The Social Engagement of Social Science, a Tavistock Anthology, Volume 1: The Socio-Psychological Perspective 9781512819748

Table of contents :
Contents
Preface
Historical Overview. The Foundation and Development of the Tavistock Institute
Volume I. The Socio-Psychological Perspective
Introduction
A New Social Psychiatry: A World War II Legacy
The Transformation of Selection Procedures. The War Office Selection Boards
The Discovery of the Therapeutic Community. The Northfield Experiments
Transitional Communities and Social Reconnection. The Civil Resettlement of British Prisoners of War
Varieties of Group Process
Bion Revisited. Group Dynamics and Group Psychotherapy
An Educational Model for Group Dynamics. The Phenomenon of an Absent Leader
Experiential Learning in Groups I. The Development of the Leicester Model
Experiential Learning in Groups II. Recent Developments in Dissemination and Application
The Psycho-Dynamics of an Inter-Group Experience
Courses and Working Conferences as Transitional Learning Institutions
Action Research in Minisocieties
Task and Sentient Systems and Their Boundary Controls
Individual, Group and Inter-Group Processes
New Paths in Family Studies
The Study and Reduction of Group Tensions in the Family
Non-Medical Marital Therapy. The Growth of the Institute of Marital Studies
Conjugal Roles and Social Networks
Dual-Career Families. The Evolution of a Concept
The Dynamics of Organizational Change
Working-Through Industrial Conflict. The Service Department at the Glacier Metal Company
The Use of Unrecognized Cultural Mechanisms in an Expanding Machine Shop. With a Contribution to the Theory of Leadership
On the Dynamics of Social Structure. A Contribution to the Psychoanalytical Study of Social Phenomena Deriving from the Views of Melanie Klein
Social Systems as a Defense Against Anxiety. An Empirical Study of the Nursing Service of a General Hospital
A Psychoanalytical Perspective on Social Institutions
The Assumption of Ordinariness as a Denial Mechanism. Innovation and Conflict in a Coal Mine
Temporary Withdrawal from Work Under Full Employment. The Formation of an Absence Culture
Freedom and Justice Within Walls. The Bristol Prison Experiment and an Australian Sequel
The Unconscious in Culture and Society
Culture as a Psycho-Social Process
Thoughts on the Meaning of the Word Democracy
Notes on the Russian National Character
Latent Content of Television Viewing
Asylum and Society
Contributors
Subject Index
Name Index

Citation preview

The Social Engagement of Social Science

A series in three volum es

Volum e I: The Socio-Psychological Perspective Volum e II: The Socio-Technical Perspective Volum e III: The Socio-E cological Perspective

The Social Engagement of Social Science A Tavistock Anthology Edited by Eric Trist and Hugh Murray Assistant Editor: Beulah Trist Volume I: The Socio-Psychological Perspective

The University of Pennsylvania Press P h ila d e lp h ia

Copyright © 1990 by the University of Pennsylvania Press All rights reserved

Permission is acknowledged to reprint portions and excerpts from published materials: H. Bridger, “ The Northfield Experiment,” Bulletin o f the Menninger Clinic 10, 3 (1946): 71-76 ; and W. R. Bion, “ The Leaderless Group Project,” Bulletin o f the Menninger Clinic 10, 3 (1946): 77 -8 1. Copyright 1946 by the Menninger Foundation. J. D. Sutherland, from Bion and Group Psychotherapy, ed. Malcolm Pines. London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985. Reprinted by permission of Routledge and Kegan Paul. Elizabeth Bott (Spillius), “ Hospital and Society,” British Journal o f Medical Psychology 49 (1976): 97-140. Articles appearing in various issues of Human Relations. Volume, issue, and pages are indicated at the opening of each portion. Articles and books published by Tavistock Publications. Specific references are indicated at the opening of each portion. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Social engagement of social science : a Tavistock anthology / edited by Eric Trist and Hugh Murray ; assistant editor, Beulah Trist. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. Contents: v. 1. The socio-psychological perspective ISBN 0-8122-8192-6 I. Social psychology. 2. Social psychiatry. 3. Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. I. Trist, E. L. II. Murray, Hugh, Dr. HM251.S67124 1990 302— dc20 89-28856 CIP

These volumes are dedicated to

DR. A . T. M A C B E T H W I L S O N Founder Member and Chairman (1948-1958) Tavistock Institute o f Human Relations

Contents

Preface

E ric Trist and Hugh Murray Historical O verview : The Foundation and D evelopm ent o f the Tavistock Institute

xi

i

Volume I: The Socio-Psychological Perspective Introduction to Volum e I

37

A New Social Psychiatry: A World War II Legacy

39

Hugh Murray The Transformation o f Selection Procedures: The War Office Selection Boards

45

Harold Bridger The D iscovery o f the Therapeutic Com m unity: The Northfield Experiments

68

A.T.M . Wilson, E ric Trist and Adam Curie Transitional Com m unities and Social Reconnection: The C ivil Resettlement o f British Prisoners o f War

88

Varieties of Group Process

113

J.D . Sutherland Bion Revisited: Group D ynam ics and Group Psychotherapy

119

Eléonore Herbert and E ric Trist A n Educational M odel for Group Dynam ics: The Phenomenon o f an Absent Leader

141

vi ii

Contents

Eric J. M iller Experiential Learning in Groups I: The D evelopm ent o f the Leicester M odel

165

Eric J. M iller Experiential Learning in Groups II: Recent D evelopm ents in Dissem ination and Application

186

Gurth Higgin and H arold Bridger The Psycho-D ynam ics o f an Inter-Group Experience

199

H arold Bridger Courses and Working Conferences as Transitional Learning Institutions

221

Gurth Higgin and Gunnar H jelholt A ction Research in M inisocieties

246

E ric J. M iller and A .K . R ice Task and Sentient System s and Their Boundary Controls

259

A .K . R ice Individual, Group and Inter-Group Processes

272

New Paths in Family Studies

285

John Bowlby The Study and Reduction o f Group Tensions in the Fam ily

291

D ouglas Woodhouse N on-M edical Marital Therapy: The G rowth o f the Institute o f Marital Studies

299

Elizabeth Bott Spillius Conjugal Roles and Social N etworks

323

Rhona Rapoport and Robert N. Rapoport Dual-Career Families: The Evolution o f a Concept

351

The Dynamics of Organizational Change

373

Elliott Jaques W orking-Through Industrial Conflict: The Service Department at the G lacier M etal Com pany

379

Contents

ix

A .K . R ice The U se o f U nrecognized Cultural M echanism s in an Expanding M achine Shop: W ith a Contribution to the Theory o f Leadership

405

Elliott Jaques On the D ynam ics o f Social Structure: A Contribution to the Psychoanalytical Study o f Social Phenomena D eriving from the V iew s o f M elanie K lein

420

Isabel M enzies Lyth Social System s as a D efense Against Anxiety: A n Em pirical Study o f the Nursing Service o f a General Hospital

439

Isabel M enzies Lyth A Psychoanalytical Perspective on Social Institutions

463

E ric Trist, Gurth H iggin, Hugh Murray and Alexander P ollock The Assum ption o f Ordinariness as a Denial Mechanism: Innovation and C onflict in a C oal M ine

476

John H ill and E ric Trist Temporary W ithdrawal from Work Under Full Employment: The Formation o f an Absence Culture

494

Fred Emery Freedom and Justice W ithin Walls: The Bristol Prison Experiment and an Australian Sequel

5 11

The Unconscious in Culture and Society

533

E ric Trist Culture as a P sycho-Social Process

539

D.W. Winnieott Thoughts on the M eaning o f the Word D em ocracy

546

Henry D icks Notes on the Russian National Character

558

Fred Emery Latent Content o f Television V iew in g

574

X

Contents

Elizabeth Bott Spillius A sylum and Society

586

Contributors

613

Subject Index

615

Nam e Index

623

Preface

The Tavistock Institute o f Human Relations, a novel, interdisciplinary, actionoriented research organization, was founded in London in 1946 with the aid o f a grant from the R ockefeller Foundation. It was set up for the specific purpose o f actively relating the psychological and social sciences to the needs and concerns o f society. In sustaining this endeavor for more than forty years, it has w on international recognition. The circumstances o f World War II brought together an unusually talented group o f psychiatrists, clinical and social psychologists and anthropologists in the setting o f the British Arm y, where they developed a number o f radical inno­ vations in social psychiatry and applied social science. They becam e known as the “ Tavistock G roup” because the core members had been at the pre-war Tav­ istock C linic. Though only some o f them continued their involvem ent with the post-war Tavistock organization, those who did built on the war-time achieve­ ments to introduce a number o f far-reaching developm ents in several fields. This style o f research related theory and practice in a new m ode. In these v o l­ umes this style is called “ The Social Engagem ent o f Social S cien ce.” The word “ engagem ent” (which echoes French Existentialist usage) has been chosen as the best single word to represent the process by w hich social sci­ entists endeavor actively to relate them selves in relevant and m eaningful w ays to society. This overall orientation is reflected in what the editors have called “ perspectives,” o f w hich there are three: the socio-psychological, the sociotechnical and the socio-ecological. These perspectives are explained in the S e­ ries Introduction on the Foundation and D evelopm ent o f the Institute. They have evolved from each other in relation to societal change. T hey are interde­ pendent, yet each has its own focus and is represented in a separate volum e. The Institute’s theories and projects have resulted in a considerable number o f books, many o f w hich are regarded as classics. A large collection o f articles o f continuing interest are dispersed through various journals. There is a further collection o f little known manuscripts containing some outstanding contributions. These have been available only in document series maintained by the Institute and tw o or three closely related centers. This body o f w ork by many hands has never been gathered together. The present volum es offer a com prehensive selection o f these w ritings— a Tavistock anthology. There are now very few people left w ho were at the Institute at the beginning o f this saga. A s a founder member and sometime Chairm an I felt I should under-

xi i

Preface

take the required com pilation. H aving been in the United States for more than twenty years, however, I needed a co-editor still on the scene in London. A c ­ cordingly, I invited one o f m y oldest colleagues, Dr. Hugh Murray, to join me. A ll the contributions contain innovations in social psychiatry and the social sciences, either in concept or in the nature o f the projects undertaken; these have led in many cases to widespread developm ents in their fields and in some cases to the foundation o f entirely new fields. They look backward to show the origin, in the period follow ing World War II, o f much in current theory and practice whose historic depth is not w id ely known or appreciated. Th ey look forward to show the continuing relevance o f the material presented to tasks that lie ahead in many areas o f the social sciences and, more w idely, to the post­ industrial social order that is beginning to em erge from the “ turbulence” o f the present. In order to allow the inclusion o f as m any contributions as possible, the Volum e and Them e introductions have been kept short. The papers— m any o f them recent— are prim arily by members o f the founding generation and their successors over the follow ing two decades, whether they are still at the Institute or have m oved elsew here, as most o f them have. Som e o f the papers are by authors from related centers that developed later. This w ide dispersal o f people has enabled the original tradition to be enriched by developm ents in different settings in institutes and university departments in Com m onw ealth and European countries and in the United States. In this way, new insights have been added to those o f the founding body. From its beginnings as sim ply an organization in London, the Tavistock has becom e an international network. M ore than half the contributions have been rem odeled or specially written for these volum es. M any have one or more co-authors, as befits an enterprise characterized by a group orientation. Co-authors have not necessarily been members o f the Institute. The three volum es com prising The Social Engagem ent o f Social Science are dedicated to Dr. A .T . M acbeth W ilson, affectionately know n to us all as “ Tommy.” He was the one senior psychiatrist involved at the beginning w ho chose to stay with the separately incorporated Institute when the C lin ic entered the National Health Service in 1948. He was endowed with what C .W right M ills called “ the sociological im agination.” His seminal contributions date from the pre-war period and continued uninterrupted thereafter. Throughout his years as Chairman (19 4 8 -58 ) he carried the main burden when the Institute was struggling to find an independent identity. G ainesville Florida February 1989

E ric Trist

Eric Trist and Hugh Murray

Historical Overview The Foundation and Development of the Tavistock Institute

The Formative Years The Founding Tradition P re-W a r A n te c e d e n ts

A fter the fall o f France in 1 9 4 1 , the R oyal A ir Force, by winning the Battle o f Britain, prevented German invasion o f the British Isles. The evacuation from the Dunkirk beaches prevented the capture o f the core o f the regular army, including many o f the generals who were later to distinguish them selves. There w as, therefore, a chance to fight again but there was no land army o f any size to do so. It was thus im perative that Britain build a large land army in a hurry. Attempts to meet this need created immense problems in the utilization o f human resources (problems far more severe for the army than for the other services), but no measures tried in the first few months seemed to be effective. In 19 4 1 a group o f psychiatrists at the Tavistock C lin ic saw that the right questions were asked in Parliament in order to secure the means to try new measures. A s a result they were asked to join the Directorate o f A rm y Psychia­ try, and did so as a group. To understand how such a small group was able to be so influential, w e must go back to the period im m ediately after World War I when there was a grow ing recognition that neurotic disabilities were not m erely transitory phenomena related to the stress o f war, but were endem ic and pervasive in a m odem society. In order to respond to the “ felt social need” thus arising, the Tavistock Institute o f M edical P sychology (better known as the Tavistock C linic), the parent body o f the post-World War II Institute, was founded in 1920 as a voluntary outpatient clinic to explore the implications for treatment and re­ search.

2

Historical O verview

The founding group com prised many o f the key doctors w ho had been concerned with neurosis in World War I. They included general physicians and neurologists, as w ell as psychiatrists, and one or two multiply-trained individ­ uals who com bined psychology and anthropology with m edicine. The group, therefore, showed from the beginning the preparedness to be linked to the social sciences and to general m edicine, as w ell as to psychiatry, w hich has characterized it ever since. Interest focussed on the then new “ dynam ic psychologies” as representing the direction which offered most hope. B ecause o f the uncertain and confused state o f know ledge in these fields, tolerance o f different view points w as part o f the undertaking and the Tavistock C linic functioned as a m ediating institution, a clearing-house where the view s o f several contending parties could be aired. On the one hand were the adherents o f Freud, Jung and Adler, who were pre­ occupied with establishing their ow n professional societies and advancing their own theories. On the other w ere a neurologically-oriented general psychiatry, a somatically-oriented general m edicine and a surrounding society puzzled, bew ildered, intrigued and frightened by the new know ledge o f the unconscious and its im plications for important areas o f life. Since “ authoritarian” governm ent o f the m edical kind in a pathfinding organization such as the Tavistock C lin ic proved dysfunctional, a transition to a collegiate professional dem ocracy took place in the early 1930s, when problems arising from the Depression shook many cherished beliefs and raised new questions concerning the role o f social factors in psychological illness. This organizational revolution brought to the front a younger generation o f clinicians with a level o f ability and a m averick quality that w ould otherwise have been lost.* This younger group now began to take on a conceptual direction consonant with the emergent “ object relations approach” in psychoanalysis. The object relations approach em phasized relationships rather than instinctual drives and psychic energy. A s D ick s’s (1970) history (Fifty Years o f the Tavistock C lin ic) shows, there were great variations in the quality o f the services offered b y the pre-war C lin ic. Am ong the 80 physicians who contributed six hours a w eek, many had little or no psychiatric training. N evertheless, by the beginning o f World War II the Tavistock had attained international standing. It had developed links with organizations in the main Com m onwealth countries and the United States, and had undertaken systematic research and teaching. It had obtained pe­

*The staff now elected as their Director Jack Rawlings Rees, grouped around whom were Henry Dicks, Ronald Hargreaves, Tommy Wilson and Wilfred Bion, all of whom subsequently made world-wide reputations. They would have left the Tavistock had it not been for the oppor­ tunities opened up by the organizational revolution.

Historical O verview

3

ripheral academ ic standing in London U niversity with six recognized teachers. The outbreak o f war, how ever, prevented this arrangement from being im ple­ mented.

W

a r - T im e

B reakthroughs

The group w ho entered the Directorate o f A rm y Psychiatry took a novel approach to the human resource problems facing the army. Rather than remain in base hospitals they went out into the field to find out from commanding officers what they saw as their most pressing problems. T hey w ould listen to their troubled m ilitary clients as an analyst w ould to a patient, believing that the “ real” problems w ould surface as trust becam e established, and that con­ structive ideas about dealing with them w ould em erge. The concept thence arose o f “ com m and” psychiatry, in w hich a psychiatrist with a roving com m is­ sion was attached to each o f the five A rm y Commanders in Home Forces. A relationship o f critical importance was formed between the C lin ic ’s Ronald Hargreaves, as command psychiatrist, and Sir Ronald Adam , the Arm y Comm ander in Northern Com m and. W hen Adam becam e Adjutant General, the second highest post in the army, he was able to implement policies that Hargreaves and he had adumbrated. N ew military institutions had to be created to carry them out. The institution-building process entailed: • Earning the right to be consulted on emergent problems for w hich there was no solution in traditional military procedures, e .g ., the problem o f officer selection. • M aking preliminary studies to identify a path o f solution— the investiga­ tion o f morale in O fficer Cadet Training Units. • D esigning a pilot model in collaboration with m ilitary personnel w hich embodied the required remedial measures— the Experimental War Office Selection Board. • Handing over the developed model to military control with the psychi­ atric and psychological staff falling back into advisory roles or where possible rem oving them selves entirely— the War O ffice Selection Boards (W O SB s) and C iv il Resettlement Units (CR U s) for repatriated prisoners o f war. • Disseminating the developed m odel, securing broad acceptance for it and training large numbers o f soldiers to occupy the required roles, e .g ., C R U s. To meet these large-scale tasks the range o f disciplines was extended from psychiatry and clinical psychology to social psychology, sociology and anthro­

4

Historical O verview

pology. The members o f these various disciplines w ere held together by participation in com m on operational tasks in an action fram e o f reference. To varying extents they began to learn each others’ skills. The group becam e, to use a term that arose after the w ar in a project concerned with alternative forms o f organization in the mining industry, a “ com posite” w ork group. (Vol. I, “ The Assum ption o f Ordinariness as a D enial M echanism ” ) Undertaking practical tasks that sought to resolve operational crises gener­ ated insights that led towards new theory. This process was fam iliar to those members o f the group who were practicing psychiatrists, but it w as new to those com ing from other disciplines. This led to a generalized concept o f professionalism . The innovations introduced during the war years consisted o f a series o f “ inventions” : • Command psychiatry as a reconnaissance activity leading to the identi­ fication o f critical problems. • Social psychiatry as a policy science permitting preventive intervention in large scale problems. • The co-creation with the m ilitary o f new institutions to im plem ent these policies. • The therapeutic com m unity as a new mode o f treatment. • Cultural psychiatry for the analysis o f the enem y mentality. B y the end o f the war a considerable number o f psychiatrists and social scientists had becom e involved in this com prehensive set o f innovative ap­ plications o f concepts o f social psychiatry. They saw in these approaches a significance which did not seem to be limited by the condition o f war, and w ere determined to explore their relevance for the civilian society. O bviously, individual programs could not be transferred without considerable m odifica­ tion; entirely new lines o f developm ent w ould have to be worked out. N ev­ ertheless, a new action-oriented philosophy o f relating psychiatry and the social sciences to society had becom e a reality in practice. This event signified the social engagem ent o f social science.

Post-War Transformation O p e r a tio n P h o e n ix

N ew questions now arose. W ho would be the next pioneers? W ho w ould accept the risks, w hich were great? C ould a setting be found that could nurture the new endeavors? A n answer to these questions cam e about in the follow ing way.

H istorical O verview

5

Toward the end o f the war the existence o f a dem ocratic tradition in the Tavistock C lin ic made possible the election by the w hole staff (through a postal ballot) o f an Interim Planning Com m ittee (IPC) to consider the future o f the organization. The election gave pow er to those who had led the w ork in the A rm y.* The IPC began meeting in the autumn o f 1945 to w ork out a re­ definition o f the C lin ic ’s m ission in light o f the experiences gained during the war. The IPC was chaired by W ilfred B ion, w ho used his new findings about groups to clarify issues and reduce conflicts within the planning group itself. C ouncil approved its report by the end o f that year. The IPC made a crucial decision in recognition o f an impending political event— the then new Labour Governm ent’s intimation that it w ould in 1948 create a National Health Service. The IPC resolved: • To build up the C lin ic to enter the National Health Service fully equipped with the kind o f staff w ho could be entrusted with the task o f discovering the role o f out-patient psychiatry, based on a dynam ic approach and oriented towards the social sciences, in the as yet unknown setting o f a national health service. • Separately to incorporate the Institute o f Human Relations for the study o f wider social problems not accepted as in the area o f mental health. This readiness enabled the IPC in 1945 to attract the attention o f A lan G regg, M edical Director o f the R ockefeller Foundation, w ho was touring the various institutions that had been involved in war m edicine. He was interested in finding out if there was a group committed to undertaking, under conditions o f peace, the kind o f social psychiatry that had developed in the army under conditions o f war. So began a process that led the R ockefeller Foundation in 1946 to make a grant o f untied funds without w hich the IP C ’s post-war plan could not have been carried out. The R ockefeller grant led to the birth o f the Tavistock Institute o f Human Relations, constituted at first as a division o f the Tavistock C lin ic. W ith these funds it becam e possible to obtain for the then joint organization a nucleus o f full-tim e senior staff w ho w ould otherwise have been scattered in universities and hospitals throughout the country and abroad. *The six elected members were J.R. Rees, who was later to found the World Federation of Mental Health; Leonard Browne, who became a prominent Alderman in the London County Council; Henry Dicks, who founded the field of cultural psychiatry; Ronald Hargreaves, who became Deputy Director of the World Health Organization; Mary Luff, who retired after the war; and Tommy Wilson, who became Chairman of the Tavistock Institute. The IPC met twice a week for two or three hours in the evenings. There were rarely any absentees. The group co-opted two people not previously at the Clinic— Jock Sutherland, a psychiatrist, who was to become Director of the post-war Clinic, and Eric Trist, a social psychologist, who was later to succeed Wilson as the Institute’s Chairman. Both had played prominent parts in the war-time developments.

6

Historical O verview

A Professional Com m ittee (PC), with Rees in the chair, and a small Techni­ cal E xecutive representing the new permanent staff, chaired by B ion, cam e into existence in February 1946. These arrangements lasted until the separate incorporation o f the Institute in Septem ber 1947. The situation required the transformation o f a large part-time staff, appropriate for the pre-war C lin ic as a voluntary out-patient hospital, into a small nucleus o f full-tim ers, supported by others giving substantial proportions o f their tim e, and com m itted to the redefined mission o f the post-war organization. D ecisions were taken as to who should stay, who should leave and w ho should be added. Criteria included w illingness to participate in the redefined social mission and to undergo psychoanalysis if they had not already done so. This critical episode becam e known as Operation Phoenix.* A s regards the requirement for psychoanalysis, it was felt that object relations theory had proved its relevance during the w ar in the social as w ell as the clinical field. It represented the most advanced body o f psychological know ledge then available w hich could provide a com m on foundation for those w ho would in various w ays be continuing, in the peace, the w ork begun under war conditions. Training w ould be in the hands o f the British P sycho-A nalytical Society, and social applications in the hands o f the Institute. This understanding equili­ brated relations between the tw o bodies. The Society agreed to provide training analysts for acceptable candidates, whether they were going to becom e fu ll­ time analysts, m ix psychoanalytic practice with broader endeavors in the health field or use psychoanalytic understanding outside the health area in organizational and social projects. The Society, therefore, recognized the relevance for psychoanalysis o f w ork in the social field, w hile the Institute affirmed the importance o f psychoanalysis for psycho-social studies. In this w ay some 15 individuals, some in the C lin ic and some in the Institute, most o f them in m id-life, undertook personal psychoanalysis as part o f the enterprise o f building the new Tavistock. It was a major “ experim ent,” the outcom e o f w hich could not be known for a number o f years. The P C now faced painful tasks. W hen the decisions stemming from Operation Phoenix began to be implemented, a great deal o f guilt developed over the termination o f most o f the pre-war staff w ho in one w ay or another did not meet the criteria for inclusion in the post-war body. A n abdication crisis ensued. The P C agreed to stay in pow er only after a searching self-exam ination *In addition to Sutherland and Trist, a number of other outsiders who had played prominent roles in the war-time effort, were brought in at this point. John Bowlby, a child psychiatrist and analyst, was made head of what he came to call the Department for Children and Parents. (The other senior psychiatrists appointed to the Clinic were all from the wider Tavistock group.) Elliott Jaques, a young Canadian psychiatrist and psychologist, was invited to join the Institute and played a prominent role during the five years he stayed.

Historical O verview

7

that enabled them to separate task-oriented factors from the tangle o f personal feelings. Tension and confusion developed throughout the entire organization. Bion resigned as Chairman o f the Technical E xecutive and restricted him self to the role o f social therapist to an overall staff group that held w eekly m eetings to work through these matters. W ithout them the post-war organization could scarcely have survived its conflicts. Our first experiment with group methods was on ourselves.

T h e Jo i n t O r g a n i z a t i o n

In preparing to enter the National Health Service (NHS) the C linic had to develop therapeutic methods that w ould allow the maintenance o f a patient load sufficiently large to satisfy the new authorities that out-patient psycho­ therapy could be cost effective. War-time experience suggested that the best prospect w ould lie in group treatment. A ccordingly, the P C asked B ion, considering his special achievem ents in this field, to pioneer this endeavor. His response was to put up a notice which becam e celebrated— “ You can have group treatment now or wait a year for individual treatment.” The groups he started, how ever, were not only patient groups but groups with industrial managers and with people from the educational world. He was developing a general method reflected in a series o f papers in Human Relations (Bion, 19 4 8 -5 1), which put forward entirely new theory. B y the time the C linic entered the NHS most o f the psychiatrists were taking groups, though none used precisely B ion ’s methods. M eanw hile, in the Department for Children and Parents, B o w lb y laid the foundations o f fam ily therapy (Vol. I, “ The Reduction o f Group Tensions in the F am ily” ). A lso at this time he began his world famous studies o f mother/ child separation. Another major and still continuing enterprise that began during this early period emerged from a crisis in the Fam ily W elfare Association (FW A), which co-ordinated fam ily case w ork in the London area. The com ing o f the welfare state rendered unnecessary its task o f dispensing material aid to the poor. Its offices were now besieged by clients with social and emotional problems with which its staff were unable to deal. Through W ilson (1949) the Institute was consulted. A n attempt to train F W A staff proved unsuccessful. The Institute therefore set up within its ow n boundary what was called the Fam ily D iscus­ sion Bureau (FD B), which later becam e the Institute for Marital Studies (IM S). This created the first non-medical channel in Britain for professional w ork with fam ilies. In time it was supported by the governm ent through the Home O ffice. M ichael Balint, one o f the senior analysts at the C lin ic, introduced a group method o f training fam ily w elfare workers in w hich stress was laid on making

8

Historical O verview

them aware o f their counter-transferences: their projections o f their ow n prob­ lems onto their clients. Balint later developed these methods for training large numbers o f health professionals, including general physicians (Balint, 1954). This allow ed the C lin ic to have a m ultiplier effect w hich, along with group treatment and the inauguration o f fam ily therapy, showed that what had been learnt in the A rm y about using scarce resources to meet the needs o f large scale systems could be applied in the civilian society in entirely new w ays. Hostility to the Institute’s w ork, how ever, developed in the academ ic world. The M edical Research C ouncil dismissed the first draft o f the W O S B write-up as being o f only historical, not scientific, interest. N o further funds were granted. Several strategic m oves were nevertheless made to establish the Tavistock’s academ ic claim s. There was very little chance at that time o f getting much o f its w ork accepted by existing journals. A new journal was needed that w ould manifest the connection between field theory and object-relations psycho­ analysis. W ith L ew in ’s group in the U .S ., the Research Center for Group D ynam ics, now at the U niversity o f M ichigan, the Institute created a new international journal, Human Relations, w hose purpose was to further the integration o f psychology and the social sciences and relate theory to practice. In 1947 a publishing com pany— Tavistock Publications— w as founded, which in the longer run succeeded in finding a home in a m ajor publishing house (the Sw eet and M axw ell Group) w hile retaining its ow n imprint. A joint library was also established with the C lin ic that provided the best collection o f books and journals then available in London in the psycho- and socio-dynam ic fields. This was needed for teaching as w ell as research purposes. John Rickm an, a senior analyst closely associated with the Tavistock, said that there should be no therapy without research and no research without therapy and that the Institute should offer training in all the main areas o f its work. B y the time the Institute was separately incorporated there was a staff o f eight with W ilson as chairman. Six o f the eight had taken part in one or other o f the war-time projects. The disciplines included psychology, anthropology, econom ics, education and mathematics.

Achieving a Working Identity I n d u s tr ia l A c tio n R e se a rc h

B y 1948 the British econom y was in serious trouble. The pound had been devalued, productivity was low and there was a scarcity o f capital for invest­ ment in new technology. The governm ent form ed an Industrial Productivity Com m ittee w hich had a Human Factors Panel. This made grants for research aiming to secure im proved productivity through better use o f human resources.

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9

The grants were for three years and were administered by the M edical Research C ouncil. The Institute proposed three projects, all o f w hich were accepted. The first focussed on internal relations within a single firm (from the board to the shop floor) with the aim o f identifying means o f im proving cooperation be­ tween management and labor and also between levels o f management; the second focussed on organizational innovations that could raise productivity; the third pioneered a new form o f post-graduate education for field workers in applied social research. A site for the first project was obtained in the London factories o f a light engineering concern (the G lacier M etal Com pany) w hose managing director had a special interest in the social sciences. The project, headed b y Elliott Jaques, led to far-reaching changes in the organization and culture o f the firm. A novel role was elaborated that enabled process consultation to take place across areas o f conflict. Som e radically new concepts were formulated such as the use o f social structure as a defense against anxiety (Vol. I, “ On the D ynam ics o f Social Structure” ). Jaques’s (19 5 1) book, The Changing Culture o f a Factory, was the first major publication o f the Institute after it became independent. W hile it was an immense success in the literature, being reprinted many times, no requests were received to continue this kind o f w ork. A s Jaques said at the time, the answer from the field was silence. A component o f the second project, under Eric Trist, led to the discovery o f self-regulating w ork groups in a coal m ine— the first intimation that a new paradigm o f w ork m ight be em erging along the lines indicated by the Institute’s w ork with groups. It opened up the study o f “ socio-technical system s” w hich has becom e w orld-w ide. The training program for the six industrial fellow s was for two years and experience based. A ll participated in a com m on project (the G lacier Project) while each took part in another Institute project. To gain direct experience o f unconscious factors in group life each was placed in a therapy group. To gain experience o f m anaging their own group life they met regularly with a staff member in attendance. Each had a personal tutor. A fter the first year they returned to their industries to see what new perceptions they had gained and reported on them to a meeting o f Institute staff. T h ey also attended regular staff seminars at w hich all projects were discussed. This was the first opportunity which the Institute had to apply its methods in training. It w as, how ever, too experience based to receive favor at that time.

C

on su ltan cy

D evelopm ents

W ith the ending o f the governm ent’s Human Factors Panel, no further research funds were available from British sources. Though R ockefeller help con­

io

Historical O verview

tinued, the Institute had to develop its w ork in the consultancy field and prove that it could pay its w ay by directly m eeting client needs w hile at the same time furthering social science objectives. Further w ork in the socio-technical field was arrested in the coal industry, but unexpected circum stances yielded an opportunity in India to w ork collaboratively with the C alico M ills, a subsidiary o f Sarabhai Industries, in Ahm edabad. In view o f his experience o f the tropics, the M C selected A .K . R ice to go to India as the project officer. He proposed that a group o f workers should take charge o f a group o f loom s. The idea was taken up spontaneously by the workers in the automatic loom shed who secured management perm ission to try out a scheme o f their own creation. This led to developm ents that continued for 25 years showing that the socio-technical concept was applicable in the culture o f a very different kind o f society. U nilever had established a w orking relationship with the Institute im m e­ diately after the war. It was now expanding. It needed to recruit and train a large number o f high caliber managers. The Chairm an, Lord H ey worth, had been interested in the W O S B s and approached the Institute for assistance. The result was the joint developm ent o f the U nilever Com panies’ M anagem ent D evelopm ent Schem e based on a m odification o f W O S B methods. This led to a still continuing collaborative relationship, with m any ram ifications, o f w hich Harold Bridger has been the architect. W ith the profusion o f new products in the 1950s, advertising agencies and the marketing departments o f firms w ere under pressure to develop new methods for increasing sales. M otivation research had made its appearance but was narrowly conceived. One or two trial projects gave rise to a new concept which brought together Lew inian and psychoanalytic thinking— the pleasure foods region. This consisted o f products o f little or no nutritional value that were consum ed, often in excess, because o f their pow er to afford oral satisfac­ tions w hich reduced anxiety and relieved stress. Early studies by M enzies and Trist (1989) concerned ice cream and con fec­ tionery. Later studies by Em ery (Emery et a l., 1968) and A c k o ff and Em ery (1972) concerned sm oking and drinking. The sm oking study identified the affect o f distress, as formulated by Silvan Tomkins (1962), as a continuing negative state (as distinct from acute anxiety and depression) which required repeated relief such as sm oking affords. The drinking study produced a new social theory o f drinking behavior that distinguished between social, “ repara­ tiv e” and indulgent drinking, only the last leading to alcoholism . A s regards the consultancy style that developed, the method was adopted o f having tw o Institute staff attend the early meetings. This was both to obtain binocular vision and to show that the relationship was with an organization and not sim ply with an individual. W ith only one person, the dangers o f trans­ ference and counter-transference would have been greater. A project officer

Historical O verview

11

was appointed. A fter the opening stage the second staff member remained largely outside the project so that a more objective appreciation could be made. Other staff were added as required by project assignments. The funding crisis had proved a blessing in disguise. The Institute had now proved to itself that it could earn a substantial part o f its living from private industry. Though it still needed support from foundations and government funding agencies, it was no longer com pletely dependent on them. It needed these funds to add a research dimension to projects that clients could not be expected to pay for and to cover the costs o f writing up the results.

T ow ards

an

O p t im u m B

alance

In 1954 the Institute succeeded once more in obtaining research funds. A fouryear grant enabled the socio-technical studies in the coal industry to be re­ sumed through the governm ent’s Department o f Scientific and Industrial R e­ search (D SIR) w hich administered counterpart U S /U K funds that were part o f the Marshall Plan. The Nuffield Foundation supported the research component o f the fam ily studies program, w hile the Hom e Office supported the opera­ tional part. The most difficult funds to obtain were untied funds such as had been provided by the R ockefeller Foundation. A s no further grants o f this kind were available, a developm ent charge was added to all consultancy projects so that a special reserve could be built up to tide staff over between projects and to enable them to be taken out o f the field to write up work that had already been done. It was felt that 15 percent o f the Institute’s incom e should be from untied funds. A much larger proportion— 35 percent— should be sought from foun­ dations or governm ent for specific long-range projects o f a primarily research character, though the research w ould largely be action research. Experience in the consultancy field had now shown that long-range projects with serious social science outcom e could be obtained o f a kind too unconventional to be supported by foundations or governm ents. These could account for another 30 percent o f incom e. Experience had also shown the value o f short-range proj­ ects which could lead into new areas. The remaining 20 percent o f income could best be generated by projects o f this kind. Another dimension concerned the sectors o f society in which the projects would take place. The aim was to have w ork going on in more than one sector, though the larger proportion w ould be in industry. B y 1961 there were nine industrial projects and six in other sectors. Separately categorized were projects related to the C linic which was re­ garded solely as a treatment institution by the N H S. A s originally intended, however, it was developing large research and training programs. These were

12

Historical O verview

financed by foundation grants, especially from the U .S ., and w ere admin­ istered by the Institute through what was called the Research and Training Comm ittee (RTC). Som e o f the Institute’s own activities cam e into this area. The R T C succeeded in resolving conflicts as to w hich projects should be put forward for funding. A m ong such Institute activities was a program to develop new projective tests and to train people in their use. This led during the 1970s to the creation o f the British Society for Projective P sych ology through w hich a large number o f clinical psychologists have been trained. N ew Tavistock tests w hich were w idely adopted included Phillipson’s O bject Relations Technique. His book with R .D . Laing (Laing et a l., 1966), Interpersonal Perception, opened up fresh ground. A leading part in these developm ents was played by Theodora A lc o c k (1963), recognized w orld-w ide as a Rorschach expert, w ho w as kept on by the Institute when she reached the retiring age in the N H S. This path o f developm ent represents a pioneer effort that w ould not otherwise have taken place. O f crucial importance w as the duration o f projects. A ction research projects concerned with change tend to be long-range as they unfold in unpredictable w ays. Projects lasting more than three years were regarded as being in the longrange category, those between 18 months and three years were considered medium-range, and those lasting six to 18 months short-range. A balance was needed between these types o f duration. In addition, it was found advan­ tageous to keep going a few very b rief exploratory assignments as these sometimes opened up new areas and led to innovative developm ents w hich could not be foreseen. In the industrial sector, socio-technical studies continued in the coal indus­ try and then in industries with advanced technologies, both funded through D SIR . There was also a program o f research on labor turnover, absence and sickness (Hill and Trist, 1955: Vol. I, “ Temporary W ithdrawal from W ork” ). Under conditions o f full em ploym ent there was widespread concern about these phenomena. N ew theory and a new practical approach em erged. Towards the end o f the 1950s problems o f quite a new kind began to be brought to the Institute. T hey arose from changes taking place in the w ider contextual environment and led to what has been called the socio-ecological perspective. These problems and the theories and methods to deal with them are encompassed in Volum e III. The opportunities to build up this perspective came initially from exploratory projects with Bristol Siddeley Engines, the National Farmers’ Union and a U nilever subsidiary in the food industry, all o f which were facing major changes in their contextual environments. (These changes were not understood.) A s regards other social sectors, the w ork in fam ily studies produced a major

Historical O verview

13

book by Elizabeth Bott (1957) entitled Family and Social Networks (Vol. I, “ Conjugal Roles and Social N etw orks” ). This put the concept o f network, as distinct from that o f group, firmly on the social science map and generated a w hole new literature. The Prison Com m issioners asked the Tavistock to test the value o f a scheme for greatly increasing time spent in “ association,” w hich had been successfully tried out in the N orw ich local prison. A systematic action research study was carried out o f its adaptation in Bristol. The prison officers’ union, the inmates, and the staff im m ediately reporting to the G overnor were all involved. This study, w hich broke new theoretical ground, was carried out by Em ery (Vol. I, “ Freedom and Justice W ithin W alls” ). A lso during this time D icks completed studies o f the Russian national character at the Harvard Center for Russian Studies (Vol. I, “ Notes on the Russian National Charac­ ter” ). They were a sequel to his w ork on the Germ an national character during World War II to w hich he returned in L icensed M ass M urder (D icks, 1972). These studies established a firm em pirical base on w hich cultural psychology using psychoanalytic findings could develop. Another developm ent during this period was the creation, in collaboration with the U niversity o f Leicester, o f a U .K . equivalent to the form o f sensitivity training pioneered by the National Training Laboratories for Group D evelop­ ment in the United States. This is still continuing. A n overall review o f it is given by M iller in Vol. I, “ Experiential Learning in Groups (I/II).” Two other models were developed (Bridger, Vol. I, “ Courses and Working Confer­ ences . . H iggin and Hjelholt, Vol. I, “ The Psycho-D ynam ics o f an InterGroup Experience” ), the idea being to experiment with alternative forms. These are also still evolving. A basic pattern could now be discerned in the projects o f the Institute: • They were all responses to macro- or meta-problems em erging in the society with w hich the Institute, in Som m erhoff’s (1950) terms, becam e directively correlated. • A ccess to organizations struggling with meta-problems was initially ob­ tained through networks o f individuals w ho had com e to know about the Institute’s w ork during World War II. A s time went on the initiating individuals becam e people with w hom the Institute had made contact in the post-war period. • There was not yet a w ide appreciation o f these emergent meta-problems so that the connections through w hich the Institute could becom e direc­ ti vely correlated with them were scarce and fragile. To discover the role o f networks in this situation was new learning. • The projects were carried out by interdisciplinary teams with the project officer having a second staff member as his consultant. Later on these

14

Historical O verview teams becam e joint with internal groups in the client organization. Project review s took place not so much in Institute seminars as in joint meetings with these internal groups. • Though seminal projects m ight begin from short-term relations, those with the most significance as regards the advance o f basic social scientific know ledge depended on very long relationships being maintained with client organizations or other sponsoring agencies. Change processes take time. They unfold in interactions between the system and its environment in com plex w ays w hich are not predictable. One is able to understand the course o f a social process only so far as it has m anifested itself and then only so far as one is able to stay with it. • Clients actively collaborated with the Institute. The projects were joint enterprises o f action research and social learning. N o results were pub­ lished without the agreement o f all parties. • Great stress was laid on “ w orking through” difficulties and conflicts by analogy with the psychoanalytic method. N ot that interpretations o f a psychoanalytic kind were directly made. Jaques called the process “ social analysis.” N o standardized procedures, how ever, were established. Suit­ able interpretative languages had to evolve in different projects and some o f the methods introduced were manufactured more by the clients than by the Institute. • The aim was to build social science capabilities into organizations that they could then develop by and for them selves. • Som e o f the innovations were ahead o f their tim e, often by a number o f years. There was little recognition o f their significance and no short-term diffusion o f the practices involved. • N ew theory was as apt to be generated by research paid for by client organizations as by w ork paid for by research-funding agencies. O ne o f the functions o f the latter was to fund w ork in w hich organizations w ould be w illing to collaborate operationally, but for the scientific analysis o f w hich they were not yet w illing to pay. There w ere, o f course, other projects w hich could only be initiated i f research funds were available. • The aim was eventually to secure publication at a fu lly scientific level, but this had sometimes to be delayed for several years and sometimes never em erged at all. Those concerned were often understandably unw illing for w ork to be made public that described internal processes o f a sensitive kind or led to changes the outcom e o f w hich could not be assessed for a long time.

This pattern established the Institute’s w orking identity. It expresses what is meant by the social engagem ent o f social science. It treated all projects as

Historical O verview

15

opportunities for organizational and personal learning, both for the client and for itself. Though this basic pattern has since undergone much elaboration and improvement, its fundamental character has remained the same.

The Sequel Division into Two Groups B efore describing how this division cam e about, it w ill be convenient to outline the Institute’s structure and mode o f functioning. It is an independent, not-forprofit organization based on an A ssociation o f five hundred members— w ellwishers in key positions in the m edical and academ ic worlds and also in industry and other social sectors. To obtain such a support base becam e possible only after prolonged effort. A t this tim e, at its annual m eeting, the Association elected a small w orking C ouncil that met with the M anagement Com m ittee (M C ) every quarter. Mem bers o f the M C were nominated by the staff and approved by the C ouncil so that it could operate with a double sanction. The M C proposed its own chairman but the C ouncil had to confirm the appointment. The M C met w eekly to guide all aspects o f the Institute’s affairs as a group. The permanent staff were o f four grades— consultants, principal project officers, project officers and assistant project officers. W hen the Institute was separately incorporated in 1947 there were eight staff m embers, in 1961 there were 22. A pension scheme had been negotiated by the Secretary after persist­ ing difficulties. This gave a much needed addition to security w hich, during the form ative years, had been exceedingly low. There were a number o f people on temporary assignment and many overseas visitors, especially from the United States, who usually stayed a year. Administration was in the hands o f a professional secretary, Sidney Gray, who had voting rights as a member o f the M C. The M C met with the consultants quarterly and once every year with the w hole staff for a period o f tw o days. There were fortnightly seminars to discuss project and theoretical matters. The Council insisted that members o f M C be o f professorial status. Salary scales had to be approved b y the w hole staff and were in line with those o f the universities, the Scientific C ivil Service and the National Health Service. This system had functioned w ell; relations in w orking groups had been good. A strong collegiate culture had persisted from the war and was strengthened by the Institute having to contend with a largely hostile environment.

16

Historical O verview

In 1958 W ilson had left to take up the position o f strategic adviser to U nilever w orld-w ide. This was the first time a social scientist (other than an economist) had been asked to fill a strategic position at this level in industry. For ten years a balanced relationship had existed between W ilson and Trist, as chairman and deputy chairman. W ilson was a man o f daring seminal insights. He had immense prestige in both the m edical and non-m edical worlds and an exceedingly w ide range o f contacts. He w as adept at negotiations with govern­ ment and foundations, and opened up diverse channels which led to new projects. Trist had com plem entary capacities in formulating concepts, project design and research m ethodology and in acting as mentor to the grow ing body o f younger staff who required rapid developm ent. This partnership, how ever, was no longer an organizational necessity; there was now a w ell-developed staff, several o f whom were active in finding and maintaining projects and in com ing forward with new ideas and methods. The Institute had becom e over-busy with its grow ing project portfolio. The quarterly meetings with the consultants and the annual retreats were not kept up. The place that had so strongly affirmed the need to pay attention to the process side o f organizational life had been neglecting its ow n. W ith the departure o f W ilson, the M C should have asked for a radical reappraisal o f the w hole situation; but the requisite meetings with the consultants and with the staff as a whole were never called. It was assumed that the status quo w ould continue and that Trist w ould becom e chairman with indefinite tenure. It w as as though a quasi-dynastic myth had inadvertently crept in to a supposedly democratic process. The staff was now beyond the limits o f the small face-to-face group it had been in 1948. There was a far greater range o f interests, capabilities and projects and the problem o f m anaging the Institute as a single unit grew correspondingly greater. Conflicts, latent for some tim e, cam e to a head w hile Trist was in California on sabbatical. R ice, as A ctin g Chairm an, proposed that the Institute should divide into three self-accounting project groups. This division w as resisted by many o f the senior staff w ho w ished to preserve the unity o f the w hole. The differences were partly personal, partly professional, but there was also dis­ agreement over the direction in w hich the Institute should best develop in the increasingly turbulent environment and how it should be shaped to meet the new challenges. On Trist’s return an attempt was made to resolve the differ­ ences but in the end two groups w ere form ed, the larger around Trist (the Human Resources Centre) and the sm aller (the Centre for Applied Social Research) around R ice. Though not ideal, the partition provided a “ good enough” solution, to use W innicott’s (1965) term. Each group proceeded to w ork productively on its own lines.

Historical O verview

17

The Matrix The expansion o f the C lin ic and Institute during the 1950s led to the need for more space. The M inistry o f Health offered to build new premises in the Sw iss Cottage district o f Hampstead on the other side o f R egent’s Park from the existing set o f buildings and the question arose as to whether the M inistry w ould agree to the inclusion o f activities o f the Institute that were not health related. The M inister at first said, “ N o .” Sir Hugh Beaver, the then Chairman o f the C oun cil, had becom e convinced o f the need to keep the C lin ic and Institute together and persuaded the M inistry to allow all activities to be included so that the overall unity could be preserved. The 1960s were now beginning. M any changes and developm ents had taken place. H ow far was the original definition o f m ission, made 15 years ago, still applicable? H ow far was the requirement o f psychoanalysis for all still rele­ vant? H ow to find a formulation that w ould no longer make the Institute appear as a para-medical organization but w ould express the broader idea o f the social engagement o f social science. Em ery cam e up with the notion that everything it did— clinical and non-clinical— was at a more general level concerned with improving what he called “ the important practical affairs o f m an.” He prepared a document along these lines w hich was accepted by the C ouncil. The Institute continued to administer the C lin ic ’s research and training activities, w hich had grown into a large enterprise. B o w lb y had molded them into what he called the School o f Fam ily Psychiatry and Com m unity Mental Health. A n attempt was made to get the School affiliated to one o f the London m edical schools but the Tavistock was still too marginal and too identified with psychoanalysis to be countenanced. Another developm ent w hich began at about this time led to the setting up o f an Institute for Operational Research. A grow ing number o f management and decision scientists had becom e concerned that the capture o f operational re­ search (OR) by academ ic departments focussed on mathematical modelmaking was leading O R aw ay from its original mission o f dealing with realworld problems. T hey were interested in establishing a connection with the social sciences. Russell A c k o ff o f the U niversity o f Pennsylvania, a leading authority on O R , w ho was in England on sabbatical during 19 6 2 -6 3 , sug­ gested setting up an institute for operational research in the Tavistock orbit in conjunction with the British Operational Research Society. This suggestion cam e to fruition. A c k o ff also found a British colleague, N eil Jessop, a mathe­ matical statistician with social science interests, who was w illing to give up a senior post in industry to head up the new enterprise. There had been a large-scale developm ent o f O R in Britain in industry but nothing had been done in the public sector, outside defense. If it were to enter the policy field where problems were often ill-defined, ambiguous and interest-

18

Historical O verview

group-driven, O R had to find new concepts and methods to w hich the social sciences could contribute. O R people had found that their recommendations w ere only too often left on the shelf. T hey needed to involve the various stakeholders far more than had been their custom , to admit the lim its o f rationality, to pay attention to unconscious factors in organizational life and to acquire process skills in dealing with them. The O R people had considerable experience in dealing with large-scale problems at the m ulti-organizational level w hich the Institute was just beginning to enter and for w hich it lacked concepts and m ethodologies. On both sides there was a need to establish com m on ground and to find an organizational setting in w hich this could be explored. The status o f an independent unit within the Tavistock orbit provided the required conditions. The new unit becam e known as the Institute for Operational Research (IOR). The Fam ily D iscussion Bureau had also developed into a large undertaking o f national standing. It needed a suitable identity to pursue its m ission o f setting up a non-medical but professional channel for dealing with marital difficulties. The title o f the Institute for Marital Studies was proposed and accepted. It becam e an autonomous unit within the Tavistock orbit (Vol. I, “ N on-M edical Marital Therapy” ). There were now five units: those deriving from the original M anagem ent Com m ittee— the Human Resources Centre (H R C) and the Centre for A pplied Social Research (C A S R ); the School o f Fam ily Psychiatry and Com m unity Mental Health; the Institute for Marital Studies; and the Institute for Opera­ tional Research. The Institute had becom e what Stringer (1967) called a m ulti­ organization, a federation o f interacting units with the same overall m ission o f furthering the social engagem ent o f social science. Em ery suggested that it had acquired the character o f a social m atrix— a nourishing and facilitating en­ vironment for all components. This matrix form o f organization had the merit o f showing to the external w orld that the overall m ission could be pursued in different but nevertheless related w ays. The mutation required a new organizational structure. W hile each unit w orked out its own form o f internal governance the overall organization was steered by a Joint Com m ittee o f the C ouncil and Staff, chaired by Sir Hugh B eaver with Trist as staff convener. The broader formulation o f m ission and the greater variety o f activities and people made it no longer possible or desirable that all staff should undergo psychoanalysis. This had been falling into disuse since 1958 and becam e a matter o f individual choice. Awareness o f psychoanalytic concepts and their relevance in the social field had becom e more w id ely accepted. T h ey were absorbed “ by osm osis.” M oreover, one or tw o people with strongly Jungian view s regarding archetypes and the collective unconscious were now on the

Historical O verview

19

staff. It was also found that capacity to w ork with groups and the process side o f organizational life was to a considerable extent a personal endowment. Som e o f the best practitioners were “ naturals.” N evertheless, a number o f people continued to enter analysis and several becam e analysts. The matrix worked w ell for several years. M ajor new projects w ere under­ taken and a number o f influential books produced. The H R C , for exam ple, embarked on what becam e know n as the N orw egian Industrial D em ocracy Project (Thorsrud and Emery, 1964; Em ery and Thorsrud, 1969; 1977) and the Shell Managem ent Philosophy Project (H ill, 1971). The C A S R was instrumen­ tal in setting up an activity in the United States based on the Tavistock/ Leicester Group Relations Training Conferences and R ice (1965) published a general account o f this field. M iller and R ice (1967) published their now classic book Systems o f Organizations. The IO R broke new ground with a project in w hich they w orked collaboratively with the H R C on urban planning. It was jointly carried out with the city o f Coventry with the support o f the Nuffield Foundation (Friend and Jessop, 1969). The Institute for Marital Stud­ ies, having published a book, M arriage: Studies in Emotional Conflict and Growth (Pincus, i960), w hich stated its theories and procedures, secured a multiplier effect by training case workers from a large number o f organizations and extending its influence into continental Europe. There were unanticipated developm ents. Several key people left the H R C . A t the end o f 1966, Trist was appointed to a professorship at the U niversity o f C alifornia (Los Angeles). Em ery returned to Australia in 1969 as a Senior F ellow in the Research School o f the Social Sciences at the Australian National University. In 1971 van Beinum went back to Holland to develop a new Department o f Continuing M anagem ent Education at Erasmus U niversity and in 1974 H iggin left to set up a similar department at the U niversity o f L ough­ borough. Pollock becam e a full-tim e analyst. G row ing out o f his w ork with Unilever, Bridger instituted a unit o f his ow n— a network organization for career counselling. These individuals had all been at the Institute either from the beginning or for a great number o f years. Though the m oves all made sense and led to the appearance o f new nodes in an em erging international network, they severely reduced the capacity o f the H R C . The C A S R was greatly impeded by the unexpected death o f A .K . R ice at the height o f his powers. The IO R also suffered the death o f its first leader, N eil Jessop, but the type o f social-science-linked O R that he w as developing created such a demand that the unit underwent extraordinary growth. It established offices in C oventry and Edinburgh in addition to the London base; at its peak it had 20 professional staff, more than all the other units taken together. Three books— Comm unica­ tions in the Building Industry (Higgin and Jessop, 1963), L o ca l Government and Strategic C hoice (Friend and Jessop, 1969) and Public Planning: The

20

Historical O verview

Inter-Corporate Dim ension (Friend, Power and Yew lett, 1974)— established its academic reputation. The theory and practice o f reticulist planning which it introduced are now taught in planning schools throughout the world. In the m id-1970s, the International M onetary Fund intervened dram atically in the British economy. Public spending was cut by four-and-a-half billion pounds sterling. This meant that the funds for the large IO R programs with government departments were instantly cut and reductions in staff took place. The larger parts o f H R C and IO R m erged to form a unit subsequently know n as the Centre for Organizational and Operational Research (C O O R ). In the early 1980s even more drastic measures becam e necessary; all the w orking groups becam e one unit in w hich the members were on individual contract. There were no reserves to tide people over between projects. It seemed that the Institute m ight go under but this did not happen. None o f those left wanted the organization to die. T hey had the tenacity to keep it going and have been rewarded by seeing it re-expand and enter new areas o f activity in which a younger generation has the task o f proving itself. The 1987 annual report showed a staff o f 20. During the financial crisis the IM S could no longer accept the risk o f remaining within the Institute. A new host organization was available in the Tavistock Institute o f M edical Psychology, kept in existence for just such a need. IM S ’s sponsors preferred this arrangement with its even closer connec­ tions with the C linic. Recently, the C linic has acquired university status by becom ing affiliated with Brunei U niversity in north-west London. There is no teaching hospital at Brunei. There is, how ever, an inter-disciplinary Department o f Social Science founded by Elliott Jaques, one o f the Tavistock founder members. N ew oppor­ tunities, therefore, open up. The search for university status b y the C lin ic and the School o f Fam ily Psychiatry and Com m unity M ental Health has ended in a novel w ay that by-passed the m edical school connection. This developm ent was without precedent in Britain.

The International Network W ith the establishment o f the matrix there began to em erge an international network o f Tavistock-like centers. These cam e into existence through the efforts o f pioneering individuals w ho had spent som e time at the Tavistock or through the migration o f Tavistock staff to these new settings. The growth o f such a network was inherent in much that had been going on for several years, but events in the 1970s and early 1980s prompted its actualization. Som e o f the projects were (and are) joint undertakings between people at the Tavistock and people in the other centers. A number o f new endeavors have been large in

Historical O verview

21

scale and have em erged in the socio-ecological perspective. T hey have needed more resources than the Institute alone could supply. T hey have often been international in scope and it has been necessary for them to be mediated by organizations in the countries primarily concerned. Work in these different settings has had a far-reaching effect on the concepts and methods em ployed. It is rarely the case that a single setting can carry forward a major innovative task for more than a limited period o f time. The variety created by multiple settings sooner or later becom es a necessary factor in maintaining social innovation. The follow ing tables summarize what has em erged. Table 1 briefly de­ scribes the centers or nodes and the principal initiating individuals. The entries are by country in the order in w hich they com m enced operation. Table 2 shows how far the m ovem ent was from the Tavistock to the node or in the other direction. V isits were often for several months or a year. Som e key individuals migrated permanently or for several years, playing major institution-building roles. The network in its present state o f evolution m ay be characterized as follows: • A ll nodes express the philosophy o f the social engagem ent o f social science. The engagem ent is with meta-problems that are generic and field determined rather than with issue-specific single problems. • The w ork is future oriented and concerned with the transition to the post industrial social order and the paradigm shift w hich this entails. • Since they are concerned with bringing about basic change, the activities undertaken encounter opposition. This makes it hard for the various nodes to acquire the resources they need. • This situation creates severe stress w hich in turn generates internal strain in both organizations and individuals. • The nodes have been developed by pioneering individuals who gather groups around them and connect with sim ilar individuals in one or more o f the other nodes. • Though most o f the nodes have existed for a considerable number o f years they are, nevertheless, temporary system s. Unless they can engage with the next round o f critical problems they have no further useful function. • The nodes w ax and w ane, go out o f existence or trigger new develop­ ments elsewhere. • A number o f them are no longer linked with the London organization. • Apart from the London center, the most densely connected are the Work Research Institute, O slo; the Centre for Continuing Education, Canberra; the U niversity o f Pennsylvania group and the Faculty o f Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto.

22

Historical O verview

T a b le i

International Network: Description of Nodes*

Node United Kingdom Scottish Institute of Human Relations

Initiating individuals

Jock Sutherland

Centre for Family and Environmental Research

Robert and Rhona Rapoport

Department of Continuing Management Education, Loughborough University

Gurth Higgin

Organisation for Promoting Understanding in Society (OPUS)

Eric Miller

Foundation for Adaptation in Changing Environments

Tony Ambrose Harold Bridger

Description

When Sutherland returned to his native Edinburgh in the late s, on retiring as Director of the Tavistock Clinic, he set up this independent center to deal with the range of activities covered by the School of Family Psychiatry and Com­ munity Mental Health. This center was set up in London in the early s when the Rapoports (both anthropologists and the latter also a psycho-analyst) moved their work on dual career families and related concerns with the family/work interface outside the Tavistock to establish an independent identity. In Higgin was appointed to a new chair in this field and developed the first department of its kind in a British univer­ sity with a new type of graduate diploma and strong links with industry in the re­ gion. There has been an emphasis on par­ ticipatory methods. This was set up in by Sir Charles Goode ve, the dean of British OR and a member of the Tavistock Council. It has an educational function, through which citizens can be helped to use their own “ authority” more effectively. It seeks to investigate whether psycho-analytical understanding can be applied to society as a field of study in its own right. This small Foundation concerned with projects in the socio-ecological field was set up in the early s by Ambrose, originally a developmental psychologist, at the Tavistock’s Department for Chil­ dren and Parents. It has the form of a network organization, being without per­ manent staff. Originally at Minster Lov­ ell, a village near Oxford, it has now moved to Geneva as so much of its work has become connected with the World Health Organization.

1960

1970

1974

1975

1980

Historical O verview T a b le i

23

Continued

Node Europe Work Research Institute, Oslo, Norway

Initiating individuals Einar Thorsrud Fred Emery David Herbst Eric Trist

Description

This has become one of the principal institutions world-wide for the develop­ ment of the socio-technical and socioecological perspectives. Thorsrud, its Director from until his untimely death in , had been a frequent visitor at the Tavistock. Emery— and to some extent Trist— played a major role in its development during the s. Herbst, also from the Tavistock, became a per­ manent staff member. van Beinum returned to Holland In to set up a department of post-experience management education at Erasmus Uni­ versity. It has influenced the develop­ ment of the socio-technical and socioecological fields in Europe. This small but promising institute, set up by Bridger in the s, focusses on organizational transitions. It is a network organization without permanent staff.

1985

1962

1960

School of Business Administration, Erasmus University, Holland

Hans van Beinum

Institute for Transitional Dynamics, Lucerne, Switzerland

Harold Bridger

Australia Centre for Continuing Education, Australian National University

Canada Action Learning Group, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto

1971

1980

Fred and Merrelyn Emery

When Emery returned to Australia in as a Senior Fellow at the Research School for the Social Sciences at the Australian National University, he be­ came associated with this center which is on the boundary between the academic and practical worlds. It has become a southern Tavistock in all three perspec­ tives, being responsible for many of the key conceptual and methodological de­ velopments.

Eric Trist

In Trist joined the Faculty of En­ vironmental Studies with which his rela­ tions had been growing for several years. The purpose was further to develop the socio-ecological perspective, especially in Third World projects, and to foster socio-technical projects throughout Can-

1969

1978

24

Historical O verview

T a b le i

Continued

Node

Ontario Quality of Working Life Centre

India BM Institute, Ahmedabad

National Labour Institute and Punjab Institute for Public Administration

United States Wright Institute, Berkeley, California

Initiating individuals

Hans van Beinum

Kamalini Sarabhai Jock Sutherland

NitishDe Fred Emery

Nevitt Sanford Eric Trist

Description ada. Search conferences have been intro­ duced and teaching begun in futures studies. The center functions as a Cana­ dian Tavistock. Towards the end of the s the wide­ spread interest in quality of working life (QWL) in Canada caused the Ontario government to set up a center for advanc­ ing this field, supported by employers and unions. Van Beinum resigned from his chair in Holland to become its execu­ tive director. Changes in the industrial and political climate in Canada have just recently prompted the Ontario govern­ ment to close the Centre despite its con­ siderable success.

1970

Kamalini Sarabhai, the wife of Gautam Sarabhai, head of Sarabhai Industries, one of the largest industrial concerns in India, came to the Tavistock for training in child development. On returning to India she and her husband set up what is called the BM Institute, very much along the lines of the Tavistock Clinic School of Family Psychiatry and Community Mental Health. An unusual Indian social scientist, the late Nitish De, pioneered the socio-eco­ logical and socio-technical approaches in the sub-continent. He had to move from one center to another because of political difficulties. He maintained strong rela­ tions with the Australian node.

Sanford, a principal author of The Au­ thoritarian Personality ( ), spent a sabbatical at the Tavistock in the early s. Prevented by constraints at both Berkeley and Stanford from integrating

1950

1950

Historical O verview T a b le i

25

Continued

Node

Initiating individuals

Description social and clinical psychology, he set up, during the s, an independent organi­ zation modelled on the Tavistock. It has functioned as a U.S. Tavistock (West). Since Sanford’s retirement, however, it has been principally concerned with training clinical psychologists. In Margaret Rioch from the Wash­ ington School of Psychiatry, with which the Tavistock had close connections, set up an American version of the Leicester Conference with the assistance of A. K. Rice. On his unexpected death in she named the American organization the A. K. Rice Institute. It has since developed chapters throughout the United States. Davis, an engineer turned social scien­ tist, had introduced the socio-technical study of job design in the United States. In he spent a sabbatical at the Tavistock. The next year Trist joined him at U CLA and together they developed the first graduate socio-technical pro­ gram in a university at both the master’s and doctoral levels. Wishing to set up a new Department of Social Systems Sciences, Ackoff per­ suaded Trist, then at U CLA, to join him . A very large and successful in Ph.D. program developed, beginning a U.S. Tavistock (East). However, many Wharton faculty have not been friendly towards a systems approach and recently the University has phased out the aca­ demic program. One of the two associ­ ated research centers has been absorbed into the Wharton Center for Applied Re­ search. The other, with Ackoff, has be­ come linked to the Union Graduate School, where doctoral and master’s pro­ grams are about to begin again.

1960

A .K . Rice Institute

Margaret Rioch A. K. Rice

1964

1969

Center for Quality of Working Life, University of California, Los Angeles

Louis Davis Eric Trist

Department of Social Systems Sciences, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Russell Ackoff Eric Trist

*In order of establishment

1965/66

1969

26

Historical O verview

T a b le 2

International Networks: Interconnections and Perspectives People establishing Visitor to Tavistock Node

Centre for Family and Environmental Research Scottish Institute of Human Relations Department of Continuing Management Education, Loughborough University Organisation for Promoting Understanding in Society (OPUS) Foundation for Adaptation in Changing Environments Work Research Institute, Oslo, Norway School of Business Administration, Erasmus University, Holland Institute for Transitional Dynamics, Lucerne, Switzerland Centre for Continuing Education, Australian National University Action Learning Group, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto Ontario Quality of Working Life Centre BM Institute, Ahmedabad National Labour Institute and Punjab Institute for Public Administration Wright Institute, Berkeley, California A. K. Rice Institute, Washington, D.C. Center for Quality of Working Life, University of California, Los Angeles Department of Social Systems Sciences, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Visitor from Tavistock

Migration from Tavistock

Perspectives o f work*

sP

sT

sE

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*The codes, sP, sT and sE, indicate in which of the three perspectives (socio-psychological, sociotechnical, socio-ecological) work has been carried out in the new settings.

H istorical O verview

27

• Several centers have added new ideas beyond the scope o f the original organization. This is particularly true o f the four mentioned above in w hich very substantial advances have been, and are being, made both conceptually and in the type o f projects undertaken. A s these concern the socio-ecological perspective their exposition is reserved for Volum e III. It is postulated that networks o f this kind w ill play an increasingly important role in the future developm ent o f fields concerned with the social engagem ent o f social science.

General Outcomes Type C Organizations The experience o f building the Tavistock seemed to be relevant to a number o f organizations in one country or another that were engaged in pathfinding endeavors. The Institute, in fact, had becom e a member o f a new class o f organizations whose importance was increasing as the turbulent environment becam e more salient. In addition to university centers engaged in basic re­ search, and consulting groups, whether inside or outside operating organiza­ tions, engaged in applied research, there is a third type o f research organization w hose mission is distinct from either and w hich requires a different kind o f distinctive competence. There has been a good deal o f confusion about what this third type does— “ problem-oriented research” has been a com m on label— and denigration o f its worth. The Institute has had to w ork out its properties in order more fu lly to understand itself and to gain general recognition for the kind o f w ork it undertakes (Trist, 1970). The three types o f organization, shown in Table 3, have distinctive patterns and m ay be described as follow s: Type A Centers o f basic research associated with major teaching facilities, located within universities as autonomous departments undertaking both undergraduate and graduate teaching. Here, research problems are deter­ mined by the needs o f theory and method, and express a research/teaching mix. Type B Centers o f professional social science activity that undertake w ork on immediate practical problem s, located within user organizations or in external consulting groups. U ser organizations require a means o f identi­ fying areas o f social science know ledge relevant to their interests and need

28

Historical O verview

T a b le 3

Characteristics of Main Types of Research Organization

Source of problem Level of problem Activity mix Disciplinary mix Overall pattern

University departments

User organizations

Special institutes

Needs of theory and method Abstract Research/teaching Single Type A

Specific client needs Concrete Research/service Multiple Type B

General “ field” needs (meta-problems) Generic Research/action Interrelated Type C

social science professionals in continuous contact with administrators. In such centers research problems are determined by client needs. T hey express a research/service m ix. Type C Centers o f applied research associated with advanced research training. T hey m ay be regarded as a resultant o f Types A and B and supply the necessary link between them. T hey m ay be located either on the boundaries o f universities or outside them as independent institutes. T h ey are problem-centered and inter-disciplinary, but focus on generic rather than specific problem s. T hey accept professional as w ell as scientific responsibility for the projects they undertake, and contribute both to the improvement o f practice and to theoretical developm ent. Their w ork expresses a research/action m ix. These three types o f institution form an interdependent system . One type cannot be fully effective without the others since the feedback o f each into the others is critical for the balanced developm ent o f the w hole. The boundaries o f A and B can easily extend into C , and those o f C into either A or B . The Institute is a Type C organization. It has had continually to face the dilemmas and conflicts o f needing to be an innovative research body at the leading edge and an operational body to a considerable extent paying its own way. This has been a condition o f preserving its independence. To accom plish both o f these aims sim ultaneously constitutes a paradox fundamental to the existence o f such bodies. Type C institutes are not organized around disciplines but around generic problems (meta-problems or problématiques), w hich are field determined. T hey need the capacity to respond to em ergent issues and to m ove rapidly into new areas. Sub-units need to be free to m ove in and out. So do staff. The experience o f fashioning the Institute showed that Type C organizational cultures need to be based on group creativeness. This contradicts the tradition o f academ ic individualism . A group culture is inherent in projects that depend on collaboration for the achievem ent o f inter-disciplinary endeavors. W hat gets

Historical O verview

29

done is more important than w ho does it. This affects questions o f reward and recognition. A very strong tradition o f group values had been inherited from the war-time Tavistock group. Appropriate w ays had to be found o f reaffirming them. These have not alw ays been successful. A difficult question arises regarding financial stability. The funding pattern described in the discussion o f optimum balance is an ideal w hich the Institute succeeded in approximating only at certain times. Two organizations with which it has compared itself— the Institute for Social Research at the U niver­ sity o f M ichigan and the Work Research Institute in O slo— have been able to achieve financial stability in w ays unavailable to the Tavistock. In the first, the University allow ed the Institute to retain overheads w hich w ould otherwise have gone to the U niversity itself and staff to hold part-time faculty appoint­ ments which were not at risk. In O slo, the N orw egian governm ent provided for a certain number o f senior appointments and assisted with overheads. The Tavistock has never attained such conditions. A priority for any Type C institute is continually to search for appropriate means o f securing financial stability. A structural necessity is to allow a very high degree o f autonomy to sub­ systems and to tolerate w ide differences o f view point. This creates the need for a democratic system o f governance such as that constituted by the pre-war Tavistock organizational revolution that laid the basis for future developm ents. The form o f organizational dem ocracy that grew up after the war had becom e eroded when the division into two groups occurred. This failure points to the need for a Type C institute to maintain the process side o f its organizational life. In the rapidly changing conditions o f a turbulent environment fresh appreciations have to be made frequently and staff conflicts worked through. If the organization is to remain an open system in its environ­ ment it has to maintain an open system within itself. This concept o f the Institute’s basic organizational character was strength­ ened when it becam e a member o f an international network. B eyond a certain stage innovative Type C organizations need such a network. T hey cannot go it alone. Innovative organizations that com e into existence in response to critical problems in their societies can usefully continue only so far as they remain capable o f addressing further problems o f this kind. Som e o f the organizations in the Tavistock network have already gone out o f existence, but new ones have em erged. The London organization has survived several crises, but is still, after 40 years, a transitional organization. Though its member organizations may change, it is much less likely that the network itself w ill go out o f existence. The evolution o f the Tavistock enterprise has now reached a higher system level— that o f the network. Yet in tim e, many o f the nodes are likely to becom e more closely linked with other networks than the original set and to be absorbed in the more general stream o f the social sciences.

