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Role Leadership Authority
The culture of open dialogue in organizations
Tuesday 23rd August 2016 - Saturday 27th August 2016
Vilnius University, Lithuania
Vilnius University
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations
Introduction
Primary Task
Methodology
Membership
Role of Staff
Staff
Info & Fees
Introduction
We live in times of complex technologies in a highly competitive world, demanding constant innovation in the search for new or improved services and products. The creativity required for this innovation thrives only where there is synergy rooted in dialogue or poly-dialogue.
Nowadays some organisations are less loyal to employees and
employees in turn are more concerned with meeting their individual needs. Organisational traditions, hierarchies and rigid structures are perceived by employees as constraints for creativity and self-realization organisations, which are able to create a culture of open
dialogue, can allow for employees’ greater motivation and satisfaction.
The culture of openness invites reflection into organisations. The culture of openness means openness to vulnerability. In this culture, managers and subordinates, employers and employees acknowledge their dependence on each other. In this culture, the power is “deconstructed” into the powers of the individual, networking and cooperation with others.
In this power and conflict dominated world, where inequality still prevails, dialogue is a very fragile but necessary concept and practice for us, even though it might seem idealistic and maybe almost utopian.
When attempts to achieve dialogue face an exercise of power there always will be conflict. top of document Conference Aims and Primary Task
to study leadership and the exercise of authority in the taking up of roles and making spaces for dialogue through the interpersonal, intergroup and organisational relations that develop within the Conference as a temporary organisation in its context. top of document The Learning Aims:- manage yourself in the multiple roles necessary for contemporary organisations where greater inter-personal and inter-organisational dialogue and cooperation is called for
- find and take up authority. Taking up authority involves risk, and putting one’s authority into action involves recognizing not only one’s responsibility, but also one’s accountability to an-other, or a group of others
- bring up a new generation of skillful leaders and managers who will develop vision and foster creativity by opening space for conversations and poly-dialogues in organisations
- take up formal and informal leadership and followership roles as you explore group, institutional, communal and national dynamics as they happen
top of document The Development Aims:- bring together understanding of the conscious and hidden, sometimes unconscious, motivations and resistance of work and communal groups as they engage
- become more effective in working with the underlying dynamics within and between organisations and communities between these and the wider society
- apply the roles taken up within the programme to your own organisations, communities and networks.
top of document Methodology
This conference will mark the seventh joint venture between Vilnius University and the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. It is based on the theoretical perspectives and methods of group relations as developed in the Tavistock ‘Leicester’ working conferences on Authority Role and Organisation.
The conference is designed to provide opportunities for learning for leadership. By examining, interpreting, reflecting and making sense of experiences in the programme events, participants will develop understanding of their own organisations and their roles within them.
The programme allows the participants to explore how we take up our leadership roles, react to the leadership of others, and create cultures of working in the dialogue.
The programme focuses on culture, structure and task, and on the need for understanding the roles of participants as they relate collaboratively and competitively with each other. Such understanding involves disciplined attention to your own experience, openness to the experience of others, tolerance of uncertainty and the readiness to interpret what is happening, and the courage to test one’s interpretations through communication and action. This includes being alert to both conscious and unconscious aspects of behaviour and ways in which behaviour is shaped by the broader social, political and economic contexts in which we work and live.
The method of learning is experiential – as participants you will be invited to study your own and others collaborative and competitive behaviour as it happens in the different events. Consultancy is always available in the programme events.
The focus of learning is based on examining the ‘here and now’ of group and institutional behaviour. You will be invited and challenged to take up your own authority to accept what proves useful learning and reject what is not. Through this process you will be able to reconsider the way that you gain or lose power and exercise your authority in your organisations.
top of document Membership
The programme draws participants from diverse work settings and roles: leaders, managers, consultants, educators, researchers, administrators and professional and technical workers.
Working Language: The working language of the conference will be English. However, where all the members of a group are Lithuanian, Lithuanian may be the language of usage in that group.top of document Role of Staff
Participants will be working with a staff group that is invited by the Conference director on behalf of the sponsoring organisations of the Conference - the University of Vilnius and the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations.
