Acknowledgement: This course was adapted from Leadership: Reflective Human Action (Andrews, Mitstifer, Rehm, Vaughn, 1995)
by Susan S. Stratton and Dorothy I. Mitstifer.
Copyright © 2001, Kappa Omicron Nu.

Reflective Human Action

Introduction and Course Syllabus

Welcome to Reflective Human Action! This eight week online course is sponsored by Kappa Omicron Nu as a contribution to leadership development. Leadership is a popular topic in education and business but Reflective Human Action puts a different twist on the subject. Self-development, after all, is a personal choice, and this course enables persons to take charge of their lives. In return for this “freebie” we ask only that you write your “story”—a sort of testimonial—about how you used the content of this course and what the outcomes were. You may send your story to kon.org.

You, of course, know that copyright law holds that use of this material for purposes other than your personal self-development requires advance approval. Approval can be acquired through kon.org.

There are at least four choices for utilizing the course:

1. Knowledge - Read the text to learn about leadership, especially reflective human action. The "e-lectures" are identified by the following symbol:

2. Experiential Knowledge - Read the text and select several exercises that increase your competence in selected areas.

3. Self-Managed Life Change - Read the text and complete the whole series of exercises in order to make a major difference in your life.

4. Life Change facilitated by Telementoring or E-mail Mentoring - Enhance the process with a mentor selected by you, or contact Kappa Omicron Nu to supply a mentor (there may be a cost associated with this choice). Requests can be made through kon.org.

The focus of this leadership course is to lay the groundwork for the process of reflective human action. This process is an active, mind-engaging method of meaning-making in a community of practice.

The first half of this course focuses on the natural law of systems. Systems exhibit the same principles regardless of what type of system is present. So understanding how natural law creates self-organization of the system will give a leader a tremendous advantage in being confident that a chaotic situation does not require control, but rather acceptance of the chaos. The system will naturally move to sharing information, developing relationships and embracing a vision. This concept is found in Margaret Wheatley’s work entitled, Leadership and the New Science (1994).

The second half of the course focuses on the work of Robert Terry (1993). Authentic Leadership: Courage in Action offers us several tools to examine situations. First, Terry’s work begins with a foundation that underlies all action. That foundation includes authenticity, ethical sensibility and spirituality. Secondly, Terry gives us the Action Wheel, which helps leaders appropriately frame issues, which leads to effective solutions and interventions. Finally, Terry gives us the 7 C’s of Authenticity, which helps us examine whether we have found our authentic self.

Finding our authentic selves takes private reflection, noticing who we are in the present moment, and recognizing the influences of the system to which we belong. Much of this course will require true “inner” work.

Components of the Reflective Human Action Model (below) will be explored throughout the course.

Reflective Human Action Model

To do this course well, you will need:

· The Supplemental Textbook – Leadership: Reflective Human Action. Order from Kappa Omicron Nu (517.351.8335 – kon.org/contact.html).

· A private journal

· Some time management

The following topics will be covered in this course.

Week 1: Theoretical Framework: The Nature of Reality

Week 2: Experiential Learning: Core Principles of the New Reality

Week 3. Theoretical Framework: Core Features of Reflective Human Action

Week 4. Experiential Learning: Core Principles of Reflective Human Action

Week 5: Theoretical Framework: Applying the Issues of Action

Week 6: Experiential Learning: Framing Issues

Week 7. Theoretical Framework: RHA—An Uncommon Journey to Leadership

Week 8: Exploratory Learning: Personal Leadership Styles

Final Paper: The Power of Personal Mission Statements and Reflective Human Action

Each week there will be at least one reading, discussion question, and activity. However, some weeks may require more than one activity.

As for time management, you should plan the following sequence of events each week:

Pick up the e-lecture, reading assignments, and activity(ies) on Friday; that way you can plan your week around completion of the activities. Reading should be completed by Tuesday. Your activities should be well underway by Tuesday. Your participation in the discussion should take place later in the week.

So grab your journals and let’s get to work!!

References:

Andrews, F. A., Mitstifer, D. I., Rehm, M., & Vaughn, G. G. (1995). Leadership: Reflective Human Action. East Lansing, MI: Kappa Omicron Nu.

Terry, R. W. (1993). Authentic leadership: Courage in action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Wheatley, M. J. (1994). Leadership and the new science: Learning about organization from an orderly universe. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

Reflective Human Action

On-Line Curriculum

Week 1 - The Nature of Reality: Principles of Reflective Human Action

Topics: The Nature of Reality, the New Science, Natural Laws, Accepting Chaos

Objective: Notice and reflect on experience about how chaos sets new energy in motion in a system.

This week’s assignments:

1. Read the E-Lecture On-line and Chapter One in the accompanying text.

2. Participate in the two discussion questions.

3. Complete one reflection activity, posting your observations.

Introduction

· What does physics have to do with leadership?

