Adlerian Psychology and
Organizational Development
Foundation Principles and
Future Perspectives
Presented by
Dr. Jay Colker
Outcome Objectives
Enhance understanding of Adlerian
principles
 View organizational development needs
and concerns with an Adlerian lens
 Explore future OD strategies within a
framework of change and innovative use
of foundation principles
 Provide examples of recent work using
Adlerian principles

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Foundation Adlerian Principles
Socially imbedded
 Self determining and creative
 Goal directed or teleological
 Growth model & striving for significance
 Holism

Adler, 1958; Adler, 1969; Ansbacher & Ansbacher , 1956;
Dreikurs, 1953; Dreikurs, 1971; Ferguson, 2010; Mosak,
1973; Mosak, 1977; Manaster & Corsini, 1995; Maniacci,
2006; Mosak & Maniacci, 1999; Shulman, 1973. Watts &
Shulman, 2006
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Socially Embedded
No one isolated; desire to belong; find a
place of significance
 Ability to cooperate and contribute is a
measure of social interest
 Well adjusted person behaves in line with
needs of the situation
 Mal-adjusted person has faulty concepts
of place in group, feelings of isolation and
inferiority, and mistaken goals, which are
compensation for these feelings

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Self Determining and Creative
Not heredity nor environment but own
conclusions (soft determinism)
 Phenomenology/subjectivity, i.e. own
interpretation of direct experiences
 Decisions are largely out of our awareness
 If self determined, they can change
 Optimistic

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Growth Model & Striving for
Significance
All experience inferiority
 Felt minus to perceived plus
 Striving for significance

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Goal Directed or Teleological
Not pushed by causes but by our own
dynamic striving towards our goals
 Some goals short term while others
provide long term direction within life style
 Inherent purpose of behavior; psychology
of use, not possession
 Classified as fictional or concrete
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Fictional support striving for significance
Concrete are approaches to achieve goals
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Holistic
Mind, body, and emotions working
together
 Lifestyle– a unifying principle
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Self concept, self ideal, view of world, view of
others, final conclusion of place of significance
Influences on life style
Life Tasks – approach to tasks and
perceived alignment to outside world
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Factors Promoting Growth &
Full Potential
Belonging
 Contribution
 Equality
 Cooperation
 Other centered
 High empathy
 Freedom to choose

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Factors Interfering with Growth &
Full Potential
Feeling alienated
 Not feeling able to contribute in a socially
useful way
 Felt inferiority and less than
 Over concern with status, pride, prestige,
i.e. self centered
 Compensatory striving often moves away
from cooperation into more personal goals

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Questions or Comments?
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Adlerian Journal Focus
on Organizations

Review of last 12 years of organizational
focused articles in Journal of Individual
Psychology (JIP)
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Belonging
Contributions, social equality, and feelings
of belonging are intimately connected
(Ferguson, 2010)
 Well being of individual connected to well
being of community (Ferguson, 2010);
work is a natural extension of this concept
 Updated empirical evidence on the need to
belong (Gere & MacDonald, 2010)

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Feeling valued and significant

Teslak (2010) connected feeling valued to
workplace motivation
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Recognizing individual’s passions, interests,
and values
Flexible organizational structures
Co-creating vision, collaboration, transparency
Inclusion and shared decision making
Enhancing social interest
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Mutual Respect and Democratic
Leadership (Ferguson, 2011)
Ferguson noted that implementing mutual
respect can enhance openness of
communication and sensitivity to diverse
perspectives.
 Ferguson also noted common themes of
democratic leadership
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Shared decision making
Problem solving with mutual respect
Common sense rather than private logic
Sharing responsibilities
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Encouragement vs. Discouragement
When people do not feel valued or
appreciated by the organization, they
disconnect (Ferguson, 2003)
 Encouragement and mutual respect
enhance well being of organizations
(Ferguson, 2006)

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Work Effectiveness
Cooperation replacing coercive methods
(Ferguson, 2003)
 Shift from vertical plane to horizontal
plane can be taught (Ferguson, 2007)

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Collaborative Problem Solving
Kummerow and Maguire (2010)
highlighted fostering collaborative problem
solving around concepts of social interest
and belonging within MBTI framework
 Framework helped employees more
readily accept differences

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Adlerian Principles Critical
to Organizations (Carlson, et.al., 2007)
Empathy
 Equality
 Encouragement
 Education
 Empowerment

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Coaching

Page (2003) noted coaching practices
aligned with Adlerian views
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Collaboration
Trusting person
Growth/action oriented
Choice, responsibility, & accountability
Stressing strengths
Future orientation
Life purpose
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Additional focus areas
Organizational intervention (Lemonides,
2007); holistic perspective; open systems
theory; alignment with larger environment
 Effectiveness of organizational initiative,
e.g. campus sustainability (Garner &
Bruszewski, 2010); tied to significance
and belonging
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Equal access to information
Own personal values to specific effort
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Additional focus areas
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Lifestyle
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Softness scale in BASIS-A inventory tied to
transformational leadership (Frey, et. al, 2009)
Organizational Life Style Analysis (Sperry &
Carlson cited in Premo & Andrews, 2010)
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Fit between intentions and actions organization-wide
Organizational concept, organizational ideal,
environmental views, and ethical convictions
Covers wide range of areas of assessment including
values, climate, culture, vision, etc.
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Questions or Comments?
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Human Capital Development
Purpose in organizations ensures optimal
return on investment and achievement of
organization’s objectives
 What are the major areas of focus that
lead organizations to create strategic
priorities and approaches to managing
human capital?