30

Historical O verview

Three Research Perspectives A s the matrix becam e established it becam e evident that most o f the Institute’s activities could be subsumed under three perspectives, called in these volum es the socio-psychological, the socio-technical and the socio-ecological perspec­ tives. These em erged from each other in relation to changes taking place in the wider societal environment. One could not have been forecast from the others. Though interdependent, each has its ow n focus. M any o f the more com plex projects require all three perspectives. The original perspective, w hich grew out o f World War II, is called the socio-psychological rather than the psycho-social, as, in Institute projects, the psychological forces are directed towards the social field, whereas in the C lin ic it is the other w ay around. The source concepts for this perspective are: the object relations approach, field theory, the personality-culture approach and systems theory, especially in its open system form . The Institute’s contribution has been to bring them together in a new configuration, which it has made operational. Experience during World War II had shown that psychoanalytic object relations theory could unify the psychological and social fields in a w ay that no other could. This was the reason for m aking psychoanalytic training an essen­ tial ingredient o f the capabilities required to fulfill the post-war m ission o f the Institute. It soon led to entirely new concepts: those o f B ion (196 1) concerning basic unconscious assumptions in group life, w hich he linked to M elanie K le in ’s (1948) view s on the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions; and Jaques’s (1953) theory on the use o f social structure as a defense against anxiety. Field theory appealed to several o f the Tavistock psychiatrists w ho w ere impressed with L e w in ’s emphasis on the here-and-now, the G alilean as op­ posed to the Aristotelian philosophy o f science and the theory o f joint causation expressed in the form ula B = f( P ,E ) . His w ork on group decision m aking and on the dynam ics o f social change, particularly as put forward in his two posthumous papers for the first issue o f Human Relations ( 1947), w ere found to be most cogent. His dictum that the best w ay to understand a system is to change it gave prime importance to action research. In 1933 Trist had attended Sapir’s seminar, given to his graduate students at Yale, on the impact o f culture on personality, the theme o f his epoch-m aking international seminar the previous year. To link personality and culture was foreign to the structural approach in British social anthropology. W hile learning from the structural approach, Trist (Vol. I, “ Culture as a Psycho-Social Pro­ cess” ) was led to a concept o f culture as a psycho-social process w hich could mediate between purely sociological and purely psychological frames o f refer­ ence, a combination o f which was needed in action research. W hile on sabbatical at the Institute from Australia in 19 5 1, Em ery alerted his colleagues to the significance for social science o f Von B ertalanffy’s (1950)

Historical O verview

31

notion o f open systems. This provided a new w ay o f considering individuals, groups and organizations in relation to their environments and foreshadowed the importance later to be attached to Som m erhofFs (1950, 1969) theory o f directive correlation. A s time went on the theoretical underpinnings o f proj­ ects becam e an am algam o f these four conceptual traditions. The sociopsychological perspective (represented in Volum e I) enables w ork at all system levels, from micro- to m acro-, to be covered within a single fram ework. The socio-technical perspective (represented in Volum e II), was entirely novel. It originated in the early mining studies (Trist and Bam forth, 1951). Numerous projects have shown that the prevailing pattern o f top-down bu­ reaucracy is beginning to give w ay to an emergent non-linear paradigm. The new paradigm is based on discovering the best match between the social and technical systems o f an organization, since called the principle o f joint optim iz­ ation (Emery, 1959). The notion o f one narrowly skilled man doing one fractionated task was replaced by that o f the m ulti-skilled w ork group that could exchange assignments in a w hole task system. This led to the further form ula­ tion by Em ery (1967) o f the second design principle, the redundancy o f functions, as contrasted with the redundancy o f parts. Efforts to bring about changes in this new direction have encountered resistances o f profound cultural and psychological depth. These can be more readily understood when their basis in unconscious processes is recognized, for they disturb socially structured psychological defenses in management and worker alike, and threaten established identities. The loss o f the familiar, even if beset with “ bad” attributes, often entails mourning. The possibly “ go od ” may threaten because it is untried. Change strategies have to allow for the fact that w orking through such difficulties takes time. M oreover, intensive sociotechnical change threatens existing pow er systems and requires a redistribution o f power. The main developm ents as regards operational projects took place in the 1960s and 1970s and are still continuing. Until w ell into that latter decade the socio-technical field developed largely in terms o f projects carried out by members o f the Tavistock in a number o f countries. The importance o f self-regulating organizations has becom e much greater in the context o f the increasing levels o f interdependence, com plexity and uncer­ tainty that characterize societies at the present time. B eyond certain thresholds the center/periphery model (Schon, 1970) no longer holds. There com e into being far more com plex interactive webs o f relationship that cannot be handled in this way. These changes in the w ider environment prompted the creation o f the socio-ecological perspective (represented in Volum e III). The com ing o f the new information technologies and the signs o f a transition to a post-industrial society pose new problems related to emergent values such as co-operation and nurturance. Com petition and dominance are becom ing

32

Historical O verview

dysfunctional as the main drivers o f post-industrial society. The value di­ lemmas created are reflected in the conflicts experienced by client organizations and in higher levels o f stress for the individual. A first attempt to conceptualize the new “ problém atique” was made by Em ery and Trist (1965) in a paper entitled “ The Causal Texture o f Organizational Environm ents” (Vol. III). This introduces a new theory o f environmental types w hich arranges environments in terms o f their increasing com plexity. The contemporary environment is said to be taking on the character o f a “ turbulent field ” in which the amount o f disorder is increasing. In the lim it is a “ vortical” state in w hich adaptation w ould be im possible. Turbulence cannot be managed by top-down hierarchies o f the kind e x ­ hibited in bureaucratic forms o f organization. These are variety-reducing, so that there is not enough internal variety to m anage the increase in external variety (Ashby, i960). Needed are organizational form s that are varietyincreasing. These are inherently participative and require a substantial degree o f dem ocratization in organizational life. N o organization, how ever large, can go it alone in a turbulent environment. D issim ilar organizations becom e directi vely correlated. T hey need to becom e linked in networks. A new focus o f the Institute’s w ork has been, therefore, the developm ent o f collaborative modes o f intervention for the reduction o f tur­ bulence and the building o f inter-organizational networks that can address “ meta-problems” at the “ dom ain” level. Projects o f this kind have led it into the field o f futures studies— “ the future in the context o f the present” (Emery and Trist, 1972/73) and “ ideal-seeking” systems (Emery, 1976). N ew process m ethodologies such as the “ search conference” have been introduced (Emery and Emery, 1978) to solve multi-party conflicts, to im prove social coherence and to envision more desirable futures. The socio-ecological approach is linked to the socio-technical because o f the critical importance o f self-regulating organizations for turbulence reduction. It is further linked to the socio-psychological approach because o f the need to reduce stress and prevent regression. Prim itive levels o f behavior can only too easily appear in face o f higher levels o f uncertainty. This is one o f the greatest dangers facing the world as the present century draws to its close. These three perspectives, all arising from field experience, w ould appear to have general significance for w ork concerned with the social engagem ent o f social science.

References Ackoff, R.L. and F.E. Emery. 1972. On Purposeful Systems. Chicago: AldineAtherton.

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33

Adorno, T.W., E. Frenkel-Brunswick, D.J. Levinson and N. Sanford (Editors). 1950. The Authoritarian Personality. New York: Harper and Row. Alcock, T. 1963. The Rorschach in Practice. London: Tavistock Publications. Ashby, W.R. i960. Design for a Brain. London: Chapman & Hall. Balint, M. 1954. “ Training General Practitioners in Psychotherapy.” British Medical Journal, I:i 15-20. Bion, W.R. 1948-50. “ Experiences in Groups.” Human Relations, 1:314-20,487-96; 2:13-22, 295-303; 3:3-14, 395-402; 4:221-27. . 1961. Experiences in Groups and Other Papers. London: Tavistock Publica­ tions; New York: Basic Books. Bott, E. 1957. Family and Social Network (2nd edition, 1971). London: Tavistock Publications. Dicks, H.V. 1970. Fifty Years o f the Tavistock Clinic. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. . 1972. Licensed Mass Murder. New York: Basic Books. Emery, F. 1959. Characteristics o f Socio-Technical Systems. London: Tavistock In­ stitute Document 527. . 1967. “ The Next Thirty Years: Concepts, Methods and Anticipations.” Human Relations, 20:199-237. . 1976. Futures We Are In. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff. Emery, M. and F. Emery. 1978. “ Searching: For New Directions, In New Ways . . . For New Times.” In Management Handbook for Public Administrators, edited by J. W. Sutherland. New York and London: Van Nostrand Reinhold. Emery, F.E., E.L. Hilgendorf and B.L. Irving. 1968. The Psychological Dynamics of Smoking. London: Tobacco Research Council. Emery, F. and E. Thorsrud. 1969. Form and Content in Industrial Democracy. London: Tavistock Publications. ---------. 1977. Democracy at Work. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff. Emery, F.E. and E.L. Trist. 1965. “ The Causal Texture of Organizational Environ­ ments.” Human Relations, 18:21-32. ---------. 1972/73. Towards a Social Ecology. London/New York: Plenum Press. Friend, J.K. and W.N. Jessop. 1969. Local Government and Strategic Choice. London: Tavistock Publications. Friend, J.K., J.M. Power and C.J.L. Yewlett. 1974. Public Planning: The InterCorporate Dimension. London: Tavistock Publications. Higgin, G.W. and W.N. Jessop. 1963. Communications in the Building Industry. London: Tavistock Publications. Hill, J.M. and E.L. Trist. 1955. “ Changes in Accidents and Other Absences with Length of Service.” Human Relations, 8:121-152. Hill, P. 1971. Towards a New Philosophy o f Management. London: Gower Press. Jaques, E. 1951. The Changing Culture o f a Factory. London: Tavistock Publications. Reissued 1987, New York: Garland. •! - “ On the Dynamics of Social Structure.” Human Relations, 6:3-24. Klein, M. 1948. Contributions to Psycho-Analysis 1921-1945. London: Hogarth Press. Laing, R .D ., H. Phillipson and A. Lee. 1966. Interpersonal Perception: A Theory and a Method of Research. London: Tavistock Publications. Lewin, K. 1947. “ Frontiers in Group Dynamics.” Human Relations, L 5 -4 1, 143-53. Menzies Lyth, I. and E. Trist. 1989. In I. Menzies Lyth, The Dynamics o f the Social. London: Free Association Books.

953

34

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Miller, E. and A .K . Rice. 1967. Systems of Organization: Task and Sentient Systems and Their Boundary Control. London: Tavistock Publications. Pincus, L. (Editor) i960. Marriage: Studies in Emotional Conflict and Growth. Lon­ don: Methuen. Rice, A .K . 1965. Learning for Leadership. London: Tavistock Publications. Schon, D. 1970. Beyond the Stable State. New York: Basic Books. Sommerhoff, 1950. Analytical Biology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . 1969. “ The Abstract Characteristics of Living Systems.” In Systems Thinking, edited by F.Emery. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. Stringer, J. 1967. “ Operational Research for Multi-Organizations.” Operational Re­ search Quarterly, 18:105-20. Thorsrud, E. and F. Emery. 1964. Industrielt Demokrati. Oslo: Oslo University Press. Tomkins, S. 1962. Affect, Imagery, Consciousness. New York: Springer. Trist, E.L. 1970. “ The Organization and Financing of Social Research.” In UNESCO. Main Trends of Research in the Social and Human Sciences. Parti: Social Sciences. Paris: Mouton. Trist, E.L. and K.W. Bamforth. 1951. “ Some Social and Psychological Consequences of the Longwall Method of Coal-getting.” Human Relations, 4:3-38. Von Bertalanffy, L. 1950. “ The Theory of Open Systems in Physics and Biology.” Science, 3:22-29. Wilson, A.T.M. 1949. “ Some Reflections and Suggestions on the Prevention and Treatment of Marital Problems.” Human Relations, 2:233-52. Winnicott, D.W. 1965. The Maturational Process and the Facilitating Environment. London: Hogarth.

Volume I

The Socio-Psychological Perspective

Introduction

The contributions selected to represent the socio-psychological perspective o f The Social Engagem ent o f Social Science are arranged in five “ fam ilies” which form the Them es o f this Volum e. T hey show the variety o f work included in each Them e and its underlying coherence. The first Them e, A New Social Psychiatry: A World War II Legacy, is the foundation on which the concept o f The Social Engagem ent o f Social Science has been built. The second, Varieties o f Group P rocess, describes experience with the primary group, w hich was one o f the first two fields with w hich the post-war Institute becam e pre-occupied. The other was the fam ily— hence the Them e o f New Paths in Family Studies. Som ewhat later, w ork under the fourth Them e, The Dynamics o f Organizational C hange, becam e salient. From this background projects em erged related to the fifth Them e, The Unconscious in Culture and Society. The range o f social phenomena thus presented, is from m icro to macro: the primary group; the fam ily; organizations; the larger society. Different system levels are represented. A s explained in the Historical O verview , the source concepts w hich gave rise to the socio-psychological perspective are psychoanalytic object relations theory, Lewinian field theory, the personality-culture approach and the theory o f open systems. These have been drawn on to guide action-oriented projects o f considerable scope and duration. The experience o f these projects has led to further conceptual developm ents. U sually more than one, sometimes all four, o f the source concepts have been drawn on in order to obtain a better under­ standing o f what was taking place or what had to be designed. Though it w ould be preposterous to suggest that everybody did everything, most staff members m oved with some facility from one domain o f inquiry to another and from one system level to another. A n ideal was to keep alive in one’s experience the reality o f the person, the group, the organization and the wider society, so that one could sense their interconnections. It w as also thought desirable to maintain contact with projects in more than one social sector— not, for exam ple, to spend all on e’s time in industrial projects. B ecause most o f the projects were conducted in an action-oriented frame o f reference, multiple aspects o f the situation cam e into play. This com pelled an holistic approach. Experiential holism reinforced cognitive holism . N ew per­ ceptions arose from this reinforcement.

38

Introduction

A generalist capacity was needed as a background for specific com petence. W hat one lacked oneself could be supplied by a colleague, since projects were carried out by teams. But com m unication in such circum stances fails without the com mon background o f a shared perspective such as that provided by the source concepts. The aim was to maintain a variety o f experience, how ever much at a given time a staff member was focussing on a particular level or domain. Experiential learning provided a basis for conceptual advance.

A New Social Psychiatry: A World War II Legacy

T

he papers under this Them e give accounts o f three projects arising at different phases o f the war that defined the nature o f the new social

psychiatry. Each led to innovations in practice and advances in theory. T hey all involved the building o f new special purpose m ilitary institutions. The Transformation o f Selection Procedures. This is an overview o f the War O ffice Selection Boards w hich constituted a major innovation. The solution to a crisis in officer selection that developed in 1941 was to build a residential institution in w hich groups o f candidates w ere assessed by a group o f ju d ges— military and technical (psychiatrists and psychologists). The process through w hich this evolved as a collaborative undertaking between the military and technical teams is described by M urray as an exem plar o f creating this type o f relationship. The candidates had com e to compete for the privilege o f going on to officer training. They were faced, how ever, with situations in w hich they had to cooperate. H ow they handled this dilemma was the key question in the “ hereand-now” real-life situation they were in. The leaderless group method intro­ duced by Bion (1946) showed that when form al structure was rem oved a group spontaneously developed structures o f its own. A therapeutic element was built into assessment procedures which becam e a learning experience for all con­ cerned. A s the war went on a large variety o f selection projects was undertaken and far-reaching attempts were made to test the reliability and validity o f the procedures. The follow -up in theaters o f w ar was designed in a w ay that secured the full participation o f commanding officers. Murray gives the first overview to be published o f this far-reaching multi­ faceted enterprise and its im plications for the future. The Discovery o f the Therapeutic Community. A t the height o f the w ar all available manpower was needed. Too many soldiers were being invalided out because o f psychological illness. A n attempt to reduce this outflow was made by Bion and Rickm an (1943) at Northfield M ilitary Hospital where they introduced for the first time the notion o f a therapeutic com m unity— a com ­ pletely novel idea. In countervailing the conventional bureaucratic and authori­ tarian medical model this innovation produced so much anxiety in the staff that

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it was stopped. Later it was reintroduced in a form developed by Harold Bridger, and elaborated still further by S .H . Foulkes (1946) w ho exercised a major influence on post-war developm ents. B rid ger’s overview , w hich evalu­ ates the contributions o f all the main actors, is the only such account to be published. The experience o f being at Northfield was an intense one for staff and patients alike. The therapeutic results were beyond expectations. M any o f those involved felt they had been introduced into a w orld where far more was possible in human relationships than they had previously thought. T h ey cam e to b elieve that the creativeness and cooperation released m ight, if replicated on a w ide enough scale, provide a means o f bringing into existence a more reparative society. Transitional Communities and Social Reconnection. The beliefs that arose from Northfield were strengthened by experiences with the second therapeutic com m unity which was designed for the civ il resettlement o f repatriated pris­ oners o f war. Twenty o f these units were brought into existence with some 200 repatriates in residence in each at any one time. This w hole schem e was conceived by W ilson (1946). Follow -up showed it to be profoundly successful. It was not under m edical auspices but run by regim ental personnel with a handful o f psychiatric and psychological advisers. It brought forward a new general concept— the function o f transitional com m unities in establishing the “ social reconnection” o f those w ho, for a variety o f reasons, m ay find them­ selves outside or alienated from the main society. A fter agreements had been reached at ministerial level to use the experience gained in a number o f post-war applications their implementation was pre­ vented because o f political interventions based on com plete misunderstanding. Fortunately, the form o f therapeutic com m unity developed in parallel by M axw ell Jones (1968), w hich had m edical protection, survived. In the mental hospital world therapeutic communities gained ground but reached certain limits not present in other settings. It is a tragedy that the war-time trans­ m edical versions did not spread; but the obstacles at that time were all but insuperable. These war-time innovations need reassessment as regards their usefulness for addressing current problems and Bridger is testing out their relevance to A ID S and the drug problem in the United States and Italy. T hey have continu­ ing potential as arenas for promoting personal growth and group cooperation in many settings. Their participative and dem ocratic aspects have value for institution-building for the future.

A N ew Social Psychiatry

43

References Bion, W.R. 1946. “ The Leaderless Group Project.” Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 10:77-81. Bion, W.R. andJ. Rickman. 1943. “ Intra-Group Tensions in Therapy.” Lancet, 2:67881. Foulkes, S.H. 1946. “ On Group Analysis.” International Journal of Psycho-Analysis,

27:46- 51.

Jones, M. 1968. Social Psychiatry in Practice. London: Penguin Books. Wilson, A.T.M. 1946. “ The Serviceman Comes Home.” Pilot Papers, 1:9-28.

Hugh Murray

The Transformation of Selection Procedures The War Office Selection Boards*

The Presenting Problem and the Initial Response Towards the end o f 1 9 4 1 , the impending rapid expansion o f the British A rm y required a large number o f officers. The ensuing crisis in officer selection was o f sufficient magnitude for a major innovation in assessment procedures to em erge— the War O ffice Selection Boards. These boards enabled the army to officer itself when traditional methods were failing and when there w as doubt as to whether a sufficient reserve o f officer material existed among the other ranks. The process o f collaboration between experts and administrators, w hich the boards exem plified, becam e a model for many other joint undertakings. The m ethodological revolution consisted in replacing a m ilitary judge using a short interview by an inter-disciplinary group o f selectors who assessed groups o f candidates over two-and-a-half days. The extent o f the participation achieved among all those concerned made the Boards profoundly acceptable to the war­ time army. Failure rates at Officer Cadet Training Units (O C T U s) had risen to over 20 percent in many courses and to over 30 percent in some. Not only did these fail­ ures represent a great deal o f effort wasted on unproductive training (courses were o f three months), they created undue stress in the training units. N ext, there were insufficient numbers o f good applicants. This lack was com plex in its origins; letters o f com plaint received by the War O ffice indicated that there was a reluctance to apply for a com m ission. Furthermore, the return to their units o f a noticeable number o f failures reinforced this reluctance. A t this time candidates for com m issions went before a Com m and Interview Board (CIB ) consisting o f a permanent president and tw o com m anding officers (CO s) as ad hoc members. These boards conducted a short interview with each *A new paper based on original documents and unpublished papers, drafted by B .S. Morris, J.D. Sutherland and E.L. Trist, held in the archives of the Tavistock Institute.

46

A N ew Social Psychiatry

candidate, usually some 20 minutes, and decisions w ere made on the im pres­ sions gained, together with the information contained in a b rief report from the m an’s C O . M any candidates felt that they could not do them selves justice in such short interviews. The presidents felt equally dissatisfied. Reports from units w ere also proving less helpful than had been hoped. C O s had not yet had experience o f men under sufficiently varied conditions and the course o f the w ar had been such that relatively few candidates had had the critical test o f battle. Potential officers were being drawn from an ever-widening range o f social classes so that presidents no longer had those signposts to leadership qualities with w hich they were fam iliar in young men from the public (U S A = private) schools. The uncertainty felt about such short interview s w as in­ creased by pressure to find all possible candidates rather than to take only those who were obviously good.

B

ack g r o u n d to th e

C

hange

Early in 1940 a psychiatrist was posted to each o f the A rm y Com m ands and soon afterwards other psychiatrists were added to assist the Com m and psychia­ trists. M any o f the breakdowns they encountered were obviously precipitated by factors in the m ilitary environment as w ell as by limitations in the individ­ ual. The psychiatrists began to occupy a therapeutic role in relation to their em ploying institution, the army, as w ell as to individual patients within it by m aking suggestions for the prevention o f psychiatric illness from social causes (Sutherland and Fitzpatrick, 1945). One o f the most important causes o f difficulty in adjustment was unsuitable em ploym ent in the army itself. A new Directorate for the Selection o f Personnel was established w hich, w orking in close collaboration with the Directorate for A rm y Psychiatry, prepared a scheme which radically altered the recruiting arrangements o f the army and entailed the building o f a new social system — the General Service C orps— into w hich men were now taken for a short period before being sent to a specific arm o f the service. During this induction period they were given several p sych olog­ ical tests and a short interview w hich enabled Personnel Selection O fficers to make recommendations for each m an’s training in keeping with his abilities and, as far as possible, his preferences (Vernon and Parry, 1949). The psycho­ metric under-pinning o f this scheme was in sharp contrast to the methods then used for the selection o f officer cadets. In creating practical schemes for handling various m anpower questions, it becam e the rule that the schem es had to be jointly planned by the army officer and the “ exp ert,” each contributing from his ow n special experience and know ledge (Rees, 1945). The social-therapeutic role o f the psychiatrists, both in diagnosing problems from the human side o f the m ilitary environment and in

The Transformation o f Selection Procedures

47

fostering the developm ent o f specially adapted m ilitary institutions to meet them, paved the w ay for the early experiments and for some o f the most characteristic features o f the selection boards.

P r e l im in a r y E x p e r im e n t s

Experiments by army psychiatrists with both officers and officer-cadets pointed to w ays o f providing the C IB s with more evidence than they w ere accustomed to have. A n experiment by B ow lb y was stimulated by comments on the unsuitability o f many officers recently com missioned: the numbers o f unsuit­ able officer-cadets were intolerably high, they lacked the ability to master the technical training or the degree o f leadership required for an armored regi­ ment, or both. Since psychological tests and interviews had proved useful in identifying other-rank recruits likely to prove failures, the new inquiry aimed to discover whether an intelligence test and an interview by a psychiatrist could accurately predict the technical ability and officer-like qualities o f cadets at OCTU. A critical experiment with serving officers (W ittkower and Rodger, 1941) arose out o f a Com m and psychiatrist’s w ork with problem officers and the interest o f his A rm y Com m ander in the methods o f officer selection used in the German army. A n initial experiment was set up at a school for com pany commanders whose commandant and staff had, during an intensive fi ve-w eek course, formed a thorough-going opinion o f the students’ all-around ca­ pabilities as officers, their technical proficiency and their human qualities. They could give ratings o f their students with w hich the opinions o f the psychiatrist could be compared. The investigation included written and laboratory tests and an interview. In order to compare opinions, the commandant and the psychiatrists each made a brief evaluation o f the student’s personality, together with a judgm ent on his suitability as a combatant officer. Both sides read their reports and then rated the results o f the comparison according to the degree o f agreement. O f the 48 com parisons, 26 (55 percent) were in essential agreement, 12 (25 percent) in substantial agreement and 10 (20 percent) in essential disagreement. Ninetenths o f these disagreements were due to underlying personality deviations w hich had escaped the attention o f the commandant, in some cases the psycho­ logical abnormality being very severe. The program, with the addition o f a psychologist to administer intelligence tests, was repeated with another course o f officers at the com pany com ­ manders’ school. The results reduced the 20 percent disagreement by half. The improvement appeared to be due not only to the psychiatrists incorporating the results o f the intelligence tests into their reports, but also to the mutual

48

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education o f the psychiatrists and the commandant. The psychiatrists learned more o f the variety o f talents w hich could successfully be used in officer roles, w hile the commandant becam e aware o f the possible psychological signifi­ cance o f certain aspects o f a m an’s perform ance during the course. It was recognized that some differences o f opinion w ould be inevitable because o f the limitations o f the methods used by each ju d ge— the one using interview s, supported by written and laboratory tests, and the other observing men in a variety o f practical training activities. The assessment o f these officers, w hile presenting many difficulties, was nevertheless an easier task than the assessment o f younger men w ho did not have occupational or m ilitary records as evidence o f their potentialities. The investigations were therefore repeated with several groups o f cadets at an O C T U . A similar degree o f overall essential and substantial agreem ent, 80 to 90 percent, was found between the reports o f the training staff and the psychia­ trists. The relationship between training outcom e and perform ance in the field w as, o f course, unknown. So long as the categories o f substantial and essential agreement were com bined, the level o f agreement w as higher than m ight have been expected. But i f the category o f substantial agreement was added to that o f essential disagreem ent, a more negative picture em erged. It w as concluded that an opinion based sim ply on interview and intelligence tests w ould not be sufficient for m aking reliable judgm ents on the substantial proportion o f candidates likely to be near the threshold o f acceptance— and boards w ere under pressure to accept as many o f these as they could, with safety, pass. From the nature o f the discrepancies between the judgm ents o f the psychiatrist and the O C T U staff, it appeared that practical tests would be a valuable addition to an interview, as a man could then be seen in action. If a w ay could be found o f com bining the resources and methods o f m ilitary personnel and the opinions o f psychiatric and psychological specialists, rather than o f using one as a criterion for validating the other, a type o f selection procedure m ight be instituted w hich would be reliable in assessing officer candidates and acceptable to m ilitary opinion.

In i t i a l W

o r k in g

P r in c ip l e s

From the preliminary experiments six general principles em erged for an im ­ proved selection procedure: • The responsibility for selection must belong, and m anifestly so, to the em ploying institution, i.e ., the army. If selection were to be delegated to the “ exp ert,” insuperable difficulties w ould follow regarding the accep­ tance o f new methods by both officers and men.

The Transformation o f Selection Procedures

49

• The introduction o f scientific procedures could best be effected by graft­ ing them onto the existing Com m and Interview Boards. To do this en­ tailed creating a new social institution, for the original board w ould be transformed in character. The president o f the new board w ould retain responsibility for selection, but with evidence provided by other exam ­ iners. His experience o f the army was essential. He should carry a rank— full C olon el— w hich w ould strengthen his position in relation to the C O s o f units from w hich candidates w ould be drawn. • Data from interviews needed to be supplemented by observation o f the individual in action. The president should have a junior regimental officer with experience o f battle conditions, to be known as a M ilitary Testing O fficer (M TO ), who w ould conduct a number o f practical tests based on common tasks o f an officer’s role. • The psychological contributions to the board’s evidence should be o f two kinds. First, evidence about each candidate submitted by a psychiatrist and a psychologist. A s full an interview as possible should be preserved. In addition to tests w hich had been proved w orthw hile, such as tests o f intelligence, w ays o f estimating qualities o f personality should be devel­ oped. • Candidates should live in a hostel with the M T O for a period o f three days— the time estimated to process an intake o f, say, 30 candidates. • Working out a practical testing procedure required further experimenta­ tion. A n experimental board should, therefore, be established with a president, an M T O , two psychiatrists and a psychologist. The proposals were w ell received. The creation o f a new type o f military unit for the selection o f officers w hich w ould introduce scientific methods in the context o f a residential procedure was acceptable to the presidents o f the Comm and Interview Boards.

The Work o f the Experimental Selection Board The experimental selection board* assem bled early in January 1942 to begin w orking out an operational procedure on the principles agreed. W hatever aspects o f a candidate might need special attention in the light o f job analy­ ses— which were carried out by officers with recent battle experience— the

*W.R. Bion, J.D. Sutherland (psychiatrists) and E.L. Trist (psychologist) became the nuclear technical group which, in conjunction with Colonel J. V. Delahaye (President) and Captain W.N. Gray (MTO), worked up and tested out a reproducible model. Three psychological assistants (sergeant testers— later commissioned) supported this group.

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“ w hole m an” had to be taken into account. M any kinds o f men made good officers. Few personal qualities were specific to the job . A lm ost all an individ­ u al’s attributes could contribute to his effectiveness and could affect the atti­ tudes o f his men and o f his fellow officers towards him. It w ould be his com petence to fill the main roles o f the officer’s jo b that w ould matter rather than his particular method o f carrying them out. Preconceptions about officer qualities or types o f potential officers had to be overcom e. Judges needed an extensive know ledge o f officer roles and then had to assess how candidates could use their resources to fill them. Three main demands o f the officer’s jo b needed assessment: quality o f social relations with superiors, equals and subordinates; com petence in practical situations; stamina over long periods and under stress. The president and the psychiatrist had their own distinctive method o f assessment (the interview) already available but suitable testing methods for the M T O and the psycholo­ gist w ould have to be created.

Q u a s i R e a l -L if e S it u a t io n s

The first m ilitary tests were decided by the background, training and battle experience w hich the M T O brought to his task. A s a regimental officer he judged men on the basis o f their performance in actual situations and roles. Therefore his intuitions and discriminations were likely to be most effective with tests which enabled him to relate what he observed directly to his field o f experience. The most suitable tests w ere, therefore, quasi real-life situations in which the essentials o f various officer roles and problems were imitated. The situations had to be such that they depended as little as possible on special military know ledge and amount o f m ilitary training. The tests were o f tw o types: com m and situations and practical individual situations. Com m and situations consisted o f asking each candidate to play the role o f officer in simple m ilitary situations using the other candidates as his men. Such situations typically required the officer to deal with his men at the same time as solving concrete problems created by things. Tw o different kinds o f situations were used, one with the candidate in independent com m and in an outdoor practical situation; the other focussing on his administrative and manmanagement roles. The practical individual situations were designed to bring out certain qual­ ities thought to be related to the capacity to endure stress. T hey consisted o f physical obstacles arranged in a series or “ course” with specially constructed apparatus. Athletic prowess was largely irrelevant. The candidate had to assess his own resources in relation to each obstacle. W hat was looked for was his judgm ent in overcom ing them, as w ell as his stamina.

The Transformation o f Selection Procedures

51

P s y c h o l o g ic a l T ests

The best arrangement w as for the psychiatrist to provide an integrated technical report that com bined clinical assessment with the more objective measures which psychological tests could give. Four types o f test were chosen: question­ naires, intelligence tests, projective tests o f personality and individual tests o f a laboratory type based on those used in the Germ an army (Ansbacher, 1941). The latter were subsequently dropped as being redundant or im practical. The first tw o were group-administered written tests and the third soon becam e so. The function o f the two questionnaires was to have recorded, for the con ve­ nience o f both interviewers, the main features o f the candidate’s scholastic, occupational and m ilitary history and, for the psychiatrist and psychologist, more personal information about fam ily history and health. In choosing and developing intelligence tests, the follow ing factors had to be taken into account: the capacity to reason with both verbal and non-verbal material (the influence o f different educational opportunities being reduced to a minimum); flexibility— the test items were arranged so that each problem would be approached afresh; the maxim um discrimination should occur among the top 30 percent o f the army population. Candidates were separated into those clearly acceptable, those o f borderline acceptability and those unaccept­ able. Individual confirmatory tests (Sem eonoff and Trist, 1958) were given to three categories o f candidate: those whose educational or occupational record was out o f keeping with the test results; those showing unusual discrepancies between performances on the three tests; and candidates o f borderline ability who did w ell in interview or on the M T O tests. The projective method creates conditions for the total personality— its conscious and unconscious forces and their organization— to reveal itself in a spontaneous way. Certain projective tests were identified for further work because o f their ease o f group application and assessment. Three were even­ tually chosen: a modified Word A ssociation Test, a short series o f Them atic Apperception Test pictures and a written Self-D escription. These were all given in group form after the questionnaires and intelligence tests. The purpose o f the Word A ssociation Test was to explore spontaneous attitudes towards the officer’s job . Words w ere chosen because o f the likeli­ hood o f their being linked with such attitudes, including the anxieties aroused (Sutherland and Fitzpatrick, 1945). The Them atic Apperception Test (Murray et a l., 1938) was expected to throw light on unconscious conflicts revolving around officer/men relations, those in authority and those w ho might be enemies. The Self-D escription (W ittkow er and Rodger, 1941) illuminated the candidate’s insight into his strengths and weaknesses and how he handled hostile or favorable attitudes to him self. The written responses to the projective tests had to be interpreted in a

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clinical manner and thus gave scope for large subjective influences. N everthe­ less, it was soon proved that psychological assistants w ho had a fairly ad­ vanced psychological training in their university courses before the w ar could be trained to interpret the material along psycho-dynam ic lines with a reason­ able degree o f consistency. This was a crucial finding, because the few experi­ enced psychologists available were required for much-needed research and development. Furthermore, the projective tests w ere not intended to be used as independent measures but to provide leads to personality features requiring clinical assessment in psychiatric interview. Their lim ited scientific status was signified by calling them personality pointers. The pointers helped to identify early in the program those candidates on whom the psychiatrist’s assessment would be particularly valuable. T hey threw light on assets and liabilities in a w ay that enabled interview time to be used most effectively. To produce the personality pointers for each candidate from the four hours o f written tests took, on average, half an hour.

A

d a p t in g t o

In c r e a s e d D

em ands

Candidates were given the status o f cadets and shared a mess with the M T O s. There was little difficulty throughout the three days in maintaining an informal atmosphere consistent with the basic features o f army discipline and custom . Badges o f rank were replaced by identification numbers on arm-bands w hich, while convenient to board staff, indicated to all that judgm ents w ould be made on what the candidate w as, not who he was. The president with the tw o local C O s form ed the board proper, w hile the psychiatrist, psychologist and M T O played the part o f expert advisers. The president interviewed all the candidates him self and the tw o visiting officers usually conducted a joint interview. The tw o psychiatrists each interviewed h alf the candidates, and the M T O and the psychologist used the tests described. A t the final board m eeting the independent interview judgm ents w ere placed alongside the data from the specialist advisers and a new com posite judgm ent was made. W hile this form o f board was appropriate for w orking out test m ethods, it was not optimum for operational use. Accordingly, a deputy president and an extra M T O were added and the staff soon divided into tw o boards, each with its own team o f president, M T O and psychiatrist. The psychologist and tw o psychological assistants w orked with both psychiatrists. Each team could handle 16 candidates in three days so that a board with tw o teams could see 64 men a w eek. A system o f reporting, analytical only to the point o f separating facts, interpretations and gradings, em erged. Though not ideal, it facilitated com ­

The Transformation o f Selection Procedures

53

munication between m ilitary and specialist m embers, w hile allow ing freer exploration o f preconceptions and conflicting beliefs about “ officer quality.” Differences o f opinion w ere not alw ays resolvable. The difficulty o f collating independent reports for the first time at the final conference was one o f the main reasons w hich led to the abandonment o f having com pletely independent roles for the judges. The experimental board had only just begun to get a program under w ay when it em erged that 15 to 20 boards w ould have to be established within the next six months, each with a throughput o f 80 to 100 candidates a w eek. The application o f the new methods w ould not be possible unless the necessary staff could be secured and trained, and the testing program m odified to meet such urgent and large-scale needs. To occupy the m ilitary roles— president, deputy president and M T O s— suitable officers could be found and trained; but filling the technical roles posed a problem. The psychiatrists’ interviews would constitute the main bottleneck. Fortunately, the increasing skill o f psychologi­ cal assistants in m aking personality pointers enabled the psychiatrist to obtain a sufficient preview o f the candidate’s personality to distribute his interview time more econom ically, considerably increase the number o f candidates he could see in a day and still feel a reasonable degree o f confidence in his judgm ent. W ith a staff o f president, deputy president, two psychiatrists, assisted by tw o (later three) psychological assistants, the interview load could be carried. A s regards the practical tests, the M T O s were increased to four. A trial program capable o f extension to new boards with intakes o f 40 was organized as follow s: the psychological tests were confined to the first (half) day; on the next two days the president and deputy president each interviewed 20 candi­ dates, being provided with the intelligence results and notes on the biographi­ cal questionnaire; the tw o psychiatrists each interviewed 20 candidates with the aid o f the pointers. A ll four interviewers prepared reports by the end o f the second day for the final board m eeting next morning. The M T O s’ tests pro­ ceeded as before, all candidates carrying out individually prescribed physical tests and taking part in both indoor and outdoor command situations. This program w as accepted by the army authorities and the decision was taken in A pril 1942 to convert existing C IB s to the new style and to add a number o f new boards.

Operational Development and Expansion The boards were brought under direct War O ffice control in order that officer selection could develop as a centrally co-ordinated activity. T hey were named War O ffice Selection Boards (O C T U s)— W O S B s for short. Simultaneously, the composition o f the boards was altered. The psychiatrists and the M T O s

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were not members o f the board but acted as advisers to a board w hich retained the com position o f C IB s. V isiting members were dispensed with. N onetheless, their presence had been valuable. T hey saw what w as being attempted and took back to their units first-hand impressions o f the w ork being done. The changeover from old to new took place rapidly, staff being trained at the experimental board (renamed No. i W O S B ) and at one o f the earliest o f the new boards to be established. There w ere 15 new boards at w ork by Septem ber 1942. There were not enough psychiatrists to have tw o per board. C om m is­ sioned psychologists were appointed, w ho interviewed the less problem atic candidates so that only one psychiatrist becam e necessary. The staff o f the experim ental board had a continuing concern with the inadequate nature o f the tests used by the M T O s and with the feelings o f the president and psychiatrist that their judgm ent w ould be im proved i f they them selves could see something o f the candidates in action. C onversely, the M T O s needed to know something o f the inner man so that their cross-sectional view could be better interpreted. The unsatisfactory system o f bringing inde­ pendent reports together for the first time at the final conference required revision.

T he L ead erless G ro u p M

eth od

The general difficulty with the M T O s’ tests was that they had little or no coherent conceptual fram ework governing their content and sequence. The method o f leaderless groups in w hich a group w as left to its ow n devices in coping with a situation with w hich the M T O had confronted it, or w hich it set for itself, was conceived by W .R . B ion (B ion, 1946; Trist, 1985). Formal leadership was rem oved and leadership patterns were left to em erge through a series o f group situations, beginning with the least structured and proceeding to more structured events. The aim o f the leaderless group tests was to reproduce those aspects o f an officer’s job principally concerned with his approach to, and his relations with, others. W hile other methods and interviews informed the testing officers to some extent about the quality o f the candidate’s social relations, the leaderless group method forced the candidate to reveal this quality directly in the here-and-now. The method made use o f the candidate’s anxiety to do w ell for him self, to further his own hopes and aspirations. In individual tests his desire to do better than other candidates presented no problem , but when he was put through tests as a m ember o f a group without a leader, a problem was introduced. The anxiety to look after his ow n interests remained, but the M T O ’s instruction called into activity not individuals, but a group form ed by those individuals. M oreover, no indication was given as to whether judgm ent w ould be on the

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performance o f individuals or the performance o f the group. The conflict for each individual candidate was that he could demonstrate his abilities only through the medium o f others. This being true o f everyone in the group, a common purpose was created, namely, to act towards one another so that each would have an opportunity to display him self. There were tw o problems set by the leaderless group method— the real or social problem, i.e ., to reconcile group purpose with individual aspirations, and the quasi-real or presented problem. Candidates direct their attention to the quasi-real problem w hich conceals the real problem , so that the latter is only vaguely sensed. The more that candidates accepted the quasi-real problem , the more could the M T O identify what was spontaneous in their behavior and through this get an indication o f their cohesive and destructive tendencies. It was not the artificial test, but the real-life situation that the observers had to w atch— the w ay in w hich a m an’s capacity for personal relationships stand up under the strain o f his own and other m en’s fear o f failure and desire for personal success (Bion, 1946). The leaderless group tasks were set in a series intended to parallel phases in the formation o f a group faced with a com m on task. These phases w ould overlap, but to separate them made observation easier. Groups o f eight candi­ dates were found to be best, though groups o f 10 were m anageable. The interplay o f personalities was freer and more illuminating when the groups could be made as hom ogeneous as possible in regard to age, rank, arm, and length o f service. A basic series o f tests lasting about two-and-a-half hours was evolved to represent four phases: Exploration. The phase o f preliminary contact in w hich members o f the group sized each other up and began to know each other, represented in mutual introductions in w hich each candidate took about three minutes to give personal particulars o f him self. This led on to a free group discussion in w hich the group had to choose a subject w hich w ould make for a good argument and then discuss it, 30 minutes being allow ed in all. Competition. In this phase the group members were com peting for dom i­ nance and the group got some experience o f its members in leadership roles. This was represented in spontaneous situations in which several military problems were presented in quick succession, the M T O using the immediate outdoor surroundings as material. The situations were not com plex enough to call for action by the group as a w hole. It was up to each individual to declare his preferred method o f participation (or non­ participation). Co-operation. Each individual had to learn that only by pooling o f resources and setting aside self-centered attitudes and m otives could a goal be reached. This was represented in the progressive group task w hich con­

56

A N ew Social Psychiatry sisted o f a practical problem . Characteristically the group had to carry a heavy and awkward load over a series o f obstacles o f increasing diffi­ culty, in a m ilitary setting with an air o f urgency. The group had to cooperate to produce an acceptable plan and build an organization around the most effective leadership it could produce. The group had to sustain its activity over a period o f tim e— 30 to 45 minutes— to reach an objec­ tive. D iscipline. The individual had to identify him self with the group’s decisions and subordinate him self to a pattern o f organization in w hich he had to accept the role assigned to him. This was represented in the group gam e, usually, between tw o groups, carrying a heavy object, com peting against each other for 20 to 30 minutes around an obstacle course.

T he O bserver T eam

The leaderless group tests dealt with the general qualities o f social relations w hich concerned all members o f the board. There was an advantage, therefore, in their being observed by the full team o f selectors— the president or deputy president, psychiatrist and psychologist as w ell as the M T O . W hen a group o f observers watched the basic series it w as almost im possible for them not to discuss what they had seen and thus difficult to maintain strict independence. W ith shared observations, differences in opinion w ere aired early on and this was form alized in a “ query conference” at the end o f the basic series. Each judge noted those candidates on w hom his specialist attention w ould need to be centered. “ The leaderless group method changed the entire character o f the W O S B . The board becam e a learning com m unity w hich im proved collective capacity through the sharing o f com m on here-and-now experiences o f the candidates instead o f conducting acrimonious and unresolvable debates on independently based judgm ents” (Trist, 1985). The creation o f the observer team enhanced the value o f the special contribution which each m em ber w ould m ake in the final board conference. It greatly im proved the basis for the collaboration o f the three types o f ju d ge, both in their feelings about each other’s role and in their com m on task. The shared observations indicated to each m ember his preju­ dices and biases. The comparisons o f judgm ents on the same data did much to keep standards similar amongst observers in the same team. W ith candidates who failed there was a strong desire among board members to advise them and to secure conditions in w hich they could develop or use their assets to the best advantage o f the army and them selves. Thus letters to C O s would explain the board’s opinion and ask them to give these candidates

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such facilities for gaining leadership experience as w ere available. A special training center was set up for immature candidates. Transfers to more appropri­ ate jobs were suggested in the case o f men o f high ability w ho would never acquire the personal qualities needed in an officer. It appeared to be virtually im possible to sustain selection procedures without extending some form o f guidance to those who failed. For general satisfaction a selection procedure had to be a tw o-w ay process in w hich the observer team got a lot out o f the candidates and the latter, in turn, got something from the observer team. A s the number o f W O S B s increased it was decided to set up near London a headquarters called the Research and Training Centre (RTC). It was desirable for the original group o f psychiatrists and psychologists to be geographically close to the War O ffice where they could give help on policy questions affecting the W O S B s as a w hole. Unhappily, the w ay the R T C w as set up prevented the developm ent o f more refined assessment methods for the ordinary w ork o f the boards. For exam ple, it could not also function as an ordinary w orking W O S B and so directly encounter the emergent problems in regular selection. A ccess to neighboring boards could not provide suitable conditions for further develop­ ment as the pressure o f w ork was too great. The professional group at R T C becam e increasingly absorbed in planning follow -up and allied investigations. They had to devote a very large part o f their time to an increasing range o f selection problems to w hich the start o f the W O S B s had given rise.

A

t t it u d e t o t h e

N e w W OSBs

W ithin a remarkably short period the new methods gained the almost unan­ imous approval o f the other ranks. The opinion o f candidates was sought by asking them to giv e, anonymously, their frank comments on the w hole pro­ gram. This was done after the testing was com pleted and w hile the board was sitting so that nothing said w ould be “ used in evidence against them .” These spontaneous comments showed a remarkable support for what the board was trying to achieve. Ninety-eight percent approved whole-heartedly o f the new procedure. Despite the fact that many C O s were in sym pathy with the aims o f the board, there w as, not unexpectedly, skepticism and hostility. This was mini­ mized only when more officers could visit a board for a w hole intake and go through the work with the president. Apart from negative attitudes o f a more personal origin, resistance to the new methods could have been predicted because the role o f C O s in the selection task had not been clearly w orked out— and certainly not with them. T hey w ere, in fact, being asked to accept a change introduced from above and one w hich was not in response to a need that they

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were experiencing directly at this stage o f the war. The attitudes o f the C O s to the new methods was basic to their participation in the larger task o f the production o f officers.

The Crisis o f Candidate Supply The staff o f the experimental selection board becam e aware that the task was not only to im prove the quality o f officer cadets b y suitable selection methods but also to ensure that every soldier with officer potential should com e to a board and that all men w ho reached minimum standards o f suitability should be identified. It had been quite w id ely felt that a large number o f good candidates were not available through C O s discouraging them, directly or indirectly, from leaving their units. M any C O s feared that if they gave up some o f their best men they would seriously w eaken their units as a fighting force. The staff o f the experimental board could not directly rem edy this situation, but they could ascertain to what extent it m ight be true. The other armed services and the war industries w ere all being provided with leaders at the expense o f the army. Com pared with the first w orld war, the ratio o f officers to other ranks was nearly doubled so that, from sources already creamed to some extent, far more officers had to be found. Indeed, anxiety was expressed as to whether the army could provide its ow n officers. In the first four months o f the experim ental board the supply o f candidates in the country as a w hole was barely one-third o f what w as needed and in the catchment area o f the board itself it was even less. A survey w as made o f the sources o f candidates in a command area with the startling result that their numbers were absurdly small from the m ajority o f units. O ver two-thirds o f the 700 independent units (Lieutenant C olonel or M ajor commands) provided no candidates in a 15-w eek period and 14 percent only one candidate, the propor­ tion o f units then decreasing as the number o f candidates increased. The accepted, though tacit, convention was not to put candidates forward. Further analysis showed that the nearer a unit was to going overseas to take up a role in com bat, the smaller the number o f candidates it produced; the larger the unit, the smaller the proportion o f candidates; and, the more candidates a unit sent to a selection board, the higher the proportion accepted ( A .T .M ., W ilson, 1951). Furthermore, units producing most officers usually had internal institutions to discover such candidates.

T h e R e g im e n t a l N o m in a t io n E x p e r im e n t

Bion suggested that the know ledge the men had o f each other should be used in finding candidates. If a C O was interested the men in the entire unit could be

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asked to give the names o f those o f their fellow s w hom they thought highly o f and whom they w ould trust to lead them into action. Trist recognized this proposal as a use o f sociom etric principles (M oreno, 1934) and worked out a method o f carrying it out, w hich becam e know n as Regim ental Nom ination. It was based on the notion that w hole battalions or equivalent units o f good reputation should be awarded the privilege by the A rm y Com m ander o f pre­ selecting their W O S B candidates in such a w ay that they cam e forward in the name o f the regiment. To secure this, officers, N C O s and men had all actively to participate. The suggested method w ould be additional to the usual one by w hich men becam e W O S B candidates exclu sively by C O recommendation. A n y N C O or man nominated by the new method would have the right to refuse his nomination. A necessary condition o f success w ould be the com plete co ­ operation o f the C O , w ho w ould take the lead in launching the experiment in his unit. The nomination procedure would be simple and, in the long term, self­ administered within the unit itself. A ll nominations w ould be made indepen­ dently and without prior discussion under conditions approximating those o f psychological group testing. Particularly for fu lly trained units w hich had been in existence for some tim e, the aim was to provide the army with a more efficient social technique o f bringing its potential officers to the surface. Sanction for a crucial experim ent was sought and given at the highest level and thereafter at each level in the hierarchy down to the units invited to participate in the scheme. In these the C O invited his unit, as a regimental w hole, to share with him the responsibility for nominating candidates. Each o f the four units selected by the A rm y Com m ander had a good m ilitary reputa­ tion. They were varied in their m ilitary function and in their state o f readiness for action, and were representative o f the general position regarding candidate supply. The nominating groups in each unit were o f com pany size— between 100 and 200 men. There w ere 11 such groups among the four units selected for the experiment. A nominating group was seated indoors and split into pla­ toons, or equivalent units, o f 20 to 30 men. In the presence o f representatives o f the A rm y Com m ander and the W O S B organization, the C O explained the invitation o f the former, the need for more officers, the nature o f W O S B s, and the Regim ental Nom ination scheme. “ To get our regimental candidates w e are all going to vote: yourselves, your N C O s and your officers. We want to know if you can put up people so good that they do better than people w ho are put up in any other way. C hoose good ones. You m ay have to fight under them. . . . ” Under conditions o f secrecy, each person was invited to write dow n the names o f any individuals, first in his ow n platoon, and next from the rest o f the company, whom he regarded as potential officers. He need nominate no one if he thought no one was suitable. Two types o f nominative information were available: how the individual was perceived as a potential officer from the viewpoints o f different ranks in the

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A N ew Social Psychiatry

w hole com pany— privates, junior N C O s, senior N C O s and officers; how he was regarded by those closest to him in m ilitary life (all ranks in his platoon) and also by those at a greater distance (members o f other platoons in the company). This gave six nom inative criteria. A ll who received an appreciable measure o f support on any three or more were identified and discussed at a unit conference at w hich the C O gave his opinion and his grading o f officer potential. He then published throughout the unit the names o f all those w ho had received this appreciable spread o f support and invited them to go forward to a W O S B . Special arrangements were made to ensure that the exam ining W O S B could not identify candidates who cam e to it as a result o f the regim ental nomination procedure. The percentage o f the 114 regim ental nomination candidates from the four selected units who passed W O S B s (54 percent) was not significantly different from those who cam e through the usual channels (56 percent). The pass rate was clearly related to the number o f nom inative criteria satisfied by the candidates as shown in Table 1. The supply o f candidates from the four units through regimental nomination represented 6.8 percent o f the unit strength compared with o. 1 percent per month through the usual procedures. In round figures, that is equivalent to 10 candidates from an average com pany nominat­ ing group o f 150 men compared with tw o men per year. There w as thus strong support for the view that the difficulty in the supply o f candidates was not, as often stated, due to a lack o f suitable material, but to the “ in-group” mentality in field force units, w hich increased as preparedness to go overseas increased. G ivin g up some o f its best men in the larger interest o f the army w as not popular in such units. A method o f releasing this supply had been demonstrated w hich increased regim ental pride. Together with the discovery o f an un­ suspected amount o f officer material, it offset the C O s’ anxiety over being stripped o f their best men. In any case, the training o f key other-rank replace­ ments would not take as long as that o f officers. Careful planning w as required to show how selective, low profile im ple­ mentation might best be possible, as w ell as further w ork on how to identify and approach suitable units. But, as the success o f the experim ent becam e known, the w hole o f a fam ous division and the w hole o f a technical corps asked for regimental nomination. Even though there was no selection o f officers, only nomination o f candidates and no change in the rights o f C O s, a com plex situation developed at the highest level (Trist, 1985). The technical staff did not effectively represent to higher authority the dangers o f im plem ent­ ing regimental nomination without further developm ent. This led to a prem a­ ture and widespread disclosure o f the schem e, disputes about matters o f protocol and an ensuing m eeting o f the full A rm y C ouncil. The m ilitary members o f the A rm y C oun cil, who favored the adoption o f regim ental nom i­ nation in the interests o f the army, were in a m inority o f four to six to political

The Transformation o f Selection Procedures T able

i

61

Regimental Nomination Candidates

Nominative criteria satisfied WOSB pass rate (percent)

6

77

5 54

4 35

3 23

and civil administrative interests, who thought the scheme possibly subversive (“ Soviets in the British A rm y ” ). Further reference to regim ental nomination was banned. To make the best o f this situation a schem e, know n as Exercise By-Pass, was developed in the Directorate o f Selection o f Personnel. To get as many candidates as possible to W O S B before they went to field force units, unit boards were set up in Corps Training Centres. O fficer members o f these boards could consult N C O s informally. H ow ever, the extension o f the W O S B system at home and overseas, in itself, largely solved the problem o f supply. The fear that the army could no longer officer itself was not expressed again.

Evaluation and Its Problems The establishment o f W O S B s had immediate effects. There was a rapid in­ crease in the supply o f candidates, the average number rising from 2,000 during the first quarter o f 1942 to over 6,000 in O ctober o f that year. In the three years in which the W O S B s operated, from m id-1942 to m id-1945, over 125.000 candidates were assessed in the United K ingdom o f w hom nearly 60.000 were accepted. During most o f this period there w ere also many boards at w ork in the M iddle East, Italy, and in North A frica, where o f 12,700 candidates, 5,600 were accepted. A board w orking in the British Liberation Arm ies in Europe (19 4 4 -4 5 ) saw 1,500 candidates and accepted 900. Another group o f boards in India selected a large number o f officers, both British and Indian. A marked change took place as the war progressed in the predominant type o f candidate appearing before the boards. The candidates accepted in the United Kingdom were younger, had less service, but a higher standard o f education. To deal with such changes there had to be m odifications in tech­ nique, particularly in the content and conduct o f the M T O ’s tests. It was one o f the virtues o f the W O S B methods that these could easily be effected.

D if f ic u l t ie s

w it h t h e

E a r l ie r F o l l o w -U ps

N evertheless, the need to bring boards rapidly into operation had unfortunate effects for the subsequent validation studies (M orris, 1949). The new boards

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had started before there was an agreed series o f m ilitary tests. Boards d evel­ oped their own idiom and to some extent their own techniques (Garforth, 1945; Harris, 1949). The difficulties over com m on standards between board m em ­ bers were greatly reduced by the introduction o f the observer team , but w ide differences between boards w ere known to exist. A com m on grading system was not introduced until some months after most boards had begun w orking and staff did not receive any com m on training in its use. Boards passed about the same percentage o f candidates, but one w ould be less prone than another to award the higher gradings. The task o f a board was not to discriminate at the top o f the grading scale, but to find every possible officer. A high percentage o f gradings, therefore, occurred in the area o f marginal acceptances. In these circum stances it w ould have been desirable to use some form o f profile assessment but it was not found possible to bring one into com m on use until late in the war. Apart from data collected by the psychologists, the only W O SB assessment available for follow -up purposes was the final grading on suit­ ability. A fter hostilities ceased in Europe a carefully designed experim ent was conducted using the best and most experienced staff available, w ho were given an initial period o f com m on training in reporting, and w ho adopted a standard personality profile. Two independent parallel boards, m utually incom m uni­ cado, simultaneously observed the same candidates doing the same tests. The average inter-correlation o f the final grades o f the tw o boards was 0.80; o f the tw o presidents 0.65; psychiatrists 0.65; the M T O s 0.86 and the tw o psycholo­ gists in observer roles 0.87. The average inter-correlations showing the level o f agreement between the different m embers— presidents, psychiatrists and M T O s— were 0.60. These figures, obtained under optimum conditions, show a satisfactory degree o f reliability for w ork o f this kind (M orris, 1949). In m aking the comparison o f gradings at boards with ratings o f success after O C T U and after a cam paign, the main problem w as how to get the C O to give a reliable and valid report. Little previous w ork had been done on how to assess success in such a com plex role as that o f a junior officer and the problem proved to be in obtaining discrimination. A detailed report was obtained on each cadet or officer to be follow ed-up. The earlier follow -up studies included a question­ naire check list, a pen-picture, ratings and rankings and a discussion between the reporting officer and a follow -up interviewer to clear up am biguities or disagreements. The follow ing results show how difficult it was to evaluate the w ork o f the W O S B s. The first follow -up carried out soon after they had been started showed that the new boards, although passing the same proportion o f candi­ dates as the old, found significantly more above average and significantly few er below average cadets as judged at the conclusion o f O C T U training. In

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contrast to these findings, a follow -up conducted after the cam paigns in North A frica and Italy showed officers selected by the old and new methods did not differ according to ratings given by their C O s. The samples covered the earliest period o f W O S B operation when the boards w ere learning their job . N everthe­ less, the result did not “ m ake sense.” Was the method faulty?

C

r e a t in g a n

O p e r a t io n a l F r a m e

of

R eference

In these first field follow-ups the academ ically conventional approach to as­ sessment failed to match the real-life conditions under w hich C O s had to make judgm ents. A C O thought about his officers in two groups: those on whom he could rely and those on whom he could not rely. These latter had becom e problem officers whom he might have to rem ove from his unit. He regarded them as “ unsatisfactory” and the rest as “ satisfactory” about whom he did not have to bother. Am ong the satisfactory were a handful w ho m ight be promoted or sent on special assignments. These operational distinctions becam e the basis for an anthropologically derived rating scale. In the field follow -up after the liberation o f France, the M T O s conducting the procedure (under B ow lby) asked each C O to rate all his officers so that the War O ffice could know directly the opinions o f com m anding officers in the field. This made every sense to them. T hey co-operated whole-heartedly. T h ey never knew w hich officers in their units belonged to the follow -up sample. W ith officers reported on after the liberation o f France, the correlations between W O SB opinion and C O ratings were positive, though rather low. These correlations becam e higher when the youngest age groups were sepa­ rately considered, i.e. board judgm ents were better on the younger candidates. N early all o f these would have passed through new Boards— which had becom e more experienced and presum ably more efficient as the war went on. On the other hand, the correlations between gradings given at O C T U s and C O ratings were negligible. Such com plexities in evaluation were not unique to the W O S B scheme (O SS Assessm ent Staff, 1948). A s the war progressed more officers appeared in the field in reinforcement roles— a role more difficult than that o f being an officer in a unit with w hich one had gone abroad. O f particular interest was the finding that the quality o f reinforcements to units after battle was maintained, whereas in the first world war it deteriorated. O verall, the important thing to the A rm y higher authorities was that only 12 percent o f officers were unsatisfactory— unable to do their job . The C O s were pleased to be able to say this. The War O ffice was delighted and inclined to leave the developm ent o f more precise follow -up methods to the future.

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Later Developments N ew T asks fo r th e B o a rd s

The impact on the army o f a m achinery w hich could investigate the individual in a w ay helpful both to him and to the army was not long in being felt at the boards. W ithin a few months o f their being established, a w ide range o f assessment tasks was brought to them, each o f w hich had to be carefully review ed by the senior staff at R T C to ascertain what was involved. The particular kind o f help requested varied from m erely giving advice to w orking out a new procedure w hich was then executed by one or more W O S B s. A parallel scheme was evolved for selecting officer cadets for the w om en ’s auxiliary service; another to select officers for permanent com m issions in the Regular Arm y. From time to time boards were used, or set up, to assess officers for various types o f w ork such as paratroops, psychological warfare, the civil administration o f occupied territories and special operations— the equivalent o f the O S S in the U .S . (M organ, 1955). A few boards were used to advise on suitable em ploym ent or disposal o f officers with adverse reports and officers who had had psychiatric breakdowns. Towards the end o f the w ar several boards were adapted, and a few specially created, to advise on the em ploym ent o f both officers and N C O s w ho becam e surplus to establishment with the changing course o f the war, and to give guidance to returned officer prisoners o f war. A nation-wide review o f all engineers was undertaken on behalf o f the M inistry o f Labour, screening 130,000 registrants o f w hom 31,500 were interviewed and 12,500 accepted for a pool from which candidates for techni­ cal commissions in the services were drawn. A specially difficult task was the selection o f 17-year-old schoolboy applicants for short university courses in science subjects (2,200 candidates, 1,1 7 0 accepted) and candidates for engi­ neering cadetships in the army or navy (980 candidates, 620 accepted). O w ing to the youth and under-developed characters o f the applicants, the assessment o f their potential officer quality presented an unusually difficult problem. A ccordingly, a longer and more detailed procedure was required, because an order o f merit had to be produced regardless o f the particular board they happened to attend. Successful candidates had to be batched according to their know ledge and ability and sent to the appropriate university w hich was sup­ plied with a report on each candidate’s com petence and educational back­ ground. In the course o f these additional tasks, the research staff were sometimes able to develop, as experiments o f opportunity, such new assessment tools as real-object performance tests to explore the interests and m otivation o f candi­ dates for engineering cadetships. Opportunity was at last on hand to develop

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profile methods o f assessment and to facilitate a com m on standard o f decision­ making at ordinary W O S B s. M ost o f these new tasks were necessarily under­ taken before any evaluation becam e available o f the methods used for the w ork the W O S B s had originally been set up to do. Had the W O S B s not, in general, satisfied the expectations and needs o f the army, the candidates them selves and the civilian community, it is improbable that they would have becom e involved in such a w ide array o f problems and tasks.

T he W

id e r

Im p a c t

The R oyal N avy, the R oyal M arines, the R oyal A ir Force, the National Fire S ervice and several o f the Dom inion and A llied armies later adopted the new methods in w hole or in part. M any organizations with sim ilar selection prob­ lems closely follow ed the w ork o f the boards. Experim ental procedures were tried out for those within the central governm ent sector. The C iv il Service m odelled part o f its reconstruction and post-war selection procedure for ad­ ministrative trainees on W O S B procedures (W ilson, N .A .B ., 1948; D avies, 1969). A number o f industrial firms subsequently began to use sim ilar methods in recruiting trainees for various grades o f management (Bridger and IsdellCarpenter, 1947; Munro Fraser, 1947; R ice, 1961). M ore than 40 years later multiple assessment methods, albeit different, but traceable to war-time meth­ ods used in W O S B s, continue in use for the appraisal o f individual potential (Anstey, 1977; D u lew icz and Fletcher, 1982). Assessm ent centers have gained widespread acceptance throughout the world and constitute one o f the most extensive, if expensive, practices for attracting, and evaluating the qualifica­ tions o f, scarce human resources. The readiness with w hich the methods o f the W O S B s were elsewhere adopted indicated the disparate and widespread need for advances to be made in the field o f personality assessment. The specialist staff concerned with their developm ent were surprised that visitors wanted to take over the new methods with little, if any, prelim inary critical inquiry regarding their appropriateness for selection tasks other than finding potential officers. Both the constitution o f the boards and the nature o f their methods played a part in creating this enthusiastic attitude at a time when scientific tests o f their value w ere still not yet to hand. Their constitution seemed specially attractive because some o f the resources o f the psychological sciences w ere incorporated into the board, yet responsibility for decisions concerning selection remained vested, and man­ ifestly so, in the senior representative o f the em ploying authority. The other members o f the board acted as advisers w ho provided special evidence. A ll members, how ever, were integral parts o f the w hole; the contributions o f each had to be fully discussed with the others— in a group. Hence there was a high

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degree o f sharing among members o f each others’ special know ledge and experience. There were many reasons for the w ide appeal o f this particular w ay o f integrating the w isdom o f institutional representatives who recognized intuitively the kinds o f person their institution could successfully em ploy, with the skills o f experts w ho contributed a more general understanding o f human personality. The mutually educative and m utually supportive nature o f the roles o f regimental and expert members was reflected in the high morale o f all board teams, sustained over long periods o f tim e, often under intense w ork pressures. The other main source o f attraction was that the methods used brought out the personality o f the candidate in a direct way. Observers saw him respond to a variety o f simple practical situations in w hich he had to deal with people and things spontaneously. In such situations the behavior o f the candidate seemed often to speak for itself. Aspects w ere seen which w ould never have been revealed in interview. Interviews, how ever, were necessary to add a historical perspective to a contemporary one. The choice o f officers in any army is a m arkedly conservative process. It was a very considerable event for an army in the middle o f a w ar to take such radical steps as to introduce psychiatrists and psychological tests into a pro­ cedure for choosing its officers and to allow a novel type o f m ilitary institution to be created for this purpose. Collaboration between expert and administrator and its maintenance on a constructive basis is one o f the pressing problem s in large organizations. W O S B experience has yielded a wealth o f insights and findings relevant to all those w ho must address these problems.

References Ansbacher, H.L. 1941. “ German Military Psychology.” Psychological Bulletin, 38:370-92. Anstey, E. 1977. “ A 30-year Follow-Up of the CSSB Procedure with Lessons for the Future.” Journal of Occupational Psychology, 50:149-59. Bion, W.R. 1946. “ The Leaderless Group Project.” Bulletin o f the Menninger Clinic, 10:77-81. Bridger, H. and R. Isdell-Carpenter. 1947. “ Selection of Management Trainees.” Industrial Welfare, 29:177-81. Davies, J.G.W. 1969. The Method II System o f Selection: Report of the Committee of Enquiry. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. Dulewicz, V. and C. Fletcher. 1982. “ The Relationship between Previous Experience, Intelligence and Background Characteristics of Participants and their Performance in an Assessment Centre.” Journal of Occupational Psychology, 55:197-207. Garforth, F.I. de la P. 1945. “ War Office Selection Boards (OCTU).” Journal of Occupational Psychology, 19:97-108. Harris, H. 1949. The Group Approach to Leadership Testing. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

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Moreno, J.L. 1934. Who Shall Survive? A New Approach to the Problem of Human Inter-Relations. New York: Nervous and Mental Disease Publishing Company. Morgan, W.J. 1955. Spies and Saboteurs. London: Gollancz. Morris, B.S. 1949. “ Officer Selection in the British Army 1942-1945.” Occupational Psychology, 23:219-34. Munro Fraser, J. 1947. “ New Type Selection Boards in Industry.” Occupational Psychology, 21:170-78. Murray, H.A. et al. 1938. Explorations in Personality. New York: Oxford University Press. OSS Assessment Staff. 1948. Assessment of Men. New York: Reinhart. Rees, J.R. 1945. The Shaping of Psychiatry by War. London: W.W. Norton. Rice, A .K . 1961. “ Selection for Management.” Secretaries Chronicle, 37:306-08; - . Semeonoff, B. and E.L. Trist. 1958. Diagnostic Performance Tests. London: Tavistock Publications. Sutherland, J.D. and G .A . Fitzpatrick. 1945. “ Some Approaches to Group Problems in the British Army.” Sociometry, 8:205-17. Trist, E.L. 1985. “ Working with Bion in the Forties: The Group Decade.” In Bion and Group Psychotherapy, edited by M. Pines. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Vemon, P.E. and J.B. Parry. 1949. Personnel Selection in the British Forces. London: University of London Press. Wilson, A.T.M. 1951. “ Some Aspects of Social Process.” Journal o f Social Issues, Supplement Series No. 5. Wilson, N .A .B . 1948. “ The Work of the Civil Service Selection Board.” Journal of Occupational Psychology, 22:204-12. Wittkower, E. and T.F. Rodger. 1941. “ Memorandum on an Experiment in Psychologi­ cal Testing Applied to the Selection of Officers.” Unpublished.

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The Discovery of the Therapeutic Community The Northfield Experiments*

Introduction One o f the most important achievem ents o f social psychiatry during World War II was the discovery o f the therapeutic community. The idea o f using all the relationships and activities o f a residential psychiatric center to aid the thera­ peutic task was first put forward by W ilfred B ion in 1940 in what becam e know n as the W ham cliffe M em orandum, a paper to his form er analyst, John Rickm an, then at the W ham cliffe neurosis center o f the war-time Em ergency M edical Service (EM S). W hen he tried to put this idea into practice Rickm an got virtually nowhere in face o f severe resistance among m edical and admin­ istrative staff. It entailed a radical change in staff/patient relations w hich produced a figure/ground reversal in the traditional authoritarian hospital. In order to achieve active patient participation in treatment, pow er w as to be redistributed aw ay from its m onopolization by the doctor and shared by other staff and patients in appropriate w ays. A n occasion to test the efficacy o f the therapeutic com m unity idea arose in the autumn o f 1942 at Northfield M ilitary Hospital in Birm ingham when psychiatrists were invited to try out new forms o f treatment w hich w ould enable as many neurotic casualties as possible to be returned to m ilitary duties rather than be discharged to civilian life. Rickm an, now in the R oyal A rm y M edical Corps, had been posted to this hospital for some w eeks when Bion joined him from the War O ffice Selection Boards (W O SB s). The therapeutic com m unity created by B ion in the training w ing (TW ), o f which he was in charge, existed only six w eeks before it was stopped by the Directorate o f A rm y Psychiatry. The scheme had begun to succeed, enabling a number o f alienated individuals to re-engage with the soldier’s role. The chaos created, however, was intolerable to the w ider hospital staff w ho clung to the traditional m edical model. This b rief project becam e know n as the First Northfield Experiment. *A new paper presenting the first comprehensive account of these developments.

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A year or so later, after discussion between B ion and Ronald Hargreaves (the anchor man throughout the war in the Directorate o f A rm y Psychiatry), the scheme was revived in a new form. It was decided to put the T W under non­ medical direction. H aving had relevant experience in the W O S B organization, I was chosen as the officer in charge. Thus cam e into being the Second Northfield Experim ent w hich for the first time em bodied the therapeutic com ­ munity idea in a w hole organization. The success o f the scheme had a profound effect on the civil resettlement units for repatriated prisoners o f war, w hich follow ed on from it, and on many post-war developm ents. A new paradigm had been bom . Out o f a personal, historical description I w ill draw some key principles affecting the nature o f therapeutic communities as open system s, considered as part o f, and interacting w ith, the w ider society. I shall distinguish such princi­ ples from those w hich govern a com m unity endeavoring to operate as a relatively “ closed system ,” that is, one regarded as sufficiently independent to allow most o f its problems to be analyzed w ith reference to its internal structure and without reference to its external environment. The experience to be revisited w as the first attempt at creating a therapeutic comm unity as an open-system by intention and not just by accident. It was conducted during World War II at a critical phase o f the war as an integral part o f army psychiatry. I shall be review ing that endeavor with the insights, know ledge and experience o f the more than 40 years w hich have follow ed that beginning. The country-at-war em phasized an environment w hich, at one level, could not be denied by the professional staff and patients o f a hospital. Yet returning people to health in that setting posed considerable problems and difficult decisions for both staff and patients. A ll w ere m ilitary personnel with the professional staff in various therapeutic roles. The issues arising were not dealt with explicitly but appeared in stressful and rationalized form s, as when decisions had to be made concerning the return o f men to the armed forces or to civilian life. It is important to consider how fai the professional staff m em ber’s own purposes, values and approach to treatment were affected by the war-time environment. In the com m unity and organizational life o f today such problems and choices m ay not appear so sharply, but they are just as real and critical.

Northfield I The Philosophy W hile Bion and his colleagues at the W O S B s (Bion, 1946) were com ing forward with new ideas about groups, some serious problems w ere affecting

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military psychiatric hospitals dealing with breakdowns in battle and in units. The withdrawal o f psychiatric casualties back to base and then to hospital seemed to be associated with a grow ing proportion o f patients being returned to civilian life. It w as as if “ getting on e’s tick e t,” as it w as called, had replaced the objective o f hospital treatment— to enable rehabilitated officers, N C O s and men to return to the army. Even at one o f the largest hospitals with 800 beds, Northfield Hospital near Birm ingham , where the m ilitary m edical staff ap­ pointed to develop their own treatment methods were high ly qualified psycho­ analysts and psychiatrists, the T W to w hich patients w ere transferred for review before leaving for the army or “ c iv v y street” had no better statistics than the rest. Bion was appointed to the command o f the T W to develop his ow n approach based not only on the experience gained in W O S B s but on the W ham cliffe Memorandum in w hich he had adumbrated the idea o f a therapeutic com m u­ nity. He undertook a double role as officer com m anding the T W and as psychiatrist helping his men to face the w orking through o f issues follow in g their treatment and to m ake decisions about their immediate future. Returning to the army might include changes o f role, unit and conditions o f work; returning to civilian life might entail relocation or learning a new job . Either course meant confronting not only the conscious and unconscious attitudes and desires o f individuals, but the values and norms that had been established in the T W and hospital as part o f the w ar effort. B ion has made two public statements about the First Northfield Experim ent, one with Rickm an (1943) and one (1946) in an issue o f the Bulletin o f the Menninger C lin ic devoted to Northfield. The follow in g extract from the latter sets out his objectives, his approach and his view s on the m eaning o f his success/failure: An observer with combatant experience could not help being struck by the great gulf that yawned between the life led by patients in a psychiatric hospital, even when supposed to be ready for discharge, and the military life from which their breakdown had released them. Time and again treatment appears to be, in the broadest sense, sedative; sedative for doctors and patients alike. Occupational therapy meant helping keep the patients occupied— usually on a kindergarten level. Some patients had individual interviews; a few, usually the more spectacu­ lar, were dosed with hypnotics. Sometimes a critic might be forgiven for wonder­ ing whether these were intended to enable the doctor to go to sleep. It thus seemed necessary to bring the atmosphere of the psychiatric hospital into closer relationship with the functions it ought to fulfill. Unfortunately for the success of any attempt to do this, psychiatry has already accepted the doubtful analogy of physical maladies and treatments as if they were in fact similar to neurotic disorders. The apparatus of the psychiatric hospital, huge buildings,

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doctors, nurses and the rest, together provide a magnificent smoke screen into which therapists and patients alike disappear when it becomes evident that someone may want to know what social function is being fulfilled, in the economy of a nation at war, by this aggregate of individuals. It must of course be remembered that in a psychiatric hospital there are collected all those men with whom ordinary military procedures have failed to cope. Briefly, it was essential first to find out what was the ailment afflicting the community, as opposed to the individuals composing it, and next to give the community a common aim. In general all psychiatric hospitals have the same ailment and the same common aim— to escape from the batterings of neurotic disorder. Unfortunately the attempt to get this relief is nearly always by futile means— retreat. Without realizing it, doctors and patients alike are running away from the complaint. The first thing then was to teach the community (in this case the TW) to seek a different method of release. The flight from neurotic disorder had to be stopped; as in a regiment, morale had to be raised to a point where the real enemy could be faced. The establishment of morale is of course hardly a prerequisite of treat­ ment; it is treatment, or a part of it. The first thing was for the officer in charge not to be afraid of making a stand himself; the next to rally about him those patients who were not already too far gone to be steadied. To this end discussions were carried out with small groups. In these the same freedom was allowed as is permitted in any form of free association; it was not abused. These small groups were similar in organization and appearance to the leaderless group tests, known as group discussions, which had already been used, though for a different purpose, in the WOSBs. As soon as a sufficient number of patients had in this way been persuaded to face their enem y instead o f running aw ay from it, a daily m eeting of half-an-hour was arranged for the whole TW consisting of between 100 and 200 men. These meetings were ostensibly concerned only with the organization of the activities of the wing. The wing by now had been split up into a series of voluntary groups whose objects varied from learning dancing to studying the regulations govern­ ing army pay. In fact the problems of organization, of course, hinged on the problems of personal relationship. Lost tools in the handicraft section, defective cinema apparatus, permission to use the local swimming baths, the finding of a football pitch, all these matters came back to the same thing, the manipulation and harmonization of personal relationships. As a result almost immediately these big meetings as well as the small ones spontaneously became a study of the intra-group tensions and this study was established as the main task of the whole group and all smaller groups within it. As a result the group began to think, and a deputation voiced the thought, that 80% of the members of the TW were “ skrim-shankers,” “ work-shys,” maling­ erers and the rest, and ought to be punished. A month before the TW had complained indignantly that inmates of a psychiatric hospital were regarded by

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Abrupt Termination W ithin six w eeks B ion had succeeded dram atically in getting the large majority o f the men in the T W to re-engage with the soldier’s role and to return to military duties. But there was a price. The disorder created on the w ay so disturbed the rest o f the hospital that the experim ent was abruptly terminated by War Office order. Patrick de Maré (1985) who was on the psychiatric staff at the time comments as follow s:

Bion saw the large meeting of 100-200 people as the main trunk of the tree which could explore the tensions of the smaller activity groups— once he could per­ suade them to meet— which he arranged, partly by persuasion through small group meetings of chosen members, and partly by simply issuing an order to parade every day at 12:10 p.m. for announcements and other business of the TW. The result of this radical approach was that it produced a cultural clash with the hospital military authorities. The fear that Rickman’s and Bion’s approach would lead to anarchy and chaos occasioned War Office officials to pay a lightning visit at night. The chaos in the hospital cinema hall, with newspaper- and condomstrewn floors, resulted in the immediate termination of the project. I personally helped Rickman and Bion to pack. Clearly, Bion was put out by these events. Rickman, on the other hand, merely exclaimed unrepentantly and unperturbedly: “ Pon my soul!” in the high-pitched tone he sometimes adopted in mock surprise. The notorious indiscipline, slackness and aggressive untidiness o f the unit which Bion took over was one form o f showing him and the review panel how unsuitable it was for returning any o f its members to the army. M ain (1983) among others ascribes B io n ’s premature departure to the inability o f the commanding officer and his professional and administrative staff to tolerate the early w eeks o f chaos. He was only partially correct. B ion was facing the T W and the hospital professional staff with the responsibility for distinguishing between their existence and purpose as a m ilitary organization and their individual beliefs that in the m ajority o f cases health entailed a return to civilian life. The degree o f success B ion achieved in that six weeks demonstrates not only the validity o f the principles he and Rickm an had evolved but says even more for the double professional approach he had em ployed: he was in uni­ form , an officer in the organization (i.e ., the army) confronting his men with the state o f their unit; he was also a professional psychiatrist consulting with these same men in assessing their condition and deciding with them their future in a nation at war.

