Psychic Prisons Lecture
- 2. Clifford Geertz “Man is an animal trapped in webs of significance he himself has spun“ (thinkexist.com, October 2010).
- 3. Psychic Webs Favored Ways of Thinking Organizations and the Unconscious Organization and Patriarchal Family Organization, Death, & Immortality
- 4. Psychic Webs (Continued) Organization and Anxiety Organization and Teddy Bear Organization, Shadow, and Archetype
- 5. Favored Ways of Thinking Getting caught up in past excellence Blockbuster USPS Yahoo Pathological Organizations Enron WorldCom KMart Bernie Madoff
- 6. Groupthink Irving Janis coined the term groupthink Group illusions and perceptions that are self sealing Charisma Invulnerability Conformity Rationalizing Ingredients necessary for groupthink
- 7. Organizations & the Unconscious Everyday life has preoccupations & concerns that lie beneath conscious awareness Tangible actions seen are caused by human psyche People are meeting hidden dimensions of themselves Psyche and unconscious hold us as psychological prisoners Self Understanding is necessary to overcome this
- 8. Sigmund Freud Repressed Sexuality Patriarchal Family Fear of Death Anxieties linked to Infancy Collective Unconscious
- 9. Frederick Taylor & Scientific Management Control was the preoccupation Mastering every aspect of life and business Meticulous Controlling self through controlling the world Productive Neurosis Clash of management styles Scientific Manager vs. Laissez faire
- 10. Control of the Body Connection between the rise of organizations and sexual control Michel Foucault feels control of the body is needed to control social, political life Correlation? Breakdown of organization to increase in sexual crimes.
- 11. Organization and the Patriarchal Family Conceptual prison Produces and reproduces organizational structures with male values Intuition, nurture, empathy-downplayed Fortitude, courage, heroism valued Frustration/Prison lies in having your philosophy undervalued
- 12. Organization, Death, & Immortality Humans push thoughts of their demise into their unconscious Symbolic acts are flights from our own mortality Accomplishments, positions held, legacy are larger accomplishments larger than ourselves
- 13. Quest for Immortality Behavior in organizations are better understood by realizing what we do is our own personal quest for immortality Organizations are: Larger than life surviving for generations We find meaning in being involved with organizations Our roles become our reality
- 14. Illusions of Control Work smarter not harder Pretend you are your own CEO no matter your role Lets learn to do things better every day Be different, don’t do things the same way Arrogant, underestimation, over valuing our roles
- 15. Anxiety and Defense Mechanisms Dependency-What do we do? How do we finish this? If only the country had a leader like Ronald Reagan! Pairing-Barack Obama-The candidate Fight-flight-Toyota, AT&T, provisioning (internal departments) Scapegoat, persecution stance-Rich Rodriguez
- 16. Organizations and Teddy Bears What objects do we cherish in our organization? First roles, jobs A decade in time Ways to communicate Organizations before technology Never working on holidays-Past rules, regulations Allow people to be in control when making changes
- 17. Archetypes Recurring themes of thoughts and experience that seem to have universal significance Mythology, literature (apocalyptic, demonic, romantic, tragic) These themes give people a sense of place in their lives Gives sense of who you are, where they are
- 18. Lee Meadows January 2010 “Work, well work can get you involved in a mess!”
- 19. Meaning of quote Getting caught up in a psychic prison can sap your energy Psychic Prisons can alter daily routines for the worse Can create negative group dynamics Relevance of self and group can be doubted
- 20. Adjusting to the Unconscious Psychic prison metaphor allows: Sensitivity to hidden meanings of every day actions Us to learn how to transform unconscious energy into constructive actions Affects group dynamics, leadership, innovation and change Improvement in understanding about how we construct and interpret our realities
- 21. Strengths of the psychic prison metaphor Encourages us to challenge basic assumptions about how we see and experience the world Gain insights into the challenges of organizational innovation and change Irrational is put in a new perspective Allows integration and to manage competing tensions Allows us to become more ethical
- 22. Limitations to the psychic prison metaphor Lose sight of other factors that play a role in leading and organizing Ignores vested interest and reality of power Unconscious can be exploited