Relatedness in a Global Economy

Edward B. Klein, Ian L. Pritchard, Edward B. Klein, Ian L. Pritchard

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9780429918506
• Topic: Psicologia
• Subtopic: Storia e teoria della psicologia

Massive social changes have brought prosperity to many groups and nations. Technological developments continue to facilitate the transformation of our lives. More employees are working in teams connected technologically throughout the world. Many have participated in some times disconnected discussions involving managers on different continents. How we understand the dynamics of such virtual environments are challenges for workers and managers. Institutional transformation often involves a process of continuous change, which is both exciting and challenging and calls for flexbility on the part of the employees and executives. This book combines psychodynamic, small group and social systems theories in addressing consultations in various countries. The authors, from India, Australia, England and the United States, provide rich case material as well as theoretical background in explicating current consultations. It will appeal to executive coaches, organizational consultants, NGOs, specialists in finances and management, human relations and those interested in third world development.

Chapter One
Applying systems psychodynamics in an organizational consultation

Edward B. Klein

Systems psychodynamics is an evolving area of theory and practice. This chapter illustrating systems psychodynamics applied to organizational consultation is divided into two parts:

1. theory development and history;
2. application of systems psychodynamics to a brief consultation in a utopian company.

My own consultation approach involves a psychodynamic developmental perspective on social systems and how people take up their roles in organizations. In keeping with Gould (2001), I view systems theory as focusing on company structure, authority individuals have in their roles, division of labor, primary task and sentient (social) relations among employees, and how the boundaries around these concepts are managed. The term psychodynamics refers to individual experiences such as resistance to change, transference to and fantasy about leaders, interpersonal or object relations, and unconscious group and organizational dynamics. Like Armstrong (1995), I try to maintain a balance between the internal psychoanalytic and the external systems perspectives. Also, in keeping with Armstrong (2000), I think that emotions in organizations are not necessarily a sign of psychopathology but rather a potentially important indication of intelligence in institutional functioning.

To understand the dynamics of individuals within complex systems, I start from the infant and mother relationship as depicted by M. Klein (1959). She described how early life is marked by two tendencies:

1. splitting one thing into opposites—the good and the bad—as the basis for stereotypes later in life;
2. projective identification that leads to attributing larger than life characteristics to leaders.

“Good-enough” mothering in infancy decreases these tendencies and leads to healthier development in adulthood. Bion (1959) extended M. Klein’s theory about individual development to groups. He noted that task teams simultaneously exist at two levels; first, the work group with formal leadership, agenda and timeframe, and second, the basic assumption mode—including pairing, fight-flight and dependency towards leadership—which can decrease group and organizational productivity. Later the theory was applied at experiential conferences to teach about, and train participants in, group and systems dynamics (Miller, 1989, 1990a, 1990b).

Rice (1963, 1965) and Miller and Rice (1967) applied individual and group theory to the functioning of complex systems. This chapter focuses on seven systems psychodynamic concepts highlighting organizational life:

1. Container-contained is a holding function occurring in groups and organizations that can facilitate effective work in stressful situations.
2. The primary task is the work a unit has to do to survive.
3. A boundary defines what is in or out of the unit.
4. Authority is what managers use to regulate institutional boundaries lest chaos result.
5. Leaders are “Janus-like”, looking both inward and outward— allowing them to stand amidst multiple conflicting pressures.
6. Social defenses are unconscious behaviors used by groups to avoid activities evoking employee anxieties.
7. Task and social roles are integrated by leadership that also serves a boundary regulatory function (Astrachan, 1970).

These concepts have been found to be helpful in organizational consultation (E. B. Klein, 2000).

Systems psychodynamic theory

Psychodynamic/individual level

This psychodynamic approach evolved from the work of Melanie Klein (1959) who noted that in the first year of life there are two positions: the paranoid-schizoid and the depressive, with associated anxieties. In the first months of life, the self is vulnerable to harm from neglectful adults and aggressive internal drives. The infant imagines being attacked by bad objects that evoke persecutory anxiety. Good objects are connected to comforting and rewarding experiences used by the baby to defend against negative feelings. Klein called the objects in the paranoid-schizoid stage part-objects because of their association to strong affects and body parts.

