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This inquiry discovers twelve essential aspects of relational presence as the core construct of the spatiality of breakthrough decision making. It challenges researchers and practitioners of decision making to move beyond subject-object dualism and efforts to simply de-center the subject. While deeply grounded in the relational constructionist approach, this inquiry finds that breakthrough decision making may involve more than simply relational coordination. The construct of relational presence, which emerges from the findings and the hermeneutic, is sharply distinguished from consensus decision making models.

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Dr.Samuel Mahaffy is an internationally recognized organizational consultant. More than five hundred organizations have benefited from his expertise in Appreciative Inquiry, conflict transformation and decision making. He earned his PhD from Tilburg University in the Netherlands through the Taos Institute, of which he is an Associate.

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