Throughout the history of mankind, revenge and vengeance have been deeply ingrained in our social fabric and richly portrayed in literature, music, drama, and film. Vengeance can be understood as a defence against annihilation anxieties, stimulated by the reactivation of injuries and losses experienced earlier in the lifetime of a system, fed by an institution's inability to acknowledge guilt and to integrate love and hate, and driven by the desire for 'repair' via retaliation. As open and direct acts of both revenge and violence are largely taboo, they are broadly denied in contemporary society at large and in organizations in particular. Despite that denial, the underlying feelings and the desire to persecute remain real. Thus revenge often is wreaked unconsciously by sophisticated and hidden means. This article is guided by the working hypothesis that vengeance from a socio-analytic perspective is a psychosocial phenomenon and a dynamic of the collective, that is, the community or polis of related people. In social (political and economic) contexts, its inherent aggression and annihilation is often hidden behind an apparent logic of rationality, justice, and competition. K E Y WO R D S economy political economy revenge socio-analysis vengeance violence 2 4 1 Human Relations

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Four psychoanalytic consultants, each utilizing one the most prevalent theoretical orientations used in the field of psychoanalytic consulting are asked to explain why a consultation succeeded. Using differing theories the four psychoanalysts reach the same conclusion. They conclude the consultation succeeded because of the consultants ability to manage and benefit from the intense transference reactions of the organization’s staff. These analysts suggest that the work of psychoanalytic consulting may be much more similar to the work of clinical psychoanalysis than previously assumed and that the key to understanding why a consultation succeeds or fails can be found in the analysis of the transferences in the relationship between the consultant and consultees.

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