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.

About the Authors xi Contributors xiii Acknowledgements xv General Introduction 1 Part One A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Groups and Organisations 9 Introduction 11 Marie-Jeanne Vansina-Cobbaert Chapter 1 Original, Primary Mental Processes 20 Marie-Jeanne Vansina-Cobbaert Illustrations 22 Stepwise transformations 25 References 27 Chapter 2 Languages from Another World 28 Marie-Jeanne Vansina-Cobbaert The language of images 29 The language of actions 32 The language of relations 38 Putting the information from ‘atlantis’ to use 49 References 55 Chapter 3 Supportive ‘Process Structures’ 57 Marie-Jeanne Vansina-Cobbaert Holding and containment 58 Transitional phenomena 64 References 67 Chapter 4 Defensive Processes and Behaviour 68 Marie-Jeanne Vansina-Cobbaert and Leopold Vansina Individual defence mechanisms 68 Defence mechanisms in groups 71 Social defences 74 Social repression 76 Defensive strategies 77 Working with and through defences 79 Conclusions 85 References 86 Chapter 5 The Capacity for Creative Living and Its Importance in Organisational Life 88 Marie-Jeanne Vansina-Cobbaert Origins and functioning of the capacity for creative living 88 Destructiveness in the context of creative living 95 References 100 Part Two A Psychodynamic Approach 103 Introduction 105 Leopold Vansina Chapter 6 Psychodynamics: A Field of Study and an Approach 108 Leopold Vansina Some major differences with psychoanalysis 108 An attempt to define psychodynamics 113 Creating supportive process structures 126 Small things that matter: a look at some neglected potential benefits of a psychodynamic approach to organisational issues 145 Finalising comments 148 References 150 Chapter 7 ‘Me’ in the Problem Situation 156 Leopold Vansina The problem with problem definition 157 Building continuation 167 ‘Me’ in terminating a project 168 What about transference and counter-transference in our practice? 172 References 176 Chapter 8 Groups as the Tip of an Iceberg: Locating Issues in Their Context 178 Leopold Vansina Introduction 178 Management teams as the tip of an iceberg 184 The iceberg in project teams 194 Import and export mechanism of problems 197 Summary 206 References 207 Chapter 9 Being in and Working with Experiences in the ‘Here-and-Now’ 210 Leopold Vansina Various mental modes of being present 214 The relevance of working with or without specific frames in the ‘here-and-now’ 220 From interpretations to sense making 232 Conclusions 238 References 239 Chapter 10 The Art of Reviewing: A Cornerstone in Organisational Learning 242 Leopold Vansina Reviewing 242 What could be reviewed? 246 When to review and with what frequency? 251 Special or institutionalised reviews 254 How to review? 255 Conditions for reviewing 262 The role and stance of the person(s) leading the review 264 Limits to learning from reviewing 265 References 266 Part Three The Psychodynamic Approach in Consulting and Action-Research Projects 269 Introduction 271 Leopold Vansina Chapter 11 Understanding and Working with Organisational Dynamics: Coping with Organisational Growth 273 Leopold Vansina and Gilles Amado Part 1: Creating Awareness and a Base for Action within the Organisation 280 The pilot workshop 280 The second workshop 285 The third workshop 291 The relevance of the design 298 Part 2: Working Through the Draft Blueprint 305 The six two-day workshops 306 Understanding and working with organisational dynamics: discussion 313 References 319 Chapter 12 Transformations: Hope, Illusions and Reality. Transformations within a Family-Owned International Corporation 321 Leopold Vansina and Marie-Jeanne Vansina-Cobbaert Part 1: The Consulting Project 323 The actors within the system 325 ‘Minimal structures’ and ‘time and space’ 328 Part 2: Making Sense of the Work 346 Transformation 346 What can be learned from the consulting experience and conceptual clarifications for advancing the practices of organisation consultants and managers? 352 References 356 Chapter 13 Participative Redesign: Action-Research into the Strategic Restructuring of a Plant 358 Leopold Vansina Part 1: The Project 360 History and context 360 My role, approach and intentions 361 Phase one: exploring the company in its environment 365 Phase two: engaging the employees to redesign the operations to meet the new production strategy 368 Phase three: change in ownership and implementation 372 Part 2: Organisational Results and Research Findings 375 Results from the participative redesign 376 The process of successful organisational change 377 Learning from the action-research itself 378 Conclusions 385 References 387 Chapter 14 Working Across Organisational Boundaries: Understanding and Working with Intergroup Dynamics 390 Sandra G.L. Schruijer and Leopold Vansina Introduction 390 Part 1: The Psychological Difficulties of Working Across Organisational Boundaries 391 The meaning of collaboration 391 The yacht club 393 Part 2: Helping Groups and Organisations in Developing Successful Collaboration 396 Shellfisheries: conflicts of interest between nature and economy 396 Collaboration in the building sector 397 Organisational change of a nursing home 397 Medical call centre 398 Part 3: Dynamics, Practices and Principles 399 Working with the whole system 399 Working with the psychodynamics of conflict and collaboration 402 Leading collaboration 405 Exploring the ‘why?’ 407 Concluding remarks 408 References 409 Glossary 413 Index 427