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Lessons On succeeding B ion to the command o f the T W and m aking m y own analysis o f the situation, there seemed to me to be critical lessons to be derived from his “ sackin g.” W hile he had established his ow n approach, he had not appraised the effect this w ould have on the very different psychiatric and organizational approaches o f his colleagues. In m y discussions with him between the time o f his leaving and m y appointment, it becam e clear that his philosophy, value system , technical and organizational appreciations were poles apart from those o f the other psychiatrists and m edical administrators then at Northfield. This is not to say that it was Bion v. the rest. There were differences between the others’ approaches too but, in general, they were consistent in their aim o f assessing the present and future life needs o f the individual regardless o f hospital, army or w ar needs. A s one o f them said to his patients in a first group session, “ I want you to look on me as you would the doctor in a white coat and not as someone in uniform .” W ith this view Rickm an and B ion voiced their total disagreement. Foulkes, w ho cam e to Northfield later, began by using the small group setting as a w ay in w hich the problems o f any one individual could be observed and reflected upon by other patients, so that an interactive group therapeutic process was created. I was able to enlist his full cooperation in w orking with activity groups where the strength and persistence o f the forces operating towards the attainment, distortion or avoidance o f group goals demonstrated to him their relevance for treatment in the m ilitary setting. He was to say later (Foulkes, 1964): “ The changes w hich went on in both patients and staff were nothing short o f revolutionary.” His part in subsequent developm ents has been described by de M aré (1983). These experiences played an important part in form ing his approach after the war w hich led to the establishment o f the Institute for Group A n alysis (Foulkes, 1964). The introduction o f change processes requires a search for a com m on understanding o f purpose and methods. W hile only a few o f the likely conse­ quences m ay be predictable, it is important to explore the im plications o f any steps envisaged. A forum or “ m ini-scientific society” needs to be set up in which a collegiate clim ate allow s these explorations to take place. W hat is needed are conditions and circum stances “ good en ou gh ,” to use W innicott’s (1965) term, to effect the transition. B ion was fully aware in his organizational and professional roles o f the central importance o f the country at war as a critical environmental force w hich had implications for the internal worlds and defenses o f his men. But he neglected— and was indeed som ewhat disparaging o f— the more immediate environment o f the hospital-as-a-whole and the traditional reactions o f the bureaucratic aspects o f the m ilitary machine.

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The commanding officer at that time w as, by profession, a psychoanalyst who perceived his task as maintaining co-operation between the professional and administrative functions in the hospital. B ion, in contrast, demanded that the external organization, as the environment o f his unit, should tolerate the forces and pressures which his efforts and ideas might release. He expected people to see for them selves that what was happening was a m icrocosm o f the tasks and problems facing m ilitary hospitals as a w hole. A s a M ajor com m and­ ing tanks in the first w orld w ar and a psychiatrist in the second, he had shown a vast range o f capabilities. But he could expect too much o f his immediate environment. In addition, he did not recognize, or perhaps did not accept, that it was his task to take the hospital environment into account just as much as he had taken the army and the country at war so very seriously. B ion, in m y view, was not at ease with the group as an open system. He was not at home with the implications o f ecological change in groups, institutions and communities (Bridger, 1982).

Northfield II Orientation So far as I am aware, the term “ therapeutic com m unity” was first coined in connection with this second experiment which I initiated over the period 1944/45. A large number o f people contributed to its developm ent, not least the transient population o f officers, N C O s and men who learned to take responsibility for their own return to health. In so doing, they found that the process o f creating and developing the com m unity enabled them to make full use o f the resources it made available to them. Follow ing B io n ’s departure, Ronald Hargreaves had approached me and discussed the possibility o f m y taking over command o f the TW . I was not a psychiatrist or psychologist but had held a com m and, was an educationalist and teacher by profession and had extensive experience o f the group ap­ proaches developed at the W O S B s. M y remit w as to understand the group and organizational processes that were going on. Although it was not rem otely like the field command from w hich I had com e, Northfield was a chance to test out the ideas I had gained in an organization with a very different m ission. In one sense I w elcom ed the opportunity; in another I was quietly terrified, since I had no idea o f what a mental hospital was like and felt as if I had suddenly been deskilled. M y posting was to take place only when the last com m anding officer had been replaced by a m edical C O , professionally a pathologist, but with regular

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army command experience. In the culture o f the army, when trouble in any form arises in a unit leading to the transfer o f the central figure in the storm, it is almost invariably accom panied b y the transfer o f the accountable senior o f­ ficer. I remember thinking that the hospital staff m ight also be wondering what was likely to happen when a regular officer and a field officer were replacing the psychiatric specialists who had occupied these roles before. A s I dis­ covered later, they had expected a law and order campaign! In the meantime, I was to acclim atize m yself by visiting other m ilitary psychiatric hospitals and neurosis centers in the E M S. I also read a book on the “ Peckham Experim ent” (Pearse and Crocker, 1943) w hich described an unin­ tentional therapeutic com m unity that had grow n up in Peckham , South L on ­ don, in the 1930S. It arose from an attempt by biologists, physiologists and others to monitor a number o f health related factors over the long term. The subjects were local fam ilies prepared to volunteer, as fam ilies, to take part in a program o f regular tests. O riginally a sw im m ing-pool was the main draw — only fam ily units could join. W hile fulfilling its part o f the bargain in relation to the tests, over time the com m unity developed a life o f its own. I was struck by the emphasis laid by the Peckham staff on w orking with those w ho are prepared to w ork with you— rather than on the use o f some established form o f sampling technique; and on using the sw im m ing-pool, consciously or uncon­ sciously, as a focus for the fam ilies w ho accepted. These fam ilies and the developm ent process they set up represented the com m unity as a w hole at any one time. M y discussions with B ion encouraged me to build on m y ow n capabilities and not to attempt a follow -on o f his experim ent in the restricted area o f the TW . I decided to w ork in some dynam ic form with the institution-as-a-whole, w hile also being prepared to consult with those parts o f it w hich showed a readiness to take some responsibility on to them selves for creating an entity w hich could grow. In teaching mathematics, that frequently unpopular subject, I had alw ays searched for growing-points on w hich to build and had used various kinds o f institution that could draw on real-life interests and yet have mathematical thinking inherent in them, e .g ., a school Stock E xchange. Sim ilarly in m y battery command w e had overcom e the difficulty o f getting men to read and digest battery orders by publishing them accom panied by “ battery disorders.” The latter w ere a set o f cartoons prepared by a talented corporal, w hich could not be appreciated without reading the orders first. O nly later did I com e to learn how these transitional systems linked up with W innicott’s (1971) w ork on transitional objects in psychoanalytic theory and treatment. O f the many experiences which contributed to m y orientation I w ould like to compare two hospitals which influenced the strategy and practice I eventually formulated. The first, M ill H ill, a neurosis center in the E M S , seemed to me a

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large hive housing a conglom erate o f every type o f treatment— physical, psychotherapeutic and psycho-socio-therapeutic, where the patients seemed incidental. In M axw ell Jones’s ward everyone w as taking part and shared in the various therapeutic tasks— but it was a relatively closed system and centered on M axw ell Jones him self. I was later to compare his approach to that o f Joshua Bierer, who also used a dependency closed-system relationship in his ward at Northfield as the setting for his therapeutic w ork. A fter the war, o f course, M axw ell Jones had much more scope to develop hospital-wide ac­ tivities o f which he has written fu lly (1968). The second hospital, Dum fries in Scotland, w as not as large but it seemed more like a well-m anaged workshop or depot. Although not the C O , the person at the center o f things was M ajor Elizabeth Rosenberg, later better known as Elizabeth Z etzel, the psychoanalyst. She encouraged activities in every form , especially those w hich patients could run with the help o f central resources— a hospital newspaper, for exam ple. It was noticeable that care was taken to encourage what one might call the “ recovering” patient to draw the newer ones into the various groups— when they were ready for it. This experience reinforced m y choice o f the hospital-as-a-whole as the frame o f reference for the w ork to com e. I decided to adopt what I called the “ double-task” approach, with one task located at the level o f the hospital as an institution and the other at the level o f those parts w hich showed leadership in developing relevant creative w ork. This leadership had to include a readiness to review the w ay the part was working.

Entry and Joint Planning I reported to the C O o f Northfield with some trepidation, wondering whether m y half-formulated ideas w ould ever take root. Two divisional psychiatrists, Emmanuel M iller and A lfred Torrie, gave me every support in getting the design started, as did Tom M ain when he replaced them. The new C O and I had, together, to settle down, to meet the professional staff o f the different disciplines and to learn about the hospital as a w hole. Foulkes and others invited me to observe their group sessions. I had discussions with nurses, social workers, administrators, occupational therapists and indeed every sec­ tion o f the staff, including building and maintenance engineers. Learning about the various systems and the role o f those w ho operated them, in whatever form or at whatever level, allow ed me to appreciate the prevailing, and indeed conflicting, cultures. A t this early stage I could not know how they all hung together, but it was important to experience the confusion o f a new com er and gain some sense o f what the w hole place was about. I learned, for exam ple, that w hile devolution to wards, in almost every respect, had its advantages, the

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atmosphere o f live and let live was more apparent in some wards than others. Politics within and between the professional and administrative staffs left much to be desired. W hile I w ould assume com m and o f the T W it was agreed that I should also undertake a role involving special responsibility for the hospital-as-a-whole in a social process sense. This role would be that o f social therapist thus distin­ guishing it from m y unit command. The respective offices for m yself and m y two staffs w ould be distinct and separate. I proposed a drastic reform ulation in the hospital layout. Influenced by the Peckham Experim ent and recognizing the social gap in ward, professional and administrative relationships, I suggested that, without reducing the number o f beds, the ward in the very center o f the hospital be cleared and named the “ Hospital C lu b .” A m eeting o f representa­ tives from each ward was held to explain the m ove. T hey were asked to discuss equipment and organizing methods. This w as the only positive action regard­ ing the club taken by the staff. M y social therapy office w as, how ever, close by and so were the offices o f staff related to that role. I explained to all staff groups and departments that I w ished to create some identifiable equivalents o f the hospital-as-a-whole with its m ission and recom ­ mended the follow ing steps: • Staff seminars to explore what w as intended by social therapy and what the implications m ight be. • Independent professional discussions, e .g ., psychiatrists, nurses. • Ward meetings for exploring the im plications o f “ external effects” — the impact o f internal stresses on the w ider environment. • Greater emphasis by all activity supervisors on changing the pattern o f relationships with patients from one o f prescription to one o f w atching for initiatives on their part and responding to them. • To make the hospital club with its deliberate em ptiness, but space for potential developm ent, into an arena which represented the patient’s own personality and social gaps within his “ life sp ace.” W hen the various steps were agreed, a series o f staff discussions w as begun and gradually the em pty hospital club made its presence felt. It took a little w hile for the representatives’ m eeting to be arranged— not because o f finding appropriate people but because each ward w ould be asked to contribute from its recreational armory. A lready talk and feelings w ere beginning to flow within and between wards. The various staffs ranged in their attitudes from highly skeptical to highly interested. Things did not happen at once. Grow th was “ horticultural.” T he activity patterns across the hospital were more tree-like, with branches in all directions, than representing any tidy curriculum or program. Even when a rich array o f

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societal endeavors becam e established, many w ould fall into decline, be abandoned or w recked and then rebuilt, depending on the population and the different needs or states or illness. There was never any chance to say, “ N ow w e have arrived! ” In this sense the therapeutic com m unity becam e far healthier than many business organizations. The individuals com prising the form er might be sick, mad or bad; those o f the latter m ight be sane and physically healthy; but institutions are not the same as the sum o f the individuals com pris­ ing them. We were continually learning and relearning this at Northfield. Returning to the club, the cum ulative awakening o f interest led, not to a meeting o f ward representatives to reach some m utually agreed business-like arrangement but to a protest m eeting which I was summoned to attend. The protest, with full and prepared arguments, was to ask w hy w e were wasting public money and space in wartim e— m oney and space that could be put to so many good uses! I agreed and suggested that w e w ork out what could best be done with the resources o f the club and how, since they w ere ours to do with as w e w ished, w e could use them for the war effort quite directly. W ithout giving a blow -by-blow account it is difficult to convey the tremen­ dous energy and directive ability that can be generated when it becom es possible to find a transitional setting through w hich insights from therapy can be allied with social purpose and satisfaction. One o f the most critical bound­ aries crossed was when the ebb and flow o f social change led towards serious patient/community efforts on the part o f those “ recoverin g.” T hey began to share responsibility for those entering the admission ward and to care for those w ho might benefit from the empathy and the experience o f those w ho had been through it. The growth o f the hospital newspaper, the external schools’ repair teams and many other activities not only facilitated the interaction between outer society and inner struggles but were them selves workshops for self­ review o f the forces and emotions affecting the life and w ork o f the groups.

The Community After Eight Months A fter eight months I was able to make an overall assessment o f the position reached. The large majority o f men com ing into Northfield say “ I am browned o ff with everybody and everyth in g,” “ I am fed up with the A rm y ,” “ I seem to have lost confidence in m y se lf,” “ I hate being pitied.” Let us trace the progress o f one such man. He enters the admission ward in the com pany o f a few others. They are met by the nurse and a group o f patients w hose “ selected a ctivity” is to act as receptionists and guides. A fter the allotment o f beds, they are joined by the ward psychiatrist. Each man is handed a program for his first three days and a copy o f a m agazine produced by the patients called “ Introducing you to N orthfield.” He is requested to read it, discuss it and ask questions. The

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receptionist group then splits up to take the newcom ers on a tour o f the hospital, so that the contents o f the m agazine com e alive. T hey visit the hospital club— run entirely by patients w ho have selected this as their activity. T hey see patients w orking on the newspaper in their ow n offices; the band practicing for dances and socials; men painting scenery and arranging lights for stage shows; gardens and gardeners; a tennis court in use; the sports facilities; building construction and the selected activities yard, where painting, sculpture, handicrafts o f all kinds, carpentry and radio con­ struction are taking place. T h ey see and enter the ever-open doors o f contact officers, w elfare workers, etc., w ho are there to help them at any time. T hey see all these activities as contributing to a total pattern. T h ey hear from patients that these are part o f treatment. T hey see and hear that in the selected activities yard, w hile each patient is m aking something for his w ife, child or him self, there is an overall project in w hich individuals and small groups are providing toys, accessories and fixtures for child guidance clinics and nursery schools. They learn that one can graduate to becom e a m ember o f a sm all group w hich has its ow n circuit o f nursery schools to maintain: mending toys, redecorating playroom s and occasionally helping the nurses bathe the babies! “ B u t,” a man may say, “ I ’m not interested in any o f this. I ’ m interested in engineering, farm ing, poultry-keeping, plum bing. . . . ” His guide tells him that when he meets his psychiatrist and the activities officer he can arrange to conduct his activity at the Austin M otor Com pany, the A voncroft Agricultural C ollege or elsew here, trying him self out and taking part in the life o f these organizations. The man returns to the admission ward with a sense o f security in his surroundings. He then has a short individual interview w ith the senior psychia­ trist and an initial interview with his ow n psychiatrist during w hich his activity is jointly selected (it can be changed later). Should it need special arrange­ ments, the patient is passed on to a social therapy officer w ho makes the man a partner in achieving his particular objective. M any men select an activity as a test for the psychiatrist and social therapist; or they m ay use it to test them­ selves in a real or fantasy role. Particularly is this true o f the returned prisoner o f war w ho wishes to have a farm or a cottage in the country, or to help to look after horses. W hereas eight months ago the new patient would say that he did not want to do anything while in the hospital, and the older patient w ould describe the limited range o f activities as jobs to occupy the time between interview s, each now accepts the activity, selected by him self in conference with his psychia­ trist, as a recognized part o f his treatment. The term “ occupational therapy” which had contributed to the earlier conception is no longer used. The exten­ sive range o f options and the principle o f joint selection gives the man every opportunity to satisfy needs or test out fantasies. The soldier not infrequently

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says, “ I have alw ays wanted to try m y hand at . . . but I don’ t suppose you can do anything about that.” N ow he can experim ent and test him self out. That he is a real partner in achieving the opportunity is vital. This does not mean that all new patients im m ediately settle down to follow ing their activities with enthusiasm. If a man wanders o ff for w alks on his own or with a friend this is information for the psychiatrist, the nurse and the social therapy staff— and the men with whom he is w orking. The patient is not checked in the military sense; this can be left to the social and therapeutic forces at work. He w ill find his place and activity in a little w hile, even if he changes the latter several times. For the rest o f his stay in the admission ward the man spends a portion o f his time being re-kitted, com pleting questionnaires and taking psychological tests. In the intervals and in the evenings he revisits one or more o f the places he has found attractive. The notice-board in his ward tells him what is “ o n .” His hostpatient m ay also invite him to join a party going to a dance, theater or a social run by members o f local firms, clubs or societies, where he can meet men and wom en w ho are them selves having fun, and not just giving him a good time. In some cases these are the first steps in an England w hich he m ay have left three, four or five years ago. The decision is at all times left to him. On the afternoon o f the third day he is introduced to his treatment ward, w hich is in the charge o f his psychiatrist and nurse. The ward-workers’ group (whose selected activity is to look after all dom estic affairs in the ward) w ill “ put him w ise” to everything going on. He realizes that he w ill be a member o f the ward for the rest o f his stay in the hospital, and he can now embark on a secure but flexible program involving not only the life in his ward and his selected activity, but also the social opportunities inside and outside the hospi­ tal. E very day his psychiatrist sees him during the morning round. Each w eek the commanding officer makes his inspection and is ready to hear requests and com plaints. In addition, the ward holds its own w eekly meeting attended by the psychiatrist and nurse. The men elect their own chairman w ho, together with two other elected representatives, attends a full m eeting o f ward committees each Friday. These m eetings, on “ constituency” and “ House o f Com m ons” levels, are extrem ely useful conductors by means o f w hich domestic and hospital tensions can be transmitted and resolved. Matters affecting the ward are dealt with by the constituency; matters bearing on hospital affairs are referred to the House o f Com m ons. The latter meeting is attended by the commanding officer and the senior officer o f the social therapy staff, w ho act as links with all hospital departments, any member o f w hich has a standing invitation to attend. Despite a constantly changing patient population, com m ittee m eeting min­ utes make it possible to trace the trends o f a society developing in almost direct

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proportion to a grow ing sense o f achievem ent and responsibility. A t the begin­ ning there was a collection o f individuals, most o f w hom were self-appointed ward representatives, airing personal grievances and grum bles. N ow the meet­ ing o f ward com m ittees is a constitutional body conscious o f its value and responsible to the hospital com m unity as a w hole. Its work is not bound by the confines o f the hospital. The links between Northfield and the city are becom ing more numerous and more clearly defined, with plans being made for a total hospital project related to building an extension to the Crippled Children’s Hospital in Birm ingham . The grow ing contacts opened up by selected activities, sports and parties have brought large industrial concerns w ell within the hospital’s consciousness, with the result that its psychological as w ell as geographical field has w idened to an extent that tests both ward and overall com m ittee m eetings to the full. In the frame o f reference set up by the social life o f the ward and hospital communities each psychiatrist has the opportunity o f treating his patients, individually and in groups. He can see how the cohesive and disruptive social forces act on members o f his ward. His observation o f the patients’ behavior has proved its value in treatment. So far little has been said o f other functional groups within the hospital. T hey each have their role not only in maintaining hospital services but in contributing to the total community. The w om en’s auxiliary services take a full share in the social life o f the hospital. It m ay be said that the social therapy staff is the w hole staff together with the w hole o f the neighboring population. U nless this is so, treatment becom es restricted and m ay even be sterile. The treatment— one m ay call it an education in sincerity and tolerance— w hich the patients give to all related groups is no less important! Although it is not possible here to trace in detail either the phenotypical picture o f developm ent or the process o f “ Lew infiltration” (our term for describing the growth dynam ics o f a com m unity) some conception o f its progress m ay be gained by considering the field existing just prior to the beginning o f the experiment. Entertainment, recreation, education and o c­ cupational therapy had been additional responsibilities for three different psy­ chiatrists. Rehabilitation, w hich dealt only with patients in the last tw o or three w eeks o f their stay in the hospital, consisted m ainly o f para-m ilitary training and w as in the hands o f a para-military staff. I have said little so far about the staff groups but they too developed many different directions o f interest and inquiry. Previously, the nurses all w orked according to the principles governing hospitals dealing with physical illnesses, despite the fact that there was only one m edical ward. N ow, there em erged the problem o f discovering the role o f the nurse in a therapeutic com m unity where only a few patients were in the ward all day, let alone in bed! Their patients were out in Birm ingham schools; repairing toys in a department store to raise

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cash for charity or hospital activities; in the car factory opposite the hospital; in the club, etc. ; and in many additional types o f treatment sessions with psychia­ trists. There was only one w ay— for the nurse to learn a different role— to be with the patients where they were. The force-field o f therapeutic functions had changed. The therapeutic task now involved far greater inter-disciplinary practice. Hospital and environmen­ tal endeavors involved collaboration between professional therapeutic staff and social practitioners from a variety o f functions. A few months before the boundaries between them had been distinct and their tasks separate.

The Doctor in the Therapeutic Community W hen Tom M ain arrived, the psychiatric scene developed still further. He was the first to spell out explicitly the changed role o f the psychiatrist in the therapeutic community (M ain, 1946): These are not small requirements and they have demanded a review of our attitudes as psychiatrists towards our own status and responsibilities. The anar­ chical rights of the doctor in the traditional hospital society have to be exchanged for the more sincere role of member in a real community, responsible not only to himself and his superiors, but to the community as a whole, privileged and restricted only insofar as the community allows or demands. He no longer owns “ his” patients. They are given up to the community which is to treat them, and which owns them and him. Patients are no longer his captive children, obedient in nursery-like activities, but have sincere adult roles to play, and are free to reach for responsibilities and opinions concerning the com m unity o f w h ich they are a

part. They, as well as he, must be free to discuss a rationale of daily hospital life, to identify and analyze the problems, formulate the conditions and forge the enthusiasms of group life. . . . he does not seek ex cathedra status. Indeed he must refuse any platform offered to him, and abrogate his usual right to pass judgment on inter-group claims or problems. The psychiatrist has to tolerate disorder and tension up to the point when it is plain that the community itself must tackle these as problems of group life. . . . It must be pointed out that the medical man, educated to play a grandiose role among the sick, finds it difficult to renounce his power and shoulder social responsibilities in a hospital and to grant sincerely to his patients independence and adulthood. But it is no easier for the rest of the staff. It is difficult to live in a field undergoing internal stress without wanting to trade upon authority and crush the spontaneity which gives rise to the stress, to demand dependence and to impose law and order from above. Such measures, however, do not solve the problem of neurosis in social life, but are a means of evading the issue.

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The extent to which the therapeutic com m unity idea had taken root among key psychiatric staff m ay be further illustrated by the follow ing remarks o f S .H . Foulkes (1946) concerning his relations with m yself: Co-operation between us was perfect and there was not a single question of principle or detail in which we did not see eye to eye. Thus the relationship of the therapeutic group in the narrower sense towards the hospital changed, the smaller unit becoming more definitely oriented towards the larger community of the hospital. Neither of them is workable, or even thinkable, without the other. It never occurred to us to ask how much one or the other of them contributed to the therapeutic result, so fully did we look upon it as an integrated whole. Apart from this, the psychiatrist was (or should have been) operative in all the different groups in which his patients were engaged. To look upon this experiment otherwise is to misunderstand its basic ideas as well as that of the psycho­ therapeutic group itself.

The Hospital at the War's End W hen hostilities ended in Europe Foulkes took over m y role o f social therapist as the principal means o f m obilizing the hospital behind its new m ission o f rehabilitation for civilian life. He writes (Foulkes, 1946): The war was now over, Bridger had left, the staff was depleted by demobiliza­ tion. The hospital policy had changed semi-officially to one of rehabilitation for civil life. Everything was affected. The old division between khaki and blue had changed its meaning completely. A certain note of apathy had descended upon both staff and patients. The hospital life had become stale and incoherent, the activity side somewhat departmental and institutionalized. What was to be done? I had the good luck, on my own request, to be transferred to the activity department. It became quite clear that levers had to be used to bring about an effect on the hospital spirit as a whole. The situation suggested the remedy. Groups had to be formed whose task was directly related to the hospital itself and who, from their function, were forced into contact and co-operation with others. . . . I founded one group called the Co-ordination Group who with new-found enthusiasm soon became a most active factor in the life of the hospital. Their influence was felt within a week or two throughout the hospital, from the CO to the last patient, orderly or office girl. New life blossomed from the ruins, brains trusts and quizzes between psychiatrists and patients, and similar events resulted, producing once more healthy and positive contact and co-operation. He adds some general reflections on w orking with groups in the therapeutic community which merit being more w id ely known:

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It will be seen that in the development described, the following shifts of emphasis emerged: • • • •

From individual centred to leaving the lead to the group. From leader centred to group centred. From talking to acting and doing. From the still artificial setting of a group session to selected activities and to groups in life function. • From content centred to behaviour in action. • From the controlled and directed to the spontaneous. • From the past to the present situation. . . . The narrowest point of view will see in it merely a time saver perhaps, or a kind of substitute for other more individual forms of psychotherapy. Possibly it will concede that it might have special advantages, have its own indications, say, for instance, for the treatment of social difficulties. A wider view will see in it a new method of therapy, investigation, information and education. The widest view will look upon group therapy as an expression of a new attitude towards the study and improvement of human inter-relations in our time. It may see in it an instrument, perhaps the first adequate one, for a practicable approach to the key problem of our time: the strained relationship between the individual and the community. In this way its range is as far and as wide as these relationships go. Treatment of psychoneuroses, psychoses, crime, etc., rehabilitation problems, industrial management, education, in short, every aspect of life in communities, large and small. Perhaps someone taking this broad view will see in it the answer in the spirit of a democratic community to the mass and group handling of Totalitarian regimes.

Conclusions The question o f the renunciation o f pow er and the sharing o f responsibility with an interdisciplinary team had been at the bottom o f the trouble stirred up by Northfield I. This issue is still with us, as M axw ell Jones’s (1968) persistent struggles for forty years have demonstrated, especially when patients as w ell as staff are allow ed a voice. Several studies o f substantial, as distinct from m arginal, innovation (C heva­ lier and B um s, 1979) have shown that the first entry o f a radically new model is usually arrested but that the learning acquired permits an extensive develop­ ment when, after a delay, the environmental situation has becom e favorable for a second entry. The seed planted at Northfield I did not fall by the w ayside. In another tw o years it flowered not only in Northfield II but in several forms in relation to the concluding phases o f the war. A s B ion observed in Psychiatry in a Time o f Crisis (1948), a chain reaction had been started. Foulkes (1964) has traced further developm ents in the post-war period.

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For innovative initiatives to persist in any o f its parts sanction is needed from the highest levels o f the organization. The w hole in w hich the parts are embedded can then begin to change in a consonant direction. High level sanction is especially necessary when the initiatives are o f a kind w hich create a discontinuity with what has gone before and are the harbingers o f a paradigm shift. A s happens not infrequently, discoveries made within the protection o f a therapeutic setting later find numerous applications in the w ider society— until they becom e seen as general. W innicott (19 7 1) has talked o f maturation and the facilitating environment regarding the child. Northfield showed that an unusually facilitating environment can lead to unusual maturation in adults. Approaches and methods first learnt in a specialized psychiatric setting m ay be adapted to bring into being degrees o f commitment and levels o f perform ance unreachable by conventional bureaucratic organizations in industry and other social sectors. The individual can grow through the life-enhancing experiences now provided w hich he him self, by his ow n participation, has helped to bring into existence. M ost people doing organizational change projects, w hich have becom e such a vast enterprise since World War II, have little know ledge o f where, how or under what circum stances the seminal w ork was done. Northfield I was undertaken at the height o f the war when the m ilitary outcom e was still in doubt. There was a deep necessity for the w ork group concerned with the reality situation (W in B io n ’s sense) and his basic assump­ tion fight (b aF ) to be constructively fused (B ion, 1961). W hat B ion and Rickm an did reflected this situation and was congruent with it. Northfield II was undertaken when the m ilitary outcom e was no longer in doubt. In this situation a need began to suffuse the society to restore those w ho had becom e “ casualties” in any form through their part in the w ar effort. The therapeutic com m unity that now cam e into existence as Northfield II created a reparative society. The profound healing effect o f the need to make reparation had been explicitly stated by M elanie K lein (K lein and R iviere, 1937). Northfield II exem plified this effect at the social level and demonstrated the connection between personal and social healing. Northfield II also created a dem ocratic society. This showed that there was a link between participation and the release o f creative forces. This link suggests also that democratic and reparative processes are connected at a deep psycho­ logical level. T hey m utually reinforce each other. These connections are still little appreciated and need to be taken into account in institution-building for the future. Despite their prom ise, the war and immediate post-war developm ents o f therapeutic communities reached a lim it unexpected by their pioneers. They pose a persisting threat to authoritarian institutions and the prevailing bureau­ cratic culture. The resistances encountered by B ion and Rickm an in one

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hospital-as-a-whole, though worked through in Northfield II, reappeared in society-as-a-whole. In the course o f the 40 years that have elapsed since these experiments manifested that there was a new way, only small progress has been made towards establishing a more dem ocratic and more reparative social order. In m aking further progress towards this goal the experiences they yielded and the models they built provide a rich ground on w hich new efforts m ay be based.

References Bion, W.R. 1946. “ The Leaderless Group Project.” Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 10:77-81. . 1948. “ Psychiatry in a Time of Crisis.” British Journal of Medical Psychology, 21:81-89. ---------. 1961. Experiences in Groups and Other Papers. London: Tavistock Publica­ tions; New York: Basic Books. Bion, W.R. and J. Rickman. 1943. “ Intra-group Tensions in Therapy: Their Study as the Task of the Group.” Lancet, 2:678-81. Bridger, H. 1980. “ The Kinds of ‘Organizational Development’ Required for Working at the Level of the Whole Organization Considered as an Open System.” In Organi­ zation Development in Europe, Vol. lA: Concepts, edited by K. Trebesch. Beme: Paul Haupt Verlag. . 1982. “ The Implications of Ecological Change on Groups, Institutions and Communities, with Particular Reference to Membership, Leadership and Consulta­ tive Roles.” In The Individual and the Group, edited by M. Pines and L. Rafaelsen. New York: Plenum. Chevalier, M. and T. Bums. 1979. “ The Policy Field.” In Management Handbook for Public Administrators, edited by J.W. Sutherland. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Nostrand Reinholt. de Maré, P.B. 1983. “ Michael Foulkes and the Northfield Experiment.” In The Evolution o f Group Analysis, edited by M. Pines. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. . 1985. “ Major Bion.” In Bion and Group Psychotherapy, edited by M. Pines. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Foulkes, S.H. 1946. “ On Group Analysis.” International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 27:1-6. . 1964. Therapeutic Group Analysis. London: Allen & Unwin. Jones, M. 1968. Social Psychiatry in Practice. London: Penguin Books. Klein, M. and J. Riviere. 1937. Love, Hate and Reparation. London: Hogarth Press. Main, T.F. 1946. “ The Hospital as a Therapeutic Institution.” Bulletin of the Men­ ninger Clinic, 10:66-70. . 1983. “ The Concept of the Therapeutic Community: Variations and Vicissi­ tudes.” In The Evolution o f Group Analysis, edited by M. Pines. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Pearse, I.H. and L.H. Crocker. 1943. The Peckham Experiment. London: Allen & Unwin. Winnicott, D.W. 1965. The Maturational Process and the Facilitating Environment. London: Hogarth Press. . 1971. Playing and Reality. London: Penguin Books.

A.T.M. Wilson, Eric Trist and Adam Curie

Transitional Communities and Social Reconnection The Civil Resettlement of British Prisoners o f War*

The Prisoner o f War Experience and the Problem o f Repatriation

T he B

ackgrou n d of th e

Schem e

In the early years o f World War II the need o f repatriated British Prisoners o f War (PsOW ) for assistance in readjusting was not urgently m anifest, but, as more men returned after escape or were repatriated on m edical grounds, the rate o f sickness and disciplinary offenses caused anxiety. O fficially, PsO W were regarded both as “ casualties” and as men awaiting trial by court o f inquiry to re-establish their m ilitary rights. Though this attitude was largely historical and was weakened by experience o f returned men, am bivalence, shown by simultaneous idealizing and scapegoating, remained. Through the A rm y the PO W returned to his ow n society. It was the Arm y that possessed special understanding o f his difficulties, just as it had been responsible for his troubles. Am ong institutions in his home society it was o f the A rm y that he was most suspicious, yet it was on the A rm y that he was most dependent. Despite a certain opposition to differential treatment, among both m ilitary and civilian groups, and also among PsO W them selves (many o f whom were determined to deny the existence o f their difficulties), it was decided at Cabinet level that the repatriate needed not only special training to *No comprehensive account of the Civil Resettlement Scheme developed in the British Army during 1945-1946 had been available prior to the publication in G.E. Swanson, T.E. Newcomb and E.L. Hartley (Editors), Readings in Social Psychology, 1952, of this paper prepared by the second author from existing manuscripts.

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refit him for military duty, but that the A rm y should itself undertake the first steps toward re-equipping him for civilian life. This policy sanctioned the developm ent o f a schem e based on technical studies. A t the beginning o f 1945 a pilot C ivil Resettlement Unit (C R U ) was formed. B y the end o f that year (PsO W having been repatriated from all theaters o f war), there were twenty C R U s operating in different parts o f the United K ingdom , each capable o f dealing with some 240 men at any one time. These units acted as bridges between the A rm y and civilian life. T hey were designed as transitional communities to permit change o f attitudes w hich retarded reassumption by the repatriate o f a fu lly participant role in civilian life.

T he N ature

of

D e s o c ia l iz a t io n

Unsettlement on repatriation could not be understood solely as a disturbance in the repatriate him self. His fam ily was also affected. On the larger social scale this was reflected in the relations generally between those returning from the services and those w ho had remained in civilian life. Resettlement was a twow ay process, calling for emotional readjustment by all members o f the re­ formed fam ily and the w ider community. From this w ider point o f view unsettlement m ay be regarded as a process o f desocialization. D esocialization can be defined only in relation to a general concept o f society, since it appears differentially related to various components in the total social order, such as social structure, social roles, social relation­ ships and culture.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

This term covers social forms (econom ic, kinship, governm ental, etc.) w hich together act as a more or less stable and organized fram ework within w hich the basic needs o f the individual m ay be met. Structure is external to the individ­ ual— something felt as “ out there.” The effects o f structural breakdown on the individual cannot, however, be traced without additional concepts, for consid­ erable structural breakdown m ay often be survived with little desocialization, w hile desocialization m ay occur apart from structural breakdown.

SOCIAL ROLES

Structure by itself gives no information on the position taken up by the individual within it. A number o f such positions are possible, referred to as social roles. W hile structure is there, it is up to the individual him self whether

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he takes an available role. Through failure to take roles he goes out o f the social fram ework in certain directions. Failure to take roles m ay be proposed as one criterion o f desocialization.

SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS O nce roles are taken, social relationships begin to be made. Their course, how ever, is not determined by the roles w hich are a condition o f their begin­ ning. The structure o f his society m ay initially determine whether or not an individual m ay take a certain role, but other factors enter with respect to his ability to handle and make good the w idening and changing series o f relation­ ships, variously personalized and intimate, in which he is involved if his participation and satisfaction are to continue. Failure to sustain social relation­ ships provides a second criterion o f desocialization.

CULTURE Culture represents the means, how ever im perfect, at the disposal o f the indi­ vidual for handling his relationships. On it he depends for m aking his w ay am ong, and with, other members and groups belonging to his society. The central thesis o f this paper is that it is the internal assimilation o f culture that is primarily disturbed in the p rocess o f de socialization. This gives the third criterion to w hich the other tw o m ay be related. A n inquiry into desocialization, therefore, im plies an assessment o f the level at which an individual possesses internal assim ilation o f his culture. So far as he has reached a state o f cultural dispossession, the breaking o f relation­ ships and the refusal o f roles have serious consequences, for he now lacks the resources to make the restorations necessary and the resilience to resume abandoned activities. The process w ill now be traced w hich induced desocial­ ization in repatriated PsOW , despite the degree o f structural equilibrium in post-war Britain.

T h e C o u r se

of

D e s o c ia l iz a t io n

in t h e

R e p a t r ia t e

and

H is F a m i l y

A t first, while serving in his home country, the soldier carried over into the Arm y a good deal o f his form er civilian being. N evertheless, it was a com m on observation by servicem en that they soon found it difficult to take an effective part in their fam ily affairs. W hen the soldier was drafted overseas he had to make a second adjustment.

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A s he neared the com bat zone, the in-group solidarity o f his unit insulated him from his old life. W hether or not a man had traumatic battle experiences, emotional disturbances were com m only associated with capture. The feeling o f guilt over “ allow in g” on eself to be taken and o f rejection from the fact that the A rm y had “ allow ed ” it made capture a painful experience. L ife in a PO W camp entailed a third adjustment— to the condition o f being rendered useless, though something o f the soldier’s role could be maintained by engaging in a morale battle with the prison authorities. M en learned to lead a double life o f surface com pliance and concealed activity. On return, after a period o f leave, most repatriates spent some months in the A rm y before release. This had a protective effect and the full impact o f desocialization was only felt when they re-entered civilian life. O n dem obiliza­ tion men found them selves lost and out o f place, separated by a g u lf o f experience im possible to share and by a sense o f guilt related in part, and how ever irrationally, to the fact o f having left home. W hen a husband or father goes away, he takes not only him self but those activities that have becom e part and parcel o f everyday life. In his fam ily, readjustment takes place toward the altered situation. W hen the absent member returns, a disequilibrium is caused comparable with that created by his departure. Outside the fam ily, his associ­ ates had similar difficulty in accepting the repatriate into the m ilieu they had established without him. Such experiences led many men to feel that their rejection had been callously prepared. Often, how ever, the gain in maturity was very great. One difficulty o f many was how to use their maturity in a society they felt they had outgrown. The consequent isolation was as painful as the isolation o f captivity. Stress tended to pile up between the second and fourth months. If this period could be weathered, a man was set toward resocialization. If it went badly, satisfactory adjustment often posed form idable problems. The policy o f the C R U was to reach men at a point when they had begun to feel the force o f their difficulties— and so be w illing to seek help— but before they were overtaken by the crisis o f their desocialization.

T he S earch

for

S a n c t io n

of

P O W E x p e r ie n c e

A fter the initial shock o f capture many men regressed to quasi-psychotic states, but the majority gradually becam e aware o f the existence and pow er o f various supranational organizations governed by the G eneva Convention on PsOW , and the International Red Cross. They also learned the extent to w hich their survival as individuals depended on their success as a group in keeping some kind o f society alive in their midst. The European prison cam p situation m ay be summarized as follow s:

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A N ew Social Psychiatry • Separation o f officers and other ranks (noncom m issioned officers and privates) under the G eneva Convention created the need for an alternative leadership from below. This centered in an elected “ man o f confidence” w ho represented the group to the Protecting Power. • The rem oval o f material weapons meant that alternative weapons had to be forged with cultural resources, since the fight had to go on and the degree o f capture held as low as possible. • The two points above had effects w hich reinforced each other so that a strong dem ocratic culture developed with the double function o f preserv­ ing the group and w aging war. • The prison camp em erged as a society o f “ creative casualties” in w hom a deep revaluation and skilled utilization o f certain components in their culture had occurred; but in w hom , because o f the severity o f the trauma and the limitations o f the situation, a partial mastery o f their experience was alone possible. • The democratic society o f prison camps was largely self-sanctioning. It recognized no societal “ parent,” except the para-m edical maternal au­ thority o f the G eneva Convention and the International Red Cross.

The repatriate was in a state which led him to search for consistent sanction for the values o f his prison-camp experience in the culture o f the controlling societal authorities o f his hom e society. If he did not find such sanction there remained such painful reactions as: • Regression once more to the isolated existence o f early captivity. A man would live as a passive prisoner o f his own society. M en w ere found who had not left their houses for w eeks. • R enew al o f his cultural w ar in a particularly embittered form — against his own society, now regarded as the enemy. He w ould tend to align him self with malcontent minorities. • Alternatively, he m ight seek revenge by taking up a role based on unrec­ ognized identification with his late captors, w hom he w ould outdo in authoritarianism (and even brutality). • He could attempt to escape from his problem by emigration. • He might be forced to accept the role o f a psychiatric casualty. A ll these reactions must be thought o f as techniques o f livin g, not so much mutually exclusive as coexisting or alternating in any individual man. The first four are based on aggression. It is only in the last that there remains any conviction o f success in the search for sanction from the home society. But the repatriate was an unlikely person to declare him self as a psychiatric patient. Yet his own illness remained a fact w hose denial whether by him self or others had

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serious consequences. Early follow -up studies showed that only a minority o f repatriation states were self-adjusting. A special scheme was necessary but had to be built up in a w ider para-m edical setting.

The Character o f the Transitional Community P r in c ip l e s

and

P o l ic y

To meet the situation described it was necessary to secure acceptance o f the principle that participation cannot be imposed. M ilitary authority had either to take no action or to sanction the developm ent o f a perm issive community within the Arm y. This meant offering a voluntary scheme and reversing a number o f rules and regulations. B y conferring the right to volunteer for a C R U the A rm y gave evidence o f its w illingness to accept the negative feelings o f the repatriate (who could reject the offer), and also o f its evaluation o f his worth and its trust in him (by risking a considerable investment in a scheme w hich only a few might utilize). B y abrogating its authority over him it recognized its responsibility toward him. The method o f gaining his trust was to take informed social action. To volunteer im plied for the repatriate the acceptance o f a role w hich opened up relationships in a com m unity whose culture was fashioned in terms o f his own values and w hose existence was itself proof o f their com patibility with the home society. His shattered sense o f security, mistrust, and need for consis­ tency made him a “ connoisseur in sincerity” and adept at looking for snags. He could accept only a com m unity where acceptance o f his values was consistent. The production o f this self-consistent participant com m unity did not in the first place depend on action taken within the C ivil Resettlement organiza­ tion, but on decisions m ade— and maintained— by the controlling War O ffice branches o f all sections o f the Arm y, and also by civil ministries and organiza­ tions, both industrial and social. It was from widespread discussions on im ple­ menting these decisions that the intergroup relations between the repatriate and the home comm unity were clarified.

T he D evelopm ent

of th e

Schem e

It was postulated that i f the scheme w as planned with the participation o f repatriates no difficulty w ould arise in obtaining volunteers. O ver-all, 40,000 to 50,000 men attended C R U s. Contact with as many more was made latterly, on a day basis, through the Extension Schem e. A survey o f the regional distribution o f the homes o f PsO W permitted the scheme to develop so that men could attend a C R U in their own part o f the

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A New Social Psychiatry

country, units being located on the boundaries o f industrial areas to provide contact with social and industrial life. The staff had to bear the stress o f an unfam iliar para-military and para-m edical com m unity and w ere specially se­ lected. In training, they received, first, opportunities o f contact with repatri­ ates, then group discussions on repatriation problems and finally a brief apprenticeship at a w orking unit. The pilot unit was administered under m edi­ cal and social-science auspices. In w orking units, administrative control re­ verted to regimental authorities advised by psychiatrists and psychologists. N ew units budded o ff from old. The initial task o f a new C R U was to make contact with the M inistry o f Labour, through w hich groups o f guests representing various industries and trades were invited to the em pty unit, an explanation o f the schem e made and suggestions received as to how repatriates could make inform al contact with those on the job . A developed C R U was in touch with 200 to 400 firms and social institutions w illin g to allow visits by repatriates.

T he Staff

and

O r g a n iz a t io n

of a

CRU

The officer staff consisted o f a com m anding officer, second-in-com m and and nine officers for casew ork— four “ syndicate” officers and five specialists. A syndicate w as a m an’s living group and each syndicate officer was parent to 60 m en— four sections o f 15 from successive w eekly intakes o f 60 to the w hole C R U . This staggered intake allow ed each syndicate to contain old as w ell as new members. Specialists ran “ practices.” A ll attendances were voluntary. W ith a m onthly turnover o f over 200, units with a disproportionate load o f disabled required two medical officers. Two units had a resident psychiatrist; in others he was part time. A vocational officer and sergeants helped men to evaluate, on a reality basis, long-cherished vocational plans and fantasies. A M inistry o f Labour officer facilitated practical openings. The technical officer provided, through workshops, an opportunity to rebuild confidence. The wom en social workers— known as C ivil Liaison O fficers— were psychiatric social workers. Matrimonial problems made up two thirds o f social case w ork in returned service people and w ere abundant at C R U s. C lerical and domestic arrangements w ere standard for a static m ilitary establishment, but the scale o f accom m odation was that provided for the ATS (the w om en’s branch o f the Arm y). It included, for the w hole unit, beds and sheets as opposed to boards and blankets. The proportion o f permanent staff was high— the seriousness o f resettlement was indicated by allow ing repatri­ ates to be fully occupied in learning about civil life. One hundred o f the other

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rank staff (N C O s and privates) o f 140 were wom en (ATS) w ho enabled the C R U to develop the mores o f a m ixed community. M en with experience o f starvation placed a high value on food and the conditions o f eating. M eals were served at pleasantly arranged tables b y A T S , midday dinner being taken in a com m on dining room by all ranks and by repatriates and staff alike. This event sym bolized C R U “ dem ocracy,” w hile com m on sharing in the scale o f accom m odation eliminated trouble between repatriates and other rank staff and assisted them to discover a com m on identity as potential civilians.

T he R esettlem en t Program

Length o f stay averaged four to five w eeks. E xcept for terminal interview s, a man was not ordered to see anyone. He passed through four phases: learning about and testing out the unit; establishing him self within it; orienting him self to the surrounding industrial and social community; m aking and reality-testing personal plans. These phases may be summarized as neutralization o f the suspicion o f authority; return to a less regressed social attitude with role-taking in the safety o f the unit and assimilation o f its culture; a more general m ove­ ment toward a reconnected relationship with the home society; the structuring o f personal goals. The program was sequenced accordingly— reception phase, settling-in phase, orientation phase, planning phase— and the balance o f spon­ taneity and control altered to throw the repatriate more and more onto him self. The gradient was steep so that the anxieties aroused could be dealt with during the program month that made up the standard C R U course. In content, scope, sequence and duration this standard was intended to act as an over-all inter­ pretation o f the nature and dimensions o f the resettlement task and to indicate a norm in terms o f w hich men could gauge their progress. (Provision was made for lengthening stay up to three months.) Special care w as necessary over the reception phase (Thursday afternoon to Saturday midday). The socialized adult usually belongs to a fam ily group, a work group and an informal group o f leisure-time friends. It was postulated that if repatriates could be inducted— as rapidly as possible— into prototypes o f these three groups, on a basis o f personal ch o ice, they w ould be securely positioned in the unit. On the first day the unit took little initiative w hile giving the repatriate full scope to find out about it. A fter an arrival m eal, men were conducted to a dormitory to choose their beds, then left free to hear what those already there thought. On the second day the unit took more initiative. A fter an introductory talk by the comm anding officer, the 60 new arrivals were taken around the unit

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A N ew Social Psychiatry

in informal groups, briefly introduced to k ey resettlement staff, then invited to redivide them selves, for syndicate allocation, into four sections o f 15. A man at once experienced the value o f his syndicate in a group discussion with his syndicate officer, with whom he also had a personal interview. During the afternoon he attended a first workshop session. B y the evening he had usually found friends. On the Saturday morning he selected civilian clothes, w hich he wore hom e, weekends being spent at home to avoid damage to new social roots in the home environment and to keep alive questions related to future planning. During their first full w eek (apart from a visit to an em ploym ent exchange and to one factory) men were occupied inside the unit, attending workshops and informational discussions. T hey took part in a social life w hich included dances, attended by civilians, particularly girls from the neighborhood, who did much to diminish exaggerated fears o f wom en. B y the second w eek they w ere visiting factories, shops, training centers and social organizations in small self-chosen groups. During the third and fourth w eeks assignments becam e more individual. M en undertook jo b rehearsals, spending several days acquiring the feel o f a jo b — without the burden o f responsibility. Personal problems were discussed with the specialist staff, vocational anxieties usually being brought out before those concerned with fam ily relations. M any o f these latter anxieties first appeared in the guise o f job problem s. A s C R U s matured they passed generally from being em ploym ent dominant to becom ing fam ily dominant, and w ives and fam ilies were more fu lly brought into activities and discussions.

T h e In t e r a c t io n

of

A

c t iv it ie s a n d

D

is c u s s io n

The many-sided activities and the frequent contact with civil life stimulated the need to talk, w hile the syndicate and other groups provided the occasion. In this w ay the activities o f individuals led to a therapeutic discussion o f their significance, and the process o f acting out or testing out plans was linked to that o f evaluating and assimilating their significance— the process o f w orking through. The raised insight and changed feelings led to further activity— but at a higher social level, e .g ., group projects through w hich the repatriates at­ tempted to express altruistic needs often freed up as they resolved individual problems. A kind o f circulation cam e into existence— from action to under­ standing and back again to action— w hich gathered in spontaneity and extent as the community matured. This circulation made it easier than m ight be expected to impart C R U technique to a wide variety o f people. Social sharing and diffusion o f insights are im plicit in any group technique, for different kinds o f people com e into the group. Group techniques represent a change in the means o f production o f

Transitional Com m unities and Social Reconnection

97

insight, establishing an exchange that permits circulation in an open and public, as distinct from a closed and professional, market. The simpler discus­ sions o f the syndicate officer and the more sophisticated discussions o f the vocational officer or social w orker were events in the same series to w hich the group session o f the psychiatrist belonged. The power o f the series was raised as various specialists learned to w ork together as a team (which had its own discussions).

R e d u c in g

th e

“ F ear

of

Freedom ”

Central w ere difficulties over authority. The developm ent o f a morale-based self-discipline was the basic prescription o f treatment. Absence o f form al discipline caused severe anxiety both to PsO W and to unit staff. O f special importance were the interviews and discussions through w hich this fear o f freedom was reduced. Som e weeks after the first C R U opened, a group o f 15 men refused to cooperate, using the C R U as an easy-going hotel. Two or three were flagrantly antisocial and in trouble with the civilian population and the police. A ll exhibited psychosom atic symptoms and depressive trends. The administrative staff had com e to the end o f their tether; expulsion was their only solution. The presence o f the psychiatrist also created anxiety. In consequence, he and his patients were isolated in a consulting room in a remote part o f the building. The remainder o f the com m unity felt that they had rid them selves o f a doubly dangerous group, and that the delinquents could be conveniently rem oved by the psychiatrist, via a hospital or, if they refused treatment, by his taking the responsibility o f recom m ending termination o f their stay. For the C R U so to rid itself o f its troubles w ould have been fatal. The first duty o f the psychiatrist was toward the staff, his first efforts to impress them with the necessity to keep these disturbing elements within the C R U . M anip­ ulation o f the neurotic “ attack” on the com m unity was outside the scope o f the executive. His second function was to tackle and, if possible, to canalize the neurotic force. This was undertaken by group discussions. The topic thrown up in these discussions was the failure o f the unit to provide discipline; without the discipline o f authority there could be no punish­ ment, and without punishment nobody knew where he w as. Could they go on behaving in the w ay they were doing? If they did, w ould not authority take action? Authority in the person o f the psychiatrist assured them that, so far as the C R U was concerned, no action w ould be taken; but that outside bodies, such as the War O ffice or the civil authorities, were less inclined to such tolerance, and their behavior might so seriously reflect on the scheme as to bring it to a close. A lso there were 385 other people in the C R U who would

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A N ew Social Psychiatry

assert their authority should they be affected adversely. T hey w ere up against not the authority o f the executive but the wishes o f the C R U as a group. A general meeting w ould be held and a vote taken on their conduct. This approach proved effective. A fter one memorable and stormy m eeting in which this w hole situation was made quite clear there was silence. Then, one by one, each gave an assurance that no further trouble w ould be experienced. Needless to say, what was going on between the psychiatrist and the neurotic group was being closely watched by the rest o f the C R U . The outcom e was to decide the future pattern o f unit government. Should the neurotic triumph, chaos w ould result with subsequent dissolution o f the resettlement unit; i f the neurotic was expelled, authoritarianism w ould supplant the dem o­ cratic atmosphere essential to the schem e. The recognition b y the neurotic element o f the effect they w ere producing on the rest solved the immediate problem. Their altered attitude becam e reflected in the unit as a w hole, w hich was now not only tolerant o f the “ bad b oys” but also took up a rather protective attitude, rem oving them from public places if drunk and so shielding them and the unit from the outside world. Practically no further difficulty was experienced in disciplinary matters after this showdown; nor did one arise later with sim ilar intensity at any other C R U subsequently opened. The solution o f this single psychiatric event influenced the growth o f the w hole scheme. The psychiatrist em erged from his confine­ ment into the general life o f the community. The increasing rate o f the demand for his help was shown by the follow ing figures: during the first month about 5 percent repatriates were seen, all referred through a m edical or other officer; whereas in the third and fourth months some 60 percent were spontaneously seeking advice.

A Follow-Up Appraisal M e th o d

In one area, chosen in accordance with carefully determined criteria, com para­ ble samples o f 50 repatriated PsO W w ho had, and 100 w ho had not, been to C R U s were studied in relation to a control group o f 40 fam ilies from the same area. These represented the civilian norm at the socio-econom ic levels at w hich the repatriated groups were settling down some months after dem obilization. The investigator saw most men several times in different settings: (1 ) Alone. C overing at least an hour, often much longer. (2) A t work. The managements o f several factories provided facilities for men to be seen in w orking hours, a type o f contact most effective when it com bined a private interview with the man with a subsequent more general discussion involving management, staff, fe l­

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low workers and others. (3) With his family. These contacts frequently took place over a cup o f tea, and were invaluable in demonstrating the w hole fam ily situation, including the w ife ’s reactions to the husband’s condition. (4) In group discussion. The investigator often had other discussions in addition to those listed above. These were sometimes arranged but sometimes grew spon­ taneously out o f m eetings in the home or the works. Fam ily members, fellow workers, other PsO W and neighbors took part. The role adopted by the investigator was that o f a supplementary extension officer o f the C R U organization— that is, an officer concerned with aftercare, and with extending C R U facilities to non-volunteers, or to men who had canceled their applications. His initial approach— that he had com e to see if there was anything he could do— quickly dispelled the apprehension o f men or their w ives at meeting an officer w ho obviously knew something about them. This view was supported by the greater difficulty experienced in establishing relations with the control group. Actual elicitation o f information was through observation and discussion, rather than through direct questioning. W ith the C R U sam ples, one stage was an explanation o f the purpose o f follow-up, w hich involved a m odification o f the investigator’s role as initially described. This was important for two rea­ sons. First, in his follow -up role, he m oved out o f the part o f a counselor who might raise dependency hopes w hich could not be fulfilled. Second, there was a therapeutic gain in giving men, through the assistance they provided by their information, a chance to participate still further in an experiment which had helped them. A ll men were seen at approxim ately the same juncture o f their lives as reestablished civilians. T he D evelopm en t

of

C r it e r ia

for

N orms

of

S o c ia l P a r t ic ip a t io n

S herif (1936) writes o f social norms as follow s: “ Social norms arise from actual life situations as a consequence o f the contact o f people with one another. . . . But once form ed, they tend to persist. M any times they outlive their usefulness.” In the samples under discussion norms had rather neutral prestige value and were described as “ all right” ; “ just ordinary” ; “ nothing special” ; “ quite respectable.” Besides the norms, certain forms o f deviant behavior were observed. In the first, roles are rejected: the husband deserts his w ife; or the w orker leaves his job and makes no effort to get a new one. In terms o f the norm, this behavior lacks prestige. The man concerned is judged as either “ sick ” or “ w ick e d .” A second type o f deviation occurs when a man accepts the roles, but cannot use the culture to manage the relationship: he gives his w ife housekeeping money, but never goes out with her or helps her in the home; he w orks, but

io o

A N ew Social Psychiatry

without loyalty or friendliness to em ployers and fellow w orkers. Such a role has great persistence, but behavior o f this kind is inadequate to any em ergency in w hich flexibility is required. Som etim es judgm ents about these men are more harsh than about those in the first category, since an elem ent o f pity often enters into references to a man w hose domestic or social life is com pletely disintegrating. A third type o f deviation was positively assessed and appears to represent congruence o f individual developm ent with the realities o f social situations. In this third deviation the patterns are the good husband and neighbor; the man w ho has a certain capacity for leadership; the men w ho are loyal em ployees, but prepared to take positive action i f their principles are outraged. In such people the approach to situations is flexible, and less governed by stereotypes. This type o f deviance, above the norm, appears to represent the cultural aspiration level o f the norm itself. In the norm, certain features o f behavior im ply anxiety, typified by the erection o f barriers which restrict the m obility o f human relationships. M any o f these barriers take the form o f culture stereotypes: that men do not push the pram, that they do not take their w ives to football matches. But there is no derogatory evaluation o f those w ho do. If the norm and the three deviations are scaled by standards o f social participation, they occur in the follow ing ascending order: first deviation (roles rejected); second deviation (roles accepted, inability to use culture); norm; third deviation (behavior at cultural aspiration level o f norm). These findings are consistent with the concept o f desocialization. There follow s an analysis o f behavior w hich illustrates the application o f this scale. The sequence o f these illustrations corresponds with the arrangement o f the different regions o f the life space o f the individual. These are ordered to radiate out from fam ily relationships through neighborhood and w ork groups to the more abstract relationships with authority. For convenience, the two infranorm deviants, the norm and the supranorm deviant are named grades on a four-point scale, and appear in the later tabula­ tions as Grade i (first infranorm deviant); Grade 2 (second infranorm deviant); Grade 3 (norm); and Grade 4 (supranorm deviant). In some o f the statistical tables these grades are used as scores and treated as equal class intervals.

F in d in g s i . The first step was to determine whether the criteria o f social participation could be regarded as valid indications o f the degree o f resettlement. Tw o other criteria were available. The first m ay be called a psychiatric criterion— con-

Transitional Com m unities and Social Reconnection

i

o

I

cerned with the presence or absence o f signs o f unsettlement (apathy, restless­ ness, hostility, extreme dependence, etc.) generally acknow ledged in C R U practice. It was a direct over-all assessment by the investigator, unrelated to specific patterns o f overt behavior in specific roles or relationships. The second was an over-all opinion o f relatives, neighbors, friends, and em ployers, ques­ tioned to assess the local reputation o f each man. Both the “ psychiatric” and the reputational ratings o f “ settled” — “ unsettled,” and “ all right” — “ not all righ t,” were compared with the social participation ratings. There was a definitely significant relation between both ratings and all fifteen criteria. 2. The mean score o f an individual in his performance over all his social relationship criteria m ay be regarded as indicative o f his position on a degree o f resettlement continuum. Com parison o f the more settled (mean criteria score 3 or above) with the less settled (mean criteria score below 3) shows a significant relationship between degree o f settlement and C R U attendance (p < .01). Sim ilar calculations using the psychiatric and reputational ratings also show a definitely significant relationship (p < .01 in both cases). 3. The C R U and non-CRU samples were now compared on each o f the social criteria. On all fifteen, incidence o f below norm scores was greater in the non-CRU group, seven o f the differences being o f definite, and three o f borderline significance (p < .05). A s regards scores above the norm, on six criteria the C R U was superior to the control group. The trend was in the same direction elsewhere. In relation to the norm, Table 3 (a) represents the pattern o f negative deviance, (b) the pattern o f positive deviance. O nly to a limited extent are the directions o f significant gain those o f significant loss. The negative pattern points to a state o f desocialization in w hich, though a man still exists in the fram ework o f society, he lives only in his home. The positive pattern indicates that resocialization was associated with supranormative use o f the culture in the bridge regions, with corresponding improvements in husband-wife relations and a more responsible attitude at w ork. The relation o f Table 3 (a) to Table 3 (b) points to a main fact: the overcom ing o f negative deviance entailed the appearance o f positive deviance— that is, the therapy o f desocialization did not consist m erely in the restatement o f the norm, but in some degree the actualization o f supranormative potentialities— the pattern o f resocialization was not that o f desocialization in reverse. 4. In respect to individual performance (as opposed to total scores with regard to each criterion), Table 4 (a) shows that there is a significantly larger number o f low scores in the non-CRU sample (p < .01 for t on group means). In Table 4 (b) there is a significantly higher proportion o f norm scores (p < .01) in the control group. In Table 4 (c) the poverty o f supranorm behavior in both the control group and the non-CRU group are shown. In fact, there is a significantly greater

3.

2.

1.

5 7

Husband dutifully spends at least five evenings at home with wife, but does not cooperate in leisure activity, though a weekly visit together to the cinema is a ritual.

Husband helps about the house; may help with the dishes, though it depends on whim or special need; is responsible for business affairs, often making major decisions such as chang­ ing address— i.e ., getting a new house or apartment and making decision to move to same. Dec­ orating and carpentry are his, but he refuses to help with tasks like bedmaking.

Father-child, play and en- Man does something with or for couragement. Nurturant re- his children most evenings after lationship of father with work, especially the young children with respect to ones, up to ages - . After that

Husband-wife, leisure pur­ suits. Degree of participa­ tion between husband and wife in activities beyond those of breadwinning and household management, both inside and outside the home.

Husband-wife, domestic work. Rigidity of roledifferentiation, amount and character of husband’s con­ tribution in all relationships between husband and wife in the sphere of domestic economy.

Norm (Grade 3)

Fifteen Criteria o f Social Participation

General definition

T a b le i

Constructive interest as well as affection. Readi­ ness to help children, even in the face of their

Considerable sharing of interests, both within and outside the home. If one partner does not ac­ tively engage in the con­ cerns of the other, he will encourage them.

Greater cooperation, in­ terchange of jobs wher­ ever desirable. Com­ bining of forces is characteristic, e.g., the investigator would find a couple together deco­ rating a room.

Supranorm (Grade 4)

Children ignored, irrita­ tion shown. Relief when they go out to play. Much time sometimes

The husband frequently goes out without his wife, though not for anything in particular. Scorn for the interests of the other, but sometimes subordination to the wife’s, the husband tag­ ging along.

Practically no common roles. The slightest en­ croachment on the man’s role causes do­ mestic upheaval.

Infranorm (Grade 2 )

Absence of, or with­ drawal from, relations with children, or a con­ sistently hostile attitude

Never together. Ignor­ ing or sabotaging each other’s activities.

Complete failure to ac­ cept husband respon­ sibilities, without mis­ conduct on wife’s part: separation, desertion or extreme domestic vio­ lence.

Infranorm (Grade 1 )

5.

4.

Ritual in the home. Interac­ tions between the individ­ ual— whether married or not— and other members of his household, which affect his own status and priv­ ileges; extent to which pres­ tige has become a function of maintaining personal idi­ osyncrasies and stereotypes as rituals in the household group.

Father-child, authority and discipline. Methods and consistency of the discipline imposed by father on his children; extent to which he accepts responsibility as representative of authority.

play, school, hobbies, achievements, ambitions, etc.; his degree of concern with and approval of these various activities.

Has three or four fads to which the whole family must conform. If not, a noisy row, which does not last long. Male prestige is carefully guarded by both hus­ band and wife, even if the latter is dominant.

Father has a clear idea of what he wants his children to be like (rather like himself but with a better education). Threats and shouts employed more than beating, but every few days out­ burst accompanied by indis­ criminate cuffs, for little reason apart from accumulated irrita­ tion.

little time spent on those who do not follow some paternal pre­ conceived idea.

Lack of ceremony, cou­ pled with toleration of unusual behavior. Likes and dislikes, the expres­ sion of which is tem­ pered by the exigencies of the moment, replace rigid rituals of propriety. No high value set on prestige.

Tries to see the chil­ dren’s point of view, slow to punish, but has some standard, rela­ tively unconcerned with his own personal whims and prestige, which he enforces, usually by reprimand, with a fair degree of consistency.

own disapproval. They are brought into most family activities.

Dependence on things being “just so.” The slightest deviation pro­ duces a domestic crisis. Prestige at a premium which increases with the decline of effectively exercised authority. In a minority of cases the man will accept almost any treatment.

Fixed ideas about up­ bringing, uninfluenced by experience of his children. Otherwise lit­ tle consistency, the same action being pun­ ished one day and laughed at the next. A common punishment is locking children up.

spent, offset by uncer­ tainty of mood. Emula­ tion demanded. The slightest lapse brings discord.

Idiosyncrasies are di­ vorced from any rela­ tionship with the every­ day domestic round.

Neglect, or persecution. Unprovoked violence may be shown and/or children allowed to run wild.

toward them.

Staying home and going out. Balance of time spent in and out of the house, de­ gree of purposiveness in outside as compared with inside activities, extent to which other members of the household are taken along, or those outside are brought back, i.e., degree of inter­ connection between home relationships and other re­ gions of social contacts—

One or two nights a week spent in a public house or club, with occasional outings for such pur­ poses as tax-payers’ meetings. Considerable reliance on home patterns; most men put out if compelled to spend more time than usual away from home. Time away usually spent in some form of “ male” activity. Few people invited in.

More going about, usu­ ally with wife, who is inducted into many more types of social contact. A variety of people come in. More entertaining.

Quarrels, sulks or glooms replaced by ac­ rimonious discussion of differences, so that rows are not only nipped in the bud, but subjects which have been a chronic cause of argu­ ment become settled once and for all. Such real rows as occur are usually excusable, con­ cerning, for example, neglectful conduct to­ ward children.

“ Words with the wife” every week or two about some matter, tacitly accepted as a harmless, but long-standing difference of opinion. He gets over it by going to the pub, the garden, or keeping quiet. These rows spread through the household, but blow over in a couple of hours without need for recon­ ciliation.

6. Quarreling in the home. The ways in which hostil­ ities are expressed and dealt with in the household group: frequency and dura­ tion of quarrels, degree of their violence, extent of their repercussions, meth­ ods used to adjust differ­ ences of opinion and restore situations.

7.

Supranorm (Grade 4)

Norm (Grade 3)

Continued

General definition

T a b le i

Either more time spent away, especially at places where the wife could also come (with overspending or drunk­ enness), or refusal to go out, especially to places where old acquain­ tances might be met. When the wife goes out, the man will stay in­ doors however unpleas­ ant the circumstances.

Quarrels more frequent, often last overnight. They are made up overemotionally, or smoul­ der only to blaze up again; upset most other relationships of the indi­ vidual concerned. The husband may leave the house for days, or re­ fuse to speak to his wife. Children and other members of the family usually implicated.

Infranorm (Grade 2)

Going off for spells alone, periods of deser­ tion lasting anything over two days. Alter­ natively the man never moves out of the house for weeks or even months, though nonpar­ ticipant and alone in the home.

No restraint over quar­ reling. Quarrels of in­ definite duration and may be so violent that the home is left.

Infranorm (Grade 1 )

and neighbor­ hood. Relationships estab­ lished by geographical pro­ pinquity; extent to which a man tolerates and makes constructive use of the fact that his household inevita­ bly exists in a context of other households.

9 . Neighbors

8. Parents and relatives. Rela­ tionships of married men with their parents and in­ laws, and of unmarried men living away from home, with their parents. Degree of active participa­ tion outside the home, with various members of the home family group, and type of interaction existing with other close relatives (married brothers and sis­ ters, aunts, etc.) living in the vicinity.

14

the unmarried naturally away more. Cf. time spent in organized group ac­ tivities, Criterion .

On “ dropping-in” terms with at least three immediate neigh­ bors, says “ good morning” to most people living on the same street, but not intimate with many. Emphasis is on keeping the neighbors out, rather than on letting them in.

7

(a) For unmarried men living away from home, and married men. Periodical duty visits, of­ ten arranged, not spontaneous. Fairly strong sense of respon­ sibility manifested by material assistance in times of stress. Re­ lationships to some extent jok­ ing relationships, badinage covering up mutual emotional shyness. Visits by relatives not encouraged, save on special oc­ casions, such as birthdays, (b) For unmarried men living with parents, as for Criterion . Positive friendships with neighbors— shared activities of various types. Neighbors not afraid of these people. Several times neigh­ bors— and not even im­ mediate neighbors— looked in while the in­ vestigator was there, to borrow something or to arrange a project.

7

(a) Greater inclusion of parents, etc., in various activities; a good deal of coming and going between the various homes. This is two-way, invitations are not needed. (b) As for Cri­ terion .

Greater seclusion. Goes out over the garden fence to avoid meeting acquaintances in the street, drops old friends among neighbors and does not accompany his wife when visiting, easier to associate with strangers. His pub is outside his district.

7

(a) Lack of visits. In a few cases dependence on relatives, especially the mother. Continual visits to parents’ home without wife, but no participatory activity linking the two homes. (b) As for Criterion .

No contact with neigh­ bors, even of merely a formal character, through withdrawal or hostility.

7

(a) Complete break with parental family. More rarely, abandonment of marital family in favor of a permanent return to the parental roof. (b) As for Criterion .

11.

10.

Continued

Employers and manage­ ment. The relationship of the employee to the em­ ployer in terms of his be­ havior at work and his atti­ tude toward it; degree of independence and loyalty in direct relationships with au­ thority in the economic role.

Workmates and unions. Re­ lationships with fellow workers, taken as those with whom the individual enters into nearness through his economic role; includes men working on the same task, fellow union mem­ bers, etc. The quality of the relationship is shown by the degree of participation both in work and outside that area.

General definition

T a b le i

Relations usually quite good, lack of absenteeism, and very infrequent changes of employ­ ment; but a good deal of grum­ bling, little sense of obligation to employer, who is expected to provide various amenities with­ out being entitled to extra ser­ vice.

