Is my boss a child?

Transactional analysis as a tool for studying and resolving work-related conflicts

Stefano Calicchio

• Publisher: Stefano Calicchio
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9791220260268
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Why do people behave in a certain way at work? What are their motivations? Is there a methodological approach that can be used to frame the different attitudes and actions taken by individuals within corporate organisations, in order to manage them in such a way as to foster situations of mutual benefit and synergy? The theoretical model of transactional analysis was created to answer questions such as these, i.e. to offer operational application to some of the main discoveries belonging to dynamic psychology and to the related mechanisms of functioning of our psyche. This operational manual explains how to better understand what motivations drive people to make decisions at work, what are the relative existential positions and how the constructive or destructive games that inevitably take place within companies develop. The ultimate aim is to provide not only practical tools for solving problematic and uncomfortable situations, but also a real means of empowerment for one's career and more generally for human resources management.

Practical examples of linear, cross transactions and possible conclusions

Previously we analysed the functional states of the ego, summarised in the system Parent - Adult - Child (here often abbreviated as A-B-C). Now we will try to understand how these three different states can interact, creating what in transactional analysis is the basis of all human communication: transactions.

The study of this particular aspect will prove to be significant not only from a theoretical point of view, but also from a pragmatic one, given that the management of communication processes is one of the key elements of proper business organisation; according to the psychological approach, communication is "the dimension [...] that produces and sustains the definition of self and other. In every communicative act, each of us is as if we were saying:

<<this is how I see you. This is how you are in my opinion. This is what kind of relationship binds us [...] between colleagues, between boss and collaborator (Gabassi, Psychology of Work and Organisations, p. 92,93)>>.

Internal communication has become increasingly strategic in modern organisations over the past decades, as human resources have become one of the main levers used to pursue competitive advantage over competitors. A very interesting case history is the one focused on remuneration policies, reported in the manual "Human Resources Management" by Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart and Wright and which we propose below:

<<two organisational units in the same company suffered wage reductions of 15%, while a third that was not affected by the intervention was used as a control group. In one case the reasons for the cuts were communicated with a lot of information and the managers also expressed a feeling of remorse. The other group received little information and no regret was expressed. The control group, having not suffered any cuts, received no explanation. The three groups initially showed very similar rates of theft and perceptions of fairness. After the cuts, theft increased by 54% in the group that had rec...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Is my boss a child?
• Table of contents
• Foreword
• METHODOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS IN WORKING CONTEXTS
• Introduction
• Historical and methodological background on transactional analysis
• A-B-C analysis and ego states
• The need for recognition in working contexts
• Interpersonal transactions and communication at work and the emergence of conflicts
• THE USE OF TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS IN ORGANISATIONS AND WORKPLACES
• The assumption of existential positions in work contexts
• Practical examples of linear, cross transactions and possible conclusions
• The life script in transactional analysis, the structuring of time and its influences in the workplace
• The psychological contract in business organisations, games and rackets
• Conclusions