February 20, 2017 Professor Ajeet N. Mathur Conference Director, AOSPOR 2017

Dear Sir/Madam,

Working Conference on Authority, Organisation, Strategies and Politics of Relatedness - August 18-24, 2017 at Hotel Clarks Amer, Jaipur

Working with leaders and managers has revealed that blocks to strategy implementation are the most problematic management and leadership challenges in organisations. There are powerful ways of learning to link strategy with effective teamwork and organisation development. But these skills cannot be learnt from reading or listening to lectures or simulations or cases. This is why IIM Ahmedabad offers working conferences as an accelerated learning experience-the ninth year we are doing so because previous offerings were much appreciated.

To integrate the learning and help transfer that to organisational roles, appropriate events are built into the conference design. Benefits to organisations include increased capacity to lead and to organise harmonious and effective teams at work for managing in rapidly changing and complex environments. I request you to make the time to read the brochure (attached) that has more details. If you have any questions, you are welcome to get in touch through e-mail/phone with Ms. Suman Verma (sumanv@iima.ac.in), the Pre-Conference Administrator at +92277 93191 or with me.

Places available on this EEP are limited to 48 by design. Subject to availability of places, nominations are welcome until places get filled or July 14, 2017 whichever is earlier. Our previous working conferences on this theme have often been oversubscribed. We recommend that you decide on your nominations soonest to avoid disappointment and we look forward to receiving nominations from your organisation.

Yours sincerely,

Ajeet N. Mathur Conference Director, AOSPOR 2017 E-mail: anmathur@iima.ac.inPhone: +91 79 6632 4858

Enclosed: Brochure and Nomination form

Phone: +91-79-6632 4461-69 and 4472-77 • Fax: +91-79-2630 0352 (ExEd)/2630 6896 (General) Email: exed@iima.ac.in • Website: http://www.ima.ac.in/exed

Working�Conference�onAuthority,�Organisation,�Strategies

and�Politics�of�Relatedness(AOSPOR)

August 18-24, 2017

Working�Conference�on�Authority,�Organisation,�Strategiesand�Politics�of�Relatedness�(AOSPOR)

August�18-24,�2017

Introduction

IIM Ahmedabad offers this Working Conference on“AOSPOR”asanopportunityforaccelerated,immersiveand experiential learning to harvest insights intomanagementandtodevelopleadershipskillsforchangethatcannotbe taught through lectures,case-studiesorsimulations. The primary purpose is buildingcapabilitiesforstrategyimplementationandleadershipchallenges in a volatile, uncertain, complex andambiguousworld.

Group Relations Conferences (also known asWorkingConferences)werefirstofferedbytheTavistockInstituteofHumanRelations,Londonin1957basedontheworkofWilfred Bion who was born in India. The design andstructureofWorkingConferenceshaveundergonemanychanges and innovations since then. WorkingConferences have been offered in India in the IIMtradition since 1973. The processes in this ‘temporaryinstitution’,designedforlearningandco-createdwiththeparticipatingmembers,aresimilartothosewithwhichthey are familiar within their own and otherorganisations. What makes AOSPOR different andvaluableisthatexperiencesattheseconferencesbecomeavailable for exploration, reflection and action in realtime-by mobilising authority from personal andorganisational roles for experiencing and studyingtransformations.

This Working Conference promotes the integration ofintellectual capacity with emotional and culturalintelligence. It is an opportunity to examine differentmodelsofhowgroups,teamsandorganisationsfunctionand leadership styles. Our emphasis would be onconnecting conscious agendas with unconsciousdynamics and covert processes that lurk beneath thesurfaceinorganisations.

ForWhom?

