Assessment Front Sheet All written assignments MUST be submitted with this cover sheet. Assignments submitted without this cover sheet will not be accepted. Student Number: 17000070 Course Code: D10 Unit Name: Theory Unit Number: SC7001_01_001 Submission Date: Confirmation: Please tick the following boxes to confirm: 1. I confirm that the word length is 3272 which falls within the word length tariff for this assignment 2. □x I confirm that I have taken all reasonable measures to ensure anonymity of all the patients, □x clients, professionals and institutions referred to in this assignment 3. I confirm that this submission is my own work and the ideas and written work of others has □x been identified and correctly referenced 1 Title: To what extent do tasks, systems and structures ‘create’ anxieties and defences, and to what extent do primitive anxieties influence how roles and work-systems are structured? Discuss using examples from your own experience of working in organisations. Table of content Introduction 3 Primitive anxiety and defences 4 Unconscious phantasies at work 5 Projection, defences and authority 5 From primitive to social defences, the notion of collusion 7 Basic assumption in groups 7 Social defences 8 Positive collusion 9 Challenge omnipotence 10 Dealing with change and systems 11 Change in organisation 12 Conclusion 13 References 14 2 Introduction In this essay, organisations are to be understood as complex entities, in which many factors play a role in how the organisation is designed and functions both consciously and unconsciously, internally and externally (Lewin, 1952). They are open systems that can survive only by exchanging materials with its environment (Rice & Miller, 1990). In an open system, the organisation imports raw materials and converts them into end products by carrying out various processes and tasks. However, the way an organisation is structured is influenced by both the social economic environment and the internal unconscious dynamics of its members. Three years ago, I joined a small consulting firm as a psychologist, who applies data analytics to behavioural change. Since I joined, the organisation has grown exponentially. It has quadrupled in size and has enlarged the range of its service offerings. However, last month, the organisation has been through a massive change due to a new data regulation, moving from a plan for exponential growth to one of merely surviving. To make sense of my organisations’ crisis, through the essay I will discuss its practices of anxiety and defence mechanisms. It will first focus on how primitive anxieties and defences operate in the work of Melanie Klein. Next, drawing on the work of Menzies Lyth, it will move to explore how those primitive aspects of the inner world can be applied to group and organisation. Lastly, I will draw on some of Tavistock’s theoretical work on change. My experience at work will be considered as the material against which the theory will be measured. 3 Primitive anxiety and defences One of the bases of psychodynamic thinking is that individuals face the need to manage and defend against the anxiety provoked by the tension of conflicting impulses. The study of defences was developed by Freud but expanded by Melanie Klein, in her work with children in the relationship with primary figures. One of the defences most explored by Melanie Klein is the concept of splitting. The Kleinian idea is that the infant, since birth, has to deal with the anxiety provoked by the death instinct. Moving from a secure and comfortable place to reality, the infant experiences both hunger and frustration. To survive, the infant then projects those primitive instincts to both his ego and the primary object, the mother’s breast. The splitting, as a primitive mechanism of defence, is the result of the attribution of negative feelings (the mother’s breast is felt to be frustrating and persecutory) and positive feelings (the mother’s breast is gratifying and loved). From here the definition of good and bad objects is central to the schizoid paranoid position. As Segal wrote, “...in Melanie Klein’s view, sufficient ego exists at birth to experience anxiety, use defence mechanisms and form primitive object-relations in phantasy and reality” (Segal 1988, p. 24). In Kleinian theory, unconscious phantasies underline every mental process and accompany all mental activity, guiding the emotional experience of object and reality. Those feelings, for Melanie Klein, are not just projected in the mother but they are also interiorised in a circle between the infant and the mother. Klein introduced the concept of projective identification, considered a two-person process. Following Klein theory, Ogden, in his paper ‘On projective identification’, defined how projective identification is based on three steps: ridding parts or aspect of him/herself and putting in someone else in a controlling way. Second, aspecting that the recipient experiences the feeling projected. Lastly, the receiver identify with the projection (Ogden, 1979) The concepts of splitting, projective identification and unconscious phantasy are the basis for understanding how primitive anxiety plays a role in organisations. 