The Conference Director and Associate Director, in addition to their consultancy roles, with the conference administrators, constitute the Conference Directorate.
Staff have specific roles in the conference:
1. They act collectively as management. Collective management takes responsibility and authority to provide the boundary conditions – task, territory and time – in such a way that all participants in the Conference, the staff themselves and the participants, can engage with the primary task of the Conference.
2. Working in their consultancy roles in the various events, informed by their own experiences of the events and working to the primary task of the event and the Conference overall, the staff will offer working hypotheses based on their understanding of what is happening.
3. Conference staff members are not observers of the process but are actively involved in it. It is important, therefore, to be as explicit as possible about their task and roles throughout the Conference. The way they take up these roles is always open to examination.
top of document Staff
Conference Director
Jolita Buzaitytė-Kašalynienė PhD
Associate professor at Social Work Department, Vilnius University Faculty of Philosophy. Advisor, Ministry of Education and Science and the Youth Department, Ministry of Social Security and Labour; Member, National Board of Social Work, and Lithuanian Scouting Association; Representative, Vydunas Youth Foundation.Conference Associate Director
Tim Dartington PhD
Professional Associate of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and visiting lecturer, Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust, London; Member, OPUS (Organisation for the Promotion of Understanding in Society) and ISPSO (International Society for Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations). Conference Administrator
Tomas Rakovas MA
Clinical Psychology, organizational consultant and trainer working in the field of non-formal education and teachers' professional development. Deputy director for education at Lithuanian Children and Youth Centre, Chairman of the National board of Lithuanian scouting. Conference Associate Administrator
Julija Orlovskaja MA
Social Work in a process, junior specialist at Social Work Department, Vilnius University Faculty of Philosophy. Consultants will be drawn from the following
Raymond Bakaitis Ph.D.
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.); President, Grex, the West Coast Affiliate of the A. K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems. Rūta Gustainienė MA, P3C
Psychotherapy and Counselling; P3C: Practitioner Certificate in Consulting and Change run by The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations; director, Society Development Centre; member, Society of Lithuanian Psychosocial Oncology (POA); member, Lithuanian Psychological Association (LPS); member, Organisation for Promoting an Understanding of Society (OPUS). Barbara Lagler Özdemir
Managing Director, oezpa GmbH, Academy & Consulting Bornheim, Germany/St Gallen, Switzerland. Co-Director, oezpa Group Relations Programs Germany, Turkey and China. Senior Coach and OD Consultant; Cooperating Partner. International Coach Federation, ICF; Germany/Switzerland. Avi Nutkevitch Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist, Training Analyst (Israel Psychoanalytic Society) and Organisational Consultant; Teacher and Supervisor, Israel Psychoanalytic Institute, The Program in Psychotherapy, Tel Aviv University; Lecturer, MBA program, The Academic Truck, The College of Management, Rishon Le'tzion; Co-Director, The Program in Organisational Consultation and Development: A Psychoanalytic-Systemic Approach; Member and Past Chairperson, OFEK, Israel. Erika Speičytė-Ruschhoff
Director, Training and Research Programs, the Vilnius Archdiocese Caritas. Department of Social Work, Vilnius University, Lecturer; Postgraduate Studies of Gestalt Psychotherapy at Institute of Gestalt Psychotherapy "Dialogas" in Vilnius, Associate Student. International organisations of contemplation and Christian meditation "Via Integralis", Switzerland and "Elijah House", Latvia, Associate Member John Wilkes MA
Freelance Leadership Coach/Consultant, Lay Panellist on Fitness to Practice Committee, UK Nursing and Midwifery Council; Senior Independent Trustee, Bridge Mental Health; Secretary, Gordon Lawrence Foundation; Associate Member, ISPSO. top of document Info and Fees
Time: The conference will begin at 09.00 on Wednesday, 24th August 2016, and end at 16.15 on Sunday 28th August 2016.
Place: The conference will be held at Vilnius University, Faculty of Philosophy, Universiteto st. 9/1, Vilnius. The conference is not residential and participants from other cities or countries should reserve their accommodation at hotels in the vicinity.
