Contents Vol. 26.1
to be published July 2026
Articles
The Tavistock work discussion group method:
Curiosity and imagination in understanding and working with organisations
Mark Stein
Abstract
In spite of its central role in the Tavistock Clinic’s approach to training organisational consultants, little literature on the use of work discussion groups in this area is to be found. In this paper I attempt to fill this gap by exploring and furthering our understanding of the work discussion method. I argue that work discussion is an important component in the training of Tavistock inspired organisational consultants and that its particular strength lies in its use of group processes to explore the plurality of experiences around consultancy work. I further argue that key to the exploration of these experiences is the facilitation of curiosity, emotional contact and thought concerning organisations. I draw especially on Bion’s ideas on curiosity, emotional linking, thinking and negative capability in unearthing the main elements of the work discussion seminar. I also examine the influence of systems thinking, the context of the Tavistock Clinic and its influence on work discussion, and the related, simultaneous development of Balint groups. I illustrate my paper with a case example.
Tension between Groups
The Developmental Conflict and the Narcissism of Minor Differences
Conrad Chrzanowski
Abstract
The psychodynamics of inter-group conflict between similar neighboring groups is frequently understood as a “narcissism of minor differences” (Freud, 1918, 1921, 1930). Despite coining the phrase, Freud (1930) states that the phrase does not do much to explain the phenomenon. This paper examines the mechanisms underlying the “narcissism of minor differences” and compares Freud’s model with Bion’s (1961) model of group schism. Freud’s model locates hostility in narcissistic mechanisms that defend against feelings of similarity and strangeness. Bion’s model, by contrast, conceptualizes inter-group conflict as the breakdown of the developmental conflict which reveals dialectically opposed positions- what Bion calls “primitive” and “sophisticated”. These positions function as large-scale social defenses. In his framework, hostility arises not primarily from narcissism, but from a group’s failure to contain the developmental conflict. The lack of containment represents a failed opportunity for the pleasurable expansion of intuitive capacity and the creation of the “new idea” for the group mind. A similar unconscious schismatic phenomenon occurs within the romantic or married couple. The comparison suggests that while Freud’s model captures some of the descriptive features of inter-group hostility, Bion’s framework provides a more generative basis for theorizing the unconscious functions of group conflict.
Exploring global women leaders’ speeches during COVID-19:
A Systems Psychodynamics Perspective
Michelle S May, Claude-Hélène Mayer
Abstract
This article explores selected speeches of two global women leaders during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic from the systems psychodynamics perspective. It focuses on speeches to address and manage the pandemic of global women leaders, Angela Merkel (Germany) and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (South Africa). Using a systems psychodynamics perspective, this study explores the question of how global women leaders addressed their nations during the COVID -19 pandemic. The study uses a post-modernist qualitative exploratory research design. It is anchored in the hermeneutical research paradigm, using leadership theories and systems psychodynamics as a lens to explore and understand their strengths with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors use content analysis to explore the selected speeches conducted by the two women leaders at the onset (2020) pertaining to the pandemic in Germany, and South Africa. The study contributes to improve the understanding of global women leaders’ actions and responses through their speeches, from the systems psychodynamics, in two political contexts, namely Germany and South Africa. Findings show that both women leaders use war-related metaphors to mobilise their citizens against COVID-19. Further, Dlamini-Zuma`s speech more strongly evokes the dynamics of Basic Assumption Fight, whereas Merkel highlights Basic Assumption Oneness. Both leaders mention themes, such as dependence, shared responsibility, unity to inspire collective resilience and creativity within the uncertain times of COVID-19. They both aim at balancing struggle and solidarity to build trust in their citizen.
A Systems Psychodynamic and Open Systems Analysis of Professor Mike Rustin’s Paper and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
Dr David Lawlor, Dr Mannie Sher
Abstract
This paper offers a reflective, systems psychodynamic and open systems engagement with Professor Rustin’s (2024) article, The explanatory models of Mary Douglas and Melanie Klein compared, in the context of an institutional case study. In that article, Rustin juxtaposes Mary Douglas’ grid/group cultural theory with Melanie Klein’s object relations psychoanalysis in order to explore organisational change at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust (T&P).
