Jonathan Reams
Vol. 10 No. 1 Mar 2014
The Complexity of the Practice of Ecosystem-Based Management
Verna G. DeLauer, Andrew A. Rosenberg, Nancy C. Popp, David R. Hiley, Christine Feurt
Abstract: In the United States, there are more than 20 federal agencies that manage over 140 ocean statutes (Crowder et al., 2006). A history of disjointed, single sector management has resulted in a one-dimensional view of ecosystems, administrative systems, and the socio-economic drivers that affect them. In contrast, an ecosystem-based approach to management is inherently multi-dimensional. Ecosystem-based approaches to management (EBM) are at the forefront of progressive science and policy discussions. Both the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (USCOP, 2004) and the Pew Oceans Commission (POC, 2003) reports called for a better understanding of the impact of human activities on the coastal ocean and the result was President Obama’s National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, our Coasts, and the Great Lakes (2010).
EBM is holistic by seeking to include all stakeholders affected by marine policy in decision-making. Stakeholders may include individuals from all levels of government, academia, environmental organizations, and marine-dependent businesses and industry. EBM processes require decision-makers to approach marine management differently and more comprehensively to sufficiently require a more sophisticated conceptual understanding of the process and the people involved. There are implicit cognitive, interpersonal, and intra-personal demands of EBM that are not addressed by current literature. This research seeks to understand the mental demands of EBM. A constructive developmental framework is used to illuminate how decision-makers reason or make sense of the ideals and values underlying EBM, the mutual relationships that must be built among natural resource management agencies, and the personal experiences and emotions that accompany change.
Tags: Nancy C. Popp, David R. Hiley, complexity, Christine Feurt, adult development, adult learning, constructive developmentalism, natural resource management, stakeholder engagement., Verna G. DeLauer, Andrew A. Rosenberg
Correcting Improper Uses of Perspectives, Pronouns, and Dualities in Wilberian Integral Theory: An Application of Holarchical Field Theory
Kevin J. Bowman
Abstract: This article uses my pre-existing extension of Wilberian metatheory, holarchical field theory, to diagnose and work towards overcoming the confusion within attempts to analyze action, events, and communication using Ken Wilber’s AQAL model. In holarchical field theory, holarchical fields become the fundamental component of reality. These fields comprise 1) holons in relation to one another and to their potential, and 2) their interpenetrating forces engaged by their interactions. In light of the theory, problems in the Wilberian literature have included inconsistent uses of certain dualities (subject-object, interior-exterior, and inside-outside) as well as person perspectives and pronouns. Previous attempts to overcome these issues without precise diagnoses suffer from a conflation of the dual definitions of the subjective-objective duality, one a philosophical definition, the other grammatical. State versus action language is classified within the dualities of holarchical field theory.
Tags: Ken Wilber, AQAL, holarchical field theory, integral communication, integral scientific pluralism, Kevin J. Bowman
Beyond Social Exchange Theory: An Integrative Look at Transcendent Mental Models for Engagement
Latha Poonamallee and Sonia Goltz
Abstract: In this paper, we develop an integrative conceptual framework capturing the underlying mental models that guide engagement in relationships at work and elsewhere. Specifically, we are looking at mental models that go beyond egocentrism and social exchange, which have served as the basis for most frameworks found in research on organizations. The goal of this paper is to present a more complex picture of human cognition and behavior that suggests that egocentrism is not an exclusive motivator. We view this more integrative framework as a set of concentric circles of increasingly inclusive and expansive identities. Although the mental models used by individuals may be static over a shorter time frame, they are thought to be more dynamic over a relatively longer timeframe, in adaptive response to changing conditions. Movement between these mental models can be triggered by changes in cognitions as well as by events that arouse affect.
Tags: mental models, Latha Poonamallee, cognition, positive organizational scholarship, transcendent spirituality, Sonia Goltz
A Brief Overview of Developmental Theory, or What I Learned in the FOLA Course
Jonathan Reams
Abstract: This article describes the history and development of developmental theory from a lay person perspective. It covers some of the main strands of how developmental theory has grown, focusing on ego stage theories and dynamic skill theory as the main examples of soft and hard stage models. It also touches on how measures of these models relate to the theories. Reflections on the relative merits of each strand are considered, as well as implications for broadening the scope of awareness of developmental theory among the larger population of integrally informed practitioners.
Tags: developmental theory, dynamic skill theory, ego development, metrics, Jonathan Reams