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Motivation, Resistance and Change in International Organizations and Communities

4th International GR conference in Lithuania

Wednesday 21st August 2013 - Sunday 25th August 2013

Vilnius University, Lithuania

Vilnius University
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations

Introduction
Primary Task
Issues
Methodology
Membership
Role of Staff
Staff
Info & Fees
Booking

Introduction

This programme will mark the fourth joint venture between Vilnius University and the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. It is based on the theoretical perspectives and methods of group relations as developed in the Tavistock ‘Leicester’ working conferences on Authority Role and Organisation.

The conference includes a Progression Sub-conference.

The programme is designed to provide opportunities for learning for leadership. By examining, interpreting, reflecting and making sense of experiences in the programme events, leaders and managers will develop understanding of their own organisations and their roles within them.
The programme allows the participants to explore motivation and resistance to organisational change, and in developing collaborative relationships in the group events in the programme.

The programme focuses on culture, structure and task, and on the need for understanding the roles of participants as they relate collaboratively and competitively with each other. Such understanding involves disciplined attention to your own experience, openness to the experience of others, tolerance of uncertainty and the readiness to interpret what is happening, and the courage to test your interpretations through communication and action. This includes being alert to both conscious and unconscious aspects of behaviour and ways in which behaviour is shaped by the broader social, political and economic contexts in which we work and live.

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Conference Aims and Primary Task

… to study motivation and resistance to change in the exercise of authority in the taking up of roles through the inter-personal, inter-group and organisational relations that develop within the programme as an organization in its context.

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Issues

You will have opportunities to learn about how to:

 manage yourselves in the multiple roles necessary for contemporary leadership where greater inter-personal and inter-organisational collaboration is called for

 use your emotional literacy to inform your actions
 understand and manage motivation and resistance to change in yourselves and others

 take up formal and informal leadership and followership roles as you explore group and institutional dynamics as they happen

The aims, in this programme, therefore, are to:

 bring together understanding of the conscious and hidden, sometimes unconscious, motivations and resistance of work groups as they engage collaboratively and competitively with one another

 become more effective in working with the underlying dynamics within and between organisations and between these and the wider society

 apply the roles taken up within the programme to your own organisations and networks.

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Methodology

The method of learning is experiential – as participants you will be invited to study your own and others collaborative and competitive behaviour as it happens in the different events. Consultancy is always available in the programme events.

The focus of learning is based on examining the ‘here and now’ of group and institutional behaviour. You will be invited and challenged to take up your own authority to accept what proves useful learning and reject what is not. Through this process you will be able to reconsider the way that you gain or lose power and exercise your authority in your organisations.

Working Language: The working language of the programme will be English. However, where all the members of a group are Lithuanian, Lithuanian may be the language of usage in that group.

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Membership

The programme draws participants from diverse work settings and roles: leaders, managers, consultants, educators, researchers, administrators, professional and technical workers.

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Role of Staff

Staff has specific roles in the programme:

1. They act collectively as management. Collective management takes responsibility and authority to provide the boundary conditions – task, territory and time – in such a way that all participants in the programme, the staff themselves and the participants, can engage with the primary task of the programme.

2. Working in their consultancy roles in the various events, informed by their own experiences of the events and working to the primary task of the event and the programme overall, the staff will offer working hypotheses based on their understanding of what is happening.

3. Programme staff members are not observers of the process but are actively involved in it. It is important, therefore, to be as explicit as possible about their task and roles throughout the programme. The way they take up these roles is always open to examination.

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Staff

Conference Director
Mannie Sher  PhD, TQAP, FBAP
Director, Group Relations Programme, the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. Fellow, British Association of Psychotherapists (BAP; practicing psychoanalyst; Member, ISPSO, Member, OFEK, Israel

Conference Associate Director
Jolita Buzaitytė-Kašalynienė,  PhD
Head, Social Work Department, Vilnius University Faculty of Philosophy. Advisor, Ministry of Education/Science,Youth Department, Ministry of Social Security/Labour; Member, National Board of Social Wo

Conference Administrator
Urtė Lina Orlova  PhD student
Department of Social Work, Vilnius University.

Conference Associate Administrator
Giedrius Možeiko  
Graduate, Organizational Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University; Trainer, Soft Skills for Youth; Personal Growth Consultant; Trainer, European Federation of Psychology

CONSULTANT STAFF will be drawn from the following:
Milda Autukaitė  
Masters, Organizational Psychology; Human Resource Management Consultant, HR Director, Swedbank, Lithuania.

Tim Dartington  PhD.
writer, researcher and group and organisational consultant; past staff and now Associate of the TIHR and visiting lecturer, Tavistock & Portman; Member, OPUS and ISPSO

Mart Huis in ‘t Veld  MA., Sociology
Organisational Consultant, Partner and Co-founder, VECU Organisatiebegeleiding, The Netherlands; Associate, OPUS; Associate, Group Relations Nederland; Member, Worknet International, France.

Björn Josefsson  MS.
Chief Organisational Psychologist, NAV, Norway; Licensed Psychotherapist and Group Analyst, Private Consultation, Praksis; Teacher, IGA, Norway; Member, OPUS; Foundation Council

Milena Stateva  PhD
Senior Researcher & Consultant, Tavistock Institute of Human Relations; Academic Teacher, UK and Bulgarian universities; Member, British Psychological Society, British Sociologial Assoc; British Assoc

Simi Talmi  MSW.
Psychotherapist, Group Facilitator & Organizational Consultant; Co –Director, The Program in Organizational Consultation and Development: A Psychoanalytic – Systemic Approach, Israel

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Info and Fees

Time: The programme will begin at 09.00 on Wednesday, 21st August 2013, and end at 16.15 on Sunday 25th August 2013.

Place: The programme will be held at Vilnius University, Faculty of Philosophy, Universiteto st. 9/1, Vilnius. The conference is not residential and participants from other cities or countries should reserve their accommodation at hotels in the vicinity.

Fees: There are two levels of conference fee:
(a) for participants from the public sector, the fee is 1,100 Litas.
(b) for participants from the private sector, the fee is 2,000 Litas.

Early booking is advised as the number of places is limited and not guaranteed.

Discounts
(i) Early Bird Discount: For applications received before 4th July 2013, there is an early-bird discount of 300 Litas.
(ii) Bursaries: Partial bursaries are available upon request. For more information, please, contact the pre-conference administrator.

Payment can be made by bank transfer. Other administrative details will be given upon completion of the registration process.

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellation occurring on or before 19th August, 2013: 75 of payment will be returned.
Cancellation occurring on or after 20th August, 2013: 25 of payment will be returned.

How do I apply and reserve my place?

Please complete the accompanying application form and return to:

Mr. Giedrius Možeiko
E: grupiusantykiai@gmail.com
T: +370 61043896
T: +370 68228208 (Jolita)
Closing Date for Applications: Monday, 5th August 2013.

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Booking

Meals: Meals will not be provided by the programme.

Refreshments will be served morning and afternoon.

Attendance: As the programme constitutes an integrated whole and its events are all inter-related, participation in all the sessions of the programme is essential. If you know in advance that you will be unable to attend all the events in the programme, we would discourage you from applying.

Certificate: Participants will be issued with a certificate of professional development by Vilnius University.

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