· What do natural laws and human nature have in common?

· What natural laws are evident in the course of a human interaction or group dynamic?

· Do systems have similar characteristics?

· What does the solar system have in common with an organizational system?

Do these questions create a chaotic state in your mind? If so, you are on the right track to begin this course in Reflective Human Action!

In Week 1 Readings, you will be introduced to deep philosophical, scientific, and spiritual questions and theory about the nature of reality. In the new view of reality described in the readings, it may appear that Western science is merging with Eastern thought, creating a new order!

E-Lecture:

Have you ever complained about how things are always changing? If you listen to conversation around you, particularly if it involves people over 40, you will frequently hear comments that indicate a desire to resist change, control change, or manage change. Change is often framed as an aggressor, “victimizing” the population upon which it descends!

The reality of change is that it creates chaos. If each person could, in fact, accept chaos, rather than resist it or deny it exists, our world would be able to organize itself toward effective solutions. Natural law says that we will self-organize when we accept chaos. For in accepting chaos, we will share information, develop relationships and embrace vision. In other words, when we accept chaos, we naturally enter into a process that will seek solutions. This self-organizing naturally creates a process of renewal in any system—even those made up of human beings!

This principle is part of the theory of “the New Science”.

In the new science, control of a situation relies NOT on denial of chaos and attempts to maintain order, but rather acceptance of chaos and entering into a process of engagement with others.

Discussion #1:

Have you ever noticed that when two or more seemingly opposites come together, chaos occurs? When those opposites rub together, some storming occurs in the relationship, but through that interaction a new energy is created in the system. This energy is a synergistic, creative energy. Using this situation as a reference point, have you ever experienced this process in a relationship where you have moved from “forming” into “storming” into “performing” and then “norming?” How does your experience relate to the principles of the new science: accept chaos, share information, develop relationships, and embrace vision?

Discussion #2:

“Chaos: the final state is a system’s move away from order.” What does this mean to you? Give evidence of your interpretation.

Activity: Choose Option I or II

Option I: Reflection

Think about an individual with whom you have some difficulty. Describe that individual in terms of why you don’t get along. Ask yourself and reflect on this idea: What if the opposite were true? What if the individual didn’t have the “negative qualities” you describe, but, in fact, those “negative qualities” are what you radiate and only see by reflection (like a mirror) in the other person?

Explore the possibility that you exhibit the very qualities that you don’t like in the other person. Talk to at least one person about the possibility that you exhibit those qualities.

Post your observations in relation to self: reference any new information you discovered, describe how that new information changed the relationship, and describe the new vision of yourself.

Option II: Reflection

Observe a head of broccoli. Notice how the smallest piece reflects the same shape as the whole? A natural law is: The whole system is contained in every part of the system.

Reflect on a system that you belong to—your academic department, your family, a team. List positive and negative qualities you have observed in that system. Then reflect on how you exhibit those same qualities.

Notice the patterns in other members of the system. Reflect on how you exhibit those same patterns. Share your observation with one other person in the system.

Post your observations as you relate to the natural law of “each part contains the whole.” Reference any new information you discovered, describe how that new information changed your relationship to the system and your relationships within the system, and describe the new vision of yourself.

Week 2 - Core Principles of the New Science

Topics: Accept chaos, share information, develop relationships, and embrace vision.

Objective: Reflect on the application of the New Science

This week’s assignments:

1. Read the E-Lecture…it’s a long one!

2. Participate in one discussion question.

3. Complete one reflection activity and e-mail the piece to your instructor.

E-Lecture

Is it true that perception is reality?

It is! Through questioning our static reality, our perceived reality changes. Why? When we question, we open the possibility of a new perception. Through the questioning, we “see” information to support a new perception. In Leading from the Heart: Choosing Courage over Fear in the Workplace, author Kay Gilley uses a questioning technique that challenges all reality. Asking “What if the opposite were true?” opens the door to consider other realities.

For example, twenty years ago, we all “knew” that if someone were diagnosed with cancer, they would not likely survive more than 6 months to 2 years. But someone asked, “What if the opposite were true?” Because of that question, we now have treatments available that change the old reality.

A close friend was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was told she had a 5% chance of recovery from this cancer, since this was her second occurrence of cancer. Most would give up the fight, believing that 95% of the people stricken die soon. Yet my friend believed, what if the opposite was true…What if I am in the 5% group? And she began treatments with a belief that she would in fact prove the statistics wrong. This belief system directed her body to fight to be in the 5%, rather than give up and go with the 95% who don’t make it.

She recovered.

Questioning our perception is the key to a new reality. Seeking information and sharing our thought process in relation with others creates new meaning for all involved.

You are probably sitting in a chair as you read this e-lecture. In our perception, a chair is a solid impermeable object, right? But, what if the opposite were true???

