10.1177/0021886304272635 THE Weber ARTICLE JOURNAL / LARGE GROUP OF APPLIED INTERVENTIONS BEHAVIORAL SCIENCEMarch 2005 The Dangers of Success Diffusion and Transition of Large Group Interventions in German-Speaking Countries Susanne Maria Weber Fulda University of Applied Sciences Based on the theoretical approach of Rogers s diffusion of innovations model, the article examines the spread of large group interventions (LGIs) in German-speaking countries (Austria, Switzerland, and Germany) from 1999 to 2002. From this perspective, organization development consultants are the agents for diffusion of this new knowledge. An empirical study carried out in 1999 shows their status as innovators and early birds in the spread and diffusion of LGIs. A second study, carried out in 2000-2002 as a yearly trend survey, shows the tendencies of application and spread and the quantitative diffusion of LGIs in German-speaking countries thus far. They are successful in diffusion, but this success also carries its dangers: They might lose their clear shape and transformational power. They are hence to be analyzed with regard both to the risks of their success story and the promising myth of a fundamentally transforming experience. Keywords: large group interventions; survey; application in German-speaking countries; changing designs; diffusion theory How Innovation Happens: The Approach of Everett M. Rogers According to Rogers s (1995) diffusion of innovations model, diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among members of a social system. It is a special type of communication in that the I would like to thank Erich Kolenaty for valuable discussions on the transition of large group interventions. I am also most grateful to all of the organizational development consultants who contributed their time and expertise by completing the surveys. THE JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE, Vol. 41 No. 1, March 2005 1-12 DOI: 10.1177/0021886304272635 2005 NTL Institute 1
2 THE JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE March 2005 messages are concerned with new ideas. When new ideas are invented, diffused, and adopted or rejected, leading to certain consequences, social change occurs. Diffusion is based on innovation, channels of communication, time, and social systems. According to Rogers, diffusion is always carried on socially by adopters, who are more or less innovative and open toward new methods, products, techniques, or styles. Rogers (1995) defines innovativeness as the degree to which an individual or other unit of adoption is relatively earlier in adopting new ideas than other members of a system. The adoption rate generally is measured as the number of individuals who adopt a new idea in a given period of time. Rogers differentiates the following five different types of adopters depending on their innovativeness: the early birds or innovators (2.5%), followed by early adopters (13.5%), early majority (34%), late majority (34%), and laggards (16%) of the total of 100% of possible adopters of an innovation. What factors lead to acceptance or rejection of an innovation, to adoption or nonadoption? Rogers (1995) identifies five variables determining the rate of adoption. These are advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability. People adopt new solutions when they see a relative advantage over other possibilities. Relative advantage is the degree to which an innovation is perceived as being better than the idea it supersedes. Compatibility is the degree to which an innovation is perceived as consistent with the existing values, past experiences, and needs of potential adopters. The complexity of a new solution or innovation is the degree to which it is perceived as relatively difficult to understand and use. The degree to which an innovation may be experimented with on a limited basis, trialability, affects how people will accept and adopt it. Observability is the degree to which the results of an innovation are visible to others. Besides these factors, other important factors for the process of diffusion of an innovation are the channels of communication, the social system, the type of innovation decision, and the extent of change agents promotion efforts (see Figure 1). The rate of adoption is the relative speed with which an innovation is adopted by members of a social system. Applying Rogers s (1995) approach to describing the adoption rate of large group interventions (LGIs) in German-speaking countries, we first looked at variables that determine the rate of adoption. We examined the nature of the social system and its communication channels. Then, we asked about the extent of change agents promotion efforts. The result helped us build a quantitative and qualitative picture of how LGIs have been adopted in German-speaking countries. The next section focuses on organization development (OD) consultants as multipliers (promoters) of LGIs and the OD market as the social system containing the communication channels for developing and spreading LGIs. Based on empirical studies of the OD consultants working with LGIs and based on empirical data in a yearly trend survey over the years 2000 to 2002, the process of implementation of LGIs in German-speaking countries will be described. Organizational consultants and OD experts in German-speaking Susanne Maria Weber, PhD, is a temporary professor at Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Department of Social Work. Main fields of research are large group interventions, trend research in the application of large group interventions, institutional networking development, systemic consulting, complex evaluation, and intercultural management. She is a member of the German Society for Educational Science, German Evaluation Society, and European Evaluation Society.
