IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eurman/v22y2004i2p183-200.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Organizations on the Couch:: A Clinical Perspective on Organizational Dynamics

Author

Listed:
  • Kets de Vries, Manfred

Abstract

In this article the argument is made that unconscious dynamics have a significant impact on life in organizations. In support of that argument, the salient aspects of the clinical paradigm are introduced, motivational need systems are explored, and observations are made about the role of core conflictual relationship themes in understanding behavior. The psychodynamics of leadership are discussed, including the role of narcissism, transferential patterns, and the Monte Cristo complex. Other themes reviewed include collusive superior - subordinate relationships (such as identification with the aggressor and folie á deux) and the psychodynamics of groups (including regressive patterns such as fight - flight, dependency, and pairing behavior). The concept of social defenses -- that is, a system of relationships (reflected in the organizational or social structure) constructed to help people deal with persecutory and depressive anxiety--is introduced. This discussion is followed by a description of the characteristics of neurotic organizations. Five 'ideal' types of such organizations are identified: the dramatic/cyclothymic, suspicious, compulsive, detached and depressive organizations. Subsequently, the benefits of the clinical approach to organizational consultation and intervention are explored. Finally, a plea is made for the creation of 'authentizotic' organizations -- organizations in which people feel truly alive.

Suggested Citation

  • Kets de Vries, Manfred, 2004. "Organizations on the Couch:: A Clinical Perspective on Organizational Dynamics," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 183-200, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:22:y:2004:i:2:p:183-200
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263237304000179
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. García-Meca, Emma & Ramón-Llorens, Maria-Camino & Martínez-Ferrero, Jennifer, 2021. "Are narcissistic CEOs more tax aggressive? The moderating role of internal audit committees," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 223-235.
    2. Gilles Arnaud & Bénédicte Vidaillet, 2018. "Clinical and critical: The Lacanian contribution to management and organization studies," Post-Print hal-01591534, HAL.
    3. Jeremy B. Bernerth, 2022. "Does the Narcissist (and Those Around Him/Her) Pay a Price for Being Narcissistic? An Empirical Study of Leaders’ Narcissism and Well-Being," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(3), pages 533-546, May.
    4. Khoo, Shee-Yee & Perotti, Pietro & Verousis, Thanos & Watermeyer, Richard, 2024. "Vice-chancellor narcissism and university performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(1).
    5. Vasant Raval, 2018. "A Disposition-Based Fraud Model: Theoretical Integration and Research Agenda," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(3), pages 741-763, July.
    6. Eva Crespo-Cebada & Carlos Díaz-Caro & Aurora E. Rabazo-Martín & Edilberto J. Rodríguez-Rivero, 2021. "Do Narcissistic Managers Prefer Incentive Systems Based on Financial Instruments? An Analysis Based on Choice Experiments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-13, January.
    7. Nicola Pless, 2007. "Understanding Responsible Leadership: Role Identity and Motivational Drivers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 74(4), pages 437-456, September.
    8. Francesco Capalbo & Alex Frino & Ming Ying Lim & Vito Mollica & Riccardo Palumbo, 2018. "The Impact of CEO Narcissism on Earnings Management," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 54(2), pages 210-226, June.
    9. Lynn Godkin & Seth Allcorn, 2011. "Organizational Resistance to Destructive Narcissistic Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(4), pages 559-570, December.
    10. Niittymies, Aleksi & Pajunen, Kalle & Lamberg, Juha-Antti, 2022. "Temporality and firm de-internationalization: Three historical approaches," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(6).
    11. Calabrese, Armando, 2012. "Service productivity and service quality: A necessary trade-off?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 800-812.
    12. Matthias Pelster & Annette Hofmann & Nina Klocke & Sonja Warkulat, 2023. "Dark Triad Personality Traits and Selective Hedging," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 261-286, January.
    13. Antoinette Rijsenbilt & Harry Commandeur, 2013. "Narcissus Enters the Courtroom: CEO Narcissism and Fraud," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 413-429, October.
    14. Graf, Lorenz & König, Andreas & Enders, Albrecht & Hungenberg, Harald, 2012. "Debiasing competitive irrationality: How managers can be prevented from trading off absolute for relative profit," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 386-403.
    15. Jin‐Ki Hong & Ji‐Hwan Lee & Taewoo Roh, 2022. "The effects of CEO narcissism on corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(6), pages 1926-1940, September.
    16. Russell Craig & Joel Amernic, 2011. "Detecting Linguistic Traces of Destructive Narcissism At-a-Distance in a CEO’s Letter to Shareholders," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(4), pages 563-575, July.
    17. Kominis, George & Dudau, Adina, 2018. "Collective corruption–How to live with it: Towards a projection theory of post-crisis corruption perpetuation," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 235-242.
    18. Joel Amernic & Russell Craig, 2010. "Accounting as a Facilitator of Extreme Narcissism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(1), pages 79-93, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:22:y:2004:i:2:p:183-200. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/115/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.