Guanajuato, MEXICO- URI Executive Director Charles Gibbs will be featured in a recently released, groundbreaking book “Cultures of participation at Work in Cuba and the US.”

The Spanish addition of the book will be released by its Cuban and US editors in Guanajuato, Mexico, at the International Conference on Work Teams on July 4th. The book has already been distributed in English as a professional peer-reviewed journal and sent to the 4,000 members of the Organizational Development Network around the world.

The Spanish version will be distributed primarily in Cuba by the Havana-based Center for Psychological and Sociological Research.

Containing chapters by Cuban and US business consultants, the title may come as a surprise to those familiar with US restrictions on academic and professional exchanges with Cuba. Nonetheless, 12 case studies were produced by the Cuban and US authors that might help business consultants, managers, employees and business school students “think outside the box.”

Among the case studies, Diana Whitney (Organization Development Consultant to URI) and Charles Gibbs present a chapter on Appreciative Inquiry and illustrate its use by the United Religions Initiative.

Marilyn Blair, Editor of the professional journal OD Practitioner, states, “Upon reading these cases you may be heartened to observe, as we were, how much the authors subscribe to the value of participation across cultures and economic and political systems, even as they present differing perspectives on what participation means. Emanating from the person of each author is respect for the human person, the value of all persons, the importance of human relationships for achieving mutually beneficial results in organizations, and faith in the possibility of bettering organizations and social systems.”

In speaking about the future of the collaboration between Cuban and US relations, OD Network Executive Director Margaret Franks Hover said, “Given our differences, the author and editors of this project see enormous potential for learning together about participation, overcoming limits on the information they receive about each other, exploring the lenses with which they receive information, and questioning the cultural assumptions under which we practice. The Joint publishing collaboration, the first of its kind with so many authors from each country, will continue. What better what to celebrate Impudence Day in the US than with such a free and open exchange of ideas and with models of workplace participation that each of our cultures has to offer?”

To obtain a copy of “cultures of Participation at Work in Cuba and the U.S.,” the fall 2006 issue of OD Practitioner, or the Spanish book, contacts the OD Network office at +1. 973. 763. 7337.