This Working Conference is for anyone interested indeveloping deeper understanding of managerial andleadership processes in organisations and developingskills to cope with covert processes. There is norequirement of any particular previous experience orknowledge.Willingnesstolearnfromone’sexperiencebyparticipating in the events and processes of theconference is expected. Participants may come frombusiness, professions, public systems, finance, politics,diplomacy, sports, mass media, government, localauthorities,NGOs,healthservices,socialcare,education,consultancy, justice, systems, religious orders, agenda-based activisms, and environmental organisations.Previous IIMA conferences have drawn participationfrom all sectors, levels, career stages, and from acrossmanycountriesintheworld.Theparticipantprofilehasincluded business leaders and team leaders of profitcentres,HRprofessionals,governmentofficialsfromIAS,IPS, etc. public sector managers, family businessentrepreneurs, administrators, activists, educators,researchers,consultants,clinicians,professionalserviceproviders,scientists,healthcareprofessionals,bankers,ITpractitioners,NGOleaders,etc.

ReflectionsofsomepreviousAOSPORparticipants…

• “Anunforgettable journey inwhich I learnt toknowmyselfandotherssomuchmoreclearlyalreadybythethirdday.”(IASOfficer,GovernmentofIndia)

•“TheWorkingConferencemademuchmoresensewhenIreturnedtomyroleinmyorganisation.”(DivisionalChiefExecutive,ITCLimited,Bangalore)

• “Ilearntinsevendayswhatonemaynotlearneveninalifetime.”(Secretary,AntarnadFoundation)

• “Arichlearningexperienceaboutleadershipandtheexerciseofauthorityinaninstitutionalsetting.”(ChiefExecutive, Multinational Business Firm,Singapore)

• “Very insightfulexperience.Amust at leastonce inone’slife.”(Consultant&ExecutiveCoach,Mumbai)

• “UnbelievablethatIlearntsomuchinsoshortatime...and impossible to share with anyone who hasn’texperiencedit.”(Entrepreneur,Ahmedabad)

• “One of my most valuable learning experiencesever.”(HRDirector,Bangalore)

• “Wonderful opportunity to experience andunderstandunconsciousprocessesinthefunctioningofgroupsandteams.”(CommunityLeader,Nagpur)

• “This conference hasmade a huge difference tomyperspectives… It has providedmewith new lenses,besides increasing the power of my old ones!”(EducatorandSocialWorker,NorthIndia)

• “Theinsightswerephenomenal.Itwaswonderfultobeintheconference.”(SeniorExecutive,Petrolube,Tanzania)

• “The working conference helpedme understand somanydifferentperspectivesaboutmywork.”(TeamLeader,PrivateHealthcareServices,Malaysia)

• “I am able to connect betterwithmy colleagues onprofessional differences; even my wife says I havechangedabitoflate!”(SeniorExecutive,NCDEX)

•“Ilearnthowthingscanhappenwhenpower,authorityand relatedness are understood.” (PrincipalScientist,R&DCentre,India)

• “An excellent learning forum about self andorganisation.” (Vice-president, IT Industry,Mumbai)

• “Greatvalueadditioninunderstandingwhathappensingroups,teamsandorganisations. Thebestpartsoftheconferenceweretheinsightsitprovidedintohowthe ‘politics of relatedness’ governs us beyond ourawareness.”(ZonalHead,LalPathLabs)

• “Idevelopedskillstounderstandthesubtlenatureofcovertprocessesandhavebecomeabetterleader,andabetterhumanbeing.”(GeneralManager,Finance,PublicSectorCorporation)

• “Theconferencebroughtmelotsofenrichinginsights.”(Eye Surgeon and Medical Director, SpecialityHospital)

• “Averyvaluableexperience…Mycolleaguesatworkhave remarkedon changes theyhavenoticed in thewayIthinkandact.”(ChiefManager,SouthEasternCoalfields)

• “Thisconferencewillremaininmymemoryasoneofthemostsignificantexperiences.Itmademeawareofthe unconscious processes that affect us inorganisations.”(CFO,KancorIngredients)

• “Thiswasamarvellousjourneyexploringsourcesofauthorityandboundariesinorganisations.”(DioceseAdministrator,ChurchofNorthIndia).

