One of the most pressing needs of modern society is to understand and construct organizations that are not only effective in terms of carrying out work but that also allow and encourage people to develop their full human potential. Psychoanalytic theory describes those primary processes that lie at the heart of human activity and provides new insights for understanding group and organizational behaviour. With a new introduction written by Vega Roberts, this Classic Edition of The Psychoanalysis of Organizations presents the theories of Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, Wilfred Bion, Elizabeth Lewin and Eric Menzies in plain language and shows their relevance to normal working life. First published in 1978, Robert De Board takes a wide-ranging overview of the major psychoanalytic theorists and organizational researchers, and analyses how the two groups can work together. Written in a very accessible style, it makes sophisticated psychoanalytic and management concepts comprehensible and usable for anyone.

`The book is a good read. Gabriel has an engaging writing style, liberally interspersed with vignettes, cases, and quotes.... While the reader may not agree with some of what Gabriel is espousing, the author presents his material in a non-judgemental manner.... And who knows ? Maybe Gabriel is foreshadowing some new directions in organizational theory and even new research methodology′ - Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology This book is a comprehensive and systematic examination of the insights psychoanalysis can offer to the study of organizations and organizational behaviour. Richly illustrated with examples, Yiannis Gabriel′s exhaustive study provides fresh understandings of the role of creativity, control mechanisms, leadership, culture, and emotions in organizations. Core theories are explained at length and there is a chapter on research strategies. Extensive reference is made to practical cases, and there is a review of the key debates.

One of the most pressing needs of modern society is to understand and construct organizations that are not only effective in terms of carrying out work but that also allow and encourage people to develop their full human potential. Psychoanalytic theory describes those primary processes that lie at the heart of human activity and provides new insights for understanding group and organizational behaviour. With a new introduction written by Vega Roberts, this Classic Edition of The Psychoanalysis of Organizations presents the theories of Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, Wilfred Bion, Elizabeth Lewin and Eric Menzies in plain language and shows their relevance to normal working life. First published in 1978, Robert De Board takes a wide-ranging overview of the major psychoanalytic theorists and organizational researchers, and analyses how the two groups can work together. Written in a very accessible style, it makes sophisticated psychoanalytic and management concepts comprehensible and usable for anyone.

The Organizational Life of Psychoanalysis is a wide-ranging exploration and examination of the organizational conflicts and dilemmas that have troubled psychoanalysis since its inception. Kenneth Eisold provides a unique, detailed, and closely reasoned account of the systems needed to carry out the tasks of training, quality control, community building, and relationships with the larger professional community. He explores how the freedom to innovate and explore can be sustained in a context where the culture has insisted on certain standards being set and enforced, standards that have little to do with providing effective pathways to cure. Each chapter in this collection addresses a specific dilemma faced by the profession, including: Who is to be in charge of training and who will determine those who succeed the existing leadership? Which theories and practices are to be approved and which proscribed and censored? How is the competition with alternative methods, including psychotherapy informed by psychoanalysis, to be managed? Several chapters are devoted to exploring the reciprocal influence of Freudian psychoanalysis and Jungian Analytical Psychology. Others explore the specific dilemmas and difficulties affecting the field currently, stemming from the massive restructuring of the health care industry and the changes affecting all professions, as they are reshaped into massive organizations no longer marked by personal relationships and individual control. The Organizational Life of Psychoanalysis will be essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychoanalytic psychotherapists, and anyone interested in the future of psychoanalysis as a profession. It will appeal greatly to anyone who has assumed full or partial responsibility for the management of a psychoanalytic institute or association.

This book samples the groundbreaking work that has been developed over the last twenty-five years by psychoanalysts, writers and practitioners associated with the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations (ISPSO). What characterises this collection of original papers is an attempt to look at organizations, groups, teams and organizational role holders using psychoanalytic, systemic and psychodynamic perspectives that collectively eschew superficial, linear, prescriptive and mechanistic views of both the system and the individual within. These papers, delivered as presentations to the Society during the Annual Symposia of the ISPSO from its inception in 1983 to date, collectively form an important commentary on the changing societal dynamics and current preoccupations facing contemporary organizations, their leaders and their workforce. As such, these papers are representative of many that have contributed to, and documented, the development of the thought and praxis from a psychoanalytic perspective and systems thinking over the last quarter of century. Whilst most of these papers have already been published elsewhere, the ISPSO as an organization wished to include them in this volume, recognising their lasting influence and legacy as well as their ongoing impact upon the thinking and the practice of its membership and beyond.

This book is a comprehensive and systematic examination of the insights psychoanalysis can offer to the study of organizations and organizational behaviour. Richly illustrated with examples, Yiannis Gabriel's exhaustive study provides fresh understandings of the role of creativity, control mechanisms, leadership, culture, and emotions in organizations. Core theories are explained at length and there is a chapter on research strategies. Extensive reference is made to practical cases, and there is a review of the key debates.

David Armstrong has been a leading figure internationally in the fields of organizational consultancy and group relations for many years. Robert French and Russ Vince have gathered together, for the first time, his key writings in this area. This is essential reading for managers and leaders, as well as organizational consultants, academics and students of organizations. Part of the Tavistock Clinic Series.