{"id":16,"date":"2016-01-28T17:06:28","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T17:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/seeingthingswhole\/?page_id=16"},"modified":"2024-10-16T13:21:36","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T13:21:36","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/seeingthingswhole\/who-we-are\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Seeing Things Whole began in 1993 to accompany\u00a0individuals and businesses eager to integrate moral reasoning and spiritual imagination into their work life. After years of successful round tables, conferences, and collaboration across industries, Seeing Things Whole integrated its work with\u00a0longtime partner\u00a0Augsburg University in 2016. Under the guidance of Professor Tom Morgan, PhD., the work of Seeing Things Whole continued and strengthened Augsburg\u2019s mission to nurture tomorrow\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/seeingthingswhole\/programs\/\">whole leaders<\/a>\u00a0through its use in the Master\u2019s of Arts and Leadership and Master\u2019s of Business Administration Programs.<\/p>\n<p>To further work at Augsburg, the Reell Office of Seeing Things Whole was established in 2022 thanks to a generous donation. Dedicated staff were hired to further Seeing Things Whole\u2019s impact outside of Augsburg University and will continue to expand the community of practice to see things whole.<\/p>\n<h2>Our Name<\/h2>\n<p>Seeing Things Whole comes from author E.B. White, who wrote that the role of the artist is to \u201csee things whole.\u201d These three words evoke\u00a0our work to support leaders and organizations to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>See better\u00a0what\u00a0is\u00a0and what\u00a0could be.<\/li>\n<li>See from the ground up the practical things\u00a0facing organizations.<\/li>\n<li>See things in the context of a larger\u00a0whole or a larger possible context of meaning that organizations are a part.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Building on Tradition<\/h2>\n<p>Seeing Things Whole draws upon a rich tradition and history that dates back to the 1950s. Three voices in particular\u2014those of Robert Greenleaf, Jitsu Morikawa, and Richard (Dick) Broholm\u2014continue to inspire\u00a0our understanding of the nature and purpose of organizations.<\/p>\n<p>It was in the 1950s when Dick Broholm (STW co- founder), George Bauer (IBM) and others at the Delmar Baptist Church in St. Louis,\u00a0Missouri, began a conversation about a lack of faith in the workplace. They felt real battles of faith and conscience were unfolding in the midst of the organizations where people went to work every day\u2014in factories, shops, laboratories, schools, hospitals, banks, offices, and government agencies.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1960\u2019s Dick, George, Jitsuo Morikawa (National Council of Churches) and others engaged in an action research effort known as MAP (Metropolitan Associates of Philadelphia). They\u00a0explored how institutions from various sectors of metropolitan Philadelphia might contribute to the renewal of the city during this time of social unrest.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1970\u2019s, Dick Broholm, George Bauer, David Specht and others led a research task force at Andover Newton Theological School to explore how church congregations might better empower lay people for their full ministries as change agents within the communities and organizations where they lived and worked.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1980\u2019s, the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.umcdiscipleship.org\/leadership-resources\/ministry-of-the-laity\">Center for the Ministry of the Laity<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenleaf.org\/\">The Robert K. Greenleaf Center<\/a>\u00a0were founded. Dick and David, now in collaboration with Bob Greenleaf (AT&amp;T and Servant Leadership), George Bauer, Jitsuo Morikawa, Bob Lynn (The Lilly Foundation) and others began to focus on developing a theological understanding of institutions capable of informing the way we think about and engage organizations and those who lead them. Two research task forces anchored this effort. One was focused specifically on developing a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/seeingthingswhole\/who-we-are\/\">theology of institutions<\/a>. A second explored how we might best support organizational leaders as they sought to draw upon their deeply held religious beliefs and moral convictions as they grapple with the complex dilemmas facing their organizations.<\/p>\n<p>Seeing Things Whole is a direct descendent of these efforts, emerging in the 1990s, and continuing to evolve at Augsburg University today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seeing Things Whole began in 1993 to accompany\u00a0individuals and businesses eager to integrate moral reasoning and spiritual imagination into their work life. After years of successful round tables, conferences, and collaboration across industries, Seeing Things Whole integrated its work with\u00a0longtime partner\u00a0Augsburg University in 2016. Under the guidance of Professor Tom Morgan, PhD., the work of &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278,"featured_media":0,"parent":11,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/seeingthingswhole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/seeingthingswhole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/seeingthingswhole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/seeingthingswhole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/278"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/seeingthingswhole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/seeingthingswhole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":766,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/seeingthingswhole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions\/766"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/seeingthingswhole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/seeingthingswhole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}