Idioticon: Power Laboratory

  • An experiential group workshop in which participants learn individual human relations and group skills through a social learning process of attending to the ‘here and now’ events of the group.
 
This definition by Beth Thompson comes from a Thought Piece by Beth Thompson posted at Aerojet Rocketdyne's Ongoing Discussion page. 
        "The concept of power has been poorly understood and variously explained in social and in management theory. Traditional and economistic conceptions view power as a commodity, as
        something that can be held or possessed or that a human being is endowed with. As such, power is commonly presented as power over, or as a representation of As getting B to do something they would not otherwise do (French, 1956). The French philosopher Michel Foucault (1990) associated power with practices and techniques. The concept of power was presented as relational rather than a commodity that one could acquire. No matter how it is viewed, the exercise of power is a reality and a necessity in human systems. In the words of Barry Oshry, “Power is not a dirty word. System power is the ability to act in ways that fundamentally transform whole systems, elevating them to new possibilities of experience and accomplishment for their members and for the systems as wholes (Oshry, 1999, p. 7).”
        The Power Laboratory (Oshry, 1972) is a week-long, experiential workshop. It provides participants with an opportunity to experiment with power from one of three perspectives. Participants are divided into “elites” or haves, “immigrants” or have-nots, and “managers” or middles— those who find themselves between the other two groups. Participant assignment is in part based upon an assessment that applicants complete during the registration process. The assessment identifies individual approaches to the challenge of limit situations which each of us confront in habitual ways. It is aimed at providing the most optimal experience for each participant in terms of learning and growth.
        During the Lab experience, the Elites are given the physical advantages of luxurious lodgings, excellent food, and the authority to govern the society—which is aptly called New Hope. In addition, Elites exercise control, own all of the property and have the power to give or withhold all resources. Upon entry into New Hope, immigrants are deprived of all possessions and are left with only the clothing they wear. Although provided with dormitory-style shelter, Immigrants must work to earn the money that will put blankets on their beds and food in their stomachs. The managers are provided more adequate food and lodgings, but are afforded little power and are at the beck and call of the Elites on whose behalf they manage the immigrant workforce. Oshry calls the experience a magnicosm of system life (Oshry, 1999) in that it magnifies the conditions that are familiar to most of us in our families, organizations and human systems. It is as if the volume is turned up on situations that might ordinarily be ignored. Instead, it’s as if situations stand out starkly, occurring on a stage where we all have an opportunity to observe.
        The Power Lab is a total immersion experience; participants live in New Hope 24 hours a day with no time outs and no breaks from the action. Like the T-Group, the experience of the Power Lab sets aside the day-to-day lives of those who have come to live in the Society of New Hope. The total immersion experience creates a phenomenon that has an affinity with flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), where time and attention are entirely focused on the current activity and the participant has become engrossed in the experience to the extent that he or she is emotionally invested. The participants are fully caught up in the experience rather immediately."


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