Psychodynamics for Consultants and Managers

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.

Leopold Vansina is an organizational consultant and a part time professor at the Universities of Leuven and Louvain-le-Neuve in Belgium. His experiences in group dynamics (N.T.L. Institute, U.S.A. and the Tavistock Institute, UK) and his training in psychoanalysis became an integrated part of his consulting practice in organizations all over the world. He is a member of the International Association of Psychology, The Academy of Management, the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations, and the Tavistock Institute Association. He has published numerous journal articles and is co-author (with Gilles Amado) of The Transitional Approach in Action published by Karnac books in 2004.

Marie-Jeanne Vansina-Cobbaert is a psychoanalyst in private practice in Belgium.

About the Authors	p. xi
Contributors	p. xiii
Acknowledgements	p. xv
General Introduction	p. 1
A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Groups and Organisations	p. 9
Introduction	p. 11
Original, Primary Mental Processes	p. 20
Illustrations	p. 22
Stepwise transformations	p. 25
References	p. 27
Languages from Another World	p. 28
The language of images	p. 29
The language of actions	p. 32
The language of relations	p. 38
Putting the information from 'atlantis' to use	p. 49
References	p. 55
Supportive 'Process Structures'	p. 57
Holding and containment	p. 58
Transitional phenomena	p. 64
References	p. 67
Defensive Processes and Behaviour	p. 68
Individual defence mechanisms	p. 68
Defence mechanisms in groups	p. 71
Social defences	p. 74
Social repression	p. 76
Defensive strategies	p. 77
Working with and through defences	p. 79
Conclusions	p. 85
References	p. 86
The Capacity for Creative Living and Its Importance in Organisational Life	p. 88
Origins and functioning of the capacity for creative living	p. 88
Destructiveness in the context of creative living	p. 95
References	p. 100
A Psychodynamic Approach	p. 103
Introduction	p. 105
Psychodynamics: A Field of Study and an Approach	p. 108
Some major differences with psychoanalysis	p. 108
An attempt to define psychodynamics	p. 113
Creating supportive process structures	p. 126
Small things that matter: a look at some neglected potential benefits of a psychodynamic approach to organisational issues	p. 145
Finalising comments	p. 148
References	p. 150
'Me' in the Problem Situation	p. 156
The problem with problem definition	p. 157
Building continuation	p. 167
'Me' in terminating a project	p. 168
What about transference and counter-transference in our practice?	p. 172
References	p. 176
Groups as the Tip of an Iceberg: Locating Issues in Their Context	p. 178
Introduction	p. 178
Management teams as the tip of an iceberg	p. 184
The iceberg in project teams	p. 194
Import and export mechanism of problems	p. 197
Summary	p. 206
References	p. 207
Being in and Working with Experiences in the 'Here-and-Now'	p. 210
Various mental modes of being present	p. 214
The relevance of working with or without specific frames in the 'here-and-now'	p. 220
From interpretations to sense making	p. 232
Conclusions	p. 238
References	p. 239
The Art of Reviewing: A Cornerstone in Organisational Learning	p. 242
Reviewing	p. 242
What could be reviewed?	p. 246
When to review and with what frequency?	p. 251
Special or institutionalised reviews	p. 254
How to review?	p. 255
Conditions for reviewing	p. 262
The role and stance of the person(s) leading the review	p. 264
Limits to learning from reviewing	p. 265
References	p. 266
The Psychodynamic Approach in Consulting and Action-Research Projects	p. 269
Introduction	p. 271
Understanding and Working with Organisational Dynamics: Coping with Organisational Growth	p. 273
Creating Awareness and a Base for Action within the Organisation	p. 280
The pilot workshop	p. 280
The second workshop	p. 285
The third workshop	p. 291
The relevance of the design	p. 298
Working Through the Draft Blueprint	p. 305
The six two-day workshops	p. 306
Understanding and working with organisational dynamics: discussion	p. 313
References	p. 319
Transformations: Hope, Illusions and Reality. Transformations within a Family-Owned International Corporation	p. 321
The Consulting Project	p. 323
The actors within the system	p. 325
'Minimal structures' and 'time and space'	p. 328
Making Sense of the Work	p. 346
Transformation	p. 346
What can be learned from the consulting experience and conceptual clarifications for advancing the practices of organisation consultants and managers?	p. 352
References	p. 356
Participative Redesign: Action-Research into the Strategic Restructuring of a Plant	p. 358
The Project	p. 360
History and context	p. 360
My role, approach and intentions	p. 361
Exploring the company in its environment	p. 365
Engaging the employees to redesign the operations to meet the new production strategy	p. 368
Change in ownership and implementation	p. 372
Organisational Results and Research Findings	p. 375
Results from the participative redesign	p. 376
The process of successful organisational change	p. 377
Learning from the action-research itself	p. 378
Conclusions	p. 385
References	p. 387
Working Across Organisational Boundaries: Understanding and Working with Intergroup Dynamics	p. 390
Introduction	p. 390
The Psychological Difficulties of Working Across Organisational Boundaries	p. 391
The meaning of collaboration	p. 391
The yacht club	p. 393
Helping Groups and Organisations in Developing Successful Collaboration	p. 396
Shellfisheries: conflicts of interest between nature and economy	p. 396
Collaboration in the building sector	p. 397
Organisational change of a nursing home	p. 397
Medical call centre	p. 398
Dynamics, Practices and Principles	p. 399
Working with the whole system	p. 399
Working with the psychodynamics of conflict and collaboration	p. 402
Leading collaboration	p. 405
Exploring the 'why?'	p. 407
Concluding remarks	p. 408
References	p. 409
Glossary	p. 413
Index	p. 427
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Psychodynamics for Consultants and Managers From Understanding to Leading Meaningful Change

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Author Biography

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