a worry about sustaining the organisation. • Staff threatens with attrition due to unsatisfactory pay and work environment. .

Diagnosis:

• JB is the Ego at level 2, The old- timers are the coordinating level 4 and the working staff is at the level 5. International Volunteers are brought in at Level 3 for audit and monitoring

• In times of infancy, the level 1 functions of the Spirit were advisors and governing council of Auroville. But with growth, the level has disintegrated with diminished influence on the Ego. Today the spirit level is not able to influence the Ego

• The influence of Astral body and the Spirit are missing. The Astral has sporadically developed through the times. As a result will action and metabolic functions are driven by the Ego.

• Charting out the biography of the organisation, it is found that the Ego and its pervading energy have always pushed for the growth of the physical body. Initially the etheric formative forces were able to keep pace. However in latter years, the etheric body is unable to keep pace, and is disoriented. The natural order of life requires that at some point as the organisation’s metabolic system – its ability to digest and produce services and products for the environment – matures, the Ego must let go and allow the Astral body to work through the etheric. This has not happened. A shadow astral body to nurture the body which falls short due to the all pervading power and control of the Ego.

• The rhythmic body cannot work its self through the astral. An internal hetrostasis feed back loop can be initiated by the spirit at level 5. But that is also absent or destroyed.

• The organisation has an inefficient MLS, a stressed out NSS and a blocked RB.

8: CASE STUDY 2: SOCIAL SERVICE SECTOR

The client System: MB is a leading voluntary organisation working for child development through sports. It works mainly in Mumbai slums and takes children through a modular program of 6 – 8 years. It is funded by football league, UK. It has now been selected as the training partner for a national level sport training program and has opened offices nation wide. The organisation is about 8 years old. The organisation created a niche for itself in the eco-system of global sporting organisations and enjoys that niche even today.

The People: MS, the CEO, an expatriate from UK, quit his job at a leading travel agency and decided to work with sports for youth development. He was joined by AS as his first teacher and now the COO. Structured with layers, each department has a HOD, senior managers, team leaders and field staff. The staff has grown organically through a build HR policy. Recently many senior level HODs have been recruited directly.

The Symptoms:

• The quality of service delivery is not at a standard required by international donor agencies. Service objectives ( mission, do good) is no longer the sole criterion for meritocracy.

• Attendance in sports sessions has also reduced with pressure from parents for tuitions and lack of good play grounds.

• Staff attrition was high a few years back when a group of senior managers left in a short time. • Organisation hierarchy keeps changing with portfolios of MS and AS being exchanged

frequently. • Most staff have strong loyalties and favour to AS which protects their jobs and receive period

promotions and benefits. Another very small group (the new HODs) are loyal to the CEO. • Mission objectives and goals keep changing all the time. The purpose is therefore unclear.

Diagnosis:

• In the early years, the Ego (MS) played it part well and a well developed physical body was created. At the right time, the astral (AS) took over from the ego force and created the metabolic organs.

• But at some point, as the Ego went to its next level of activity, wanting to rise to a spirit level with a vision of an altruist role with a larger national presence. There was a conflict with the astral body which did not see the goals as purposeful or that they would endanger the organisation stability. Initiatives by the Ego were systematically retracted and shut down. The astral body was indispensible because the Ego did not have the energy to work into the etheric.

• Then an OD intervention took place leading to a strengthening of the Ego energy. The Ego brought its influence into the etheric and began again working into the physical body. But the astral has a stronger hold on the etheric leading to the Ego time and again backing out leading to a push and pull with the astral level.

• The etheric constantly re-aligns itself to the 2 powerful internal forces. • The astral by blocking the initiatives of the Ego is not allowing the development of the Physical

body leading to a mature body with underdeveloped metabolic organs. • The organisation is living on its support from the ecosystem by providing it with abundant

resources, requiring very little change management initiatives. • The spirit level at Level 1 has been constituted and has the potential energy to support the ego

for taking the Organisation to its next spiritual level. • The NSS is now hyperactive and the RB needs strengthening through the spirit and ego to create

a hetrostasis state.

9. CASE 3: Education Sector

The System: FU is a new liberal education university. Spread over 100 acres, the campus is designed with world class facilities. Funded by a Jain trust, key principles of their faith are implemented on campus. Students from all over India have enrolled for a UG and PG courses.

The People: Conceptualised by PS, a successful entrepreneur, the dream is to create a beautiful being. He has partnered with an academician of international repute, IP who is the president of the FU. There is also an active board of trustees and donors. The academic staff is in a typical structure but with many external faculty of higher standards. The student body comprises of rich youth, with average scores and a strong supportive and controlling family who wish their wards to be in a protective and controlled environment with excellent learning facilites.

The Symptoms:

• The chairman has become part of the executive and operational processes. The President has boundary issues when this happens in academics including the wish for the Chairman to be a part of the teaching and mentoring staff.

• Students feel controlled with issue of personal freedom and free choice in matters of lifestyle and moral values.

• There is constant struggle to build this dream for both the chairman and the president both having institution development as their espoused objective.

• Power centres have been created around the chairman and the president. This is matter of concern and of confusion leading to dependencies for all.

Diagnosis:

• Here is the play of the Ego and Astral and how they impact organisation space. The Ego, PS has come with a dream, a love and now a vision of certain life values and goals. It set about creating the physical body with the first burst of life and the physical body has been growing ever since. With foresight and insight, he brought in IP to create the astral body to shape the academics – the metabolic pole. There was also a wish to give inheritance and legacy to the new being – a pedigree linage by IP’s repute and the ability to bring in external resources from other systems.

• However the negotiation and agreement was not complete, as evident, because there was a resonance in the passion of both the persons leading to an initial euphoria. It appears that IP has considered the her role to be of a co-founder (shared Ego) rather than the sole responsibility of creating the Astral Body. It may also have been assumed that as Chairman, PS will settle down at Level 1 (the spirit).

• But as the being was formed, PS found itself working mainly on the etheric and creating the physical infrastructure alone. IP was investing energies outside the system and, therefore we may say that in esoteric terms, the body was not fully incarnated.

• And so with full control of the etheric, and a supportive astral, PS (ego) built up the physical body rather quickly and well. At this time, when it must withdraw to its place, handing over the metabolic organs to the astral, it shifted its attention to these organs itself out of necessity and absence of a strong astral.

• The unintended consequences was that a stress has been created on the etheric which must be wrestled by both. The energies that the etheric bust now spend on the development of the thought (knowledge) is spent on the physical body that has already developed.

• The Sense of Coherence – comprehension, manageability and purposefulness will gradually diminish and wellbeing will be affected at all levels. Control and power must be perceived to be non-violent. IP should create a strong astral body with is inclusive and participatory processes. and PS must now allow the etheric to work on the development of the NSS, utilising the resources to create right thinking. Freedom will allow creativity to sprout essential for learning and discovery.

END OF PAPER