4 Unconscious phantasies at work Drawing from the Klein theory I will discuss a problematic emotionality that pervades my way to be at work and in my role. When I join my organisation, I was looking to work as a psychologist for quite a while. In joining the organisation, I carried with me many phantasies and expectations of my role. Firstly, I was looking to be recognised and acquire status as professional. Secondly, I was looking for a structure where I could feel contained and where I could work with other people and create relationships. Re-thinking of the last three years in the organisation I realised how those phantasies guided my judgement, making me often feeling trapped and immobilised. After few months, I joined the organisation I felt I found a little family of friends, be part of something that it was growing, gaining success and recognition. On the other side, I felt that I was not aligned with the task or with the choice of clients. Referring to the Kleinian concept of splitting; the organisation was for me a good object that fed my need to be part of a group and may need to be recognised, but also it represented a bad object as its values, ethics and methodologies were not represents me. Projection, defences and authority Being played by my phantasies in a schizo-paranoid position had a significant effect on my capacity to take a role and dealing with authority. Obholzer (1994) describes three sources of authority in organisations; authority from above (from a board or authority), below (recognised by the member of the system) and within ( personal relationship with your meaning of authority). Obholzer associates the lack of authority from within with the inner world of infant relationships. Differently, I believe the authority from within has much to do with unconscious phantasy of the workplace. A missed integration of personal authority can affect how authority is perceived from above and below. I relate this hypothesis to my experience. I can see how I projected my unwanted part to different people of the organisation. In my three years in the company, I refused more or less directly, any of the managers that I was given, often accusing them of being incompetent in managing me. Re-looking at those dynamics, I believe the I projected in them my inadequate feelings, which they then were identified with, so feeling unable to manage me. As a manager, myself, I acted the strategy of being friendly and compliant, avoiding to be challenged or not recognised. I believe that I was defending from the same anxiety that I projected on people 5 above me. My unconscious phantasies of being inadequate challenged my authority from within performing defence and projection. 6 From primitive to social defences, the notion of collusion As discussed in the previous paragraphs, individuals use defences to deal with their life, and their unconscious phantasies often guide their experiences. How do those primitive defences develop from the individual to a large group and organisations? Basic assumption in groups One of the first who studied primitive anxiety and defences in groups is Wilfred Bion. In his book ‘Experiences in Groups’, published in 1961, Bion argues that in every group, two groups are present: work-group and basic-assumption mentality and functioning. These terms refer to fundamental aspects of group thinking and feeling or defending from difficult and painful real thought and true feeling. Both those mentalities describe the ability of group members to relate and to engage, with each other and with the purpose for which the group was formed. If the workgroup mentality is the one that consciously carries out its primary task, the basic assumption mentality, by contrast, describes is based on unconscious mechanisms. Those mechanisms have a defensive nature; the group uses them to defend against difficult feelings in order to survive the task. In my organisation, was interesting how the group unconsciously move from one basic assumption to another, in the moment of crisis. Before the crises, the leader of the organisation was seen as the one who had the power to make the company grow, idealised by many and criticised by some senior individuals (the basic assumption of dependency). As soon as the crisis started, the group shift to attach the same leader, blaming him and waiting for his resignation (the basic assumption of fight-flight). Lastly, the group was distress and freeze for its future the collusion in the group was to wait that to the two other leaders (the CFO and the head of data), would pair to save and lead the company in the change (the basic assumption of paring). With his work, Bion opened up the idea that there is a shared unconscious symbolisation of the group from the individuals that are participating in the group. This idea of an unconscious collusion, which draws a fundamental bridge to understand human relations in organisations. 7 Social defences Menzies (1960) was the first to develop on both Klein and Bion’s psychoanalytic theories, suggesting how groups of individuals unconsciously and collaboratively shape the organisations to which they belong. Differently from Jaques (1951), in Menzies’ work the system is more than a reflection of unconscious fantasy. Developing from Klein’s theory: “The nurse project infantile phantasy situations into current work situations and experience the objective situation as a mixture of objective reality and phantasy” (Menzies, 1960, p.49). In her report on a study of the nursing service of a general hospital, she observed how the nurses were using several defences in order to deal with the difficult psychological demands of both patients and relatives. She called those defences ‘social defences’. A social defence system develops over time as a result of collusive interaction and agreement, often unconscious, between members of the organisation as to what form it shall take. Menzies, 1960, p.51 In her work, she described a lively culture of projection, identification and primitive anxieties not well contained1 b y the social system: “Social defence systems represented the institutionalization of very primitive psychic defence mechanisms, a main characteristic of which is that they facilitate the evasion of anxiety but contribute little to it's true modification or reduction.” (Menzies, 1960, p. 77) An example of defence against the anxiety from my organisation is the need for standardisation of client proposal. This need has been express both by the client service team and the sales team. Interesting is that both of those teams sit within the boundaries between the organisation system and the client system. Opposite, my team part of transformation phase in the organisation the system, was cut out from the proposal phase. Standardisation, I believe, that the standardisation has the function of defending against the anxiety of dealing with different clients’ need and the anxiety to bring more clients into the business. Likewise, it plays as a defence against the anxiety of dealing within boundaries and competences between teams in the organisation. Containment is for Klein the function of mother to contain the infant frustration. This construct it’s also use by Bion, Container-Contained, as foundation for his theory of thinking 1 8 Positive collusion On the notions of collusion2 and unconscious phantasy is founded the technique theory of the Italian psycho-sociologists Renzo Carli and Rosa Maria Paniccia. Based on their approach, it is impossible to not collude. However, they posit that both a functional and nonfunctional collusion exist, contrary to Menzies’ idea that all collusions are dysfunctional which I believe it is one of the limits of Menzies work. For the Italian authors, organisations tend to create functional collusion between different members of staff and also with their clients. When external or internal conditions change, then those collusions lose their efficacy and become dysfunctional - known as collusion failure. According to the authors, this is the moment where the organisation calls in a consultant. The client in this instance has the unconscious expectation to make the previous collusion functional again and project phantasies to the consultant. On the other side of the ocean, inspired by the Tavistock work, Edgar H. Schein defines culture as ‘a pattern of basic assumptions, invented, discovered, or developed by a given group, as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore is to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems’ (Schein, 2010) Concluding, seems that there is an agreement on how individuals unconscious phantasies are shared in groups and organisation as a collusive basic assumption. However, the significant contribution of Menzies to define and identify social defences, more recent authors have taken a different position on the function of those defences in organisation. The construct of collusion allows for relationships to contain an asymmetry, which can organize the construction of specific modes of relating oriented to the target. The collusive process is presented as the intermediate dimension between the symmetry of the relationship that mixes the self and the other in an absence of identity, and the capacity to exchange with the other person in a relationship designed to achieve shared aims. (Carli, Giovagnoli 2010) 2 9 Challenge omnipotence The last few months have been interesting as they opened up to many questions of what big data are both from the consumer that from an organisation perspective. Based on my experience, I believe that phantasy of omnipotence characterises data. This phantasy has influenced how the business of my organisation has been based on. Within this phantasy, the organisation has been selling more than we tested or what we were able to understand. The organisation has invested in recognition of competence; it prioritised sales over products. I've felt victim for quite a while invested by those phantasies, impotent to questioning anything related to data methodology or data use. The data science methodology it has been idealised internally as good/omnipotent (and omniscience) that cannot be questioned, the cost of loss of professional legitimacy and internal credibility. To avoid this realisation, the organisation has generated a working system in which any department can see the whole production process, and no one department is responsible for product outcome. Differently but also similarly of what Menzies discussed in her work, those devices, such micro tasks, allowed the system to survive and deal with the anxiety of the delivery quality results. The crises I described, is the result of the failure of the omnipotent phantasies that data where holding, uncovering defences acted by the organisation and provoking new anxiety related change. 10 Dealing with change and systems Many of the constructs now used by organisational consultants come from the work of Elliott Jaques, Isabel Menzies Lyth, Eric Trist, Ken Bamforth, Ken Rice, Erich Miller and their Tavistock colleagues. Working in different fields, they had, in commune, attempted to make sense of the deep changes that were occuring in the social, economical, political and technical aspects of organisations. In looking at those questions, they also observed the interconnection between the inner world of the people in the organisation and the hard systemic aspect of the organisation. Their thinking combined Klein’s work with children, Bion’s work group s, and Lewin’s system thinking. The work of Trist and Bamforth on the Longwall is a great example of how social defences work in organisations; it also pioneered the sociotechnical3 a pproach in organisations. In their study, they examined the introduction of a new work system, from a hand-go system4 to the longwall system. This change was intended to improve productivity and mass-production, but it had an enormous impact on the structure of the work, roles and tasks, and even more on the social relationships in the organisation. The change was effective, just when the social system was integrated in technological one. As Trist and Bamforth wrote: It would appear that the self-enclosed character of the relationship makes it difficult for groups of this kind to combine effectively in differentiated structures on a somewhat larger social magnitude (Trist & Bamforth, 1951) An example in the work of Trist and Bamforth is the how the technological implementation have changed the working hours. The longwall system is characterised by