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Human Capital Areas of Focus
Recruitment & selection
 On-boarding
 Goal alignment; culture, strategy, and role
 Performance management &
reinforcement (reward systems)
 Diversity
 Team interaction
 Employee engagement
 Employee retention

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Human Capital Areas of Focus
Innovation
 Employee satisfaction
 Career development
 Health and wellness
 Work relations
 Leadership development
 Succession
 Change management

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Remainder of Presentation
Highlight approaches and philosophies in
organizational development that reflect
Adlerian perspectives
 Consider innovative next steps in
organizational development
 Provide some recent examples of my work
in organizations using Adlerian principles

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
OD & Adlerian Alignment
Pink (2009) offers a compelling case for
moving away from reward and
punishment models in organizations
 Pink suggests three issues are critical to
motivation
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autonomy , i.e. role of choice
mastery , i.e. continually improving in
something that matters
purpose, i.e. the yearning to do what we do in
the service of something larger than ourselves.
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
OD & Adlerian Alignment
Generational differences (Dychtwald et al.,
2006)
 Cultural alignment with personal values
(Fancher, 2007)
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Personal values and beliefs of leaders become
imbedded in culture, particularly founders
Retention depends on alignment of culture,
individual and organizational values, individual
and organizational identities, and a dedication
to common goals
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
OD & Adlerian Alignment

Meyers et al. (2006) concepts of social
identities and commitments
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Individual defines self in part through social
identify which determines commitment
Situational identity means association as long
as one benefits
Deep structure identity (p. 667) means
changing self view to include views of all
individuals
Self concept includes a shared set of
characteristics
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
OD & Adlerian Alignment
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Ambrose et al. (2008) discussed personorganization fit
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Alignment of moral development and ethical
work climate
Ethical values are shared beliefs of right ways
to behave and how ethical issues are
addressed
Alignment of personal ethics with
organization’s ethical values resulted in higher
levels of commitment and job satisfaction and
lower levels of intent to leave
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
OD & Adlerian Alignment
Dunford (2002) discussed “institutional
isomorphism” (p.57) which focuses on
how rules, norms, and beliefs influence
interactions
 Dunford also examined role of language
on people’s thoughts about management
 Padaki (2000) noted consistent practices
over time are organizational values and
have an accompanying set of behaviors

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
OD & Adlerian Alignment
Padaki noted importance of identifying
core beliefs among relevant sample of
people in organization and agreement on
consistency of values (organizational life
style?)
 Padaki also noted a “sectoral field” (p.
426) places certain expectation on an
organization and thus, a grouping of
similar values may exist in the field itself

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Mental Models and System’s Thinking
Individual beliefs are mental models
(Jonassen et al., 2005; Senge, 2006)
 Individual beliefs or shared identity
(Senge et al, 2004)
 Personality, environment, language,
thought, meaning, and community are
part of same system (Dent, 2003; Maani &
Maharaj, 2004; Senge, 2003)
 Feedback in system has direct impact on
what occurs within system (Bardoel &
Haslett, 2004)

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Mental Models and System’s
Thinking
Individual behavior and group behavior of
same individuals may be quite different
due to language and norms influencing
individuals (Gureckis & Gladstone, 2006)
 Basu and Palazzo (2008) discussed
“mental frames and sense making
processes”; leader thinking translates into
processes and perceptions

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Mental Models and System’s
Thinking
Schreiber and Carley (2006) noted the
intelligence of the collective is a
competitive advantage
 Leaders who are working collectively at
the intersection of information flows
enhance the ability to adapt and learn
 Authors concluded, “participative-style
leadership enables conditions that
stimulate higher levels of human and
social capital co-evolution” (p. 71)

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Additional Perspectives
Miles (2007) noted collaboration and
information creation and sharing, based
on trust, are critical components of
innovation.
 Doz and Kosonen (2007) note when
leaders have collective responsibility for
results, the company becomes more
strategically agile

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Innovative Next Steps
Seminal work of crowdsourcing (Howe,
2009)
 Tapping into networks (Bryan, et al.,
2007)
 Role of technology and access to
information
 Shared responsibility and ownership
 Group coaching

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Example in International
Manufacturing Company
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Design
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Crowdsourced CoachingTM
Assumes collectively leaders know 80% or
more about optimal leadership approaches
Outcomes
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Sharing of best practices
Recognition of not being alone
Enhanced accountability to apply best practices
Learning from other participants’ problems and
approaches
Network of support
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Leadership Intervention Example
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Problem
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VP of Manufacturing old school authoritarian
leader (in role 40 years)
President and VP friends since high school
President unwilling to manage the problem
Solution
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Group accountability through succession
council
1-1 interview data openly shared
Council is driving shared responsibility and
new expectations
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Non-Profit Intervention Example
Large non-profit (500 + employees)
 Currently substantial problems within the
culture
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Top down management
EEOC complaint
High employee dissatisfaction
Intervention: 2 questions
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How do we want to be treated?
How do we want to treat others?
Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
Summary
Adlerian principles remain vibrant and
relevant
 Adlerian views add value when examining
organizational development needs and
concerns
 Foundation principles may also offer an
opportunity for innovation

Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
References
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Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker
References (continued)
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Copyright (c) 2013 Dr. Jay Colker