Conference paper
Convergence gathering as an example of a medium scale acephalous group
Proceedings of the 57th International Society for the Systems Sciences World Conference, pp.1-21
International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) World Conference, 57th (Hai Phong City, Vietnam, 14-Jul-2013–19-Jul-2013)
International Society for Systems Sciences
2013
Abstract
We face increasingly complex issues today, many of which may be critical to our survival. If we are to survive, thrive, and find new ways of being, we need to be experimenting with innovative ways of organising ourselves to increase our adaptability and resilience. Top-down hierarchical organisations have become the norm to the point where we rarely consider alternative ways of organising ourselves even though they divide people against each other and impose power differentials. As we gain an insight into the coercive nature of our organisations we begin to seek alternatives that might be more wholesome and humane. A group mainly living in the South Island of New Zealand called Convergence is exploring alternatives that have much in common with systems principles. It is an acephalous group, in that it has no structured leadership, and yet over three hundred people have been able to gather together as a co-creative alternative community for five days every year for almost thirty years. Avoiding the divisive distinction between management and worker, Convergence has developed a distributed, transient, self selected leadership style so the group acts more like a forest or a brain without central control that has proved to be robust. This paper explores the organisation of Convergence from a systems perspective to find its strengths and weaknesses, and its applicability to other groups.
Details
- Title
- Convergence gathering as an example of a medium scale acephalous group
- Authors
- Victor MacGill (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts and Business
- Publication details
- Proceedings of the 57th International Society for the Systems Sciences World Conference, pp.1-21
- Conference details
- International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) World Conference, 57th (Hai Phong City, Vietnam, 14-Jul-2013–19-Jul-2013)
- Publisher
- International Society for Systems Sciences
- Date published
- 2013
- ISSN
- 1999-6918
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2013. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99449960302621
- Output Type
- Conference paper
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