Weber / LARGE GROUP INTERVENTIONS 3 Figure 1 Influencing variables for rate of adoption (Rogers 1995, S. 207) countries become the innovators and early adopters of LGIs in the market of organizational change. OD CONSULTANTS, THE CONSULTANCY MARKET, AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF LGIS IN GERMAN-SPEAKING COUNTRIES In the mid-1990s, some pioneers of LGIs started doing train-the-trainer workshops and established a learning community and a community of practice for the use of LGIs in German-speaking countries. LGI consultants were not organized within institutional structures in a formalized sense but in informal networks. The spread of knowledge was championed by a few individual charismatic innovators who taught others in workshops, trainings, and within communities of practice. They began with future search conference and open space and eventually included appreciative inquiry and real-time strategic change. What kind of knowledge and information was accessible in the mid-1990s in German-speaking countries? Until the mid-1990s, there were no publications on LGIs available in German. At about this time, knowledge transfer related to LGI started being organized and passed on within workshops, workshops papers, and Internet resources. As recently as 2000, the first comprehensive work on LGIs in German was published (Königswieser & Keil, 2000), followed by books on open space for practitioners (Maleh, 2000; Petersen, 2000) and appreciative inquiry (Maleh & zur Bonsen, 2001). In 2002, the well-known Change Handbook (Holman & Devane, 1999) was
4 THE JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE March 2005 translated into German, and titles describing future search conference (Weisbord & Janoff, 2001) and open space (Owen, 2001) followed. In 2002, edited collections of case studies were published in German to provide case study examples of the application of LGIs (Maleh, 2002; Weber, 2002). It wasn t until 2003 that the first book on real-time strategic change was published in the German language (zur Bonsen, 2003). This brief overview of publications shows that experience with LGIs is quite recent within German-speaking countries. Due to the limited number of practitioner publications, this experience is concentrated in the four methods (open space, future search conference, appreciative inquiry, and real-time strategic change) discussed in the work of Bunker and Alban (1997) or Holman and Devane (1999). Other technologies and methods are almost entirely absent from training workshops and publications in German-speaking countries. LGIs were slow to find acceptance or widespread use partly due to the nature of the OD consultancy field in German-speaking countries. In the mid-1990s, the German consultancy market could be differentiated into the following three segments: the traditional expert consultancy (95%), the group dynamics and Gestalt-based organizational development approaches (4%), and the segment based on a systems approach (1%) (Groth, 1999). Although the third segment had a much smaller market share, the systems approach consultancy was expected to become more and more prominent (Groth, 1999). Consultants open to applying LGIs mainly belonged to the 5% working as process- and systems-based consultants. In 1999, Weber (2002, 2004) studied the professional background of consultants working with LGIs and collected basic data on the use of LGIs within organizational consultancy and organizational change. The Basic Empirical Study Methods and Results The basic study was designed as paper-and-pencil research. A self-administered questionnaire was developed to assess the personal background of consultants, their professional practice, factors influencing the success of LGI, the consultants attitudes toward LGI, best practice experiences, worst case experiences, sponsors of LGIs. The questionnaire was administered to all OD consultants who attended one of the six central training workshops or network events offered by the early champions of LGI from September 1999 to January 2000. The 64 consultants who completed the questionnaire, immediately at the event or shortly thereafter, can be regarded as the main group of innovators and first-generation LGI practitioners in German-speaking countries. They were mainly organized in professional networks and learned about the LGI activities from their colleagues.