Follow-up event: all members will be invited for the follow-up event the task of which will be to share the learning we achieved during and after the group relations conference; and discuss possibilities of application of learning to work. The preliminary date is Saturday 5th November 2016.
Fees: The conference fee is 520 EUR.
Discounts:
(i) There is a reduced fee of 320 EUR for public and NGO sectors‘ workers in Lithuania.
(ii) In addition there, is an early bird discount of 80 EUR for all applications received before 3rd June, 2016.
(iii) Partial bursaries may be available upon request. For more information please, contact the pre-conference administrator - Tomas Rakovas.
Early booking is advised as the number of places is limited and not guaranteed.
Payment can be made by bank transfer. Other administrative details will be given upon completion of the registration process.
Cancellation Policy:
Cancellation occurring on or before 19th August, 2016: 75 of payment will be returned.
Cancellation occurring after 19th August, 2016: 25 of payment will be returned.
How do I apply and reserve my place?
Please complete the accompanying application form and return to:
Mr. Tomas Rakovas
E: grupiusantykiai@gmail.com
mob: +370 67806610
Closing Date for Applications: Monday, 18th July 2016.
Other Administrative Details
Meals: Refreshments will be served morning and afternoon. Meals will not be provided by the conference.
Attendance: As the programme of the conference constitutes an integrated whole and its events are all inter-related, participation in all the sessions of the programme is essential. If you know in advance that you will be unable to attend all the events in the conference, we suggest you defer your application to next year.
Certificate: Participants will be issued with a certificate of professional development by Vilnius University.
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations
The Tavistock Institute is a not-for-profit organisational consultancy, research and professional development organisation which apply social science to contemporary issues and problems.
History
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations was formally founded as a not-for-profit company and registered charity in September 1947 although its work had started at least a decade previously, as part of the Tavistock Clinic. The Tavistock Institute and Clinic, which consisted of a multi- disciplinary group of psychiatrists and social scientists (social psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists) introduced and developed significant and innovative practices to deal with post-war problems including the setting up of transitional communities designed to help re-adaptation to civilian life and the invention of the therapeutic community for psychiatric patients in a military hospital (Miller, 1999).
Currently
The Institute's work today, under the direction of Dr Eliat Aram, is consistent with its original aims. Action research is still a central approach and management of change an almost universal theme. Its approach to organisational consultancy and development reflects its social science tradition. This takes the professional staff of the Institute into a wide range of issues and organisations, nationally and internationally: for example, policy-related research for government departments and local authorities; development in industry and commerce of new forms of work organisation consistent with new technologies; re-alignment of strategy, structure and culture in institutions for higher education, health and social care services and voluntary bodies; support for partnerships; organisational start-ups; development and evaluation of experimental programmes and many others.
The Institute's work with organisations feeds and is fed by the Institute's professional development programmes which taken together form integrated learning pathways for leaders, managers, social scientists and organisational consultants.
Vilnius University, Department of Social Work
Vilnius University was the first institution in Lithuania (1992) to develop social work study programmes which took its place alongside other study programmes in the social sciences. The VU Social Work Department offers four study programs: bachelor and master programmes of social work and social policy and 13 programs for continued professional development (CPD).
In 2014, the External Experts’ Committee concluded that the social work study programmes of Vilnius University represent professional social work training at a good European level. The Department puts strong emphasis on the scientific research knowledge and development of broad, transferable skills and it is oriented towards knowledge production. On the other hand, by placing a strong value on practice, the Department aims towards practice research by improving the connection of knowledge in social work practice and the scientific ‘tools’ for innovative social research and developments.
The Department has intense and functional international relations with European universities in the form of international projects in the frame of Erasmus+ and other programmes. It has 29 bilateral agreements with institutions of higher education for exchange of students and teachers; it is a partner of “REFLECT: reflection as core transferable competence in higher education and adult education”, and networks of research and doctoral studies; and member of European Association of Schools of Social Work. The Department has developed strong partnership with Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and within the partnership group relations conferences are organized at the University annually since 2010. International cooperation creates and provides opportunities equally for teachers and students to broaden understandings, enrich learning experiences and develop personal and professional competencies.
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