Lack of hostility to workmates at the bench, intimate relation­ ships with one or two, who visit each other’s houses, occasion­ ally go on communal family ex­ cursions. In at least one works activity outside his job, but, apart from his intimates, does not like meeting mates out of hours— work and home do not mix. Rarely attends his tradeunion branch.

' Norm (Grade 3)

Increased wages, posi­ tions of greater respon­ sibility than prewar. Employer given credit for good things done, but actively fought for injustices. Absentee­ ism, indiscipline not used as weapons of op­ position; group mecha­ nisms invoked.

Friendships not exclu­ sive, but include, in a more casual way, many fellow workers known through various activ­ ities. Friendship with one group does not en­ tail hostility to another. In many works activ­ ities, and usually at­ tends his trade-union branch.

Supranorm (Grade 4)

In some absenteeism, minor indiscipline, for­ feiture of pay, drop in wages; in others anxious efforts to work well. Dissatisfaction confined to morose withdrawal. In a few cases, depen­ dence on employer; the man in and out of per­ sonnel manager’s office.

Hostility to groups of fellow workers pro­ nounced; work relation­ ships confined strictly to work hours. Passive lack of cooperation at the bench. Practically no participation in works activities, most often no trade-union membership.

Infranorm (Grade 2 )

Unemployment, or gross indiscipline of a type inevitably leading to dismissal, e.g., chronic absenteeism.

Unemployment if the whole economic role is rejected, otherwise complete lack of com­ munication inside as well as outside working hours, whether this iso­ lation is self-sought or the result of rejection by mates.

Infranorm (Grade 1 )

13.

12.

Women outside the family. Intersex relationships, pri­ marily of a sexual, or poten­ tially sexual, nature; de­ grees of their avoidance or pursuit, emotional invest­ ment, inclusion-exclusion from other activities and so­ cial networks of the individ­ ual, for both the married and unmarried positions.

Wider personal contacts. Ability to establish personal relationships with members of social groups to which the individual has not pre­ viously been joined by any common role or relation­ ship; ease or difficulty of crossing barriers of class, caste, education, race, etc.

(a) Married men. Occasional flirtations emasculated by face­ tiousness. Efforts to make wife party to these. Public joking about them. Relations with other women— mainly the wife’s friends— somewhat for­ mal. (b) Unmarried men. Mar­ riage as ultimate end in view. Casual affairs, but all the time developing ideas of what he wants wife to be like. Casual girl friends not brought home; discussion of them taboo; girl’s home not visited.

Friendships, save of a polite and formal kind, not common. Any depth of association going be­ yond conventional small talk in­ vokes embarrassment and aloof­ ness. Once contact established, difficulties of communication eased, though every difference of background is, as it arises, a disturbing factor.

(a) Intimate with women without danger to marital relationships of either party. Women friends of his own, and also independent rela­ tionships with his w ife’s friends, (b) Girl friends, temporary or perma­ nent, brought into all activities. Homes mutu­ ally visited. Some inti­ macy with her family, going out with her brothers and sisters. Of­ ten more than one girl at a time; though they know this, he remains on straight terms with all.

Far more fluidity be­ tween groups, visiting terms easily estab­ lished. Group differen­ tiation, as judged by in­ come, work, education, etc., almost ceases to exist, or at least to be a barrier. Personality fac­ tors rather than class or caste the main determi­ nants in friendships. (a) Avoids women more than men, or else at­ tempts to establish rela­ tionships on a purely sexual basis. Often goes to places where there are women (dances, etc.), but seldom plucks up enough courage to speak to them, except as they are going out, when semijocular ad­ vances may be made. (b) As for (a).

Hostility and suspicion against anyone in the larger outgroups. An al­ most paranoid fear, manifested by avoid­ ance and complete un­ communicativeness to­ ward any intruder in his narrowed circle.

(a) Sexual offenses, or complete refusal to en­ ter into any relation­ ships (often combined with impotence), (b) As for (a).

Inability to enter into any type of relationship with anyone outside the individual’s ingroup.

Continued

Few group activities of an intel­ lectual or political nature, but likes to know what is going on, especially in the realm of sport, without taking much active part. Embarrassed, confused, or irri­ tated by any attempt to penetrate below the surface. Prides him­ self on some special skill or knowledge of the hobby type, such as horticulture, or pigeon breeding, around which rela­ tionships may be built.

Norm (Grade 3)

Expects things to be done for individual’s behavior and him by a power vaguely de­ attitude toward the city scribed as “ they.” Criticizes council, the government, “ them” a good deal, particular­ U. N., etc.; degree of feel­ izing them as some special party ing an active, if micro­ or organization, but not pre­ scopic, contributor to mac­ pared to act unless his personal rosocial events; quality of interests are drastically im­ social projection on to pinged on. This occurs, not “ gods” and “ powers that when affects as a citizen, but as be,” who represent to the a particular category of per­ individual his sense of son— a tax-payer, a car owner, being in a total society etc. Lukewarm about all politi­ cal parties on all levels; if he which he cannot control. does play a part in public affairs it is a protesting one.

15. Impersonal authorities. The

Relationships which occur through the medium of some organized social ac­ tivity— clubs, political par­ ties, etc., in which member­ ship is voluntary; nature of interest involved; its degree of seriousness and narrow­ wideness; quality of group tie, and the roles and re­ sponsibilities carried by the individual in the organiza­ tions to which he belongs.

14. Organized group activities.

General definition

T a b le i

Does not feel servile to­ ward, or dominated by, “ them.” Sees himself as a small component of the forces which control him and is alive to his own share in the busi­ ness. Active at election times, tax-payers’ meet­ ings, locality clubs, etc., with a realistic ap­ proach.

Has interests leading to some sort of active, re­ sponsible membership of social organizations. Is obviously open to new ideas, especially in their practical applica­ tion. Whatever his level of interest and intelli­ gence, is looking for, or has found, a social means of expressing himself in action.

Supranorm (Grade 4 )

Impotent rebellion or submission, sometimes alternating. The rebel belongs to no organized body of opposition. This noisy helplessness allied to apathetic help­ lessness, equally com­ mon a feeling that “ someone” must be concerned and will eventually act; in the meantime dice are loaded against him, ac­ tivity on his own part futile.

Lack of interest in polit­ ical or other matters, or overexcitement uncom­ pensated by any positive attitudes toward social issues, i.e. violent opin­ ions are not transformed into social action. A c­ tivity is disorganized and destroys the pos­ sibility of constructive participation in social organizations.

Infranorm (Grade 2 )

Complete absence of any personal attitude to authority except, in some cases, an undiffer­ entiated hostility which may lead to antisocial activity— even the lone­ ly sabotage of crime.

Serious restriction of the interest field amounting to complete mental apa­ thy; or violent hostility, unrelated to group ac­ tion or to the needs of his own situation.

Infranorm (Grade 1 )

Transitional Com m unities and Social Reconnection

10 9

Distribution of Degree of Settlement Between CRU and Non-CRU Attenders (%)

T a b le 2

CRU sample Non-CRU sample

More settled

Less settled

Sample size

74 36

26 64

100

50

Comparison of CRU, Non-CRU and Control Groups on Social Criteria

T a b le 3

Criterion o f social participation 1. 2. . . . 6. . 8. . 10. 11. 12. . . .

3 4 5 7

9

(a) Frequency o f scores below the norm Non-CRU/CRU

(b) Frequency of scores above the norm CRU ¡control group

Borderline significance

Significant Significant

— —

—

—

—

—

—

Significant Significant Borderline significance Significant Significant —

13 14 15

Borderline significance Significant Significant Significant

Totals

7 Significant criteria (3 borderline cases)

— —

Significant Significant Significant Significant — — — —

6 Significant criteria

proportion o f supranorm behavior in the non-CRU as compared with the control group— this m ay be accounted for by a small proportion o f the nonC R U sample w ho have been able to make a very good adjustment through social utilization o f their supranorm potentialities. M ost important, there is a significant difference between the C R U sample and the control group (and the non-CRU group) in the proportion o f these scores ip < .01). M ore than half the C R U cases score five or more times in Grade 4. This general superiority o f the C R U sample occurs in spite o f the existence o f individual cases in which treatment has been inefficacious, and in spite o f a higher degree o f current stress in the sample.

11 o

A N ew Social Psychiatry T a b le 4

Comparison of CRU, Non-CRU and Control Groups on Social Criteria

(1

2

(a) Distribution of individuals scoring below the norm and ) in each group on varying numbers of criteria (number of critera above norm) Individuals in Control group CRU sample Non-CRU sample

0-4 38 40 45

5-9 2

9 40

10-15

Total

40 50

___

1

15 3

100

(b) Distribution of individuals scoring at the norm ( ) in each group (number of criteria at norm) Individuals in Control group CRU sample Non-CRU sample

0-4 —

7 16

5-9 8

33 58

10-15 32

Total

40 50

10

26

4

100

(c) Distribution of individuals scoring above the norm ( ) in each group (number of criteria above norm) Individuals in Control group CRU sample Non-CRU sample

0-4 35 21

77

5-9 5 26 20

10-15 _

3 3

Total

40 50 100

C o n c l u s io n s i . In view o f the equivalence o f the sam ples, the significantly higher propor­ tion o f well-adjusted men am ong those w ho had attended a C R U em phasizes the worth o f the C R U as a therapeutic community. 2. The extent o f social integration among those rated as settled cannot be attributed entirely to C R U experience o f approxim ately one m onth’s duration.

Traumatic experience, where circum stances o f personality and social setting are propitious, m ay lead to im proved social participation. This suggestion is supported by the supranorm social participation o f settled m en, in the nonC R U group. The proportion o f settled men, w as, how ever, significantly higher in the C R U group. The C R U may, therefore, be regarded as an agency through which the potentially educative experiences o f PO W life m ay be released from tensions and anxieties w hich otherwise inhibit their assim ilation and applica­ tion in civil life. 3. The fact that the settled men appear to be able to manipulate their basic social relationships better than the civilian control sam ple, raises several

Transitional Com m unities and Social Reconnection

111

points. Normality is not optimum adjustment and is certainly not synonym ous with the most free and unanxious interaction within a given social fram ework. W hatever their origin, the atomistic tendencies o f m odem life have greatly reduced the size o f the functional family. Outside an individual’s immediate family, parental or marital, most relationships o f an affective nature into w hich he enters have no socially organized pattern. This lack o f dependable support seems to be one o f the major foci o f anxiety in Western society. It is conducive to withdrawal and it is such a withdrawal that the pattern o f negative deviance exhibits. 4. In a sense the C R U replaces the larger organized fam ily group by providing a series o f safe and stable relationships between the immediate fam ily and the w ider society. N ot only recovery but supranormative quality in these bridge regions characterizes the pattern o f positive deviance. It is to be noted that a better level o f both husband/wife and worker/em ployer relations appear in the context o f this pattern. W hen a man has left the C R U , the sense o f security seems to persist; the potentialities o f relationships are effectively discovered to be congruous with the fram ework o f society. 5. W hat w e have called desocialization cannot be confined to those who have had specific experiences o f separation, but is a general social phenome­ non. It is a kind o f affective dislocation from the exigencies o f social interac­ tion which has becom e highly organized on a cultural basis. To focus attention on gross desocialization such as characterized extrem e PO W unsettlement w ould be m isleading. Unsettlement w hich is unspectacular— since it is far more widespread and less easily identified— is in the long run a greater menace than that which leads to broken marriages and crime. The results point to the presence o f a certain desocialization in the norm itself. This is a problem that would appear to provide a focal point o f study for social scientists.

Reference Sherif, M. 1936. Psychology of Social Norms. New York and London: Harper and Brothers.

Varieties of Group Process

T

he field o f group dynam ics was founded out o f war-time experience where the com petence and cohesion o f face-to-face groups o f various kinds

becam e o f critical importance. The reality o f the group as exhibiting a level o f behavior over and above that o f its individual members becam e the focus o f research inquiry on both sides o f the Atlantic. Not surprisingly, the initial emphasis o f the Institute’s w ork was on group processes. W hile group therapy was undertaken in the C lin ic, trials were made o f various w ays in w hich the dynamics o f groups could be studied in real-life situations in education, industry and the social professions. Bion Revisited: Group Dynamics and Group Psychotherapy. M uch use was made o f B io n ’s ideas as put forward in his early Human Relations papers (19 4 8 -5 1). This body o f work introduced entirely new theory. He postulated two distinct levels o f activity in group life: the first concerned with what the group had to do in the real-life situation— W for the w ork group; the second with unconscious activity which all too often interfered with the first. These ideas, w hich he was greatly to elaborate, have been and are im m ensely influential, if still controversial. T hey are evaluated in Sutherland’s contribu­ tion to this Them e in w hich he also relates object relations theory to more recent psychoanalytic concepts o f the self. These have to be taken into account in analyzing group behavior. An Educational M odel fo r Group Dynamics. The paper by Herbert and Trist is an analysis o f an attempt to bring into existence an educational model for group dynam ics, as distinct from a clinical or action m odel. It w eaves together some o f B io n ’s ideas with D e w e y ’s concept o f the project method. The research describes how a group o f teachers interested in im proving their understanding o f human relations in school undertook a study o f their ow n relations and went through a number o f phases at the end o f which they made a book-length report o f their experience to the profession. The paper shows how topics they brought to the group were related to the here-and-now dynam ic o f its relation with the consultant. It contains a verbatim account o f a critical session— the only such account in the literature. It analyses the phenomenon o f an absent leader and offers new theory on the basis o f charisma. Structural factors in subgroup organization, hitherto unobserved, are identified.

116

Varieties o f Group Process

Experiential Learning in Groups I: The Developm ent o f the Leicester M odel. This is a form o f group relations training, a British version o f the Human Relations Laboratories initiated by N T L at Bethel, M aine and inspired by Lew in. The British version began in 1957 and continues at the present time. It is heavily influenced by B io n ’s ideas and by psychoanalytic thinking on matters such as projection and group transference in the here-and-now. The conferences are residential under social island conditions. A novel feature is that they include events at three system levels: the primary group, the inter-group and the large group representing the entire membership o f the conference. Outside sessions, staff contact with participants is held to a minimum. Interpretative comment is process-centered at the level o f the group. Participants com e from a great variety o f organizations, but predominantly from the helping and social professions. The aim is to make them more aware not only o f their ow n relations with others but with the new factors that com e into play at the inter-group and large group levels. In his first paper, Eric M iller makes an overview o f this w hole developm ent. The m odel has been taken up in m any countries, especially in the United States. Experiential Learning in Groups II: Recent Developm ents in Dissem ination and Application. In this paper M iller describes new m ethodologies that have only lately been introduced, such as how to make a society an intelligible field o f study through direct experience. The Psycho-Dynamics o f an Inter-Group Experience. The dynam ics o f inter-group as distinct from intra-group phenomena had remained an unex­ plored field until Harold B ridger introduced an inter-group event into an early L eicester conference. A research study was made o f its first trial, a shortened version o f which is included under this Them e. Spontaneously and uncon­ sciously, the conference membership partitioned them selves into three groups to carry out the over-all task to be accom plished (designing the program for two days in the second week). One group absorbed the depression, another the conflict, leaving a third to w ork out creative proposals. The findings o f this project on com plem entary group roles in an unconscious division o f labor constitute a major contribution to group theory. Courses and Working Conferences as Transitional Learning Institutions. The Institute made it a point to explore other approaches and Bridger d evel­ oped what he has called the task-oriented model o f group developm ent. This m odel is concerned with the roles and relationships o f the participants in organizations, and personal change as a by-product o f this. The aim is to improve role performance and organizational understanding through a transi­ tional learning institution. A s w ell as being purpose-oriented, organizations have also to be learning

Varieties o f Group Process

117

and self-review ing entities. His model is designed to make participants aware o f both these aspects, w hich he calls the “ double task.” This notion o f the double task needs to be built into organizational culture; special events and procedures are necessary to develop com petence in handling it. This com pe­ tence has becom e essential now that organizations are facing higher levels o f com plexity, interdependence and uncertainty. The method has been tried e x ­ tensively in large organizations as w ell as in external workshops in a number o f countries, including the United States. Action Research in M inisocieties. In the 1960s and 1970s fault lines ap­ peared in Western societies disclosing a number o f severely alienated minor­ ities and categories o f individuals. Gunnar Hjelholt, a Danish social psycholo­ gist with whom the Institute maintained a close association, developed a model o f group relations training to address this issue. He called his m odel the “ m ini­ society.” In it, members o f different and opposing sub-cultures are gathered together in a temporary society to learn about each other from the confrontation o f their differences. Gurth H iggin describes an early encounter o f this kind in which he took part. Hjelholt gives the rationale o f the method w hich has spread quite w id ely in Scandinavia and several other European countries. Task and Sentient Systems and Their Boundary Controls. There has been much interest in the subject o f group boundaries and where they should best be drawn. In System s o f Organization (1967) M iller and R ice made a distinction between the task group that comprises the individuals em ployed in an activity system and the sentient group to w hich individuals are prepared to com m it themselves and on w hich they depend for emotional support. The boundaries o f these two types o f groups m ay be the same or different. W hen they are the same there are advantages o f cohesion but dangers o f closure. W hen they are different there is the advantage o f openness but the danger o f too little cohe­ sion. The trade o ff between the pros and cons o f these two conditions is a major factor that needs consideration in organizational design. This concept has opened up new horizons. Individual, Group and Inter-Group Processes. Projects w hich entailed bringing together individual, group and inter-group processes posed the prob­ lem o f creating a form al fram ework w hich could include them all. In this paper R ice shows how systems theory can be used toward this end and offers a mathematical notation to represent the various transactions involved. The developm ents described all occurred in the group field during the first 20 post-war years. The more com plex and interdependent environments that have since com e into existence pose problems o f active as opposed to passive adaptation (Emery and Trist, 1972/1973). These problems require approaches

118

Varieties o f Group Process

to group processes w hich involve the socio-ecological perspective and are described in Volum e III. T hey include the “ search conference” (Em ery and Emery, 1978), “ idealized design ” (A ck off, 1974) and “ network therapy” as developed by Laing (Laing et a l., 1965).

References Ackoff, R.L. 1974. Redesigning the Future. New York: Wiley. Bion, W.R. 1948-1951. “ Experiences in Groups.” Human Relations, 1:314-20, 48796; 2:13-22, 295-303; 3:3-14, 395-402; 4:221-27. Emery, M. and F. Emery. 1978. “ Searching: For New Directions, In New Ways . . . For New Times.” In Management Handbook for Public Administrators, edited by J.W. Sutherland. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. Emery, F.E. and E.L. Trist. 1973. Towards a Social Ecology. London and New York: Plenum Press. Laing, R .D ., D. Cooper and A. Esterson. 1965. “ Results of Family-oriented Therapy with Hospitalised Schizophrenics.” British Medical Journal, 2:1462-65. Miller, E.J. and A .K . Rice. 1967. Systems o f Organization: Task and Sentient Groups and their Boundary Control. London: Tavistock Publications.

J.D. Sutherland

Bion Revisited Group Dynamics and Group Psychotherapy*

Bion’s First Statement B io n ’s account o f his experiences with groups falls into tw o parts. The first contains the description o f his method o f w ork, the phenomena he noted follow ing its use and the tentative theories he evolved to understand them. W hile he regards his view s as an extension o f Freud’s (1922), his w hole thinking has a quite distinctive character. L ike Freud, he refers frequently to very different entities by the word group, e .g ., to organizations, or institutions such as the church and the army, and to such ill-defined groupings as “ the aristocracy.” His theories, how ever, stem from his observations in his “ labora­ tory,” the small group, and it is against the background o f this “ pure culture” that w e have to appraise them. In Experiences in Groups (Bion, 1961), he refers to tw o groups, each with a different task as perceived by the members at the start. In one, com posed o f “ non-patients,” the accepted aim was to study group behavior. In the other, the members were patients seeking help from a m edical clinic. A fter an interview, the psychiatrist explained to each prospective patient that an understanding o f his conflicts in personal relationships could help in the amelioration o f his symptoms. Such understanding was facilitated by meeting in a group in w hich relationships could be studied as they developed. To B ion, the use o f his approach, i.e. one in w hich the sole activity o f the leader or therapist is to make interpretations o f the phenomena in the group as these develop, made any difference between the two groups irrelevant. The different expectations o f members in the opening phase, however, are reflected in the groups. In fact his main references are to the therapeutic groups in w hich a strictly group-centered stance is stressed. We readily recognize that the developm ent o f his method was in itself a major achievem ent. W ith a remarkable courage from his convictions, he *A shortened version of the original in M. Pines (Editor), Bion and Group Psychotherapy. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985.

12 0

Varieties o f Group Process

showed that a psychoanalytic approach permitted the exposure o f unrecog­ nized, irrational and pow erful relationships that w ere specific to the group situation. Bion was explicit on the highly subjective nature o f his method, especially in its use o f counter-transference feelings and in the detection o f processes o f projective identification wherein the therapist picks up the feelings o f the members through what he senses they are projecting into him. A s in psychoanalysis, the observer learns to attend to tw o levels o f mental activity: the manifest conscious and the latent subconscious and unconscious. It is its subjectivity that arouses so much antipathy in those w ho consider that scientific research into human relationships can rest only on behavioral data. N everthe­ less, that he had described something that illuminated the depths o f group phenomena was clear from the rem arkably rapid and widespread interest in his observations. There was little doubt that his w ork had made a profound stir in the new field o f group dynam ics. N early four decades later it continues to be as evocative as it was at the start— and a short scan o f the history o f theoretical view s in psychology and the social sciences during the century readily shows that to be a quite unusual distinction. To sustain the efforts o f any group around its task requires in the first place a readiness to co-operate, w hich, for B ion, is a sophisticated product from years o f experience and training. N ext, the mental activity required to further the task must be o f a particular kind, because judgm ents about the nature and origin o f actual phenomena and actions designed to overcom e difficulties presented by them have to be tested against constant interaction with reality. In short, as opposed to any m agical solutions, it must involve rational thinking with consequent learning and developm ent, i.e ., ego-activity. It is this capacity to sustain task-focussed activity that the unorganized group greatly alters through the persistent interference from com peting mental activities associated, in B io n ’s view, with pow erful em otional drives. These conflicting forces at first seemed to have little in com m on except to oppose the task by creating a group that w ould satisfy the emotional needs o f members as these becom e prominent. This state o f the group B ion termed the “ group m entality,” and the w ay in which it might express itself, e.g ., to find another leader, he described as the “ group culture.” These concepts, how ever, he soon found did not clarify sufficiently what his further experience perceived, namely, patterns o f behavior that gripped the group into a relatively specific group m entality in opposition to the w ork activity. Bion named these patterns “ basic assumptions” (bas) o f w hich he identified baD (dependence), baF (fight/flight) and baP (pairing). In the dependent group, the basic assumption is that one person is there to provide security by gratifying the group’s longings through m agic. A fter an initial period o f relief, individuals tend to react against the assumption because o f the infantile demandingness and greed it engenders. N evertheless, when he con­ fronted the group with the dependence assumption taking over, B ion noted that

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a hostile response to any intervention by him frequently revealed more than a resentment against his refusal to provide the m agical pabulum. A longing for a more permanent and com prehensive support was to be seen in the raising o f religious themes, with the group feeling that its “ religio n ,” in w hich the therapist is a phantasied deity, was being taken from it. Fight and flight appeared as reactions to what the group wanted to avoid, namely, the w ork activity (W) that forced it to confront the need to develop by giving up primitive m agical ideas. The ineffectiveness o f these solutions led at times to a different activity, for which B ion postulated the assumption o f pairing. Pairing occurred repeatedly in his groups in the form o f two members, irrespective o f sex, getting into a discussion. To his surprise, this was listened to attentively, with no sign o f impatience from members w hose own problems usually pressed them to seek the center o f attention for them selves. There seemed to be a shared unconscious phantasy that sex was the aim , with reproduction as a means o f meeting a pow erful need to preserve the group as a group. A s mentioned, the group dominated by an assumption evolves an appropri­ ate culture to express it, e .g ., the dependent group establishes a leader w ho is felt to be helpful in supplying what it wants. M oreover, the assumptions can be strong enough for members to be controlled by them to the extent o f their thinking and behavior becom ing almost totally unrealistic in relation to the w ork task. The group is then for each member an undifferentiated w hole into w hich he or she is pressed inexorably to conform and in w hich each has lost independent individuality. The individual experiences this loss as disturbing, and so the group is in more or less constant change from the interaction o f the basic assumptions, the group culture and the individual struggling to hold on to his or her individuality. B asic assumptions originate within the individual as pow erful emotions associated with a specific cluster o f ideas w hich com pel the individual to behave accordingly and also to be attracted to those imbued with the same feeling with an im m ediacy that struck B ion as more analogous to tropisms than to purposive behavior. These bonds Bion termed “ v a len cy ” because o f the chem ical-like nature o f the attraction. A s primal motivating forces, the basic assumptions supply a fundamental thrust to all activity, yet the drive towards interaction with the real environment remains the more pow erful dynam ic in the long run, for, without that adaptive urge, survival w ould not be possible. The difficulties o f reality interactions, however, are great. The physical environment m ay present insoluble problems; but it is the social factors that becom e prominent in their effects on the capacities o f the individual when w ork demands co-operation with all the give and take that entails. The frustrations in sustaining w ork activity are thus perpetually liable to induce the regressed behavior o f the assumptions. The more the individual becom es identified with a basic assumption, the more does

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he or she get a sense o f security and vitality from fusion with the group, along with the pull back to the shared illusory hopes o f m agical omnipotent achieve­ ment inherent in the phantasies o f the assumption. From all these sources there is derived what Bion described as a hatred o f learning, a profound resistance to staying in the struggle with the reality task until some action gives the experi­ ence o f mastery o f at least a part o f it, i.e ., until developm ent o f new inner resources occurs. The appeal o f each assumption rests in the associated em otion w hich gets a characteristic quality from the specific phantasies and ideas it involves. The assumptions do not conflict with each other. Instead, they change from one to another and conflict occurs only between them and the w ork group. W hen one ba is com bined with w ork activity, how ever, the other bas are suppressed. A further observation Bion made was the w ay in w hich the ba group could change to its “ d ual.” Thus the dependent group under the frustrations o f the leader’s failure to gratify its longings could reverse roles so that the group treated the leader as the one in need o f help. In this connection, he also noted the tendency o f the dependent group when left to its ow n devices to choose as leader the most disturbed member, as if it could best depend on someone o f its ow n kind, as dependent as itself— the fam iliar genius, madman or fanatic. The interrelations o f the bas, plus the tenacity and exclusiveness with which the emotions and ideas are bound together in each baf led B ion to what he felt was a theoretical impasse which no available psychological explanation could illumine. He therefore postulated a m etapsychological notion that transcends experience in the form o f a proto-mental system in w hich the prototype o f each ba exists “ as a w hole in which no part can be separated from the rest.” The emotion in each individual that starts the ba progresses to the psychological manifestations that can be identified. The physical and the mental are undifferentiated in the basic levels o f this system , a feature w hich led to his suggestion that certain illnesses, e .g ., those in w hich a substantial psychosom atic component has long been recognized, might w ell be diseases o f certain conditions in groups. To test such ideas needed much larger populations than the sm all group could provide, but he hoped it might be done in order to establish the basic assumptions as clinical entities. B io n ’s concluding observations becom e increasingly concerned with as­ pects o f group dynam ics in general, e .g ., the oscillations in attitudes to the leader as leader o f the assumption group or o f the w ork group, or splits in the group. On the relationship o f the individual to the group, he agrees with Freud that a group instinct is not prim itive and that the individual’s groupishness originates in his or her upbringing within the fam ily. Bion adds to these, however, from his observations the view that, w hile the group adds nothing to the individual, certain aspects o f individual psychology cannot be explained

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except by reference to the matrix o f the group as the only situation that evokes them. The individual loses his or her distinctiveness when in a basic assump­ tion group, i .e ., one in w hich individuality is swam ped by the group valencies. W hen it has to deal with realities, such a group has to change, or perish. Earlier I noted that most o f B io n ’s references were to his therapeutic groups and he states how he believes their aim is furthered. His first and most emphatic view is that any help individuals m ay get from the group situation towards understanding them selves more fu lly rests on the extent to w hich they can recognize themselves as tom between the pull o f the basic groups and member­ ship o f the w ork group w hich represents ego functioning. For this reason, any interventions from the therapist directed to the psychopathology o f the individ­ ual must be avoided because they are destructive o f the experience o f the basic group. B y adhering strictly to his standpoint, he concluded that individuals do becom e less oppressed by basic group activity within them selves. In other words, what he asserts is that by showing the group the w ays in w hich it avoids its task through regressing to dependency, fight/flight or pairing, it can be­ com e more w ork oriented and so further the developm ent by learning o f all members. M uch o f the subsequent criticism o f B io n ’s approach as a psychotherapeutic method arises, I believe, from a failure to keep his aims clear and especially to avoid the confusion which the use o f the word therapeutic, and especially psychotherapeutic, has engendered. To those seeking to use the group situation in a psychotherapeutic way, i.e ., to cope with the enormous diversity o f neurotic behavior and its unique configuration in every individual, w ork has to be based on our understanding o f psychopathology. The group processes must therefore be directly relatable to the latter. B io n ’s approach in fact originated in the problem o f neurosis as a social one, i.e ., how does the large organization cope with the failures o f its members to com ply with its w ork task. The opening sentences in his book make plain that, for him , “ group therapy” can mean the therapy o f individuals in groups, in w hich case neurosis is the problem o f the individual, but that in the treatment o f the group it has to be a problem o f the group. His conception o f group therapy m ay then be put as follow s: the individual contains within his or her innate endowment certain potential patterns which are released in the unorganized group. This unorganized group is not a special kind o f group identifiable by its external features, but a state o f mind that can overtake any group. O nce elicited, these patterns or basic assumptions bond the individuals together to give security by preserving the group as a unity and by seeking a course o f action for it governed largely by m agical phantasies. These patterns rem ove the individuals’ distinctiveness, i.e ., their overall m odes o f dealing with their own purposes as fashioned by their learning from the experience o f reality. Because these m odes— ego functioning— are alw ays

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present in some measure, a conflict between ego and absorption in any basic assumption behavior is never absent. Such group-determined behavior is a serious limitation to the individuals in any group when faced with an unfam iliar task. They tend to feel in an unorganized state, so their capacity to tackle the task realistically becom es quite unreliable. (The com m onest remarks after intensive exposure to the unorganized group situation at Group Relations Conferences run on the Tavistock model are those describing feelings o f being “ de-skilled.” ) To have developed a method w hereby these group dynam ics can be experienced in adequate depth, and to have shown some o f the requirements in the leader for the application o f this method, is an extrem ely valuable contribution to the w hole study o f group dynam ics. His findings can assist those responsible for groups coping with tasks to note when their effectiveness is impaired by ba behavior, and this kind o f experience features prom inently in many management training schem es. It is a quite separate issue, how ever, to appraise the value o f the principles underlying B io n ’s w ork in relation to the use o f groups for analytical psycho­ therapy. The distinction between the study o f group dynam ics and group therapy has becom e a clear one in the courses developed by A .K . R ice and his associates, as was seen in the staff attitude to any individual w ho got into serious personal difficulties during a conference. The staff arranged to get the help needed, but it would not confuse its own role by attempting to provide psychiatric help itself. The strict use o f B io n ’s approach has never been w idely adopted by analytical psychotherapists, not even in the Tavistock C lin ic. M any have, however, made more system atic use o f the group situation in their interpretations than have m ost other therapists, in the sense o f trying to base these strictly on the here-and-now dynam ics in the group situation as a w hole. Although w e can agree on a separation o f these tw o tasks, w e are left with many unsolved questions that affect our understanding o f both. To state that the individual’s groupishness is an inherent property in his or her makeup as a social animal has not really carried forward our understanding o f its nature and origin. A re the phenomena o f the basic assumptions as specific to the group situation as he asserts? There is no question that, when activated by them, individuals can show a remarkable capacity to abandon their distinctiveness. The group gives a prominence to these responses by intensifying them, yet they do not appear to be different from the prim itive relationships that can be seen in individual treatment, especially in light o f our further know ledge o f the earliest stages o f the developm ent o f the person. One feature o f B io n ’s thought that I b elieve is unrecognized by him is his underlying adherence to concepts o f energy as in the classical psychoanalytic theories o f Freud. Thus basic assumptions originate as emotions w hich are view ed as sources o f energy, and B ion is then puzzled by the specific clusters o f phantasies around them. Phantasies are o f im agined relationships and, if w e

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take emotions to be the affective coloring accom panying any relationship, their specific quality is determined by the specifics o f the relationships. The depen­ dence and pairing assumptions are much more com plex in this respect than the others. T hey can be readily seen as the prototypes o f human relationships, e.g . as infantile dependence in which the self and the object are not differentiated, becom ing the more differentiated clinging or attachment to a differentiated object in ba pairing. Fight and flight are the basic responses o f all animals to situations that evoke pain or the threat o f danger. B ion seems to sense the problem o f the individual and the group as needing a good deal o f further clarification, and the choice he made for his next step was to turn his m icro­ scope, to use his ow n metaphor, back to the earliest stages o f individual development. This m ove leads to a major am plification in his understanding o f the dynam ics o f all groups.

Re-View o f the First Statement In his re-view o f the dynam ics o f the group, B ion “ hopes to show that in his contact with the com plexities o f life in a group the adult resorts, in what m ay be a m assive regression, to mechanisms described by M elanie K lein as typical o f the earliest phases o f mental life .” This task o f “ establishing contact with the emotional life o f the group . . . w ould appear to be as form idable to the adult as the relationship with the breast appears to be to the infant, and the failure to meet the demands o f this task is revealed in his regression.” The tw o main features o f this regression are, first, a b elief that the group exists as an entity which is endowed with characteristics by each individual. Distinct individuals becom e lost and the group is treated as if it w ere another person. Second is the change within the individual that accom panies his or her regressed perception o f the group. For this change B ion quotes Freud’s description o f the loss o f the individual’s distinctiveness, with the addition that the individual’s struggle to retain it varies with the state o f the group. Organization helps to maintain work group activity, and indeed that is its aim. In the work group, individuals remain individuals and co-operate, whereas in the basic assumption group they are swept spontaneously by the “ va len cy ” o f identification, the prim itive gregarious quality in the personality, into the undifferentiated unity o f the ba group in w hich inner realities overw helm the relationship with the real task. A lthough starting his re-view with the regression in groups as their most striking feature, he em phasizes again the fundamental dynam ic o f the w ork group, w hich also has its combination o f emotions and ideas. E specially important is the idea that developm ent and the validity o f learning by experi­ ence is the impetus in the individual to possess the autonomy o f his own mental

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life. It is as if there was a recognition “ o f the painful and often fatal conse­ quences o f having to act without an adequate grasp o f reality.” D espite the dominant influence o f the basic assumptions over it at tim es, w ork activity is what takes precedence eventually— as it must. Freud, follow ing L e B on, believed the intellectual ability o f the group was reduced, but B ion disagrees. His experience is that, even when basic assumptions are active, the group shows high-level intellectual w ork in the assim ilation o f interpretations. A l­ though this w ork goes on in a segregated part o f the mind with little overt indication, its presence has to be assumed from the w ay in w hich interpreta­ tions, ostensibly ignored, are nevertheless worked upon between sessions with subsequent reports from individuals o f how they had been thinking o f them, though they meant nothing at the time they were made. It is only in activity o f the w ork group that words are used normally, i .e ., with their sym bolic signifi­ cance. The basic assumption groups, b y contrast, use language as a mode o f action and are thereby deprived o f the flexibility o f thought that developm ent requires. Bion considerably am plifies what he now discerns in the b a s. This d evelop­ ment is related to his much greater fam iliarity with prim itive mental processes and their detection by an increased responsiveness to projective identification as described by M elanie K lein (1940). He believes this method, w hich requires a psychoanalytically trained observer, is the only one that can detect the important subjective processes. Conclusions based on its use have to be appraised by the effect o f interventions and by the experience o f m any ob­ servers over time. In the dependent group, he adds to the expectation o f treatment from the therapist, a much more prim itive phantasy o f being literally fed by him. A t a less primitive level he again stresses the presence o f a projected deity w ho is clung to with tenacious possessiveness. The sexual phantasies w hich character­ ized the pairing group, with the possible im plication o f reproduction as pre­ serving the group, are now taken to be the result o f a degree o f rationalization. N evertheless, Oedipal sexual phantasies are present much o f the time in all o f the assumptions. T hey are not, how ever, o f Freud’s classical type, but o f the much more prim itive nature described by K lein (1932). A ccording to her, the phantasies o f very young children show, as the self is em erging in relation to its objects, themes o f the parents m utually incorporating parts o f each other. Hungry sadistic urges abound that the child attributes to one or both figures by its identification with them. The child can then experience a psychotic or disintegrative degree o f anxiety from the fear o f being the object o f retaliatory attacks. It then splits o ff the part o f its self involved in the relationship and attempts to get rid o f it by projective identification. These prim itive Oedipal relationships, according to B ion , are distributed in various w ays among (i) the

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individual, (ii) the group felt as one fragmented individual with (iii) a hidden figure, the leader, used here by detaching him from his role as leader o f the work group. A further addition to the Oedipal figures, one ignored in the classical formulation, is the sphinx— a role carried by the therapist and the w ork group. The curiosity o f the individual about the group and the therapist evokes the dread associated with the infant’s phantasied intrusions to get at and to devour what is inside the mother and what goes on in the phantasied primal scene. The anxieties inherent in the prim itive phantasies, sexual and other, are instinctively responded to b y an attempt to find “ a llie s ,” figures with whom the feeling o f a close contact can bring reassurance. Bion accordingly suggests this need as a pow erful stimulus to the creation o f the pairing group. Another factor in its establishment and maintenance, also operative with no regard to the sex o f the pair, is the feeling o f hope, not a phantasy o f a future event, but a “ feeling o f hope itself.” This feeling he takes to be the opposite o f all the strong negative feelings o f hatred, destructiveness and despair and it is sus­ tained by the idea o f finding a saviour, a M essiah essentially, an idea that must never be realized. The fight/flight groups are, as w ould be expected, much less associated with com plex phantasied relationships, since they have the relatively simple aim o f getting rid o f the threat o f danger when no other assumption or activity seems appropriate. On this group Bion (196 1) m akes, almost as an aside, what I find to be a remarkable statement: “ The fight/flight group expresses a sense o f incapacity for understanding and the love without which understanding cannot exist” (my italics). I do not think its full im plications are taken up by Bion in regard to the em ergence o f any o f the assumptions and to the role o f the leader, topics to w hich I shall return. Recognition o f their more specific contents leads Bion to reconsider the status o f his notions about the basic assumptions. There w as no doubt they were helpful in ordering the chaotic manifestations in the group, but, in view o f the primitive phantasies related to them, they now appeared as derivatives o f these more fundamental processes. A ll the assumptions drive the group to find a leader, yet none o f them is felt to establish a satisfactory state in the group. There is consequently perpetual instability with changes from one assumption to another with all those remaining opposed to learning and developm ent. For all these manifestations, and for their very existence, B ion could find no explanation. The exposure o f prim itive phantasies and the anxieties they induce now made it clear that the basic assumptions were derivatives w hose function is to defend the group against these anxieties becom ing too intense. A s defenses, however, they are all inadequate because o f their segregation from any reality-testing. For B ion, the dynam ics o f the group could now be

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adequately experienced and understood only by the w orking out o f these prim itive primal scene phantasies as the factors underlying the basic assump­ tions and their com plex inter-relationships. Bion alw ays kept Freud’s view s on groups in mind, and so he now looked at where he stood in relation to them. L eaving aside the references made to com plex social organizations such as the church and the army, he re-asserts his agreement with Freud in rejecting the need to postulate a herd instinct. For him the individual is a group animal by nature, yet at war with the group and with those forces in him that determine his groupishness. The latter is in no w ay created by the group; it is m erely activated and exposed by it. The im pact o f the group on the individual’s distinctiveness springs from the state o f mind in the group, i.e ., the degree to w hich its lack o f organization and structure fails to keep w ork activity, a contact with reality, the dominant activity. In the orga­ nized group the bond between members is one o f co-operation, whereas in an unorganized state the bonds becom e the valencies o f the basic assumption states. Bion sees M cD ou g all’s (1920) criteria for the organized group as the conditions that suppress the basic assumption trends in the members by keep­ ing them related to reality. The bonding from valency is a more prim itive process than that from libido, which B ion takes to operate only in the pairing group. Freud’s vie w o f the bond to the leader as almost entirely an introjection o f him by the ego (Bion does not mention Freud’s ego-ideal as a separate structure) is again only part o f the relationship to a leader. For B ion, Freud does not recognize the much more potentially dangerous bonding that arises in the assumption groups. Here the individual does not introject a leader w ho carries pow er for him through his contact with external reality. The leader in the basic assumption exhibits features that appeal to the assumption state in the m embers, w ho therefore projectively identify with him. This leader is thus as much a part o f the assumption state as the members and just as divorced from external reality, so that he leads as often to disaster as not. Freud’s view o f the leader as the egoideal led him to see panic in m ilitary groups as follow ing the loss o f the leader. Bion thinks this account is not right, for panic arises when the situation might as readily give rise to rage as fear. Intense fight/flight behavior m ay resem ble panic, but for B ion the group can w ell be still related to the leader on such occasions. Panic occurs when a situation arises com pletely outwith the pur­ poses o f the group and its associated organization. Freud saw in the group the kind o f relationships present in the fam ily when the individual has developed to the stage o f the traditional Oedipus com plex, i .e ., its emotional features were neurotic in character with the main sources o f anxiety being the fears o f loss o f love or o f being castrated. B ion saw them as deriving from much earlier phases in w hich the fears are o f disintegration, i . e . , loss o f the self or madness. His b elief that the only feasible therapeutic help in

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the group lies in the individual experiencing its prim itive emotions and atti­ tudes to him is again maintained. M uch as B ion has contributed, w e are left with what seem to be the crucial questions about groups unanswered. W hat does the individual’s groupishness rest on? We have Freud’s libidinal bonds supplemented b y valencies from prim itive projective identifications with a great deal about “ m echanism s,” all manifested as the individual’s distinctiveness is rem oved. This regressed state, moreover, can com e and go with a high degree o f lability. For B ion, this distinctiveness is placed in opposition to the groupishness conceived as the expression o f emotions with w hich the individual has to be at war. Freud, on the other hand, sees the conflict as between the id and the culture o f the individual’s society internalized in his or her ow n super-ego and ego-ideal. Adult or mature groupishness, if w e m ight put it that way, rests for Bion on c o ­ operation, the sophisticated product o f years o f training. It is like an activity imposed on the freedom o f the individual to be “ doing his ow n thing” and accepted more or less reluctantly. H ow can such an achievem ent vanish within a few minutes in the unorganized situation o f B io n ’s groups? Both Freud and Bion from their psychoanalytic studies have em phasized that individual and group psychology constitute the same field o f study. If w e accept that position w e are a long w ay from understanding it. The intimate inter-relatedness o f the individual with his social field strongly suggests that w e are dealing with the individual as a highly open system maintained in his organization by appropri­ ate input from a social field itself structured to provide this input. The phe­ nomena seem to require the organization concept o f open system s, w hich neither Freud nor B ion had. Though stressing the highly tentative and lim ited status o f his study o f groups, Freud has reached conclusions o f great significance. He has made it clear that what happens in any group is a particular instance o f the relationship between the individual’s inner w orld and his social world. Thus he has an­ swered his questions about the group by expanding an answer to the unstated question o f what is an individual. He had to advance the theory o f the ego and its relationships by showing that a sub-system within the ego, the ego-ideal, entered into relationships that differed in character from those o f the ego. M oreover, the most striking feature from his conclusions is the open and rapid dynamic transactions that can occur in the group whereby the individual, sensing his own inability and that o f the other members to act effectively, can promptly alter the boundary o f his self to internalize the leader as a part o f it and so to surrender his previous distinctiveness in favor o f a less mature organiza­ tion o f his self. V iew ed in terms o f Freud’s m etapsychology, and the meta­ science available to him , with the dynam ics o f the person based upon the redistribution o f psychic energies, the phenomena could not be adequately conceptualized. We are clearly confronted again with problems o f the organi-

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zation o f the individual as a highly open system in an environment w hich reacts with him in a correspondingly open way. Individual and environment are structured by, and within, each other.

Recent Psychoanalytic Conceptions o f the Individual and Social Relatedness C lin ical work and child observation studies o f the last few decades have shown that the personality acquires the capacity to make effective relations with others only when there has been early experience o f being treated as a person by the mother, and later the father, with stimulating encouraging interactions con­ veyed with joy. The satisfaction o f physical needs has to be supplemented by a social input that meets the need to becom e a person. There appears to be from an early stage an overall Gestalt that gives to the potential self a feeling o f things being right or not. B od ily sensations and the affects accom panying many specific behavioral systems all contribute to the affective tone in the self, yet a general m alaise, even to the point o f death, can follow from a failure in being personalized by appropriate mothering. C hild studies show the dramatic results under certain conditions o f deprivation, e .g ., when a consistent mater­ nal relationship is absent (see Spitz, 1965). C lin ical findings from the more seriously distorted personalities em phasize lifelong feelings o f never having been valued for them selves as with cold or indifferent mothers or, more frequently, with mothers experienced as im posing preconceptions that denied powerful urges to develop autonom ously (see Lichtenstein, 1977). The self­ system is thus structured by the internalization o f the relationship between mother and child, undifferentiated at the start then progressively separated throughout the long period o f human dependence. Early structuring o f the personality is inevitably dominated by the physical closeness in which the mother’s attitudes are com m unicated through innumer­ able signals in her w hole handling o f, and responses to, her child. The emotional experiences are gradually cohered by consistent reliable mothering into a primary or central self. This integration is a labile process with threats to it producing at times intense anxiety and aggression. N egative feelings from the inevitable frustrations are separated from this primary self, but with ordi­ nary care these divisions are diminished so that a sufficiently coherent, resilient self becom es the dominant mediator in relating to the environment. The primary self remains the visible self, the one adapted to the mother. Should the latter have failed to facilitate developm ent sufficiently w ell, this primary self acquires distortions o f its capacity to relate, and when negative experiences have been strong enough, substantial divisions within the structure o f the self­ system are formed. These sub-selves em body frustrated needs, especially for

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unmet recognition as a valued person, and the aggressive reactions to the frustrating mother linked with fears o f her retaliation. The self-system s each retain a self-pole and an object-pole, with an im ago o f the kind o f parent desired or feared and hated. The primary self relates to the outer w orld and so learns from its expanding experience. The sub-selves, w hile remaining highly dynamic as portions o f the original self, have to find covert outlets— the processes described in the w hole o f psychopathology— because their aims have to be hidden from the feared parental attacks. D efenses or control measures are evolved by the central self in keeping with its reality pressures and incorporated into its patterning. W hen the urges cannot be managed in this w ay they constitute a secret self in conflict with the central one. Stabilizing factors such as fam ily and w ork, or selected social groups, all assist in their control, though the precarious balance shows when the function­ ing o f the central reality-related self is altered as by drugs or by changes in the social environment. The central self ordinarily copes with such changes but rem oval o f security-pinnings from it rapidly leads to the em ergence o f sub­ system dominance. W hen the im agos constituting the object-poles in the inner relationships are facilitati ve, the impact o f infantile sexuality is worked through without undue trouble. M arked divisions in the self make for serious difficulties because the new urges to closeness are dealt with in their terms, e . g . , hostile im agos evoke anxieties about rejection and retaliation and so lead to the fusion o f aggression and sexuality in sadistic and perverse expression in w hich the object becom es in varying measure de-personalized. The essential change in this w ay o f conceiving the person is from one based on theories o f psychic energies to one dealing with the organization o f experi­ ence o f relationships in an open system interacting with the social environ­ ment. B ecause o f the incom plete differentiation o f self and object, relations in the primary self are characterized by identifications and urges to have om nipo­ tent m agical control with regressive clinging to objects for security against the threat o f “ going to b its.” W ith grow ing appreciation o f reality and differentia­ tion o f self and others, the primary self is progressively superseded by a strengthened definition o f the self through satisfactions from talents and skills. Attachment to others changes to relationships based on shared activities. G oals and purposes becom e organized, and values add to the integration o f the self. The personality acquires its characteristic configuration, i.e ., its identity (see Erikson, 1959), and, in keeping with the uniquely evolved patterns from its specific experience, the individual requires constant affirmation from the social milieu. The constant need for this “ pyschosocial m etabolism ” in maintaining a normal degree o f effective integrated functioning is readily exposed when sections o f the environment are rem oved, quite apart from any interference with the biologically rooted sexual and procreational needs. Populations dis-

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placed from their usual cultural setting show widespread indications o f disor­ ganization as in the rise o f illnesses o f all kinds, not only psychiatric. A g ain , when individuals lose a feeling o f personal significance in their w ork, sim ilar stress manifestations occur (see Trist and Bam forth, 1951). These deprivations disorganize the most developed adaptive functioning o f the social self, and lead to the increased dominance o f the primary self with its insecurities and more primitive com pulsive relations. Such regressive disorganization is almost universal. W ith individuals w hose sub-systems are a constant threat, the loss o f their usual sources o f relative security confronts them with the extra danger o f their secret selves being exposed. The origin and nature o f the individual’s groupishness is thus no problem . From the very start he cannot survive without his needs for social relatedness being met. There is no phase in the life-cycle in w hich man can live apart from his groups. B io n ’s statement that the individual is at w ar “ with him self for being a group animal and with those aspects o f his personality that constitute his groupishness” therefore has to be exam ined.

Group Dynamics and Group Psychotherapy G r o u p D y n a m ic s

From the view o f the individual I have sketched, the important questions about groups are those devoted to the conditions that take aw ay the factors in social environment that ordinarily keep his self-system in its normal integration. Bion stated that the basic assumptions are states o f mind the individuals in the group get into. He then described these states and what seem ed to constitute them. W hat he uncovered was the em ergence o f the primary m echanisms o f related­ ness, those o f the developing infant to the breast/mother, and it is the intense anxieties associated with these m echanisms that drive the group into the assumptions. The individual’s state o f mind in them, how ever, remains a more developed organization than would pertain exclu sively to their earliest phase. In the latter, differentiation o f external objects hardly exists, whereas in the assumptions there are intense needs to relate to a leader and to each other. The phase in developm ent that appears to be activated here is that o f separation­ individuation (M ahler et a l., 1975). A s described earlier, this phase extends over several years, and a range in the depth o f regression is to be expected. The dominant characteristic o f this early self is its primal instinctive type o f relationship, the precursors o f the maturer ones in w hich the external reality o f others is appreciated. The more the developm ental elaborations around the

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earliest structures are put out o f action the more prim itive the levels that are exposed. Ba dependence can be interpreted as the re-em ergence o f this stage in which the need for closeness gives to identifications a considerable urgency and im m ediacy; and the phantasy clusters around them represent the w ays in which this is evoked, e .g ., by being fed or protected or held in parental security. Fight/flight responses sim ilarly show this level o f identification to provide security. A s B ion described, the urgency o f the identifications can make the w hole group an undifferentiated object within w hich the greatest security is to be found. Pairing is clearly a more developed state in w hich more precise definition o f the self is sought in the relationship with one other. A t the deepest levels it can activate the mother-child pair, in w hich case the attraction affirms the existence o f the self. A s he puts it, an ally against the dread o f isolation in face o f mounting anxiety is then provided. The fact that the rest o f the group preserves it by giving the pair their rapt attention suggests that for them it has becom e their security, either from the prim itive relationship or by this combined with the parental sexual couple, by identification with the pair. Regression to these stages represents the rem oval o f the influence o f later structuring and an inability to recover it. The awareness o f the group remains in its regressed form because the group is there and so restrains further disintegra­ tion which w ould be tantamount to psychotic states, an eventuality that the early structuring o f the self also resists desperately. The problems o f group dynamics thus becom e those o f how the normal affirmations o f the self system are removed. The situations o f groups in this respect are o f almost infinite variety. Thus when B ion said that certain illnesses might originate as diseases o f the group, he thought specific illnesses might prove to be linked to specific states o f the group. So far this has not been established, though there is much evidence now to show that disruptions o f some areas o f normal relatedness, as in groups displaced from their fam iliar environment, lead to increased illness o f all kinds, physical and psychological. In view o f this com plexity o f factors, it is best for present purposes to consider B io n ’s groups only. Here the most prominent stem from the task. Although there m ay have been some nominal description such as “ to study group processes,” none o f the members has any clear notion o f what that task involves. There is therefore im m ediately a considerable loss for the self o f its ego anchorage in reality. Important also is the realization that the task, in whatever form it em erges, w ill involve members in some exposure o f their private and even hidden self. This factor I believe to be important in the group dynam ics group, although much more so in the therapeutic one. Since the origin o f the secret self was its unacceptability, there is a great deal o f anxious suspicion among mem bers, alleviated only as each member demonstrates his participation in the task by the freedom with which he expresses some o f his feelings about the situation. L ikew ise the intense

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curiosity about the leader derives from wondering how he is going to help them with the task at its reality level and from the fears o f what he w ill read into their minds and how persecutory or rejecting he w ill then be. W hat characterized B io n ’s method o f w ork is his waiting for developm ents to occur spontaneously no matter what the pressures on him “ to help.” There is no doubt his stance exposed the regressed basic states w ith, at tim es, consider­ able intensity and persistence. For him it is im perative that members should experience the prim itive nature and pow er o f these states, and to have contact with these layers o f their personality contributes a great self-integration in that the boundaries o f their self-understanding are thereby extended. B y focusing exclusively on the group, how ever, one notes only those features in the shared assumption states. Such recognition is essential, but to learn more about how they are brought into being is as important. Freud had noted early in his experience how individuals w ill only with the greatest reluctance give up a source o f gratification. The group’s hatred o f learning has this quality for B ion when he confronts them with clinging to assumption behavior instead o f learning to cope with reality. In em phasizing this reaction w e have, how ever, to balance it with the impetus to develop, the impetus w hich in the w ork group Bion notes as eventually overcom ing the irrational resistances to it. We m ay then ask if B ion fosters an exaggerated degree o f basic assumption behavior by not giving help sooner. This is a question not easily answered. I referred earlier to his almost incidental remark on love as a necessity for understanding, i.e ., in this context, some fostering assistance. Bion was an extrem ely caring person and so one is left wondering whether he was in part fascinated by the basic assumption behavior to the neglect o f how much help from the leader the egos o f the members required to be re-asserted for the learning task. The assumption made about the leader’s role is that the group w ill by itself progressively learn to tackle the reality o f the task through the leader pointing out what it is doing. Since, how ever, much o f the overt behavior is determined by the need to avoid unrecognized feelings, these must require more explicit interpretation than Bion gives. Interpretations w ould seem to need more o f a “ because” clause— an attempt to identify what it is that is feared. W ithout this “ help” the w ork group cannot function effectively. A group met to study its dy­ namics is, like any other task group, a socio-technical system and here, as else­ w here, the technical job has to com e into the sphere o f the e g o ’s resources for mastering and using it. The specific com plexity o f this situation is that undoing the depersonalizing o f the members because o f their lost ego-involvem ent is itself the aim o f the technology. A degree o f understanding does go on much o f the tim e, but it has to be asked whether it is optimal; when once in the grip o f the basic assumptions it is all the more difficult to get back to normal egofunctioning. It thus seems that, as in analytical psychotherapy, a simultaneous

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relationship with the members’ egos and the regressed state has to be kept alive. Bion referred to the struggle o f the individual against his groupishness. We can put this in another way. The groupishness he describes is clearly that o f the regressed separation-individuation stage from w hich the individual has d evel­ oped to inhabit his adult distinctive identity. This new developm ent, how ever, has its own needs for group relatedness, namely, in groups in w hich his identity is affirmed and enriched by the extent o f the e g o ’s reality involvem ent in them. The situation created in B io n ’s groups takes aw ay the anchorage o f the adult self-identity and it has to be asked whether the resentment o f groupishness is because o f this loss. The self-identity requires identification by others o f its ordinary status plus the engagem ent with the task in a m eaningful way. The organization o f the group has to match the nature o f the w ork, and if the latter presents a puzzle the group does not see how to cope w ith, then the leader has the task o f dealing with the tendency o f the group members to regress as w ell as enabling them to see that their b elief that they have no resources is not entirely founded in reality. The experience o f the latter, i . e . , o f regaining ego-function, brings back the w ork capacity.

G

roup

Psych o th erapy

A s Bion mentions at the start o f his book, this term is itself ambiguous as to whether it means therapy o f the group conceived as an entity and so concerned with facilitating the group in overcom ing barriers from its internal conflicts to its effectiveness as a w ork group or whether its purpose is therapy o f the individuals comprising it. In practice, the latter purpose w ould be more accu­ rately described as analytical psychotherapy in groups. W hen B ion says that his method o f w ork cannot be called psychoanalysis he means that the fundamental principles o f psychoanalysis do not apply to it. There is here a source o f widespread differences o f view even amongst ana­ lysts. Both the classical and Kleinian analysts believe that a com prehensive exploration o f unconscious processes is possible only in the traditional setting with the analyst preserving a som ewhat distant stance in the interests o f objectivity, maintaining a certain intensity in the conduct o f the process, usually five times per w eek, and avoiding any other activity than the analytic one, e .g ., no reassurances o f any kind nor advice; offering understanding o f the unconscious solely by interpretation. The value o f this approach is not in question. W hat is, however, is the com m on assumption that other less inten­ sive and rigorous approaches are relatively poor substitutes and, in short, “ not analysis.” A nalytical psychotherapy on a less intensive pattern than the stan­ dard psychoanalytical one has in recent years altered this view ; it is w idely

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practiced by analysts them selves with the conviction that it can be o f consider­ able help for the individual. M any unconscious factors in the personality can be exposed and their disturbing effects ameliorated in a range o f patient-therapist settings. The critical factors are not so much the latter as the therapist’s understanding o f the unconscious and the extent to w hich he focuses on that. The psychotherapeutic factor in B io n ’s method— again to be recalled as directed towards group dynam ics— can be considered if w e take one o f his exam ples, the events in a group occasioned by a wom an talking about a fear o f choking in restaurants or, on a recent occasion, o f her embarrassment during a meal in the presence o f an attractive wom an (Bion, 1961:182). A bout h alf o f the group responded by saying they did not feel like that, and the others were indifferent. Bion notes that in analysis such a statement w ould have evoked various possible interpretations, none o f w hich he felt could be regarded as appropriate to the group. W hat he did point out to the members was that the w om an’s difficulty was also theirs, although in repudiating it they made themselves superior to her. M oreover, in doing so they made it difficult for any member to admit any problem because they w ould then be made to feel more inferior and worthless. From an analytic point o f view he appreciates that the woman got no help and is left in discom fort because in fact group treatment is the wrong treatment. He then adds that her manner o f speaking suggested that she felt there was a single object, the group, that had been split into pieces (the individual members) b y her eating; and that being the recipient o f the m em bers’ projective identifications was her fault and so reinforced her guilt w hich, in turn, made it difficult for her to grasp how the actions o f the others had affected her. For the other members, they have not only rid them selves o f the w om an’s troubles as part o f their ow n, but they have also got rid o f any responsibility for her by splitting o ff their caring parts into the therapist. The result o f this process is akin to a “ loss o f individual distinctiveness” through the basic assumption state o f dependence. The group dynam ics are clear; the psychotherapeutic effect is not only nil, it is negative. The question is w hy B ion could not have made an interpretation along the lines he indicated in this reflection about the situation, at least to the extent o f conveying the w om an’s hunger (perhaps felt as greed) as destructive to the group, with the latter attacking her, as they did these feelings in them selves. A lso , by treating each other’s problems in this w ay they were perpetuating the feeling that there was no help to be had from the group, only from the therapist. The precise interpretation is not so important as long as enough o f the underly­ ing dynam ics o f the total situation are articulated. B y focusing exclu sively on the group as a w hole, certain awareness o f group attitudes is made possible. Has that been as helpful as it might have been for the developm ent o f each individual? Kleinian analysts frequently use the term “ the correct interpreta­ tion .” It is doubtful if such an achievem ent is ever possible, especially in the

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group situation, so that a degree o f metaphoric latitude helps to catch some o f the wide range o f processes going on in each individual. Psychotherapuetic change is a developm ental process requiring considerable tim e, and Bion mentioned, as evidence o f intellectual work going on in spite o f its covert nature, the fact that patients cam e back to his comments in later sessions. In other w ords, reflection on what is happening in the group with delayed assim ­ ilation is a necessary part o f the individual’s “ w ork ” activity. The therapist’s task, I believe, is to further this by giving individuals as much awareness o f all sides o f their responses in the group situation, including especially the apparent reasons for abandoning their “ distinctiveness” when faced with their own intolerance toward their unconscious processes. In m y own experience with groups over thirty years, I have never ceased to be impressed by the importance that members attach to their group m eetings, even though only once per w eek. It is common after only a few months for them to remark that what goes on in the session plays a prominent part in how they feel for the rest o f that w eek. B y commenting along the lines I believe Bion could have done in the light o f what he described, he w ould have avoided in some measure in at least some o f the members the depressing feelings o f the badness o f the group as almost inevita­ ble. In regard to pairing, he again warns against concentrating on the possible unconscious contents o f the pair interaction. Here too, how ever, it is not at all difficult to comment on the group’s interest in this interaction and in what this interest might consist. I have frequently heard reports in groups that certain sessions with marked pairing on which interpretive comments were made, were recalled vivid ly for long periods as having been particularly helpful. Bion likened the problem o f the individual com ing to terms with the emotional life o f the group as closely akin to that o f the infant in its first relationship, v iz ., with the breast/mother. In his later analytic w ork he spelled out the nature o f the infant’s task in overcom ing frustration, i .e ., when instead o f the expected breast there was a “ no breast” situation. For this achievem ent he took the m other’s role as a “ container” to be crucial. This is perhaps an inadequate term for the active contribution o f the mother in making her com forting and encouraging presence felt. It could readily be said that, for the group therapist, B ion advocates a role o f considerable withholding. The importance o f B io n ’s strictures can be granted. The essential aspect in all these issues is whether or not enough o f the total dynam ics in the group are being brought to notice when an individual is being referred to. B asic assump­ tion behavior occurs in groups, whether the task is explicitly therapy or not. But when the aim is therapy, the individuals need to understand much more o f them selves than the tendency to regress to the primal self o f their separation­ individuation stage o f developm ent. I have stressed that the paramount consid­ eration is much more our understanding than using an assumed correct tech-

13 8

Varieties o f Group Process

nique. Understanding the unconscious is notoriously subject to individual bias. Increasingly over recent years m y bias has been a much greater focus on the state o f the self that underlies the particular expression o f the unconscious m otives. To revert to the exam ple just quoted, one m ay ask whether B io n ’s reluctance to use the individual in the group situation is influenced by the Kleinian view o f greed as stemming from a high degree o f oral sadism. M elanie K lein retained the view that aggressive phantasies were m ainly the product o f the death instinct. If one takes the view that the most profound aggression arises from the universally desperate struggle to maintain the self— a view that Freud took— then the greed o f B io n ’s patient m ight w ell be seen as a prim itive expression o f her attempt to get possession o f the object she needs to maintain a security in her self. In this case the social relevance o f her sym ptom s, and hence their importance for the group, is different from what it w ould be had her greed been taken as a problem o f excessive oral sadism. The need to cope with anxieties over the self can be seen in another o f the exam ples he quotes (Bion, 1961:144). The members discuss a suggestion to use Christian names. Three are for it as a good idea that would make things more friendly. O f the other three, one doesn’t want her name to be known because she dislikes it, another suggests pseudonym s and the third keeps out o f it. I do not want to make unjustified use o f the exam ple, especially as Bion mentions only certain aspects o f the episode to make his point. W hat he takes up is the w ay the group seems to regard friendliness or pleasant emotions in the group as a means o f cure, as a contribution to their w ork group. Perhaps more im m ediately relevant to the w ork group are the anxieties about whether or not the selves o f the three dissidents w ill be secure if they begin to be looked at by the others. The disadvantages o f groups as a therapeutic medium are w ell known. They do, how ever, have several advantages. The sharing o f hum iliations, shame and guilt is a different experience for m any when they receive sympathetic under­ standing from other members. A lso , whereas the projective identification o f self-objects from the segregated systems has to be done m ainly one at a time with the therapeutic pair, the projection o f several around members o f the group is active much o f the time and their recognition can be used by all. The individual in psychotherapy has to learn about his or her split-off relationships. This task can becom e a life-long one for any individual. Ther­ apy, as in other learning, has to give enough capacity to carry on the work. Psychotherapy in groups has to make much more o f a contribution to this capacity than can be done through confining attention solely to the group dynamics equated with the basic assumptions. B ion, like so many creative thinkers, confined his study o f the w ork o f others to relatively few. Perhaps he felt, like W innicott w ho once said to m e, “ I did not pay close attention to Fairbaim as I was too absorbed in m y own

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pregnancies at the tim e.” I never heard B ion discuss Foulkes, and I do not think he knew much about his w ork because he had left groups by the time Foulkes was publishing his accounts o f it. He was not given to disparaging the w ork o f others if it differed from his own; for him, experience w ould eventually find its survival value. Foulkes was convinced the total group interactions had to be used in therapy, and I believe that B ion, had he done more group therapeutic w ork, would have accepted that position though he w ould have insisted on what might be loosely put as more rigor and more depth, more attention to the primitive relationships. None o f B io n ’s Tavistock colleagues engaged in group with those concerned with group dynam ics, adhered to his use o f the latter in their work. E zriel’s formulation (1950) tension in the group once it could be identified as com ing

therapy, in contrast view about the sole o f using a common from the w ish for a

specific relationship with the therapist, and adding to its exposure by showing how each individual dealt with it, was considered to be more appropriate. Revisiting both led me to conclude that E zriel’s view s could not account for the group dynam ics in general, and I believe our understanding o f the individual should be such as to account for both. It has seemed to me for some years that a theory o f the organization o f the self is the em erging task for psychoanalysis and so I used m y own rather rough and ready gropings in this direction. A nalytic group psychotherapy has usually been considered by its users as a valuable therapeutic medium in spite o f the negative findings o f M alan and his colleagues (M alan, 1976). Perhaps w e expose here the inadequacies in our concepts o f the nature o f psychotherapy as w ell as our means o f assessing change. Because o f m y interest in the self as an independent variable in the therapeutic task, G ill and I (1970) carried out an exploratory trial using spontaneous sentences as an indication o f conflicts within the self system. Significant changes in patients after eighteen months o f treatment were found, so M alan ’s criteria seem to have referred to different processes. For me Bion has alw ays been the preux chevalier m aking his doughty forays into the confused tangles o f psychoanalytic thought and the com plexities o f human relationships. His pow er to look at phenomena with fresh challenges remains a permanent questioning legacy.

References Bion, W.R. 1961. Experiences in Groups and Other Papers. London: Tavistock Pub­ lications; New York: Basic Books. Erikson, E.H. 1959. Identity and the Life Cycle. New York and London: Norton. Ezriel, H. 1950. “A Psycho-Analytic Approach to Group Treatment.” British Journal of Medical Psychology, 23:59-74.

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Freud, S. 1922. Group Psychology, Standard Edition, Vol. 18. London: Hogarth Press. Jantsch, E. and C.H. Waddington (Editors). 1976. Evolution and Consciousness. Read­ ing, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. Klein, M. 1932. The Psycho-Analysis of Children. London: Hogarth Press. . 1940. “ Mourning and Its Relation to Manic-Depressive States.” In Contribu­ tions to Psycho-Analysis 1921-1945. London: Hogarth Press, 1948. Lichtenstein, H. 1977. The Dilemma o f Human Identity. New York: Aronson. McDougall, W. 1920. The Group Mind (2nd edition). London: Cambridge University Press. Mahler, M .S ., F. Pine and A. Bergman (Editors). 1975. The Psychological Birth o f the Human Infant: Symbiosis and Individuation. New York: Basic Books. Malan, D. 1976. “A Follow-up Study of Group Psychotherapy.” Archives o f General Psychiatry, - Spitz, R.A. 1965. The First Year o f Life. New York: International University Press. Sutherland, J.D. and H.S. Gill. 1970. Language and Psychodynamic Appraisal. Lon­ don: Kamac Books. Trist, E.L. and K.W. Bamforth. 1951. “ Some Social and Psychological Consequences of the Longwall Method of Coal Getting.” Human Relations, 4:3-38.

33 1303 15

Eléonore Herbert and Eric Trist

An Educational Model for Group Dynamics The Phenomenon o f an Absent Leader*

The Conception o f the Project T h e T h e o r e t ic a l

and

M

e t h o d o l o g ic a l

Fram ew ork

The project from w hich this paper selects an episode for detailed report represents one o f the lines o f growth stemming from a program o f exploratory studies in the dynam ics o f small groups inaugurated during 19 4 6 -19 4 8 at the Tavistock C lin ic and Institute o f Human Relations by W .R . Bion. He (Bion, 1961) distinguishes between two levels o f group activity: that o f the “ sophisti­ cated” or “ w ork” group (W)> w hich involves learning and developm ent and is concerned with specific tasks that must be met and undertaken in social reality; and that o f the basic assumptions (ba) dependence, fight/flight and pairing, which are unlearned, prim itive emotional response systems existing as cohe­ sive patterns that alternate. The basic group organization may be in conflict with the sophisticated or W organization and is often unrecognized by members o f the group, whose level o f performance m ay be severely impaired in conse­ quence. The aim o f this program was to explore the use o f a common method o f interpretative group discussion in groups o f different kinds: patient groups, student groups and staff groups. Though the method was derived from the method o f psychoanalysis, recourse was not necessarily had to psychoanalytic concepts in m aking interpretations. Psychoanalytic concepts had been elabo­ rated in the study o f the individual in the two-person, inter-personal, as distinct from the multi-person, group situation. A s the aim was now to explore what em erged at the level o f the group, interpretation faced a new task: that o f assisting a group (as contrasted with an individual) in extending its recognition o f what was going on in the group situation as a w hole, helping in achieving its w ork task (W) more effectively and more com pletely than w ould otherwise be *A shortened and rewritten version of the original— Human Relations, 6:215-48, 1953.