Infants use the defense mechanism of splitting to cope with the powerful feelings they experience. Klein saw splitting as essential to understanding the baby’s early anxieties. She viewed splitting as necessary for emotional survival since it enables the infant to separate good from bad and to preserve positive affects and objects free from contact with their negative counterparts.

Another defense mechanism used to deal with anxiety is projective identification, a process where the baby projects feelings into mother and, at the same time, identifies with the projected feelings. The mother thus becomes a container being filled up with projected feelings. The process moves toward closure with the infant’s taking back such projections.

These early defenses are normal because they aid the baby in distinguishing between good and bad (splitting) and in developing affective communication (projective identification). Splitting and projective identification are related mechanisms that provide a basic mode for the infant to organize early life experiences. These defenses prevent the good from being destroyed by the bad and allow the infant to experience disturbing aspects of the self and others at a safe distance until he is psychologically ready for the task of integration.

With “good-enough” mothering the infant moves on to the next stage, the depressive position. In this development the baby progresses from self-preoccupation to concern for mother as a separate person. There is a beginning integration of the good and bad aspects of mother. The infant is aware of separation, loss, envy, and guilt. The baby can distinguish me from not-me, self from the rest of the world. In the earlier developmental paranoid-schizoid position the infant relates to part-objects and experiences little ambivalence. An object is split into an ideal and a persecutory one; the fear is that persecutors may invade and destroy the self. In contrast, the depressive position involves integration and recognition of mother not as a collection of anatomical parts—breasts that feed, eyes that smile— but as a whole person with an independent existence, who is a source of good and bad experiences. Baby then realizes that it is he who both loves and hates mother. The infant now experiences ambivalence, which, developmentally, replaces splitting.

Development involves the movement of the psyche through these two stages. In the paranoid-schizoid position the task is to preserve the merging self from danger. In the depressive stage the work is to protect mother from the baby’s own aggression as facilitated by a greater reality orientation (recognition of self and mother as separate persons), and increased integration of the infant’s personality.

Psychological development in the depressive position (working through) depends on the capacity to make reparation. When the baby feels that he has destroyed his good objects, he experiences guilt and a longing for the lost harmony. A successful working-through is essential for mental health. In the process, the ego becomes integrated, capable of reality testing and enriched by the introjection of good objects. This, in turn, lessens the baby’s omnipotence, guilt, and fear of loss. Throughout life, a person moves between these two positions. At one extreme is an isolated patient who rarely reaches a depressive integration. At the other end is a mature person with a well-integrated inner world, who has overcome depressive anxiety with trust in himself and his own creative potential. The individual brings these dynamics from the mother-child dyad to the family-group setting.

Group Relations level

Bion (1959) applied many of M. Klein’s ideas to groups as director of the Northfield Military Psychiatric Hospital located in England’s Midlands during World War II and, later, at the Tavistock Clinic in London. Bion incorporated insights from the work of M. Klein and Winnicott (1952) in his model for understanding group processes by drawing an analogy between the infant and mother relationship and that of the group-as-a-whole and the leader. For instance, Bion used the concept of projective identification in his description of unacceptable impulses or wishes being disowned and poured into the leader or the group just as the baby pours unwanted feelings into the mother.

Bion’s major contribution was to posit two levels that occur in all groups. The work group pursues the primary task by having an agenda, timeframe and formal leadership. The leader leads as long as he serves the group task that usually involves rational task performance. The emotional aspects of groups, which Bion called basic assumption life, are stimulated by shared anxieties. Basic assumptions are collective stances that groups take to avoid dreaded relationships and/or in reaction to a leader’s authority. When basic assumptions are operative the group acts “as if” some untested assumption is true and/or no timeframe is present. The group then attempts to seduce leaders out of their task role. Members experience the group as a magic place. When a work task promotes anxiety, basic assumption life enables participants to avoid their feelings of isolation.

