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Available
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Publication
A Final Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Arts in Conflict Facilitation and Organizational Change, Process Work Institute, Portland, OR, June 2009
Local notes
http://www.processwork.org/files/Finalprojects/Esch_T_June_2009.pdf
Abstract: Traditional African wisdom teaches us in the west that it takes a village to raise a child. This village metaphor can also be applied to the process of rank awareness—it can take a “village” to raise a person’s awareness of their rank and power. The village I am primarily referring to is my work place and the person I am referring to is me. My work-village has been my alarm clock, waking me up again and again to my unconscious behavior related to my rank. The experience of being woken up from my rank-slumber has not been pleasant or easy, but it has been transformative. This project is the result of what I learned in the process of waking up. 2007 and 2008 were especially stressful years for us at work because of a falling economy and my decision to take significant time away from the job to complete my MACF degree. Too often during those years I did not use my rank with awareness in company meetings and interpersonal encounters.
Those moments and the painful conflicts which erupted from them sparked my interest in studying rank and provided me with a living laboratory to conduct the research. What you will read here is my journey into the dynamic and at times alarming relationship between rank awareness and conflict. Enjoy the ride and remember, whenever rank is used consciously and compassionately the whole “village” is positively impacted.
Abstract: Traditional African wisdom teaches us in the west that it takes a village to raise a child. This village metaphor can also be applied to the process of rank awareness—it can take a “village” to raise a person’s awareness of their rank and power. The village I am primarily referring to is my work place and the person I am referring to is me. My work-village has been my alarm clock, waking me up again and again to my unconscious behavior related to my rank. The experience of being woken up from my rank-slumber has not been pleasant or easy, but it has been transformative. This project is the result of what I learned in the process of waking up. 2007 and 2008 were especially stressful years for us at work because of a falling economy and my decision to take significant time away from the job to complete my MACF degree. Too often during those years I did not use my rank with awareness in company meetings and interpersonal encounters.
Those moments and the painful conflicts which erupted from them sparked my interest in studying rank and provided me with a living laboratory to conduct the research. What you will read here is my journey into the dynamic and at times alarming relationship between rank awareness and conflict. Enjoy the ride and remember, whenever rank is used consciously and compassionately the whole “village” is positively impacted.