The Conditions for Success: How the Future Search Conference Method Uses Dialogue to Spur Stakeholder Integration

Author

Daniel BenderFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-21-2022

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

PhD Higher Education Leadership, Management, Policy

Department

Education Leadership, Management and Policy

Advisor

Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Robert Kelchen, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Brigit Olsen, Ph.D.

Keywords

future search, conference, large group intervention, conditions for success, whole system

Abstract

A Future Search (FS) Conference is a systems based large group intervention that utilizes a dialogue process among interdependent stakeholders to analyze the past, understand the present, envision a better future, and agree to action plans to work towards the desired future. This study uses an instrumental case study design (Stake, 1995) to consider two education-based future-oriented conferences to understand the real-life applicability of the conditions for success framework by Weisbord and Janoff (2010). Participants’ perceptions of the action research conferences were positive. The framework illustrated factors related to the core principle of getting the “whole system” in the room that were linked to post-conference outcomes and challenges. Systemic relationships between organizers and stakeholders can affect the achievement of the conditions for success and illustrate how interventions with very similar topics and methods can represent entirely different system level tasks. My study supports the importance of the conditions for success framework.

Recommended Citation

Bender, Daniel, "The Conditions for Success: How the Future Search Conference Method Uses Dialogue to Spur Stakeholder Integration" (2022). Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). 2994.
https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2994