Workplace Intelligence: Unconscious Forces and How to Manage Them

by Anton Obholzer

Overview

Workplace Intelligence provides a range of insights into the unconscious processes at play in the workplace and an introduction to a balanced approach to organizations.

The book explores key concepts, showing how our emotions and early experiences inform the roles we play at work, as well as how we react to other people. It encourages close observation and reflection and utilization of this knowledge for managing ourselves and others fruitfully. It also provides managers with the methods to intervene and tackle these issues, elaborating on topics from leadership and group dynamics to meetings and work-life balance.

The book will be a fascinating read for those in leadership roles, organizational consultants, executive coaches, students of occupational psychology, as well as anyone interested in understanding workplace dynamics in general.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367225599
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/31/2020
Pages:	154
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Anton Obholzer is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who, through his role as Chief Executive of the Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust, became interested in applying his professional knowledge to workplaces. He has been influential in developing alternative management courses and has taught throughout Europe on business programmes as well as other extensive coaching and consulting.

Table of Contents

Foreword Manfred F. R. Kets De Vries x

Part 1 The dynamics of human development 1

Introduction 3

1 The terminology used 4

2 The structure of this book 5

3 On observation 7

4 Your picture of the world and how it affects your work and personal life 10

5 On beginnings 12

6 On transference 14

7 On joining a 'new' organization 17

8 On anxiety in the workplace 22

9 Personal manifestations of anxiety 26

10 Work manifestations of anxiety 28

Part 2 The everyday dynamics of organizations 31

11 On change and resistance to change 33

12 On institutional functioning 38

13 The workforce and its make-up 45

14 The concept of the primary task of the organization 47

15 On the innate dynamics of groups 52

16 On leadership and followership 56

17 Risks inherent in the leadership role 66

Part 3 Self and workplace dynamics 69

18 The use of self in one's work life 71

19 On listening 76

20 On the use of language 79

21 On work-life balance 81

22 On stress 82

23 Tackling 'below the surface' issues 89

24 Matters of technique 92

Part 4 Practical and technical matters 95

25 Institutions and their management 97

26 Commerce and its taboos 99

27 Some thoughts on business schools 101

28 The board, the CEO, and the management 103

29 On meetings and their management 105

30 Practical issues affecting meetings 110

Part 5 Coaching, consultancy, and related matters 111

31 On consultancy - benefits and risks 113

32 The consultant role 115

33 Coaching -'sin bin' or learning opportunity 123

34 Mentoring 126

35 360-degree feedback 128

36 Counselling, therapy, and psychoanalysis 129

37 Awaydays 131

38 Open space events 133

39 In-house staff support systems 134

40 Other support structures 137

Conclusion 139

Editorial Reviews

'Anton Obholzer is a great presence in the world of human relations. His work has inspired me as it has a generation of leaders (and leaders in the making). This book is a tour de force and a must for those wanting to understand the conscious and unconscious forces at play in the workplace - and more importantly, what to do about them.'
Clare Gerada, DBE, FRCP, FRCGP, FRCPsych, past chair of General Practitioners

'This book diagnoses work situations, illustrates insightful approaches and gives practical advice. It shows you how not to be the dog of an organization wagged by its tail.'
James Astor is a well-connected societal analyst with a wealth of experience in fostering insightful constructive growth in a wide spectrum of organizations.

'Anton Obholzer’s new book illustrates not only the numerous psychic phenomena operating under the surface of organizations, but also subtly shows ways to make sense of the consulting and intervention processes in which his psychoanalytic and anthropological expertise, along with his well-known humor, provides aid.'
Gilles Amado, Dr. Psych. Emeritus Professor of Organisational Psychosociology, HEC Paris

"Pithy distillations for leaders and coaches: neither flattering their egos nor flanneling the facts. I love these short chapters - to the point, without tedious throat-clearing or sycophantic cap-doffing. Sometimes it's quite bracing - straight into cold water - and sometimes hugely amusing as Obholzer nails many tactics for avoiding a necessary truth. The shape of the book mirrors its underlying messages about psychological development: the early chapters are like early years, concerned with one-to-one relations (of authority and mutuality); by the end we are in complex networks of dependency, delinquency and group dynamics. I strongly recommend it for coaches, leaders and consultants ... and for the coached, led and consulted to. It will conjure more varied and fruitful working relationships." - Jonathan Gosling, Emeritus Professor of Leadership, University of Exeter

'Anton Obholzer is a great presence in the world of human relations. His work has inspired me as it has a generation of leaders (and leaders in the making). This book is a tour de force and a must for those wanting to understand the conscious and unconscious forces at play in the workplace - and more importantly, what to do about them.'
Clare Gerada, DBE, FRCP, FRCGP, FRCPsych, past chair of General Practitioners

'This book diagnoses work situations, illustrates insightful approaches and gives practical advice. It shows you how not to be the dog of an organization wagged by its tail.'
James Astor is a well-connected societal analyst with a wealth of experience in fostering insightful constructive growth in a wide spectrum of organizations.

'Anton Obholzer’s new book illustrates not only the numerous psychic phenomena operating under the surface of organizations, but also subtly shows ways to make sense of the consulting and intervention processes in which his psychoanalytic and anthropological expertise, along with his well-known humor, provides aid.'
Gilles Amado, Dr. Psych. Emeritus Professor of Organisational Psychosociology, HEC Paris

'In fact, it is worth drawing a comparison between the writing style of this book and The Analects of
Confucius. Workplace Intelligence, like Confucius, aims to be simple, approachable and reads more like a
collection of rules of thumb than a systematised philosophy, but just as reading Confucius is like entering
into a pleasant conversation with the great sage, so too reading this book is like getting some friendly
advice from a dear relative.'
Glenn Gossling, The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust

"This book draws our attention without polemic to the many issues we encounter in our lives at work without losing sight of the smallest of dolls who are constantly with us. It is an engaging lively and at times a challenging read, and will be of considerable value to those curious enough to explore the impact of what’s going on so influentially, under the surface." - Julian Lousada, British Psychoanalytic Association

From the Publisher