Leadership is practiced within the context of the environments in which we live and work. The issues that trouble organizations (whether they involve family, work, or play) are those that shape our ideas of science: order, control, structure, prediction, etc. But what if the opposite were true? Although new understandings have shaped our view of the natural world, the old theories continue to direct the man-made world of organizations.

Tom Peters, an internationally renowned speaker in the field of management and leadership wrote a book in 1987 entitled Thriving on Chaos. He intentionally chose this title rather than thriving amidst chaos to challenge his readers to go beyond coping with chaos. In other words, he wanted his readers to deal proactively with chaos and look at chaos as a source of advantage rather than as a problem.

In this module, we will more closely examine new scientific principles that have implications for leadership. Chapter One of the text introduced the four core organizing principles, but let’s focus on each concept in the New Science.

Chaos: The final state in a system’s move away from order

One core organizing principle of the new reality is accept chaos. New perspectives from the sciences deny the complex and rigid structure of the old models of leadership. Instead, order develops naturally from within instead of being imposed from without. What may appear to be chaotic is simply a natural transition to a new state. The ability to be confident when we don't know, when we are confused, or when we muddle through represents this principle of accepting chaos. Creative or breakthrough thinking often comes out of being overwhelmed, confused, and uncertain. New levels of order and new levels of understanding grow out of apparently chaotic situations. What some might call chaos may be a limiting tendency to look at "parts;" by standing back and looking at the whole, beautifully ordered forms may become apparent to us.

The role of chaos is an essential process by which natural systems, including individuals and organizations, renew, and revitalize themselves:

· The traditional definition of chaos is a system whose behavior is totally unpredictable.

· People tend to view and experience chaos as uncertainty, unpredictability, craziness, feelings of being overwhelmed.

· Chaos is order without predictability; order is inherent in the system and observable when the system is viewed over time.

· Order and change and autonomy as well as control cannot continue to be viewed as great opposites.

· Organizations are process structure rather than permanent structures.

· When a complex living system is subjected to high levels of change, it possesses an innate ability to self-organize or reorganize so that it functions better in its new environment.

· Disorder can be the source of new order (or form) better suited to the demands of the environment.

· It is hard for us to welcome disorder as a full partner in the search for order when we have expended so much of our lives trying to ward off disorder.

· Self and organizational transformation requires a willingness to "let go" and pass through the "dark night" of chaos--use chaos as a part of our thinking to create innovative and successful teams.

Information is the creative energy of the universe—the substance, the invisible workings of creation.

A second core organizing principle is share information. A new insight is that information is one of the primary organizational forces in the universe. Instead of creating information, information is creating life. Information is a resource that moves through the system, disturbs the peace, nourishes new life, engenders creativity, and encourages innovation. Closely guarded information, as the source of power of the old leadership model, is counterproductive to this new understanding. In other words, information is not an entity to condense, package, and pass along in memos. Rather it must be treated as a dynamic quality that nourishes change and creative ideas. Information, freely generated and exchanged, becomes the basic ingredient of the universe.

Begin to notice that information isn't simply something we organize but that it has the power to organize people and tasks. And since information has this organizing power, a critical leadership skill is to constantly receive, interpret, and use information to adapt to the ever-evolving environment.

The position of information is the primary organizing force in any organization:

· The more participants we engage in our universe the more we can access its potentials and the wiser we become.

· It is impossible to expect any plan or idea to be real to people if they do not have an opportunity personally to interact with it, to create different possibilities through their personal processes of observation.

· It is the participation process that generates the reality to which individuals then make their commitment.

· Information is the source of order, the self-generating source of organizational vitality.

· Information is an organization's primary source of nourishment.

· Organizations are discovering that their route to health and resiliency is to open their organizations to free-flowing information around which trustworthy employees are free to organize their work.

Reality is created as people and ideas meet and change in relationship to each other.

A third core organizing principle is develop relationships. Out of quantum mechanics we learn that the forces within the universe are best described as both particles and waves (or energy fields). When applied to the organization, participants are both workers and relationships. Reality is created as people and ideas meet and change in relationship to each other. Thus, an organization is best described as a web of relationships. To capitalize on this principle, organizations must open up and encourage people to move about, making contact with others, not because of role or status but because of work needs.

The rich diversity of human relationships is the energizing force for us as individuals and as leaders.

· Our attention must shift from the enticement of external rewards to the intrinsic motivators that spring from the work itself.

· 21st century leaders must focus on the deep longing for community, for meaning, for dignity, and for love in our organizational lives.

· We need to step back and see ourselves in new ways, appreciate our wholeness, and design organizations that honor and make sense of our totality.

· We need to recognize the unseen connections that influence our behavior in the work place or other setting.

· We do not exist independent of our relationships with others.

