This book explores the ways in which psychoanalytic thinking can be more extensively and effectively used to the benefit of organizations and groups. It provides future and practicing consultants and managers with an understanding of unconscious and non-conscious behaviour in order for them to create the appropriate conditions for change in organizations. It explains psychodynamic concepts and working principles in an accessible language and clearly describes their use in consulting and management practices using case studies. Case studies and examples are included throughout, and a glossary is provided.
This book provides an introduction to systems psychodynamic theory and its application to organisational consultancy, research and training, outlining systems dynamics methods and their historical and theoretical developments. Systems Psychodynamics is an emerging field of social science, the boundaries of which are continually being refined and re-defined. The ‘systems’ designation refers to open systems concepts that provide the framing perspective for understanding the structural aspects of organisational systems. These include its design, division of labour, levels of authority, and reporting relationships; the nature of work tasks, processes and activities; its mission and primary task; and the nature and patterning of the organisation’s task and sentient boundaries and the transactions across them. This book presents a critical appraisal of the systems psychodynamics paradigm and its application to present-day social and organisational difficulties, showing how a holistic approach to organisational and social problems can offer a fresh perspective on difficult issues. Bringing together the theory and practice of systems psychodynamics for the first time, this book provides an examination of the systems psychodynamics paradigm in action. This book gives an accessible and thorough guide to understanding and using systems psychodynamic ideas for analysts, managers, policy makers, consultants and researchers in a wide range of professional and clinical settings.
On the surface, people go to work and come home again. They sometimes manage people while most are managed themselves. But beneath the function and structures of the work itself, a whole range of emotions affects the success of the relationship between employee and manager and ultimately the organisation they both belong to. Psychodynamic Organisational Theory: Key Concepts and Cases provides a comprehensive but accessible introduction to this fascinating field of study. Featuring case vignettes which bring the various concepts to life, the book is divided into four parts. Part I looks at how the individual relates to the organisation and the unconscious energies they bring, while Part II examines group dynamics and how they affect productivity, including a chapter on meetings. Part III explores the realm of leadership and what roles a manager can play in managing their staff, while Part IV introduces the idea of personality and describes how the manager’s personality influences management dynamics as well as the wider organisational culture. Central to the book, as well as the idea that organisational phenomena are often unconscious, is the understanding that relationships are always reciprocal. Through complex psychological dynamics manager and employee influence and change each other during the process of managing and being managed. This text will be essential reading for students and scholars of leadership, HRM, and organizational psychology, as well as consultants and managers looking for practical insights into how human relationships affect the success of every organisation.
Humanness in Organizations is a unique contribution from the social sciences to the betterment of organizational life. The authors argue that working life can only become more humane when we change the conditions that consciously or unconsciously steer people away from consideration, friendship and integrity. The aim of this book is twofold: first, to take a closer look at the current practices of managers, academics, and consultants, and how they affect organizational conditions, work and the well-being of people. The critical studies presented here explore and develop the likely consequences of these practices for the future. Second, the authors wish to familiarize readers with 'actionable knowledge' in order to create alternative practices and conditions that enable the whole person to engage in healthier interactions both in and with his organization. Nine social scientists from Europe or the United States, each with an established reputation in the field of consulting with a psychodynamic or 'clinical perspective', have contributed their experiences and studies to the book.
This fascinating book shows how an understanding of the psychodynamics of the extended family, from parental relations to sibling rivalries, can provide insight into many of the key issues faced by organizations today. Covering topics such as change management, creativity, autonomous groups, leadership and democracy, it shows how deep-rooted family dynamics unconsciously frame the way we relate to each other in the workplace, and how they can have a profound influence on the broader trajectory of organizations. This book features: Examples on how to use the extended family as a framework for understanding organizational behaviour. A look beyond parental relationships to discuss sibling relationships as well. Examples to illustrate key topics of practical relevance to consultants and managers. Family Psychodynamics in Organizational Contexts is an important read for students and scholars of organizational psychology, organizational studies and psychodynamics, as well as consultants and coaches working in organizational contexts.