Bion identified three basic assumptions: dependency, fight-flight, and pairing. These are conceptualized as emotional responses to “failed” leadership and suffuse the group. The dependency group aims to attain security. Participants act “as if” they are inadequate and immature, and the leader is all knowing. For example, this group stance may arise among task team members and a wise CEO. The wisdom of the CEO is not tested. He knows all and plans for the collective good. He is idealized and made into a father figure who will take care of his children. A major concern in this group is greed; with childlike dependency, each person demands more than his share. The environment of the “outside world” looks cold in comparison to the warmth of the comfortable dependency group.

The basic assumption among members of the fight-flight group is that they should behave as if there is an enemy against whom they must defend themselves or from whom they must escape to survive. Participants see the environment as dangerous; people, particularly those in authority, are not trustworthy. The leader’s role is to mobilize for action—flight or fight. The dominant emotions are anger, fear, suspicion, and paranoia. The leader needs certain characteristics including paranoia and the abilities to rally dispirited troops and locate danger even when there is none.

The pairing basic assumption is that the group should act as if it has met for purposes of reproduction. Two people need to get together to create something new with the covert or overt aid of others. When pairing is present, hopefulness pervades the group. Members are living in the hope of the creation of a new leader or idea that will produce Utopia as in the following case. A powerful feeling of hope is evidence that the pairing group exists. Participants enjoy the optimism, with positive, soft and agreeable feelings predominating.

Two other basic assumptions have been reported: Oneness (Turquet, 1975) and Me-ness (Lawrence, Bain, & Gould, 1996). Oneness is depicted as the feeling that we are all alike, thereby denying differences. An illustration of oneness occurred in an Application Group at the end of an intensive three-day conference. A woman on my right said, “We are a well-functioning group of white professionals”, while a six-foot-two-inch Black man was seated on my left side, thereby denying racial differences. Me-ness (Lawrence et al., 1996) is a relatively recent phenomenon, wherein participants in Group Relations conferences deny belonging to their group which has just met and employees deny their membership in a work group, thus focusing on their individuality.

Bion noted that members have a built-in valence toward a particular basic assumption. Some people are prone toward flight, leading the discussion away from any loaded intra-group topic back to the outside world. The basic assumption mode can provide emotional energy and vitality yet constantly seeks to divert the work group. Therefore, basic assumptions can either facilitate or impede the work. The former happens when a group mobilizes to accomplish a work task. In the mature work group, when dependence is operating, the leader is dependable; when fighting, the leader is courageous, and when engaging in pairing, the leader is creative (Rioch, 1970).

Bion expanded on M. Klein’s (1959) concept of projective identification, formulating the concept of container-contained to enhance understanding of the individual, group, and institution. The mother, by forming a thinking couple with the infant, aids in making sense out of the stimuli affecting the baby. Although this idea comes from the infant-mother interaction, it can be seen as a way in which the group acts as a container for participants. Disavowed anxiety may be contained as a basic assumption; a pair of participants may be a container for the hope of the group. Members can therefore discuss and work on difficult tasks in an organizational setting (e.g., address a manager’s purposeful use of ambiguity to foster employee uncertainty and passivity). Having thoughts contained, understood and validated can aid collaboration in an organization (Bion, 1970). Bain (1999) presents a detailed application of the use of the container-contained concept to training groups and organizational consultation. Gould (1997) provides an overview of the relationship between Klein’s positions and Bion’s basic assumptions.

Systems level

These concepts were used by staff at the Tavistock Institute in applying individual and group theory to the working of complex social systems. Starting from the standpoint of Bion’s work, they investigated task performance and authority relations as they were experienced in a group. The focus was on understanding group behavior and the influences of the social structure on individuals. As noted previously, when discussing systems and psychodynamics, Armstrong (1995) suggested that this perspective means that consultants should work equally both from the inside and the outside. Here we review concepts developed in organizational work—primary task, open systems, boundary, authority, leadership, socio-technical systems, social defenses, culture, and role—and their usefulness in consultation.

