Enhancing Our Individual and Group Life

Continuing Education (CE)
2021-22 — Mondays, 7:30-9:00pm
Ann De Lancey, PhD

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Introduction

As we engage in groups and organizations in our work and personal lives, we encounter challenges and dilemmas in our individual organizational roles, and we experience varying degrees of organizational dysfunction. An analytic institute raises even more complicated issues having to do the pair culture, organizational dynamics, intergenerational conflict, our tiered approach to learning, and our relationship with the community and society. The times we live in have raised critical issues around democracy, the environment, and all elements of diversity such as race, culture, class, age, ethnicity, and sexual orientation problems. Understanding and applying systems psychodynamics derived from psychoanalysis, group relations, and open systems theory can help us:

• Enhance satisfaction, creativity, effectiveness, and authority in our individual roles
• Develop more satisfying links with the institutional mission
• Improve our leadership skills
• Contribute to improved organizational functioning

Why Group Relations?

Who

This mini course is open to students, clinical associates, faculty, and board members. The initial offering will be four sampler sessions, which hopefully will whet appetite for more. For those interested, further seminars will be offered focusing on leadership, social defenses, consultation, and systemic problems such as racism, environment, health disparities.

What

The first part of each meeting will be a discussion of the articles and our reactions, self-reflections, associations, fantasies, memories. I am not an expert. As I am conceiving of it, I see this as a horizontal learning experience where we all learn together. We will all take turns leading the discussion. The end of each meeting will be an experiential learning where we talk about our feelings that came up in the initial segment of the meeting. I am open to discussing the format when we meet.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this seminar, participants will be able to

1. Define the difference between role and role-relatedness
2. Describe the relevance of the systems psychodynamic perspective to the challenges of leadership
3. Name core social defenses that derail a work group and contribute to the three main basic assumption groups
4. Describe one result of the pair culture on yourself and group functioning
5. Compare models of organizational dysfunction or optimal functioning: Tavistock, open systems, and Hirschhorn

October 25, 2021 — Role, Role Relatedness, Task, Responsible Citizenship, Membership, and Leadership

I am beginning with these readings rather than classical or heavy-duty articles because I think they are more personally involving and start one thinking about oneself as a member of a group from the very beginning.

Objectives

• Begin to develop a sense of yourself as a member of a group, including define one attribute of yourself as a responsible citizen
• Define the difference between role and role-relatedness
• Enumerate one or two qualities of a leader

Shapiro, E.R. (2020). Chapters 1-4 in Finding a Place to Stand: Developing Self-Reflective Institutions, Leaders, and Citizens., pp.i-25

Part 1: Joining

• Chapter 1: How are they right? pp 3-10.
• Chapter 2: Containment and communication, pp. 11-18
• Chapter 3: Making sense of organizational dynamics, pp 19-26
• Chapter 4: The interpretive stance, pp. 27-35
• Total pages 29

Optional Reading

Shapiro, E. R. (2021). “Why do I have to do this? Institutions, integrity, and citizenship.” OFEK Guest Lecture —June 6, 2021