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the case. In making comments on the group’s behavior, how ever, the member o f the group in the role o f social consultant or therapist could be said to proceed in accordance with psychoanalytic method in that he relied for his information principally on the relation o f the group to him self in the immediate here-andnow situation. The problems and types o f stress that arose in these different kinds o f group had differences as w ell as similarities. These differences led to more spe­ cialized models o f the general method. A m ong those w orking with patient groups, there w as a tendency to relate interpretation to a more directly psycho­ analytic frame o f reference by em phasizing the w ay in w hich each individual, as a personality, dealt with the “ com m on group tension.” This is the line o f developm ent that characterized the w ork o f Ezriel (1950) and also o f Suther­ land (1985). It represents a more specifically clinical m odel. B y contrast, the developm ent o f what m ay be termed an action research model m ay be seen in such w ork o f the Tavistock Institute as the G lacier Project as described by Jaques (19 5 1) in The Changing Culture o f a Factory. Under industrial field conditions he found that the most w orthwhile discussions with the social consultant took place not so m uch in special m eetings o f an unstructured type outside the action situation as through his presence during the actual proceedings o f various executive and consultative groups. Inter­ pretation required to be related to a more sociological frame o f reference and to be concerned with the w ays in which roles and relationships in the particular social systems in w hich the groups existed were being used for unrecognized ends. It remains to consider the experience yielded by the student type o f group, in which the group met for educational purposes, usually under conditions o f a seminar that gave m axim um scope for free, as opposed to set, discussion. This technique m ay be regarded as initiating the search for a training or educational m odel o f the method. Considerable difficulty w as experienced with this type o f group during the period o f exploratory studies. The groups consisted o f “ stu­ dents” o f problems in human relations (industrial executives, social scientists, or practical workers in educational and com m unity activities), prepared to e x ­ amine their own experiences in a group as a method o f gaining direct access to, and so increasing their understanding o f, the dynam ics o f socio-psychological phenomena. These groups, however, tended to develop in one o f tw o direc­ tions: when a good deal o f interpretation was given the group tended to transform itself into a patient group and ask for treatment; when interpretation was restricted, the group tended m erely to discuss the topic as a topic, and very little progress could be made in showing its relationship to the group. A s the result o f repeated experiences o f this kind, student groups w ere discontinued, students being asked either to face taking the patient role and join a therapy group or to lim it them selves to attendance at the workshop type o f event. It was

A n Educational M odel for Group D ynam ics

14 3

not concluded, however, from these experiences that the original idea— that the student group might constitute a distinctive field o f study— was necessarily invalid; rather that a suitable form had not yet been found. The essential feature o f the patient group in the treatment situation is that its task is directly and exclu sively the study o f its own internal tensions and relations. Its activities, so far as these concern the topics that it discusses, are regarded as meaningful only if they provide material w hich allow s the underly­ ing relations to be exhibited. A work group, however, in the action situation has a defined line (direction) o f activity which is predetermined by its position in the social system to w hich it belongs. Its task is to pursue this line o f activity. Its problem is that its relations may severely disturb its performance. In first approximation, the clinical and action research m odels can be described in terms o f the different w ays in w hich group relations and group activities are related to the task o f the group. The search for an appropriate educational model depends on finding a type o f task w hich requires a relationship between group activities and group relations distinct from that in either treatmentcentered or action-centered groups. The structure o f the type o f situation required m ay be regarded as a function o f the degree o f determinacy o f the line o f the group’s activity. If the action situation is such that this is predetermined by the position o f the group in a social system and the treatment situation such that it must be kept indetermi­ nate by the therapist, the training situation m ay be described as that in w hich the group goes through the process o f determining its ow n line o f activity. In this sense, work with training groups may be related to the frame o f reference o f the project method in education as developed by John D ew ey just as that with patient and action research groups m ay be related to psychoanalytic and sociological frames o f reference. The relevance o f the project method is that it is concerned with finding and carrying out types o f concrete activity through which immediate experience may form itself into more general understanding. If the task o f the group is to find and undertake a definite project within a general field, it follow s that the group w ill expect to meet on the assumption that its sessions w ill be lim ited— though indeterminate— in number. This assumption has a selective effect on the type o f material w hich the group is likely to produce and therefore on the depth and scope o f interpretation. If the loyalty o f the social therapist is to the W o f the group, he must take up whatever is impeding the group in meeting this W, how ever deep. On the other hand, since the task is lim ited, he need not take “ everything” up; nor, indeed, w ill everything com e up. M oreover, the group w ill have different phases— that in w hich the project is found, that in w hich it is carried out and that in which it is evaluated. The relationship o f the consultant to the group changes in conse­ quence. In the discovery phase it is more like that o f a group therapist; in the execution phase like that o f a contributor; w hile in the third phase group and

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consultant can act as collaborators in evaluating what has been done— from complementary view points. The im plicit existence from the beginning o f such a progression means that a force is acting throughout the entire situation towards establishing the independence o f the group from the consultant. This safeguards it against the developm ent o f too great a dependence, w hich w ould otherwise tend to be unresolvable except under patient conditions. Since the aim is to relate experience in the group to some particular field o f outside experience, members should be drawn from a com m on field, e .g ., teachers, nurses, supervisors, works managers. There must be com m on needs and common problem s. The degree o f heterogeneity within the com m on field that w ill be most beneficial w ill vary w idely according to circum stances. Treatment and action groups are brought together by a need to solve concrete problems causing immediate tension— personal problems o f patients or practical problems o f institutions. A som ewhat different pressure provides the incentive that convenes training groups, where the felt need is to learn rather than to resolve. Experience o f social situations in the past has created in their members a need to learn more about group phenomena and processes for application to social situations in the future. Such learning must be general as w ell as particular for the “ transfer-effect” to be realized. A need for such learning m ay be regarded as authentic and reality-based (as distinct from sim ply an intellectual attempt to avoid facing aw kw ard experience more per­ sonally) so far as it derives from the roles and responsibilities w hich members carry outside the group. W hile the presence o f intellectualism as a defense is to be expected in such groups (and w ill usually be deployed with both ingenuity and strength) this does not negate the reality o f the need for intellectual and theoretical, as w ell as emotional and practical, understanding o f group phe­ nomena among those on whom professional or executive responsibility de­ volves for dealing with many kinds o f group problems in com m unity and industrial life. Training groups com posed o f such individuals require to de­ velop both types o f understanding, and in w ork with such groups teaching is important as w ell as interpretation. To increase general understanding o f group phenomena m ay be regarded as the sophisticated task o f training groups. It w ould be a fallacy, how ever, to suppose that this could be achieved apart from direct experience o f the em o­ tional reality o f these phenomena. A w ay must be found through the activity w hich the group itself undertakes o f relating interpretation to teaching. It is the scope that it affords for establishing this relationship that recom m ends the project method as a supplementary approach to the general method o f inter­ pretative group discussion in the training situation. For it is through the project method that the fullest use m ay be made o f the opportunities for more general teaching afforded by the occasions when the interpretation o f direct, concrete experience has created em otionally favorable conditions in the immediate

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situation. The field study to be outlined below, from w hich one m eeting is selected for detailed report, represents an explicit attempt to erect a m odel o f a practical training technique on these premises and to test out its usefulness with a group o f practicing teachers presenting a serious professional need for increased understanding o f group phenomena in relation to their ow n w ork at school.

T he C

h aracter of th e

M

odel

The project consisted o f a w orking seminar on “ Human Relations in S ch ool” attended by a group o f practicing teachers. It took place under the auspices o f a School o f Education. N o special attempt was made to select the members, who registered in the ordinary way. The meetings o f the group were conducted by the first author, the second acting as a research consultant with respect to planning and the analysis o f the material. The original group o f 19 was drawn from all types o f school. Betw een the ages o f 11 and 12 years all children took a national examination as a result o f which the brighter ones went on to grammar schools (the equivalent o f high schools) which prepared them for university entrance, w hile the less bright follow ed a less exacting curriculum in what were known as secondary m odem schools, where they stayed until the school-leaving age o f 16. Two positive factors, one professional and the other psychological, affected all members and made for hom ogeneity: all were teachers and all were con­ cerned in varying degrees about their relations with their pupils. Thus they all belonged to a large and dispersed professional group, i.e ., teachers, and to a smaller attitudinal group, i . e . , the category o f teachers w ho attach importance to psychology and the study o f personality as a means o f achieving good pupilteacher relations. This last factor constituted the overt m otive that brought them together to discuss their problems. There was also a third factor— the group contained no avow ed authoritar­ ian. A ll members, however, taught within the British educational system in which some degree o f authoritarian discipline is traditional. To this tradition they had to conform , at least to some extent, in their classroom practice. They could, therefore, be described as an anti-authoritarian minority within the educational system o f their society. Though the project was planned as a three-phase program, the question o f there being a second or third phase was not taken up with the group until a point had been reached, towards the end o f the preceding phase, when the problem o f the group’s future becam e acute. It was then worked through until an agreed solution was reached. The first, or discovery, phase consisted o f 10 w eekly meetings o f one-and-

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a-half or two hours duration. The group worked out its ow n program o f topics, on one o f w hich a short paper was presented each w eek by a particular member. Discussion then proceeded in a free manner. A near-verbatim record was kept, o f which another member prepared a summary for circulation at the beginning o f the next meeting. The first author, as the consultant w orking with the group in the face-to-face situation, had two related roles: interpretative— to help the group to see its task in terms o f its own behavior; educational— to help it to relate its ow n group experience to the com m on outside w ork field. Since the object o f increasing the insight o f group members into group phenomena was to im prove their w ork as teachers, the tw o roles had a com m on relationship to the W that constituted the group task. For this reason it was felt that no inherent contradiction between them need be expected. The first role was dominant during the first phase, when a considerable “ battle” took place between consultant and group over its insistent demand for intellectual teaching. But during the second, or execution, phase, when the group settled down to the exam ination o f a single basic problem over a further series o f 10 meetings and had also learned to accept the exam ination o f what was going on in itself as a regular part o f its task, there were m any more teaching opportunities. N evertheless, there was often strong, though decreas­ ing, resistance to accepting the consultant as a contributor as w ell as a social therapist and the problem was not fu lly w orked through by the end o f the phase. The group’s difficulty was in giving up the consultant as a therapist. The third, or evaluation, phase was brought into existence by the feeling that arose in the group that they must find some w ay o f reporting back their group experiences to other teachers, and the question was broached o f their writing up their ow n version o f these experiences for com m unication to an educational audience. A t this point a special meeting was held at which the head o f the department concerned and the second author were present as w ell as the first author. This was the m eeting at w hich the group had to give up the first author as a member o f the group, w hich from now on w as to meet alone. The object o f the special m eeting was to help the group, by an actual demonstration, to perceive the first author as a member o f a technical group and to show them that if they must now lose her as a member o f their ow n group they could still have a relationship with her as a m ember o f this technical group w hose support both she and they w ould need for the next phase o f the task. The outcome o f this m eeting was that the group decided to undertake the assignment o f writing up an account o f its experiences for publication to the profession, accepting full responsibility for making its ow n executive arrange­ ments and the necessary internal role allocations. A ll this it proceeded to do, with an efficiency and a speed w hich provides another instance o f the reward to be reaped, when it com es to executive action, o f preliminary w orking through.

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The group was now able to accept the first author as a collaborator with a complementary task, the second decision o f the meeting being that she should prepare a parallel account o f the group’s developm ent as she had perceived it from her position as their consultant. M eanw hile the head o f the department undertook to preface both accounts with a critique o f the project as an exercise in post-graduate teacher training. The task o f the second author was to collabo­ rate with the first in the technical appraisal o f the material from the point o f view o f a research organization concerned with the developm ent and applica­ tion o f group methods in w orking institutions. In the subsequent scrutiny o f the total material it appeared that certain group phenomena observed during the project might be o f general interest, par­ ticularly the institution by the group o f an absent leader in opposition to the legitimate leader during the ninth meeting o f the first phase. A ccordingly, this episode has been abstracted and in what follow s an account o f it is presented from a group dynam ics rather than an educational view point, w hich w ill be that emphasized in the account o f the project as a w hole to be published elsewhere by the first author and the members o f the group.

The Ninth Meeting Note: The first session o f the course was taken up with dealing with the group’s reactions to the consultant’s refusal to give form al lectures. This produced a format in w hich each member was to prepare a paper on an agreed topic for discussion by the group. Them es covered were: the difficult child; handicapped children; pilfering; im proved discipline; the “ crush” in girls’ schools. The topic for each session arose out o f the experience o f discussing that for the current session. In every case the theme was found to have a parallel in the relation o f the consultant to the group in the here-and-now. These parallelisms were interpreted and opened up the dynam ics o f the situation. A paper on truancy, prepared by a headmistress, was postponed by the group three times— the topic was specially threatening— but was finally given in the last but one session, now to be reported. The first author speaks throughout in the first person in her interpretative role.

S u b -G r o u p R o l e -T a k in g

The ninth meeting opened with a m essage from the member who was to have spoken on truancy. She sent a letter in w hich she stated that pressure o f w ork w ould prevent her from attending this meeting and the next— the last two o f the session. A s she had previously said that, in the event o f the group meetings

14 8

Varieties o f Group Process

being continued the follow ing term, she w ould not be able to attend, her letter was a final leave-taking. She had, how ever, sent her paper, which the bearer o f the m essage had consented to read. It seemed indeed as if truancy was not only to be discussed but enacted. Seven members in all absented them selves on this occasion, the largest number since the first session. O f these, only one, w ho had sent a note o f apology, was to return. The headmistresses’ sub-group had com pletely disappeared. The largest element among the rem ainingdwelve members was the grammar school assistants’ group. There were six o f them, one man and five w om en, w ho made up h alf the attendance. The others were divided as follow s: tw o junior school masters, one master from an all-age school, one mistress from a school for handicapped children and tw o secondary m odem school masters. Their com ­ mon characteristic was that none belonged to a grammar school. To take another sub-division, the group fell into tw o halves according to sex: there were six men and six wom en. Furthermore, there was a distinct group o f persistently silent members. The total group was also divided into tw o halves in this respect: six silent members listened throughout the evening to six speakers. The various groups did not coincide but the resulting set-up presented a considerable advantage: every member could at any time rely on the support o f another five who had something in com m on with him or her. (Six people had grammar school experience, six lacked it; to talk was to belong to a group o f six speakers; to be silent was to belong to a group o f six silent m em bers.) See Table 1; note that italic letters designate wom en. Lest it should appear— as is often thought in com m ittees and debating societies— that only the speaking members play a part in discussion, it should be em phasized that the silent members were very much part o f the group and, on the present occasion, were destined to play a crucial role. If, for a m oment, one supposes the silent members to have been absent— i . e . , to have joined the absentees’ sub-group— the importance o f their presence soon appears. In this particular case the speaking members formed one-third o f the original group. If two-thirds had been absent those remaining w ould have represented a very much mutilated, and therefore threatened, minority. The silent members held the balance. B y choosing to be present they helped to perpetuate the life o f the group. Their passive attitude put them in the position o f an audience and the future o f the group depended on their being persuaded b y the speaking m em ­ bers to continue to attend. The absentees’ sub-group also constituted a force that exerted a consider­ able effect on the proceedings. Absentees have once belonged to a group and have contributed to m aking it what it is. Conversely, the group has contributed to making them what they are. On this occasion their participation w as evident, since the paper to be discussed em bodied the view s o f one o f them and, indeed,

A n Educational M odel for Group D ynam ics T a b le i

149

Equal Sub-Groups in the Ninth Meeting

Women

Men

Grammar schools

Non-grammar schools

Speakers

Silent members

A, B, C, D, E, F

G, H, I, J, K , L

A, C, D, E, F, G

B, H, I, J, K, L

A, B, C, E, G, K

D, F, H, I, J, L

was about absenteeism. The absentee sub-group was also six strong. The original number o f members had been 19— an odd number— w hich left 7 absentees; but the position o f the absent speaker was equivocal. She could not be said to be absent since she introduced the topic o f discussion; nor silent since the words w ere hers; nor could she be described as speaking, since she was not present in person. Thus, on the one hand, she did not belong fully to any o f the three sub-groups; on the other, she belonged to them all, for she partook o f some o f the qualities o f each. M y position, as consultant, was similar to hers for I could not be said to belong fully to any o f the sub-groups either. I was not absent since I was there in person; nor speaking since I had refused to lead the discussions or indeed to make any personal contributions unless they were called for by m embers’ remarks; nor silent since I summed up the arguments and formulated problems raised by members. Conversely, both she and I were ubiquitous since w e belonged intermittently to various sub-groups. B y this means the members in each sub-group were kept at six, for she and I cancelled each other out. The recurrence o f the number six was not due to chance. O fficially, six members constituted the smallest number for whom a course could be held. The group knew that, in the preceding term, a course o f lectures on psycho­ analysis had been stopped after the second m eeting because only five members had registered for it. Throughout the twenty sessions o f the seminar, whenever the numbers present approached this threshold the group becam e anxious lest it should be officially stopped. Thus the threat to the continuation o f the group was actual, but this was not alw ays realized. The appearance o f anxiety was the sign o f it. A n xiety had been noted each time the topic o f truancy was raised and had led to repeated postponement o f its discussion. On this occasion, when a third o f the group had “ played truant, ” the threat had becom e greater and more imminent. But it did not com e from the absentee members alone, though they appeared to be responsible for it. In order to keep the group alive, the speaking members had to be victorious over the negative attitude present in themselves towards the W that constituted the group task. A ll the sub-groups had to contend with am bivalence in this regard. The speakers, in so far as they were dissatisfied with the pattern imposed on the group, would wish to absent

150

Varieties o f Group Process The Situation at the Beginning of the Ninth Meeting T a b le 2

Speakers

Silent members

Absentees

A B C E G K

D F H 1 J L

M N O P Q R

(PL)

(AL)

PL = present leader AL = absent leader

themselves from it, but the wish to continue was stronger and made them choose to stay in the group and fight for it. The absentees had enough positive feeling to shrink from remaining in the group and overtly attacking it: their belongingness led them to com prom ise by choosing flight rather than fig ht to express their dissatisfaction. In the six silent members the balance o f positive and negative feelings made the fight and flight reactions o f equal strength, so that they were prevented from taking any action: they did not absent them­ selves, neither did they fight for the survival o f the group. Throughout this m eeting the speakers made use o f the absentees’ sub-group as a reference group (N ew com b, 1952) into w hich they projected their negative feelings. T hey cast the absent speaker, as a reference individual, in the role o f spokesman o f the absentees, an absent leader (AL). To her they gave their allegiance w henever they wished to express their criticism o f m e, the present leader (PL), and take flight from the group task. A t this point, how ever, they were confronted both b y their need to continue with their task and to have m y help in enabling them to do so; fear o f m y loss and o f retaliation on m y part made them swing back to me. A L and P L never appeared in the same sub-group (see Table 2).

In d i v i d u a l R o l e s

The speaking members had unw ittingly arrayed their forces in such a w ay that each assumed a role which he kept throughout the session. The discussion w ould be started indirectly by a passage o f arms between tw o o f them (A and G), who continued the fight started at the eighth m eeting between the m en’s and

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w om en’s sub-groups. Very soon a third, K , w ould intervene, as if to remind them that they should sink their differences, since something o f greater m o­ ment— the continued existence o f the group— w as at stake. K ’s role was that o f P L ’s “ champion, ” his efforts alw ays being aimed at rallying the group under her leadership. His interventions follow ed a similar pattern throughout: he w ould indicate explicitly or im plicitly that there was no cause for disagreement within the present group, w ould sum up the arguments, and thus open the w ay for a new departure. The fourth, C , consistently played the role o f mediator between the absentees and the present members. She took the role o f A L ’s champion in opposition to K w henever the absentees were excluded. The other tw o, B and E, acted as supporters o f the speakers’ group, and it was one o f them who formulated the topic for the next m eeting, w hich was to focus the work o f the group during the subsequent phase o f its existence.

Id e n t if ic a t io n

of th e

Speakers’ G roup

w it h t h e

“ L ik e d C

h il d r e n ”

B efore the paper w as read the record o f the eighth m eeting was circulated. It gave rise to a brief discussion in w hich all six members spoke w ho were to discuss the paper later. The report o f the preceding w e e k ’s discussion on hom osexuality was the immediate cause. The young master, G , who had raised the topic at the end o f the previous meeting to repeat that “ it did not exist between masters and b oys” returned to the charge. “ It had gone unchal­ len ged ,” he said, “ the group had shifted aw ay from it.” C agreed that the discussion had proceeded rather irrelevantly. K disagreed, “ the point had been thoroughly discussed.” But still, in com plete disregard o f the even ing’s task, and o f K ’s reminder, A and G continued the feud about hom osexuality in men and wom en teachers. To G ’s reiterated assertion that men teachers w ere guiltless o f it A retorted that “ it did not make much difference whether hom osexuality existed between boys and masters or only between boy and boy; the crush o f boy for boy and girl for girl proved the hom osexual content.” The exchange becam e more and more rapid and the enjoym ent o f the two protagonists more evident. The more G denied the hom osexual attitude o f men teachers the more A refused to be convinced and airily reaffirmed her own contradictory belief. It becam e appar­ ent that the excitem ent roused by this discussion was o f a flirtatious kind, w hich, in view o f the topic— hom osexuality— m ight at first seem strange. But if people are preoccupied with heterosexual feelings they often find it easier to talk about homo- rather heterosexuality, for the social taboo on the form er makes its expression in reality im possible, and the discussion safely theoret­ ical, whereas heterosexual feelings m ay lead to actual relations w hich cannot be admitted in public. It is notable that A meets G ’s denial o f his hom osexuality

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not by denying her own but by maintaining that “ there is no difference between his feelings and hers.” Curiously enough she disregards the available “ tu quoque” reply, for a teacher-boy relationship, w hich was described in the seventh session, was not unlike a tw o-w ay crush. N o one thought o f it. The men attacked and the wom en pleaded guilty. This collusion in accepting a statement contrary to evidence shows how carefully the w hole group w ill push aside any facts that do not serve its immediate unconscious needs even though they m ight ju stify the behavior o f some individual member on the sophisticated level. If the m en’s sub-group had recognized their hom osexual tendencies they w ould by this admission have suggested that they could not have a heterosexual relation with me. But the w om en’s case was different: a love relationship with me could only be a hom osexual one. Thus it was from the same group m otive that one sub­ group declared its immunity from a condemned form o f behavior and the other accepted the accusation o f it. B y a kind o f pun on the word hom osexual it is made to mean “ w e are both sexual in the same way, ” i .e ., “ w e are both offering our love to y o u .” Since A could feel sure that G w ould not go back on his denial— w hich incidentally was also an offer to her as a wom an— and run the risk o f m y misunderstanding him , she could safely afford to push him further and further. It was this that gave the impression o f sparring, o f a kind o f Beatrice and B enedick dialogue in which the protagonists paired under the cover o f spirited attacks that ill disguised their underlying friendliness and the sim ilarity o f their feelings. For a w hile the group took pleasure in this dialogue. A and G , both members o f the speakers’ sub-group, appeared to be acting as its spokesmen in m aking me a love-offer, since it put them all in the role o f liked children (the crush had been described as a tw o-w ay situation, and if they loved me I must love them). Gradually, how ever, the rest o f the speakers’ sub-group becam e uneasy. The “ Beatrice and B en ed ick” pair m onopolized the conversation to such an extent that everyone else was relegated to the silent members sub-group, so losing “ liked children” status (Table 3). The verbal duel had had its use as a temporary resurrection o f the main defense o f the eighth m eeting, but if it went on it w ould disrupt the speakers’ group by reducing it to tw o members. M ore than two-thirds o f the w hole group would be put out o f action. The remaining speakers, having been driven into the silent sub-group, might from there eventually join the absentees. In addi­ tion it made contact with me im possible. A ll this roused K in his champion role, making him call Beatrice and B enedick to order; the real battle for the survival o f the group must be joined, “ w e have an urgent task to w hich w e must return.” They accepted the reproof and settled down to listen to the paper on truancy.

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T a b le 3

The Situation Produced by the “ Beatrice and Benedick” Episode

Speakers

Silent members

Absentees

A G

D F H I J L B C E K

M N 0 P Q R

AL

PL

T he A

bsen t

L e a d e r ’s Paper (C ases

of

Truancy)

The paper was read by C . B y accepting to pass on the words o f the absent headmistress she established herself in the role o f A L ’s champion. A L ’s account o f a series o f actual cases o f girls who had run aw ay from school was preceded by tw o introductory remarks. First, A L had been struck by the derivation o f the word “ truant” from a Celtic word that means “ w retched.” N ext, she reported that a headmistress o f a boarding school, w hom she had asked what her worst experience had been as a headmistress, had replied, “ the disappearance o f a girl. ” Her ow n personal experience o f this had concerned a girl— Susan— w ho had been evacuated from a bom bed city and w as in need o f help, the immediate cause o f her running aw ay having been a row with an impatient young mistress (but there were no details o f her later history). She went on to quote further instances o f truancy that had com e to her know ledge. Marjorie (12 yrs.) had played truant from school. She had intercepted letters of enquiry, was buying her meals out and spent her time playing with paper dolls. Her home was poor, her parents went to work early and meals were inadequate. She had run away before when evacuated to another town and had been given lifts on lorries (trucks). Jean (i2è yrs.) had been holding up letters to her home. She had played truant when the district in which she lived had been bombed and while her father, of whom she was very fond, was in the army. She truanted again when her father went to Italy. She lived in a world of fantasy and had written love letters to another girl as though the letters came from a man in the R.A.F. Jean said she

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Varieties o f Group Process

heard voices telling her not to go to school. She had spent days tramping the streets with a few pennies for chips, buns or a meat pie. Joyce (13 yrs.) sent a letter purporting to account for her absence and explain­ ing that she was caring for a sick dog. On enquiry this was found to be untrue. Her parents had separated. She had become “ boy mad.” Letters written by her to a boy had been found by the boy’s mother, who threatened to show them to the police. Mary (15 yrs.) forged her mother’s signature on a letter of excuse after playing truant. The mother thought that the girl’s interest in politics— she was a member of a Young Conservative group— had some connection with her delinquency. In this instance emotional instability was associated with intelligence of a high order and the child, the speaker said, suffered agony of mind accordingly. (It is also to be noted that she sought security “ upwards” in the more traditional groups of her society.) Finally, all the five girls cited were stated to be in need of medical help. Mary and Joyce had been referred to Child Guidance Clinics and had done well, especially the former. Jean’s parents would not allow her to attend for treatment. Nothing was said about the other two.

C

om m ents on th e

M

a t e r ia l

P r o v id e d

b y th e

A

bsen t

L eader

The picture given by A L was a sinister one. A ll the cases described concerned girls w ho had fled from school into a world in w hich they found them selves at war with society. A ll had becom e delinquent offenders— truancy being punish­ able by law — but in addition were m entally ill and needed m edical help. M arjorie was backward; Jean had hallucinations; Joyce was said to be boymad; M ary suffered from “ em otional instability.” Such, then, w ere the dangers to be feared, about w hich A L warned the present members o f the group. It is to be noted that for the first time in the history o f the group school was described as a “ bad” (hated) place from which people run away. Instead o f learning they had becom e ill and wretched. A nd the etym ological discovery which gave the true meaning o f the word truant as w retched em phasized the “ badness” o f school. Thus Susan, the first truant, ran aw ay after “ a row with an impatient young m istress.” The aggressive content o f the truant’s behavior m ay be supported by further etym ological investigation o f the meaning o f truancy as wretchedness, which provides a clue as to the origin o f the wretchedness, for it appears that the word originally means “ outcast, an e x ile .” It has the same root as the word “ w ro e c ,” to drive, and the word “ w rea k ,” to punish, to revenge. The truant is wretched, because he has been driven into exile, where as a disliked victim and scapegoat, he is loaded with the w ickedness o f the rest o f the school. The person in authority who has thus driven him out must fear the consequences o f his treatment. The disappearance o f a girl ( “ the worst misfortune that could

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befall a head mistress” ) appears as a punishment and a danger since a victim is alw ays a potential seeker after revenge. If truancy were m erely the expression o f wretchedness it w ould be difficult to understand w hy it should be regarded as delinquent, but seen as an attack on the school— provoked by this wretched­ ness— its delinquent nature becom es apparent, especially as it carries the projection o f the school’s ow n delinquency. The truant, on his or her side, is constantly in danger o f what is now seen as retaliation on the part o f the school (into w hich, o f course, w ill be projected the aggressiveness belonging to his or her own original “ forcin g” behavior). E very one o f the girls described had to guard herself against persecution. Susan’s absence was discovered by a mistress w ho gave the alarm; M arjorie when questioned said she had a cold and carefully intercepted letters addressed to her parents by the Head o f the school; Jean had done the same; Joyce had sent a letter explaining that she was caring for a sick dog and M ary forged her mother’s signature. T hey all lived in fear o f being “ caught” by the school they had harmed by their behavior. They feel persecuted; when they are judged, they are usually found “ guilty but insane” and put in the hands o f the psychia­ trist. One o f the truants mentioned (M ary) had done w ell under treatment. We are told that she had intelligence o f a high order and that “ with her co ­ operation the C hild Guidance C lin ic had put her on the road to recovery.” N evertheless, even her high intelligence had not saved her from the “ wretched­ ness” w hich had caused her to play truant. Jean, the girl w ho “ heard vo ices” and obviously was in need o f m edical help, was not allow ed by her parents to attend the Child Guidance C lin ic.

T h e G r o u p ’ s In t e r p r e t a t io n

of th e

A

bsen t

L ea d er ’s Paper

A L ’s paper was instantaneously interpreted by C in her champion role as an indictment o f P L (as the bad parent). “ The bad influence o f the parents,” she said, “ is obvious in all the cases o f truancy described.” The same had been said at the preceding meeting about bad cases o f crushes. Since I had been in­ creasingly attributed the parental role in one or other o f its form s, the comment constitutes a call to desert me as a false and unreliable leader, as the truants had deserted their parents. The reaction o f the speakers’ group was to answer this call, and, vigorously supporting C ’s thesis, to align them selves during the next phase o f the discussion with the absentees’ group, m aking A L their leader and leaving m e, P L , isolated (Table 4). A s the discussion went on I received blam e not only as a parent but also in the other roles attributed to me. A L had said that, not content with m aking their children wretched, some parents also refused the help o f the psychiatrist. If w e interpret the word “ o f” as giving the phrase the meaning “ the help that the

156

Varieties o f Group Process T a b le 4

Speakers

PL

Blaming PL in Answer to C ’s Comment Silent members

Absentees

Silent members’ sub-group

Absentees’ sub-group Speakers’ sub-group AL

psychiatrist can give, ” it can be seen that this reproach was also leveled at m e, since I had refused to teach them psychoanalysis. W hat, they asked then, can the teacher do when parents refuse the help o f the psychiatrist? This started a disquisition on what I m ight have done in m y original role (the teacher expected to lecture), since I had not helped in the role o f parent or o f psychiatrist. G having said that bewilderm ent in lessons is associated with truancy, A , his usual friend and adversary, took him up, saying that she failed to see w hy children should stay aw ay from school because they were unhappy at home. This apparent contradiction o f G ’s condemnation o f parents was in fact a w ay o f reinforcing the attack on me in m y teacher role. (I was not providing know ledge in the group that w ould help them w ith their professional difficulties at school.) I f w e compare the situation o f school children with that o f group members w e find a clear parallelism . For if the latter had com e to study “ human relations” in the group, it appears that they had not been satisfied with their “ relations” in the school— their last group experience before they had com e to the group, just as for the children the fam ily was the group experience that preceded school. The group is to the members what school is to the children, the latest stage in their history; whereas school is to the members what home is to the children, i.e ., the last stage but one in their history. The absentees had failed to find better relations in the group and so had left it. The problem to be faced by those aligning them selves with them w as how to avoid the fate o f the truanting children w ho had all becom e ill and wretched. H ow ever, one o f these children— M ary— had been saved. Her mother had not understood her but she had, by her own co-operation, made a good recovery under proper treatment. Here was the m odel to be follow ed . O f all the truants described, Mary, who was intelligent and had impersonated her mother as she should have been— a good mother— was the one with w hom the group could identify A L. B y accepting such an identification for them selves they found a w ay o f returning to the dependent position I had refused to countenance, but this time under AL, whom they set up as their true (though absent) leader (good mother), in opposition to m e, their false (though present) leader (bad mother). Their hostility to me was thus projected into A L , w ho, in the om niscience ascribed to her, could be trusted to make safe use o f it on their behalf.

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Mary, their immediate m odel, had, it m ay be recalled, joined a Young Conservative club w hich was disliked by her mother. Sim ilarly, I had shown that I disliked the conservative (traditional) pattern o f education. W ith A L they could set up a rival group. D id not they, like M ary, know what was best for them? This rival group— their own prescription— w ould seek to preserve the structure o f the school as they had know n it, w hile being progressive (young) enough not to be averse to some reforms under traditional leadership, w hich w ould suffice to meet all problems. Was the pain o f radical change really necessary? In such a group there w ould be proper lectures such as A L ’s paper and a reliable safety net for truanting casualties (proper treatment). In such a group they w ould make progress through their own cooperation with what they them selves knew to be right. M oreover, this progress w ould be shared by all so that this rival group o f theirs w ould be a group that w ould alw ays remain w hole and never becom e extinct. N o one w ould be forced— as I had forced them— to depend on his ow n direct experience for advancing his understanding. Each would be given what he wanted. Protected from wretchedness, no one need truant from what need not be faced without sufficient guidance. The rival group and the rival leader sought by the speakers was the dependent group and the dependent leader. M y refusal to enter into collusion with the recourse to this basic assumption was the cause o f the opposition to m yself. Since I w ould not permit the group to be dependent, the only w ay to secure dependence was to leave the group, i.e ., join the absentees. A L ’s paper was interpreted as giving earnest, as though through a dramatic and m agical m essage, that the required Elysium might be found with her. The fate o f this phantasy must now be traced through the subsequent discussion.

T h e D is a p p o in t m e n t

of

E x p e c t a t i o n s (in S c h o o l

a n d in t h e

G

roup)

K , in his custom ary constructive role, now proposed that they should investi­ gate “ what children want from school w hich truants failed to find in it.” O nce more the here-and-now situation inspired the m embers’ suggestions: in enu­ merating the m otives that m ight make children want to com e to school, the members expressed their ow n m otives for attending the group. First, “ they want to be with and to com pete with children o f their ow n a g e .” The desire to be with other members had repeatedly been expressed and had been manifested in the fear o f seeing the group disappear. N ext it was said that they want the attention o f a grown-up whom they can have for them selves— an expression in the here-and-now o f the group’s w ish for dependence and a description o f the teacher as an adult w ho specializes in preparing them for adulthood. “ T hey are interested in some project” equally described the task o f our discussions, w hile “ they also want to learn” is

158

Varieties o f Group Process

perhaps an indication that the flight from W was not as w holesale as m ight have appeared. Yet the quest for dependent security reinstated itself in the remark that follow ed, “ they com e to school also for the sake o f orderliness,” w hich refers to the m ethodical arrangements o f school life with regard to tim e-tables, rules, discipline, etc. It is a demand for a good external authority, since “ order” has this double m eaning— an authority o f the kind they felt A L could give them. The next remark, “ they want to be helped to grow u p ,” led to the statement that A stream children, especially o f 15-plus, because they are able to absorb know ledge and accept the standards set by the teacher, feel they are being helped to grow up and keep their confidence in school, but C children are disappointed and feel that school is preventing them from grow ing up. T hey do not receive the know ledge ( “ they can ’ t take it” ) that could make them into adults. A pproval, therefore, is withheld. The A ’s are the good and happy children, the C ’s the disliked and unhappy truants. The situation was sim ilar in the group though in this case C and A did not refer to degrees o f intelligence but to the capacity to conform to the “ im posed” standard (o f free discussion) and to absorb know ledge through it. I pointed out that the more inaccessible the standard o f the school the more rejected the C adolescent w ould feel. He w ould try to live out the more prim itive w ay o f being grown up and his phantasies, as in the cases described earlier, w ould often be o f a sexual kind in w hich he w ould im agine adult love relationships. A n unsuccessful adolescent had no com pensation for being kept at school. These remarks led to a discussion on sex education and o f its value as generally understood. The school only gave physiological facts for there was a conspiracy o f silence among all adults— parents and teachers— to keep the children ignorant o f the psychological aspects. Their ow n experiences, such as the crush, were not frankly discussed as sexual phenomena, but either ignored or frowned upon. This made clear at last the nature o f the know ledge that had unconsciously been asked for during the early sessions. Just as the child wants to be enlightened on sex matters and feels thwarted— prevented from grow ing up by the silence o f the adults— they had felt m y refusal o f form al intellectual instruction as a method o f keeping them aw ay from me and out o f the adult world.

R e u n io n

of th e

G roup U nder A

bsen t

L e a d e r ’ s L e a d e r s h ip

Here C suggested that perhaps if the teacher gave love first the crush m ight be forestalled. This statement, expressing as it does the need to forestall the crush— not the truancy w hich was the situation under discussion— is a re-

A n Educational M odel for Group D ynam ics

159

T a b le 5

Unification of the Group with the Absent Leader

Speakers

Absentees

PL

Absentees’ sub-group Speakers’ sub-group Silent members’ sub-group AL

minder that the crush, although a positive feeling, had been established as an undesirable one, a bad one. A nd it was bad not only because it could lead to truancy if the teacher’s response was either snubbing or encouragement, but in itself. It had been presented as an aggressive means o f forcing the teacher to give love. None o f the speaking members was safe from the accusation o f having made such demands. A ll had tried first to steal love (by pilfering) and then to force it (through the crush). The favored children had stayed in the group, the disliked ones had run away. M y encouragem ent o f the former and snubbing o f the latter had divided the group, and I was responsible for the present state o f affairs. So I stood condemned on all counts, for I had failed to provide a good external and impartial authority, and I had refused to give them learning or to help them to grow up. This com pletes the meaning o f G ’s cryptic sentence, “ W hat can the teacher do when parents refuse the help o f the psychiatrist.” I had failed as a parent, as a psychiatrist and as a teacher. C ’s remark went unchallenged. The w hole group becam e silent. In this manner C ’s remark reunited the speaking and the silent sub-groups with the absentees. She now com pletes her m ission as A L ’s champion (representing the wish to leave the group that was in all o f them) and unites the three sub-groups into one w hole on the absentees’ side, since the w hole group now felt rejected by me. I, P L , am now the bereft person. B y refusing the love that “ w ould have forestalled the crush and its consequences,” I have lost the w hole group to AL. It is my turn to be the outcast and exiled individual (Table 5). From another point o f view the situation could be described as the com pletion o f the flight (from W) o f the membership group to the reference group.

R eturn

to

Pr esen t L ead er

This desertion o f the w hole group roused K to act once more as m y champion in opposition to C . B ecause o f their identification with A L the group had been unable to face A L as the bereft person. C ’s intervention had shifted this role on to me but to face me (PL) as the im age o f the bereft parent (teacher, leader) was

i6 o

Varieties o f Group Process T a b le 6

Unification of the Group with the Pres­ ent Leader: The situation created when K ’s remark “ love in the classroom” aroused general laughter Speakers

Absentees

Speakers’ sub-group Silent members’ sub-group Absentees’ sub-group PL

AL

even more painful— and more dangerous, since to damage me m ight lead to retaliatory behavior on m y part in the immediate present, or to m y incapacita­ tion. In either case I w ould be no use to them as a consultant. Their actual membership group w ould end, w hatever m ight continue in the reference group they had concocted with AL. But since this reference group w as an expression o f baD no change could be effected or new learning realized through its agency. Permanent capture by A L, as advocated by C , could only result in their being left with the w hole problem on their hands that had convened the group in the first place. The intractability o f their W by their reference group seem ed to have produced a stalemate, when the silence was broken by K , w ho pulled back the “ departed” members towards P L by a suggestion for the next m eeting. Refer­ ring to a remark o f mine to the effect that sex education in school should not be confined to the biology laboratory— for any lesson could provide a useful opportunity— he laughingly suggested that w e should discuss “ L o ve in the C lassroom .” This m ock suggestion was received with a great burst o f laughter. The laughter was general, infectious and noisy; the silent members joining in, thus breaking their silence for the first time. Am used by their teasing, I too laughed so that I was reinstated in the speaking group, with w hich, through their participation in the laughter, the silent members w ere now also identified. M y joining in this laughter was felt by the w hole group as a triumphal achievem ent and heightened the manic atmosphere. K had sent out, as it w ere, a general call to all members to change sides: let us have “ love in the classroom ,” i.e ., in the speaking group under P L as our teacher-leader; if w e have this, w e can have all that w e seek in the reference group without destroying the membership group. Such a course would reunite the w hole group as a membership group, though it w ould isolate A L , the only member who had definitely said she w ould not return (see Table 6). H ow ever, the remark and the group’s reaction contain a disquieting ele­ ment. If the solution offered had been considered as real it need not have been put in this disguised, humorous form , nor w ould it have been greeted with such unanimous laughter. The unanimity marks the psychic agreement o f the pres-

A n Educational M odel for Group D ynam ics

161

The Realization That the Absentees Have Been Excluded from the Group during the Burst of Laughter

T a b le 7

Speakers

Absentees

Speakers’ sub-group Silent members’ sub-group PL

Absentees’ sub-group AL

ent members to deny that the exclusion o f A L and o f any other absentees was a factor o f which they must take account. It was as though, through an om nipo­ tent current group decision “ to have love in the classroom ,” they professed not only to be able to restore casualties in group membership that had happened in the past but to prevent their occurrence in the future. It was as if the very loudness o f the laughter was intended to cover up the danger inherent in the situation and to deepen the underlying d isbelief in the rem edy (Table 7). This, in the limit, contained the assertion that there were no negative, hostile, disruptive forces in their midst, at least none that need be taken seriously, only positive, friendly, constructive forces. K ’s proposal was an invitation to the group to proceed on this hypothesis. But could the parts o f them selves w hich the absentees represented be disposed o f by abolishing the reference group w hich these parts had created? To deny the reality o f the problem represented by the reference group was difficult when there was also an actual absentee group and an imminent threat o f further absenteeism in the present group w hich might easily lead to its failure to survive. W hat guarantee was there that those aspects o f the group w hich had produced absentees in the past w ould not go on doing so in the future? Absentees and absenteeism were part o f the group’s life and process. K ’s solution was the obverse o f C ’s: obliteration o f the reference group and denial o f the reality o f absenteeism, as compared with obliteration o f the membership group and projective identification with the reference group. A s much as C ’s, K ’s solution was an invocation o f the dependent group, for the phantasy o f group life w hich it depicts with P L ( “ love in the classroom ” ) is, if not an Elysium (which one has to go aw ay into), an earthly paradise where all one’s needs m ay be met (by staying put)— perpetually, so it w ould seem. The solution could only be presented as a jo k e, with the usual component o f cruelty that such jokes are permitted to contain. Indeed, the remark was dismissed and did not even appear in the record o f the m eeting, but the underlying anxiety was present in the next statement, to be seriously expressed this time, that school is a transitional com m unity in w hich the child tries out his love relationships. This was more than a mere serious repetition o f the earlier jo k e, for it contained a reminder that the group was not permanent. The

162

Varieties o f Group Process

fate that had overtaken the absentees might overcom e any or all o f the m em ­ bers. Excluding a member o f any group, even if he is regarded as a traitor, brings guilt— fear o f nemesis for the remaining members not only because o f the external danger presented by the excluded member and his friends but because o f the internal damage to the individual’s feeling o f belongingness. To hurt a fellow member is to hurt that part o f on eself that is identified with the victim . Even the death o f the member turned traitor is no solution, as is clearly seen in political purges. The killed victim s, although unable to hurt the group externally, remain a danger. T hey draw members w ho had remained faithful and who might even have been instrumental in their death to join them and to becom e the victim s o f the next purge. To bring about the death o f an external enem y makes for greater unity among the members o f the group, but to k ill a fellow member is to put on eself in danger from on e’s ow n internal need for the survival o f the group in face o f on e’s ow n destructiveness. To the rule that no man acts m erely as an individual, but with a group— large or sm all, faithful or dissenting— members o f the present group were no exception. T hey never made a m ove alone but alw ays with one or other sub-group.

T h e P a r t it io n

of th e

S il e n t M

em bers

During the last part o f the m eeting, w hich was devoted to a brief discussion o f future policy, it appeared that there was a change from the situation shown in Table 6. This was the ninth session and the last but one for the term. I stated that I was w illing to continue for another term. This meant I w as not giving up the group. O f the tw elve members present nine wished to continue m eeting. The nine included all the six who had spoken and three w ho had been silent. The other three o f these said they would not return. Three o f the silent members therefore had joined the absentees. W ith three silent members rem aining, the continuing group would be reduced to half its original strength (Table 8), but, as the number was above the minimum officially required, the battle for continuation had been won. It was finally decided to discuss “ School as a Transitional C om m unity” at the next meeting, the last o f the session. Truancy had been a defense assuming that the group was permanent. Acceptance o f its transitional nature (as o f the school) represents a recognition o f reality. T hey could now face the eventual extinction o f the group and so were able to decide on their future behavior as members o f it. The know ledge that the group was to resume its activities with a member­ ship reduced to h alf made it urgent to consider how it could live on as the transitional com m unity it had proved to be. On the reality plane, the recogni­ tion that sqme o f the difficulties o f the school situation w ere due to its being

A n Educational M odel for Group D ynam ics

T able 8

163

The Situation at the End of the Ninth Session Absentees

Speakers Speakers’ sub-group Half/silent sub-group Total

6

3 9

Absentees’ sub-group Half/silent sub-group Total

(PL)

6

3 9

(AL)

transitional marked a definite advance in the pursuit o f the group task, for whatever solution reached w ould have to take this transitional nature into account. It was on this theme, w hich turned out to involve special consider­ ation o f the school’s (and the teacher’s) relations with outside groups in the community, that the group, at its next m eeting, decided to focus in its next term ’s work. Having found its “ project” it was able to pass into the second phase o f its existence.

Charisma and the Dependent Group The session selected for detailed report illustrates the effective role played by an absentees’ (“ bad” ) group from w hich the ( “ go od ” ) present group cannot dissociate itself, since it represents part o f itself— its own badness— and ultimately its own extinction. Its efforts to survive are constantly thwarted through re-introjection o f the “ badness” at first projected into the absentees. A t the level o f group leadership this process appears in the institution by the group o f an absent leader in opposition to the legitimate leader, the role o f the absent leader being to provide leadership for the basic group (in the form o f baD) with w hich the work group (W) under the legitim ate leader has to contend. A n individual perceived as com pletely contained in a particular sub-group is not likely to emerge as the leader o f his group as a w hole. It was shown that, apart from P L , A L w as the only ubiquitous member. She therefore attracted towards herself any forces in the group seeking an alternative leadership to that o f P L. The attributes o f her position, moreover, made her into a figure com ­ pounded o f seem ingly incompatible opposites— absent yet present in her paper, silent yet speaking through another m ember o f the group. These were attributes w hich made it the easier to endow her with an omnipresent, m agical and com pelling omnipotence. It is this quality that constitutes her valency for the leadership o f baD. The charismatic pow er w hich she developed appears to be directly related to this phantasmagoric hinterland. A question that has remained obscure in W eber’s (1947) conception o f charismatic leadership is the

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Varieties o f Group Process

nature o f the sanction on w hich the authority o f such charismatic leaders depends. A suggestion arising from the present study is that the source o f this sanction is the basic group.

References Bion, W.R. 1961. Experiences in Groups and Other Papers. London: Tavistock Pub­ lications; New York: Basic Books. Ezriel, H. 1950. “A Psycho-Analytic Approach to Group Treatment.” British Journal of Medical Psychology, 23:59-74. Jaques, E. 1951. The Changing Culture o f a Factory. London: Tavistock Publications. Newcomb, T.M. 1952. Social Psychology. New York: Dry den Press. Sutherland, J.D. 1985. “ Bion Revisited.” In Bion and Group Psychotherapy, edited by Malcomb Pines. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Weber, M. 1947. The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. Translated by A.R . Henderson and T. Parsons. London: William Hodge.

Eric J. Miller

Experiential Learning in Groups I The Development o f the Leicester Model*

Introduction The Tavistock/Leicester Conference— or, as it is now more often called, the Leicester Conference— is an intensive tw o-w eek residential event devoted to experiential learning about group and organizational behavior, with a particu­ lar emphasis on the nature o f authority and leadership. Its purpose is educa­ tional. The conference brings together an international membership of, usu­ ally, 5 0 -7 0 people drawn from a w ide range o f occupations and professions, in industry and com m erce, education, m edical and social services, the voluntary sector, etc. The staff group o f ten or so is sim ilarly diverse. The conference has been held once and sometimes tw ice a year since 1957— over 40 altogether. A ll have been sponsored by what is now the Group Relations Training Pro­ gramme (GRTP) o f the Tavistock Institute o f Human Relations (TIHR), som e­ times in co-sponsorship with other organizations. The first seven conferences were jointly sponsored by Leicester University, and almost all have been held at Leicester in one o f the U n iversity’s halls o f residence. The essentials o f the approach, including its theoretical underpinnings, were largely established by the m id-1960s. Since then, the “ Leicester m odel” has provided the basis for numerous other conferences, some run by the G R TP and very many more by other institutions, in Britain and a dozen different countries around the world. In most cases these w ere developed with the active support o f the Tavistock Institute. Around the conference work and its applica­ tions there has em erged a substantial literature. For a decade or more, the A .K . R ice Institute (A K R I), the principal exponent o f the Leicester m odel in the United States, has been organizing a biennial scientific meeting focussed on the conferences and their ramifications; the First International Sym posium , jointly sponsored by G R T P and A K R I, was held at O xford (July, 1988) on the theme o f “ applications to social and political issues.” *A requested overview.

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Varieties o f Group Process

History O r ig in s

The first Leicester Conference w as explicitly an experim ent and it w as m eticu­ lously planned and documented. It was reported in Exploration in Group R elations: a residential conference held in Septem ber 1957 by the U niversity o f Leicester and the Tavistock Institute o f Human Relations (Trist and Sofer, I )* The late Professor John A llaw ay, then Head o f the Department o f Adult Education in the U niversity o f Leicester, was Chairman o f the E xecutive Com m ittee that planned and ran the Conference; Eric Trist was program director.

959

A s A lla w ay noted in his introduction to the monograph, this was “ the first full-scale experiment in Britain with the laboratory method o f training in group relations.” This was a direct reference to the laboratory method that had developed at B ethel, M aine, since 1947 by the National Training Laboratories (N TL). Based on the T-Group, it was a model o f intensive experiential learning that had sprung directly from the w ork o f Kurt L e w in, w hose group theories had strongly influenced the early Tavistock group. The Tavistock approach, however, was influenced also by psychoanalysis. In the late 1950s, experiential learning o f the Bethel type w as still a novelty in Britain, and psychoanalysts were som ewhat suspect. Cosponsorship by a university, especially by a department in the educational field, was seen as important in adding credibility. A lla w ay had the courage to back the venture on behalf o f Leicester U niversity and secured the V ice-C h an cellor’s support. The organizing com m ittee successfully approached a w ide range o f organi­ zations to nominate members for the first conference. Recruitm ent through an organizational rather than a personal channel w as thought to provide a so­ ciological barrier against members becom ing covert patients. M ore than a third o f the 45 who enrolled cam e from industry (many, but by no means all, in personnel and training roles). Others were drawn from universities and other educational institutions; the Home O ffice (attendance o f a prison governor and a deputy governor being the beginning o f a long association o f the Prison Service with the Leicester Conferences); the probation service; local authori­ ties; and voluntary organizations. Eric Trist, then Chairm an o f the M anage­ ment Com m ittee o f TIH R , led the staff group o f 14. Twenty-six o f the members attended a tw o day follow -up session six months later. Suffice to say that the evaluation justified mounting a second conference in 1959, follow ed fairly quickly by a third, fourth and fifth in 19 6 0 -6 1. Leicester U n iversity’s co-sponsorship extended over the first seven confer­ ences. It ended with the retirement o f John A lla w ay and o f his colleague, Professor J.W. Tibbie, who had also becom e actively involved.

Experiential Learning in Groups I D evelopm ents

in

167

D e s ig n

In the earliest conference the central event was the small Study Group, consist­ ing o f 9 - 1 2 members, a staff consultant and a staff observer. Its task was to study its ow n behavior, as a group, in the here-and-now. The other main events were lectures (social theory sessions) and Application Groups, which were intended between them to help members make sense o f their Study Group experience and consider how it might be applied in their external roles. There were also plenary review sessions. This design w as broadly similar to that at B ethel, though the equivalent Bethel T-group was larger— up to 20. A lso the Leicester consultant’s orientation was less person-centered: it addressed the dynam ics o f the group, and it concentrated on interpretation rather than facili­ tation. The 1959 Conference saw the experimental introduction o f an InterGroup Event, in which members were asked to divide into groups and negoti­ ate an agreement on how to use vacant slots in the program. Consultants helped to interpret the inter-group dynam ics (Higgin and Bridger, 1964). In 1962, TIH R gave authority to Kenneth R ice to take over leadership o f the group relations conferences. The conferences could no longer be subsidized from the Institute’s research funds and R ice was w illing to try to make them financially viable. He did indeed succeed in m aking the conferences selffinancing, but only because he and other staff colleagues were committed enough to accept nominal remuneration. (And it is still the case, in 1988, that, in order to keep membership fees at a level acceptable to non-com m ercial organizations, payments to staff remain modest.) However, R ic e ’s major contribution to the conferences was not econom ic but technical and conceptual. The period o f his direction saw at least four significant developm ents in design (R ice, 1965). The first was innovation o f the Large Group. Its task was the same as for the small Study Group, but it included all the members (sometimes 70 or more) with 2 - 4 consultants. Secondly, the Inter-Group Event was re-defined as having a single task: the membership was to form itself into groups and to study their interrelatedness in the here-and-now. Thirdly, a second type o f inter-group event (later developed into the Institutional Event) was introduced, in w hich the focus o f study was the member/staff relationship within the conference institution as a w hole. Finally, as a natural consequence o f increasing the emphasis on experiential learning, the lectures were reduced and eventually dropped. Plenary sessions and Application Groups were retained, and there was increasing use o f interim R eview Groups, to give members opportunities to reflect on their experience. The “ single-task” model introduced by R ice, with its insistence on the study o f the here-and-now, had some critics within TIH R. T hey believed the interpretive stance was too threatening to some members and could inhibit learning rather than encourage it. A ccordingly, Harold Bridger, who was

1 68

Varieties o f Group Process

centrally involved in the earlier Leicester Conferences and had introduced the inter-group experiment in 1959, developed an alternative conference m odel, based on a “ tw o-task” design. In this, membership groups are given specific assignments and study the dynam ics o f the groups in tackling them. Bridger continues to organize these conferences through TIH R and in association with other institutions. That m odel, how ever, is outside the scope o f this chapter. It m ay be added that externally, particularly in the United States, the term “ Tavistock m odel” was applied indiscrim inately to both, w hich was a source o f confusion. M ore dom estically, there was a period when the tw o m odels and their two protagonists, R ice and Bridger, were set up as rivals— a rivalry over legitim acy. In retrospect it is plain that they are com plem entary (see Bridger I, 2, “ Courses and Working Conferences as Transitional Learning Institutions” ). Despite some subsequent theoretical and technical developm ents, the Leicester Conference model o f today was essentially established by the time R ice died in 1969. Then, as now, a typical d a y ’s program in the first w eek would comprise four one-and-a-half-hour sessions, with a break in the after­ noon or evening; Sm all Study Group (SSG ) and Large Study Group (L SG ) in the morning; and two sessions o f Inter-Group (IG). In the second w eek, the Institutional Event (IE) w ould replace the IG , and towards the end there w ould be Application Group (AG ) and Plenary (P) sessions. Som e conferences also include the Very Sm all Study Group (V S S G ), o f 5 - 7 members (G osling,

1981). Thus the S S G has becom e only one o f several settings for the here-and-now study o f relatedness o f individual, group and organization. The conference as a w hole, com prising both members and staff, is designed as a temporary educa­ tional institution, w hich can be studied experientially as it form s, evolves and com es to an end. It also becam e clear during the 1960s that “ group relations” w as too broad and vague a description o f what was being studied. To be sure, it has alw ays been characteristic o f the Leicester model that the focus o f interpretation has been on the dynam ics o f the group as a w hole, and not on individuals. In the early days (and I speak from painful personal memories) a trainee consultant would feel grateful to identify any group-as-a-whole dynam ic at all. W ith experience, however, although the consultant m ay still feel lost at tim es, often there is an evident choice o f interpretations that m ight be made. R ice recog­ nized that the definition o f the primary task o f the conference as a w hole and o f the events within it was therefore important. In the early 1960s he was defining the primary task o f the conference as “ to provide those w ho attend with opportunities to learn about leadership” (R ice, 1965:5). He then worded it more precisely in terms o f studying the nature and exercise o f authority. Recognition that there are choices in the definition o f primary task and, therefore, in the focus o f interpretation, enlarged the scope o f conference

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design. Thus the late 1970s saw the introduction o f a series o f Leicester Conferences with the title “ Individual and Organization: the Politics o f R e­ latedness.” These alternated with more traditional conferences on the theme o f “ Authority, Leadership and O rganization” w hich still continue. In these, the primary task is defined as: to provide opportunities to study the exercise of authority in the context of inter­ personal, inter-group and institutional relations within the Conference Institu­ tion. The primary task o f each event is defined in relation to that overall definition. N owadays alternate conferences make special provision for members with previous Leicester (or similar) experience: in some sessions they w ork sepa­ rately from first-timers; in others, jointly. Other conferences include a Training Group, members o f w hich have usually already taken part in at least two residential conferences. The first such group was introduced in 1963. Initially, this was designed to expand the pool o f potential staff. It now has the broader aim o f helping people to understand and practice the consultant role in group and organizational settings.

The Interplay of Theory and Method In the first Leicester Conference in 1957, the Study Group was the only experiential event. Groups met for tw elve one-and-a-half-hour periods over the two weeks. They w ere designed to enable members to explore group processes and their own involvem ent in them— processes that were held to be inherent in any human group but w hich were much more visible in the single-task Study Group setting. Our central theoretical and practical interest was and remains what w e later came to term “ relatedness” : the processes o f mutual influence between indi­ vidual and group, group and group, and group and organization, and, beyond that, the relatedness o f organization and com m unity to wider social system s, to society itself. In all these forms o f relatedness there is a potential tension. A s B ion (196 1) had showed, the individual needs groups in order to establish his or her identity, to find meaning in existence, and to express different aspects o f the self. Correspondingly, the group needs the individual member for its own collective purposes— both to contribute to the group’s task and to participate in the processes through which the group acquires and maintains its ow n distinc­ tive identity. But this process is one that often threatens individuality. A s with individuals, so with groups in relation to organizations and wider systems. “ G roup” and “ organization,” how ever, are not entities, with an

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objective reality; they are ideas or constructs that w e hold in our minds. A particular group is a construct substantially shared, exp licitly or im plicitly, by a number o f individuals. B ut— except in the restricted b iological sense— “ indi­ vidual” too can sim ilarly be conceived as a construct, a reification. Thus the relatedness, and the associated tension, is more appropriately conceptualized as connecting not two entities, individual and group, but tw o processes— individuation and incorporation— m oving towards, but never reaching, indi­ vidual autonomy on the one hand and subm ergence in the group on the other. This theoretical perspective is central to the conceptualization o f the C on ­ ference model; and obviously the Conferences them selves illuminate the the­ ory. H ow ever, the primary task o f the conference is not to contribute to theory but to provide members with opportunities to learn about their ow n in volve­ ment in these dynam ics, with a specific focus on learning about the nature o f authority and the problems encountered in its exercise. M ore generally, the aim is to enable “ the individual to develop greater maturity in understanding and managing the boundary between his ow n inner world and the realities o f his external environm ent” (M iller, 1977:44; M iller and R ice, 1967:269)— in other words, to struggle to exercise on e’s own authority, to m anage on eself in role and to becom e less a captive o f group and organizational processes (Law rence and M iller, 1976; Law rence, 1979).

C

onceptual

Fram ew ork

I have postulated elsewhere (M iller, 1976a) that in the field o f human behavior no conceptual fram ework is com plete without a statement o f the role o f the observer and his or her relation to the observed. There is an obvious link to sub­ atomic physics, as illuminated by H eisenberg’s principle o f uncertainty. If within a group I address m yself to a person, I confirm that person’s identity as an individual; i f I shift m y focus to the level o f the group, the notion o f the bounded individual appears as a reification. Sim ilarly, the conceptual fram e­ w ork that underpins Leicester Conferences rests on a definition o f role and task in which the staff are not flies on the w all, but are trying to enable the conference members to understand and gain greater control over the situations they are in. We are integrally part o f the process, not outside it. The intellectual inheritance from L e win lies particularly in his insistence, from the late 1930s onwards, on the importance o f studying the “ gestalt” properties o f groups as wholes. B ion, in his concurrent developm ent o f an approach to group psycho­ therapy, adopted a similar focus, but brought to it a psychoanalytic orientation. B io n ’s view s are explained in Sutherland (Vol. I, “ B ion R evisited ” ). He

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postulates that at any given time the behavior o f a group can be analyzed at two levels: it is a sophisticated group (or work group) met to perform an overt task; and it is at the same time a basic group, acting on one, and only one, o f three covert basic assumptions (fight/flight, dependence and pairing), to which its individual members contribute anonym ously and in w ays o f w hich they are not consciously aware. It is a function o f the basic assumption operating at any one time to keep at bay emotions associated with the other tw o assumptions— primitive-emotional states belonging to the “ proto-mental system ” — that m ay be inconsistent with the overt task. B io n ’s formulation is one element o f the psychoanalytic components in the fram ework. A second is the formulation by M elanie K lein (who profoundly influenced Bion) o f processes o f infant developm ent and their effects on adult life (K lein, 1959). She identified two developm ental phases: the “ paranoidschizoid and the depressive positions” w hich to some extent persist through life. The manifestation o f these processes in group and organizational life, particularly through the defenses o f splitting, denial and projective identifica­ tion, are discussed in Jaques (Vol. I, “ On the D ynam ics o f Social Structure” ) and M enzies Lyth (Vol. I , “ Social System s as a D efense Against A n x iety ” ). Psychoanalysis, besides suggesting that explanations for human behavior in groups m ay be found in prim itive and unconscious processes, has also pro­ vided a role-model for Tavistock staff working not with individual patients but with groups and organizations. N early all the Institute’s w ork in the 1950s and 1960s (and much o f it still today) was a form o f action research in w hich the research worker was also a consultant, taking a professional role in relation to the client system; and indeed consultancy was the method through which research data were generated. Individuals and groups interact in order to find w ays o f giving meaning to their experience and also to develop mechanisms that can defend them against uncertainty and anxiety (W ilson, 1951; Jaques, 1953; 1955; M enzies, i960); these defenses, often unrecognized and deeply rooted, are threatened by pros­ pects o f change; hence it is an important part o f the consultant role to serve as a container during the w orking through o f change. A still more specific deriva­ tion from the analyst’s role has been the stress laid on exam ining and using the transference and counter-transference within the professional relationship. That is to say, the w ay in which the consultant is used and experienced, and also the feelings evoked in him, m ay offer evidence o f underlying and unstated issues and feelings in the client system: that w hich is repressed by the client may be expressed by the consultant. A gain this was a cornerstone o f B io n ’s approach to groups. Those features o f the fram ework described so far were part o f the conceptual input into the earliest Leicester Conferences. The distinctive additional contri­ bution through R ice was the application o f a much more fu lly developed

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organizational model derived from open systems theory (von Bertlanffy, 1950a, b). A key connecting concept, derived from L ew in (1935; 1936) and developed in the open systems form ulation, is that o f boundary. The existence and survival o f any human system depends upon continuous interchange with its environment, whether o f materials, people, inform ation, ideas, values or fantasies. The boundary across w hich these “ com m odities” flow in and out both separates any given system from , and links it to, its environment. It marks a discontinuity between the task o f that particular system and the tasks o f the related systems with which it transacts. Because these relations are never stable and static, and because the behavior and identity o f the system are subject to continual renegotiation and redefinition, the system boundary is best conceived not as a line but as a region (Lew in, 1935; 1936). That region is the location o f those roles and activities that are concerned with m ediating relations between inside and outside. In organizations and groups this is the function o f leader­ ship; in individuals it is the ego function. The leadership exercised in this region can protect the internal sub-systems from the disruption o f fluctuating and inconsistent demands from outside; but it also has to promote those internal changes that w ill enable the system to be adaptive, and indeed proactive, in relation to its environment. The health and ultim ately the survival o f a system therefore depends on an appropriate m ix o f insulation and perm eability in the boundary region (M iller and R ice, 1967). From the late 1950s onwards, R ice and some o f his colleagues (m yself included) were using the open system formulation in conjunction with the notion o f primary task (R ice, 1958; 1963). It was postulated that a purposeful human system at any given time has a primary task, in the sense o f the task that it must perform if it is to survive. Boundaries between sets o f activities define task systems, around w hich organizational boundaries m ay potentially be drawn. Finally people— the human resources o f the enterprise— carry roles through which they contribute the requisite activities to the task o f the organi­ zation. It was this conceptual apparatus o f open system and primary task that R ice brought to bear on the design o f the Leicester Conference in the early 1960s (R ice, 1965). He was very insistent on identifying the primary tasks o f the conference as a w hole and o f the constituent events. Boundary becam e a critical concept: time boundaries, territorial boundaries and especially role boundaries— between staff and member, between the different roles that might be taken by the same person at different times. B eyond that are the boundaries between person and role, between the inner world o f the individual and the external environment. This notion that the individual too can be conceptualized as an open system developed in the m id-1960s and perhaps took us one small step closer to the

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ultimate goal o f a unified theory o f human behavior. R ice explicated this idea in a seminal paper reprinted elsewhere in this volum e (R ice, 1969; Vol. I, “ Individual, Group and Inter-Group Processes” ; M iller, 1976b).

P r a c t ic e : T h e R o le

of

Staff

Those invited to join the staff at Leicester have been members o f at least two residential conferences and probably also a Training Group. T hey m ay first have taken a staff role in a shorter conference, perhaps non-residential. U sually each staff group includes at least tw o— often m ore— staff from related institu­ tions. These w ill have had considerable staff experience in other conferences, often including directorship. In the early conferences it was considered mandatory that study group consultants should be analysts or at least have had an extended analysis. A nalysts were the obvious candidates for an approach that involved interpret­ ing the transference o f the group as a w hole onto the consultant; and they were likely to be more attuned to, and less dism ayed by, unconscious processes. M oreover, the organizers were concerned about the possibilities o f individual disturbance in the intensive group setting; it seemed prudent to have a clinician in the consultant role. B y the early 1960s, with increasing demand for conferences, it had becom e clear that insistence on this qualification w ould severely constrain growth and dissemination. Initial anxieties about the effects on individuals had turned out to be exaggerated, so that clinical experience was not needed. Indeed, it could sometimes draw the consultant’s attention towards an individual and aw ay from the group. The capacity to be in touch with on e’s ow n shifting experience in relation to the group— o f being pushed and pulled, attacked and ignored— and to reflect that back to the group, preferably with some explanation o f w hy it might be happening, remained, o f course, a central criterion: the group process is not something extraneous, m erely to be observed and commented upon. But the fundamental qualification for consultancy seemed to be an ability to stick to the task and role. A ccordingly, the early training groups included university teach­ ers, managers from industry and prison governors among others. Leicester Conference Directors have continued to be people with analytic experience, though not necessarily analysts; indeed, for the first tw elve years there was a policy that the director role should not be taken by a psychiatrist. It was argued that under psychiatric leadership the membership w ould be more likely to produce “ patients” and that the stance o f the Conference m ight tilt aw ay from the educational towards the therapeutic. B y 1970, how ever, the model was firmly enough established to lessen that risk.

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The conference director is appointed by the sponsoring institution(s). He or she is initially responsible for conference design and the appointment o f staff. B y accepting the invitation, staff members are individually confirm ing the director’s authority; but the staff group as a w hole, including both consulting and administrative staff, is conceived as co llectively the “ m anagem ent.” A s such, staff have the shared responsibility for providing the boundary condi­ tions— o f task definition, territory and tim e— within w hich all participants, them selves included, can engage with the primary task o f the conference. Hence the authority o f the director has to be confirmed by the staff group at their pre-conference m eeting, and that authorization has to be kept under review as the conference proceeds. O nce the conference has begun, the staff group has the authority to replace the director. I f there is irreconcilable disagreement between the director and one or more staff mem bers, then one or the other has to resign. A lthough in practice this has never happened, it has nearly happened; and it is vital in a conference devoted to exam ining authority that the authority o f the director should alw ays remain to som e extent problem ­ atic. The director has to be available for the transference o f the staff as w ell as o f the membership. This offers evidence o f the prevailing dynam ic in the con­ ference institution as a whole; and more generally it yields insight into the collusive processes through w hich, for exam ple, organizational hierarchies are sustained. A t the more overt level, the director has responsibility, on behalf o f the staff group, for overall boundary m anagement— the external boundary, especially in relation to the hall o f residence in which the conference is held; and internally, the boundaries between staff and membership and between sub­ sets o f the staff. M anagem ent o f practical matters on these boundaries is delegated to the conference administrator(s). The director leads the w ork o f staff in public, for exam ple in plenary sessions, and in its ow n separate meetings. The director also takes a consultant role, usually in the L S G . W ithin the staff group there is a defined pattern o f delegation to sub-sets o f the staff— for exam ple, one with responsibility for the Sm all Study Group system , consisting o f several S S G s, and another for the L S G . The individual consultant is conceived as deriving authority from the sub-set and as being accountable to it. Exam ination o f mutual projections between these sub-sets is an important, and often difficult, task o f frequent full staff meetings. A consultant’s interpretation is essentially a w orking hypothesis about this set o f system atic relations, drawing on observations and internal feelings. For exam ple, when in an S S G a silent m ember is being picked on by others, the consultant may feel and say that the attack is really on him or herself for not contributing what the members want; and further that the attack is displaced be­ cause there is anxiety that if it were directed specifically it w ould be so violent as to destroy the consultant and throw the group into anarchy; and beyond that

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again, that the small group has to be kept safe because the w ider system — the conference at large— is felt to be evil and indiscrim inately destructive. Ideally, therefore, the working hypothesis contains a “ because clau se” — a possible explanation o f w hy this dynam ic is occurring. The consultant is not alw ays able to offer such a because clause immediately: tw o or three intervening observations m ay be necessary first. A lw a y s , how ever, the consultant is trying to use the experience o f being pushed into this role or that in order to w ork at the task o f the group— the study o f its ow n behavior, as a group, in the hereand-now. Comm ents on individual behavior and dynam ics are avoided. “ Per­ sonality variab les,” in the words o f a typical brochure, “ are for private consideration by the individual mem ber.” The consultant w ill, however, ap­ propriately draw attention to processes in w hich the group is casting an individual member in a role— as fight-leader, clow n or non-speaker, for exam ple— to serve its collective needs. In taking up this interpretive role, the consultant is operating at the boundary o f the system, trying to understand what is happening between the parts and the w hole, and between the w hole and its environment. One hopes that at times members w ill learn to take up this boundary perspective them selves. It is partly for this reason that the role o f observer to the small study groups has been abandoned: it offers the members an alternative and inappropriate role-m odel, one through which to escape from the w ork rather than engage with it. M oreover, it distorts, deflects or dilutes the transference onto the consultant, to whom some processes then becom e less accessible. These factors outweigh the possible advantages o f giving the consultant another perspective in postsessional discussions and also o f providing a niche for a trainee. Analogous to the training o f psychoanalysts, it now seems more appropriate to provide the novice S S G consultant with supervision after the session. Peer discussions within the sub-set o f consultants are a further learning opportunity. Two other points m ay be made about consultant behavior in experiential groups w hich sometimes causes puzzlem ent. First, the consultant enters and leaves the group territory strictly according to the timetable. This predictability offers a form o f security; it defines the time available and leaves the members with their authority to decide how to use it; and it enables the consultant to interpret the w ay they use it. Second, the contributions o f the consultant are alw ays directed as far as possible to the task: thus conventional social rituals, such as “ good m ornings,” w hich are not task-related, are eschew ed. In the R eview and Application Groups, w hich have a different task, the role o f the consultant is correspondingly different: it tends to be less interpretive and more facilitati ve, and is occasionally even didactic in that the consultant may offer conceptual fram eworks to help members understand processes they have experienced. Recognition that change o f role is accom panied by change in behavior is itself an enlightenment to some members.

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T heory

and

Ph enom enology

Conference members com m only have the fantasy that they are guinea-pigs being experimented upon by a staff w hose primary interest is in research and the advancement o f know ledge. Such a fantasy is understandable. There is an abundant social science literature based on therapy and training groups w hose members have know ingly or unknow ingly been the objects o f observation and experimentation, and some o f these studies have indeed been illum inating. M oreover, the Tavistock Institute is know n to be in the research business. B eyond that, in the conference itself, staff members are aspiring to use a version o f the scientific method in the here-and-now: they are putting forward w orking hypotheses with evidence from their observations and internal feel­ ings, and are inviting members to use their own evidence to verify or falsify the hypotheses. If, as they often do, members find their experiential learning difficult and painful, it is not surprising that they should take the paranoid view that they are victim s o f staff’s experim ents. The fact is that there has been a rigorous adherence to the primary task o f “ providing opportunities to learn” and an avoidance o f m uddying this by pursuing a research agenda. During the 1960s, Pierre Turquet, with the partici­ pants’ permission, recorded study group sessions in tw o or three advanced training groups. W ith that exception, he and others w ho have w orked to distill something from their groups have had to rely on m aking notes between sessions. W ithin the conferences, the place o f theory is properly problem atic. Until the m id-1960s, lecture sessions were an integral part o f the conference design. W ith some early exceptions, the lecturers were staff members w ho also had consulting roles in the experiential events. Their subjects included theories o f individual, group and organization and also the application o f theories to prac­ tical problems in the lecturers’ own experience. A ccord in g to R ice (1965:35), the lectures were “ designed to give intellectual content to the learning taking place in other events o f the con feren ce,” and “ to provide a fram ew ork for articulation o f the experience o f the conference.” He went on to say: “ The lecture series has, how ever, an important secondary task: to provide a tradi­ tional form o f teaching within a learning situation that is using unfam iliar m ethods.” B y the m id-1960s, that secondary task was becom ing redundant. A serious consideration was a sense that the theories and concepts w ere being used defensively. Such formulations as B io n ’s basic assumptions o f dependency, fight/flight and pairing, or Tuckm an’s stages o f group developm ent (form ing, storming, norming, performing) (Tuckman, 1965) were tending to be used as labels for an experience— “ A h! Yes! This is ‘basic assumption fight’ ” — as if that were the end o f the matter. Labelling is defensive in that it inhibits

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puzzling over the actual experience, wondering how one got caught up in it, w hy at this time, and so on. It also simplifies what is invariably a much more com plex set o f processes: apperception o f other elem ents, w hich m ay be more difficult and troublesom e, is squeezed out. One further consideration that contributed to abandoning lectures was the fairly frequent experience that members’ projections onto the lecturer were carry-overs from a preceding experiential event. Thus concepts are more appropriately introduced in the concluding application phase o f the conference, at a point at w hich they may help members to relate specific experiences to their external roles. Although conference brochures include a reading list, those participants who use it generally find that it is after the conference, when they can reflect on links with their own experience, that they gain most from the written word. M ost staff have also learned to be cautious about carrying too much concep­ tual baggage into their consultant roles. G oslin g, in “ A Study o f Very Sm all Groups” (198 1) has made this point eloquently. H aving directed very many Leicester and other conferences over the past 20 years, I am highly conscious o f the pressures, internal and external, towards becom ing an “ institutional­ ized ” director. The symptom is loss o f capacity to be surprised— the sense o f having been here before and know ing what to do next. I know, yet repeatedly have to relearn, that this is precisely what the staff and membership want o f me: to provide such containment that they too can avoid surprise. Perversely but properly, members seem to learn more from the inexperienced consultant, who is constantly confronted with the unfam iliar and lacks a com forting repertoire o f tried and tested responses. Thus I have to work hard to becom e “ inexperi­ enced” — to low er m y defenses against recognizing that I have never before been with these people in this setting at this moment. To give a trivial exam ple, I rarely note down em erging ideas: I am aware that yesterday’s jottings may structure and blinker what I see today. Theoretical form ulations, if they are to further rather than inhibit experien­ tial learning, probably have to be held at a very general or abstract level. Thus, as w e have seen, B io n ’s identification o f three specific basic assumption groups readily leads to labelling. W hat remains useful, in the context o f the conference w ork, is the notion o f basic assumption functioning in groups and, lying behind that, his proposition that the basic assumptions are to be regarded as secondary formations that defend against prim itive psychotic anxieties— related, for exam ple, to “ an extrem ely early primal scene worked out on a level o f part objects” (Bion, 1961:164). This makes it clearer that to label a basic assump­ tion is sim ply to label a defense; whereas by shifting our attention back to the underlying level w e are at least potentially open to uncovering the prim itive phantasies that, at a given moment, the shared defense is being m obilized to repress. Jaques, drawing on K lein and building on B ion, offered the equivalently

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useful theory o f larger social systems as providing defenses against persecutory and depressive anxiety (Jaques, 1955; Vol. I , “ On the D ynam ics o f Social Structure” ); and M enzies (i960; Vol. I , “ Social System s as a D efense A gainst A n x iety ” ) was then able to identify the more specific anxieties and associated defenses in nursing. It is, o f course, by rem oving the fam iliar structures and conventions— or, to be more precise, by reducing them to the differentiation o f tw o roles, member and consultant— that the conference setting m akes the defenses and underlying anxieties more accessible. R ice (196 9:565-66 ; Vol. I , “ Individual, Group and Inter-Group Pro­ cesses” ) offered a sim ilarly useful perspective for the exam ination o f inter­ group relations. These, he postulated, are affected by the defenses that a group m obilizes against the underlying anxiety that the transaction w ill destroy the integrity o f its boundary. His additional proposition was that this dynam ic is a feature o f all relationships, including those between individuals. In the same paper, R ice drew attention to limitations in B io n ’s formulation o f basic assumptions, in that they describe only “ special cases w hich are most easily observable in small groups because they are large enough to give pow er to an alternative leadership” (i.e ., leadership o f a basic assumption group in competition with w ork group leadership) “ and yet not so large as to provide support for more than one kind o f pow erful alternative leadership at any one tim e” (p.578). It is to Turquet (1975) that w e are indebted for a further conceptualization o f large group processes, again at a level that encourages rather than constrains the exploration o f what is happening in a particular group. In the words o f its sub-title, his paper is “ a study in the phenom enology o f the individual’s experiences o f changing membership in a large group.” It draws entirely on his own experience as one o f 2 - 4 consultants in L S G s o f 4 0 -8 0 members at L eicester and allied conferences. He points out that the consultant is present in a dual capacity, both in a defined role and as a person. This is, o f course, also the case with the consultant in the small group. A com m on question is: Is the consultant part o f the group or not? The answer is both: as a person, inescapably yes; in the role o f consultant, no. To be caught in one capacity at the expense o f the other is to lose the ability to work. But the forces in the large group are more pow erful; the role o f consultant m ay be lost for longer periods. He too will find himself alone, an isolate; he too will lose his wits, be de-skilled, filled up, threatened with annihilation— to mention but a few of the many common personal experiences provided by the large group . . . As a consultant, I too . . . am involved in a process, a conversion process whose aim is to make me something other . . . The struggle to resist them, to remain a consultant, is great. In the harsh terms of large-group life, it is a case of who will dominate whom . . . (Turquet, 1975:91-2).

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Turquet offers a term inology for the various forms o f relatedness o f the member to the large group, including non-relationship as one form o f related­ ness. The conference member com es into such a setting as an “ I .” “ I ” refers to “ the person who has not yet achieved a role status in the large group, or to a person w ho has m omentarily left such a status for w hatever reason, possibly in order to search within oneself for a model or a skill; a member in transition” (p. 3 16). Turquet suggests that at this entry stage such a person should be thought o f as a “ singleton, ” “ not yet part o f a group but attempting both to find him self and to make relations with other singletons w ho are in a similar state” (p.94). N ext he considers the position o f the singleton who has established a relationship, with other singletons, with the large group as a w hole. The term he uses for such a “ converted” singleton is “ individual m em ber” (IM). It is a m ove from a non-role to a role. Searching for an equilibrium in the flux o f the large group and its characteristic threat o f annihilation, the singleton experi­ ences the constant attempts to convert him or her from an IM into a “ member­ ship individual” (M I)— a creature o f the group. Turquet goes on to identify the transitional state, “ as the individual member in his group life m oves between the various stages . . . : singleton to IM , IM to M I, or M I back to singleton” (p.96). A t these phases there is at least potentially an opportunity for choice, which is the occasion for expression o f individuality, o f “ I-ness.” Reassertion o f I-ness m ay involve a sudden upsurge o f idiosyncratic behavior. But (Turquet implies) this m ay expose the person to conversion again into an M I. For the singleton to becom e and remain an IM requires finding “ a boundary or skin which both limits and defines him ” (p.96). Externally one needs the presence o f others in order to define “ m e” and “ not m e” ; and internally a sense o f boundary between past and present, then and now. W ithout this, a person is consigned back into the “ undifferentiated non-singleton m atrix” out o f w hich he or she had developed (p. 97). The experience is one o f continual disorienta­ tion. On the one hand are pow erful pressures towards hom ogenization, to­ wards the low est com m on denominator. This, as A nzieu (19 7 1) has indicated, can be a beguiling w orld, w hich gets rid o f sexual difference and castration anxiety and may feed the phantasy that the group itself is an all-gratifying mother, perhaps the mother o f the infant in the w om b. But it is also a destroyer o f identity. On the other hand, assertion o f individuality lays one open to exploitation and to attacks from unknown sources. Or one m ay be left to fall into an infinite void. So it is a fearful place, the more so because one does not know what is happening to on e’s projections or from where and in what form they w ill com e back. There is an experience o f being fractionated into multiple parts. M oreover, the introjected vastness of [one’s] external world meets a similar internal experi­ ence [i.e., of an internal world that is unencompassable and boundless] and by

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their mutual reinforcement the level of anxiety is raised, requiring a further projection into the outer large group of the now reinforced sense of vastness, only to increase the fantasied percept of the large group as now greater than ever before, not only vast but endless (p. 118). Turquet also explores the large group’s potential for violence— an unpredict­ able, errant violence, never far below the surface— along with the fears that this evokes and exam ples o f the defenses that are m obilized. Turquet’s paper is a pow erful contribution, w hich succeeds in com m unicat­ ing and beginning to conceptualize the struggle between individuation and incorporation, w hile at the same time conveying the boundlessness o f the territory that is available to be explored in the here-and-now. A rising out o f the group relations conferences, very m any papers have been written, and some offer valuable descriptions and conceptualizations w hich contribute to social science; but relatively few have the quality o f enhancing the conference w ork itself by low ering the barriers to seeing and hearing what is happening in ourselves and among those around us.

T he R ole

of

P a r t ic ip a n t

a n d th e

N ature

of

L e a r n in g

There are no specific qualifications for membership. Undeniably, som e m em ­ bers find the Conference stressful, and people going through em otional turmoil in their personal lives are probably not in the best state to m ake use o f an intensive educational program; but the decision has to be theirs. Our assump­ tion has to be that, as managers and professionals with responsibility for the w ell-being o f others, they must be capable o f m aking such a decision. Som e­ times w e receive enquiries from organizations about whether to send a particu­ lar manager to the Conference— perhaps someone with relationship diffi­ culties. Our response is that w e do not provide treatment for such difficulties— this is an educational, not a remedial institution. We also recom m end against sending anyone: learning is much more likely if the individual exercises his or her own authority to apply. The fee structure encourages tw o or more members from the same organization to attend togethër: experience shows that they are more likely to apply their learning effectively when they go back. In the conference opening, the director m ay typically say: “ Staff are not here to teach in the conventional sense but to provide opportunities to learn. W hat you learn and the pace at w hich you learn are up to y o u .” There is a starting assumption that application to becom e a member im plies some pre­ paredness to engage in the task o f the conference. B eyond that, the role o f member is not defined. There is no com pulsion to attend sessions on tim e, or at all. Taking up a membership role is left to the individual’s authority.

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The experience o f being a member is nevertheless initially disconcerting. The task o f here-and-now study is unfam iliar and elusive; experience in other roles seems o f little help; and members feel de-skilled. T h ey see them selves as acting as individuals, yet the consultants persist in interpreting their behavior as a function o f the group as a w hole (M iller, 1980). W hereas the individual is clear that he or she intended this, or did not intend that, the consultant seems perversely to focus instead on effects and consequences, and from these infers unconscious intentions at the level o f the group. So quite basic, taken-forgranted assumptions about on e’s identity, one’s sense o f self, are being called into question; the boundary between self and other, w hich had seemed ob­ vious, suddenly becom es problem atic. B y the end o f the second day most members have “ jo in e d ,” in the sense o f being caught up in the process, and a conference culture has begun to em erge. For exam ple, almost all are strictly observing the time boundaries o f sessions, and the consultant role has becom e less alien. A t the end o f the first w eek there is a 36-hour break, during w hich most members leave Leicester for at least part o f the time. “ Ordinary life ” — life outside the Conference— is often felt to be disorienting, particularly for members going back to their fam ilies. T hey have becom e much more involved than they had realized. B efore the break there is anxiety: w ill others com e back, w ill the consultant com e back? Behind that is the basic question: w ill I com e back? Com m itm ent is tested. The second w eek tests what members thought they had learned in the first: it is a form o f application. “ I ’ ve learned not to get caught like that again” — and then getting caught in just the same w ay; or carefully avoiding one landmine, only to tread on another. There are also the more positive experiences: for exam ple, learning about group organization and representation from the Inter-Group Event may prove useful in the Institutional Event w hich begins after the break. Then, as they com e to the final sessions o f S S G and L S G , and to the closing plenaries, staff and members are w orking at the processes o f ending. This means sorting out some o f the projections o f the past tw o w eeks and redrawing the boundary around oneself. Application sessions help in this by re-alerting members to their external roles. These considerations bring me to the nature o f learning and what m ay be learned. G osling (198 1) is properly skeptical o f an identifiable “ Conference learning.” “ Group Relations Training” is a misnomer. Training im plies trans­ mission o f skills, acquisition o f w hich should, potentially at least, be measur­ able. The Conference provides a set o f experiences, but also explicitly states that authority for m aking use o f the experiences and learning from them rests firm ly with the individual member. Outcom es are therefore idiosyncratic and unpredictable. Twenty years ago R ice and I devised a com plex m ethodology for evaluation (R ice, 1965). Because o f the assumed synergism o f the conference process,

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and also because w e were w ary o f the effects o f intermingling research and educational tasks, w e deferred any attempt to identify the impact o f specific conference events. For the first phase w e proposed a before-and-after set o f indepth clinical interviews com bined with assessments by colleagues in m em ­ bers’ work-settings. It w as a costly schem e, and w e w ere never able to secure funding for it. We therefore remain reliant on im pressionistic and anecdotal evidence, from past m embers, from people w ho know them, and from our own observations. It seems that three different kinds, or levels, o f learning are likely to occur. A t the simplest level, members learn to identify and label some o f the un­ fam iliar phenomena that they encounter, but they do so as observers. A second kind, goes beyond observation to insight, though it is also partly conceptual: the experience adds to the w ays in w hich the individual classifies the w orld and relates to it— particularly involvem ent in unconscious processes. There is an awareness o f phenomena previously unnoticed or dism issed as irrelevant. M em bers often speak o f C onference learning as giving them another perspec­ tive on human behavior, including their ow n, and that is often what they mean. T hey may, how ever, be referring to a third kind o f learning, w hich im plies not an additional perspective but a different perspective. There is a correspondence here to the three levels o f learning postulated by Bateson (1973). Palm er (1979) draws on Bateson in an important paper on “ Learning and the G roup Experi­ en ce.” This third level, as he elegantly puts it, “ entails discovering a capacity to doubt the validity o f perceptions w hich seem unquestionably true.” These distinctions are important, but difficult to operationalize. “ Learning III” implies some degree o f personality re-structuring— a system atic change— o f a kind which w ould be fu lly in line with the aims o f the conference; but how likely is this to happen within the tw o-w eek span? A nd how to measure it? In the absence o f system atic research, I offer the follow ing tentative conclu­ sions. • L evel II learning— the additional perspective— is a fairly com m on and obviously desirable outcom e. Although the groundwork for it is laid by the Conference, it becom es established only in the ensuing months— notably when members identify a process that is dynam ically sim ilar to one in which they were involved in the conference. Or, at that m oment, they may without realizing it respond in a w ay different from a fam iliar pre-conference response. • Learning is reinforced if the member is returning to an organization where others already share that perspective. M enninger (1972; 1985) gives an account o f an attempt in one organization to bring about a significant cultural change by encouraging a substantial number— a critical m ass— o f its professional and administrative staff to attend Leicester Conferences

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and others based on a similar m odel. The second paper follow s up the experiment after some ten years. M ost participants were strongly positive: they reported both professional and personal benefits. M enninger also assessed the impact on the organization as largely positive, though he identified some difficulties— a point to which I shall return. • L evel II learning is a necessary but not sufficient condition for L evel III learning, w hich may be even more desirable, but is less common and more elusive. It is often, though by no means alw ays, expressed in significant changes in the individual’s w ork and personal life: for exam ­ ple, a career m ove, a job change, a change o f partner. (Such m oves, o f course, are not in them selves to be taken as positive indicators: they m ay also be symptoms o f avoiding confrontations that a L evel III change might require.) • Statements made b y members at the end o f the C onference are a poor guide to outcom e. Skepticism tends to be a more positive indicator than enthusiasm or euphoria. A n y account o f members’ experience and learning must also address the issue o f casualties. There is a persistent myth that Leicester Conferences produce psychiatric casualties; and I use the term myth advisedly. Certainly, in the course o f a conference many individuals feel disturbed at tim es, and some may exhibit seem ingly bizarre behavior— hardly surprising in a setting that is quite unconventional. Since 1965 I have been aware o f only two members having been admitted to hospital, very temporarily, as psychiatric patients, during or immediately follow ing a conference, an incidence o f some 0.1 percent. Individual disturbance is treated as a product o f group projections and is almost invariably alleviated by rigorous interpretation at the group level. In almost every conference there is a tiny handful o f members w ho are untouched by the experience. O ccasionally, a member w ill leave, saying: “ This is not for m e.” A few go aw ay with indigestible “ lum ps” o f experience, which they cannot process. A s indicated earlier, w e have no w ay o f identifying such people in advance. If some people are too defended to learn, all w e can do is to respect their defenses. Authority remains with the member.

References Anzieu, D. 1971. “ L ’Illusion Groupel.” Nouvelle Revue de Psychanalyse, 4:73-93. Bateson, G. 1973. Towards an Ecology o f the Mind. St. Albans: Paladin. Bion, W.R. 1961. Experiences in Groups and Other Papers. London: Tavistock Pub­ lications; New York: Basic Books. Gosling, R. 1981. “ A Study of Very Small Groups.” In Do I Dare Disturb the Universe? A Memorial to Dr. Wilfred Bion, edited by J.S. Grotstein. New York: Aaronson.

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Higgin, G. and H. Bridger. 1964. “ The Psycho-Dynamics of a Inter-Group Experi­ ence.” Human Relations, 17:391-446. Jaques, E. 1953. “ On the Dynamics of Social Structure.” Human Relations, 6:3-24. •! - “ Social Systems as a Defence Against a Persecutory and Depressive Anxiety.” In New Directions in Psycho-Analysis, edited by M. Klein, P. Heimann and R.E. Money-Kyrle. London: Tavistock Publications; New York: Basic Books. Klein, M. 1959. “ Our Adult World and Its Roots in Infancy.” Human Relations, 12:291-303. Lawrence, W.G. 1979. “ Introductory Essay: Exploring Boundaries” ; “ A Concept for Today: Managing Oneself in Role.” In Exploring Individual and Organisational Boundaries, edited by W.G. Lawrence. London: Wiley. Lawrence, W.G. andE.J. Miller. 1976. “ Epilogue.” In Task and Organization, edited by E.J. Miller. London: Wiley. Lewin, K. 1935. A Dynamic Theory o f Personality. New York: McGraw-Hill. ---------. 1936. Principles o f Topological Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill. Menninger, R.W. 1972. “ The Impact of Group Relations Conferences on Organiza­ tional Growth.” International Journal o f Group Psychotherapy, 22:415-32. . 1985. “A Retrospective View of a Hospital-wide Group Relations Training Program: Costs, Consequences and Conclusions.” Psychiatric Annals, 38:323-39. Menzies, I.E.P. i960. “A Case-Study in the Functioning of Social Systems as a Defence Against Anxiety: A Report on a Study of the Nursing Service of a General Hospital. ” Human Relations, 13:9 5 -121. Miller, E.J. 1976a. “ Introductory Essay: Role Perspectives and the Understanding of Organizational Behaviour.” In Task and Organization, edited by E.J. Miller. Lon­ don: Wiley. . 1976b. “ The Open-System Approach to Organizatioiial Analysis with Special Reference to the Work of A .K . Rice.” In European Contributions to Organization Theory, edited by G. Hofstede and M. Sami Kassem. Assen/Amsterdam: Van Gorcum. . 1977. “ Organisational Development and Industrial Democracy: a Current Case-Study.” In Organizational Development in the UK and USA: A Joint Evalua­ tion, edited by C. Cooper. London: Macmillan. :— . 1980. “ The Politics of Involvement.” Journal o f Personality and Social Systems, 2:37-50. Miller, E.J. and A .K . Rice. 1967. Systems of Organization: Tasks and Sentient Groups and Their Boundary Control. London: Tavistock Publications. Palmer, B. 1979. “ Learning and the Group Experience.” In Exploring Individual and Organisational Boundaries, edited by W.G. Lawrence. London: Wiley. Rice, A .K . 1958. Productivity and Social Organization: The Ahmedabad Experiment. London: Tavistock Publications. Reissued 1987, New York: Garland. --------- . 1963. The Enterprise and Its Environment. London: Tavistock Publications. --------- . 1965. Learning for Leadership: Interpersonal and Intergroup Relations. London: Tavistock Publications. --------- . 1969. “ Individual, Group and Inter-group Process.” Human Relations, 22:565-84. Trist, E.L. and Sofer, C. 1959. Exploration in Group Relations, Leicester: Leicester University Press. Tuckman, B.W. 1965. “ Developmental Sequence in Small Groups.” Psychological Bulletin, 63:384-99. Turquet, P.M. 1975. “ Threats to Identity in the Large Group.” In The Large Group: Therapy and Dynamics, edited by L. Kreeger. London: Constable.

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von Bertalanffy, L. 1950a. “An Outline of General Systems Theory.” British Journal of the Philosophy of Science, 1:134-65. . 1950b. “ The Theory of Open Systems in Physics and Biology.” Science 3:23— 29. Wilson, A.T.M. 1951. “ Some Aspects of Social Process.” Journal o f Social Issues, Supplemetary Series No. 5.

Eric J. Miller

Experiential Learning in Groups II Recent Developments in Dissemination and Application*

Institutional Reproduction This is a process that began in 1963; and I take this heading from R ice (1965). During the 1960s and early 1970s, the national and international demand for the Leicester model o f group relations training was such that there were pressures to devote more and more time to conference w ork. H ow ever, the staff o f TIH R w ho have been involved in the Leicester C onferences over the years have never wanted to be exclu sively or even m ainly in the business o f running training activities. Continuing experience as practitioners has been seen as a necessary condition for effectiveness in conference work. The TIH R response, therefore, was to encourage and help other institutions in Britain and abroad to acquire their own capabilities to sponsor and staff events based on the Leicester approach. The earliest exam ples o f the 1960s w ere, in England, the Grubb Institute (form erly Christian Teamwork) and, in the United States, the Washington School o f Psychiatry (initially in association with the Yale U niversity School o f M edicine). In both cases, the TIH R co-sponsored a series o f “ Leicester-type” conferences, initially providing the conference director and most staff, until the institutions were equipped with a large enough pool o f trained staff to run the events them selves. B y this time the staff w ere by no means exclu sively drawn from the Tavistock Institute and C lin ic, or from the other initial sponsoring institution, the U niversity o f Leicester. Initiation o f an Advanced Training Group from 1962 onwards made it possible to develop a broader pool o f trained staff from education, industry, the prison and probation services, and so forth, some o f whom were then deployed on the new conferences. R eciprocally, staff o f the new institutions enlarged the pool that could be drawn upon for L eice s­ ter, in a process that still continues. *A new paper.

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Subsequently, there has been sim ilar collaboration in other countries, in­ cluding France (with the International Foundation for Social Innovation), India (the Indian Institute o f M anagem ent, Calcutta) and more recently Israel. One interesting feature o f the French developm ent is that the conferences were established as bi-lingual from the beginning. Either language is used by members and staff indiscriminately. Although m any members and some staff are essentially m onolingual, with very limited comprehension o f the other language, this does not appear to be a significant handicap to their understand­ ing o f the dynam ics; and indeed (as I can confirm from m y own experience on the staff o f a Finnish conference) ignorance o f the words m ay heighten one’s attention to the “ m usic.” The French conferences attract an international membership. M eanw hile the Am erican conference institution, w hich, after R ice died in 1969, was separately incorporated in the follow ing year as the A .K . R ice Institute (A K R I), has not only developed a set o f regional affiliates, straddling the country, each o f which runs conferences based on the Leicester m odel, but has itself engaged in a similar institution-building process in Sw eden. There, the earlier conferences that used imported staff w ere in English; then, as the local institution, A G S L O , becam e self-sufficient, the conference language shifted to Swedish. Conferences have also been run in other countries without (so far) the subsequent developm ent o f a viable local institution. Exam ples include: TIH R and the Grubb Institute in Ireland; the Grubb Institute in Italy, and A K R I in Iceland. In yet other countries, local groups have taken the initiative to develop their ow n capability to run conferences. Finland and Germ any are w ell established exam ples. The catchment area o f the German institution (MundO) includes Austria and Switzerland. There are recently formed or incipient institutions in Norway, Denmark and M exico. A ll the above identify them selves both as implementing a version o f the Leicester model and as drawing directly on the resources and advice either o f the G R T P in TIH R or o f one o f the established sister institutions. In addition there are some institutions, such as the Australian Institute o f Social A nalysis, w hich are developing their ow n distinctive approaches to training, based partly on the Leicester model. W hat has occurred in a partly unplanned w ay is a consensual process o f accreditation, initially by TIH R alone and then increasingly through peer relationships among not only TIH R but other institutions. Interchanges o f staff have been crucial to this process. There are nevertheless a few bodies, in the United States and elsew here, w hich offer events described as using the “ Tav­ istock m od el,” but w hich in some cases use staff with minimum direct experi­ ence o f the conferences and w hich remain outside this informal m echanism o f reciprocal quality control. To com e back to the British scene, there have been collaborative relation­

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ships with several institutions besides the Grubb Institute, but these have ended with the departure or death o f k ey personnel. Exam ples include the Bristol University School o f Education, M anchester Business School and the C helm s­ ford Cathedral Center for Research and Training. Still nearer hom e, the close collaboration in this w ork between the Tavistock C lin ic and Institute has persisted, even though as institutions they have been separate for 40 years. Jock Sutherland, the first post-war M edical D irector o f the C lin ic, made a major input into the early conferences, from 1957 onwards. (A fter he retired, he set up the Scottish Institute o f Human Relations, w hich also organized conferences, some in association with T IH R .) His successor in the role (re-designated Chairman o f the Professional Com m ittee), Robert G o sl­ ing, was actively involved throughout the 1960s and 1970s, until he too retired. The C lin ic ’s own annual non-residential conference, for students and staff, is based on the Leicester m odel, and this has sw ollen the numbers o f C lin ic pro­ fessionals equipped for conference staff roles. The current Chairm an, Anton Obholzer, continues the tradition. Recent Leicester C onferences have been c o ­ sponsored by the Tavistock C linic Foundation and he has directed tw o o f them.

Adaptation W ithin the series o f Leicester Conferences them selves various different de­ signs have been developed. N ew events have been added to the repertoire. If the Very Sm all Group (V S G ) represents the size o f many w orking teams, the M edian Group (M G ) o f 1 5 -3 0 reflects the problems o f many com m ittees and councils in oscillating between the dynam ics o f the small and large groups. The Praxis Event (PE), introduced by Law rence (M iller, 1980; L aw rence, 1985), rem oves a further layer o f structure. During it, the administrator manages the outer boundary o f the conference, w hile the director and all other staff relin­ quish their managerial and consultant roles, thus dissolving the internal m em ­ ber/staff boundary. L eft with only a set o f individuals and a negotiated primary task (which is basically to study what is happening w hile it happens), one is confronted with both creative opportunities and self-im posed constraints in using the freedom s. The set o f events used in any one conference m ay be programmed in different permutations. For exam ple, although the Sm all Study Group (SSG ) has alw ays had an important place, in some designs the Large Study Group (L SG ) has been given priority both as the first session every day and in the overall number o f sessions. (This tends to produce some differences in the dynamics: typically, more sustained developm ent o f myth and metaphor in the L S G and more concern with individualism in the S S G .) H ow ever, the study o f authority has remained the central focus and task.

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Throughout these 30 years, the Leicester C onference has kept its tw o-w eek span and been fu lly residential; but besides this the Leicester model has been translated into various configurations. A n extended non-residential course was introduced in the 1960s. It included all the events o f the regular conferences but was held on one evening a w eek over six months. R ic e ’s evaluation was equivocal; but a critical drawback was the im possibility o f drawing a boundary around the membership and staff in such a w ay as to create the equivalent o f the conference institution “ with properties o f its ow n that would provide oppor­ tunities for learning” (R ice, 1965:182). The full-fledged course was replaced by a simple series of, usually, 10 sessions o f w eekly study groups; these continue, though currently with a shift o f focus aw ay from intra-group pro­ cesses as such on to the relatedness o f these processes to outside society. Collaboration with other institutions led to introduction o f shorter forms o f the m odel— usually 5 - 7 days, though week-end events offer a useful introduc­ tion. Even if non-residential these can be sufficiently intensive for the “ con­ ference as an institution” to be experienced. In the United States A K R I offered an annual tw o-w eek conference for 10 years or so, but recruitment o f member­ ship becam e difficult; so only Leicester has retained the fortnight. The basic m odel nevertheless lends itself to exploration o f other themes, which have been the focus o f many shorter conferences, from a week-end to a w eek, residential and non-residential. Inter-group week-ends were an early exam ple— though that im plied little more than pulling out one event from the Leicester design. In the early 1970s, “ men and w om en” becam e the theme for a number o f conferences, first in the United States (G ould, 1979) and then in Britain. Other themes on w hich the Group Relations Training Programme (GRTP) has been running shorter conferences have included “ creativity and destructiveness,” “ interdependence and conflict” and “ autonomy and confor­ m ity.” In these the main events have been the L S G and the PE. In addition, o f course, a great variety o f training programs for managers and professionals have included experiential events, such as the S S G , along with more conventional teaching methods.

Application O r g a n i z a t i o n a l In t e r v e n t i o n s

O ver the years TIH R has run conferences on the Leicester model for client bodies. One technical difficulty is the strength o f the shared organizational boundary around the membership, w hich becom es a defense against formation o f a boundary around the conference institution. The difficulty is som ewhat reduced in, for exam ple, a large multi-national com pany where many members

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w ill not know one another, and the purpose o f the conference is clearly educational. M uch more problematic are requests to run a Leicester-m odel conference for a set o f people w ho w ork together— perhaps for all the staff o f a clinic or for the managerial or supervisory staff o f a department o f a company. Implicitly, if not explicitly, the prospective client system is hoping that this w ill unlock relationship difficulties and catalyze change. In m y judgm ent a con­ ference as an isolated event can be more dam aging than constructive; con­ ferences should be undertaken only as part o f a longer-term intervention within which the consultant(s) can take continuing professional responsibility to help the client w ork through the outcom es. One such Tavistock intervention was with the U S Dependents Schools (European Area), w hich provide education for children o f Am erican service­ men posted overseas. In this case senior staff members from all the schools were brought together initially for an intensive five-day experiential event, which included some training on mutual consultation. This was follow ed by a six-month application phase during w hich regional groups met regularly to support each other in using the conference experience to analyze and tackle problems in their own schools. C onference consultants were available for some o f these sessions. The intervention concluded with another three-day residen­ tial conference, w hich com bined some additional experiential sessions with more practical review and forward planning. Although it was generally seen as a productive experience, this type o f inhouse intervention carries an inherent tension: w ho is the client? In the regular Leicester C onference, the client is assumed to be the individual member. Even though the fee may be paid by an em ploying organization, it is the member who applies, presum ptively on his or her ow n authority, and correspondingly it is for the member, not for the conference sponsors, to m anage accountability to the employer. H ow to report back is a com m on issue in Application Groups towards the end o f the Conference. In organizational interventions o f the kind just de­ scribed there are tw o clients: the organization and the individual participant. The tension arises from the fact that the Leicester C onference approach is inherently subversive, in that it encourages members to question the nature o f authority, and hence the w ays in w hich they manage their role relationships to superiors, colleagues and subordinates in their own organizations. But in an organizational application the organization, through its m anagement, is also a client. Even though w e m ay demand that membership be voluntary, in reality individuals m ay feel under pressure to attend. M anagers wanting to be “ equal” to subordinates as participants within the conference w ill be under pressure to m obilize their external managerial roles. To the extent that they feel that the conference experience is a threat to their external authority, they are liable to be set up by the rest o f the membership to lead an attack on the conference staff;

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and so the boundary between membership roles and external roles becom es blurred. In such settings, it is a continuing technical problem for consulting staff to w ork at this inherent am biguity and tension o f the dual clients. Another exam ple was a seriously under-performing manufacturing com ­ pany with just under 1,000 em ployees, which was part o f a large international group (M iller, 1977; K haleelee and M iller, 1985). It operated on tw o sites: one, near London, included the main factory and the head office; the other, 100 miles aw ay in the M idlands, contained a much smaller plant. This set up was the result o f amalgamating two businesses, w hich had previously been com ­ petitors. A s so often happens in such m ergers, the accountants expected the com bined output and market share to equal the sum o f the parts— an expecta­ tion seldom fulfilled. In this case, what was now the main factory had belonged to a company that the group had purchased, w hile the M idlands factory was the residue o f the group’s own form er subsidiary that made a similar product. The sales force had been rem oved from the acquired company. A nd there had been other disruptive changes. The intervention began with a diagnostic survey o f all em ployees. It re­ vealed acute splits cutting across each other: between management and w ork­ ers; between em ployees from the two previous enterprises; and between de­ partments. Identification with the organization as a w hole was notably absent. Boundaries had been fractured and partly disintegrated; em ployees had fallen back onto their individual boundaries in a culture o f survival. The consultant team — tw o internal consultants with one from TIH R — postulated that the fragmented boundaries needed to be reconstructed, and designed what cam e to be called the “ People Program m e.” Its main feature was an extended version o f a Leicester Conference for 120 managers, super­ visors and specialists, with w eekly small study groups, week-end inter-group events and finally w eekly large groups— all o f which exactly matched the need to w ork at the boundaries at three levels: the individual in role relationships; the department and other groupings in their inter-group relations; and the organiza­ tion as a w hole in relation to its environment. M eanw hile, consultancy was being provided to the top management group— w hich in this case was the primary client. A formal system o f em ployee consultation was also set up. W ithin a year, significant changes had occurred: the People Programme, instead o f being run by the consultants, had been taken over by the participants ; the training was being extended to other em ployees; the large group was still m eeting w eekly (and continued for three years); task groups arose spontane­ ously to tackle pressing problems; inter-departmental co-ordination improved; the organization gained a new sense o f identity; and m anufacturing perfor­ mance and profits went up dramatically. The consultants, w ho had already been providing consultancy on request to various internal groups, including a joint trade union body, then negotiated a

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new contract. This established them as a quasi-independent Consulting R e­ source Group (C R G ) with its ow n budget, and made it explicit that the organization as a w hole— not management— was the client system . In addi­ tion to servicing internal groups, the C R G took on a new task— to try to elucidate the overall dynam ics o f the organization. This involved experim ent­ ing to see whether the m ethodology o f, say, the Large Study Group, could be extended to a group o f nearly i ,000, only a tiny proportion o f whom could be present with the consultants at any one time. The com m on link w as use o f the transference. The C R G , like the group consultant in a Conference, w as both outside the organizational boundary and also part o f a w ider client-consultant system , and hence available for projections from the organization. The tech­ nique used was a w eekly session— w hich anyone, manager or worker, w as free to attend— in w hich the C R G members review ed their experience during the w eek in consulting to parts o f the organization as a basis for form ulating working hypotheses about the system as a w hole. E vidence included their experience o f being pulled in or pushed out, idealized or denigrated, hom oge­ nized or split, and so on, as w ell as observations o f the pattern o f projections among different groupings within the client system. M em bers o f the organiza­ tion present at the meetings worked on these hypotheses and added their ow n preoccupations; and beyond that the consultants used the interpretations di­ rectly and indirectly in their w ork with various groups in the ensuing w eek. In these w ays the voice o f C R G was “ heard” b y a significant proportion o f the organization and seemed to have some influence. “ The most overt evidence was in the grow ing number o f individuals able to perceive organizational processes in w hich they were im plicated and able also to act on their under­ standing by taking greater personal authority in their . . . roles” (K haleelee and M iller, 1985:363-64). “ The operation was a success, but the patient died.” W hat should have been foreseen was that the culture developing in this subsidiary com pany was increasingly divergent from that o f the rest o f the group. E xercise o f “ authority based on competence is alw ays a threat to an organization that defines authority as based on position . . . i f it is exercised b y a subordinate it is treated by the supervisor as insubordination” (M iller, I986a:265). A t group headquarters gratification over im proved perform ance was submerged by anxiety about subversiveness; key managers were replaced; and the consultants w ere shown the door.

A

n

A

p p l ic a t io n a t t h e

S o c ie t a l L e v e l

This experiment encouraged a London-based group, in O P U S (an Organization for Promoting Understanding in Society), to try to extend and adapt the

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m ethodology to the study o f societal dynam ics (O P U S, 1980-88; K haleelee and M iller, 1985; M iller, 1986a). A s long ago as 1950 B ion — him self influenced by Freud’s much earlier speculations— had been eager to do this and offered some provocative ideas. These included his w ell-know n proposition that society hives o ff specialized work-groups to deal on its behalf with basic assumption emotions that would otherwise interfere with the functioning o f society as a “ w ork group.” His exam ples were church (dependency), army (fight/flight) and, perhaps less convincingly, aristocracy (pairing) (Bion, 1961). He had identified these phe­ nomena in small groups. The Leicester C onference and other observations have amply confirmed that, although certain kinds o f dynam ics are characteris­ tic o f groups o f different sizes (Turquet, 1974), the larger group is alw ays potentially present in the smaller, and at times the larger group phenomena break through. This, as w e also found in the manufacturing company, can be used constructively. For exam ple, the Leicester m ethodology has proved to be a useful tool in identifying organizational cultures: a small set o f people from one organization w ill display often unrecognized dimensions o f their shared culture, in particular by m obilizing them as a defense against the primary task o f here-and-now study. M oreover, as Rioch (1979) has noted, conferences based on the Leicester model often mirror current societal phenomena. For exam ple, she noted that the incidence o f violent revolt— including, for instance, invasion o f staff territory and kidnapping o f individual staff— reached its peak in the Am erican conferences in 1968-69; after that, it subsided, and attempts in the member­ ships to m obilize collective leadership were less successful. Parallel changes had been seen at Leicester. “ The myth that the group is a creative matrix [was] progressively submerged by the countervailing myth that groups and institu­ tions are dangerous and destructive.” Correspondingly w e saw “ a withdrawal o f commitment to groups, an increasing reluctance (noted also b y Rioch) to use the conference setting for experim ent and play (in the W innicott [1971] sense), and a tendency for the individual to put up protective boundaries against group influences or seek security as an isolate or a pair” (K haleelee and M iller, 1985:368). Deriving from this experience, O P U S explicitly set out to use the m icro­ cosm to reflect the m acrocosm o f society, and, indeed, to explore whether society could be classed as an intelligible field o f study in its own right, distinct from the large group. Turquet had described the dual role o f the consultant in the Conference large groups— the consultant and the person— and hence the struggle to hold a boundary position. But in society there is no outside; hence no boundary role is available. O P U S has attempted to supply an institutional boundary within w hich its ow n members and others can exam ine their experi­ ence as citizens o f society, and the capacity o f this boundary to contain the

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chaotic and violent feelings evoked has been tested almost to destruction. The “ observing e g o ” has been precarious. H ow ever, it is confirmed that significant underlying themes can em erge in quite sm all groups that are given the task o f exam ining their experience in their role as members o f society. Larger groups, o f 30 -4 0 , m ay unconsciously enact, in vivid and painful w ays, important societal processes. A recent exam ple was an O P U S conference on Society and the Inner City, w hich belatedly realized that it had reproduced, by creating an isolated sub-group, the very phenomena that it was discussing (M iller, 1986b).

Reflections W hy has the Leicester Conference survived for 30 years— a period o f consider­ able cultural change, nationally and internationally? W hy has the Leicester model successfully taken root in so many other countries and cultures? China and Japan have not yet been penetrated, but there is evidence from India o f effective use o f the model with people drawn from poor rural com m unities. It has been regularly used by S A K T I, a Bangalore-based organization promoting increased roles for wom en in developm ent. It is not just a preserve o f profes­ sionals and managers who share a westernized cosm opolitan culture. Obversely, w hy has the model failed to diffuse more w id ely and more rapidly? W hy are there not many more institutions running many more conferences every year? W hat has inhibited growth? Such questions are to be puzzled over. Here I offer only a few observations. First, the model has proved effective in addressing an inherent feature o f the human condition— the tension between individuation and incorporation— w hich, in most 20th-century cultures at least, is a lifelong tension, never fully resolved. The model confronts us with that dilem m a and with the precarious­ ness o f a notion o f individuality and autonomy that w e m ay have taken for granted. It does so, how ever, within a structure designed to be relatively containing and within a conference culture w hose values promote the idea— perhaps the hope— that through seeing how w e get involved in unconscious group processes w e can becom e less vulnerable to them and more effectively self-m anaging. Such discoveries are nearly alw ays painful, in that they upset past assumptions and defenses. The possibility o f becom ing more self-m anag­ ing than you actually were is tainted by recognition that you were really much less self-m anaging than you thought you were. Nonetheless, most people seem to find that the outcome is, on balance, positive. Second, there is the issue o f what they do with the experience and the learning. Part o f it, almost inevitably, is personal and private, relating to on e’s inner world. For some members it m ay remain so. But that is not the purpose o f the conference: the design is intended to promote the application o f experience in their roles in that temporary institution to their roles in institutions outside.

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Here I may make tw o comments. First, if it is effective, such application is inherently subversive. It involves calling into question the embedded assump­ tions and myths that support the status quo and exercising the authority o f on e’s own com petence in an organizational culture where formal authority com ­ monly derives from hierarchy and status. If the member is returning to a position at or near the apex o f the hierarchy, this is less a problem , though one hopes such a person w ill have learned enough to prepare for the likely re­ sistances. The less privileged ex-m em ber m ay have to scale down his or her initial aspirations or risk being extruded. In any case, how ever, the fact that only the most enlightened organization actively w elcom es em ployees who question the status quo and exercise their own authority is certainly one limitation on expansion o f the conferences. A second comment relates to inappropriate and superficial application, most com m only in the spirit o f “ do unto others what has just been done unto m e.” Despite verbal discouragements and repeated assertions that the Conference is designed for a specific educational task and that other tasks require other forms o f organization, w e cannot prevent members from identifying with the rolem odels offered by staff and thus seeking to replicate them. This is one o f R oy M enninger’s reservations in his largely positive account o f the experience o f encouraging a critical mass o f the staff o f the M enninger Foundation to attend conferences (Menninger, 1985). I quote extracts from his paper (pp. 29 6-9 7): Potentially damaging to the therapeutic process was a tendency, during the immediate post-GRC [group relations conference] period to equate “ group pro­ cess” with treatment. The powerful effects of expressing primitive feelings and the instructive experience of group-induced regression led to a natural but mistaken view that such experiences were the essence of therapy . . . , displac­ ing the primary tasks of learning and understanding. This perspective seemed to assume that the GRC was a model of treatment rather than a method of education. Group process is compelling and deeply involving, but it is not psychotherapy nor is it a substitute for a dynamic understanding of the patient . . . Coupled with this pattern was a tendency to use group process to “ manage” a patient’s deviant or pathological behaviour . . . [and] diminished attention to the dynamic roots of the symptom . . . A n additional question that M enninger m ight have raised is whether the focus on treatment was in part a displacem ent from confronting more painful or intractable issues in the organization: were patients being m obilized to voice prim itive feelings that staff were repressing? It also has to be said that there is at least one recorded instance o f the success in a psychiatric hospital o f using a carefully thought out version o f the con­

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ference model for the reconstitution o f n ew ly admitted grossly psychotic patients (Lofgren, 1976). But overall, M enninger’s strictures are soundly based. The reality is that the conference itself is an application— an application o f a conceptual fram ework to an educational task. M any o f the more significant applications to understanding o f organizations, though informed by experience o f conferences, essentially draw on that fram ework. Studies o f a school by Richardson (1973) and o f a mental health center by Lew inson and Astrachan (1976) are two exam ples that com e to mind. But all too often, as at the M enninger Foundation, members have com e back from conferences with the fantasy that to run a group— or, indeed, to run an internal conference— w ill solve the organization’s problem s. M isapplications o f this kind have obviously made some organizations less than enthusiastic about the model and have been another factor in lim iting its diffusion. Som e organizations nevertheless be­ com e regular customers. So w e have the paradox that Leicester Conferences w hich are in their aims essentially subversive o f the Establishment have them selves becom e an estab­ lished institution, and with it run the attendant risk o f losing their task. A major problem is a shift in the m otivation o f members. A n increasing proportion enroll less with the intention o f learning than in order to gain a form o f accreditation. Som e have connections with the institutions that run con­ ferences based on the Leicester model and have already taken part in one or more o f these. Leicester experience m ay be necessary or at least helpful to progression to staff roles in these institutions. A lso , there are various profes­ sional circles, especially in mental health, where attending (and surviving) a Leicester Conference has almost becom e a rite de p assage, or carries some cachet. B eyond these two categories there are others w ho have been primed by previous members and have an idea in advance o f what to expect. The propor­ tion o f “ naive m em bers,” lacking in such external connections and in prior know ledge, has diminished. The cognoscenti, w ho outnumber them, tend to bring, in addition to their (at best) m ixed m otivations, some prefabricated defenses: for exam ple, adopting an observing, interpretive role— a pseudo­ staff role— as a w ay o f avoiding involvem ent; using psychological jargon to outface the naive members; trying to set up situations that w ill defend them against the uncertainties o f the member role by demonstrating their com pe­ tence in their external professional roles. (“ Casualties” perform a useful function for mental health professionals.) In practice, after a day or tw o, as a consequence o f the dynam ics o f the total institution (with the help o f interpreta­ tion from staff) the overw helm ing m ajority o f members find that they becom e involved— they “ jo in ” — almost in spite o f them selves. Other difficulties re­ main. Inexperienced m embers, feeling excluded by an in-group that has a psychological jargon o f its ow n, m ay com e to believe that what is to be learned from the Conference is a language.

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H owever, the problems o f institutionalization are more insidious than that. The model is in constant danger o f becom ing a movem ent. A m ovem ent is fed by and feeds ritual. There are quite subtle pressures on staff to becom e priests o f the ritual. The director and those staff w ho have taken part in several successive Leicester conferences find difficulty in putting boundaries around this conference. N ew er staff, like inexperienced members, m ay feel pushed into an out-group, with all the uncertainties and anxieties o f the rest o f staff projected onto them. A new director or associate director w ill be the object o f envious attack— w hich m ay be not at all subtle. Institutionalization makes it even more difficult to hold onto the reality that so far as this conference is concerned w e are all inexperienced and that what w e think w e know from the past m ay be more o f a hindrance than a help in understanding what is in the present.

References Bion, W.R. 1961. Experiences in Groups and Other Papers. London: Tavistock Pub­ lications; New York: Basic Books. Gould, L.J. 1979. “ Men and Women at Work: A Group Relations Conference on Person and Role.” In Exploring Individual and Organisational Boundaries, edited by W.G. Lawrence. London: Wiley. Khaleelee, O. and E.J. Miller. 1985. “ Beyond the Small Group: Society as an Intelligi­ ble Field of Study.” In Bion and Group Psychotherapy, edited by M. Pines. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Lawrence, W.G. 1985. “ Beyond the Frames.” In Bion and Group Psychotherapy, edited by M. Pines. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Lewinson, D. and B. Astrachan. 1976. “ Entry into the Mental Health Centre: A Problem in Organizational Boundary Regulation.” In Task and Organization, edited by E.J. Miller. London: Wiley. Lofgren, L.B. 1976. “ Organizational Design and Therapeutic Effect.” In Task and Organization, edited by E.J. Miller. London: Wiley. Menninger, R.W. 1985. “A Retrospective View of a Hospital-wide Group Relations Training Program: Costs, Consequences and Conclusions.” Psychiatric Annals, 38: 328- 39. Miller, E.J. 1977. “ Organisational Development and Industrial Democracy: A Current Case Study.” In Organizational Development in the UK and USA: A Joint Evalua­ tion, edited by C. Cooper. London: Macmillan. --------- . 1980. “ The Politics of Involvement.” Journal of Personality and Social Systems, 2:37-50. . 1986a. “ Making Room for Individual Autonomy.” In Executive Power, edited by S. Srivastva and Associates. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. . 1986b. “ Society and the Inner City, OPUS Conference Report.” Bulletin No. 22-23, Partii. London: OPUS. OPUS, 1980-88. Bulletins, 1-25. London: OPUS. Rice, A .K . 1965. Learning for Leadership: Interpersonal and Intergroup Relations. London: Tavistock Publications.

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Richardson, E. 1973. The Teacher, the School and the Task o f Management. London: Heinemann. Rioch, M. 1979. “ The A .K . Rice Group Relations Conferences as a Reflection of Society.” In Exploring Individual and Organisational Boundaries, edited by W.G. Lawrence. London: Wiley. Turquet, P.M. 1974. “ ‘Leadership’ : The Individual and the Group.” In Analysis of Groups, edited by G.S. Gibbard, J.J. Hartman and R.D. Mann. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Winnicott, D.W. 1971. Playing and Reality. London: Tavistock Publications.

Gurth Higgin and Harold Bridger

The Psycho-Dynamics of an Inter-Group Experience*

Introduction This paper offers an analysis o f processes that occur between groups collab­ orating on a task o f direct relevance to an objective they have in common. Theoretically it is based on the w ork o f Bion (196 1) who distinguishes between tw o levels o f group activity: that o f the “ sophisticated” or “ w ork” group (W), which involves learning and developm ent and addresses specific tasks that must be met and undertaken in social reality; and that o f the basic assumptions— dependence (baD ), fight/flight (baF ) and pairing (baP )— w hich are unlearned, primitive emotional response systems existing as unconscious patterns that alternate with each other. The basic group organization m ay be in conflict with the sophisticated or W organization, and is often unrecognized by members o f the group, whose level o f performance m ay be severely impaired in conse­ quence. A detailed exposition and critique o f his view s is given by Sutherland (Vol. i , “ Bion R evisited” ) w ho also explains such psychoanalytic concepts as projection and introjection, extensive use o f w hich is made in this paper. The setting o f the Inter-Group E xercise, as it was called, was a tw o-w eek Tavistock/Leicester Group Relations Training Conference (Trist and Sofer, 1959; R ice, 1965; M iller, Vol. 1, “ Experiential Learning in Groups I ” ). The conference, held in N ovem ber 1959, was the second such conference. The core experience had been the “ study groups.” The Inter-Group Exercise was added to investigate inter-group behavior. The ideal experience for this purpose w ould be to analyze inter-group processes in real-life situations. This is not possible in a training setting. A t the other extreme were case-study/role-playing activities. The Inter-Group E x ­ ercise attempted to find an experience som ewhere between these two poles. It provided a task that was real within the conference setting, but which lacked the degree o f commitment or emotional involvem ent that a real-life situation

*A shortened version of the original— Human Relations, 17:391-446, 1964.

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w ould evoke. It did, however, create something that was more m eaningful and powerful than is possible with a case-study procedure, or even with the more exciting “ business gam e” type o f event. The overall task was to decide on a program o f special interest sessions to take place in the second w eek o f the conference. M em bers were to divide them selves into three groups which w ould w ork together in a self-chosen fashion to achieve an agreed program. The Exercise was analogous to what goes on in ordinary w orking groups. There was a concrete decision to be taken that would affect all the participants. T hey would experience the results o f their decisions. The Exercise was developed by Bridger as a result o f previous w ork with G lide w ell o f the National Training Laboratories at Bethel. The conference was held at a large hotel in a small spa in the north o f England. To qualify for membership an individual had to be currently in a post o f responsibility. Twenty-nine members took part: four prison governors, five lecturers in education, five industrial executives; two hospital sister-tutors; six personnel or training managers in industry; seven applied social scientists from European institutions. M em bers had been asked on their application form s to suggest topics o f particular interest to them w hich m ight be taken up during the special interest sessions. There were eight full-tim e staff, tw o from the Univer­ sity o f Leicester and six from the Tavistock Institute. Eight UA-hour sessions w ould be devoted to the E xercise, w hich was to start on the afternoon o f the second day. B y this time the members w ould have experienced tw o study groups and one theory session. In the first session o f the E xercise members w ould decide on a method o f dividing them selves into three groups, X, Y and Z. D ivision into study groups was excluded, but any other type o f division was allow able. A questionnaire w ould evaluate the decisions reached by the groups at various points in the Exercise: the w illingness o f group members to carry out these decisions; and the degree o f satisfaction with the w ay their group had arrived at them. This evaluation instrument was used five tim es, the results being made known to the groups. Each group w ould proceed in its own w ay and w ould have attached to it a staff observer. The observers w ould help the groups achieve their tasks and were free to make group-centered comments. T h ey had a recording role as a secondary function. The staff not directly concerned as observers form ed a separate group. The resources o f the w hole staff were offered for use during the special interest sessions. For the second and third sessions groups w ould devise a system o f com m u­ nicating with each other by means o f envoys. The envoys w ould reach agree­ ment on a single consolidated plan for the special interest sessions. In the fourth session, all the groups would evaluate their experience during the planning stages. The fifth, sixth and seventh sessions w ould be devoted to

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carrying out the program decided upon. The eighth w ould evaluate the m em ­ bers’ experience.

The Exercise F o r m a tio n o f t h e G ro u p s

The Exercise took place in the ballroom o f the hotel, a large room 54 ft. x 47 ft. In the center o f one o f the long sides was a small stage and about 12 feet into the dance floor there were two large pillars about four feet square. The rest was clear. The first session opened with the conference members seated in an irregular group in front o f the stage but on the far side o f the two pillars. The staff were along the front o f the stage at floor level with the conference director standing in front o f them facing the members. In the haphazard seating a group o f seven or eight were to the side o f one o f the pillars. There was no-one outside the other pillar. The Exercise was opened by the conference director running over the instructions. There were several requests for further clarification. Two new points were introduced. First, although members o f the staff were w illing to provide whatever help they could, the conference was reminded that there were resources among the members them selves relevant to many o f the special interests listed. Secondly, that the first phase o f the E xercise— to arrive at a decision about the basis for dividing into the three groups— should take no longer than 15 minutes. The conference director then said that the Exercise should start im m ediately and that within 15 minutes the members should have decided on what basis they w ould split up into groups. W hat happened in the next minute or so was unexpected and crucial. A fter a short pause a member asked what the groups X , Y and Z were to do. The director explained this again. Immediately, som ebody else asked about the role o f the staff during the first part o f the Exercise when the three groups were w orking separately. This, too, was answered. Then cam e a question as to whether the groups were to deal with content or were to just set a program without content. The director answered that they were asked to do what they themselves considered to be a planning job and to deal with content or not as they thought fit. In finishing, he reminded them that they now had 14 minutes left to decide on a means o f form ing into groups. Im mediately Z i , an industrial member, said that in industry those responsi­ ble for making such a decision w ould have the advice and help o f staff. There was anger in his voice. W hile he was speaking, the small group o f people who were to the outside o f the pillar stood up and m oved their chairs around to join

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the main body so that they could participate more easily. A t the same time the members o f staff, except the three who were to operate as the group observers, and the conference director, stood up and m oved o ff to that part o f the hall designated for the staff group. These m ovements precipitated other m ove­ ments, some members standing up and picking up their chairs. Im m ediately after Z i had finished, a member said in a loud vo ice, “ L e t’s do it alpha­ betically.” He was disregarded. The general stir o f m ovem ent suddenly in­ creased and within seconds one group o f people were heading towards one com er o f the room w hile another were heading for the diagonally opposite com er; in the middle some were standing and some sitting. This central group was made up m ainly o f those who had com e around from behind the pillar. The two groups w ho had m oved were in the com ers nominated as X and Z and the two observers for these groups m oved o ff to join them. The third observer joined those in the middle o f the floor. In this way, within 15 seconds, the division had been made without any conscious decision as to how it should be done. A minute or so later, the group in the middle o f the floor, with their observer, m oved over to the vacant com er nominated for Y. In the X com er there w ere 10 people, in the Y eight and in the Z 1 1 . A ll groups then filled out the evaluation sheets regarding the group division process.

P l a n n i n g S e s s io n s

s e s s io n

ONE

X: X had a rather sharp division o f opinion about electing a chairman but did finally elect one. T hey fell into detailed discussion o f the special interest items and developed two noticeable factions. The two factions seemed to be fairly clear what they were falling out about and reached a com prom ise solution. To achieve this the group took a vote, but they were not content with voting and did not use it again. The reaction o f X to the results o f the questionnaire w as one o f interest; they were particularly struck by the great degree o f dissatisfaction reported by Y. It was as a result o f this information that they decided to m ake an offer to Y o f repeating the original division exercise. In this action they showed some awareness o f the other groups’ reaction to the initial break-up, and o f their own position. Y: Y were the last to m ove to their com er. T hey gathered there in a noticeably dispirited fashion after an initial burst o f indignation and sat around rather at a loss what to do next. There was some desultory discussion and lapses into

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silence. The group becam e a little more lively when they got the results o f the first questionnaire. These showed that they were noticeably below the level o f the others in their satisfactions about the initial division into groups. It was about this time that an envoy arrived fro m X to report that, w hile his own group were content with the division, they had noticed the low satisfaction on the part o f Y and offered, if Y w ished, to join them in repeating the first part o f the E xercise. Y ’s reaction was to perk up a little but to say that, although they were unhappy, they w ould continue as they were. The boost in their morale from this incident was not very lasting and after a time they relapsed into fragmentary conversation and periods o f silence. A fter one o f these long silences one member produced the outline o f a plan for reconciling the special interests o f members and for an organization through which the conference m ight take account o f them in the follow ing w ee k ’s sessions. The plan was taken up by some but others paid no attention. A division showed itself between those w ho were active in the planning task and those who were quite silent, out o f touch and apparently depressed. The observer reported that several appeared to be quite shocked with the experience they had had in the initial division. Towards the end o f the session the group, in a rather casual way, elected a chairman. It was this member (Y/) and the member who had originally produced the outline plan (Y2) w ho later becam e the envoys for Y. Z : Z becam e active as soon as they got to their com er and by the time the observer arrived had already elected a chairman and secretary. T hey spent the first session arguing volu bly over the details o f the listed special interest topics. Their reaction to the report o f the first questionnaire was one o f passing interest only. They seemed hardly aware o f any significance it might have and con­ tinued with their com pulsive inspection o f the special interests. Various m em ­ bers took on the roles o f “ sneerer” at the others and at the w hole Exercise; o f “ clo w n ” ; and o f withdrawn non-participant. There was little member satisfac­ tion. Two distinct factions were apparent but neither was clear what were the differences between them. The only m ovem ent between the groups during the first session was that o f the envoy who went from X to Y.

SESSION TWO X: X had had an extra m eeting before this session. It turned out to be o f little value. They sim ply went over the ground they had already covered. W hen they

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were given the results from the questionnaire, the chairman noticed that there were two members w ho had expressed dissatisfaction. He did all he could to get them to declare them selves, w hich they did not do. X were the first group to send members outside to make contact with other groups. Their first contact was with the staff to ask questions about the resources available for possible special interest sessions. X w ere also the first to m ake contact with the other groups, particularly Y, in connection with arranging the en voys’ m eeting. X , unlike Y and Z, gave their envoys the status only o f delegates, not o f fully responsible representatives. W hile the en voys’ m eeting was taking place, the remainder o f the group discussed their own activities to date and the manner in w hich they had behaved as a group. T hey thought o f contacting the other two groups during this period and explaining to them the plan that X had made for presentation at this first en voys’ meeting. The group were eager to hear from their en voys— “ H ow have w e done?” The en voys’ report sharpened their interest in and commitment to their own plan when they heard that other plans had been put up. T hey decided that theirs was the best and were determined to defend it and have it carried as the plan for the conference as a w hole. X showed considerable glee at the news o f a split in Z. The chairman o f X was eager that they should com e to a decision about their reactions to the plans o f the other groups but the group decided that they could not discuss this in the time remaining and resolved to have an extra session before the form al session on the follow ing day. Y: y ’s chairman had had an informal m eeting with tw o other members to discuss the planning problem further. This piece o f extra w ork was useful in the development o f the planning task but was not approved by the majority, who felt it was a private meeting that should not have been held without the know ledge o f the w hole group. The two factions showed them selves again, one being active in the planning task, the other withdrawn. Y made several approaches to the staff group— to obtain information on the course o f the Exercise and on the supposed rulings about the nature o f staff participation in the special interest sessions. T h ey were also concerned with exploring the roles that the staff might take in the meetings o f envoys. The Y envoys were the first to em erge onto the center o f the floor for the initial en voys’ m eeting. W hile the envoys were aw ay the rest o f the group fell into a withdrawn, inactive silence. The members o f the group were eager to have a report from their envoys. They, like X , showed great glee on hearing that there w as a split in Z. T h ey also showed considerable delight in what they took to be the good report o f useful activity by their tw o envoys.

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Z : A t the opening o f the session, the chairman o f Z offered to resign because he thought he was doing the job badly. He w as Z j , the man w ho had played a significant part in triggering the original division o f the groups. His offer was not accepted. The group then had the report on the questionnaire. Several members declared that the group as a w hole had reported rather a low er level o f satisfaction than they felt was true. There w ere some jokes about their all being hypocrites, w hich faded aw ay into languid and unsystematic activity. Z were slow in sending their envoys to the first central meeting. Those o f both X and Y were out on the floor w aiting for them and m aking signs to hurry up. T hey clearly felt persecuted by these demands. The envoys they did send included the leader o f the minority within them selves. T hey went o ff with a very unclear brief. The mood o f the remaining group members noticeably relaxed. T hey be­ came much easier with each other and with their observer. This was the first time they took account o f the observer. They showed no interest at all in the en voys’ meeting. N or did they show any interest in their en voys’ report when they cam e back. The m inority leader commented that he thought that F ’s plan was very much the best. Apart from the en voys’ m eeting in the middle o f the hall, there had been several contacts by X and Y with each other and with Z, and also with the staff board. E xcept for sending out their envoys, late and under pressure, Z had not initiated any external contacts. The first en voys’ meeting was taken up with the presentation o f plans by each set o f envoys. Those submitted by X and Y were fairly com prehensive. That o f Z was little more than a confused catalogue. Z let it be known that there was a split within their group. The leader o f the Z minority, w ho was one o f their envoys, asked the staff member present if members could change groups during the Exercise. Both the other groups drew the conclusion that Z was internally riven and was not a serious contender for making a viable plan. X and Y each decided that the other was the main competitor.

SESSION THREE X: Betw een the second and third sessions X had another extra session. This proved to be rather more useful than that o f the day before. T h ey becam e absorbed with whether their envoys should be representatives or delegates. T hey decided that they should be representatives, but without full authority beyond given limits. These limits were never clearly defined. The group asked for, and were granted, the right for their envoys to refer back to them if the

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Varieties o f Group Process

central meeting took them outside the brief they had been given. The group had agreed that they could ignore Z. T hey decided that they could handle Y by means o f a com prom ise that w ould not undermine the nature o f the X plan. A fter their envoys left, the remaining members set out rather enthusi­ astically on a scheme for research on what had gone on within their group during the course o f the Exercise. This project did not get very far because the director invited the remaining members o f all three groups to com e to the center and act as a silent audience to the final en vo ys’ m eeting. X w ere particularly incensed by this because they had becom e interested in doing their ow n research. They angrily declared that the director had changed the rules; how ­ ever, they did join the central en voys’ group. In the course o f this m eeting, one o f the X envoys retired with his group to take advice on a point that had com e up that was beyond their brief. Y: Y held an extra m eeting the material from which is reported with that from the third official m eeting below. The chairman said he had spoken to the chairmen o f the other tw o groups and suggested that there be a staff chairman for the en voys’ m eeting. The group did not take this point up enthusiastically. The chairman also suggested that the members o f Y m ight have som e informal contact with the other two groups to try to w in them over to Y ’s plan. Y were noticeably pleased with them selves about their plan, which they thought was very much the best. The discussion now took on a political color, the group deciding that they could ignore Z. Their task in carrying through their plan w ould be to overcom e the alternative bid from X. The term “ reparation” was used for the first time in connection with Y ’s analysis o f the relationships o f the other tw o groups to them selves; they ascribed guilt to them for what they had done at the expense o f Y in the initial break-up. H owever, Y were against their chairm an’s suggestion o f pressing their advantage by attempts to convert the other tw o groups to their point o f view. They condemned this as propagandist. Y i continued to explore with the other tw o groups the possibility o f having a staff chairman for the en voys’ group. He got sufficient agreement from X for this plan, but could get no sense out o f Z. Som e o f the members o f the non­ active, rather depressed, section o f Z did not know w hich o f the other groups was which. Z : Z went through an experience o f considerable confusion and strife. T hey had great difficulty in getting a sufficient briefing for their envoys to take to the central m eeting, w hich caused them to be late for it. T hey experienced as extrem ely irritating intrusions the attempts o f the other groups to hurry them along. Indeed, the outstanding characteristic o f this session was Z ’s feeling o f anger towards the other groups and the staff, and their strong sense o f being persecuted by them all.

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207

A t the final central m eeting, the Z envoys had nothing to offer as a direct contribution to the plan for the special interest sessions, although they played an important part in the process o f com prom ise that went on between X and Y. The next step towards putting the plan into force was to be a further meeting o f the group en voys, after they had consulted with their groups, for the purpose o f nominating a planning committee. The w hole o f Z, w ho had overheard this discussion, misunderstood and thought that the next meeting was to be o f the planning committee. T hey therefore sent two members other than their envoys to this meeting. Faced with this situation, the envoys o f X and Y accepted, not only these two nominees, but the original Z envoys on the planning committee. In this way, Z provided h alf o f the eight members o f the planning committee. During the second en voys’ m eeting, the political alignment that had emerged showed itself from the start. T h e X and Y envoys were very sharply in competition. Both pairs showed confidence and determination to carry the day. The Z envoys played a much more subdued part, siding at one time with X and at another with Y and, towards the end o f the m eeting, withdrawing altogether and allow ing the final X and Y confrontation to take place. The outcom e was seen as a victory for Y— certainly in the eyes o f the members o f Y, whose envoys gained the political advantage over the X envoys who needed to withdraw to seek a further mandate from their group. The two Y envoys also played their parts w ell in a com plem entary way. Y i, their chairman, was an aggressive and determined speaker. There was going to be an impasse if there was not some show o f meeting the com prom ise that X were offering, with Z support. Y2, the wom an member, took over and, with equal determination but much more gentleness, carried the Y position through the compromise situation with success. The outcom e was an am algam o f the X and Y plans. Each group later claim ed the major victory for itself— but the sense o f success was greater with Y.

The Evaluation Instrument and Its Results T h e In s tru m e n t

The evaluation sheet contained three questions only: how satisfied were you with the decision made by the group; how w illin g were you to carry out the decision o f the group; and how satisfied were you with the w ay the group w orked on the problem. Respondents were asked to put a tick against one point on a five-point scale, varying from high satisfaction through neutral to low. The instrument was used on five occasions: Evaluation Sheet 1 w as given im m ediately after the division into groups, when each o f the three groups went to its respective com er o f the ballroom .

2o 8

Varieties o f Group Process

The decision referred to was that o f the conference as a w hole in splitting up into groups. Evaluation Sheet 2 was com pleted at the end o f the first session when the groups had agreed on an outline o f a plan. It referred to this internal group decision. Evaluation Sheet 3 referred to the w ork o f the central envoy group as reported back to X , Y and Z. It was due to be given at the end o f the second session after the first inter-group m eeting. There was some confusion about this and, in fact, it was filled out at the beginning o f the next conference session some two hours later. Evaluation Sheet 4 was com pleted within the groups again, and referred to the revised plans that the groups sent to the final en voys’ m eeting after they had been informed about the plans o f the other groups. Evaluation Sheet 5 applied to the w ork o f the final en voys’ m eeting that decided on the overall conference plan. The recording counted responses to the three questions. The procedure was to arrive at an algebraic sum o f all the positive and all the negative responses, ignoring those that fell at the neutral point. To allow comparison between the groups, w hich were o f different sizes, these final figures were put on a base o f ten. The ordinates for the “ graphs” on w hich the results w ere reported w ere the indices for each o f the groups on the five occasions when the evaluation sheets were filled out. A simple scale o f + 1 0 to — 10 was used for each o f the reactions asked about.

C

om m ent

The three groups produced characteristically different graphs (Figure 1). The greatest change over time is shown by Y and the least by X. For the two questions dealing with satisfaction about decisions, with the exception o f F s first reaction, all group responses are at the top end o f the positive side o f the scale, and all show less variation than do the other judgm ents. X: X showed less variation on all questions than did the other groups and an alternating reaction to the same questions as the Exercise developed. T hey felt slightly less satisfaction about decisions made within their ow n group than about those made by the inter-group envoy sessions. T h ey began with a high level o f expressed w illingness to im plem ent, which rose to a m axim um follow ­ ing the first inter-group m eetings— at w hich they thought they had done rather w ell— and tailed o ff only slightly thereafter. Y: The Y graphs are the most dramatic. The group’s reaction to the initial break­ up decision was 100 percent negative. H ow ever, by the time they made a

The Psycho-D ynam ics o f an Inter-Group Experience

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -1 0

209

X-

Z X

Z'

X« y

y

Satisfaction with decision

T

Satisfaction with the way the group worked

Willingness to implement decision

Figure i . Evaluation sheet results

second report, w hich had to do with their ow n internal w ork as a planning group, their level o f satisfaction had changed m arkedly and took them half w ay up the positive side o f the scale. Thereafter they continued to im prove, finding themselves 100 percent on the positive side after their second internal planning session— a level they held to the end o f the E xercise. Their unwillingness to implement decisions was never as great as their dissatisfaction with the deci­ sions them selves. Their w illingness to implement their ow n and the inter-group decisions was high and remained high until the end o f the Exercise. Z : The graphs for Z reveal interesting variations. The responses expressing satisfaction w ith, and w illingness to implement, decisions taken in the inter­ group arena reached a high level, with corresponding low points for the responses concerning their ow n decisions. The exception to this zig-zag pattern occurs with their satisfaction about the w ay the groups worked on problems. Here they showed them selves rather negative to the first break-up decision, neutral about them selves in their first planning session, a little more positive about the first inter-group session, slipping back to dissatisfaction in reflecting on their own second internal planning session, but reaching a m axim um o f satisfaction regarding the w ay the final conference decision was taken.

Evaluation Sessions The first evaluation session started as a plenary for the w hole conference, taking the form o f a general discussion on the planning sessions. It went on for

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Varieties o f Group Process

about 20 minutes. X , Y and Z then met independently with their observers and spent another 20 minutes in group review s and evaluations. The w hole con­ ference then reconvened and the graphs depicting the evaluation sheet returns were made available. There w as now much more interchange o f view s about the inter-group relationships. The second session was entirely a plenary discussion, led by the conference director. It covered all aspects o f the E xercise and o f its product for the three special interest sessions. This is given in the Appendix.

Analysis and Interpretation F o r m a tio n o f t h e G ro u p s

B ecause o f its sudden and dramatic nature, the details o f this had not been fu lly recorded. A s many members o f the conference as possible, therefore, were inform ally contacted the next day and asked to give short statements both o f their recollection o f the event and o f their feelings about it. These were recorded anonym ously by a secretary: X: “ Som eone said ‘com e along’ and most o f the rest got up and m oved either to Z or X com ers. A group . . . m oved towards the m iddle to take part in a general discussion and found . . . the group formation had already taken place. T hey becam e group Y. . . . Z i stood up and made a remark— he w as the only one who did— that in industry there would be a leader who w ould select people to form his group. . . . W hen people rose follow ing (Z / ’s) statement . . . I found m yself swept into an informal group w hich settled itself in that com er o f the room .” “ I was feeling pretty sore about the com plete organization . . . I did not really want to cooperate and thought w e should rebel . . . I wanted to be the leader o f a rebellious group . . . I felt a kind o f anger.” Y: “ Suddenly two groups were form ed, leaving a very sm all number o f us who had a very interesting feeling o f rejection and o f being leftovers, the un­ wanted . . . It took us, who turned out to be Y, some time to recover our bal­ ance. One member o f the group was shocked into a state o f non-participation. The total developm ent in the group was made by not more than four o f its members. . . . A ll through the time w e were trying to develop a proposal w e felt quite dissatisfied with ourselves and with the proposal . . . then w e sent our delegates to the general m eeting and they cam e back each feeling about seven feet high. The proposals w e had made w ere greatly superior to the proposals made by the other groups.” Z : “ We were all left in the center o f the room with no one at all taking direction; everyone obviously feeling very lost and rather perplexed . . . there seem ed to

The Psycho-D ynam ics o f an Inter-Group Experience

2 11

be a rapid movem ent towards one com er o f the room . . . persons that even­ tually formed groups X and Z sat down in their respective com ers leaving the remainder in the center o f the room , w ho were both am azed and angry . . . they w illy-n illy were forced to becom e the third group. M ost people seem ed to think that probably a random method o f selection for groups was the best w ay o f doing it, although at the time they w ould have liked a little direction in order to obtain this.”

In t e r p r e t iv e C

om m ent

The first session o f the Inter-Group E xercise was in the late afternoon o f the second day when the members w ere, as a group, suffused with a basic assump­ tion o f dependence (baD ). This ba was suddenly confronted at the beginning o f the Inter-Group Exercise with an apparent betrayal by the conference leader­ ship that was the object o f the dependence. The group were put into a situation in which they had to take a decision for them selves. T hey were not prepared for this and the basic assumption o f flight (baF ) im m ediately took over, frustrating the developm ent o f a task-oriented w ork (W) process. The group were given two tasks: to take a decision about the principle on which the Inter-Group Exercise groups w ould be form ed— this to take no more than 15 minutes— and the action o f actually form ing the groups. Faced with this situation, some members were prepared to tackle the first, but the majority were not, and they im m ediately flew to the second under the dominance o f baF. The minority w ho resisted this flight into action and stayed in the center o f the floor were prepared to undertake the first task. O nce the flight had occurred, however, and these eight people experienced their exposure, they too suc­ cumbed to flight from the situation in w hich they had been left. The quotations given above demonstrate the rebellious anti-organizer fight aspect o f this basic assumption. The rationale the members gave for their behavior w as, first, that the organizers had been aggressive by giving them a job to do that they considered to be both too difficult and inappropriate; and, second, that it was not possible for such a group to reach a decision in the time given.

G

u il t a n d

R e p a r a t io n

The follow ing quotation is from private notes made by the conference director during the course o f the first session: Ask X, Y and Z how they felt about the results. Possible interpretation thatX and Y could proceed more actively with the task because of the gesture made by X to

2 12

Varieties o f Group Process

Y. Y feel that their troubles and difficulties have been perceived and tackled by X, and through this recognition can proceed. X have made reparation in terms of their own going off and therefore also proceed with the task. Both, however, have expressed their aggression towards Z by having no contact. X perceives Z as the originator of the selfish act. Y will have nothing to do with Z. It was X (the middle group) that had to make the gesture. It is noticeable that the group that suffered most took no action and said it was prepared to go on working. It would now appear that Z is the isolated group. At one point, when, the results were being discussed, all members of Z turned round to Y with questioning looks and even guilt. To what extent will Z now be affected in their work by having to lean over backwards to conciliate the group that they have left? And how far will their program be inappropriately oriented towards providing for the unknown interests of the other members of the conference? This quotation is given because it w as the first appreciation that guilt and reparation were a main theme, conditioning the interactions o f the groups throughout the E xercise. From y ’s evaluation com es the follow in g statement: “ The actions and attitudes o f our small group affected the tw o other more pow erful groups because w e accused them o f doing something and they felt gu ilty.” From Z ’s evaluation: “ The dislocation in Y was alm ost com plete but they have con­ stantly im proved and have actually got up to finish level. We saw that w e were bobbing up and d ow n .” There is also, o f course, the significant m ove by X to Y follow in g the distribution o f the first evaluation sheet results. From the observer’s record it can be seen that this was a m ove o f reparation from X to Y about w hom X felt uneasy. The groups did com plete the task o f the Inter-Group E xercise; they did not remain suffused by basic assumption processes. There w as at w ork through the course o f the Exercise an effective W process. From the analysis and interpreta­ tion below it w ill be seen that one o f the principal tasks that the conference as a w hole had to undertake was to contain the basic assumption forces sufficiently to allow the W process to proceed.

S t a r t in g S it u a t io n

It was a matter o f only a very few minutes after the original break-up into groups that their initial differentiation w as perceptible to all concerned. Y had the painful task o f facing each other, all conscious o f being the conference rejects. This presented them with a tremendous task in handling their com m on emotional situation. On top o f this, like the other groups, they had their Exercise to perform.

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213

The members o f Z were suffused with a feeling o f guilt at being principally responsible for the flight from the conference task that had created the painful situation in which Y found them selves. Dom inance by guilt as the characteris­ tic o f Z was present from the beginning. It had a central effect on all that the group did and was not dispelled until the Exercise was com plete. Betw een these two emotional clim ates w as X w ho, like Z, started o ff with some sense o f guilt at what they had done to Y. X , however, chose to perceive Z as the initiators o f this m ove and so were them selves less inhibited by guilt. Their greater freedom from the dominance o f guilt allow ed X to make a gesture o f reparation to Y which enabled them to get on with their contribution to the overall task. Each group ascribed from early in the Exercise a definite, if not yet clearly defined, identity to the others. From the results o f the first evaluation sheet it can be seen that there had also developed a level o f com m on feeling within groups that marked o ff the members o f each as being much more like one another in their reactions than like members o f the other groups. A s regards satisfaction, all members o f F had reactions that were below the neutral line, all members o f Z had neutral reactions and X straddled it. Thus the members o f each group had a fairly consistent self-im age even at this stage. B y the time the first evaluations were returned their identities and their w ish to remain together rather than dissolve and start again were strong. This was true even o f Y who had had so much pain to contend with. The observers’ reports show that competition between groups had already developed as a factor.

D evelopm ent

of

G

roup

C

h a r a c t e r is t ic s

The first event that took the developm ent o f distinctive characteristics a step forward was the reparative approach made by X to Y during the first session. It was a public gesture o f reparation that allow ed Y to develop sufficient selfconfidence to get on with their w ork. But Y were able to meet both their emotional and task demands only because they effectively divided them selves into those who should be concerned with the group’s emotional task and those w ho, because the emotional task w as being carried by others, w ere free to undertake the group’s formal task. This w ork was done by three or four people, the others were not only silent, but out o f touch with what these first members were doing. The silent members were doing the group’s emotional w ork, absorbing pain and shock, thus releasing the others to proceed with W. The effectiveness o f this division o f function by Y was such that by the end o f the first session and before there had been form al contact with the other groups, they had not only managed to handle their original em otional problem but had made a definite contribution to the task they had been set. This

2 14

Varieties o f Group Process

recovery o f Y, as the evaluation graph (Figure i) shows, was a demonstration o f the capacity o f a group to overcom e a forlorn and painful situation. Rem ark­ able though it w as, it was possible only because o f the roles taken by X and Z, and Y 9s relationship with them. One o f the factors that determined the membership o f Y was a w illingness to face the decision-m aking task given to the w hole conference at the beginning o f the Exercise and not im m ediately to fly from this. It w ould be expected, therefore, that within this group there w ould be elements o f resilience and o f ability to hold to a task in face o f basic assumption pressures. This proved to be the case, and Y displayed from the beginning a determination to show its potency vis-à-vis the task and the other groups. Y arrived at this position at some cost. The observer recorded the painful few minutes during the first session when the w hole group retreated from both its tasks, and members withdrew into silence. Y w ere not notable for their democratic procedures. G iven the em otional/intellectual differentiation o f tasks within the group, the dem ocratic process would not necessarily have been appropriate. There were neither emotional nor intellectual group-w ide consen­ suses. A ll members did not need to be equally involved in the total group life when there was parity o f respect for sub-tasks. Z, on the other hand, achieved practically nothing in terms o f the Exercise task during its first session and little more during the second. M em bers becam e com pulsively active on a mass o f detail but added little to the developm ent o f the task. There was internal irritation and bad feeling w hich led to a split into two factions. These, according to the observer’s account, failed even to com ­ municate their points o f view to each other. M oreover, Z, unlike the other two groups, never felt the need for extra w ork sessions. X were again in a m iddle position. They, too, displayed a certain elem ent o f com pulsive activity on details but recovered from this. T h ey also suffered some degree o f inter-member irritation and the growth o f sectional conflict. These were contained and com prom ises were found. X w ere thus able to m ake a satisfactory contribution during the first session. The graphs show that their sense o f satisfaction with their internal decisions increased, but not so their willingness to implement them. T hey slipped back in their general feeling o f satisfaction. This reflects that side o f the group’s task that had to do with containing the remnants o f the em otional difficulties originating in the guilt inherited from its part in the initial break-up. U nlike Y and Z, X did not allow them selves to develop any internal differen­ tiation. A t the same tim e, they did not have a clear and unified vo ice in their external relationships. T hey were the only group that did not grant their envoys full representative status. B y avoiding sharp internal division and by com pro­ m ising between conflicting positions, X prevented them selves from developing a defined policy and so were unable to take a clear and definite external stance.

The Psycho-D ynam ics o f an Inter-Group Experience D evelopm ent

of

215

P o l i t i c a l P o s it io n s

B y the end o f the first session both X and Y had developed a sufficient sense o f self-identity to enable them, during the second session, to initiate external contacts with each other and with the staff group. Their feeling o f internal security was such as to allow them to look beyond their own boundaries and to take actions outside them selves appropriate to their developing tasks. It was these two groups w ho initiated the first meeting o f envoys between the groups. Z had made no external contacts at all. T hey had made very little progress on their internal task. O nly pressure from the envoys o f X and Y got Z to join the first en voys’ meeting. This m eeting was the crucial confrontation at which the political positions o f the groups were established. X and Y becam e the contenders for the role o f creator o f the plan for the special interest sessions. Z brought little more than marginal contributions. X and Y wrote Z o ff as a political power. The developm ent o f the second en voys’ m eeting in the third session was much the same. During the early part X and Y w ere making a good many external contacts with each other, with the staff group, and with Z, whereas Z, initiating no external contacts, becam e increasingly persecuted by the atten­ tions o f others. During the first half o f the final en voys’ m eeting the Z envoys teamed up alternatively with X and Y, but for the second h alf they effectively retired from the discussion, leaving X and Y to final confrontation over the points o f conflict in their two plans. In this political struggle between X and Yf Y em erged as the most potent group. U nlike X, they did not need to withdraw and take counsel. W hen, after taking counsel, X cam e back with an acceptance o f y ’s proposal, this was perceived by y to be a public acceptance o f the greater determination, unity, and effectiveness o f Y.

F in is h in g S it u a t io n

The finishing mood o f Y was one o f considerable satisfaction, almost o f glee, at what they as a group had achieved from such an unpromising beginning. The division o f labor between the emotional and the task demands, w hich was the necessary means w hereby Y achieved their success, is illustrated by both the group’s and their envoys’ reactions when the envoys were aw ay from the group. The envoys were their chairman and the member w ho was most responsible for the developm ent o f their plan. T hey were the leaders o f the W-oriented subgroup within Y. The members left behind were m ainly those w ho had been doing the emotional task o f the group. W hen the envoys were at

2 16

Varieties o f Group Process

the center, the group that remained becam e depressed and worried about what their envoys might be doing. Sim ilarly, the lack o f cohesion between their intellectual and emotional life showed itself in a parallel concern on the part o f the envoys. During the group’s evaluation session both the envoys reported that they were concerned about the group when they w ere aw ay from it. During the evaluation session Y becam e preoccupied with the slight dip to the final position o f the graph recording their satisfaction. Their conclusion was that this represented “ the group’s horror that it was about to die, although the total conference group had achieved its task.” Z ’s evaluation was much more restrained and introspective. T hey becam e interested to interpret the “ bumping up and dow n ” o f their group reactions at different points through the Exercise. Their conclusion was that “ at the end o f the negotiations a feeling o f satisfaction was the outcom e.” T hey decided that their responses to the central envoy meetings showed that the group itself was incapable o f doing anything that satisfied it, and that it was only when the overall conference task went forward at the en voys’ sessions that any degree o f satisfaction could be achieved. Although the step to an inter-group interpretation was not made by the group, they felt that they “ did what was required,” even though this could not obviously be seen as a direct contribution to the overall task o f the con­ ference. That Z as a w hole felt that they had made a useful contribution and were satisfied with the result can be seen from the final positions on the graphs o f their expressed satisfaction. A t tw o points they were at the position o f maximum satisfaction, and almost so on the third at the end o f the Exer­ cise. X again displayed characteristics o f both the other groups in evaluating their experience. T h ey were quite satisfied with them selves although they did not have the euphoria that suffused Y. Their main concern w as to learn a little more from the introspection and recollection o f w hy they had done things the w ay they had. They decided that they had handled their differences rather w ell. T hey prided them selves on developing a culture o f containment and com pro­ m ise, which had allow ed them to avoid a direct split such as Z had experienced. In arriving at this conclusion the group once again showed their tendency to com prom ise by finding valuable aspects in the behavior o f both their m ajority and minority groups.

P r o j e c t i o n -I n t r o j e c t i o n H y p o t h e s i s

The members o f the conference as a w hole, divided into three groups in the E xercise, managed to accom plish the overall task. T hey produced a practical plan for the special interest sessions, and at the same time contained the

The Psycho-D ynam ics o f an Inter-Group Experience

217

emotional forces w orking against this achievem ent. The principal psycho­ dynamic mechanism whereby the w ork was done was a pattern o f projection and introjection o f these emotional forces as a division o f labor among the groups. Z was not involved in the (for X cathartic and for Y reparative) activities follow ing the distribution o f the first evaluation sheet. From this point Z felt them selves, and were perceived by the others, as the most guilty group. This recognition prevented Z from ever m aking real contact with the task o f the w hole. The group becam e preoccupied with internal struggles, irritation, depression and splitting. Very early they showed them selves as an isolated group. They initiated no outward contact at all. This emotional stance o f Z was o f value to the other groups. It allow ed X to project into Z the remnants o f their ow n guilt. It also allow ed Y to project into Z their aggression towards all who had left them stranded. B y this means the release that both X and Y had experienced was reinforced. X and Y did the w ork that resulted in a conference plan for the special interest sessions. T hey could not have done it had they not had Z doing the em otional work for them, releasing them for the planning w ork. The group processes that went on within Z can be seen as a replica o f the processes on the w ider stage. In the evaluation, something o f this was seen by the members them selves. Z had taken on the com plem entary introjection o f the em otional difficulties o f the conference as a w hole, w hich the other groups w ere quite happy to project into them. Z were not unaware o f their function in this respect. It was a member o f Z w ho, in the evaluation, would not accept dissatisfaction with the group’s contribution to the overall task because “ We did what w as required.” Because o f the special em otion-containing role the group were carrying, they were not free to take decisions for them selves or to contribute to those o f the w hole. A s the graphs show, it was only when progress on the com m on task was made at the inter-group meetings that Z felt any satisfaction. The group seemed to realize that the satisfaction o f work done could be achieved only outside itself in the meeting o f envoys. It was during group meetings that Z felt any satisfaction. The group seemed to realize that the satisfaction o f w ork done could be achieved only outside itself in the m eeting o f envoys. It was not the group’s function to do this internally: “ Contact with external groups made the solution possible.” The high level o f satisfaction recorded at the end o f the Exercise by Z is further evidence o f their attitude. It must, indeed, have been a pleasant release for Z to have the task com pleted so that they could shake o ff the scapegoat role that they had carried on behalf o f the conference as a w hole. Som e recognition o f the contribution o f Z to the task can be seen in the w illingness o f X and Y to allow Z tw ice the number o f representatives that they each had on the planning com m ittee. X and Y could have insisted that Z should have only the allotted number.

218

Varieties o f Group Process

Z ’s need for the central en voys’ m eeting to be successful can be seen in the w ay their envoys behaved. The observer reported that the Z envoys were surprisingly lucid and useful at the en vo ys’ m eetings compared with their behavior inside their group. Although the group sent the leader o f its minority as w ell as a spokesman for its m ajority as en voys, they did not break up the central meeting by carrying their internal split to it. On the contrary, the Z en voys’ behavior assisted the w ork o f com prom ise going on between the other two com peting groups. T hey tended to side with one or the other in the compromise-finding process, and then withdrew for the other tw o to reach their final settlement, w hich Z was happy to accept.

C

o e x is t e n c e o f

A

n x ie t ie s ,

D efen ses

and

W

ork

Processes

The Exercise as a w hole carried throughout a ground-bass o f baF. This was shown during the initial break-up and in m em bers’ comments about it. It was still present in the final evaluation: “ I felt that w e had not been given quite enough chance to find our feet before something rather form idable was put upon us. It was asking a bit too much at that early stage in the conference to stand up to this.” “ E specially when previously w e had had tw o study groups. This was an expression o f aggression.” During the E xercise, there were various attempts to m ake the change back to basic assumption behavior. On several occasions m oves were made to involve the staff in m aking decisions or in taking executive roles for the conference as a w hole. Had the staff accepted these im plicit invitations, the conference w ould probably have returned to baD. Such a return w ould have been so deep that the conference would never thereafter have accepted the struggle to achieve its task. N evertheless, the conference did have to cope continually with the groundbass o f the fight/flight assumption with w hich it started and w hich it never lost. There w as, how ever, genuine em otional learning as a result o f the dramatic explosion in the first few seconds o f the Exercise. The guilt and aggression left behind had to be dealt with in its various groups if the C onference were to get on with its task. It also had to contain the continuing temptation to flight w hich it did by creating in Z a part o f itself that carried the em otional burden for the w hole. Z continued in flight. T hey remained disturbed and unable to w ork because o f their preoccupation with the guilt that had arisen from the first flight, w hich they had absorbed on behalf o f the w hole conference. B ecause Z were doing this job and having these elements in X and Y projected into them and, in turn, introjecting them, it was possible for the other tw o groups to be sufficiently free from this basic assumption to get on with the task. In this way, all the groups can be seen to have accepted, and in their different w ays acted

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on, the task-traction o f the shared real objective. W ith any group o f ordinary people, once they are convinced that responsibility does rest with them selves, the developm ent o f such task-traction is inevitable. N ot only is it the way, through reality acceptance, o f achieving any degree o f positive ego satisfac­ tion, the alternative is an unsatisfying confusion and, in the extrem e, universal futility (Fairbaim , 1952). This process did not com pletely free the conference from the fight aspect o f the basic assumption in operation. The idiom o f the w orking relationship between X and Y was one o f sharp competition. Each was fighting the other for the honor o f drawing up the conference plan for the special interest sessions. The three groups took an equal share in the w ork o f the w hole conference o f which they were all part and for w hich the task was being done. There were two tasks to carry out. One was the sophisticated task— the planning task; the other was to contain the intruding basic assumption that w as interfering with this. This was a fight/flight basic assumption. X and Y were able to handle W, and, through their com petitive relationship, the fight side o f this basic assumption. Z carried the main emotional burden— containing and m anifesting throughout the Exercise the element o f flight, by m aking no real contact with the task, and also by taking on the guilt and aggression o f the other tw o groups. Basic assumption and W can coexist. In most life situations, which are never free o f these processes, the greatest social sophistication is to find a way, as did the conference members on this occasion, o f allow ing the emotional and the work tasks to be carried on concurrently.

Appendix: The Product F ive members with a staff chairman constituted the Planning Com m ittee which circulated 24 items from the original list o f special interests. M em bers signified their first and second choices. Items were grouped into three sections. A had nine items with which members o f staff were w illin g to help; B four items with w hich staff had not expressed such a w illingness; C 11 items that the staff considered already covered in the program. The returns gave 52 (89 percent) from A , five from B and only one from C. For X the most popular choice (20 percent) was “ Interviewing techniques— especially group techniques,” a role-playing session conducted by the staff. For Y (38 percent) “ Resistance to change in large organizations,” a seminar to be run by a staff member; for Z (27 percent) “ H ow to use the dynam ic individual, ” again a seminar to be run by a staff member. Very close behind (23 percent) was “ Problems o f verbal com m unication” — another seminar to be run by a staff member. The most popular overall was “ Resistance to change in large organiza-

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tion s,” 22 percent o f all preferences. The next was “ H ow to use the dynam ic individual,” 16 percent o f all choices. M ost people had their first choice. F ive groups were set up: • Resistance to change in large organizations (8 members). • Problems o f verbal com m unication and problems o f correlating theoret­ ical and practical training (7 members). • H ow to use the dynam ic individual (6 members). • The effects o f group w ork on attitudes (4 members). • Interviewing techniques— especially group techniques (4 members). Each group had a staff member allocated to it but was free to decide how to go about its study. A ll groups presented material at the third session: one a short dissertation on the results o f the w ork, using their ow n experience as their case material; three others conducted role-playing sessions— with or without com m entary; the fifth, concerned with problems o f com m unication, used a variety o f blackboard and tape-recorder techniques and a com m unication exercise involvin g the w hole membership. In none o f these presentations was a staff member invited to participate. There was no doubt o f the involvem ent o f all participants in these sessions. The quality o f the final presentations was high. The members had produced a plan which had succeeded in accom plishing the objective set.

References Bion, W.R. 1961. Experience in Groups and Other Papers. London: Tavistock Publica­ tions; New York: Basic Books. Fairbaim, W.R.D. 1952. Psychoanalytic Studies of the Personality. London: Tavistock Publications. Rice, A .K . 1965. Learning for Leadership: Interpersonal and Intergroup Relations. London: Tavistock Publications. Trist, E.L. and C. Sofer. 1959. Exploration in Group Relations. Leicester: Leicester University Press.

Harold Bridger

Courses and Working Conferences as Transitional Learning Institutions*

The Background O rigins

The approach to management training and developm ent to be reported in this paper rests on a different premise from the purely group dynam ics foundation o f the study groups o f the Leicester model or the T-group tradition o f the National Training Laboratories (N TL) in the U .S . In both o f these traditions groups concerned with the internal task o f self-study and review are given no external task. M y own experience, how ever, has convinced me that in organi­ zational settings the internal task is best undertaken in conjunction with an external task. I have therefore called m y approach the double task model. In a note on study groups in the review o f the first Leicester Conference (Trist and Sofer, 1959) J.D. Sutherland, the then D irector o f the Tavistock C lin ic, who had him self taken a study group, stated The special social situation which experience shows most useful for this purpose consists in having a group meet without the “external” task to be done, but with the specific task of examining the kinds of feelings and attitudes that arise spontaneously, these feelings and attitudes being those which each individual brings to any group situation, or which develop within it independently of whatever the external task may be.

In the follow -up o f that conference some six months later, it becam e apparent that most members o f the helping, educational and social professions had found study group experience relevant and useful, both personally and professionally. B y contrast, most o f those concerned with organizational and operational affairs had not found it o f value in their back-hom e situations. Indeed, it created a barrier. *A new paper.

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The account o f the follow -up m eeting quotes me as drawing “ a further parallel with the training w ork being done by the Tavistock Institute in industry, where there was no attempt to turn groups into study groups.” The method was to develop insight during the course o f w orking through existing problem s.

,1

In organizational projects as early as 19 4 7 had introduced the procedure o f “ suspending the agenda,” in executive m eetings, when no progress was being made with the task in hand. This allow ed the group to review and reflect on the emotional and conflictual elements that were im peding its progress. In the G lacier project, Jaques (19 5 1) gave up using extra-curricular sessions and relied solely on m aking interpretative comments in the w orking sessions o f executive or union meetings. M y thinking at that tim e, and indeed since, has been much influenced by m y experience, during the war, as a social therapist at Northfield M ilitary P sychi­ atric Hospital. The activity groups I created influenced material brought into clinical groups in a positive w ay as regards therapeutic outcom e. The tw o groups becam e interlocked and were often, with advantage, the same group in different modes. This interconnection expressed the double-task in action. Shortly after Bion started therapy groups in the Tavistock C lin ic in 1945 he gave an extended trial o f his method o f group-centered interpretation in train­ ing groups outside the m edical area. One o f these consisted o f industrial managers, others o f people from the educational field. These groups did not fare w ell. It seemed that a number o f the participants w ere patients in disguise. We thought that it was best to rem ove this disguise and have the patients admit that they were seeking psychiatric treatment and should therefore be in a therapy group. In 1946 the Institute held, in Nottingham , under the auspices o f the Indus­ trial W elfare Society, an exploratory residential conference using B io n ’s meth­ ods. The participants were fairly high ranking managers from a number o f industries. The conference generated such stress that a distinguished member perforated an ulcer. He condemned the conference publicly. This episode had a decidedly chastening effect. Even carefully picked people in industry were not ready for anything o f the study or T-group type. Our frontal approach had been a mistake. N o more groups outside the m edical area were attempted for another ten years, though psychodynam ic projects continued and flourished in organi­ zational settings. A seem ing exception was a discussion group in the field o f teacher training w hich worked on material provided by the members. This led to their undertaking a project— the production o f a report on their proceedings to comm unicate their group experience to their profession (Herbert and Trist, 1953; Vol. I, “ A n Educational M odel for Group D ynam ics” ). In 1956 four senior people with N T L backgrounds were invited by the European Productivity A g en cy to make trials o f N T L procedures in European countries. These trials w ere, on the w hole, successful and the Tavistock was

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approached to w ork out a design suitable for British conditions. This w as how the first Leicester conference originated in 1957— as an experimental endeavor to discover a form o f experiential learning acceptable in the U .K . To make clear that this w as not a therapeutic endeavor the Institute created the conference as a joint venture with the Education Department o f a Univer­ sity, the link with education being similar to that made by N T L with the National Education Association. L ike N T L , again, w e had application groups and theory sessions as w ell as the study groups w hich were our own version o f T-groups. M oreover, participants cam e through a sociological channel; they w ere nominated by organizations, though the decision whether or not to com e was personal. To make relations with the Leicester community, w e introduced external operational tasks in which participants engaged with local organiza­ tions (e .g ., industrial firms, the police, hospitals and local government) in exploring some specific problem or issue which was o f current concern to them. The conference was successful in that no-one cam e to harm; the patientin-disguise phenomenon was stopped; the shadow o f Nottingham was re­ moved; a relationship with society made. On behalf o f the Institute, I spent the next summer in Bethel to make a thorough study o f N T L methods. These summer “ la b s,” as they were called, contained a great variety o f activities based on experiential learning which had established itself as an accepted educational innovation. N evertheless, and despite the overall success o f Leicester, I was still disquieted about T-groups and study groups. It seemed to me that the idea o f a group o f participants with the task o f “ learning about groups by being a group” meets Bion and R ick ­ man’s (1943) conditions for the “ study o f its ow n internal tensions” only when the participants are patients prepared to join such a group with the expectation o f “ getting better.” Then the real-life task o f the group is for the patients “ to get w e ll.” It did not seem to me that there was a com pelling real task in the non­ patient groups that I had experienced. Since this time m ovements such as the human potential m ovem ent em erging from the Esalen Institute, particularly from the influence o f Abraham M aslow , have produced groups outside the medical area with a strong commitment to self study, but such groups are therapeutic or quasi-therapeutic in aim. B io n ’s original formulation had em phasized the need for the group’s situa­ tion to be a real-life one, i.e ., an action situation. I therefore thought that a suitable real-life situation had to be found for non-m edical groups whose members, such as managers, carried out organizational roles. Such a situation might be found if one could discover a w ay o f w orking with participants in which they could bring into the group problems and concerns arising in their organizational settings. This w ay o f w orking would entail creating circum ­ stances in w hich they could recognize and pursue what I have called the double task.

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A n O r g a n iz a t io n T h eory B asis

In his book Leadership in Administration, Selznick (1957) distinguishes be­ tween concepts o f organization and institution: The term organization suggests . . . a system of consciously co-ordinated ac­ tivities. . . . It refers to a rational instrument engineered to do a job. . . . It has a formal system of rules and objectives. Tasks, powers, procedures are set out according to some officially approved pattern. An institution, on the other hand, is more nearly a natural product of social needs and pressures— a responsive, adaptive organism. This does not mean that any given enterprise must be either one or the other. While an extreme case may closely approach either an “ ideal” organization or an “ ideal” institution, most living associations . . . are complex mixtures of both designed and responsive behavior. The process o f adapting, o f projecting and internalizing, o f learning and acting, unconsciously as w ell as consciously, is the institutional characteristic. For convenience and in deference to present day usage o f “ organization” in both senses, the term organization w ill, predominantly, be used. The organization is an open system with regard to its environment and is both “ purpose-oriented” and “ learning and self-review in g.” The capability o f carrying out this double-task at appropriate times and in the course o f normal working when relevant, is becom ing an essential feature in interdependent m ulti-disciplinary w ork forces. The more rapid change rate has created a situation o f far greater com plexity, interdependence and uncertainty than organizations have previously encoun­ tered. Em ery and Trist (196 5, 1973) have called this situation the “ turbulent environm ent.” M ore initiative is now required o f m anagers, more innovative capability, more flexibility and more recognition o f the need to cooperate. Greater understanding o f group life at all levels is needed in order more effectively to manage transitions o f one kind or another w hich are occurring with much greater frequency (Bridger, 1987).

Internal Courses: The Opportunity in Philips Electrical A bout this time in the early 1960s the Institute divided into tw o operating groups, one o f w hich undertook the further developm ent o f the Leicester model (R ice, 1965; M iller, Vol. I, “ Experiential Learning in Groups I ” ), w hile the other, to w hich I belonged, was interested in the double-task approach. It is

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scarcely accidental that the opportunity required to pursue this arose in an industrial setting with a com pany beset with problems o f increased uncertainty, com plexity and interdependence. The com pany in question was the British affiliate o f Philips, the multi-national electronics firm, in itself a very large organization. To meet the challenge o f the new conditions senior management took time out for self-review. A s the result o f a w ee k ’s off-site conference they gave priority to Staff Developm ent. A n immediate job w as to develop training designs relevant to the new managerial competences (cf. M organ, 1988). T hey w ere called Practice o f Managem ent Courses (PM Cs) and required attention to process as w ell as to content. If the attendance was to be secured o f the bulk o f the most relevant managers for the kind o f course contemplated, this could be no longer than a w eek. The aim was to produce a scheme that w ould permit extensive use. Each facet o f a pilot course was to be concerned with “ m anaging groups at w ork ” — which entailed the dynam ics o f such groups. Hence

understanding

the need to appreciate the role o f informal systems and other processes affect­

consultative

ing groups as operating entities. The aspects o f management were becom ing increasingly significant, whether for more sophisticated and satisfy­ ing appraisal methods and career developm ent, or for reaching the most effective outcome with a w ork force. I cam e to see the consultative process as a “ basic building b lo ck ” in the developm ent o f a group as w ell as an important element in its own right within any training scheme for organizational effec­ tiveness (Bridger, 1980b). The Study Group becam e a Work Group, but with a double task: • The group had to w ork on selected issues o f importance for group m em ­ bers in their organizational settings and in their roles. It was to manage its own selection o f topics and to manage itself. It im plicitly posed to itself the problem — and the challenge— o f being able to face internal differen­ tiation, thereby enabling leadership and other capabilities to be demon­ strated according to the pertinent circum stances. • The group had to identify the processes operating within it at different times, especially the w ay the group as a w hole, with its particular set o f values and norms, was influencing events and modes o f w orking.

A n “ intergroup” experience (Higgin and Bridger, 1964) could be offered in a variety o f form s, but in early m odels it consisted o f an interim review o f the course about two-thirds o f the w ay through the w eek. Each Work Group would review the experience thus far and prepare recommendations for amending the remainder o f the proposed program so as to better meet the original or changed expectations o f members. In addition, each group was to select an appropriate group member (or two) to represent it at a meeting with the staff representative and jointly make some proposals.

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group member (or two) to represent it at a m eeting with the staff representative and jointly m ake some proposals. “ Talk-discussions,” which gave a conceptual fram ework to the experience, were placed at points when they were most likely to be relevant. The placing and interlocking o f these aspects, together with transitions for entry and departure, were carefully thought through to ensure that both the real-life situation and the study o f processes were operating for each com po­ nent as w ell as for the w hole. The course itself was regarded as a process consisting o f three phases: pre-course, the residential w eek and post-course. The procedure described in what follow s represents the mature m odel w hich evolved after extensive trials when the demand for a large number o f courses had been created. It is based on m y joint paper with one o f the internal consultants (L ow and Bridger, 1979).

P re -C ourse P hase

This consists o f tw o operations. In one nominations are submitted from constit­ uent parts o f the com pany o f those managers w ho w ish to attend. Invitations are sent by the M anagem ent D evelopm ent Adviser (M D A ), setting out the purpose and indicating prior w ork to be done. In the other, the M D A appoints the course staff and meetings between them are subsequently held tw o or three w eeks before the residential phase.

NOMINATION AND METHOD OF INVITATION

Each participant attends voluntarily. He is free to withdraw at any stage. Invitations are sent on the basis that each participant • has within the scope o f his or her management function sufficient oppor­ tunity to influence change in methods o f w orking • has the motivation to undertake fresh approaches to w ork and to explore problems without pre-conceptions • is resilient enough to absorb conflicting pressures and to react with sensitivity. The description o f the course states its purpose as follow s: These courses . . . are designed to enable managers to gain, through participa­ tion in group exercises and discussion, a fresh insight into management and to derive general principles and practice from particular experiences. The content

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emerges from members’ interests. No attempt is made to teach hard and fast techniques but rather to encourage learning by participation in joint work, aided by the presentation of theoretical concepts. The phrasing indicates the duality o f task; that through a discussion o f m anage­ ment topics which are both valid and real, insight can not only be gained about the content o f such issues, but about the processes o f group activity. The nominees are asked to bring, for discussion by heterogeneous w ork groups o f w hich they w ill be members, subjects important to them in their roles as managers. In addition, they are asked to formulate a specific problem from their own managerial experience which can be discussed in detail within the homogeneous com m on interest group o f w hich they w ill also be members.

STAFF SELECTION AND STAFF MEETINGS

The responsibility for inviting people to take part as staff members in the P M C s rests with the M D A , assisted in this task by the Tavistock Consultant. The increased numbers o f courses has obliged the M D A to create a network o f staff assistants. The criteria for inclusion are • • • •

a capacity to understand the m otivation o f people at w ork in groups sensitivity to individual and group behavior organizational roles that have credibility in a professional sense support from managers to do consultant w ork, whether with training or with operational groups

• experience as a participant in a P M C To avoid any feeling that participants are undergoing a selection process for becom ing trainee consultants, individuals are encouraged, on later reflection about the course and its impact upon them, to appraise them selves. In this w ay the initiative can be left with the individual to state whether a consultant role o f this type is appealing. The invitation, ultimately, still remains within the prerogative o f the M D A , follow ing discussions with the individual. A s group w ork is a crucial element within the total course design, care is taken in the assignment o f individual staff consultants to each group. U nneces­ sary inhibitions to learning are avoided by ensuring that no staff member has too close a personal or work relationship with any member o f his or her group. Although an experienced consultant can w ork singly with a group o f some eight or nine participant managers, it has been found advantageous to have two staff members with each group. Som etim es these are people o f equal experi­ ence, in which case they w ork as co-trainers, but more frequently one is a trainee.

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Staff m eetings are held before the course assem bles and have a dual pur­ pose— in content terms, to determine the fram ew ork for the w e e k ’s program; in process terms, to becom e acquainted with one another, to understand different roles, to recognize overtly the relevance o f talent within the staff group and to agree how the w ork w ill be shared between staff members. From the start, the differences are made clear between teaching and admin­ istrative roles. Course members w ill best understand the importance o f role clarity in groups i f the staff them selves have made a conscious effort to distinguish their own roles.

T he R e sid e n tial P hase FIRST PLENARY SESSION

A t the first plenary session the staff allow s time for questions, how ever trivial these m ay seem , without creating an undue sense that time is an expandable commodity. The session attempts to be adm inistratively brisk and to explain the rationale o f the course design and the roles o f the staff. N evertheless, there is bound to exist, to a certain degree, a sense that participants are the victim s o f manipulative or even devious stratagems. W ith the best w ill in the w orld, and despite protestations to the contrary, the staff m ay fail to convince them that such is not their intention. The course is frequently described as unstructured, not because a basic fram ework is lacking, but because it starts from the learners’ questions, rather than from the teachers’ answers. Exploration o f problem s about m anaging, about group behavior, begins with discussion between participants, so that their differing or similar experiences m ay be brought into the open, before any inferences about behavior in general can be drawn.

HOMOGENEOUS COMMON INTEREST GROUPS

The next stage consists o f initial b rief exchanges between members with a common interest, i.e ., hom ogeneous, group. These are trios or quartets, consisting o f managers with sim ilar roles or functions who can explore their own problems and com m unicate with each other in a fam iliar language. N o staff member is present at this stage, which im mediately follow s the introductory plenary m eeting, unless a group requests clarification. The group’s task is to formulate an agenda relevant to some com mon interest that each can take with him to his search group. They meet again at later stages for different purposes.

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HETEROGENEOUS SEARCH GROUPS*

A t the core o f the design are heterogeneous groups o f 9 managers, w hich have the task o f understanding how content and process are interdependent in achieving group objectives. The first o f the heterogeneous group periods takes place once there has been an opportunity to share, in a further plenary m eeting, the variety o f managerial problems w hich participants have begun to discuss with each other. T hey now find them selves members o f a group with m ixed, perhaps conflicting, interests. Thus at this stage the design has already established a replica o f institutional life. The members belong to one group where they speak a recognized lan­ guage; to another where they must try to understand the language o f others whose ideas and backgrounds are unfamiliar; and to a total organization, represented by a plenary m eeting where all participants com e together to deal with matters affecting their inter-groups requirements.

ALTERNATION OF CONSULTATION AND SEARCH GROUPS

For the next two days the com m on interest groups (renamed consultative groups) and the heterogeneous groups (renamed search groups) function alter­ nately. The task o f the form er is now concerned with learning about the giving and taking o f advice between colleagues; the role o f the second to undertake free exploration o f problems and issues. B y reason o f this alternation, course members experience, in a temporary system , the conflict o f interest that flow s from simultaneous membership in distinct groups, and learn to sustain the twow ay stretch to w hich they are subjected. E xactly how these different aspects o f the w ee k ’s course develop w ill be the function o f the staff to observe and interpret in relation to the processes involved in m anaging groups. The content by means o f which such awareness develops is represented by the members’ own agendas, brought from their trios and quartets to the search groups.

THEORY SESSION: THE NATURE OF GROUPS

N ow that each group has had some experience o f handling its ow n discussions, a plenary period is inserted w hich takes the form o f a theory presentation by a staff member about “ The Nature o f G rou ps.” Experiences in w orking groups, how ever frustrating or uncertain their nature, precede any attempt to draw *The idea of cognitive search was introduced by Wertheimer (1945) and developed by Fred and Merrelyn Emery (1978) at the social level for the purposes of search conferences.

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together more general concepts about groups. The structure is a reflection o f the wish to proceed from the know n to the unknown. It supports learning by discovery. The expectation is (and experience bears this out) that the partici­ pants w ill relate this talk about groups in general to their ow n developing perceptions about what is taking place in their ow n groups. Thus, about one-third o f the w ay through the course, at the very point where members are feeling that they are lost, that the staff process observations are m erely intrusive, unhelpful remarks (not germane to the content discussions), and that confusion is a dominant note, an attempt is made through the plenary presentation to enable them to see their experiences against a fresh set o f concepts. There are usually feelings o f manipulation, how ever, as i f the course staff have been keeping these revelations up their sleeve.

INTER-GROUP EXCHANGE

N ot only does the course aim to provide opportunities to look at sm all groups, it is also concerned— because management involves such experiences— to exam ine what happens when groups try to w ork and com m unicate with each other. About m id-w ay through the w eek, therefore, the search groups have the opportunity to share their experiences to date, by means o f an inter-group exchange. Two members from each group describe and discuss with each other their separate view s o f what has occurred in their respective groups. This is arranged as a “ fish-bow l” exercise in w hich representatives o f groups are observed by the colleagues w ho have chosen them. M em bers have the chance to evaluate what happens when representatives are faced with conflicting feelings— loyalty to one group yet a desire to understand the attitudes o f people from another. The criteria for choice o f representatives are also review ed.

REVIEW AND FIELD FORCE ANALYSIS

Underlying the initial attempts to create this type o f course is a b elief in the value o f “ suspending business” for effecting a review o f organizational life. Participants have the opportunity to look back at what has been happening, to make proposals about what might happen and to com e to join tly agreed decisions about what w ill best suit the future needs o f the course as a total institution. A method for doing this is Field Force A n alysis (L ew in, 1951), by use o f w hich managers produce maps o f those forces w hich assist and those which detract from the course objectives. It is a method that course members can use back home. This review affords an occasion to exam ine, with staff feedback, just how course members are proceeding with this task o f m anaging

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their own temporary institution. T hey look at the forces, internal and external, such as com petitive pressures and drives, which make up group life. The rational, logical aspects o f decision m aking are seen to be tempered b y the irrational. It is at this stage, when awareness o f process has been acknow l­ edged, how ever uncertainly put into words, that the members o f each consult­ ing and search group can exam ine their own group’s process and expect to find parallels between them and those in groups in their sponsoring organizations. The group discussions towards the latter part o f the w eek focus on the group’s own processes and dynam ics. The consultant has opportunities to engage with group members about process, even to m ake, where appropriate, brief state­ ments about organization theory. Papers brought to the course are best received if introduced when members can gain know ledge from them relative to points arising from the course experience itself.

FINAL STAGES

The final stages o f the residential phase prepare members for return to their organizations. So the trios and quartets are reconstituted and meet im m ediately prior to the brief plenary session with w hich the course concludes. Members recall their first uncertain, tentative group m eetings, and attempt to relate the intervening experience to the pressing tasks they w ill face beyond the confines o f the course. A s with a vacation, the descriptions to others not present o f an experience not shared is likely to prove frustrating. H ow to relate again to colleagues w ho w ill be incapable o f receiving with comprehension and sym pa­ thy one’s inability to interpret the significance o f the w ee k ’s events? The ensuing plenary session when participants and staff alike re-convene from their homogeneous groups— for consultants and observers, too, can benefit from a pause to consider jointly the future against the background o f the course— is not an occasion for further public review o f the groups’ process. The need for business now outweighs the need for any suspension o f business. On occasions, the staff find them selves giving a lead on content, whilst participants, reversing the usual roles, seem to be more concerned with pro­ cess. A practical task is provided by a brief discussion o f the interim plans for a follow-up meeting, say, after six months, with the need to make arrangements, to co-ordinate dates, to consult diaries; in fact, to think im m ediately o f that external world to which everyone now must return. Course participants, hav­ ing shared in a learning experience about membership in, and management of, small groups, are about to take on more fam iliar roles again. A nd so they leave the course, as they joined it, as accountants, engineers, production managers, personnel officers and marketing managers.

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Post -C ourse P hase

The objectives in providing an occasion for course members to re-convene some six months later are: • to evaluate the course’s relevance to the roles and functions w hich people w ill have taken up again • to re-appraise on e’s own performance at w ork and the feelings about on e’s career developm ent in the light o f the course • to discover the organizational issues raised, as a result o f attempting to relate “ group dynam ics” to problems at w ork The members and staff com e back to the same conference center for a period o f two-and-a-half days. The temptation for the staff to concentrate on process comments, to the exclusion o f any involvem ent in the content to be exam ined, has to be resisted. This brief follow -up looks back w hile still continuing to look forward— what is the relevance o f group dynam ics to problems at w ork? Staff and members alike share their experiences. A fter resum ing through w ork groups— and thereby m eeting the need to enjoy a re-union— the course m em ­ bers focus attention on special areas o f interest. C ase studies o f organizational problems are carried out, frequently by new groupings made up o f people w ho now have a new com m on interest. W hether individuals w ish to discuss with others the self-appraisals carried out as arranged before com ing to the follow up session is left to them to decide. The points raised relate to questions o f organizational com plexity back at work. Thus the relevance to this com plexity— fam iliar and perhaps inevitable in any large multi-functional enterprise— o f the Practice o f M anagem ent is considered. This leads to w ork between course members, between members and staff, and between members o f different and separate courses, in what m ay generally be described as “ organization developm ent.”

The Consultant1s Role and Functions A s these courses proceeded, features o f the consultant’s role em erged w hich m ay be regarded as general for all courses and workshops o f this kind. I shall now review these.

S ta f f C o n s u ltin g R oles

Staff roles, like course design, are conceived as enabling resources; in addition to the importance o f what a staff member does is the w ay in w hich it is done. He or she takes different roles at different stages and in different situations: in the early trios and quartets to clarify; in the search group to be an adviser who

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listens and gives feedback; in seminar activities to reinforce learning; in the small consultative groups to observe and coordinate. B y differentiating b e­ tween these roles from the start the consultant can show the relationship between role clarity and organizational effectiveness. The point o f a consultant’s intervention in the early stages is often not perceived, as the group does not yet understand process. It finds difficulty in reconciling the consultant’s process comments with its ow n interests in op­ tim izing task objectives. The consultant does not refuse to answer relevant questions (i.e ., those consistent with the role), but if asked a question about content (e .g ., what is your opinion about the influence o f trade unions in industry upon the authority o f management?) m ay indicate why, at that moment, the group wishes the consultant to take over their task rather than carry it out them selves. One w ay in which a group m ay cope with uncertainty is to establish a fam iliar structure, which often means appointing a chairman and perhaps a secretary. There m ay be opposition, often unvoiced, to these m oves. The consultant notes it for future reference when opposition becom es overt— usually in some rationalized form. Intervention is then designed to produce a realization that a particular structure or procedural form is not a general solution to difficulties o f operational functioning. The experience can help later to determine when such a structure or procedure should realistically be brought into play. The timing o f interventions is crucial, an opportunity for intervening not taken may not recur. Usually, however, the dynam ics o f the group behavior are repeated, though in another or disguised form. In the later stages, the consultant has to exercise self-discipline, through recognizing the group’s ow n growth in learning potential, so as not to intervene in the same w ay throughout, but allow participants to try their hand on process comment whenever they are ready to do so.

T he C o n s u l t a n t ’ s R elatio n sh ip

to th e

G roup

In the early stages a consultant is liable to be the target for hostile feelings, overt or covert, because a group perceives him or her as having failed to help or lead the group. A s time progresses, group members begin to distinguish between manipulating others, being manipulated and feeling that one is being manipulated. The theme o f manipulation itself often becom es a means o f learning about integrity, and about recognizing when one is either obliged or can choose to conform with certain circum stances. Two forces, often more, are usually involved: the urge to get on with the job in hand and the effort to provoke the consultant into “ com ing clean .” Later in the process the group is apt to show frustration over failure to

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achieve goals in content; it m ay want its ow n survival as its aim , or be reluctant to “ je ll” because it w ould becom e too “ cosy.” In various crises such as these, the group’s sense o f aggravation m ay be turned on the consultant for failure to help. The consultant must understand and learn how best to help the group in these circumstances, for instance by suspending business to exam ine those factors that are determining the group’s actions. Concentrating on roles ensures that the consultant is seen to be concerned only with group developm ent and not with judgm ents about individual behavior. Individuals w ill be learning about, as w ell as from , each other and m ay begin to explore individual aspects, the consultant, however, refers to individuals and their behavior only insofar as it contributes to the group’s process task. One specific phenomenon usually occurs about one-third o f the w ay through the course, and is associated with the underlying w ish o f the group as to the level o f learning with w hich it w ill proceed. Critical is the group’s discovery that the w ay forward lies in giving reflection on its own behavior as prominent a place as task achievem ent. O nce this shift, is recognized, the consultant can assume that the group is joining him or her and beginning to show a capacity to share in the second task o f looking at process as w ell as content. Soon afterwards the group sometimes refers to the consultant’s having becom e a “ m em ber.”

A C o n s u l t a n t M u st “ E ar n

th e

R igh t

to be

T rusted’ ’

A consultant m ay wish to take notes to help remember incidents in the develop­ ment o f the work group. The group is likely to suspect that the notes are for other ulterior purposes, usually because o f past association with authority figures displaying judgm ental attitudes. N o consultant can expect to be trusted as o f right, but has to earn trust. O nly through consistency o f role, and certainly not just through the use o f “ techniques,” w ill the trust o f participants develop. Trust itself w ill com e to be recognized as a process, not a state. O nce, how ever, a “ good enough” shared experience has developed, a slip out o f role by the consultant m ay be forgiven (or m ay even lead to being seen as human after all), but basic discrepancies can have most dam aging effects. A consultant (or manager) m ay grossly underestimate the penetrating and subtle sense o f the “ music behind the w ords” w hich groups use at all times.

Findings Derived from Review o f Course Experience A nyone who feels it desirable to do this type o f w ork places a high value on it. One should, therefore, beware o f believing that an experience o f learning from

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the here-and-now w ill be valued b y everybody. The follow ing factors influence attitude: • Commitm ent to the course objectives by an individual participant, cou­ pled with a w illingness to explore, produce a positive attitude to learning • A n individual who feels he or she has been sent for some vaguely therapeutic purpose w ill build resistance to what is seen as an intrusive threat • A n individual w hose own manager is half-hearted or highly skeptical w ill tend to deny the value o f the experience, whatever he or she may personally feel about the method o f learning • W here a staff member displays, how ever unconsciously, his or her own uncertainty or anxiety about self, career or com petence, this attitude transfers itself to the participants. T hey w ill display anxiety and even aggression towards the staff member and the course in general • If a sponsoring m anager’s behavior belies his or her words, w hich may in appearance only support open-ended learning, the subordinate is liable to be guarded in his or her own behavior • N o application o f learning from experience is possible in any organiza­ tional setting w hich exclu sively rewards conform ist “ safe” behavior To take these points into account membership o f the course is controlled by the criteria for inclusion set out by the M D A . Naturally, it is not possible to guarantee that course members w ill be paragons o f influence, resilience and sensitivity. W hat is essential is that people, with a positive, rather than a negative approach, be encouraged to test them selves out in the temporary system o f the course environment provided that they receive “ back hom e” support for their efforts.

Evaluation In the early courses, participants com pleted questionnaires on their attitudes and assumptions about management behavior. Questions based on concepts o f motivation by such writers as M cG regor (i960) and Herzberg (1966) were answered prior to, during and at the conclusion o f the course. The purpose was to help participants exam ine any significant behavioral change deriving from their learning experiences. H ow ever, the anxiety o f the course staff to prove the relevance o f the training was greater than the participants’ need to learn. The process o f collecting and com paring the data took on an undue emphasis that interfered with the developm ent o f course activity, and hindered the consul­ tants in their principal task. Questionnaires are still occasionally used, for

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exam ple, as a means o f introducing a theory session. H ow ever, no formal evaluation o f the courses is conducted by questionnaire. Currently, how ever, an attempt is being made to assess their value by means o f a survey conducted w ith all previous participants w ho have assisted in the preparation o f the survey material. Because o f the obvious difficulty, given the number o f variables w hich can affect individual and group behavior in any organization, no attempt to quan­ tify the value o f the courses has been made. Significant outcom es, how ever, are that individuals have been able to evaluate their careers in the light o f their course experience. Training managers have been able to respond to the w ishes o f their organizations to adopt a more open appraisal method. The need to do so arose from conversations about how relevant the learning w as to factories, laboratories and com m ercial offices. A number o f management team s, includ­ ing the executive boards o f tw o subsidiary com panies, have asked for assis­ tance from training staff in order to carry out review s o f their group’s effective­ ness, in the same w ay that w ork groups suspend their business in the courses. One factory, where a number o f managers have attended the course and w hose subordinates have sim ilarly attended off-plant training exercises, has, through its director’s initiative, set up project groups com prising people o f different disciplines and functions to exam ine specific problem s. Other parts o f the com pany have review ed the relationship between their objectives and their methods o f work through residential conferences. A s a result, they have effected their own changes. N ow that many seeds have been sow n, the future emphasis in courses in the Practice o f M anagem ent w ill be on training the trainers. The recognition o f the role w hich a staff member can take creatively as consultant has brought new demands. It is not the intention to overlay the organization as a w hole with courses in behavioral skills, but to increase the possibility o f learning from real w ork groups, whether these be at board room level or on the shop floor.

External Workshops : The Perspective o f a Participant The courses in Philips becam e w oven into the texture o f the organization. The model w as taken up by several other com parable com panies. Then a demand for external courses arose in w hich people from different organizations could meet together and have the advantage o f even greater diversity o f experience, though internal preparation and follow -up could not be equivalently intensive. These workshops I have com e to call Tavistock W orking Conferences (T W C s). Efforts are made to ensure that the firms sending participants are supportive o f experiential learning and that the interest o f the participant is authentic. Pre­ ferably, two people com e from any one organization.

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For a number o f years T W C s have been held at least annually, first in conjunction with Bath U niversity and more recently at the conference center o f the Foundation for Adaptation in Changing Environments at M inster L o ve ll, near O xford. For many years, also, T W C s have been a feature o f the National Training Laboratories’ summer program at Bethel, M aine. T h ey have also been held on the European continent. The com position o f the membership tends to be highly international. The best w ay to give a flavor o f what a T W C is like is to reproduce the account o f her conference experience by Eleanor Dudar, w ho participated in the conference held in Toronto in A p ril, 1987. A t that time she was Publication Editor o f the Quality o f Working L ife Centre at the Ontario M inistry o f Labour. It is always difficult to com m unicate the essence o f any important personal experience verbally or in writing. It is equivalent to demanding that one should communicate the experience o f the experience! A s Eleanor Dudar so crisply expresses the point, “ you have to be there.” The intuitive feel and understanding com bined with the high professional competence which she brings to this contribution has met with much gratitude and appreciation by staff and past members w ho have so far had the opportunity o f reading this very sensitive paper. She has captured the “ music as w ell as the w ords” o f the experience and, in the French translation as w ell as in the English original, it has already been found illuminating and valuable by those who would like to have a better indication o f “ what would be in it for m e.” Ask people who have attended a Tavistock Working Conference (TWC) what went on, what they actually did for a week, what they got out of it, and their answers are likely to be peculiarly nebulous. Something very important took place— they’ll agree to that— something at times bewildering, frustrating, posi­ tively painful even; something that in retrospect seems to have been of great positive value to their confidence and effectiveness as members of a working group; but also something very hard to put into words. “ Well, you see, I guess you really had to be there.” An easier question to answer is why anyone would consider going to a TWC in the first place. Because a TWC offers help in an area where a great many people in business, industry, government, service organizations, unions, you name it, feel that help is needed. Anyone who has ever had to work in and through a group— to get something done in collaboration with six or ten or a dozen other people— knows just how frustrating and at times puzzling an exercise it can be. There are so many ways in which the productive functioning of a group can be sidetracked, highjacked, distracted and derailed by the tangle of human interac­ tions that are woven into the agenda. Sometimes, the problem can seem pretty obvious: he simply can’t grasp the issue; she simply refuses to cooperate; those two think they have all the answers; nobody wants to stick his neck out. At other times, it’s by no means clear what’s going wrong: the conflicts are masked; there

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is an apparent willingness to work at the task; the inability to reach decisions is distinguished as further discussion. But the collective dysfunction is just as painful and unproductive. Every work group is incapacitated at times, more or less severely, by these demons, and a TWC offers a chance to discover where they lurk, and how they may be exorcised. So, back to the first question: what actually goes on? Are you dazzled with theoretical insights from high-powered lecturers? Are you given all kinds of quick-fix do’s and don’ts for the effective manipulation of your colleagues? Are these pep-talks and personal testimonies and glossy charts on organizational design? No, nothing like that. True, there is some theory along the way; con­ ference staff offer short, pithy talks at strategic intervals— about organizations as open systems, about the need to balance the requirements of an organization’s social and technical systems, about the complex nature of work group interac­ tion. The particular issues addressed are shaped by the areas of interest indicated by the conference participants in a pre-registration questionnaire. But a T W C ’s primary approach to knowing how groups operate is through carefully structured participation— in groups, what else?— Experiential Learning. What sorts of groups, and what do they do? Several kinds of groups. At the conference I attended, in April 1987 in Toronto, we began conventionally enough with the opportunity to identify with one another as members of particu­ lar “entry” groups, categorized initially by type of home organization, then by organizational position and role. In these group settings we were asked to describe the difficulties and opportunities we each faced. Everyone had some­ thing to say, and some common themes were quickly identified. In these entry group discussions we had also begun to generate, out of our shared experience, material that would serve as background for the more rigorous group work that we would be getting into. Then, at the end of the opening session, we were assigned to the two different groups that were to absorb so much of our time and thought over the next several days— the “ consulting” group and the “ search” group. Dramatically different in function and practice, these two groupings formed the core of the conference experience, the one a highly methodical process with specifically defined roles for each participant, the other a setting of almost unlimited freedom to create and experiment with process itself. Each group met at least twice daily throughout the conference. A consulting group typically consisted of three or four participants, with one member of the conference staff attending each meeting. Its purpose was to permit each participant in turn to work on a real and specifically defined problem from his or her home organization. Members of the consulting group took turns at being consultant, client— the one with the problem— and observer. As consultants we had to learn how to listen, how to question, how to guide our clients to see their problems in a new light; then, as clients, how to widen our perspective on the problems confronting us, to take in the many, often disregarded, so-called external factors that exert such an intangible influence. Often, the shift in perspective gave the client new insight into where the real problem lay. Finally, but just as importantly, as observers we were learning how to see and hear what occurs in the consultative process, and to

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reflect, “ what would I ask at this juncture?” and “ how would I respond to that?” This consultative process, an underlying feature of the conference at every turn, became a model for the way an organization can optimize the talents of its people through encouraging participation at all levels. At the end of the week, most participants agreed that the consulting group had been of real benefit in clarifying the group dynamics of the home organization. We would each be returning with a solid, carefully examined, and realistic first step to take in meeting our particular challenges. But the heart of a Tavistock Working Conference— the most trying and the most rewarding of its experiences— must surely be the search group: seven people, with two conference staff in attendance, thrown together for several hours a day, to encounter in their purest form the turbulence and tribulation that beset a working group. Our task was, first of all, to agree upon a task— to define a collective aim for the seven participants which would contribute towards a better understanding of the issues facing organizations. Much of our time was literally spent in the elusive quest of a consensus on how to spend our time. What issue or issues could we most profitably deal with? How should we deal with them? What kind of outcome should we work towards? Put seven people together in a room— especially seven fairly dynamic individuals from a variety of upper-level posi­ tions in large organizations— and tell them to decide on something to do for a week, and you have a recipe for creative turbulence. But there is more going on here. The other requirement of the search group was that we should periodically suspend operations on The Task (as it quickly became) in order to focus on the workings of the group itself. Like a brain attempting to think about itself thinking, the group was directed to examine its own patterns of interaction. What were the sources and axes of conflict? What was the distribution of roles in the group, between leadership and passivity, concentration and distraction, attempts to dominate and attempts to opt out? How often did the group slip into working as if still addressing The Task, but in reality evading it and allowing all sorts of sidetracking to take place? How many people were being given, or were taking, the chance to pursue their own agenda, at the expense of the collective enterprise? And how far was the group really drawing on the resources of all its members? However absorbing our own search groups were, group learning did not stop there. Each group at the conference exists in the context of the other groups, and very quickly each begins to wonder how the others manage their time, develop their agendas, do their work. The opportunity for inter-group learning came at mid-week when we were given the task of selecting one of our members to serve as “ visitor” to another group. Any method of choosing the visitor— except random selection— was allowed. The process by which we decided upon appro­ priate selection criteria, and upon which person best met those criteria, sharpened our understanding of how our group typically functioned. Selecting the visitor made it necessary for us to differentiate among ourselves— the activity which, in our experience, groups have the most difficulty doing— in order to choose the best person for the job (a function which, in any setting, has important implica­ tions for choosing appropriate leadership).

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Selecting the visitor had a second important purpose: it turned our steady inward gaze outward to a consideration of how to relate to the external environ­ ment represented by the other group. What was that group like? Did it have any special characteristics which would make one of our members a more suitable visitor than another? What did we want our visitor to look out for and learn about in the other group? Who could we best afford to let go, while still ensuring that the incoming visitor got a worthwhile appreciation of our group? In the role of visitor, people brought to the eddying turbulence of another group the growing clarity of vision they were developing in their own. Not immediately implicated in the struggle, they could observe with attentive detach­ ment. The presence of the visitor had an effect, in turn, on the group being visited, prompting a degree of self-awareness in the mirror of another’s observa­ tion. And on returning, the visitors brought with them a modified perspective on the environment of their own groups. Suddenly, there was hardly enough time to explore all of the day’s fresh insights into our own and others’ behavior. In the evening, we met in plenary session to discuss the dramatically different reactions of each group and each visitor, and to ponder the implications of our learning for similar situations in our home organizations. The inter-group learning that resulted from selecting and sending a visitor, as well as from being visited, was an exhilarating experience. Relating thus to our immediate external environment further developed our sense of our group as a distinct entity, and increased our confidence in the work we could do together. The two kinds of learning— within the group and between groups— are clearly interactive and mutually reinforcing. A group that has some insight into its own functioning can more readily and coherently respond to the challenges of the external environment, which in turn stimulates the group to a fuller use of its own resources. This phase of the conference was especially exciting, not only because the fruits of our labors within the group were becoming evident, but also because there are so many broad applications of the manifold lessons of inter-group learning. Because we live in a world of ever-increasing mobility of people, the business of entering and leaving groups effectively is increasingly important, for the group as well as for the individual. It is valuable to be able to go beyond simple stereotyping, to be able to gain a clear understanding of what happens in other groups— to learn how to grasp and respect the differences, but also to discern the underlying similarities common to inter-group functioning. The import of such learnings for an organization is obvious. Put into words, it can even be made to sound dull, clichéd. But the experience itself— which produced in people a new clarity about the self, the workings of the group, and the interactions between groups— is not for a minute dull or clichéd. But to really understand, you really had to be there! To experience, in a laboratory situation as it were, the dynamics of the complex organism of a work group from inside and outside at the same time— this was the special gift of the conference. We were able, at times, both to feel what was happening in the group, and at the same time to recognize it and, together with the help of the staff members, to identify the pattern at work.

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Naming the problem. Such a process bestows a sense of liberation on the participants— we do not need to be trapped so eternally by the knots in which groups entangle themselves. With an enhanced understanding of the ways in which both a group’s functioning and the relations between groups may be optimized, we can actually improve a working situation— not just for the sake of the group’s effectiveness, but for the well-being and fulfillments of its members considered as whole persons. I have spoken to several fellow conference participants recently. I was struck by people’s enthusiasm for the conference some three months later, and by their readiness to talk about it even while protesting that the experience was hard to communicate. While my sampling didn’t elicit reports of world-shaking change, it did reveal, in all but one case, distinctly altered ways of working. One man, after many futile years of attempting to institute a new system of employee communications, has now been given the OK from his senior executive group to develop programs leading to just the kind of system he has desired. Another, an engineer by training who had recently taken a co-ordinator’s job in a new manufacturing plant, found the workings of the search group to be an amazing revelation, a marvelous opportunity “ to sit there and wonder what it was all about.” What seemed to him at the time a privileged sort of learning seems even more so now, as he watches colleagues taking part in a team building exercise conducted within the plant by an external consultant— an exercise espousing some of the same principles of work in groups, but offering almost no oppor­ tunity for experiential learning. A chief operating officer of a large government agency felt that the conference gave her a wealth of new resources for managing her organization and for helping her to better understand and respond to her employees’ needs. While it was her interest in the management of change that brought her to the conference, one of the most valuable and confirming lessons she took away was the need to live with managed complexity, an ability she thinks essential for senior people in organizations embedded in complicated external environments. The conference lent credence to her intuitive belief that attempts to simplify sometimes in fact constrain and only postpone solutions. These were just some of the many responses that spoke of gaining a trans­ formed understanding of the processes of work in groups. But one small fantasy has haunted me ever since the conference: what would that work group be like that consisted entirely of Tavistock initiates? Would their combined functioning be a miracle of flexible and efficient cooperation, or would they spend their entire time arguing over what aspect of group process they were actually exhibiting at that moment? I guess you’d really have to be there.

The Socio-Ecological Setting for Double Task Management The accelerating rate o f change in social, educational, technological, eco­ nomic and other fields— and, above all, the w ay these changes interact— has forced communities, organizations and individuals to seek a greater under­

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standing o f what is going on within and around them. In learning to cope with the various environments affecting them, all organizations have had to becom e more open to their environments. In so doing they becom e more exposed and vulnerable. Staff specialties o f m any kinds have been introduced to help regulate open boundaries. There is increasing emphasis on consultation and on collaborative modes that manage both external and internal com plexity under conditions o f greater interdependence. Just when the need has becom e greater for collaboration and interdepen­ dence the contradictory tendency to fall back on fam iliar com petencies and structures has asserted itself. This paradox is a more com plex issue than just resistance to change. D ealing with it involves acquiring a capability for recog­ nizing and relinquishing valued but outmoded forms o f w orking, w hile at the same time using insight to face tendencies toward rivalry and envy, w hich accom pany a greater emphasis on interdependence. In the highly charged environment o f today, it is easier to acknow ledge such a principle than to act on it. The exploration o f options arouses pain, stress or impatience and can result in sim plistic rationalizations. This w ill especially be so when change involves unlearning earlier-held values and w ays o f thinking and acting. In the process o f unlearning those concerned must find within them selves a readiness and capability to understand and w ork through both conscious and unrecognized attitudes and preconceptions. These are most usefully identified and explored through the experience o f exam ining the w ays by which a system is planned, regulated and managed. W orking through experiences o f this kind has becom e a sine qua non for those w ho have to live and work in com plex and uncertain environments. N ew forms o f organizational design do not inevitably result in happier or easier solutions, but rather in a different set o f prices and costs, w hich are often a source o f disillusion i f their implications are not anticipated. We need to find w ays o f creating catalytic experiences that provide all concerned with the op­ portunity to unlearn old approaches and build new ones. Organizations need to develop institutional resources, both personal and organizational, for maintain­ ing and review ing the new state and for ensuring continuous com mitment to it. M ost organizations have been managed in a form w hereby the pattern o f authority was clear-out and hierarchical. The environment exercised a much smaller influence: governm ent intervened to a sm aller degree; unions had less impact; change was recognizable but less turbulent. Schools maintained their “ m onastic” walls; hospitals were powers unto them selves as were the profes­ sions and universities. Today governm ent intervenes increasingly. U nions, consumers, competitors and suppliers clam or for attention. The technological explosion, and other forms o f social, international and econom ic change impinge on all institutions. Originally, few advisers were required internally.

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To help interpret and cope with grow ing external problem s— with all their internal derivatives— far more specialists are now em ployed. This means that management, both now and for the future, must reconcile institutional needs and environmental forces to a much greater extent than ever before. This is a tremendous change. Not only does one spend much o f on e’s time and effort considering external affairs, there is the need for continuously re­ educating professionals, specialist advisers and managers to ensure the viab il­ ity o f the enterprise. The model o f a relatively closed system is being replaced by a relatively open one (Bridger, 1980a). Subordinates manage their ow n environment to a greater extent. We have to learn to change from the classic fam ily tree type o f organizational structure and authority to a new form o f boundary management: the management o f external uncertainty and internal interdependence. C on ­ tinuing this process means that erstwhile subordinates becom e colleagues whose commitment is required to share the accountable leader’s efforts at achieving group objectives. This developm ent can be regarded as an opera­ tional definition o f participation, w hich differs from an older pattern o f delegat­ ing tasks by separating o ff defined areas o f w ork. Thus the management o f com plexity and interdependence is more important for today and tomorrow than are the simpler prescriptions for leadership and management on w hich w e have been brought up. The open-system m odel includes the special feature o f a greater network component to fulfill the control and coordination function. The key organizational areas o f com petence— such as control and coordina­ tion, planning, decision m aking and action— demand that institutional needs and tasks, and environmental forces and resources, be reconciled to a much greater extent than ever before. W hat w e have called the “ accountable author­ ity ” has had to develop w ays o f w orking that differ from those appropriate for the earlier model. Som e o f these changes w ill show a difference in degree, others w ill be different in kind. For exam ple, giving and taking advice was a characteristic o f closed-system managing; it is in open systems. In a closed system , subordinates are more concerned about minding their own shares o f the “ business” ; in open systems they m anage their own environment to a much greater extent— throughout the organization— w hile relinquishing (as do their superiors) relevant control o f planning, decisions and actions for levels below them. Thus, the range o f organizational forms has widened considerably from an almost exclusive concentration o f the classic fam ily tree type o f organizational structure to various combinations o f the first and second m odels.

desirable

essential

A set o f critical changes involved in m oving from a relatively closed to a relatively open system is set out in Table 1. These changes are o f such magnitude that they constitute a paradigm shift. The internal courses and external workshops described in this paper have been designed to assist organi-

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T a b le i

Changes in Roles and Functions

Change from (relatively closed system)

Change toward (relatively open system)

Control and coordination retained in the superior managerial role

Control and coordination retained in superior role for policy, but shared with relevant staff for operational goals Decision making and discretion devolved to relevant staff when responsible for the action involved (i.e., executive and consultative mode) Managing at the boundary (i.e., reconciling external and internal resources and forces) More interdependence in working groups, but more anxiety about one’s identity and independence Managing the conflict by exploring its nature together Accountability and responsibility may be separate Multiple accountability Self-review and assessment plus mutual appraisal of performance and potential Mobility of careers and boundary crossing for development, greater responsibility for own development Power rests with those having control over uncertainty

Prescriptive tasks for subordinates with some delegated authority

Managing mostly within the confines of the system Allocation of jobs to persons and “ knowing one’s place” Managing to eliminate conflict Accountability and responsibility located together Single accountability Hierarchial assessment and appraisal (often uncommunicated) Career and personal development dependent on authority Power rests with those occupying certain roles and having high status in hierarchy Finite data and resources utilized toward building a plan

Periodic review and tendency to extrapolate (projection forward) Risk related to an information gap Long term/short term based on operational plans (periodic) Concentrating on “ getting on with the job” and “ trouble-shooting” activities Difficulty with “equality” and “ freedom”

Nonfinite data and resources leading toward a planning process, maintaining a choice of direction in deciding among options Control and planning requiring continuous review, prospection as well as projection forward Risk related to information overload Long term/short term based on continuous adaptive planning process “ Suspending business” at relevant times to explore work systems and ways of working Difficulty with “ fraternity”

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zations in m aking this shift. T hey w ill do so only so far as large numbers o f individuals within them make it in them selves. Training in a form w hich models the new needs can accelerate the change process. In m y view, training o f the appropriate kind is an essential require­ ment for making the transition. For such a purpose it needs first o f all to be jointly worked out by all concerned. It then has to be capable o f rapid diffusion and ultim ately to be carried out without consultants. There is not all the time in the world to get on with this task. It has, in fact, becom e urgent.

References Bion, W.R. and J. Rickman. 1943. “ Intra-Group Tensions in Therapy.” Lancet, 2:67881. Bridger, H. 1980a. “ The Kinds of ‘Organizational Development’ Required for Working at the Level of the Whole Organization Considered as an Open System.” In Or­ ganisation Development in Europe, Vol. IA, edited by K. Trebesch. Bern, Switzer­ land: Paul Haupt Verlag. . 1980b. “ The Relevant Training and Development of People for OD Roles.” Organisation Development in Europe, Volume:IA, edited by K. Trebesch. Bern, Switzerland: Paul Haupt Verlag. . 1987. “ Courses and Working Conferences as Transitional Learning Institu­ tions.” In Training, Theory and Practice, edited by W. Brendan Reddy and C.C . Henderson. Washington, D.C.: NTL Institute/University Associates. Emery, F.E. and E.L. Trist. 1965. “ The Causal Texture of Organizational Environ­ ments.” Human Relations, 18:21-32. . 1973. Towards a Social Ecology. London and New York: Plenum Press. Emery, M. and F. Emery. 1978. “ Searching: For New Directions, In New Ways . . . For New Times.” In Management Handbook for Public Administrators, edited by J.W. Sutherland. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. Herbert, E.L. and E.L. Trist. 1953. “ The Institution of an Absent Leader by a Students’ Discussion Group.” Human Relations, 6:215-48. Hertzberg, F. 1966. Work and the Nature of Man. New York: World Press. Higgin, G. and H. Bridger. 1964. “ The Psycho-Dynamics of an Inter-Group Experi­ ence.” Human Relations, 17:391-446. Jaques, E. 1951. The Changing Culture o f a Factory. London: Tavistock Publications. Reissued 1987, New York: Garland. Lewin, K. 1951. Field Theory and Social Science. New York: Harper. Low, K .B . and H. Bridger, 1979. “ Small Group Work in Relation to Management Development.” In Training in Small Groups, edited by B. Babington-Smith and B.A . Farrell. McGregor, D. i960. The Human Side of Enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill. Morgan, G. 1988. Riding the Waves of Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Rice, A .K . 1965. Learning for Leadership-Interpersonal and Intergroup Relations. London: Tavistock Publications. Selznick, P. 1957. Leadership in Administration. Evanston, .: Row Peterson. Trist, E.L. and C. Sofer. 1959. Exploration in Group Relations. Leicester: Leicester University Press. Wertheimer, M. 1945. Productive Thinking. Revised edition 1959. New York: Harper.

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Gurth Higgin and Gunnar Hjelholt

Action Research in Minisocieties*

In the first part o f this paper H iggin describes some aspects o f the third m inisociety sponsored by Gunnar Hjelholt o f Denmark (Hjelholt, 1972). This is follow ed by an account by Hjelholt o f more recent w ork in the field.

Gurth Higgin The distinctive quality o f the m inisociety is that it allow s experim ental be­ havior, mutual exploration and confrontation between groups. Since the groups make up a m icrocosm o f society, the themes that engage them and the dynam ics that arise between them can throw new light on societal problem s. The main theme illustrated here is the confrontation between the demand for personal liberation from the alienation resulting from the conventional de­ mands o f society and the opposing fear o f chaos and social b reakd ow n .t A s this confrontation was acted out, the two groups m ost directly involved tended to force each other into self-caricature and out o f com m unication with the other and to induce a grow ing paralysis or disruption in the other groups in the community. A necessary condition for the developm ents between the two confronting groups was that one o f these other groups had to becom e highly visible in the com m unity as passive sufferers. Predetermined structure and procedures are kept to a minimum in the minisociety. The purpose o f this is to m inim ize the possibility that what em erges may be determined by instructions, structure or predictions. S im ­ ilarly, in writing this report I have attempted to let the data create their own understandings. So often in our writing w e social scientists give so much attention to explaining and supporting our concepts about human experience that the human beings and the quality o f their experiences are barely visible. In a m inisociety about fifty people and h alf a dozen social scientists get *An extension of the original by Higgin in A . Clark (Editor), Experimenting with Organiza­ tional Life. New York and London: Plenum, 1975. tOther minisocieties have explored different themes, such as the generation gap, societal power and the changing roles of men and women.