Weber / LARGE GROUP INTERVENTIONS 5 The research was exploratory and with findings based on the data from 64 completed questionnaires, does not purport to be a fully representative study. The data indicate that in 1999, LGI-related knowledge and practice within the field of OD consultants in German-speaking countries was quite new. The survey data show that most of the consultants had participated in training workshops (50.9%) as well as training on the job with colleagues (37.3%) and knowledge transfer by mailing lists within communities of practice via the Internet (10%). The first methods or technologies that they (N = 56) got to know and apply were future search conference (34.1%) and open space (30.9%). In 1999, real-time strategic change was relatively unknown (9.8%), and the same was true of appreciative inquiry. In our data, most early birds consultants were external consultants (72.9%). Only 11 (18.6%) worked as in-house consultants, and a small group (8.5%) worked in both settings. Most independent consultants were organized in flexible networks with colleagues (49.2%), followed by 27% consultants mainly working alone and 11% team players, with a defined colleague to cooperate with. The data also revealed that most of the innovators and early adopters are generalists in OD interventions. They also apply other technologies and methods (but not other LGIs). They work at all levels of organizational change: Most work in training, personnel development, supervision, and monitoring as well as in strategic OD consultancy. The basic survey also showed that the OD consultants applying LGIs at that time did not have any knowledge of the application and spread of LGIs in the Germanspeaking countries. Therefore, the author took on a second research phase in 2000-2002. This second phase was designed as trend research. This annual survey gave a more differentiated perspective on the applications and spread of LGIs in the Germanspeaking countries over time. DIFFUSION OF LGIS IN THE GERMAN-SPEAKING COUNTRIES An annual trend survey on the application and spread of LGIs was carried out each year from 2000 until 2002 focusing on individual consultants personal application of and experiences with LGIs. Consultants were asked to report their annual large group activities by filling out a data matrix at the end of each year. Which technologies and methods did they use? What were the goals to be reached as a result of working with LGIs? Who took part in large group events? The goal of this research was to show the trends related to the application and propagation of this developing and transforming method within OD consultancy. Over 3 years, data on every single LGI applied by the consultants were collected via electronic media in form of written online research. As the vast majority of large group consultants are organized in a virtual learning community, it was useful to address them using online mailing lists, specialized for LGIs. These were open, Yahoo-based interactive mailing lists on LGIs as well as one-waycommunication databases created by the innovators of LGIs in the German-speaking countries. During the time period 2000-2002, these mailing lists were the only electronic communication regarding the topic of LGIs in German. A total of approxi-
6 THE JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE March 2005 mately 900 listed names from the e-mail lists were contacted. The LGI consultants constituted only a subset of the 900, and many of them appeared in more than one mailing list. What at first appeared to be a large pool of research participants was reduced to 164 survey participants. For collecting the data, a matrix first developed by Maleh (2000) was used. It covers the following categories: donors/sponsors, size of the organization, decision level within the formal structure of the sponsoring organization, method applied, occasion for the application of the intervention, title of the event, length and date of the event, stakeholder groups, and number of participants. Members of the mailing lists with experience in LGI were asked to fill out the matrix (sent as an attachment) directly on their personal computer and to send the document back to the researcher. Some consultants printed the document and sent it by fax. Overall, 164 consultants and 1,062 large group interventions were included in the database. Over the 3 years of data collection, the data return increased significantly. In 2000, 57 consultants participated in the survey. In 2001, there were 66 consultants, and in 2002 the number of participants increased to 104 consultants (because some of the consultants took part more than once, the numbers total more than 164). The increasing number of consultants participating in the study can be interpreted as a broadening of the field of consultants using LGIs and as an increase in acceptance for the given methodologies. In his diffusion theory of innovations, Rogers (1995) describes the process of