TD ICEND© DIAGNOSIS, PROCESS CONSULTATION AND EVALUATION TOOLS:

TD Consultation - The ICEND Model ICEND© = Interactive, Communicative, Experiential, and Network Development. 

Workshop Outline

What is Postmodernism?

It is happening, it is here, it is now.

ICEND DIAGNOSIS TOOLS

• 1. ICEND - People interact and communicate in networks through stories. We therefore begin with a "Narrative Frames Diagnosis." The first part of ICEND© is Interactive Communication.  We look at the narrative styles of the stakeholders to the network. We assess the interplay of bureaucratic, quest, chaos and postmodern narrative frames. 

• Storytelling Organizations are hybrids of four narrative frames

• TD Narrative Frames Diagnosis on Line:

• I will send you the results. 

Rather than pigeon hole an entire organization and its storytelling systems into one or the other, we look at how these four ideal types of organizational narrative interact and interpenetrate one another.  We include an easy to use Web-base story sharing tool so that text can be collected from EVERYONE in the organization and across the networks with anonymity.  We then set about the task of analyzing the stories to get a read of the network dynamics in play. Storytelling Organization theory suggests that as multiple storytellers, including multiple organizations, interact, they memorialize and selectively forget history.  (Narrative Frames). Storytelling is important because of questions about who participates, whose voices get heard, and who decides for the Interorganizational domain the collective story that will be told. Stakeholder from differing narrative frames need to understand in order to interact.

• 2. ICEND - Deconstruction.  We use eight deconstruction communicative approaches to look at issues of hierarchy and power in the communication patterns among stakeholders to emergent or reforming TD network. Networks are constructing and self-deconstructing all the time, with our without our analysis. We identify the forces and movements of construction and deconstruction. The analysis looks at hierarchies of power, privileging of one over another, and ends with a "resituation," how to reconstruct. Unlike so-called negative deconstruction approaches, ours includes resituating the hierarchies in order to facilitate new relationships to power - (Deconstruction Tutorial). 

• 3.  ICEND - Holon Scan.  This is part of the hands-on experiential part of ICEND©. A "holon" is Greek for "whole/parts" meaning literally the whole that is simultaneously a part, and vice versa. Transorganization is the holon of how many organizations we are a part of from multiple work organizations, such as professional associations, suppliers, customers, vendors, subcontractors, Chamber of Commerce, etc. on to our volunteer relations in religious and civic organizations. Transorganization is also composed of sub-holons and emerging, deconstructing, and recomposing holons and subholons. This activity of holon decomposing and novelty creation accelerates in the postmodern world of global commerce, virtual work on the Internet, and the mobility our great grandparents did not face. This is an on-site process in which we invite participants in the network to work in small groups to construct visual and theatric images of their (Holons Tutorial and Exercise).  

ICEND PROCESSES OF NETWORK DEVELOPMENT

• 4. ICEND - ICEND© Network Development (ND) has already begun with an effective narrative frame, deconstructive (and reconstructive), and holon scan.  We convene three subsystems in ND. First, the outside process consultants works to continue the diagnosis, specify patterns of involvement, and design the intervention, support system and overall evaluation methods.. Second an internal network team (those seeking change in the network) is convened to crystallize issues, locate additional stakeholders, engage in search conferences and focus groups, etc. in order to convene a temporary organization. Third, the first two subsystems (consulting team and temporary organization) work to bring about change in the larger interorganizational field. This includes identifying and modifying resource patterns and communication relationships in the initial and extended or target network (Press Here for summary of the process).  (Chart of the Three Subsystems). (Chart of Subsystem Two of ICEND© ). 

• 5.  ICEND - ICEND© can also involve forms of ND that do restorying work. "The basic theme of Narrative Therapy is that "the person is not the problem, the problem is the problem." It is applicable for groups, individuals, communities organizations and TD networks. The approach developed by Michael White and David Epston holds that the knowledge and stories (narratives) emanating from their culture, community and experiences of stakeholders shape the storytelling system as well as what we call "collective memory." Restorying has to do with learning to tell a different story of network past, present, and future. Different networking stories are possible, even about the same collective events.  How we currently story the network is our starting point, and how we restory it into a preferred collective future is our ending point. is increasingly being applied to organizational studies (Barry, 1997; Barry & Elmes, 1997; Boje et. al, 1997). If “storytelling is the preferred sensemaking currency of human relationships among internal and external stakeholders” (Boje, 1991a: 106), then surely large system change and storytelling are related in many ways (press here). 

ICEND PROCESSES OF NETWORK EVALUATION

• 7. ICEND NET-SIM - Finally, we do ICEND and NET-SIM assessment studies of large system multi-organizational change efforts.  Evaluation occurs all through the diagnosis and into ND.   Our approach is to collect multiple readings of a system change effort over time to give clients and consultants and understanding of the on-going unfolding impact of their network change strategies.  We start with an understanding of Network Organizing.  Applications include the assessment of collaboration in Competitor Alliances and Supply Chain networks.  NET-SIM is a specialized tool we are developing in cooperation with the Physical Science Lab at New Mexico State. We offer TD ICEND NET-SIM Training for Multi-organization Stakeholder systems attempting to just understand their Network Dynamics as they do TD work. This approach is suited to strategic planning in multi-firm environments and to evaluations of dollars being spent on large systems change. We use a combination of domain story (Narrative Frames) gathering sessions throughout the Network, story-sharing sessions, and mapping of NETWORK SIMULATIONS. We are currently working to develop "NET-SIM" programs.  With NET-SIM we can analyze complexity and chaos collective dynamics of large networks. Try some examples of other SIM routines (press here) and (here). This is one of my favorites (press here). You can draw the nodes, set up lines of relationship, set up weights and run several simulations of the network. NET-SIM goes beyond this. We uniquely  combine domain story networking analysis with NETWORK SIMULATION transaction pattern analysis. How?  We go into the field, collect the narratives and observations of network linkages, then work with NET-SIM to run the simulation of the dynamics. Ask us and we'll tell you more.