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together— in this case on a peninsula in a lake in southern Sw eden— and spend a fortnight livin g as a com m unity running its ow n affairs. The com m unity in this m inisociety had children as young as four years old, and adults up to sixty. There were senior professional people and unem ployed youths, industrial managers and trade unionists. There was a group o f nine Am erican students accompanied by one o f their tutors. A n industrial manager cam e from En­ gland, as did one o f the social scientists. E verybody else was Scandinavian, m ainly from Denm ark. The only thing everyone at the m inisociety had in common was that they wanted to be there. N obody was sent. Setting it up was very sim ple. The participants were sorted out beforehand into groups that were as much alike as possible. There w ere seven groups. One contained the Am erican students; another, people from the helping profes­ sions— a doctor, a social agency administrator, a dentist, a personnel manager, the Am erican university tutor, and so on; another was from a clinic/com m unity center in Copenhagen; and there were two m ixed groups— housew ives, w ork­ ers, industrial managers, and some com plete fam ilies w ho form ed tw o neigh­ borhood groups. The sixth group consisted o f the children o f the community and the seventh, the sponsoring social scientists. This m ix reflected fairly accurately what the letter o f invitation had said. The m inisociety w ould try to create a society in miniature, where the participants are confronted with other relevant groups from our ordinary society . . . [This situation] gives the pos­ sibility for investigating and experimenting with social roles in the small group as well as in the bigger society. We believe that this process of confrontation will make the participants more open to the forces at work in this temporary society and thereby enable them to work constructively with the problems of ordinary society. This was as near to a statement o f “ theoretical approach and ob jective” as Hjelholt and his colleagues wanted to go — after all, i f people want to get leave and even some financial support from an organization to go to something like this there has to be a “ purpose.” Actually, what Hjelholt w ould have preferred to say was simply, “ If you are interested, just bring your interest and curiosity along and let’s all see where w e get together.” Hjelholt and his colleagues did not want to test theoretical hypotheses. That w ay w e tend to see only things that have to do with our hypotheses and w e are likely to miss other things. T hey thought that it w ould be much better to let everybody undergo the experience and then try to understand it together. That w ay everybody know s as much about it as anybody else. There are no special experts, because w ho know s w ho can sense most accurately what it all means? The only rule in the com m unity— accepting it was a condition o f com ing—

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was that everyone w ould participate in any research activities that w ere asked for. These activities were w ays o f getting information about what was happen­ ing, with the object o f letting everybody know. T hey w ere seen as a contribu­ tion to the com m unity’s efforts to understand what was going on. The research included the gathering o f information about where people were livin g, where they were eating and how many names o f people in other groups everybody knew from time to time. It also included pictures that groups drew o f them­ selves and others; lists o f words describing other groups and the reactions o f these groups to them; and some measurements o f people’s feelings about interpersonal and intergroup distances at different times. The information was given back to the com m unity as it becam e available. Som e o f it caused great interest. Som e o f it was ignored. W ith a comm unity living like this for a couple o f w eeks with none o f the usual community rules applying— apart from the research sessions, everyone was free to do what he liked, when he liked and with w hom he liked— all sorts o f things, usual and unusual, can happen. On the Sunday night, the m inisociety started. A fter the groups had spent a little time together they were asked to give them selves names. O f the two neighborhood groups, one called them selves the Radishes and the other the Green Lases and Pjalters (green rags and tatters), a reference to the Three­ penny Opera. The children made an acrostic o f their names— Anpekedochmeka. They did not pretend it had any meaning or was even easily pronounced. The social scientists were sitting next to the children at this time and hearing what they were doing, did the same. They produced Hyheph. They, how ever, claim ed this was an obscure G reek w ord, the m eaning o f w hich they had temporarily forgotten, but w ould tell the com m unity when they remembered. They never did. The group o f helping professionals called them selves the A ssociation, the Am erican undergraduates the Dilemm a and the youth group the N ine Veiled Hallucinations. There w ere, in fact, only eight real people in the latter group at the time; the ninth was a vague but friendly wraith called Thomas (thorn means em pty in Danish). The Hyhephs had set a timetable for the first three days. Tim e was allocated for com m unity sessions, for group sessions and for com m unity exploration. Together these sessions filled 40 percent o f the time. During this time individ­ uals or groups could do w hatever they chose to find out more about the com munity and its physical surroundings. A Hyheph sat in with each group during their group sessions as a consultant. The Hyhephs did not like this term much, but it was better than leader or trainer. For these three days, Gunnar Hjelholt ran the com m unity sessions; for the w hole time he was the com m u­ n ity’s contact with household staff and outside society. The M öckelsnäs peninsula is about h alf a m ile across and stretches several

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miles out into the lake. It is m ainly wooded with a few fields. A bout halfw ay along it is an old manor house on the lakeside with a couple o f dormitories attached to it; the A ssociation, the D ilem m a and the Hyhephs were living here. The other groups were in various smaller houses in the w oods, the farthest being about a kilom eter away. The manor house, w hich becam e known as the M ain B uilding, had several public room s, and at this time everyone was having meals there. During the com m unity exploration time on the first day, the Association decided to call on the Hallucinations at their house. N obody w as aware o f it at the tim e, but looking back w e can see that it was this m eeting, sought by the Association and w elcom ed by the Hallucinations, that started the division between the different life-styles o f these tw o groups. This was to becom e the pivotal theme for nearly everyone in the community. A t the meeting there was lively, serious, but not very personal discussion about, on the one hand, the need for expressiveness and spontaneity for the individual in the m odem world and, on the other, the need for social respon­ sibility, control, and structure. A fter a time the Hallucinations produced chil­ lums and offered their visitors a puff o f marijuana. T h ey explained that this was their house and they w ould like to show their visitors true hospitality by sharing something that was important to them. T hey said it was not necessary for their visitors to have it, it was m erely an offer. M ost o f the A ssociation members tried it, but few liked it. In discussion afterward, the Hallucinations decided that they were aware o f both the A ssociation ’s tolerance o f their pot sm oking and their suppressed disapproval. This discussion revealed the test-out aspect o f the offering. The Hallucinations were saying, “ A re you genuinely interested in people so that you w ill want to know us as w e are? Or have you got a b lock against the things w e b elieve in— drugs, spontaneity, expressiveness— so that you can ’ t see us as people?” A genuine acceptance o f others, even those with different habits and beliefs, was for them the most important quality in people. Their test-out o f the Association members was typically simple and direct— no tact or diplom acy, no chance for an evasive or equivocal response. Suspicion w as both their curse and their shield. M eanw hile, back in the M ain B uilding, the Association had settled for tolerance with distance, a position they stuck to throughout. Even when things got a bit sharp on the value confrontation front toward the close, the A ssocia­ tion, although it becam e the most pow erful group, never picked on the H alluci­ nations as a group or as individuals. B ut the tw o groups never met again. N evertheless, during the next w eek or so, the different styles o f these two groups provided the tw o extremes for a range o f beliefs about personal libera­ tion and social responsibility. Exploring these positions, through experience

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more than through talk, becam e a preoccupation shared by alm ost everyone in the community. Other preoccupations were also evident, o f course, but to some degree everyone got involved in the liberation question. For some it becam e all-absorbing. It turned out to be a com m only shared worry, not far below the surface. If a person or a group has a particular quality that interests other people or other groups, these others can make that person or group show more o f that quality, until it becom es their predominant characteristic. The concepts o f the role offer and the preem ptive role offer capture this process. Part o f the process o f interaction between individuals, groups

and even social classes is an

attempt by each party to force the other to choose the role that is desired by the first party. Selective reward and punishment is one means o f achieving this. A more powerful technique is selective confirmation or disconfirmation o f the reality b elief o f the other. This process can be most clearly seen when there is a large difference between the parties in respect to power, prestige, experience or education— as between parents and children, group leader and group m em ­ bers, teachers and taught. It can lead to m ystification, the result o f an otherenforced denial by the w eaker party o f what experientially he know s is real. M uch group process and therapeutic interpretation has this quality, usually justified as an attempt to get the group or the patient to accept “ reality.” W hen a more pow erful party ruthlessly exploits these processes, the w eaker party finds the choice o f role effectively preempted (H iggin, 1973). The Hallucinations and the A ssociation got caught like this. You have to be pretty liberal, or even radical, to com e to such a way-out thing as a m inisociety. Yet the members o f the Association becam e more and more responsible, reliable and form al as the days went by. Several o f them remarked in wonder at how organized and structure-dominated the group and they them selves had becom e. The same process influenced the Hallucinations. T hey had not been so com pletely disconnected from all the formal procedures o f the com m unity as they increasingly becam e at M öckelsnäs. T h ey lived in unworried, easy irresponsibility and open, relaxed contact with all, showing spontaneous jo llity and chatter— also equally genuine depression, even despair at tim es, but this was less public. The m essage o f their behavior w as, “ W hat you feel now, you express; tomorrow w ill look after itse lf.” These positions were taken by the tw o groups m ainly because the other groups in the com m unity had a rehearsal script for the liberation o f man in society. T hey wanted to experience the evidence about it. T hey needed to interact both with the liberated and with those w ho questioned liberation. T hey wanted to try being liberated, and to find out what the unbelievers did to them when they tried it. T hey wanted the liberated role o f the Hallucinations, so they exaggerated it. T hey wanted the questioning, responsible role o f the A sso cia ­ tion, so they blew that up, too.

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These differences becam e increasingly clear as the days passed. A s a group, the A ssociation w ere responsible, consistent and rational. The members at­ tended community m eetings dutifully, usually with clear, agreed statements about various issues. T hey had spokesm en to state their position, w hich was done fluently, with rational argument and often wit. T hey lived tidily, each in his or her own room , and went punctually to meals and m eetings. A fter a few days they announced they had changed their name. They were to be known henceforth as the Establishment. T hey said that they had thought o f this name on the first Sunday night, but were not quite sure enough o f them selves to take it. N ow, after several days’ experience o f the community, they felt they could appropriately do so. The Hallucinations, by contrast, becam e more communal among them­ selves, but less active in the form al life o f the community. T h ey m oved their mattresses from the bedrooms in their house and put them all in one room , in which they all slept. T hey m oved the furniture, except for a very low table, out o f one downstairs room and lived almost exclu sively in that and the communal sleeping room. T hey attended com m unity meetings less and less. A t the same time, members o f the com m unity becam e increasingly interested in them and their house becam e an open house for visitors. A t any time o f the day or night people would drop in. They were alw ays accepted and not so much invited as expected to join in anything that was going on— eating, talking, doing noth­ ing, smoking pot or whatever. The w ay the tw o groups reacted to the com m unity was also quite distinct. Early on, the Association/Establishm ent decided to do something to fill the need for a com m unity bar. They took over a cellar room in the M ain Building and sold cans o f beer that they bought w holesale. It was open each night for all comers. The enterprise was efficient and showed a profit w hich w as paid back into community funds. A t one point, the Hallucinations thought they w ould like to do something for the others. T hey settled on drawing little colored pictures and designs and giving one to everybody. This project started with enthusiasm, but after a few days petered out. T hey never got more than about halfw ay through. This was typical o f all their activities. T h ey acted only on impulse; they would do what they wanted to do when they were in the mood. O nce the m ood passed, they dropped it, only to pick it up if the mood returned. T hey felt no guilt or w orry about unfinished job s. Their position was quite explicit about this. T hey considered that if you do something from duty it has no value; it is only good if you want to do it, so that there is something o f yourself in it. A s time went on, the Hallucinations increasingly presented them selves to the com m unity as the liberated ones. T hey took less part in the form al life o f the community. A t times only one o f them, or even none, w ould be present at com munity meetings. T h ey did not visit any other group, except occasionally

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as individuals. But they had a lot o f informal contact both through their visitors and through dancing, talking and drinking in the M ain B uilding in the ev e­ nings. They smoked more pot, now bought with the housekeeping money, and m ixed it up with other things. One night one o f them had so much o f a m ixture, including alcohol, w hich had already been identified as the Establishment drug, that he becam e ill and had to go to the hospital. This caused real concern in the community. There was considerable relief when he returned none the worse after twenty-four hours. W hile the difference between the tw o groups was increasing— they were beginning to display a caricatured version o f their starting positions— the rest o f the com m unity was feeling the mounting tension o f the silent confrontation. The children’s group had broken up quite early. M ost had joined their parents, though several had experimented with joining other groups without their parents. The two neighborhood groups were also breaking up. T hey found they could not agree among them selves. The Green Lases and Pjalters w ere wander­ ing around the com m unity rather like a band o f gypsies. The Radishes had split into two; the new group was a fam ily that called them selves the Pearl D ivers. Both main groups seemed to find these solutions satisfactory. It was the Dilem m as w ho were feeling the most strain. T h ey found they had given themselves an apt name on that first Sunday night. B eing university students, but young, lively, and critical and, further, an Am erican group alone am ong Scandinavians, they found them selves em otionally tom and confused by the developing situation. T hey were drawn to the Establishm ent, w hich represented the university from which they very much wanted to acquire the skills and know ledge education could give them. But they spontaneously identified with the Hallucinations’ position; it represented the youthful, expres­ sive, liberated life and rejection o f the square world. This tension im m obilized them. They stayed together, indeed grew tighter as a group, but found their internal life increasingly stressful and confusing. The com m unity recognized this, and, as with the Establishment and the Hallucinations, used it. W hen you want to experim ent with an issue as exciting but also as frighten­ ing as the liberation/responsibility dilemma, you cannot do it i f the usual fears and worries it provokes in you get in the way. So w hy not get someone else to do the w orrying for you w hile you get on with it? This is where the Dilem m as cam e in. W ith the main roles fixed and the action about to begin, the need was felt for a role to absorb the w orry and tension, to free others so that they could feel their w ay into what was happening. The D ilem m as, already feeling something o f the tension o f the confrontation anyw ay, were handed this role. T hey becam e the Ophelia (H iggin and Bridger, 1964). The com munity kept the D ilem m as locked in their confusion; they did not want them to break out. It w as discovered by many, and especially by the D ilem m as, that being in the M ain Building was not a privilege: it was prison.

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Privilege was running your ow n livin g and eating arrangements in your own w ay and in your ow n time on twenty crowns a day. Even the freedom to have an unmade bed or not to clean up your house w as felt to be a privilege. Several times the Dilem m as asked for a m ove from the M ain Building; but they never managed it. The Establishment, although less keen on a change, did m ove as did two o f the Hyhephs. B y contrast, the D ilem m as w ere kept against their w ill in the regimen o f the household staff on fifty crowns a day. Yet everybody liked the D ilem m as. The information collected on the last day showed that the com m unity felt closer to the D ilem m as than to any other group. They were sitting in the middle o f the com m unity with the other groups at varying positions and distances around them. Fortunately they sat tight; the center held, though at some cost to its members. It w as like calling in the N ew World to facilitate the rebalancing o f the O ld. A t the com munity m eeting held on the W ednesday o f the second w eek the Establishment announced they had changed their name again. T hey were now the Saints. This led to some discussion about fantasy in the community, and another reversal o f perception seemed to be occurring. U p till then people had believed that the hippie/dropout position o f the Hallucinations was a w ild, fantastic, if fascinating, w ay to go on and that the w ays o f the Establishment represented sober, responsible reality. But now that the Establishment had becom e the Saints, people began to wonder. A fter all, to call them selves Saints was a pretty fantastic idea, a bit big-headed too, even a bit mad. People now wondered i f the Hallucinations were not closer to reality and if the Saints were not dominated b y fantasy. A fter all, the Hallucinations in their openness and their ups and downs, their gaiety and moroseness, were getting close to what was really going on inside them as individuals and as a group. Their behavior was real. But the structure o f roles and rules the Saints lived by was made up o f “ idea” things, just as fantasies are. A n d how close was their responsible behavior to what they were really feeling and thinking inside them selves? Som e o f the Saints wrinkled their brows and wondered about this, but as a group they did not think much o f it. In the comm unity m eeting on the last day there was much talk about the events o f the m inisociety and especially those o f the last few days. B y this time the com munity was beginning to recognize one o f the main rehearsal scripts it had been working on and the roles that different groups had taken in it. Few people were very sure any more o f their definitions o f what was real, what was fantasy and what was mad; but they were much more aware o f the amount o f fantasy about reality that was around. It was felt that the confrontation between the Saints and the Hallucinations w as real enough and that it had set o ff some actual power m oves. The Saints seemed to have seen them selves as Saints and Saviors toward the

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Varieties o f Group Process

end. They behaved as if they thought the liberation experim enting had gone far enough. They seemed to feel it was time they exerted them selves to stop the irresponsibility, the self-expressive but undisciplined activities, the uncon­ trolled and indecisive m eetings and the general air o f chaos. T hey w ould save the com m unity and bring it back to its senses in time for its members to go home to reality. T hey blam ed the Hyhephs for letting things develop as far as they had. The Hyhephs were the initiators o f the m inisociety and at the beginning had been its establishment that ran things. T h ey had then resigned and let anarchy loose. From this story o f what happened, it w ould seem as if som e people m ight have gone hom e, especially the Saints and the Hallucinations, with no more than confirmation o f the beliefs they cam e with. T h ey w ould not have explored the liberation/responsibility theme, in the sense o f getting to know it better and o f feeling a little differently about it by getting inside other people’s experience o f it. But it could be said that everyone participated in the liberation rehearsal script by making different contributions to it. For exam ple, the D ilem m as, like Ophelia, participated by taking the strain so that the action could go on. The Saints contributed by taking the role o f d e v il’s advocate; several o f the group expressed surprise at the stuffy position they had adopted as they felt their w ay into opposition and experienced how the liberated reacted to this. The social distance measurements done on the last day showed that the Dilem m as were the group that the com m unity felt closest to. T hey w ere clearly in the middle. O f the six other groups, the Hallucinations considered that there were only two they felt closer to than the Saints; the Saints felt there was no group they were closer to than the Hallucinations. M oreover, the H allucina­ tions, who had done their job o f exem plifying liberation, felt they had m oved closer to the com m unity as a w hole than any other group.

Gunnar Hjelholt Since the 1970 conference w hich Gurth H iggin described, large m inisocieties or workshops, lasting from a w eek to a fortnight, have been set up in Austria, Germany, Sw eden and England (Spink, 1974). The largest had 14 different groups and 140 participants and took place in a partly abandoned village. The aim is to provide participants with the opportunity to encounter the other systems w hich are relevant for them in their social life and w hich play a role in their identity self-im age. A t the same time they can explore and experim ent with options in this m icrocosm os o f contemporary society. This holds true for the social scientists as w ell.

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Two variations have com e out o f the ordinary m inisociety as some groups cam e into focus. Gurth H iggin vivid ly describes the Hallucinations and the Establishment, the one being the “ drop-outs” from society, the other the professional group w hich had to take the stuffy, responsible role. The Hallucinations cam e from a Danish Youth C lin ic. The movem ents in the m inisociety where they as a group drew toward society continued after the conference. The workshop had had a therapeutic effect; a reconnection with society had taken place. It led the Youth C lin ic and other clinics to take a hard look at their treatment philosophy. A few clinics sent groups to subsequent minisocieties. But the Copenhagen one arranged a series o f special m ini­ societies run on the same principles as the original workshop: separate housing for the groups, communal decision-m aking about time and money, staff obliga­ tion o f instant feed-back to the temporary com m unity about what was happen­ ing. The one I took part in had eight groups: two current client-groups, two groups o f old and young em ployees (helpers), a group o f old alcoholics, a group o f students from a kindergarten college, a m ixed group o f outsiders, and one comprising staff members and guests. The drama in these therapeutic m inisocieties com es from the difficulties the “ helpers” have in redefining their role. Helpers seem to need “ clients” and do their utmost to keep clients in a dependent, passive state. If not enough other groups are there for the clients to identify with or conceal them selves in, the helpers tend either to drive the clients out o f the conference or— if that is not possible— take over some o f the symptoms o f the clients: excessive drinking, withdrawal from society, etc. One staff member, a psychiatrist, wrote, “ I am sure the m ini-society can be a treatment model w hich one ought to explore further as I see it as being an extension o f the therapeutic com m unity and much better in respect o f making the traditional personnel redundant.” The other variation o f the m inisociety has been focussing on groups o f “ professional experts” and providing them with an opportunity to explore their social identity and contributions to society. H ow was it that the “ Establish­ ment” becam e so stuffy, a caricature o f them selves as individuals, when they acted as a group? A nd w hy in contemporary society do professional associa­ tions seem to becom e unions fighting for pow er and defending status and neglect their function or mission as social systems in society? Here the exam ple o f exploring the role, attitude and relationship o f “ profes­ sionals” inside a 1982 m inisociety in Sw eden is the best documented (A s­ plund, 1983). The groupings in five houses in a holiday resort were: econo­ mists, psychologists, priests, unskilled laborers on social security— and one “ staff” person, a pensioner. In this temporary society it was not surprising that

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the fight for the souls happened between clergy and econom ists with an uneasy alliance between clergy and psychologists. The “ proletariat” had the passive, suffering role never getting their proper share o f the capital, m oney and time. To a large extent the three groups fought their battles on their ow n territo­ ries. The com m on m eeting hall, where decisions w ere supposed to take place and grievances and research findings could be discussed w as used only with great reluctance. A s soon as possible it was abandoned— the interpretation being that here the pow er (a fantasy bear) resided which might show the groups that their self-im age and their im age o f others had to be changed. There have been other variations o f the m inisociety concept. Since 1976 the Universities o f Leyden and Utrecht in Holland have run conferences for their students w hich are influenced by the m inisociety idea as w ell as the TavistockL eicester conferences. Here the staff act in a professional role as facilitators o f the learning process and the main purpose seems to be an educational one (Prein, 1983). Other conferences o f this sort have been run in France, B elgium and Germany, but here the underlying theoretical w ork has been that o f M ax Pages (1973) and G eorge Lapassades (1967) regarding flexible structures and the repressive character o f institutions (Hjelholt, 1976a). R ecently (1987/88), the m inisociety concept has also been used to prepare a group for livin g together. Fifty fam ilies about to m ove into a new housing area held a m inisociety to see if they could get along and what sort o f problem s they would encounter. A fter having occupied their houses for eight months they repeated the experience in order to further im prove relations in the neighbor­ hood. Here the participants’ ages ranged from the newborn to 80 year old pensioners. The m inisocieties are an attempt to com bine the reality o f the Northfield Experiment as described by Bridger (1946) with the temporary workshops or conferences based on B io n ’s (196 1) and L ew in ’s (19 5 1) theories. The focus is on the relationship between different social systems or roles. The systems are kept together through the necessity o f handling capital— m oney and tim e— and by each system being defined by the other systems present. The com m unity meetings provide the forum for handling practical and em otional issues in the conference and help participants to understand the w ays in which they and their system handle the anxiety o f being confronted in practice with its social identity and the other systems they influence. The role o f the staff is different from the usual human relations conferences. It is more in line with the role o f staff in the therapeutic com m unity— one o f many contributing systems. For many social scientists it is difficult to give up the privilege o f being the expert and outside the happenings. Here w e are not different from other professional groups. Several staff groups have split or retreated into writing large reports for their university. The analogy which most often com es to mind is the Shakespearian drama.

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Theatrical expression is one o f the often used w ays o f indicating changes and bringing to the attention o f the m inisociety what is going on. Weddings or burial ceremonies might be held, kings crow ned, duels fought. The actors are representatives impersonating the group feeling. The dramas can take their theme from issues inside the conference— marriage between the youngest member o f one group and the oldest member o f another— or from society outside. In an Austrian workshop (Hjelholt, 1976b) one group took the name o f one o f the estates, Peasants, and quickly named the other groups Citizens, Nobility and Church. The workshop, with m oves from one group to another, then started to re-enact Germ an-Austrian history from 1530 to 1930. The last 50 years, with their traumatic effect on Austrians, could not be handled, because a good deal o f the form er “ C itizens” left the m ini­ society before it was over. The workshop can also be a stage for rehearsals o f impending events whose advent is sensed. The small group o f students in the 1968 spring m inisociety tried out the occupation o f a house, locking others out and m aking overtures to the workers to join them in a revolution. Later in the autumn, the students’ revolution with occupation o f the U niversity o f Copenhagen took place. The m inisociety m odel plunges the participants, including the social scien­ tists, into the psycho-dynam ics o f social system s, a field w hich— with dire consequences for society— has been avoided b y most researchers.

From the point o f view o f action research, the experience o f the m inisociety highlights the difficulty o f the social scientist acting in multiple roles; he is researcher, consultant, and participant. A t the least, the other participants have a dual role. They are at the same time exploring their ow n group relations in a protected environment and attempting to understand how they can be recon­ ciled with broad societal constraints. D raw ing all participants into the collab­ orative tasks o f collecting and interpreting data is an attempt to meet these problems. W hatever internal arrangements are arrived at, the m inisociety em erges as a useful arena for action research, focused, in this case, on the conflict between the desire for personal liberation and the need for social order.

References Asplund, C.J., R. Issal, K. Jonnegard, M. Lindqvist, L. Sjoberg and N.G. Storhagen. 1983. Minisamhallet (The Minisociety). Reports from University of Vaxsjo, Swe­ den. Series 1: Economics and Politics, No. 3. Bion, W.R. 1961. Experiences in Groups and Other Papers. London: Tavistock Pub­ lications; New York: Basic Books.

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Bridger, H. 1946. “ The Northfield Experiment.” Bulletin o f the Menninger Clinic, 10:71-76. Hjelholt, G. 1972. “ Group Training in Understanding Society: The Minisociety.” Interpersonal Development, 3:140-51. . 1976a. “ Der Schlussel (The Key).” Gruppendynamik, 7:18-22. . 1976b. “ Europe is Different: Boundary and Identity as Key Concepts.” In European Contributions to Organization Theory, edited by G. Hofstede and M.S. Kassem. Amsterdam: Van Gorcum. Lapassades, G. 1967. Groupes, organisations et institutions. Paris: Gauthier-Villars. Lewin, K. 1951. Field Theory and Social Science. New York: Harper. Pages, M. 1973. “ Das Laboratorium mit Flexiblen Strukturen (Laboratory with Flex­ ible Structures).” Gruppendynamik, 4:18-26. Prein, H. 1983. “ Improving the Quality of Life in a Large Training Conference.” Paper presented at the Third Organization Development World Congress, Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. Spink, P. 1974. Early Thoughts from the Minisociety. Paper presented to the British Psychological Society’s Conference. London: Tavistock Institute Document 931.

Eric J. Miller and A .K . Rice

Task and Sentient Systems and Their Boundary Controls*

Foreword (by E.J.M .) W hat follow s is a lightly edited version o f the concluding chapters o f a book by the late Kenneth R ice and m yself, first published in 1967: Systems o f Organiza­ tion: The Control o f Task and Sentient Systems, pp. 2 5 1 -6 9 . It extended R ic e ’s previous applications o f open system theory to the study o f organizations (Rice 1958, 1963). In this book w e defined a task system as com prising the “ system o f ac­ tivities . . . required to com plete the process o f transforming an intake into an output . . . plus the human and physical resources required to perform the a ctivities.” A sentient system or group is one that “ demands and receives loyalty from its m em bers.” “ A n effective sentient system relates members o f an enterprise to each other and to the enterprise in w ays that are relevant to the skills and experience required for task perform ance” ; it also provides its members with some defense against anxiety. In the body o f the book w e drew on material from our own action research and consultancy in a range o f enterprises in order to explore several themes: transactions across enterprise boundaries (sales, dry-cleaning); disentangle­ ment o f coincident task boundaries (fam ily businesses); temporary and transi­ tional task systems (design and construction o f a new steel-w orks, research institutions, airlines); and the elimination o f organizational boundaries within enterprises (a computer-controlled production system in a steel-works). M ost concepts and theories o f organization had been based on production activities. In the open system fram ework these are “ conversion system s,” lying between the “ im port” and “ export” activities o f the enterprise. The Tavistock Institute’s early applications o f the concept o f the socio-technical system had been in similar settings and there was a strong interest in seeking joint optimization o f the social and technical. R ic e ’s experiments in textile *A reproduction of the two last chapters in Systems o f Organization. London: Tavistock Publications, 1967.

2Óo

Varieties o f Group Process

w eaving fell into that category. But many o f our exam ples concerned activity system s, such as sales, which cross the boundaries o f the enterprise, and also temporary and transitional system s, such as construction or research, where teams are brought together for a specific task: when that is com pleted they are disbanded and redeployed in new configurations. These suggested that the primary work-group concept o f coincident task- and sentient-group organiza­ tion is not essential to provide the means through w hich the individual is affiliated to the enterprise. O bversely, if the individual is exposed to frequent changes in work-group membership, in role, or in organization, then he needs some relatively more secure and enduring affiliation to relate him to the task o f the enterprise. He must therefore occupy at least two work-oriented roles— one in a task system and the other in a sentient system. In a research enterprise, for exam ple, sentient needs m ay be provided by a relatively permanent scientific or professional base, from which the individual is assigned to transient project teams. Conceptually and practically, therefore, it is necessary to create three forms o f organization: to control task performance; to ensure people’s com mitment to enterprise objectives; and to regulate relations between task and sentient sys­ tems. These requirements are inherent in temporary and transitional systems o f activity; and the corresponding project-type organization provides the most appropriate basis for a general theory o f organization. That is one major theme running through the book. The second is that such a model requires the precise definition and control o f the boundaries o f activity systems and o f groups. These tw o themes are taken up again, with other exam ples, in the concluding chapters.

Task and Sentient Systems T asks P r ec lu d in g C oin cid e n c e

of

T ask

and

S e n t ie n t B ou n dar ies

I f a task system , and hence a task group, straddles an enterprise boundary, it cannot be contained within the organizational boundaries o f the enterprise; discrepancy between task and sentient systems is therefore inevitable. M ore importantly, if m anaging systems and their accom panying control and service functions are m odelled on factory production system s, they tend to give hierarchies that are too simple and too inflexible to fit the com plexities o f such task performance. The representatives o f a sales force and establishments in the dry-cleaning industry illustrated this part o f our thesis. The organization o f professional service could also be considered within the same conceptual fram ework. The characteristic feature o f a professional rela­ tionship is that it is made between a client (or patient) w ho wants help and a

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professional person w ho gives it, or tries to do so. The activity system through which the help is given has a boundary that encompasses professional and client. On the one side, the client has to rely on the skill, experience and integrity o f the professional to do what is necessary; on the other, the profes­ sional has to forsw ear exploitation o f the dependent relationship involved. Im plicit in the professional-client relationship is the possibility o f failure, with corresponding anxieties, conscious or unconscious, that the client’s problems m ay be intractable or the professional’s skills inadequate. The more there is at stake, the more intense the confused and am bivalent feelings associated with the dependence are likely to be. The sentient groups to w hich professional men and wom en com m it them­ selves and from which they draw their support are the professional associations and their related learned societies. M em bership is a qualification to practice. A nd the sanction to practice those professions that are concerned with the lives, liberties and property o f their clients has, in our society, the force o f law. Society, in effect, not only defines the boundaries o f the task system and o f the sentient system, and separates them, but also, through the sentient system , controls professional conduct in the task system. Attempts that have been made to devise organizations based on personcentered task systems have also ignored the more general case o f the task system that is temporary and transitional. We used building, research and air transport as our exam ples. The theater provides another. In the theater the task group is the cast and other staff assembled for a play. W hile the play is running, task group and sentient group are, or should be, coincident; but actors have “ the profession” as their superordinate sentient group, to w hich they can com mit them selves whether acting or “ resting.” W ithout the profession and the regard in which it is held, both by its members and by the public, it is doubtful if the theater could survive.

N a t u r a l C o in cid en ce

In the fam ily business, by definition, task and sentient boundaries must coin­ cide. But such a form o f organization requires for its effectiveness conditions o f stable equilibrium. In conditions o f social, econom ic and technical change, commitment to the one group, the fam ily, can not only distort judgm ents about task decisions, but can also lead to disruption o f sentient-group relationships. In addition, as the group increases in size, it is less able to provide either satisfactory relationships or adequate self-regulation. The great religious institutions are also exam ples o f enterprises with coinci­ dence o f task and sentient boundaries. A church is characterized b y its m em ­ bers’ collective b elief in a deity or system o f deities on whom they can depend,

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and also in some kind o f life after death as w ell. The sentient system o f a church, to which its members com m it them selves, is therefore unbounded, in that it has no ending. In the spiritual sense there is no export system . Yet many o f the tasks undertaken by the church are performed in activity systems that must have a finite life, if only because in human terms death is an end. A s religious beliefs change, and scientific know ledge questions more and more o f the assumptions on which they are based, a church finds it increasingly difficult to reconcile its bounded practical responsibilities for the livin g and the un­ bounded sentient system on which its membership depends.

C o n tr iv ed C o in cid e n ce

One o f the earliest attempts deliberately to invent a form o f w ork organization in which task- and sentient-group boundaries coincided was in the textile industry (R ice, 1958). The invention, w hich accom panied the introduction o f automatic loom s, was stimulated by the need to counter the human deprivation caused by job breakdown and the concom itant loss o f a traditional craft skill. The outcom e was the formation o f internally led, quasi-autonom ous, primary work groups. The results showed greatly increased production, higher quality, reduced costs, and, so far as could be judged from their behavior, much greater satisfaction for the workers. From this and subsequent experiments and observations w e w ere able to postulate the particular conditions under w hich such autonomous w ork groups were likely to be effective: • The task must be such that those engaged in its parts can experience, as a group, the com pletion o f a w hole task. • There must be a well-defined boundary with a measurable intake/output ratio that can serve as a criterion o f performance. • The group has to be o f such a size that it can not only regulate its own activities, but also provide satisfactory personal relationships. • Neither the range o f skills required nor differences o f status should be so large as to prevent internal mobility. • The task/sentient group should not be unique. D isaffected members need the possibility o f m oving to another similar group. O therwise the invest­ ment in the one group is likely to be so great as to distort values and judgem ents, and the possibility o f expulsion so threatening as to be destructive. This last condition in particular certainly does not hold in the fam ily business. The commitment o f their members that such groups require for their effective­

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ness is itself a barrier to accom m odating change. Even so, there is undoubtedly scope, in industries with relatively stable technologies, for improvements in productivity by creating socio-technical systems in which task and sentient boundaries coincide.

C o in cid e n t B oun dar ies

and

C h an g e

The pace o f change is, how ever, becom ing faster: for enterprises in industries facing frequent product obsolescence or technological innovation, organiza­ tion must becom e a readily dispensable tool. The case from the steel industry showed that introduction o f computers for scheduling and for production and process control had already disrupted not only accepted task-system boundaries but also the associated sentient groups; and, in consequence, had called into question the validity o f the location o f traditional organizational boundaries and o f the associated management roles. Com prehensive data-storage with instantaneous access, the computer pro­ gramming o f routine decision making and the building o f simulation m odels to allow the results o f alternative strategies to be compared before they are implemented, can lead only to a greater centralization o f pow er and control. The inherent evolutionary capacity o f m odem computer technology— the ca­ pacity o f the computer to learn from experience— w ill rapidly make redundant much o f the specialized experience, particularly in m iddle management and administration, on w hich so much decision-m aking has had to rely in the past. W ith this redundancy many established career patterns and their associated promotion paths w ill disappear. N ew kinds o f organization w ill provide new roles requiring new skills, and attempts to preserve traditional organizations and traditional roles must inevitably lead to inefficiency and social dislocation. In industry the invention o f a new product can give its inventors several years’ start over potential competitors. If the market for the product is lucra­ tive, imitations enter the field. A s soon as that happens the inventive phase is over. Thereafter, m odification and new applications o f the product can give a com petitive advantage, but the start gained by such innovations rapidly short­ ens as know-how in manufacturing and application becom es more generally available. If by this time the market for the product has becom e a mass market, then mass production— w hich by reason o f its heavy investment in specific manufacturing processes is the enem y o f invention and innovation— takes over and inhibits further change until the product itself becom es obsolete. Institutions tend to follow the same pattern. A new institution in a new field starts up with high hopes and little acceptance. If it survives the early indif­ ference to its outputs (or even attempts to crush it), its ideas and methods gradually becom e acceptable and it becom es respectable. A new institution can

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command great investment from its members. Their task and sentient groups coincide. They are prepared to w ork long hours often for little m oney because o f their b elief in their cause. In tim e, other sentient groups exert their pull— fam ily, other job s, established professions— and members leave; the remain­ der m ay struggle on, but, unless new ideas em erge, the institution can easily be submerged and becom e indistinguishable from its contemporaries.

D iffer en t K inds

of

S e n tie n c e

This brings us to the point that w hile sentient groups have to have m eaning, or else commitment w ill be inadequate, the sentience m ay arise in different w ays and have different meanings at different times. Sentience is likely to be strongest where task and sentient boundaries coincide and, more particularly, where members share both a com m on b elief in the objective o f the group and com plementary beliefs about their respective contributions to it. A s our work with fam ily businesses demonstrated, beliefs that the contributions o f the various members are not m erely com plem entary but indispensable introduce such am bivalent stress into situations that task performance suffers and the sentience itself is correspondingly vulnerable. A t the other end o f the spec­ trum, a group in w hich every member has a sim ilar role, so that all are interchangeable and each individual is all too dispensable, cannot acquire sentience unless it finds supplementary activities through which members can make individual and com plem entary contributions. M any groups o f sem i­ skilled and unskilled workers fall into this category. The professional body is in yet another category since, although it is largely undifferentiated in terms o f the qualifications and the rights and obligations o f its m embers, it is at the same time the powerful sanctioning body that confers on them the right and security to engage in professional relations with their clients. To be effective as sentient groups, the kinds o f scientific base that w e adumbrated earlier need to have something o f this professional quality. The nature o f the sentient requirements is also determined by the nature o f the task o f the enterprise. A n enterprise that carries out a socially reputable task usually has little difficulty in obtaining the commitment o f its members; one that is socially questionable w ill have much more difficulty; and one that is socially objectionable can get commitment only from rebels and deviants. Indeed, antisocial enterprises require elaborate codes o f behavior to ensure adherence and, furthermore, have to im pose severe penalties for their breach. In fact, most institutions have had to devise special m echanisms to reinforce commitment. Pension and housing schem es, staff parties, salesm en’s rallies, exhibitions, house m agazines, are among the more frequently used. B ut it is

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notable that w elfare activities, sports clubs and profit-sharing schemes have had a very limited success in industry. Even types o f co-ownership, in w hich em ployees have had equity voting rights, have proved less attractive than their inventors hoped. The sentient group o f ownership has been insufficiently professional, usually because the majority o f co-owners have not had the experience and skill required to make strategic decisions about relations with the environment. One widespread m echanism through which highly structured organizations reinforce both their internal differentiation and the commitment o f their m em ­ bers is ritual role-re versal. This m ay be observed, for exam ple, in an Indian temple festival when, on one day in the year, a member o f an untouchable caste may be accorded the honor and respect norm ally reserved for a Brahman. In our own society there is the comparable army tradition that officers serve Christmas dinner to the men. Sim ilarly, during a sale in a large department store, the ordinary selling staff m ay elect managers from among them selves, and the normal managers becom e staff. But successful mechanisms like these are not easy to invent. Som e enterprises m ay seek to m obilize more commitment than is necessary for effective task performance. We have known com panies in w hich the cost o f a high turnover o f staff has been more than outweighed by the flexibility and new ideas that it infuses into the system. M anagem ent’s desire to reduce turnover and increase loyalty m ay sometimes be motivated more by a desire to be loved than by the need to be efficient. W hat is important is the relative balance o f sentience o f groups committed to the status quo and groups committed to change. Efforts b y other workers to replicate elsewhere the experimental changes in w eaving cited above often foundered through a failure to create initially a strong sentient group com ­ mitted to experimentation. It was only such a group that could provide the necessary protective boundary within w hich innovation could be encouraged to take place. H ow ever, once the new autonomous groups had established them­ selves, they acquired their ow n valency and froze into a new status quo, and the group committed to experimentation disappeared. To maintain adaptiveness, the greatest sentience must remain vested in a group committed to change. A contribution to the literature on institutionbuilding by Perlmutter (1965) carried the subtitle “ The Building o f Indispens­ able Institutions.” A major lesson from our own w ork is that the indispen­ sability o f the w hole institution m ay depend on building dispensability into the parts. But the sentience o f the overall institutional boundary within which this can happen is not easy to sustain. It is here that personal leadership often has a part to play. During a period o f critical changes in particular, a charismatic leader who embodies a b elief in the future o f the enterprise can be a focus o f its

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sentience and enable members to withdraw sentience from the parts that need to be dispensed with.

Boundary Controls

T he P r o te c tiv e F u n c t io n

of

C o n tr o l

The need for boundary controls to protect the conversion process from inter­ ference from the environment and to adjust both intake and output to environ­ mental demands was demonstrated in our studies o f research organizations and o f air transport. In its purest form , boundary control permits only those transactions between the system and its environment that are essential to perform ance o f the primary task. It admits the necessary intakes, releases the outputs, and maintains and replenishes the resources o f the task system. Strict controls are necessary to protect experimental situations, especially those that involve social change. W ithout protection— dim inishing as the experimental changes becom e more acceptable— interference can lead to “ too early crystallization in social and econom ic dimensions because o f anxiety about the disturbance o f traditional patterns” (R ice, 1958). In the same way, conferences and courses that provide opportunities for experiential learning about the human problems o f leadership have to impose strict boundary controls both between the conference and its environment and within the conference between its various events, in order to protect both members and staff during a process that can be stressful (R ice, 1965). The boundaries o f the conference itself are protected by the exclusion o f all visitors and by the refusal to make reports on participants or to publish anything that could be attributed to any individual. W ithin the conference program the specific task o f each event is defined as precisely as possible; staff roles and role-sets are also defined and staff members adhere to them. Tim e, too, is used as a boundary: events start and stop at the times published. O verspill, at least as far as the staff are concerned, is avoided as much as possible. These controls are reinforced by clear definition o f territorial boundaries. The throughput o f a conference or course, like that o f any educational institution, is, how ever, human. N o conference m anagement could guarantee to control member behavior. This is not attempted except by exam ple. A ll rules are made for, and enforced on, staff. In effect, boundary controls are strict, but they are imposed only where they can be effective. In other settings, one observes all too often controls being im posed not to protect the task system from interference but to protect m anagement against

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anxiety. Parameters are controlled not because they are relevant but because they are measurable. Their function is to create an illusion o f certainty as a means o f coping with intolerable uncertainty.

In h e r en t

and

Imposed C on trols

The easiest kind o f control to maintain is that over a physical throughput when the transformation in the conversion process never leaves the throughput in an unstable condition. M achine shops in engineering provide an obvious exam ­ ple. The process can be stopped at any time to check the accuracy o f the work done and to make any necessary adjustments. Materials or part-processed products do not deteriorate or change in form w hile the inspection is carried out. M ore difficult and more dangerous are controls over chem ical processes or those that involve unstable materials such as molten metal or atomic reactions. In these processes boundary controls can be imposed only at infrequent inter­ vals and monitoring is the only form o f regulation possible at other times. M ore difficult still are controls over a human throughput: the throughput has a w ill o f its own w hich is often at variance with the controlling agency. Adequate control is possible only when the dependence involved in the process is fu lly accepted both b y the members o f the enterprise and by the individuals who comprise the throughput. Otherwise it is necessary to provide members with the support that enables them to tolerate the uncertainties involved. The nature o f the controlling agency can radically affect attitudes towards, and acceptance of, the kinds o f control im posed. W here, as in religious institutions, the authority for sanctions is derived from a deity, those who believe cannot question the rightness or the wrongness o f decisions based on belief. To be engaged in G o d ’s w ork precludes most human interference. There are other spheres, again, in w hich control is easier to maintain because it is derived from natural sources rather than from human agency. The managers o f enterprises concerned with the sea, with agriculture, mining and the care o f the sick have for a long time exploited their ow n dependence on “ acts o f G o d ,” and hence their inability to take responsibility for what happens, as a means o f controlling those em ployed by them. In m any chem ical processes, once chem icals are m ixed the process starts and is self-activating: the process itself takes control and so imposed organiza­ tional controls can be kept to a minimum. G enerally speaking, the greater the number o f controls that are im plicit in the task or its technology, and the more effective they are, the few er the managerial controls it is necessary to impose. W hen neither task nor technology provides effective built-in controls, m anage­ ment must devise regulatory mechanisms to ensure that it can manage. C on ­ versely, the greater the number o f automatic processes, the few er the man­

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agerial controls that should be required. It is, o f course, true that automation often involves more inflexible activity systems; and, since they must by kept going, additional controls m ay be needed over intake and output. The total system has to live up to its automated parts. In other words, if appropriate boundary conditions are to be maintained, managerial control at the boundaries m ay have to be increased. The introduction o f automation allow s for more integration between the parts o f the process and avoids some intermediate stocks and hence the tying up o f w orking capital. But the elim ination o f intermediate stocks also demands greater sensitivity to market demand, with correspondingly more frequent adjustments throughout the process.

C o n t r a c t in g O u t

The confusion between task and sentient systems and the problem o f differen­ tiating their boundaries and o f controlling their interrelations are in some measure simplified by greater differentiation between the subsystem s o f com ­ plex enterprises. One large oil refinery, for exam ple, directly em ploys only the few chemists and engineers that are required for its operating activities and for its technical and financial control functions. A ll other w ork— maintenance, transport, and even site security— is contracted out to other enterprises spe­ cializing in such services. This is by no means unique. A n airline, particularly at stations aw ay from its base, w ill com m only contract out passenger-handling, catering, and even load-control calculations and some aircraft maintenance activities. A n d , o f course, the m ajority o f industrial com panies import parts o f their products from manufacturers w ho have specialized in the required tech­ nology. The trend appears to be increasing: firms o f professional architects, civil engineers and accountants have existed for a very long tim e, and agen­ cies that provide temporary secretaries have also been available for many years. It is now possible to make continuing contracts for dom estic as w ell as office cleaning, for canteen catering, long-term car hire, m anagement recruit­ ment, draughtsmanship, babysitting and a host o f other services that were form erly the normal activities o f the enterprise concerned. Contracting out intakes and services can relieve m anagement o f many o f the headaches o f control o f the relationships between different task and sentient groups within the enterprise. In particular, it sim plifies the problem o f control­ ling internal sentient boundaries. A gainst this, how ever, management faces greater difficulties when what is contracted out is the essential maintenance activity required to keep the process going, or a vital ingredient o f the importconversion-export process by which the enterprise performs its primary task. M anagement m ay w ell find that it has lost control o f its ow n enterprise by

Task and Sentient System s and Their Boundary Controls

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giving too many hostages to other managements. In the building industry, the major problem is to get sufficient commitment to a project group to maintain any kind o f control over the activities o f its various parts. W ith strikes and other stoppages one group can hold the total enterprise at ransom, as has been demonstrated only too often in the automobile industry. Specialization o f technology and product in subenterprises or separate enterprises can no doubt increase the efficiency o f the parts, but until new forms o f organization are invented— with activity system , task group and sentient group adequately differentiated and their interrelations controlled— it is not certain that greater efficiency o f the parts w ill add up to greater efficiency o f the whole.

P erm eable B oun daries

Strict boundary controls are especially difficult to maintain in those systems that by their nature have to be more open. Hospitals, for exam ple, cannot easily control em ergency admissions. In general, those institutions and professions that offer help o f any kind, physical or spiritual, frequently find that either their intake or their output is intractable to control. Those w ho com e for help tend to be accepted— how ever hopeless their case— and once admitted are frequently difficult to export. In a study o f disasters Raker, W allace and Rayner (1956) reported: “ The general pattern has been that the nearest hospitals are over­ whelm ed and the hospitals more remote from the disaster zone receive few er casualties than their reasonable share.” The authors show the value o f triage as a control mechanism for the most effective allocation o f limited m edical resources. M ore discrimination in admission leads to greater chances o f recov­ ery for the majority; but imposition o f the controls to achieve this discrim ina­ tion demands an exercise o f judgm ent and a decision-m aking process that run counter to all the training o f most o f those who manage the institution, particularly if it has a moral or religious basis. In consequence from the point o f view o f society as a w hole, far too many resources are often spent on the virtually hopeless, w hile those w ho could recover with the minimum o f help go helpless. The introduction o f m edical services into developing and overcrow ded countries can have tragic consequences when food, housing and other services necessary to sustain the resulting increased population are not provided as w ell. To advocate only “ balanced” progress is, how ever, easy when one is not face-to-face with the suffering that absence o f m edical care can entail— particularly if m edical services are available and others are not. M em bers o f the m edical profession cannot just deny the Hippocratic code that has been at

270

Varieties o f Group Process

least im plicit throughout their training. N evertheless, their failure to control their boundary can result eventually in greater suffering for the very people they save.

D estru ctio n

and

R e c o n s titu tio n

of

B oun daries

Disasters also provide extreme exam ples o f the obliteration o f normal bound­ aries. Floods, hurricanes, earthquakes or nuclear bombs literally annihilate fam iliar landmarks by w hich human life is guided. It has been suggested that behavior in disaster can be analyzed in three overlapping phases: im pact, recoil and post-traumatic stress (Tyhurst, 1951). The first can last from sec­ onds up to one-and-a-half hours; the second from hours to w eeks; and the third for the rest o f life. In the period o f im pact, up to a quarter o f those affected remain cool and collected, appreciate what has happened and plan recovery; up to three-quarters are stunned, bew ildered, lost and numb; the remainder becom e hysterical and show other pathological symptoms. In the period o f recoil the m ajority m ove about aim lessly, seeking shelter without plan or real purpose; they are in a dependent, childlike state in w hich anyone w ho takes charge and proposes action is follow ed. In other w ords, anyone w ho can replace the destroyed boundaries can assume control o f the new boundaries. If, however, in anticipation o f disaster, a new set o f landmarks and guideposts is got ready— rescue stations, precise directions about evacuation and so on— and the boundary control functions are manned in advance, casualty rates can be low ered dramatically. Disasters are fortunately rare, but they serve to em phasize the importance o f defined boundaries and o f boundary control functions. A n y transaction across enterprise boundaries, an essential process for any livin g system , involves the draw ing, tem porarily at least, o f new boundaries. A nd the drawing o f new boundaries contains the possibility that these w ill prove stronger than the old. Such a transaction therefore has in it the elements o f incipient disaster, in w hich not only are essential tasks undone, but sentient systems are destroyed as w ell. We can learn something more from the exam ination o f disaster. So far as is know n, the actual occurrence o f mass panic is rare; but the myth o f panic in disaster is strong. The m yth, and b elief in it, is a m echanism by which stress is discharged and control restored. The destruction o f boundaries is so stressful that someone has to go to pieces, or has to be believed to do so— som eone or some group has to carry the role o f panic leader. In more normal situations, religious sects, immigrants, racial groups, delinquents or other socially con­ demned minorities can threaten, or be perceived to threaten, the integrity o f group boundaries. The preservation and protection o f adequate sentient bound­ aries often depend, therefore, on finding or inventing other groups on w hom

Task and Sentient System s and Their Boundary Controls

271

can be projected the feelings and behavior that, if retained within the sentient group, w ould destroy its sentience. It is indeed very often the charismatic leader who identifies such out-groups and so m obilizes the commitment o f his or her follow ers. W hile this is no doubt functional during a period o f crisis and individual disorientation, in the longer term it carries dangers o f its own. Com m itm ent to the boundary represented by a charismatic leader im plies a corresponding withdrawal o f commitment to the most important human boundary o f all— the individual’s own boundary be­ tween outside and inside. In B io n ’s term inology (See Sutherland, I, 2, “ Bion R evisited” ), charismatic leadership promotes “ basic assumption” behavior, and at the level o f the “ assumption group” the individual in effect surrenders ego function to the group. Long-term solutions to the problem o f maintaining adaptiveness to change cannot therefore depend on manipulative techniques. On the contrary, they must depend on helping the individual to develop greater maturity in control­ ling the boundary between his or her own inner world and the realities o f the external environment.

References Perlmutter, H.V. 1965. “ Towards a Theory of Practice of Social Architecture: The Building of Indispensable Institutions.” Tavistock Pamphlet No. 12. London: Tav­ istock Publications. Raker, J.W., A.F.C. Wallace, J.F. Rayner with the collaboration of A.W. Eckert. 1956. “ Emergency Medical Care in Disasters.” In Disaster Study No. 6. National Re­ search Council Publication 457. Washington, D.C.: Committee on Disaster Studies, National Academy of Sciences. Rice, A .K . 1958. Productivity and Social Organization: The Ahmedabad Experiment. London: Tavistock Publications. Reissued 1987, New York: Garland. ---------. 1963. The Enterprise and Its Environment. London: Tavistock Publications. ---------. 1965. Learning for Leadership: Interpersonal and Intergroup Relations. London: Tavistock Publications. Tyhurst, J.S. 1951. “ Individual Reactions to Community Disaster.” American Journal of Psychiatry, 107:764-69.

A.K. Rice

Individual, Group and Inter-Group Processes*

This paper is an attempt to apply to individual and group behavior a system theory o f organization norm ally used for the analysis o f enterprise processes. The use o f such a theory w ill inevitably concentrate on the more m echanistic aspects o f human relationships, but I hope that the approach w ill help to clarify some o f the differences and similarities among individual, group and inter­ group behavior and throw some light on the nature o f authority.

The Individual The theories o f human behavior and o f human relationships are in m any w ays analogous to those o f system theory as applied to institutions. L ike an institu­ tion, an individual m ay be seen as an open system , existing and capable o f existing only through processes o f exchange with the environment. Individ­ uals, however, have the capacity to m obilize them selves at different times and simultaneously into many different kinds o f activity system , and only some o f their activities are relevant to the perform ance o f any particular task. The personality o f the individual is made up o f biological inheritance, learned skills and the experiences through w hich he or she passes, particularly those o f early infancy and childhood. A baby is dependent on one person— and gradually assimilates father and any brothers and sisters into his or her patterns o f relationships. The grow ing child includes other members o f the extended fam ily and o f the fam ily network. The first break with this pattern is usually made when the child goes to school and encounters for the first time an institution to which he or she has to contribute as a m ember o f a w ider society. It is the preliminary experience o f what, in later years, w ill be a w orking environment. The hopes and fears that govern the individual’s expectations o f treatment by others, and the beliefs and attitudes on w hich to base a code o f conduct *A shortened version of the original— Human Relations, 22:565-84, 1969.

Individual, Group and Inter-Group Processes

273

derive from these relationships and are built into the pattern that becom es on e’s personality. T hey form part o f the internal world. It contains, besides the skills and capabilities as developed, the primitive inborn impulses and prim itive controls over them that derive from the ch ild ’s earliest relations with authority, together with the modifications and adaptations incorporated in grow ing up. In the mature individual, the ego-function mediates the relationships be­ tween the external and the internal worlds and thus takes in relation to the individual a “ leadership” role and exercises a “ m anagement” control func­ tion. The mature ego is one that can differentiate between what is real in the outside world and what is projected on to it from “ in sid e,” between what should be accepted and incorporated into experience and what should be rejected. In short the mature ego is one that can define the boundary between what is inside and what is outside and can control the transactions between the one and the other. Diagram m atically the individual can be represented at any one time, therefore, as a system o f activity. The ego-function is located in the boundary control region, checking and measuring intakes, controlling conver­ sion activities and inspecting outputs. It uses the senses as instruments o f the import system; thinking, feeling and other processes to convert the intakes; then action, speech or other means o f expression to export the outputs. The individual is not just a single activity system with an easily defined primary task, but a multi-task system capable o f multiple activities. The activities becom e bounded and controlled task systems when they are directed to the performance o f a specific task, to the fulfilling o f some specific purpose. The difficulty then is the control o f internal boundaries and dealing with activities that are not relevant to task performance. And these controls are the result o f the built-in attitudes and beliefs, bom o f previous experience, which may or m ay not be relevant to the specific task or system o f activities required for its performance. To take a role requires the carrying out o f specific activities and the export o f particular outputs. To take a role an individual could be said to set up a task system; and the task system to require the formation o f a project team com ­ posed o f the relevant skill, experience, feelings and attitudes. Different roles demand the exercise o f different skills and different outputs. The task o f the ego-function is then to ensure that adequate resources are available to form the project team for role perform ance, to control transactions with the environment so that intakes and outputs are appropriate, and to suppress or otherwise control irrelevant activities. W hen the role changes the project team has to be dis­ banded and reformed. The individual as a multiple task enterprise is shown in sim plified form in Figure i . Task systems I (Tf) and II (T2) require the individual to take roles 1 and 2 (Rj and R 2). R 1 and R 2 overlap to the extent that they use some, but not all, o f the capabilities o f the individual. The task systems are related to

274

Varieties o f Group Process Ep

Ti

P

r

*3

*2

T2

Ep P r Tv Rv

= external environment of individual = ego function = internal world of individual etc. = tasks etc. = roles

Figure i . The role system of the individual

different but neighboring parts o f the environment. The management controls required w ill also therefore be similar, but not necessarily the same. In con­ trast, task system III (T3) requires the individual to take role 3 (R3). This requires quite different capabilities, is related to a quite different part o f the environment and hence requires a different kind o f managerial control. In practice, such com plete splits are not usual (except in the schizophrenic), but it is possible to recognize, on the one hand, those individuals w ho are alw ays the same no matter what the situation is or with whom they are in contact; and, on the other, those who appear to be quite different people in different situations. M ore generally w e can say the ego-function has to exercise different kinds o f authority and different kinds o f leadership in different roles and in different situations. D islike o f the role and o f the activities or behavior required in it, and the demonstration o f the dislike by attempts to change the role or m odify the behavior, or the intrusion o f feelings or judgm ents that contradict role require­ ments, inevitably distort intakes, m odify conversion processes and can only result in inappropriate outputs. It is as though the management o f a multiple task enterprise were to set up a project team for the solution o f a particular problem but not only could not be sure whether the team was w orking on the right problem but could not even control membership o f the team or the resources they used or squandered.

Individual, Group and Inter-Group Processes

275

In effect, I w ish to suggest that the general conception o f a project type organization can be used, how ever crudely, to represent the individual as a role-taking but sentient being. In the individual, the sentient groups and resource pools o f the enterprise becom e the repositories o f the capacities o f the individual to fill different roles. The resource pools hold the intellectual power, cognitive and motor skills, experience and other capabilities; the sentient groups the attitudes, beliefs and feelin gs— the w orld o f objects and part objects— resulting from up-bringing. In effect, because a role demands spe­ cific skills and the exercise o f specific authority in a particular context it is unlikely to require every personal attribute o f a given individual. Som e atti­ tudes and some skills w ill alw ays be unused by any given role. M aintaining a role over a long time leads, therefore, either to the atrophy o f unused attributes or to the need to find other means o f expressing them. I recognize, o f course, that for human beings the many import-conversionexport processes cannot be so easily defined as the previous paragraphs might suggest, and that “ productivity” is seldom a simple measure o f the difference between known intakes and known outputs. I hope, how ever, that this w ay o f thinking about an individual w ill help to clarify some o f the problems o f roletaking when w e have to consider group and intergroup processes. The ego-function has therefore to control not only transactions across the individual/environment boundary but also between role and person. W hen the ego-function fails to locate boundaries precisely and fails to control transac­ tions across those boundaries, confusion is inevitable— confusion in roles and in the authorities exercised in roles. Authority and responsibility appropriate in one role are used inappropriately in other roles. To be continuously confused about the role/person boundaries or com pletely unable to define and maintain boundaries is to be mentally sick.

The Group “ Individual” has little meaning as a concept except in relationships with others. He or she uses them and vice versa to express view s, take action and play roles. The individual is a creature o f the group, the group o f the individ­ ual. Individuals, according to their capacity and experience, carry within themselves the groups o f w hich they have been and are members. Experiences as infant, child, adolescent and adult, within the fam ily, at school and at w ork, and the cultural setting in w hich one has been brought up w ill thus affect, by the w ay in which they are molded into on e’s personality, the contemporary and future relationships made in fam ily, w ork and social life. A group alw ays meets to do something. In this activity the members o f the group co-operate with each other; and their co-operation calls on their know l­

276

Varieties o f Group Process

edge, experience and skill. B ecause the task for which they have met is real, they have to relate them selves to reality to perform it. The members o f the group have, therefore, to take roles and to make role relationships with each other. The w ork group is now a task system . It m ay or m ay not have very much sentience depending on the extent to w hich its members are committed to each other. Even as a sentient system it may, or m ay not, support task perform ance. Controls are then required: • to regulate transactions o f the w hole, as a task system , with the environ­ ment and o f the constituent systems with each other • to regulate sentient group boundaries • to regulate relationships between task and sentient groups But, in the discussion o f the individual, I wrote that the role taken by each member o f a group is also a task system , and that the management o f each o f these (the ego-function) has to control the relations between the task and sentient systems o f the individual. So long as the role taken by each individual member is supported by that m em ber’s own individual sentient system , the task group and sentient group tend to coincide. But individual members m ay not be aware o f all the elements either o f their own individual or o f total group sentience, even i f such exists. To put this another way: task roles are unlikely to use all attributes o f every m em ber’s personality; the unused portions m ay or m ay not support role-, and hence group-task, perform ance, but neither individ­ ual member nor group m ay be aware o f the discrepancies between individual and group sentience or o f changes over time. M ore importantly, the unused attributes o f individuals m ay them selves have such powerful sentience attached to them that they have to be expressed in some way. That is, an individual, though a member o f a task group, m ay be unable to control those personal attributes that are not relevant to task perfor­ mance and m ay seek other outlets for the emotions and feelings that the unused attributes and the inability to control them gives rise to. This represents a breakdown in the management control o f the individual so far as role perfor­ mance is concerned. Group-task leadership m ay still so be able to control group sentience, as not only to overcom e individual discrepancies but also to harness group emotions and feelings in favor o f group-task perform ance. The charismatic leader, for exam ple, can be said to attract to him- or herself as a person the unused sentience o f group members and, being concerned with task perform ance, can thus control any group opposition to that perform ance. If task leadership cannot either harness group feelings in favor o f task perfor­ mance or contain opposing feelings by personal leadership, then other groups consisting o f some or all o f the task group members m ay be form ed to express opposing sentience. Such groups m ay seek and appoint other leaders. If the other group gets support from all other members o f the task system , how ever

Individual, Group and Inter-Group Processes

277

unaware they may be o f this support (since individual management control has broken down), then the other group can becom e more pow erful than the task group. In the basic assumptions B ion (1961) describes the situation in w hich the sentience o f the roles taken by the members o f a group in the task system may or may not be stronger than other possible sentient systems. If the sentient systems o f the individual members coalesce, that is, individual members find a common group sentience, then the group can be said to be behaving as if it had made a basic assumption. If the common group sentience is opposed to task performance, that is, the control is not maintained by task leadership, other leaders w ill be found. I now feel that B io n ’s concepts describe special cases w hich are most easily observable in small groups, because they are large enough to give recognizable power to an alternative leadership, and yet are not so large as to provide support for more than one kind o f pow erful alternative leadership at any one time. A s Bion points out, the capacity for co-operation among the members o f a task group is considerable; that is, role sentience in a task group is alw ays likely to be strong. H ence, w hile the group maintains task definition the strength o f the sentience supporting task performance at the reality level makes the life o f leadership opposing task performance precarious. A pair who have met to perform an agreed task can hardly provide alterna­ tive leadership and remain a task system. W ith three, an alternative leader is rapidly manifest and either im m ediately outnumbered or at once destroys co­ operation in task perform ance, i . e . , the three cannot easily remain a task group. (Two is company, three is none.) A quartet can provide some support for alternative leadership by splitting into pairs, but cannot sustain the split for very long without destroying the quartet as a task system. In groups o f five and six, the interpersonal transaction systems are still relatively few and task leadership can be quick to recognize alternative leadership, usually before it can manifest pow erful opposition to task perform ance. A b ove six, the number o f interpersonal transactions becom es progressively larger, and hence it may be more difficult to detect their patterning. In general, the larger the number o f members o f a group, the more members there are to find an outlet for their non-task related sentience, and hence the more powerful can be its expression, and the more support can an alternative leader obtain. Equally, because o f the large number, the more futile and useless can group behavior appear when there is no sentient unanimity among the membership either in support o f, or in opposition to, group task performance. In other words, the larger the group the more opportunities members have to divest them selves o f their unwanted or irrelevant sentience, by projecting it into so many others. But the individual is a multiple task enterprise, and his various sentient

278

Varieties o f Group Process

systems can be in conflict with each other. W hen he joins a group to perform a group task, he must, by his very joinin g, to some extent com m it him self to take the role assigned to him, and hence to control irrelevant activities and sen­ tience. Mature individuals thus find them selves distressed and guilty when in any attempt to reassert “ management control” over their ow n individual boundaries they recognize, how ever vaguely, the number o f different hostages they have given to so many conflicting sentient groups. The situation o f the group can be roughly approximated sym bolically:

7 7 7

Let the members o f a group be: X, 2, 3, . . ., In. Each is capable o f taking m any roles: R I9 R 2, R v . . ., R n. Each role, in the w ay the term is used here, is a task system in itself. It com prises a number o f specific activities together with the necessary resources for its performance. The resources should include not only the skills, but also the appropriate attitudes, beliefs, and feelings derived from the individual’s sentient groups. But not all individuals are capable o f taking all roles, and role performances by different individuals in the same role also differ. If the role performance is represented by IR, then I l R l yL I 2 R¡ # /3 R I9 . . .

and

7XR l

7 7

^ I l R 2 ¥z X ?3, . . .

Ideally a task system requires only activities and w e could then write

7

T = f ( R I + / ? 2 + ?3 + . . . + / ? „) =

/2

(R)

But because roles are taken by individuals, w e have to write TP (task performance) = f (Il R 1 +

72 R 2 +

. . . + In R n)

= f z m

7

7

(o

7

if w e assume ?x to be taken by X, R 2 by 2, etc. But when an individual takes a specific role not all his or her aptitudes are likely to be used, and perform ance in any specific role is likely to be reduced by the amount o f “ en ergy” devoted to other aptitudes and to other sentience. If w e represent these other irrelevant activities and their related sentience by R° J, R ° 2, . . ., R°n, then any given role performance R x by an individual X w ill have to be written as

7

7xR x - 7j (R% + R \ + . . . + R°n) in w hich R ° I9 R c29 etc. can have zero or positive values so far as they do not affect or oppose XR I. (I assume that all task supporting sentience is included in

7

Rj . ) Equation (1) therefore has to be written:

Individual, Group and Inter-Group Processes

TP

=/[2

(IR) -

/,

(R°, + R°2 +

279

• ■ •+ ¿O

- /2 (7?°, + tf°2 + . . . + R °n)

7

(Ä0, + * ° 2 + . . . + ?°„)]

= f[ï(IR)-ï(IR°)]

(2 )

Even if S (IR°) ^ o and has a positive value, it can still be small enough to be controlled, either because o f the discrepancy between the many different roles taken by the different Is or because the combinations o f different numbers are them selves small. N evertheless, the sentience invested in the R °s can still produce such disagreements between Is that a sense o f futility can grow as Is spend more time and energy trying to find agreement between them selves in roles irrelevant to TP than in R 19 R 29 etc., that are relevant. If overtly or covertly they all agree on a role that is irrelevant to TP (say R°m) then equation (2) becomes:

(3)

T P = f [ X ( I R ) - R ° mX(D]

Writing out equation (3) more fully gives TP

= / [ ( / ,

R, + I 2 R 2 +

/ 3 Ä 3

-

+

R°m

.

.

.

+

I n R n)

(/, + I2 + /3 + . . . + /„)]

(4 )

It can be seen that because R°m is taken by all group members it can becom e a considerable threat to TP, which requires different members to take different roles. If R°m is large enough and is a consciously agreed role, there is revolt; if members are unaware both o f their agreement and o f the role they have agreed upon, they are then behaving as i f they have made a basic assumption opposed to task performance. It can also be seen that the more Is there are the greater the threat o f R°m + /2 + . . . + In) but, at the same tim e, the more difficulty there is likely to be in getting agreement on R°m. It can also be seen why, with smaller numbers, alternative leadership is difficult to sustain without immediate destruction o f task perform ance. From equation (4), TP = f [ ( / 1 R 1 + /2 R 2) — R°m ( j + /2)]

7

for a pair. If now R°m has a large value, and is reinforced by / x + /2, it w ill almost certainly give TP a negative value.

Inter-Group Process I have tried to show that all transactions, even the intra-psychic transactions o f the individual, have the characteristics o f an inter-group process. A s such they involve multiple problems o f boundary control o f different task systems and

2 8o

Varieties o f Group Process

different sentient systems and control o f relations between task and sentient systems. Each transaction calls into question the integrity o f boundaries across which it takes place and the extent to w hich control over transactions across them can be maintained. E very transaction requires the exercise o f authority and calls into question the value o f and sanction for that authority. In the examination o f a simple inter-group transaction between tw o groups in w hich individuals represent the tw o groups, account has to be taken, therefore, o f a com plex pattern o f inter-group processes: within the individuals w ho represent their groups, within the transactional task system , between the groups and their representatives, within the groups and within the environment that includes the tw o groups. Even a sim ple inter-group transaction is, there­ fore, affected by a com plex pattern o f authorities, many o f w hich are either partially or com pletely covert. If I now extend the analysis to more than two groups, each with more than one representative, the pattern becom es still more com plex. A meeting o f pairs o f representatives from four groups is illustrated in Figure 2. It w ill be seen that in the m eeting o f representatives alone transactions across seventeen different pairs o f boundaries have to be con­ trolled: four pairs for each pair o f representatives and one pair for the group o f representatives as a group. To understand the nature o f the authority o f a representative, or o f a group o f representatives, appointed to carry out a transaction on behalf o f a group, involves, therefore, the understanding o f multiple and com plex boundary controls. In other words, the appointment o f a representative or representatives is never just a simple matter o f representing a task system to carry out a taskdirected transaction with the environment. To put the same thing more co llo ­ quially: representatives are invariably chosen not only to carry out the specific transaction, but also to convey the m ood o f the group about itself and about its representative, and its attitude, not only to the specific part o f the environment with w hich the transaction is intended, but to the rest o f it as w ell. A nd not all the “ m essages” are explicit and overt; many, if not most o f them, are im plicit and covert. But the representatives have their ow n intra-psychic processes, and their own intra-psychic groups have had to make inter-group relations with the groups they represent. The same mixture o f transactions, overt and covert, have, or should have, taken place before he or she starts the inter-group transaction for w hich he or she has been appointed. The results o f these transactions can seldom endow the representative with personal attributes that he or she did not previously possess, at least latently. The choice o f representa­ tive^ ) therefore offers important data about the group attitude, not only to­ wards its task, but also towards itself and its environment. Further important data can be gathered from the extent to w hich the representative is given the authority to com m it the group, and by his or her status within the group.

Individual, Group and Inter-Group Processes

Group A

Group C

281

Group B

Group D

Boundary of Representatives’ Group is shown shaded Figure 2. Meeting of representatives’ groups— one pair from each of four groups

Another dimension o f com plexity has to be mentioned: time. I have spoken about the problems o f the control o f the representative’s own boundaries, o f the boundaries between the representative and the group and o f the relative strengths o f the individual, group and transactional task system boundaries. It is surely rare for them all to be perfectly controlled in the interests o f task performance. Even if they are, a transaction takes tim e, and during the transac­ tion the representative cannot be in continuous com m unication with the group, not, that is, if he or she is anything more than a relay system. During the transaction the individual, group and task system sentiences may change. Indeed, in any critical negotiation they are almost bound to change, as hopes and fears o f the outcom e increase and decrease. The past, during w hich decisions were made, attitudes formed and re­ sources collected, is alw ays the past; a transaction is the present and, if it is to have any meaning, must determine a future. Individuals, and even groups with

282

Varieties o f Group Process

strongly defended boundaries can, by staying firm ly within them, occasionally live in the past; inter-group relations never. The number and com plexity o f the boundary controls required for even com paratively simple transactions between groups m ight make one wonder how any negotiation is ever successful, how any salesman ever got an order for anything. The reality is, o f course, that the preponderance o f inter-group transactions takes place in settings in which the conventions are already established and mutual pay-offs understood. N evertheless, I suggest that it is this com plex authority pattern, im perfectly com prehended, together with the need to defend each o f the boundaries in the multiple transactional systems against uncertainty, chaos and incipient disaster, that gives rise to the futility o f so m any negotiations and to the unexpected results that often em erge. The conventions and pay-offs for the m ajority o f inter-group transactions are de­ fenses against chaos and disaster. In new kinds o f negotiations without estab­ lished defenses, the fear o f chaos and disaster often makes procedure more important than content. There is perhaps small wonder that international negotiating institutions find it so difficult to satisfy the hopes o f their creators. Indeed, unless the boundary o f the negotiating group itself becom es stronger than the boundaries that join the representatives and those they represent, there seems little hope o f success­ ful negotiations. But this means that not only the group o f representatives but the groups they represent have to invest the representative task system with more sentience than they invest in their own groups. The United Nations cannot, in other words, be fu lly effective until not only the members o f its C ouncil but the nations they represent invest more sentience in the United Nations than they do in their nationalisms.

The Role o f Leadership Finally, I turn to the role o f leadership, w hich can be conceived o f as a special case o f representation: representation with plenipotentiary powers. C on cep­ tually, it is irrelevant whether the role is taken by an individual or by a group. For convenience, I shall discuss it in terms o f an individual leader. A s a member o f a task group every individual has to take a role and through it control his or her task transactions with colleagues individually and co llec­ tively; the leader as a person also has to control his or her own person/role transactions as w ell as interpersonal relationships with colleagues. In addition to these, a leader has to control transactions between the group and relevant agencies in the environment in the interests o f task performance; without such control task performance is im possible. In this sense, the role taken by the leader and the boundary control function o f the group must have much sen-

Individual, Group and Inter-Group Processes

28 3

tience in com m on. For the leader, at least, sentient group and task group must reinforce each other. So far as task performance is unsatisfactory, by reason either o f inadequate resources or o f opposing group sentience, transactions with the environment are likely to be difficult and the task sentience o f the leader weakened if not destroyed. U sing the earlier notation and letting RL represent the role o f leader taken by an individual /, leadership task performance can be written: TP = IRL — I (R \ + R °2 + R °3 + . . . + R°n) = I (RL — XR°) For the leader at least, 2