In Psychodynamic Coaching: Distinctive Features, Claudia Nagel presents a comprehensive overview of the unique features of psychodynamic coaching. As leaders and managers acknowledge the need to understand themselves and their context by looking underneath the surface to improve their decision-making, psychodynamic approaches offer unique insight. Psychodynamic Coaching: Distinctive Features covers not only the major theory but also the practice of coaching, giving guidance from beginning to end of the client relationship. Constructive, holistic and accessible, it demonstrates the impact and dynamics of the unconscious whilst illustrating the power of understanding human behaviour in the complexity of the modern world. With a focus on emotions and relationships in supporting modern leaders adapting to organsational challenges, this book will be an invaluable tool for coaches of all backgrounds, academics and students of coaching and organisational behaviour, and also clinicians. It will also be a key resource for senior leaders for their own personal growth.
Developing Organisational Consultancy provides consultants with theoretical and practical advice on how to handle typical consultancy challenges. Well-established organisational consultants from the UK and the USA offer descriptions of problems they have encountered in their work, theoretical and practical approaches that they have found helpful, cases from their actual practice, and advice about how to apply their suggested approach generally. Chapters are grouped together to address three key areas of interest to consultants: * evolving a professional stance * considering psychodynamic approaches * applying organisational theory. For both experienced and newly-practising organiszational and management consultants, this book is a valuable source of reference and the key to developing a more aware and successful practice.
"A splendid compendium of articles on the too often ignored battleground of human organizations: its psychological character, Based primarily on the theories of the Tavistock Institute, the editors have skillfully compiled an instructive set of readings that clarifies and advances our knowledge of organizational transformation by throwing into stark relief the psychological underpinnings of contemporary institutions." -- Warren Bennis
Cyclical Psychodynamics and the Contextual Self articulates in new ways the essential features and most recent extensions of Paul Wachtel's powerfully integrative theory of cyclical psychodynamics. Wachtel is widely regarded as the leading advocate for integrative thinking in personality theory and the theory and practice of psychotherapy. He is a contributor to cutting edge thought in the realm of relational psychoanalysis and to highlighting the ways in which the relational point of view provides especially fertile ground for integrating psychoanalytic insights with the ideas and methods of other theoretical and therapeutic orientations. In this book, Wachtel extends his integration of psychoanalytic, cognitive-behavioral, systemic, and experiential viewpoints to examine closely the nature of the inner world of subjectivity, its relation to the transactional world of daily life experiences, and the impact on both the larger social and cultural forces that both shape and are shaped by individual experience. Here, he discusses in a uniquely comprehensive fashiong the subtleties of the clinical interaction, the findings of systematic research, and the role of social, economic, and historical forces in our lives. The chapters in this book help to transcend the tunnel vision that can lead therapists of different orientations to ignore the important discoveries and innovations from competing approaches. Explicating the pervasive role of vicious circles and self-fulfilling prophecies in our lives, Cyclical Psychodynamics and the Contextual Self shows how deeply intertwined the subjective, the intersubjective, and the cultural realms are, and points to new pathways to therapeutic and social change. Both a theoretical tour de force and an immensely practical guide to clinical practice, this book will be essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and students of human behavior of all backgrounds and theoretical orientations.
Through a series of in-depth interviews with Tavistock thinkers across three generations, this volume illustrates the practice and application of the systems psychodynamics paradigm to organisational development consultancy, research and training. Across 28 stimulating interviews with a group of international consultants, interviewees present a critical appraisal of the systems psychodynamics paradigm and its application to present-day social and organisational difficulties. By using a narrative interpretive method, the interviewers attend to the historical, psychosocial and biographical dynamics of the interviewees’ approaches and methods of work, and address several areas of organisational consultancy. These include organisational design, the division of labour, levels of authority and reporting relationships; the nature of work tasks, processes and activities; primary tasks and the inevitable unconscious dynamics within systems and individuals. The multi-disciplinary approaches of the interviewees will interest managers, policymakers, consultant practitioners and researchers to understand the variety of applications of systems psychodynamics methodologies.
