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ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHODYNAMICS - INTRODUCTION
... Moreover, because irrational behavior is often inconsistent with accepted norms or self-images, it is largely unnoticed or unavailable to conscious awareness. From this understanding follows the wellknown psychoanalytic prescription of making the unconscious conscious, or as Larry Hirschhorn (1989) colloquially puts it, "putting the manager back into his story…making him less the object of his unacknowledged fantasies and more the subject of his actions and conscious intentions" (p. 158). ...
... The same attunement Menzies Lyth brings to organizational structure can be brought to organizational culture. From a psychoanalytic perspective, the espoused mission and values of a healthcare organization cannot be taken at face value, but instead must be explored for their potential as "cover stories" for unconscious dynamics (Hirschhorn, 1989). Compassion fatigue, as we noted above, gives expression to a broader organizational dynamic in which the imposition of values ("doing good") reinforces unhealthy patterns of employee behavior rooted in early life. ...
... Compassion fatigue, as we noted above, gives expression to a broader organizational dynamic in which the imposition of values ("doing good") reinforces unhealthy patterns of employee behavior rooted in early life. The aim of any management, therefore, following Hirschhorn (1989), should be to allow workers to "write their own story" when it comes to culture; a story with themselves, as whole persons, more fully in it. ...
This paper explores the utility of psychoanalysis for understanding the underlying meaning of healthcare work. At times deeply fulfilling, while at other times demanding and thankless, the provision of healthcare takes a unique toll on the psyche. Psychoanalysis is particularly suited for highlighting the paradoxical character of healthcare work because of its focus on the unconscious, emotional and irrational aspects of psychic life. Exploring the latent meaning of healthcare work, as well as the complex interplay between work and worker, allows for deeper insight into contemporary issues of healthcare management and organization.
... We witness a similar dynamic at play in the widespread avoidance by healthcare managers of the epidemics of stress, burnout, and "compassion fatigue" now plaguing frontline clinicians [74,88,101] and arguably symptomatic of broader industrywide malaise [42]. While evading these issues may seem understandable in light of the direct hand managers have in coordinating and allocating "resources" (thus making them vulnerable to blame), it might also signal unconscious commitment to a cover story of sorts [52]; one comprised of abstract managerial notions of forecasting, process improvement, performance appraisals, and the like that conveniently abstract away from subjective sentiments. More generally, the symbolic significance of "having to manage" leaves little room for vulnerability [83], let alone acknowledging the likelihood of similar sentiments among managers-what we might call "managerial fatigue". ...
This paper critically examines efforts to “professionalize” the field of healthcare management and its corresponding costs. Drawing upon the scholarly critiques of professionalization in medicine and the broader field of management, this paper seeks to explore the symbolic role professionalization might play in the psyche of its constituents, and specifically its function as a defense against uncertainty and anxiety. This psychodynamic heuristic is then deployed to put forth the hypothesis that an ongoing crisis of professional identity continues to both propel and impede professionalization efforts in healthcare management, giving rise to a litany of standardization pressures that ultimately limit the field’s potential. To mitigate these pressures, the call is made for rekindling healthcare management’s moral, political, and existential aspects. Specifically, this entails engaging with the deeper themes that flow through the field: the experience of illness and what it means to suffer, the experience of life and what it means to have hope, and the experience of death and dying. It also entails squarely confronting questions of power, poverty and disease, and the pursuit of justice.
... Therefore, not only can higher level processes inhering a system enhance the understanding of lower level individual experiences and behavior, but also lower level individual processes can enhance the understanding of higher level system behaviors. Indeed, the integration of general system and psychodynamic theories is often conceptualized as the analytic movement between the ''ground'' comprising higher order systemic processes and the ''figure'' comprising psychodynamic processes emerging from within individuals, such that potential influences of the ''figure'' and ''ground'' upon one another are of interest (Ashbach and Schermer 1987/2005; Gerson 2010; Gould 2006). More specifically, general system analysis can provide a theoretical lens through which to identify the higher order patterns to which the system tends and through which it can impact individuals (Ashbach and Schermer 1987/2005; Hirschhorn and Gilmore 1980) , and analysis of psychodynamic processes can provide theoretically grounded insights into the presence and defense of these relatively stable system states. ...
The purpose of this article is to explore a critical paradox related to the expression of moral courage in organizations, which is that although morally courageous acts are aimed at fostering collective growth, vitality, and virtue, their initial result is typically one of collective unease, preoccupation, or lapse, reflected in the social ostracism and censure of the courageous member and message. Therefore, this article addresses the questions of why many organizational groups suffer stagnation or decline rather than growth and vitality following acts of moral courage, and what can be done to ameliorate this outcome. A general system, relational psychodynamic perspective through which organizational group members might receive and respond to acts of moral courage is offered, and seven insights emerging from this perspective for fostering collective growth and vitality following acts of moral courage are provided.
Background and Aims: A developing international literature on population-based occupational intervention provides limited evidence of the ways in which the associated occupational therapy roles are developed among entry-level practitioners. This paper aims to explore the development of an occupational therapy role in a fieldwork placement from the perspective of a student and the off-site supervisor and to explore the use of Organisational Role Analysis in this process.
Methods: Systems psychodynamics and an occupational perspective of health provided the theoretical framework for this participant observation case study. Data from the reflective diaries of a fourth-year student and her supervisor were analysed with respect to role development in an organisation where occupational therapy was welcome, but not completely understood.
Results: This study provides insight into the challenges for students and supervisors in the development of an occupationally oriented role where the client is an organisation. Organisational Role Analysis was perceived to be helpful in focusing attention on the organisational context of role development.
Conclusions: The application of the Organisational Role Analysis as an approach to student supervision in other settings, with more than one student and to facilitate professionally development warrants further investigation.
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