Creating Organisations That Make Life More Meaningful

This symposium explores three complementary techniques that have been used to create a form of organisation that is constructed for the explicit purpose of meeting the emotional, spiritual and material needs of its members. Paul Chippendale, outlines two case studies, both based on his first hand experience. The first is of the Vision 2000 cultural change programme in Telecom (now Telstra). In this case Paul describes how certain techniques, which are still widely used, work to alienate employees, decrease social capital, and impede the development of spiritual intelligence. In the second case study, Paul describes the chaordic model for organisational change, first used to create the VISA organisation, and currently being employed as a means to regenerate his own organisation. Professor Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt is a world leader in action learning and action research (ALAR). Ortrun’s approach to Professional and Organisation Development is client oriented, learner centred and ongoing. She assists senior managers in achieving personal, professional and organizational change through educational processes which encompass systemic thinking, collaborative inquiry, reflection on action, critical and self-critical evaluation, and questioning insight leading to and developing competencies and capabilities for solving complex problems in new situations. In this symposium, Ortrun shares with us the key learnings from her vast experience. Michael Henderson, from Values@Work in New Zealand, is the creator of the ‘True North Workshop’. Michael describes how through an exploration of personal and corporate values, organisational members are able to discover their ‘true north ’ and thereby take charge of their own lives and co-create an organisation that gives more meaning to their life. Michael outlines the processes involved and gives case examples.