Transforming Experience in Organisations

Susan Long supervises research students and conducts organisational research at a variety of universities including INSEAD in Singapore, MEICAT, University of Melbourne, University of Divinity in Melbourne and Crossfields. As an organisational consultant in private practice she works with organisational change, executive coaching, board development, role analysis, team development and management training. She originally trained as a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist. Her experience of working with people as individuals and in groups and organisations gives her a broad perspective on management practices. Susan's capacity as a teacher and organizational consultant/ researcher has led her to be invited onto the boards of prestigious organizations and elected onto the committees of professional bodies. She is a Faculty Member in the Grubb School of Organisational Analysis. She is a member of the Board of the Judicial College of Victoria and of Comcare's advisory board for the Center of Excellence for Research into Mental Health at Work. She was the founding President of Group Relations Australia and a past president of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations. Her participative action research has attracted grants through the Australian research Council and industry. She has published six books and many journal articles.

• Preface -- Introduction -- The transforming experience framework -- Background to the TEF -- The transforming experience framework and unconscious processes: a brief journey through the history of the concept of the unconscious as applied to person, system, and context with an exploratory hypothesis of unconscious as source -- Reframing reality in human experience: the relevance of the Grubb Institute’s contributions as a Christian foundation to group relations in the post-9/11 world -- Daring to desire: ambition, competition, and role transformation in “idealistic” organisations -- Working to improve institutional strength: the challenge of taking multiple roles in multiple systems -- Finding, making, and taking role: a case study from the complexity of inter-agency dynamics -- Transitioning tasks in an impossible context through use of drawings: a case example -- Connectedness with source: our collective reality -- The experience of connectedness with source: how does one’s understanding of connectedness with source contribute to thinking about accountability in role?

'This book offers a wonderfully evocative journey into the highly distinctive and imaginative perspective on group and organisational life opened out by the Grubb Institute. It draws on both its founding vision and its later reformulation in a new century within a radically changing social and organisational context. Affectionately edited by Susan Long, it stimulates and repays a close reading.'- David Armstrong, Associate Consultant, Tavistock Consulting, London'This book stimulates ideas about boundaries and how they differentiate systems from their environment. It is an exciting collection of essays about the complexity of taking roles and the social unconscious. From a new perspective, authors discuss familiar topics such as unconscious processes, role framework, organisational analyses, the meaning of a system, and power. Anyone who is curious about the here-and-now process in organisations and searching for the answer to the question, "Is power a dirty word?" will find this book interesting. A very impressive combination of business case studies and theory.'- Ekaterina V. Mikhaylova, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychoanalysis and business consulting at the Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia'This is, without question, an important critical anthology on new developments in psychodynamic thinking and socioanalysis, and essential reading for anyone interested in the fast changing field of unconscious process in organisations. This well-conceived collection will make a significant contribution to the available literature on psychoanalytic studies of organisations.'- Marianna Fotaki, Professor of Business Ethics, University of Warwick'Susan Long highlights the singular contribution of Bruce Irvine and the Grubb Institute to our understanding of some of the most deeply held and intrinsically valued aspects of organisational life. The contributions to this volume consistently highlight the spiritual domain of organisation, that domain which is so often the source of vitality and purpose, and in doing so they enable us to rethink what is meant by the unconscious, interconnectedness and leadership.'- Paul Hoggett, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy, UWE, Bristol; psychotherapist registered with the British Psychoanalytic Council and Member of the Severnside Institute for Psychotherapy'The Transforming Experience Framework (TEF) presented throughout this book is an original approach, stimulating for analysts, consultants and researchers working with a systems psychodynamics perspective. Building on the history and expertise of the Grubb Institute, it stresses the interconnectedness between the person, the role, the system, the context and "the source", therefore avoiding the very present risk of a personalisation of the issues in the workplace. Once more Susan Long demonstrates her openness, creativity and depth of thinking as a clinician in the social field.'- Gilles Amado, Emeritus Professor of Organisational Psychosociology, HEC Paris, and founding member of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations