Organisational and Social Dynamics最新文献

{"title":"Transformational and digital change: a UK perspective","authors":"R. Allen","doi":"10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.143","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.143","url":null,"abstract":"This article is based on a qualitative interpretivist methodology that helps to analyse, interpret, and explain the meanings that executives and consultants (as social actors), construct regarding so called transformational and digital change in the corporate setting. It explores change interventions through a psychodynamic perspective that recognises many of the forces operating in an organisation may be “under the surface” and may need to be made explicit if collective progress is to be made.\u0000The author has attempted to produce research that is relevant to both practitioners and scholars by following some suggestions of Toffel (2016) to bridge the potential gap between perceptions and workplace realities, including conducting site visits, practitioner interviews, and working as a practitioner. The study is exploratory in nature and was primarily concerned with discovering what management practices (if any) are used by executives and consultants in the operationalisation and implementation of transformational and digital change and what (if any) were the implications. It hopefully provides a stimulus for further research. Qualitative interviews and site visits were conducted with executives, consultants, and workers in ten large UK companies who had all taken the decision to instigate multi-million-pound “transformational change” and “digital transformation”. The companies operate across a range of sectors including manufacturing, retail, financial services, food and beverage, and facilities management.\u0000This study finds that executives and consultants search for tools and techniques to deliver effective change capability, change leadership, and project management of change. These imply order, rationality, stability, and manageability in change that often takes place amidst absurdity, irrationality, uncertainty, and disorder.\u0000Digital transformation is underpinned by new technology, driving new business models, and new “agile” and “iterative” processes, and “dare to fail” ways of working, but it was a century-old doctrine that provided the framework for change. Executives and consultants explicitly and implicitly advocated and enacted the primary functions of management as outlined by Fayol (1916); they were obsessed with accountability and control. Despite the rhetoric of agile and iterative approaches, they were wedded to top–down mechanistic management.\u0000The espoused visions, values, principles, and behaviours, were often counterbalanced by the shadow organisation, the covert processes, coalitions, secret alliances, and counter-values. Narcissism and Machiavellian behaviour was rife.\u0000In conclusion, this article calls for a move away from mechanistic management to enlightened management, a concept based on the work of Nonaka (2008) that values individuals and interactions over processes and tools. This may go some way to ameliorate the impacts of change at the individual level and bridge the chasm between espoused culture and the living hell of o","PeriodicalId":41413,"journal":{"name":"Organisational and Social Dynamics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41459063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Owning our part: from denial-based business to a regenerative economy","authors":"M. Daum","doi":"10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.249","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.249","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we explore a core set of organisational and social dynamics at work in the business world: the denial and disowning of the part we play in co-creating the world we live in; and the splitting needed to protect us from the guilt and shame that owning our part would unleash. We begin with exploring the Winnicottian splitting between the “false self” and the “true self”. We then venture into new territories, by exploring the denial, disowning, and splitting that is needed in the “business as usual” economy to keep business going and avoid acknowledging its degrading impacts on social and ecosystems, creating, to paraphrase Winnicott, a split between a “false world” and a “true world”. Mainstream organisations have tended to structure this splitting formally through organisational defences, but are now at risk of being flooded with their split-off parts. We then ask ourselves what can be done to start addressing our impact truthfully, and contribute to a shift from a degrading economy to a regenerative economy. The importance of containing and working through the guilt and shame that this might generate is explored, as well as the notions of purpose and purposeful leadership.","PeriodicalId":41413,"journal":{"name":"Organisational and Social Dynamics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47364192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Group relations love: sentience and group relations work - Part I","authors":"Ellen L. Short","doi":"10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.186","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.186","url":null,"abstract":"Part I of this article will focus on the relationship between sentience and group relations conference work. Literature concerning group relations work and sentience will be explored. Sentience will be explored structurally and externally through the lens of task and group, with a focus on systems, organisational transformation, as well as the history, philosophy, and design of group relations conferences. Group relations work and sentience will also be focused on in relation to inquiry of why one does the work, embodying an internal perspective regarding the complexities of the consultant role and relationship to the group. The construct of group relations love will be introduced in connection with aspects of sentience in group work.","PeriodicalId":41413,"journal":{"name":"Organisational and Social Dynamics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44127272","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Group relations love: sentience and group relations work - Part II","authors":"Ellen L. Short","doi":"10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.200","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.200","url":null,"abstract":"Part II of this article will provide a focus on sentience and group relations work through the narratives of individuals who responded to a questionnaire about their lived experiences of group relations conference work. Formulated meanings, themes, and theme clusters of the respondents’ narratives will be presented and explored using application of phenomenological analyses. Group relations love and the possibility of love of, and for, group work will be more deeply explored. A discussion and implications for group relations work will also be presented.","PeriodicalId":41413,"journal":{"name":"Organisational and Social Dynamics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47974573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Working with attention and distraction in leadership development","authors":"R. French, R. Sheffield, P. Simpson","doi":"10.33212/OSD.V19N2.2019.230","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33212/OSD.V19N2.2019.230","url":null,"abstract":"Bion’s theory of groups is used to explore the dynamics of learning on a leadership development programme. The dynamic of a group is influenced by the capacity of its members to negotiate, consciously and unconsciously, the tension between the opposed tendencies of attention and distraction, which is related to the tension between a desire to learn and a hatred of the process of development. Bion’s model of work-group and basic-assumption mentalities, which we equate with the dynamics of attention and distraction, is used to reflect on a two-month period of a development programme in a UK public service organisation. In related literature there is a tendency to focus on the pathology of basic-assumption mentality with limited interest in the healthy functioning of workgroup mentality. Basic-assumption mentality contributes to understanding a group that is distracted from its purpose, but a focus on this, without comparable attention to work-group mentality, can lead to an inappropriately negative\u0000view of group process. This is contrary to Bion’s essential optimism about the powerful psychological structure of work-group mentality. The article demonstrates the importance of combining an analysis of both attention and distraction to fully appreciate the complex dynamic of groups engaged in a developmental process.","PeriodicalId":41413,"journal":{"name":"Organisational and Social Dynamics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48176716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“Scallywag battalions”: reflective practice groups with multidisciplinary teams in mental health and social care systems","authors":"J. Adlam","doi":"10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.168","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.168","url":null,"abstract":"“Reflective practice” is a term imprecisely understood and used to describe a wide range of different activities or interventions. In this article I examine the Reflective Practice Group (RPG) as an intervention offered to multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) in mental health and social care settings. Drawing extensively upon the work of Wilfred Bion and on the “Northfield I” experiment which he led in 1942, I formulate the existential, conceptual, and functional challenges of the MDT in terms of the problematic interplay between the drive towards autonomy and the exigencies of interdependence. I take this interplay as the figure, with the ground being the baseline disarray of traumatised systems that both defines and contextualises the individual worker’s predicament within the team. Analysing the nature of the MDT sheds new light on longstanding controversies about what ailment the RPG is there to address; what skill set is needed to facilitate it; and what methodology may be most appropriately used for its delivery.","PeriodicalId":41413,"journal":{"name":"Organisational and Social Dynamics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41706688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Book Review - 'Social Dreaming, Associative Thinking and Intensities of Affect' by Julian Manley","authors":"Angela Eden","doi":"10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.282","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.282","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41413,"journal":{"name":"Organisational and Social Dynamics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44418095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Obituary - Robert French (1949–2018)","authors":"C. Grey, P. Simpson","doi":"10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.286","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.286","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41413,"journal":{"name":"Organisational and Social Dynamics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44925958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Applying the opinion blocks framework in catastrophic conflict: a practice paper","authors":"T. Ringer","doi":"10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.264","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33212/osd.v19n2.2019.264","url":null,"abstract":"Groups and teams that are involved in acute and/or prolonged conflict with each other create impermeable barriers between them that robustly resist change. This article uses the framework of “opinion blocks” to illustrate a means by which such conflict can worked with. Whilst the framework outlined is relatively recent, it has enabled the author to engage with situations of “catastrophic” conflict in a way that has resulted in surprising improvements in the effectiveness of collaboration between the involved parties. The opinion blocks framework was introduced in an earlier article in this journal (Ringer, 2017b) in which the etiology of “collective self-righteousness” was examined. The reader is advised to refer to this earlier article for a theoretical background to the opinion blocks framework. The article that follows uses a modified real-life example from the author’s consulting practice to illustrate the principles involved.","PeriodicalId":41413,"journal":{"name":"Organisational and Social Dynamics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48209133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Challenging impossibilities: using the plus-one process to explore leadership dilemmas","authors":"P. Boxer","doi":"10.33212/OSD.V19N1.2019.81","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.33212/OSD.V19N1.2019.81","url":null,"abstract":"The disruptive effects of digital technology are enabling all environments to become more turbulent, putting competitive pressure on organisations to move towards addressing the demands of their clients one-by-one. This article considers situations where this pressure cannot be ignored, for example in the provision of intensive social care to individuals, or in enabling each disadvantaged university student to gain access to the full scope of its opportunities. A network of relationships aligned at its edge to the particular demands of a client needs tripartite leadership that is vertically accountable to the powers-that-be, horizontally responsive to the client situation being addressed, and effective in the way it collaborates within the network itself. This involves holding dilemmas between vertical accountabilities and horizontal demands. This becomes impossible when the situation is framed solely in terms of vertical\u0000accountabilities. This article describes a witnessed plus-one process undertaken by an individual at an edge. It works from her personal valency for challenging such an impossibility to explore the ways in which the dilemma in the situation was being\u0000“set up” by how it was held by the wider system. This example is used to explore the thinking behind the process and discusses its implications for leadership.","PeriodicalId":41413,"journal":{"name":"Organisational and Social Dynamics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42082205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}