Primary Goals

  • Digital Marketing
  • Leadership Coaching
  • Team Development
  • Blog
  • Privacy
  • Books & Articles
    • Book Reviews
    • Article Reviews & Links
      • Appreciative Inquiry
      • Cross Functional Teams
      • Sustainability
  • Group Dynamics
  • Models & Instruments
    • Models
    • Instruments
    • Diagrams
  • Other
    • General Topics
    • Interactive Activities
    • External Links
    • Leadership Quotes
    • Anti-Leadership Quotes
You are here: Home / How Do I Make My Team More Effective? / Models / Center/Margin Theory (Bell Hooks )

Center/Margin Theory (Bell Hooks )

For any defined group, especially one with any power, influence, or control, there is a center and a margin, where the center has more power, influence or control than the margin.

 

Theory: People on the margin can only move so close to the center.

  • In order for a group to exist, it must have members.
  • For all members, a relationship exists between group purpose and the needs of individual members.
  • It is the very act exclusion that defines the center
  • If the margin/fringe get too close, the center will sanction them out and retake that power (A & B above).
  • Many times, being in the center is an unearned privilege.
    That privilege can’t be given away or change, and might not even be deserved.
    (e.g.: birth into a social caste, race, or gender)
  • “Awareness” is not the same thing as “shame or guilt” over membership in the center.
    The latter is self defeating; the former is required to be an effective change agent.
  • Most often, those in the center are oblivious to the power and rank that the
    center provides.
    (cf.: Sitting in the Fire)
  • It is the responsibility of the center to move OUT.
    This is true even though common talk/desire is that the margin make greater efforts to move in.

    • At what point does accommodating individual needs cost the group its goal?
      Should the needs of the few trump the needs/rights of the many?
    • At what point does ignoring the individual’s needs cost the group its goal?
      Should the ‘norms’ be so inflexible as to actually violate larger principles?

 


When in the center, move to the margin and partner.

There are multiple, overlapping circles, and we occupy a unique place in each of them.
Having an ability to move within any or all circles is having a sense of “agency.”

Pick any power structure and ask:

  1. Where am I located?
  2. Who occupies the center?
  3. How can I move within this structure?
  4. Who can assist me in moving?
  5. What level of risk to I take to move within power structures, and why?

Although rank and power are dynamic (changing in response to circumstances), there are structures/institutions to keep the fundamentals of the power structures in place.

The way to move towards the center is to use those with influence in the community to get at the center.
There are two types of capitol – agency capitol and bridging capitol.
Agency capitol: friendships/associations, membership in sub-groups, etc.
Bridging capitol: an ability to make connections with those in the center

 

There are different weights in being on different margins.
“I don’t like something” vs. something that makes me ill, threatens my life, or ability to put food on the table.

 

For any movement from the margin to the center, it is important to understand the power of emotional and perceptual biases.  For example, a person who is in a room with an open door that they genuinely believe to be locked is just as caged as one who is behind a door that is really locked.  Conversely, a dog on a 20′ chain that never ventures more than 15 feet from the tether perceives complete freedom, even within the confines of the leash.

 

Models & Instruments

  • 7S Model
  • Apple Facilitation Model
  • Awareness Wheel (Miller & Sherod)
  • Center/Margin Theory (Hooks)
  • Decision Making Styles
  • FIRO-B (Schults)
  • Humanistic Psychology (Rogers)
  • Integrity Model (Webber & Leahy)
  • Interpersonal Gap (Wallen)
  • Intervention Cube
  • The Johari Window (Luft & Ingham)
  • Learning Style Inventory (Kolb)
  • The Learning Curve
  • Ostrom’s Model
  • Seven Skills (Carkhuff)
  • Waterline Model ((Harrison, Scherer, Short))

Company Profile

Primary Goals sits at the intersection of three core ideas about communication:
  • Leaders create vision by communicating a compelling future to their teams.
  • Teams create success based on how effectively the communicate and coordinate with each other.
  • Entrepreneurial ventures are successful only when they communicate value to people with a concern that the business can take care of
In all cases, it's about Conversations for Committed Results.  That's our Primary Goal.   Header-T260w2

Recent Posts

  • Is Generative-Leadership Business Coaching Worth the Money?
  • Is CHPC Business Coaching Worth the Money?
  • Is ICF Business Coaching Worth the Money?
  • Is BMSU Business Coaching Worth the Money?
  • Four Reasons Why Business Coaches Are Afraid to Promise Results
  • Wasting Your Marketing Budget
  • Who Wins the Battle of Truth vs. Story?
  • Your Marketing Journey

Content Tags

Marketing

Blog Categories

coaching conflict dysfunction health Marketing mission Search Engine Optimization StoryBrand team Theory of Practice training Uncategorized vision

Copyright © 2021 · Executive Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in