diffusion as a normal distribution curve. Over time, more adopters (in our context, consultants) apply LGIs and thereby foster acceptance and application within the broad range of organizations in which they work. How did the diffusion process in Germanspeaking countries develop? The survey s results offer data on the propagation and application of open space, future search conferences, appreciative inquiry summits, and real-time strategic change as well as individually tailored or customized designs, so-called mix designs. Within the defined time frame of 3 years, a total of 923 large group interventions applications offered a picture of the most and least used methods. Open space is the technology with the highest use (39.1%). Over 3 years, we can observe that it holds its position, although mix designs are employed with increasing frequency (23.1%). Future search conference s market position is at third place (14.5%), and real-time strategic change (11.8%) is in the fourth position of application frequency. As we can see in Figure 2, viewed over 3 years, mix design approaches increase their share of the total picture by growing from 13% in 2000 to 28% in 2002. The intense use of mix designs seems to take market share from the classical applications open space and future search conferences. Both seem to lose importance as measured by market share. Beside the growing importance of mix designs, individually tailored or customized designs gain ground as well. Another interesting result is the trend regarding the duration of LGIs in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland (see Figure 3). Based on data from 1,012 interventions offering information on time schedules and duration, we can see that LGIs with a duration of 1 day are at the top with 40% (362 interventions). In second place are 2-day
Weber / LARGE GROUP INTERVENTIONS 7 Figure 2 Applications over the years 2000-2002 events with 29% (n = 264), the third position is held by half-day events with 40% (n = 76), and the least common event in terms of duration are the 3-day or sleep twice events with 7% (n = 60) (other longer or shorter time frames show marginal numbers). Over the years, a growing trend toward 1-day events is observed. This tendency could reflect economic recession and a scarcity of resources. Moreover, it may be an expression of increasing willingness to apply mix designs and to leave the originals behind. Depending on the client s wishes and pressure for quick wins and uncomplicated solutions, 1-day events may be more attractive and easier to sell than the more expensive and logistically more complex longer events. Diffusion of LGIs A Success Story!? As we learned from Rogers s (1995) model, the adoption rates for LGIs depend on certain intervening variables. As the data presented from the first survey show, we examined the attributes of LGIs, looked for the nature of the social system and its communication channels, and then in the second survey (trends from 2000-2002) asked for the extent of change agents promotion efforts to describe the adoption of the innovation LGI in German-speaking countries for both quantitative and qualitative aspects. If we apply Everett Rogers s (1995) categories for understanding the diffusion of innovations (see Figure 1), we can see the following picture: LGIs offer the advantages of self-organization and context guidance as well as reduced costs and efficiency and an increase in performance potential. They also offer the opportunity for quick
8 THE JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE March 2005 Figure 3 Duration of interventions over the years 2000-2002 information sharing, many different possibilities for activity, social learning, and modernity. LGIs are equally compatible with the well-accepted paradigm of change, the learning organization. They are compatible with the needs of people and easy to communicate because they follow generally accepted values such as autonomy, collectiveness, and humanity. They seem to be globally applicable. Language and cultural differences seem not to hinder LGIs. LGIs are complex and simple at the same time. Complexity shows a reverse correlation with the rate of adoption. According to Rogers (1995), the more complex an idea, the less accepted it will be. If users affinity is high, complex matters will not be perceived as too complex. LGIs differ in the complexity of their designs. Open space especially seems to be a simple design. Harrison Owen (2001) tells us that any person with a good heart, a good brain, and the book on how to initiate it can do it. According to the diffusion theory by Rogers (1995), trialability reduces insecurity and risk. It is easy for change agents such as consultants and participants in general to participate in LGIs. They offer a high potential for trialability and therefore greater potential for diffusion. The criterion of observability also is met. There are more and more media reports and video documentation that show how LGIs work. Large group interventions are innovations that are optional in the sense that decision makers and organizations may use them but are not forced to do so. Their use depends on decisions by those in authority in organizations who decide to use them. They are collective in the sense that participants need to contribute actively and work in large group interventions in a productive manner. The process of diffusion is organized along offline as well as online communication channels and based on the social system of OD consultants and the OD market. As innovators and early adopters, they organized the process of diffusion and imple-