· Different settings and people evoke some qualities from us and leave others dormant; in each relationship we are different--we are new in some way.

· What is critical in organizations is the relationship created between the person and the setting--each relationship will be different and will always evoke different potentialities.

· Power in organizations is the capacity generated by relationships; look carefully at how the work place (or other setting) organizes its relationships--the patterns of relationships and the capacities available to form them.

· What gives power its charge is the quality of relationships.

· Leadership is always dependent on the context, but the context is established by relationships.

Vision: An energy field expressive of purpose and direction.

A fourth core organizing principle is embrace vision. Field theory teaches us that space is occupied by unseen structures that have a broad and significant impact. Vision as a field could have a wondrous capacity to bring energy to an organization and link with other fields to effect movement, flow, and change. The concept of vision as an energy field having an impact on purpose and direction suggests that organizations need to create consistent messages of vision. Indeed, field theory implies that there are potentials and influences everywhere. Kotter (1995) concludes that in addition to the need for a consistent vision to guide persons and organizations through change, a shared vision of the change process will increase the success of transformation efforts.

The role of vision is an invisible field that can enable us to recreate our work place and our world:

· Everyone in the organization has something to contribute to the vision.

· Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline (1990) states: " . . . an organization's vision grows as a by-product of individual visions, a by-product of ongoing conversations" (p. 212).

Wheatley gives perspective to life in the 21st century with these thoughts:

New science requires us to question many of our most deeply held assumptions about how things work in life and in our organizations. None of these shifts is insignificant. All of them are worthy of further thought and conversation, as we try to invent and discover the organizations of the next century. Hopefully, these newer sciences point the way to a simpler way to lead organizations. But to arrive at that simplicity, we will have to change our behaviors and beliefs about information, relationships, control, and chaos. We will need to recognize that we live in a universe that is ordered in ways we never suspected, and by processes that are invisible except for their effect. (Wheatley, 1993, p. 16)

For more input on the New Science, watch Margaret Wheatley’s Leadership and the New Science video. (This video is available from Kappa Omicron Nu – 517.351.8335.)

Discussion:

What is your definition of chaos?

Recall a time in your personal or work life when you were in complete chaos. How do you respond to chaos in the environment? What did you do to work through the chaos? Did you have a positive or negative outcome as you worked through this chaos?

Reflection Activity & Written Assignment

Introduction

Learning about ourselves by reflecting on our past can help us recognize the big picture of our lives. Our history can provide a broader view of the context in which our lives take place. By understanding our history we can understand why we view the world as we do and gain some insight into our leadership strengths. We can identify the main lessons we have learned and understand how our values, beliefs, perceptions, and expectations have changed with time.

When we reflect on our history, some of us recognize that our lives are not what we want them to be. We feel an emptiness, a sense that we have lost our values, and frustration with our lives. We yearn for the "right job," the "right relationship," the "right church," etc. Yet, we fail to identify that these symptoms reflect a loss of soul and without soul we can never find true meaning in life. The goal of soul work "is a richly elaborated life, connected to society and nature, woven into the culture of family, nation, and the globe. The idea is not to be superficially adjusted, but to be profoundly connected in the heart to ancestors and to living brothers and sisters in all the many communities that claim our hearts" (Moore, 1994, p. xviii). Care of the soul is not without its moments of darkness and periods of foolishness. However, the very foundation of soul is self-knowledge and self-acceptance (Moore, 1994).

This activity will help you identify the strengths and perceptions you have acquired from living life. Will they fortify you to face reality as it is, to embrace the most difficult, to pursue a common exploration of the future, and to search for the common good among a diversity of perspectives? Will you be ready to dream for a new and more humane future, embrace the true and real in yourself, and truly "live soulfully" (Moore, 1994) as you engage with others in leadership?

Arriving at a point in our lives when we can say "I know who I am" does not occur overnight. It is the culmination of many efforts to achieve a positive sense of self, to know our abilities and limitations, and to find meaning or purpose in our lives. In this activity, you will increase your awareness of the lessons you learned from the past. These will provide insights about yourself and about your roles as leader.

Activity Instructions: (Choose Option I or II)

Option I: Noticing the patterns that create chaos.

1. Think about the most chaotic system you know. It might be your family of origin situation, your current marriage or family, your academic department, or perhaps a difficult relationship. Reflect on the following directives:

a. Chart the history of the relationship(s) in that system.

b. Note particularly the impact of people coming and going inside that system.

c. Do you notice any recurring patterns in the history of the system?

d. Develop a theory about how the pattern will play out in the future if personal leadership is NOT exercised.

2. After you have explored your system, write a reflection paper to summarize your theory, giving evidence to support your position.

3. From what you have learned about this system, add to your reflection paper by exploring the following: How and with whom would you share this information to actually shift the system positively? What impact might sharing your observations have on the situation?