WhatMakesThisWorkingConferenceUnique?

This Working Conference has as its theme ‘Authority,Organisation,StrategiesandPoliticsofRelatedness’.TheConference provides a structured context of differentsystems and sub-systems in which to explore thedynamicsofpower,leadership,authority,change,dissent,collaboration and transformation as they arise andunfold.

Benefits to organisations include increased capacity tolead and manage in rapidly changing and complexenvironments.

ThisWorkingConferenceoffersuniqueopportunitiesforunderstanding and exploring authority relations,organisational relationships and strategic relatednessbetweenorganisationalpartsandwholes.Howpersons,groupsandorganisationsdevelopandusedynamiclatentcapabilities foreffective functioning in intra-groupandinter-group interfaces can make all the differencebetweensustainableperformanceandstalledgrowth.

Participantswillhaveopportunitiestodevelopstrategicthinking about management processes in groups andorganisations. Together with conference staff,participating members can experientially understand‘politics of relatedness’ and leadership phenomenathroughexerciseofauthorityanditsdelegation;examineand develop their own capacities to lead; diagnoseproblems of organisational functioning in a variety ofsettings; and, learn to work through problems ofresistancetochange.

Participants experience and understand how theyinfluence or are influenced by others and the ensuingconsequences-intendedorunintended,overt orcovert.Thereby, theydevelopskillsandsharpentheir insightsinto how strategies take shapewhen groups function;howphenomenasuchasallianceandcoalitionformationaffecttheunderstandingofthegroup,bythegroup;andhow it shapes motives and power bases; howcompetition,rivalryandexplorationofwhatliesbeyondimmediate awareness unravel ‘pictures of relatedness’thatremainhiddenineverydayinteraction.

ThelivedexperienceofaWorkingConferenceisvividlydifferent from simulations or management gamesbecausethereisnocontrivanceormanipulationtowardspossibilitiespre-conceivedby the staff.The roleof thestaffistounderstandandsharefromtheirroleswhattheyhypothesise ishappening in theconference institution.Thestaffdoesnotassumeanymonopolyofthetruth.Thestaff creates learning opportunities by providingboundariesandconsultationstovariousevents.Thestafftomemberratioishigh,about1:4.

The diversity and talents of members and staff areexpectedtocontributetothescopeandrichnessoftheConferenceexperience.Experiences arepersonal, andtakeaway learning is private. Hence these may differfrom one participant to another. In this sense,participants have the responsibility for their ownlearning. If experiential learning and a pedagogy oflearningthatrespectsyourownauthorityappealstoyou,thisConferenceislikelytobeofimmensevaluetoyou.Tointegratelearningandhelptransferittoorganisationalrolesandcontexts,appropriateeventsarebuiltintotheConferencedesign.

Participantstakepartinanumberofpre-designedeventssuchassmallstudygroups,largestudygroups,praxisofinter-group, application groups, review groups, andharmony sensing matrix. They have opportunities toworkwithdifferenttasks,tobeindifferentrolesandtoexploretheextentandlimitsoftheirpersonalauthority.AprospectuscontainingmoredetailswillbeprovidedtoparticipatingmembersoftheConference.Theprospectuswillhavedetailedeventandsessionstructuredescribingtheprimary tasksof thedifferentevents.Apackageofrecommendedreadingswillalsobeprovided.

LearningAims

• Toco-createa‘temporaryinstitution’wherestaffandmemberstakeuprolestostudythedevelopmentandexerciseofauthority,evolutionoforganisationallogicand the discovery and invention of strategies fromtheir livedexperienceinroleswithintheConferenceinstitution.

• To enable the study of intra-group and inter-groupdynamics and institutional relations that developwithin the conference as an organisation andunderstand connections of organisations to theirsocial,politicalandeconomicenvironments.

