David Levine
Course Objectives
This is a course in the social psychology of groups and organizations. In the course, we explore the kinds of interactions and human experiences typical in organizations and groups, how those interactions and experiences can facilitate achieving collective ends, and how they can impede accomplishing those ends. We will consider the hidden dimensions of group life, the roots of group and organizational failure, the development of organizational identity, and the ethics of organizational behavior. Special emphasis will be placed on the prospects for creativity in group and organizational experience.
Texts
Hirshberg, Jerry (1998) The Creative Priority (HarperBusiness).
Hirschhorn, Larry (1988) The Workplace Within (M.I.T. Press).
Outline of Topics
1. Introduction
Stein (1994), pp. 1-24
2. Groups
Turquet (1974)
Diamond (1991)
3. Attunement and Containment
4. Social Defenses
Menzies (1959)
Hirschhorn (1988) pp. 1-11, Chapter 4
5. Boundaries, Roles, and Professional Ethics
Hirschhorn (1988) Chapter 3
Levine (2005)
6. Organizational Fantasy
Kets de Vries and Miller (1984) Chapter 2.
Diamond (1993) Chapter 4
Schwartz (1991)
7. Leadership I: Group Dynamics
Hirschhorn (1988) Chapters 6
Kernberg (1980)
Zaleznik (1991)
8. Leadership II: Negative Capability and Reflective Autonomy
Winnicott (1986) pp. 39-54
Hirshberg, (1998) pp. 1-121
9. Narcissism, Greed and Envy
Hirschhorn (1988) Chapter 8
10. The Reparative Organization
Klein (1962), recommended.
Allcorn,
Seth and Michael Diamond (1997) Managing
People during Stressful Times (
Bion,
W.R. (1961) Experiences in Groups (
Diamond, Michael (1991) "Stresses of Group Membership:
Balancing the Need for
___ (1993) The Unconscious Life
of Organizations (
___ (2009) and Seth Allcorn Private Selves in Public Organizations (Palgrave Macmillan)
___ and Guy Adams (1999) "The Psychodynamics of Ethical Behavior in Organizations," American Behavioral Scientist 43:2 (October).
French, Robert and Peter Simpson (1999), "Our Best Work Happens
When We Don't Know What We're Doing," Socio-Analysis
1:2.
Jaques, Elliott (1955) "Social Systems as Defence against Persecutory and Depressive Anxiety," in M. Klein, P. Heimann, and R.E. Money-Kyrle (ed) New Directions in Psycho-Analysis (New York: Basic Books).
Kets de Vries, Manfred F.R. and Danny Miller (1984) The Neurotic Organization (
Kernberg, Otto, (1980) "Regression in Leaders," in
O. Kernberg (editor) Internal World and
External Reality (
Klein, Melanie. 1962. “Love, Guilt and Reparation,” in Love, Hate and Reparation, Jean Riviere
and Melanie Klein. (London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis).
Levine, David (1999) "Creativity and Change," American Behavioral Scientist 43:2 (October).
___ (2005) “The Corrupt Organization,” Human Relations 58, 6 http://mysite.du.edu/~dlevine/Publications.html
___ (2010) Object Relations, Work and the Self (London: Routledge Mental Health)
Menzies, I. (1959) “The
Functioning of Social Systems as a Defense Against Anxiety: A Report on a Study
of the Nursing Service at a
Shapiro, Edward and A. Wesley Carr (1991) Lost in Familiar Places (
Stein, Howard (1994), Listening Deeply (Boulder, Co.: Westview
Press).
Schwartz, Howard (1991) "Organizational
Decay and Loss of Reality," in M. Kets De Vries et al., Organizations on the Couch (
____ (1990) Narcissistic
Process and Organizational Decay (
Sievers, Burkhard (1993) Work, death and life itself: Essays on
management and organization. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Turquet,
Winnicott, Donald (1986)
"Living Creatively," in Home
is Where We Start From. (
Zaleznik, Abraham (1991) "Leading and Managing:
Understanding the Difference" in M. Kets De Vries et al., Organizations on the Couch (
Web Sites:
Center for the Study of Organizational Change, University of Missouri: http://csoc.missouri.edu/
International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations: http://www.ispso.org