Summary

Build-A-Basho is an e-tivity (link) structured in the form of a short group assignment. Paragogues go through an interactive process in which they learn how to assemble a Basho of their choice tailored to their own group preferences.

Build-A-Basho will show you how to create a 'calibrator', a simple method of establishing how you will work in a group (your Basho).

You will create your calibrator using Miro e-Whiteboard

References:

Nishida, K. (2012). Basho. Place and Dialectic: Two Essays. A. A. o. Religion. New York, Oxford

University Press. Salmon, G. (2013). E-tivities the key to active online learning. New York, New York : Routledge.


What is Basho?

Let's start by examining a key term - Basho - how it is used in organisational settings?

You should be able to formulate your own responses to this question to some extent by the end of this first workshop since you will gain direct experience of what being part of a Basho involves.

Basho 場所

Japanese: basho no ronri “logic of place”. While the phrase Basho 場所 is used widely in Japanese culture, the particular concept - "logic of place" - was developed by Nishida Kitaro - founder of the Kyoto School of Philosophy in 1926. We will be drawing loosely on the theory of Basho as refracted through the lens of SECI organisational learning theory rather than Nishida and the Kyoto School specifically.

https://youtu.be/OeOTbyy7uYE

Further research: If you wish, you can read about Nishida's influence on related philosophy and organisational learning theory (Japanese Phenomenology of the Kyoto School and SECI organisational learning theory). Please note that it's not essential to do so as you do not need to understand Nishida's philosophy to form your own Basho! If you do want to know more about this, then follow this link where you can watch Felipe Ferrari's useful lecture on Nishida Kitaro. You can also read Nishda for yourself: See: Nishida, K. (2012). Basho. Place and Dialectic: Two Essays. A. A. o. Religion. New York, Oxford. The Kyoto School of Philosophy website is another useful Open Educational Resource on Nishida https://thekyotoschoolofphilosophy.wordpress.com/the-logic-of-basho/

Nonaka’s and Takeuchi’s practical adaptation of ‘Nishida philosophy’ - their SECI model of organisational knowledge creation - proposes everything is implaced within a "ba" (field). Such Ba can be physical or conceptual. We can think of the basho as a shifting context (such as being a student in a University) or set of moving constraints (like the rules of a game). Either way, what we do / what we are is something implaced within a larger field. When it comes to learning, a key thing here is to think less not only about how and where we implace ourselves, but equally about what sort of field we are generating. Ba/sho is akin to a habitat; habits develop in relation to specific habitats. If we want to change our habits, we need to also change our habitat. In ‘Nishida philosophy’ subject and object are one, people and environment correlate: