Organizational Paradoxes

Clinical approaches to management

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781136436840
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Health Care Delivery

Tavistock Press was established as a co-operative venture between the Tavistock Institute and Routledge & Kegan Paul (RKP) in the 1950s to produce a series of major contributions across the social sciences.
This volume is part of a 2001 reissue of a selection of those important works which have since gone out of print, or are difficult to locate. Published by Routledge, 112 volumes in total are being brought together under the name The International Behavioural and Social Sciences Library: Classics from the Tavistock Press.
Reproduced here in facsimile, this volume was originally published in 1980 and is available individually. The collection is also available in a number of themed mini-sets of between 5 and 13 volumes, or as a complete collection.

One
Introduction

That reason may not force us to commit
That sin of the high-minded sublimation,
Which damns the soul by praising it.¹

AUDEN

There is a story about a wily bandit who was finally captured by the king's troopers. The king, a man fond of games and riddles, made the bandit a proposition. He told the bandit that he was allowed to make one statement. If that statement contained the truth he would be shot, if it contained a lie, hanged. The bandit, after some thought, said: 'I am going to be hanged.'

This is where this puzzling story ends. The reaction of the king and the fate of the bandit remain unknown. But whatever the king's actions this logical paradox resulted in an impasse. The tables had been turned and the king was placed in what can be described as a double-bind situation. Whatever he did would be wrong. A situation was created without objective reality or obvious answer.

Admittedly, we might brush this anecdote aside as some kind of joke, it merely being a logical paradox which does not warrant further thought. Yet, organizational life is a territory full of comparable dilemmas — of course not of such an extreme nature —which arise inadvertently in the course of day-to-day activities. Managers will be confronted with many paradoxical encounters which at first glance might seem irrational and lack obvious answers. But there is some kind of logic behind these behavior patterns which warrants further investigation. We can not just ignore these paradoxes met in interpersonal relationships. They raise important questions about human motivation, individual and organizational action, the nature of decision making, and the problem of change.

Managers are discovering that the pursuit or the ideal of the rational decision maker might be an illusion, that the traditional models of choice and organization may be insufficient in giving guidance through the maze of paradoxes which make up organizational life. Managers are realizing that there are limits to rationality. Other factors seem to be involved in human interaction, decision making, and motivation, which have received insufficient attention.

I am not just referring to the oiten-suggested contradiction between management as an art placed in contrast to management as a science. Calling the unexplainable and the confusing an art does not bring us much further. It only gives these enigmas another name. Instead of leaving these puzzling issues unresolved, I would welcome a greater understanding of irrational behavior patterns in business and would like to add another dimension to the explanation of human behavior and individual and organizational action. I am referring to the need for a different level of organizational and individual analysis which goes beyond mere description and, instead, is more orientated towards explanation and focuses on the psychodynamic forces at work in human interaction and motivation. This twilight zone where we find the boundaries of rationality and irrationality needs further exploration if we want to possess a better understanding of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and organizational processes, and strategy formulation and implementation.

Although there are many executives who are aware of the emotional costs of organizational life, these insights are usually repressed, suppressed, or dismissed as unfit to the particular atmosphere of action which characterizes organizations. Time spent on these thoughts is perceived as a side-tracking effort to the real business of management and as deviating from the organization's main objectives. The consequence of this attitude is that ritualistic activities and rationalization of behavior seem to be the norm and have become the more acceptable ways of dealing with the routines of management.

Yet the fact that these particular dysfunctional behavior patterns dominate is a sad state of affairs, particularly since they come with a high price attached. A brief look at health statistics is indicative. The proliferation of stress-related diseases is an example of these costs. The genesis of these stress reactions can frequently be traced back to the vicissitudes of organizational life. The organizational costs in the form of premature death of executives, output problems, work inefficiencies, labor turnover, strikes, and absenteeism are phenomenal.

It is obvious that the present state of emotional impoverishment and lack of insight about human action in organizations needs more attention. The situation indicates that a major educational effort might be needed to renew the manager's acquaintance with the unusual and, in a conventional sense, the unacceptable, thereby moving away from simplistic theories of human motivation and management to more realistic ones. This reorientation might turn into a journey into the self, not only establishing greater awareness of the reasons for individual and organizational action but also recognizing the emotional costs of corporate life. Such a search might also lead to the realization of the limitations of rationality in organizational life, the relationship between reality and fantasy in individual and organizational action, and the nature of the differences between manifest and latent thought processes and communication patterns. Another consequence might be that we will pay more attention to self-observation, self-analysis, and the development of empathy. In the management of human interaction we have to retrace the steps which make us act as we do, reflect on their origin, and recognize our possibilities and limitations.

The capacity for this type of learning is present in each executive. Pressures toward conformity in organizations have led to neglect and inattention to insights about dependency, affection, hostility, shame, and guilt. But this dormant capacity can easily be revived if sufficient effort is made and some of the pathways to understanding are shown.

There are, however, exceptions. Although adaptation is more the rule, rigidity which accompanies neuroticism is ever present. There are people who will reject any insight because of the benefits of 'secondary gain', the almost imperceptible advantages associated with human suffering, processes which tend to support the status quo. Also, confrontation with the real, often repressed reasons for individual action can be an extremely painful experience, which makes it more comfortable to distance oneself from these insights and leave things as they are. In these instances of compulsions and other forms of neurotic behavior more drastic efforts for change might be needed. I am referring particularly to more intensive psychotherapeutical interventions. Most managers, however, do not fall into this category and have ample resources at their disposal facilitating change, adaptation, and personal growth.

In this book I will try to convert rational concern with organizational structure and decision making into the problem of man in situations of conflict, constrained on one side by environmental realities and on the other side by conscious and unconscious motivations. In paying attention to what are superficially perceived as irrational and unconscious processes, I am thus advocating a more clinically oriented approach to organizational diagnosis. A more complex, but, at the same time, more realistic view of men and women in organizations will emerge, in contrast to the mechanical, one-dimensional people presented by many organizational theorists and industrial psychologists.

In the search for supporting disciplines I have discovered that psychoanalytically oriented concepts can be of great help. They will add another dimension to organizational studies otherwise looked at from a purely descriptive angle. A psychoanalytical orientation, with its concern about empathy and with its specific ability to distinguish between illness and health, can contribute substantially in conceptualizing about the nature of work, the etiology of individual and organizational stress, the vicissitudes of power and leadership, human motivation, and the effects of career. In addition, apart from using concepts derived from psychoanalytic psychology, I will also draw upon developments in other fields such as social psychology, sociology, economics, anthropology and, naturally, management theory.

An important further source of material for this book has been the observation of managers in action, clinically oriented interviews in organizations, and educational dialogues. The data obtained through these processes has been invaluable and these interactions have been the catalyst for many of the hypotheses presented in this book. These encounters have supported the notion of transference, countertransference, and resistance, and particularly the importance of empathy in organizations.

We know that human development and organizational change pose constant conundrums to the manager. Management can be compared to a balancing act, the elements being in this instance the basic human drives of love and aggression transformed into feelings and attitudes such as dependency and control, conflict and compromise, hostility and compassion. It will become clear in the discussion of the various themes of this book that the manager's ability to work and thereby his or her effectiveness in organizations is largely determined by adaptive capacity. These forces of maturation which combat neurotic suffering will eventually make for the creation of new individual and organizational equilibria.

Two
The Oblomov Threat

my view of life is utterly meaningless. I suppose an evil spirit has set a pair of spectacles on my nose, of which one lens is a tremendous magnifying glass, the other an equally powerful reducing glass . . .¹

KIERKEGAARD

The casual observer, reconsidering the media's reports or the developments in the White House during the final days of the Nixon presidency, may have been reminded of a Greek tragedy, the only difference being that, in this instance, the drama of the rise and fall' of a man who, at that time, was one of the most powerful people in the world, was not fiction at all but frightening reality. The dramatis personae seemed locked in, unable to escape the final act; eventually neither denial of complicity with the Watergate scandal nor diversionary activities, such as accusing supposed enemies of persecutory actions, sufficed to turn the tide of public opinion and prevent legal action. In the end we were faced with the spectacle of an immobilized president, seemingly confused, suffering the pangs of depression, work inhibition, and impaired action. The organizational and politically alarming consequences of a paralyzed president troubled by work inhibition were only mitigated by the efforts of his latter-day palace guard as represented by Haig and Kissinger. These two men kept the office of the president functioning by assuming a caretaker position, taking responsibility for the day-to-day decision-making process.

One of the underlying, powerful messages of Greek tragedies has been to warn the spectator of the danger of hubris, the sinfulness and arrogance of power. This message has not lost its impact in a contemporary setting, and the case of Richard Nixon has been a strong reminder. 'After the fall' — like the ending of a Greek tragedy — confronted us with the wretched spectacle of a bitter, stooped, aged, disgraced man walking on the beach, pathetically shaking hands with passers-by. We can speculate that, in this instance, the increasing strain due to the never-ending stream of disclosures of new illegalities, in addition to the inevitable lurking threat of conviction, may have been responsible for Nixon's final inability to function, his state of apathy, confusion, and general emotional disarray, accentuated by a physical ailment in the form of phlebitis.

A less dramatic but still very disconcerting example of impaired work performance — one of a more lasting duration — can be found in literature as told in the story of Oblomov by the nineteenth-century Russian novelist Goncharov.² This tragedy of passivity, apathy, and impaired work performance described a kind of indolence of a more permanent nature. The influence of this novel has been considerable, not only in Russia but in many other countries as well — so much so that the accusation of being an Oblomov has become well-understood in most European countries and is associated with behavior patterns such as inertia and laziness.

Oblomov became an example of arrested character development, an individual completely incapable of going beyond a functionally vegetative state, unable to comprehend adequately the realities of life. Sapped by passivity and apathy, life became too straining; but so was suicide. With increasing frequency the hero of the novel was replacing real action with daydreams and fantasies, leaving the care of everyday reality to his servant. And although the story may be interpreted as a tragi-comedy when it deals with Oblomov's inability to get out of bed, the reader cannot shake off a sense of impending doom and futility.

One example is the incident in which Oblomov reflects on the strange, incomprehensible state of inner paralysis which troubles him. He comments on all his unfolded plans and ideas:

'Where has it all gone to? Why has it all burnt out? I can't understand it! I had no storms, no shocks of any kind; I did not lose anything; I have nothing on my conscience — it is clear as glass; no blow of any kind has shattered my ambitions, and God only knows why my life is such a waste!

. . . From the moment I became aware of myself I felt that I was already withering. . . Yes, I am like an old worn-out coat, and it isn't because of the climate or of work, but because for twelve years a fire has been shut up within me which could not find an outlet, it merely ravaged its prison and died down . . .'³

These are the upsetting reflections of a man in a far-reaching state of depression, a man who is dealing with basic existential questions about the futility of life and feelings of annihilation. These statements also portray a sense of depersonalization, a sense of estrangement with the world of reality, and resemble a regressive search for a paradise forever lost. We are face to face with a man who has basically given up any action and who lacks the fighting spirit necessary to deal with the vicissitudes of life. For Oblomov, there is no rage, no excitation; he seems already dead although he is still alive, locked into his increasingly autistic world.

The novel had and still has a shocking impact since 'Oblomovism' evokes the threat of a kind of living death present in each of us. The sense of inertia as portrayed by Goncharov remains dormant for most people. But anyone who has been exposed to patterns of childrearing that have incorporated elements of 'the Protestant Ethic' may experience a great sense of discomfort in reading about the situation portrayed by Goncharov.

One of the inescapable by-products of growing up and adapting to societal demands is the constant reminder — initially by external but increasingly by internal forces (reinforced by the developing conscience) — of the things we 'should' or 'ought' to do. Unfortunately, this internalization of industriousness is not necessarily conflict-free, but may turn into a battle of wills with authority figures and may be accompanied by powerful aggressive feelings. The degree of internalization and the strategies for living which evolve out of this interaction process are manifold. One of the possible outcomes, being content with the line of the least resistance, lapsing into indolence and passivity, and substituting daydreams and fantasies for real action, can be perceived as a danger since it reawakens painful memories centered around prohibitions, demands, and controls. That is one of the reasons why the figure of (Oblomov is so disturbing. He symbolizes human stagnation and apathy, tendencies which are present in each of us, and are conducive to seriously impaired work performance.

Attitudes toward work

The examples of defective adaptation to work are numerous although seldom of such spectacular dimensions as with Nixon or Oblomov. Most people at one point in their life have experienced impasses in their work capacity, usually of a more temporary nature, and in that period may have realized the importance of work for their emotional and physical well-being. This insight may seem obvious, but whatever the exact nature of the experience, man's attitudes toward work have continued to be of an ambivalent nature.

The view of work as man's 'link to reality' was introduced by Freud and studies concerned with the detrimental effects of unemployment have confirmed many of his theories. Freud transformed existing ideas about work by complementing Marx's conceptions and transcending the mere focus on material needs, tying work in with an individual's emotional state, and viewing it as a way of satisfying one's sense of self-esteem.

Other psychologists, for example Hendrick, have suggested the existence of an instinct of workmanship' whereby a work principle was postulated as an innate drive of man.⁴ White, from a more human developmental point of view, introduced the idea of'effectance motivation'.⁵ Work viewed as a product of feelings of efficacy became for him the outcome of an individual's ability to influence and master his or her environment.

In modern industrial society it has become a platitude to argue that providing for purely material needs is only one of the dimensions of work; apart from money many other factors have to be taken into consideration to make an individual interested in his job. The popularity in industry of concepts such as job enrichment or enlargement, work restructuring, human resources accounting, management by objectives, and organizational development — all endeavours to make work more challenging and less monotonous — illustrates this point. We are realizing the diversity or the problems associated with work. Apart from output problems (quantitative or qualitative) there exist also accident proneness, absenteeism, strikes, sickness or industrial fatigue, and labor turnover. All these exam...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Original Title
• Original Copyright
• Contents
• Dedication
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The Oblomov threat
• 3 The organization of emptiness
• 4 Power and helplessness
• 5 An alternative view of power
• 6 Leadership and paranoia
• 7 Folie à deux
• 8 The entrepreneurial personality
• 9 The mid-career crisis: a renewed search for identity
• 10 Is there life at retirement?
• 11 Metamorphosis
• Notes
• Index