Authority, Leadership & Vulnerability
in the shadow of war
16-21 February 2025 | Pervolia, Cyprus
Authority, Leadership & Vulnerability
in the shadow of war
16-21 February 2025 | Pervolia, Cyprus
Welcome
The 37th OFEK International Group Relations Conference
in the Tavistock Tradition
Dear Prospective Participant
We live in an era of profound contradictions. On one hand, the world is open and connected, technology is developing at an unprecedented pace, enabling the transfer of information and innovative developments across continents. On the other hand, the world is more fragmented than ever, filled with struggles and wars, people are more suspicious, societies are increasingly polarized, and there is little room for complex perspectives. Such reality diminishes our capacity for nuanced thinking and our ability to maintain open dialogue that transcends the boundaries of self.
How can we understand this pendulum movement between openness and closure? How can we navigate within it, in what ways do these contradictions affect our daily lives, our personal and professional circles? How does this reality influence our ability to take up authority and hold formal and informal roles?
If you are interested in understanding more about how the external influences the internal, in different areas of life, if you would like to learn more about yourself within these dynamics, if you are curious to experience the movement between power and vulnerability in complex situations, consider joining us at this conference.
The 37th OFEK International Group Relations Conference provides a space for exploring conscious and unconscious processes at personal, group, and organizational levels. The conference offers experiential learning in various group settings, enabling participants to learn through hands-on experience about personal and organizational processes.
Due to the war in Israel, and with a commitment to creating an accessible space where participants from all over the world can gather and engage under optimal conditions, this time the conference will be held in Cyprus.
I invite you to register for the conference, and take the time to pause, engage in learning through experiencing, and return to your daily life with new insights about yourself and the groups that surround you in your immediate and broader circles.
Looking forward to seeing you there,
Hagit Shachar-Paraira, Conference Director
together with the Conference Staff
Welcome
The 37th OFEK International Group Relations Conference
in the Tavistock Tradition
Dear Prospective Participant
We live in an era of profound contradictions. On one hand, the world is open and connected, technology is developing at an unprecedented pace, enabling the transfer of information and innovative developments across continents. On the other hand, the world is more fragmented than ever, filled with struggles and wars, people are more suspicious, societies are increasingly polarized, and there is little room for complex perspectives. Such reality diminishes our capacity for nuanced thinking and our ability to maintain open dialogue that transcends the boundaries of self.
How can we understand this pendulum movement between openness and closure? How can we navigate within it, in what ways do these contradictions affect our daily lives, our personal and professional circles? How does this reality influence our ability to take up authority and hold formal and informal roles?
If you are interested in understanding more about how the external influences the internal, in different areas of life, if you would like to learn more about yourself within these dynamics, if you are curious to experience the movement between power and vulnerability in complex situations, consider joining us at this conference.
The 37th OFEK International Group Relations Conference provides a space for exploring conscious and unconscious processes at personal, group, and organizational levels. The conference offers experiential learning in various group settings, enabling participants to learn through hands-on experience about personal and organizational processes.
Due to the war in Israel, and with a commitment to creating an accessible space where participants from all over the world can gather and engage under optimal conditions, this time the conference will be held in Cyprus.
I invite you to register for the conference, and take the time to pause, engage in learning through experiencing, and return to your daily life with new insights about yourself and the groups that surround you in your immediate and broader circles.
Looking forward to seeing you there,
Hagit Shachar-Paraira, Conference Director
together with the Conference Staff
About the Conference
The conference is a temporary learning organization composed of staff and participants, who come together, take up a variety of roles, and create the conditions for experiential learning. Conference dynamics are explored as they emerge in the ‘here-and-now’, with participants experiencing different types of groups with varying characteristics and tasks throughout the week. The learning method differs from conventional education in that it contains no lectures or written materials but is based on experiencing and reflecting.
The conference explores the unconscious and unknown – those internal forces that Freud defined as ‘the other within us’, which influence our behavior and how we perceive ourselves and others, even when we are unaware of them.
The conference structure is based on the Group Relations model first developed at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in London during the 1950s by A.K. Rice and Eric Miller. The structure combines deep concepts and ideas from Psychoanalytic Theory (primarily Freud, Bion, and Melanie Klein) with Open Systems Theory (Bertalanffy and Kurt Lewin).
The basic premise underlying the conference is that in every organizational system, alongside rational and visible processes, there exist underground currents of drives, impulses, projections, longings, anxieties, and conflicts that affect the lives of individuals and the organization as a whole.
OFEK’s International Conference has been held since 1987, and this is the 37th conference.
Language
The working language of the conference is English. However, in groups or situations where everyone present speaks another common language, that language can also serve as the working language.
All of us live and work in groups and organizations, from our earliest family groupings to our social and professional communities. A Group Relations Conference is for anyone wanting to learn more about group dynamics or to develop their ability to act more effectively within groups, networks and institutions; as well as in expanding their own reflective skills and gaining new insights about themselves and others.
For example, leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, consultants, HR professionals, coaches, facilitators, clinicians, educators, researchers, activists, administrators, public sector and non-profit professionals, marketing, legal and financial professionals, medical professionals and more.
