Individual vs Organisational Psychotherapy

My recent post on My Organisational Psychotherapy Toolkit turned out to be rather longer (more content) than expected. I had been meaning to include a paragraph or two on the challenges of adapting common therapy techniques – designed and tailored to the individual – for therapy related to the organisational psyche.

Organisational Psyche

Some folks have expressed skepticism about the very concept of an “organisational psyche”. I’d like to make a case for the validity of this concept, before getting on to the question of therapies tailored or adapted thereto.

Robert Kenney has written a extensive paper, laying out the scientific work on collective consciousness, although some may find his starting point somewhat “whacky”.

But I see the organisational psyche as slightly different from the more general idea of a “collective consciousness” – and not just a subset thereof. And quite different from, although informed by, e.g. Jung’s “collective unconscious“.

Group Mind, or Hive MInd a.k.a. collective intelligence is another concept with some connection to the idea of an organisational psyche.

Psyche

I prefer to start my attempt at a definition with the concept of “psyche“.

“In psychoanalysis and other forms of depth psychology, the psyche refers to the forces in an individual that influence thought, behaviour and personality.”

~ Wikipedia

Note:

“In recent decades cognitive psychology has replaced psychoanalysis as the dominant school of psychology in academic centres. Some cognitive scientists prefer the word ‘mind’ over ‘psyche’.”

Aside: I am not opposed to the term “organisational mind” as an alternative to “organisational psyche”. Some folks choose to make a distinction between the two.

So, building on the above Wikipedia quote, I see organisational psyche thusly:

“Organisational psyche refers to the forces in an organisation that influence thought, behaviour and personality of the organisation as a whole.”

This invites some further comment:

First, what about the influence of the organisational psyche on the thoughts, behaviours and personalities of the components (sub-units and individuals) within the overall organisation? Such influence undoubtedly exists, and in reverse, too. But I choose to regard, for the purposes of organisational therapy at least, the thoughts, behaviours and personalities of the components as being distinct from the collective organisational psyche. I recognise the dilemma this “separation” raises. Perhaps one day I’ll get to a place where the dilemma dissolves. Until that day, I’ll live with it. And the way my head hurts when I think about it too much.

Second, what do we mean by “organisation”?

Organisation

Such an everyday term. So easy to take it for granted. Here’s a short description in line with how I see the term in the context of organisational psychotherapy:

“An organisation is a social entity that has a collective goal and is linked to an external environment.”

~ Wikipedia

Interestingly, the word “organisation” derives from the Greek for “organ”. I like the idea that organisations are “organs” of our social body (society). I do not subscribe to the (common?) view that the “collective goal” of the typical organisation is simply to make money. I prefer Goldratt’s take on the question (c.f. “necessary conditions”).

Therapy

So now to the question of therapy. If we accept – or choose to believe – that there is such a thing as an organisational psyche, then psychotherapy seems like it might be a reasonable term for the activity of working with – or “treating” – it.

psy·cho·ther·a·py  /ˌsīkōˈTHerəpē/
The treatment of mental or psychological disorders by psychological means.

Note that the root of the word psychotherapy means “healing the spirit”. What better term then for the work of healing the spirit – or soul –  of our organisations?

“Psychotherapy – in the field – is almost always concerned with improvement in the general functioning of patients.”

~ Martin Seligman

Adaptation

There are literally hundreds of different kinds of therapies used to treat individuals and their psyches. Many of these therapies have much research into their efficacy, some into their effectiveness, and some into the reasons why they work. Rather than invent new modalities of therapy specifically for organisations and the organisational psyche, I feel it makes more sense to adapt existing modalities of therapy to the organisational context.

As an example of such adaptation, consider Solution Focus. Solution Focus in its common form is about working with individuals, helping individuals (who may, incidentally, be members of a group) “identify the things that they wish to have changed in their life and also to attend to those things that are currently happening that they wish to continue to have happen.”

It’s not much of a stretch to see how tools/techniques from Solution Focus – such as the “Miracle Question” – can be repurposed to the organisation as a whole. Of course, asking a question of a whole organisation (or as a minimum, the components at the centre of consciousness thereof) is somewhat different than asking that same question of an individual. In fact, this is the reason I favour techniques for improving group dialogue skills.

– Bob

Further Reading

Psyche At Work: Workplace Applications of Jungian Analytical Psychology ~ Murray Stein and John Hollwitz
Mapping the Organizational Psyche: A Jungian Theory of Organizational Dynamics and Change ~ John G Corlett and Carol Pearson
Mass Collaboration – Wikipedia entry
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement ~ Eliyahu M. Goldratt
It’s Not Luck ~ Eliyahu M. Goldratt
The Effectiveness of Psychotherapy ~ Martin Seligman