Weber / LARGE GROUP INTERVENTIONS 9 Figure 4 Spread of large group interventions (n = 923) mented it in German-speaking countries. Because they took care to ensure diffusion and a broad reception, LGIs are a success story in German-speaking countries (see Figure 4). Open space in particular has reached an enormous diffusion. However, whereas the data show a tendency toward a broader acceptance, they also reveal tendencies to change the original structures of the various LGI methods by shortening of event time frames and combining previously segregated LGI methods into mix designs. So, how are we to interpret these results? Are tailor-made consulting processes on the increase (which would mostly be regarded as positive), or would we tend to see them as risks? If LGIs are sliced, portioned into small event pieces, and rearranged with other methods, that could be seen as negative. We might look at rationalization and the pressure of time, which seems to show its effects in an attitude of rushing through an LGI and hurrying into change. We might look at the tendency to combine online and offline events. Some might see the additional benefit of those combinations. Others would question this and would rather go for the intense learning experience people might have in a face-to-face learning arrangement. The process of not only change knowledge but also knowledge in change raises questions about the dangers of success. The Dangers of Success In the process of diffusion we can identify three dangers that are relevant for both practitioners and researchers to take into account. These are the trend toward LGIs as session, the trend toward LGIs as event, and the trend toward secondhand qualification in the use of LGIs.
10 THE JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE March 2005 Danger 1: Are we clear what we are missing when we shorten events? Shorter time frames for LGIs under conditions of time scarcity probably are still better than nothing but they will have different group dynamics and effects. As a result of shortening and mixing, the effectiveness and significance of LGIs might be affected. The shortened version of an LGI method could be miles away from the communicative and transformative potential of a 2½-day open space event or 3-day future search conference, which allow time for deep reflection on the attitudes and patterns underlying actions and reactions in organizations. Danger 2: Degeneration of events into an organizational playground without transformational learning. The data show that LGIs tend to be combined and that mixed designs are becoming more and more important. Recently, theater events and dramatizing happenings are increasingly integrated in large group designs (Papke & Berg, 2004). On the one hand, the trend to mix designs may open up opportunities for intense processes of transformational learning, and it may provide for a greater autonomy and flexibility for the users of those technologies. On the other hand, as the visibility of specific methods decreases but their names continue to be applied, they risk losing the uniqueness of their content. The names of LGIs can become misused, and their content could lose sharp definitions and specific meanings. LGIs may be exploited in communication settings for purposes that are very different from their original purposes. Organizations may employ LGIs to be up to date and en vogue. LGIs could end up as nothing more than communicative play areas with little effectiveness in fostering organizational change. This warning was already expressed in the consultants survey in 1999 and becomes more and more important as the original models become integrated in mixed designs and their original structures fade away. Danger 3: Secondhand trained consultants loss of quality? The increased popularity of LGIs may represent steps toward a more interactive and dialogical practice in organizational settings and open up space toward a stronger democratic culture in society in general. They might become a common practice as a cultural technique, like reading or writing. But, if LGIs knowledge and skills are communicated via second and thirdhand expertise, they may end up losing their quality. This increasingly raises the question of quality management in the OD field. And indeed, more and more, learning LGI methods no