CH Conversation Themes on OD : Covert Processes... 1st Oct 21

The conversation began with moderators’ effort of holding up the frame of Covert Processes as made formal by Bob Marshak in his book Covert Processes at Work – Managing the Five hidden dimensions of Organizational Change. The exploration ended however with the realization that the theme only began to scratch the surface with the impact on organization effectiveness left unexplored in the time spent conversing on the Clubhouse medium.

So, what was spoken about?

The author’s context that brought the construct to book form. Bob Marshak was a US Federal employee in the Department of Agriculture. But he also was exposed to the Korean war. These significant immersions affected his practice. Western and Eastern cosmologies needed integration for Bob’s approach to OD work. By the time he was teaching at the AU NTL Washington University Program, he was unpacking these confluences for the book. His major discussants of these works were Judith Katz, and perhaps a derivative from such work came through with Gervase Bushe on Dialogic OD.

The kernel of the construct is that human perceptual experience is held by attentional focus. While the individual experiences it all, groups reflect the experience, and organizations hold these phenomena within a larger societal system. The individual expresses impressions learned from

· ? ? ? lessons learned during childhood,

· ? ? ? beliefs assumptions and values,

· ? ? ? formal theories and systems of thought

· ? ? ? paradigms

· ? ? ? Cultures

Thus facets of the covert dynamic are revealed in new awareness of how the above are held as a prism of individual, group, organization or society through which, legitimate and not so accepted fields of experience are socialised. There are the popular conceptions of sinister to negative spectrum dynamics beneath overt processes as also the less accessed or lesser expressed positive dynamics at the other end of the spectrum.

In these notes, we are also attempting to hold up a consistency with the auditory recall of the Clubhouse audio-chat room, without resorting to the visual depiction of the conversation. (The book has enough depiction in schema and tabulations anyway).

So, unpacking the main components of the covert process model – the above listed bullets when passed through the prism result in a spectrum of human experience that range from the superconscious to the subconscious. At the subconscious end there are repressed processes as in buried demons of past experiences; as also taboo layers above it that are denied as questionable, illegitimate or plain unacceptable. What’s overt is to be legitimate, proper and socially acceptable. What’s covert on the other end are unexpressed processes that could be Too good to be true, as in secret hopes and wishes; and untapped processes of the superconscious, where hidden creativity and potential get expressed.

Perhaps, there’s erroneous inference that highs in experienced emotional states are like tapping into the covert superconscious in organizational processes. That’s a facile reduction in conversation, as like glossing over the unintegrated experience of trauma. The danger in extending the inference is that as individuals facilitating OD, without dealing with one’s own trauma, there’s a potential risk in inflicting harm on systems being engaged by the practitioner.

Participants on the call spoke to the following possibilities

1. ? ? ? That covert dynamics may manifest in trust and reliability aspects of relationships

2. ? ? ? That the positive end of the prism seems less explored

3. That Vedanta philosophy of Dwitiya, Advaitya and Vishishtadvaita runs largely parallel to the Covert process frame, where the process starts with externalisation of latent desires and wishes (one end of the prism), moves to awareness of everything is within (the prism itself) to "delightful realisation" at the splitting of end of the prism, that there's something beyond the desires and wishes which has been brought to light (denoting the journey from subconscious to super conscious).

4. That this covert dynamic is likely not merely within contexts of organizations in India but also between cultures that interact with those in India

5. ? ? ? Groups tend to get into repetitive, near predictive patterns in interactions

6. ? ? ? Rationality overbearing itself on the hidden dynamics especially of emotionality in contemporary organization

7. ? ? ? Patterns of power like us versus others in meetings at the workplace

8. ? ? ? Straying on conversations in meetings, than keeping focus on agenda

9. ? ? ? The family managed enterprise where professional merit is often overlooked when decisions are made by those with financial powers from the controlling family

10. ? A general expectation in professions, such as sales, where negotiation rationale is reduced to proximity to purchasing power hierarchy and shifting biases in the family managed enterprise – thus never an explicit or fair process?

We opened to a contemporary manifestation of the covert dimension. What may remote or work from home situations represent across the spectrum? Organizational wide impacts were via policy and power privileges, affecting employability and job security. Like furniture and equipment allowances to enable work from home. On the other end, people also had no clue to certainty of their paychecks and jobs.

The covert use of technology to hook employees to mechanistic routines as against enjoyable variety of location and space seems a passing phase of sensory challenge – same sights, same frames, same sounds, and almost at the same time of the day. A routinization of agenda seemed around. It gives the impression of the patterned use of technology, body posture and voice. This is perhaps the equivalent of repressed layers of experience, where the formal is overbearing and extensively so as to cause a feeling of disturbing fatigue. The outcome of languishing may stem from such a ‘state’ of being in remote work routines.

At the individual level, disclosures and reflections yielded the following:

1. ? ? ? Do we unconsciously deflect from what’s being said, to avoid uncomfortable feelings and use and interpret language accordingly?

2. ? ? ? What can make for the ability to sense and respond socially amid pandemic constraints so as to bear upon reality differently, perhaps effectively? Would virtual and digital data aid us? Or would it not, if we do not master the digital medium in the first place?

At a relatively superconscious level, acknowledging employees as whole persons, rather than as entities in commercial play, yielded in conversation spaces that brought the non-task aspects of relationships between people. The energy shifts positively even in virtual mode. This seemed a contra-indicator to the many stories of fatigue and lack of trust.

Weekly one-on-one conversations, weekly group meetings or monthly ‘bring-your-beverage-to-the -screen’ forums help employees speak up for what is shared between them. This freed up repressed layers to the overt and sociable - the accepted norms of behaviour. Such enabled ongoing recalibration of how people brought themselves to tasks at work, as just one element of larger life itself!

A too good to be true emotional alignment?