„‚ CONDITIONS THAT HINDER EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

form they take, these sequences describe a related series of conditions through which an
individual or a group passes during a particular period of time. One stage of a sequence
does not necessarily result in the following one, although typical sequences that recur
may repeat their stages. The causes underlying sequences may be found in ecological
and social interactions among people, in biological processes that result in birth and
mortality, and in various processes that change the physical environment (Quinn, 1950).
In Figure 1, ecological interaction is shown as influencing social interaction and as
being influenced by it. Ecological interaction has traditionally been viewed as
Darwinian competition, but many types of ecological interaction involve cooperation.
For example, in order to interact competitively (or even conflictively), opponents will
reach a consensus on a minimum number of ground rules that will govern the situation.
Therefore, ecological interaction is best characterized as involving opposition and
cooperation rather than competition.
Those who study ecology as a specialty have abstracted demography and human
ecology from ecological interaction. Few OD facilitators concern themselves with these
specialties, although, in working with groups, many have a keen awareness of the
interconnection between ecological and social interaction, particularly in such
interventions as “conflict management,” main office/subsidiary team building, and the
like.
THE OPPOSITION-COOPERATION CONTINUUM
The continuum of opposition-cooperation deserves greater attention in organization
development than it has been given. It is a useful focal point for the study of groups and
action research involving groups and can offer a helpful perspective for the OD
practitioner. It is also a continuum of social integration and isolation, as suggested by
Figure 1.
The opposition-cooperation continuum manifests itself in everyday life in
interpersonal relations. For example, cooperation is apparent when two people walk
down a wooded path side by side, physically separate as persons but headed in the same
direction and mutually aware of each other. Opposition is apparent when the two break
contact with each other and go their separate physical ways while simultaneously
becoming socially and emotionally disengaged. They may harbor negative feelings of
each other; or their feelings may, in time, soften and lead to a rapprochement,
culminating in the reestablishment of face-to-face relations. On the other hand, in human
affairs the breaking of physical contacts may not imply any corresponding negative
feelings but merely signify that one or the other parties is required physically to separate
himself or herself, because of status and role requirements, from other institutional
domains to which the person belongs. Length of time is used to distinguish mere
separation from opposition. Thus, the opposition-cooperation continuum is often the
social reality with which we are concerned in organizational and group life.
The Pfeiffer Library Volume 6, 2nd Edition. Copyright ©1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer ❚❘ 375