No previous experience is necessary; curiosity and a desire to learn are the only requirements.
If you have been to a Group Relations Conference before, participating another time can offer a different, deeper learning about oneself and the systemic forces that influence us personally and in the workplace. For those whose previous participation was online, the in-person experience offers expanded dimensions and richness.
Ourselves: The way we manage ourselves in a group; the way we perceive our identity and sense of place in relation to others; how we influence and are influenced by others; the way we take up our roles in different settings, both consciously and unconsciously; how we find and take up authority; how we take up formal and informal leadership and followership roles; and the feelings and fantasies that inhibit or enhance our role taking and leadership potential.
Our organizations: The powerful irrational forces that operate under the surface of our day-to-day work and get in the way of the fulfillment of our organizational tasks and mission; and the way groups interact under the sway of unconscious impulses and drives.
The wider context: The social and political forces that shape our lives, often in ways that we are not aware of; our expectations and assumptions about authority; our ideas about leaders and leadership; and the part we can and do play in the society around us.
The conference will take place in a boutique hotel, near Pervolia, a picturesque village on the south coast of Cyprus. Though only a 10-minute drive from Larnaca airport, the hotel is set in a tranquil location across the road from a beautiful beach, and offers amazing coastal views.
Cyprus, with its history of division and unresolved conflict, offers a container where past and present converge. Its location at the crossroads of three continents, and its lived experience of community tensions, creates a unique space for exploring the overt and covert dynamics of group life.
The hotel is fully accessible, with several accessible bedrooms (including en suite accessible bathroom) and an accessible toilet on the main floor, near the lobby.
Conference Staff
All staff take up consultancy roles in addition to their other roles.
Directorate
Hagit Shachar-Paraira | Israel
Leila Djemal | Israel
Roee Metzer | Israel
Shiri Gafni | Israel
Consultant Staff
will be drawn from
Claudio Cassardo | Italy
Eyal Etzioni | Israel
Eliat Aram | United Kingdom
Jolita Buzaitytė Kašalynienė | Lithuania
Marcel de Groen | Netherlands
Mike Teplitz | Israel
OFEK – Organization, Person, Group – The Israeli Association for the Study of Group and Organizational Processes (Public Benefit Non-Profit Company) is an educational non -profit organization founded in 1986. Its primary aim is to help promote learning and change in individuals, groups, organizations and society through the study, development and application of psychoanalytic and open systems theories in the Tavistock tradition of Group Relations.
Since its establishment OFEK has run annual international Group Relations conferences in association with The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, London.
It also runs bi-annual Hebrew language conferences, theme conferences, bespoke conferences and workshops for organizations, scientific meetings, ongoing professional development courses (Touch OFEK Continuing Education) organizational consulting projects primarily in the non-profit sector (through OFEK in the Field) and additional activities both for its members and for the wider public.
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations applies social science to contemporary issues and problems. It was formally founded as a registered charity in 1947. The Institute is engaged in evaluation and action-research, organizational development and change consultancy, executive coaching and professional development, all of which support sustainable change and ongoing learning. The Tavistock Institute has been a sponsoring organization for OFEK Group Relations Conferences since their inception in 1987.
www.tavinstitute.org
Registration
Where and When
The conference is residential and takes place at the E Hotel in Pervolia, Cyprus
It will begin on Sunday, 16 February 2025 at 13:30 and end on Friday, 21 February 2025 at 10:30.*
*A detailed timetable will be available at the beginning of the conference.
How to Register
To register for the conference, please fill out the online Registration Form.
Last date for registration: 09.02.2025
Note: Early registration is advised as space is limited
Registration will take effect once payment has been made.
Fees
Fee is quoted in New Israeli Shekels (NIS)
The conference fee includes accommodation and full board (three meals/day),
with a lodging choice of single or shared occupancy*.
*For shared occupancy, a roommate will be assigned if a preference
is not stated in advance of the conference.
Organizational Discount
For two members from the same organization there will be a 300 NIS discount each.
For three or more there will be a discount of 400 NIS each.
Bursaries
A limited number of partial bursaries will be available, sponsored by OFEK and by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. To apply for a bursary, please fill out the
Registration Form and send a request with a short description of the relevant background no later than 19 January 2025.
Methods of Payment
Payment can be made:
- By credit card* online
- By credit card over the telephone
* Credit card payments drawn on an Israeli bank can be made in installments.
Cancellation Policy
Notice of cancellation received before Tuesday, 4 February 2024 will incur cancellation charges as detailed below:
- Until 22.1.25 – No charge
- 23.1.25 – 04.2.25 – 1000 NIS
- After 04.02.25 – Conference fees cannot be refunded
As the program of the conference constitutes an integrated whole and its events are inter-related, participation in all sessions is highly recommended.
Previous participants of the OFEK International Conference have said:
Contact
For further details or if you have any questions please contact the conference administrators:
Shiri Gafni +972 50 621 5813
Roee Metzer +972 50 868 9195
intgrc@ofekgrouprelations.org