Brief evolution of the search conference method of strategic planning

• 1960 -- Fred Emery and Eric Trist created the first participative strategic planning method and field tested it in 1960 with the Bristol Siddeley Aircraft Engine Company in Great Britain. They called the method and process searching, or the search conference.
• 1965 -- Emery and Trist publish a ground breaking causal texture article in Human Relations. Their message: The environment is an entity that changes its nature over time. A change in the environment affects the systems within it in ways different from that of the previous environment:
• Bureaucratic organizations were introduced to produce a competitive advantage in a stable competitive environment whose reign is ending. These bureaucratic structures were successful and viable for a time, however they did not meet people’s critical requirements for work. The result was that people felt alienated and unsatisfied at work.
• We are in a turbulent and uncertain environment where the bureaucratic, hierarchical structures and principles are more and more out of place and dysfunctional.
• In an uncertain environment you need flexible, adaptive behavior and the capacity for the continuous redesign of work and adjustment to strategic plans.
• 1970s --Fred and Merrelyn Emery elaborated upon open systems theory to strengthen the method. They conducted 300 search conferences during the 1970s in Australia. It was during this intense research and application period that the method was further developed with its strong theoretical base. Evolution of the method continues today through the interplay between theoretical understanding and application.
• 1980s -- During the early 80s the search was brought to Canada, and in 1982, the Emerys brought it to the US.
• 1993 -- Fred and Merrelyn Emery began sharing their approach with practitioners at a series of seminars and conducted a search on the future of participative democracy in US, Canadian and Mexican workplaces.

Take me back to the article, Ned