Writing as reflective practitioners and citizens rather than detached experts, we extend Rustin’s analysis by integrating systems psychodynamics (Sher & Lawlor, 2022, 2023a, 2023b), Menzies Lyth’s (1960) theory of social defences against anxiety, open systems theory (Katz & Kahn, 1978; Emery & Trist, 1965), and power-conscious perspectives on knowledge and identity (Foucault, 1977; Bourdieu, 1991; Ahmed, 2012; Fricker, 2007). The paper argues that T&P’s organisational turbulence can be understood as a complex interplay of unconscious anxieties, defensive structures, environmental pressures and struggles over institutional identity and legitimacy. A particular focus is the shift from being “held” in a rich internal matrix of professional identities to being drawn into more singular identity positions within neoliberal medical and managerial systems.
The paper is conceptual and speculative. It is grounded in Rustin’s published case study and other publicly available material, interpreted through a systems psychodynamic lens. It does not draw on internal confidential data and has not been solicited, commissioned or endorsed by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. An organisational development intervention model is offered as a reflective thought experiment rather than a prescriptive blueprint.
Speaking Out
Group Relations
Manab Bose
Abstract
Group relations brings the insights of psychoanalysis to the practicalities of everyday life. After an introduction to GR as it unfolded in India, the paper captures the evolution of GR practices in Sukrut, a psychoanalytic psychotherapy clinic. It then captures important Western psychoanalytic fundamentals that form the conceptual anchors of this developmental initiative across the world, i.e. the ability to recognise group functioning and see the ways in which conscious efforts toward collaborative work can be enhanced or hampered. The author emphasises the importance of learning in the GR model, which involves a shift toward new ways of thinking, because both staff and members need to learn to lead and to follow. Finally, the paper offers to enlighten readers endorsing a rigid Western model of GR to an alternative version with roots in India, drawing on the psychoanalytic differences that exist between the West and the East.
The Band Has Left the Building
Exploring Fan/Idol relationship
Halina Brunning
Abstract
Whilst exploring the relationship between the Fan and the Idol in a rock concert it is also possible to see a pattern of similarities in the type of relatedness that exists in the Mother/ Baby pair. These pairs of interaction are the theme of this short piece.
Lucy Letby – Did she drown or did she float.
Jennifer Silverstone
Abstract
Nurse Lucy Letby was accused of multiple murders of babies in a neo-natal ward and was given concurrent life sentences that meant she would be in prison for the rest of her life. She was never seen to murder a baby and the evidence against her is, therefore, circumstantial. However, it convinced the jury who were unanimous in condemning her as a serial murderer. Since her incarceration there has been much controversy over the case especially around the medical evidence. Various aspects of the case have, post-trial, been re-examined. Firstly, the medical evidence as to how and why these babies died has been challenged, secondly the statistics that were used to prove that Lucy Letby was a constant, likewise, and thirdly there has been an attempt to discredit the medical expert witness for the prosecution. My focus in this paper is on Lucy Letby, I question her possible motivation for killing and suggest that she lacks the psychopathology that we might expect to find in a killer nurse, that she might in fact be innocent. She may have been the object of projective identification or the bad object that enabled splitting in the institution. I suggest that as a single childless woman she was the ideal subject to carry the projections of those around her lost for an explanation as to why there were so many neonatal deaths.
Boards, Social Defence and the Call to Responsible Citizenship
Pearl Tran
Abstract
Boards today face a paradox: they hold mythic power yet experience profound helplessness. This paper examines the quiet unease beneath contemporary board life through the lens of social defence theory. It argues that boards, unable to define the boundaries of their stakeholder responsibilities and fearful of insignificance, retreat into governance systems that provide personal security rather than meaningful impact. Drawing on system-psychodynamic theory from Jaques and Menzies Lyth through to contemporary scholars, the paper identifies three sources of social defence: individual anxiety, systemic task demands, and contextual pressures from rapidly shifting social and ecological environments. Rather than offer technical solutions, this paper proposes a fundamental reimagining: the board as citizen of the world, responsible not only for governance but for consequence and conscience. Drawing on Edward Shapiro’s developmental framework of citizenship, the paper explores what this transformation requires: psychological safety, reframed identity, and reflective capacity. It concludes by examining how practitioners can support boards in moving from defence to responsibility. The paper is grounded in observations from boardroom practice and offers a provocation for both boards and those who work with them.
Book Reviews
Systems Psychodynamics: Innovative Approaches to Change, Whole Systems and Complexity Lawlor, D. & Sher, M. Routledge (2023). Volume 2
Reviewed by Jean Cooper
Systems Psychodynamics: Theorist and Practitioner Voices from the Field
by Lawlor, D. & Sher, M. London: Routledge (2024) Volume 3
Reviewed by David Armstrong
The Employees
by Olga Ravn (translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken).
New York: New Directions Books, 2020,
Reviewed by Gerard van Reekum