Ivan, thanks for your open and self-revealing response to the resistance
conversation.
As a consultant to organisations, I never publicly label a
participant a "resistor". Being human, I may do it in my private thoughts,
but I make a point of not doing it in public. I would consider it a
violation of the standing of members of a community to which I am just a
visitor. An additional reason for such restraint is that I am almost
always in a position of authority or power granted by the one who hired me
and I will misuse that grossly if I label others from that place.
How do I handle those situations where someone appears to be actively
undermining a situation? If its in public, as Ivan's was, I encourage it
as part of a creative dialogue and assume that the person speaking is
concerned for the organisation from their point of view which may prove to
be right and will at worst contain useful information. If it is private
and intended to undermine someone (or, very occasionally, the institution)
then I will name it and make it public and let the public dialogue handle
it.
Ivan's story shows both the possible cost and the difficulty of making the
contribution that the protestor is trying to make. The difference between
a protestor and a resistor is the world. The assumption behind protestor
is that a position is being made public to contribute to the whole. The
assumption behind a resistor is that the community is already right and
already decided and someone is getting in the way.
The matter also reveals the nature of power, authority and control in
organisational life as we know it. If we assume that the label of
resistance is mainly going to covert resistance activities, that is
frequently because the culture has set up costs that are too great for all
but the most courageous to confront. And yet, wanting to have a voice,
they express their protest in the best way they know how. I suggest we
need a great deal of compassion for all of the "dysfunctional" expressions
within an organisation given the historical nature of those organisations.
--
Mike McMaster <Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk>
"Postmodern society is the society of computers, information, scientific
knowledge, advanced technology, and rapid change due to new advances in
science and technology." Postmodern Theory, Best & Kellner