Harmonizing the Circle: Returning American Indian Governments and Organizations to Efficient Right Relations

Abstract

Stephen M Sachs and Lanalle Smith

Traditionally, American Indian nations emphasized relating with respectful right relations in all their affairs to retain interpersonal and community harmony.1 When relationships became out of balance, procedures and ceremonies were undertaken to return to harmony. In many instances today, loss of traditional cultural, abusive behavior learned in boarding school, passed on multigenerational trauma, and living and working in culturally alien governments and bureaucracies have resulted in unharmonious relations. Where American Indian deliberative bodies, agencies, organizations or businesses are experiencing less than harmonious collaborative relations and/or inefficiencies they may find it useful appropriately to adapt a relevant form of mainstream participatory management, which is an application of traditional Indigenous inclusive participatory values. This has been undertaken in various forms, with various names with the most advanced often referred to as team process. It has been shown that flat, non-hierarchical organizations - including in government - function far better by every measure including employee job satisfaction, than do conventional top-down hierarchical organizations.

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