Global Forces

Citation

Tyrrell, M.W.D. (2001), "Global Forces", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 22 No. 6, pp. 301-303. https://doi.org/10.1108/lodj.2001.22.6.301.1

Over the past 20 years, we have witnessed the development of many attempts to meld spirituality and business practice together. Many times, these attempts have been shallow and without grounding in either metaphysics or sound business practice. This is not the case with Bruce Nixon’s Global Forces. Nixon’s message is one of global interconnections at all levels: spatial, temporal, economic, environmental, and spiritual.

In Part One, Nixon presents a “chatty” description of the major shifts affecting Britain and the world at the cusp of the twenty‐first century. He outlines the major global forces that are affecting the world: social and technological change, increasing diversity and distrust of social organizations, and an increasing “spirituality” in a commercialized world system. The purpose of this exercise is neither to demoralize the readers, nor to present them with visions of a technological Utopia. Rather, it is to sensitize and allow readers to put the current age in historical perspective.

Where Part One introduces us to a mélange of ideas, facts and trends, Part Two outlines the “Big Issues” that now face us. First there is the increase in the power of transnational corporations and the concomitant decrease in the power of national governments. This issue is coupled not only with accountability, but also with a growing search for identity on the part of individuals, nations and regions.

The second issue is systemic instability, be it the international financial system or the growing divide between the rich and poor (both nations and individuals). As he notes (p. 71), “[i]f inequality or injustice within or between societies goes too far, it nearly always results in social instability or violence – an environment in which business does not prosper.” This issue is also apparent when Nixon examines the environmental crisis (Chapter 7) and the dichotomy of sustainable corporate lines vs short‐term profit maximizing companies where he equates the concepts of stewardship and sustainability with profitability in contrast to short‐sighted profiteering. The linking of stewardship and profitability is carried on in Chapter 8 where Nixon states that “Good ethics is good business” (p. 91).

Throughout Part Two, Nixon intermixes “bad news” with “good news”; the positive with the negative. The net effect of this intermixing is to produce what Gregory Bateson termed a “double bind”; two mutually contradictory views that challenge the individual and force them into a new state of consciousness in order to resolve the dilemma.

The challenge leads into the third part of the book: Our Transforming Consciousness. Consciousness, be it in organizations or individuals, must, for Nixon, be based on the “isness” of reality. It is emergent from the apparent chaos of life, and is based on activating creativity rather than in centralizing and bureaucratizing the world: it is an open system.

This open system goes by other names, primarily a diffuse form of “spirituality” that, according to Nixon,is becoming expressed in a changing attitude towards the role of leadership and culture in business (adversarial vs partnership cultures). Indeed, for Nixon, the partnership model of corporate culture is crucial in both theory and practice. The discussion of national cultural differences (national consciousnesses) in Chapter 14 concludes the thread that started with the individual.

Part Four grounds the reader in the more pragmatic aspects of achieving partnership cultures comparing and contrasting four ways of “Getting the Whole System into the Room”. Nixon briefly describes the main elements of Future Search, Open Space Technology, Real Time Strategic Change and Search Conferences.

Chapter 16, When the Party’s Over … marks a change from the previous chapter. Written by OD consultant Nic Turner, it is a cautionary tale that supplements and situates the transformative methods described in the previous chapter. Chapters 17 and 18 provide quick discussions of Polarity Management, dialogue, and non‐violent communication, which are then illustrated in a cross‐cultural setting in Chapter 19.

Chapter 20 concludes the fourth part of the book with an article by Nicholas Janni on the “new consciousness”. This is where the fourfold model of human consciousness encompassing body, emotion, mind and spirit that underlies Nixon’s book is explored. As with many good books, the conclusions are the start and it is in the final chapter that Nixon outlines his Strategic Leadership Model, and ties it back into the rest of the book.

Global Forces is not a book that should be read either quickly or by people who are uncomfortable with the idea of change. If you are serious about examining how to change both yourself and your organization, then this book is well worth reading. If, however, you are looking for a “how‐to” manual that can be applied in all situations, then you would be better off looking elsewhere.