THE PROBLEMATIC MOMENT APPROACH WORKSHOP

Chaos Management Ltd. and The Center for Gender in Organizations present  a one-day professional development seminar on:

The Problematic Moment Approach: Finding underlying meaning in group dialogue

September 14, 2000
 

Seminar Description

The faculty will conduct a seminar on the Problematic Moment Approach to finding underlying meaning in group dialogue. A problematic moment is a moment, typically a moment of silence, experienced by a group that marks a disruption to a particular discourse of values, beliefs, and assumption being constructed by the group. It occurs in the division between the group’s conscious and unconscious mind. Usually, individual group members are not aware of the significance of the moment as it happens.

Consequently, a video playback of those moments enables participants to reflect on the meaning of the moments and to generate hypotheses about a group’s dynamics and discourse. On another level, the video playback also allows participants to notice habitual responses that may be triggered at such key moments and to re-evaluate the effect of those responses.

Consultants, academics, facilitators, managers, team leaders, change agents, and others who are interested in learning about new approaches to group work and issues of gender and diversity will find this seminar invaluable. The workshop integrates theories from The Tavistock Institute (group-as-a-whole perspective), The National Training Laboratories (T-group) group dynamic traditions, and critical discourse analysis.

Using the Problematic Moment Approach permits group members and facilitators to use actual dialogue to illuminate group dynamics and to thereby foster awareness and an opportunity for change and development. "The fact that silence can hint at tensions or undesirable ideas arising is fascinating," wrote one past participant in a similar workshop. "Silence being moments of one’s true self coming through, and speaking as a way of hiding is a powerful idea. To be able to interpret the silence would be a great key to successful communication."

Faculty

Evangelina Holvino, Ed.D., is a senior research fellow with the Center for Gender in Organizations, Simmons Graduate School of Management,  and President of Chaos Management Ltd.

James Cumming, Ed.D., is  a principal of Chaos Management Ltd.

Fee and Registration

$80 (Includes lunch)

Please register before September 1, 2000 by filling in the registration form on the web site www.chaosmanagement.com. The site is secure so you can also pay by credit card at that time. If you prefer, you may mail registration details plus a check made payable to Chaos Management Ltd. at PO Box 737, Brattleboro, VT 05302. In case of cancellation, a cancellation fee of $30 will be charged. We anticipate that the registration will be full and early registration is advisable. Call James Cumming at 802/257 5218 for further details