The popular references, in addition to Bohm's own books, seem to be Senge
and Weisbord. I have followed an intriguing lead from Bohm, however, and
wonder if any other reader of this list has done the same. Bohm cites
Krishnamurti and the British psychiatrist, Patrick De Mare, as primary
sources for his own thinking on dialogue. De Mare has some very strong
opinions abou the process, which he uses to run large group therapy
sessions - see his book, Koinonia: From Hate, Through Dialogue, to
Culture in the Large Group (London: Karnac, 1991). One concept I find
particularly vexing is that any group with eight or fewer members will
tend to lapse into patterns of interaction reminiscent of members'
families of origin, and so avoid real dialogue. For this reason, he
prefers to work with groups of twenty or more.
My own experience as a family therapist has taught me that even highly
conflicted families can engage in meaningful dialogue under conditions
similar to those used in Bohm's and Senge's dialogue process.
Is anyone on this list familiar with De Mare or other folks working with
practical applications of dialogue? Any thoughts about optimal group size
or other parameters?
-- John VanDeusen Work Systems Associates 313 Boston Post Rd West Marlboro, MA 01752