A major concept is the primary task: the work that an organization has to do to survive in its environment (Rice, 1963). This approach emphasizes the primary task with group-level interventions. In this way of organizing work, employees form autonomous groups and are paid as a group rather than individually. For example, Trist and Bamforth (1951) studied a British coal-mining company that used two different approaches. The long-wall method minimized Group Relations. Employees were assigned to specific tasks and paid on an individual basis, which led to low performance, passivity, and high absenteeism. A group approach, with payment to teams of workers, was introduced (the composite long-wall method) leading to higher morale, productivity, attendance, and safety (Emery & Trist, 1960; Trist, Higgin, Murray, & Pollack, 1963).

Any enterprise may be seen as an open system with characteristics in common with a biological organism. An open system exists by exchanging materials with its environment. It imports materials, transforms them by means of conversion processes, consumes some of the converted products and exports the rest. These import-conversion-export processes are the work the organization has to do if it is to survive (Miller & Rice, 1967). For instance in the following case, under competitive pressures partners came to realize that their primary task was to become more open and effective internally if they were to survive in the global economy.

The Boundary is the region that separates the individual from the group or the group from the environment. Boundaries have temporal, spatial, and geographic aspects (Miller, 1959). An organization can survive only through ongoing interchange of materials with its environment. The boundary across which these materials flow separates the institution from its environment. Miller (1985) describes the internal part of the boundary as the inline under the control of a person or organization. The external part of the boundary is the outline; how others see the group or organization. To the extent that the inline and outline are congruent, there is a shared frame of reference and effective communication. If there is a lack of a frame of reference, there may be a breakdown in the relationship between a group and the larger environment. If a company does not take into account the characteristics of its competition, it will be taken over by a stronger competitor (Gould, Ebers, & Clincy, 1999). In the following case, the lack of attention to the changing external boundary negatively affected the internal company process.

Related to the concept of group boundary is the issue of the leader’s authority. Miller and Rice’s (1969) basic ideas were that the effectiveness of every inter-Group Relationship is determined by the degree to which groups have to defend against uncertainty about the integrity of their boundaries, and that every relationship— between individuals, within and between groups—has the characteristics of an inter-Group Relationship. A corollary of the first proposition is that any inter-Group Relationship carries with it the possibility of a breakdown in authority, the threat of chaos and the fear of disaster. Miller and Rice worked to endorse leader authority in management of group and organizational boundaries. For instance, executives often deny or refuse to discuss the basis of their authority. Such a stance produces unclear boundaries in work groups, and prevents additional learning and change on the part of employees, as illustrated in the following case.

With regard to leadership, an important aspect of the executive function is to maintain a position on the external boundary of the group, relating the group to the external world and protecting the organization from environmental stresses. The leader uses her authority to protect the boundary by monitoring the forces that intrude on the work group. Without a well-managed external boundary, task teams are less than effective and an organization cannot survive (Hirschhorn, 1998). Indeed, Krantz (1998) suggests that leadership must visibly manage change, promote learning, preserve the sense of social context, provide a reflective space and foster boundary awareness to increase survival in the new order. Gabelnick and Klein (1998) note the paradox in the global economy as the proposition that leaders should be more connected and coll...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• Contents
• CONTRIBUTORS
• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER ONE Applying systems psychodynamics in an organizational consultation
• CHAPTER TWO Whose globe is it, anyway?
• CHAPTER THREE The dance of globalization: learning, thinking and balance
• CHAPTER FOUR Coping with unpredictability and conflict: managing in a global economy
• CHAPTER FIVE Management's fear of market demands: a psychodynamic exploration
• CHAPTER SIX Global identity and the superordinate task
• CHAPTER SEVEN C'est la vie: creating a French family business to serve the global information society
• CHAPTER EIGHT The complexity of leadership: the complexity of the organizational self
• CHAPTER NINE [Re]thinking leadership in a global economy
• AFTERWORD
• REFERENCES
• INDEX