• To facilitate opportunities for exploring thefoundationalprocessesoflinking,connecting,relating,and networking as members of work groupsconcerned with influencing others and beinginfluenced in the course of formulating andimplementingstrategies.

• To discover underlying groups, organisational andsocial dynamics and the interplaybetween traditionand change, stability and innovation, creativity andharmony that may, at times, be beyond immediateawareness and to formulate “working hypotheses”aboutcovertprocessesbeyondawareness.

• Toreflectoninsightsandlearningthatarisesfromtheperspective of building bridges with organisationalroles to which members return after the WorkingConference with a view to applying roles taken upwithintheconferencetoone’sownorganisationsandnetworks.

ThePrimaryTask

Thenatureandcorepurposeofanorganisationcanbedesigned,discoveredor located in aprimary task.ThePrimaryTaskofthisWorkingConferenceis:Toexplorethelived experience of roles through inter-personal, intra-group,inter-groupandinstitutionalrelationsthatdevelopand shape the possibilities of transformation, pursuit ofstrategies and politics of relatedness within theorganisationallifeofthisconferenceasaninstitution.

ConceptsFundamentaltotheWorkingConference

Theword“conference”isusedtoemphasizetheprocessof “conferring” in direct experience throughconversations,dialoguesandexplorationsthatcanbringtogetherstrandsofthinkingorgiverisetonewthoughts,orarticulateunthought thoughtsorexpressunthoughtknowns.

Authority is thesourceofchoiceswemake(ordonotmake),actionswetake(ordonottake),peoplewerelatewith, directionswe give ourselves, and roles takenup.Authority is the springboard for leadership and itsexerciselegitimisesrolesinintra-groupandinter-grouprelations.

Organisation enablesroles toenmeshandcollectivelyengagewithvaluedtaskswithreferencetoboundariesoftask, technology, t ime, space, sentience andunderstanding. Organisations are structures ofconveniencedesignedtocontainsystemsandprocesses.

Strategies may be regarded as grand designs andpatterns we create, discover or influence through ourthinking, feeling and actions - consciously andunconsciously.TheWorkingConferenceprovidesspacesinwhichstrategiesmaybeformulatedandtestedinintra-group and inter-group interactions, and also in theinstitutionasawhole.

‘Politicsofrelatedness’arisesfromhowweworkwithorganisational boundary conditions such as task,technology,time,space,sentienceandunderstandingforlinkageswithin, and regulating flows of resources andresponses across such boundaries. Understandingpolitics of relatedness (‘relatedness’ connotestogetherness as a group or other collectivity beyondrelationships)enablesustofunctionmoreeffectivelyincomplex systemswhere thereare several stakeholderstrying to influence each other. The notion “pictures ofrelatedness” was developed by Pierre Turquet as aninstitutional stepping-stone to portray the behaviouralcharacteristicof cementing thatgroupsexhibitbeyondinter-personalrelationships.

ConferenceDirector

AjeetN.Mathur,Ph.D.ProfessorinStrategyandInternationalBusiness,IndianInstitute of Management, Ahmedabad; Affiliate LifeMember, Indian Psychoanalytical Society; Fellow,SumedhasAcademyofHumanContext, Yoga Shikshak,BiharSchoolofYoga,andMemberoftheGoverningBoardoftheGlobalFoundationforIntegratingSpiritualityandOrganisationalLeadership(ISOL).

ConferenceStaff

The Conference Staff will be invited from among thefollowingwhohaveacceptedtobeontheStaff:JanBaker,Sanjay Doctor, Bhavana Issar, Ajeet N.Mathur, RichardMorgan-Jones, Ashok Malhotra, Samar Singh, MayaSwaminadhan, Monica Velarde-Lazarte, Suman VermaandNicolaWreford-Howard.

Venue,DateandAccomodation

Venue: Hotel Clarks Amer, Jaipur (a 5* Hotel andConventionCentre-seepicturesabove).