longer seems to take place in structured trainings and workshops but rather in learning-by-doing contexts, in networks with colleagues, and as training on the job. As we already could see in the 1999 survey, the networked-based learning by doing placed second in knowledge transfer. The communities of practice among colleagues seem to increase in importance for knowledge transfer. These trends show that LGIs are not only the subject but also the object of diffusion. Knowledge following the process of diffusion is itself in transformation and is at risk of deformation. Positive results also can carry shadows and dark sides and the risks of simplification, ritualization, and superficiality. LGIs could be used as symbols for participation that have become hollow and too often and too rapidly used. Depending on what happens in large group interventions and how it happens LGIs can be the realization of a transformational myth, a transformative knowledge
Weber / LARGE GROUP INTERVENTIONS 11 for a step-by-step change, or merely a management fashion (Jackson, 2001) or a playground. The more liberties are taken in dealing with LGIs, the more it is up to the consultant to make good decisions about what should be done and not be done. The question of the deeper essence and the philosophy of consulting arises. The being of consultants becomes more and more important than their doing. The field needs consultants who make ethical decisions informed by competence about when to use LGIs and when to modify them for clients. Between an ethical and a technical self-concept of consultancy, consultants should become clear about the dangers of success: When LGI applications tend to become short and nice, they are at risk to lose their transformational power. REFERENCES Bunker, B. B., & Alban, B. T. (1997). Large group interventions. Engaging the whole system for rapid change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Groth, T. (1999). Wie systemtheoretisch ist systemische Organisationsberatung? Neuere Beratungskonzepte für Organisationen im Kontext der Luhmannschen Systemtheorie (How systemic is systemic organizational consultancy? Newer concepts of consulting in the context of Luhmanian systems theory). Münster 2. überarb. Auflage, Germany: Lit-Verlag. Holman, P., & Devane, T. (1999). The change handbook. Group methods for shaping the future. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. Jackson, B. (2001). Management gurus and management fashions. London: Routledge. Königswieser, R., & Keil, M. (2000). Das Feuer der großen Gruppen. Konzepte, Designs, Praxis (The fire of large groups. Concepts, designs, practice). Stuttgart, Germany: Klett Cotta. Maleh, C. (2000). Open space. Effektiv arbeiten mit großen Gruppen. Ein Handbuch für Anwender, Entscheider und Berater (Open space. Effective work with large groups. A handbook for practitioners, managers and consultants). Weinheim, Germany: Beltz-Verlag. Maleh, C. (2002). Open Space in der Praxis. Highlights und Möglichkeiten (Open space in practice. Highlights and potentials). Weinheim, Germany: Beltz-Verlag. Maleh, C., & zur Bonsen, M. (2001). Appreciative Inquiry (AI): Der Weg zur Spitzenleistungen (Appreciative inquiry (AI): The way to top performances). Weinheim, Germany: Beltz-Verlag. Owen, H. (2001). Open Space Technology. Ein Leitfaden für die Praxis (Open space technology. A user s guide). Stuttgart, Germany: Klett Cotta. Papke, D., & Berg, M. (2004). Mit ChangeTheater Veränderungsprozesse gestalten (Designing changeprocesses with change theatre). Lernende Organisation, 18, 6-18. Petersen, H.-C. (2000). Open Space in Aktion. Kommunikation ohne Grenzen. Die neue Konferenzmethode für Klein- und Großgruppen (Open space in action. Communication without limits. The new conference-method for small and large groups). Paderborn, Germany: Junfermann Verlag. Rogers, E. M. (1995). Diffusion of innovations (4th ed.). New York: Free Press. Weber, S. M. (2002). Vernetzungsprozesse gestalten. Erfahrungen aus der Beraterpraxis mit Großgruppen und Organisationen (Designing networking processes. Consultants experiences with large groups and organizations). Wiesbaden, Germany: Gabler Verlag. Weber, S. M. (2004). Transformation und Improvisation. Großgruppenverfahren als Technologien des Lernens im Ungewissen (Transformation and improvisation. Large group interventions as technologies of learning under conditions of uncertainty). Unpublished postdoctoral thesis, Philipps University Marburg. Weisbord, M., & Janoff, S. (2001). Future Search. Die Zukunftskonferenz. Wie Organisationen zu Zielsetzungen und gemeinsamem Handeln finden (Future search. How organizations come to common ground and common action). Stuttgart, Germany: Klett-Cotta.
12 THE JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE March 2005 zur Bonsen, M. (2003). Real Time Strategic Change. Schneller Wandel mit großen Gruppen (Real time strategic change. Simultaneous change in large groups). Stuttgart, Germany: Klett-Cotta.