History
In 1985 a group of
people, from backgrounds of various disciplines of social sciences and mental
health, and who specialized in the ‘Tavistock approach’ in Britain and the
United States, founded an organization under the name “The Israeli
Association for the Study of Group and Organizational Processes – IASGOP”,
with the purpose of holding group relations conferences in Israel, and began
planning and organizing the first such conference.
In January 1990 the Association was formally registered as a non-profit organization which included eight members: Shmuel Erlich, Mira Erlich-Ginor, Yigal Ginath, Vivian Gold, Rafael Moses, Rina Moses-Hrushevski, Avi Nutkevitch and Jonah Rosenfeld.
The first group
relations conference – “Task and Leadership: The Individual, The Group and
the Organization” – took place between 15-20 November 1987 in Margoa
Hotel, Arad. The conference was directed by Eric Miller of the Tavistock
Institute, Yonah Rosenfeld was the conference administrator and the staff
included Shmuel Erlich, David Gutmann, Vivian Gold, Yigal Ginath, Marvin
Geller, Olya Khaleelee, Rafael Moses and Mannie Sher. In the beginning of 1989
the second conference took place, again under the directorship of Eric Miller.
The following conferences were directed by Israelis, members of the
organization. Since 1989, OFEK has held an international group relations
conference in Israel on an annual basis. The conference held in 2006 was the
first to be directed by an OFEK member not belonging to the group of founders.