Jaipur is located in Rajasthan aboutmid-way betweenDelhiandAhmedabadandiswellconnectedforflights,railandroadtravel.Membersarerequiredtoarriveand

registeratthevenuebetween10a.m.and11:45a.m.onAugust 18, 2017 and collect the Conference Kit. TheConferencewillbeginat2.00p.m.onFriday,August18,2017 in anOpeningPlenary. Itwill endonThursday,August24,2017.

Departurescanbeplannedforanytimeafter3p.m.onAugust24,2017.Thefee,payableinadvance,includestuitionfee,chargesforreadingmaterials,androom(on

singleoccupancybasis)andboardfromAugust18,2017(10a.m)untilAugust24,2017(4p.m.)Werespecttheprivacy and autonomy participants need with singleroomaccommodation for living to reflectonandworkwith the conference experience without dyadic

entanglementoftwinsharingaccommodation.

PracticalArrangements

Amaximumof48places areavailableatthisWorkingConference. Hence we advise that you send yournominations with fees sufficiently early to avoid anydisappointment.Ifplacesareavailable,nominationsmay

be accepted until 16:00 (Indian Standard Time)on July 14, 2017. Every nomination will beacknowledged when received. Acceptance is notautomatic.

Nominationsreceivedwithoutfeesarenotconsidered.

Fee(includingaccommodationandallmeals)

Forinternationalparticipants

US$: US$3000 plus 15% service tax, amountingtoUS$3450.

EUROS: €2600 plus 15% service tax, amountingto€2990.EarlyBirdDiscountedFees(fornominationsreceivedbyApril30,2017)

US$:US$2790plus15%servicetax,amountingtoUS$3209.

EUROS: €2418 plus 15% service tax, amountingto€2781.

ForParticipantsfromIndia

RUPEES:INR172,000plus15%servicetax,amountingtoINR197,800.

EarlyBirdDiscountedFees(fornominationsreceivedbyApril30,2017)

RUPEES: INR159,960plus15%servicetax,amountingtoINR183,957.

Bursaries

A few places at half-fee are available if neither themember nor the organisation can afford a full fee.Applications for these places should reach the Pre-Conference Administrator by April 30, 2017, withreasonsforseekingthereducedfee.

Nominationforms,togetherwiththeFees,aretobesentto:

Ms.SumanVerma

Pre-ConferenceAdministrator(AOSPOR2017)

Executive Education Indian Institute of ManagementAhmedabad 380 015 • Phone: +91 79 6632 4461Mobile: +91-92277 93191 • Fax: +91-79-2630 0352Email:sumanv@iima.ac.in

Feecanalsobepaid throughElectronicFundTransfer.Thedetailsare:

1. ForcredittoSavingsBankAccountNumber:9369EEP,YESBank,Limited,C.G.RoadBranch,Ahmedabad

(IFSC:YESB0000007,SWIFTCode:YESBINBB)

2. NameofRemitter: (Pleasemention thenameof thesponsoringorganisation)

3. PurposeofRemittance:AOSPOR2017

4. IIMAPermanentAccountNumber(PAN):AAATI1247F

Pleaseinformusthecompletetransactiondetailssothatwecanconnectthesame.

CancellationPolicyCancellations(withrefundoffee)arepermissible

untilJune15,2017.

SubstitutionsofnomineescanbemadeuntilAugust1,2017.

Executive EducationINDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AHMEDABAD

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Vastrapur,Ahmedabad-380015,IndiaPhone:+91-79-66324472to77and4461to69Fax:+91-79-26300352(ExEd)/26306896(General)E-mail:exed@iima.ac.in•Website:www.iima.ac.in/exed

IIMA was set up by the Government of India in

collaboration with the Government of Gujarat and

Indianindustryasanautonomousinstitutionin1961.

TheInstituteprovideseducation,training,consulting

andresearchfacilitiesinmanagement.

MajorProgrammesOfferedbyIIMA

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IndianInstituteofManagementAhmedabad(IIMA)

Friday,July14,2017