a series of operations that have to follow each other in a rigid succession over three shifts of seven and half hours. Workmen were distributed on each shift and operation, often different than the one they were used to. The communication started to be difficult as before they used to work in small group and have their own way to communicate but also because they were acting an defence against the change of the social system. Sociotechnical systems is used in organisational development as an approach to complex organisational work. This framework allows recognises the interaction between people and technology in workplaces 4 In the earlier "hand-got" method people worked in face-to-face groups to mine coal. Their tasks were multiple, and choice of workmates was critical and often kinship ties made by the men themselves 3 11 In this paragraph I wanted highlight how, when considering anxiety and defences in organisation, we must keep in mind that organisation are systems that deal with the outside and inside changes. The commune point its that those changes challenges both unconscious basic assumptions and work structures in the organisation creating often new anxiety and new defences. Change in organisation As mentioned in the introduction my organisation is going through a change as consequence of a recent scandal on data and the introduction of a new data regulation. Just a few months before the crises the organisation hired a head of marketing with the role of helping the organisation in branding and dealing with the different business identities In this period of crisis, this new individual played a pivotal role in helping the organisation moving forward, as a need to adapt to an external change. As a part of re-branding lead by the head of marketing, I proposed to work with the different group to reflect on the change and redefine the value, and consequently the work system moving forward. Even if this offer was welcomed, it was differently interpreted by several people in the company. In particular, the head of HR pushed back as he was afraid to uncover difficulty feelings in the organisation. Opposite the head of marketing wanted me to do it as a matter of urgency. I felt in the middle of a conflict, and I felt that from both the side, there was anxiety related to change with great difficulty in naming it. To make sense of my position and my feelings towards both sides, I started to think of what this rebranding meant for the system. Relating to the work of Trist and Bamforth, I believe that the re-branding was the answer to the external social change, but as in the introduction of new technologies in organisation, it was not enough to help the company to deal with the anxiety. Contrary functioned as a defence to the crisis-provoking more anxiety and conflicts. The head of marketing was holding the need for change as a mechanism to survive, and the head of HR was expressing the anxiety and defences of the system. In my proposal to create a space to think about the change I was offering an alternative to those defences which probably the system was not ready to explore. 12 Conclusion In a recent book, David Armstrong and Michael Rustin (2015) have collected together different experiences of working with social defences against anxiety, including a contribution from health care, the private sector, social welfare and education. Organisations perform different tasks and have different structures and sizes, but they all need to deal with anxiety and defences related to the task, structure and systems. However, an organisation can positively collude and be challenged when this collusion fails (Carli & Paniccia, 2005) or can trigger more anxiety and dysfunction (Menzies, 1960). In my organisation, those anxiety are also related to the task, boundaries and role. Interesting I believed, it is how a change in the organisation can help to reflect on those unconscious but also systemic mechanism. However, I learn from my experience that organisation tend to avoid quickly recreate new defences to answer to the anxiety provoked by the change. These last months were useful for me to realise how unconscious phantasies and primitive defences blinded me from having a broader picture of the organisation. I realised that I turn a blind eye to the organisation and its leaders, focusing mostly on my little world of conflict, and not on the bigger picture. I conclude that I did turn the blind eye5 as many others, probably as defences of the anxiety of leaving both the family I found and the status that I acquire in working in a recognised organisation. 5 I relate this aspect to the work of the psychoanalyst John Steiner (1985). He argues that the story of Ophelius is the story of a cover up. Steiner identifies two conditions which allowed the cover up of the Ophelius to be effective. The first is based on the illusion that there are not prove in support, the doubt that it may be wrong. The second is collusion, which require ‘conspirations’, interesting party who share the interest to turn away, turning the blind eye. 13 References Armstrong, D. and Rustin, M. eds., 2014. Social defences against anxiety: Explorations in a paradigm. Karnac Books. Bion, W.R., 2003. Experiences in groups: And other papers. Routledge. Carli, R., Paniccia, R. M. 2003. L’analisi della domanda. Teoria e tecnica dell’intervento in psicologia clinica [The analysis of the demand. Theory and technique of the clinical psychological intervention]. Il Mulino. Carli, R. and Giovagnoli, F., 2010. The unconscious in Ignacio Matte Blanco’s thought. Rivista di psicologia Clinica, (1). Hinshelwood, R.D. 1994, ‘The mind at birth’, and ‘Earliest object relations’, extracts from Clinical Klein. Free Association Books, London, pp. 28–34. Lenthall, A., 1998. ‘Turning a blind eye’: Implications for organizations and consultancy. Menzies, I.E., 1960. 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