The Contribution of Psychoanalysis to Organization Studies and Management: An Overview

Arnaud, Gilles

doi:10.1177/0170840612448153

Cited by 70 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…While the methodology presented here may be congruent with the use of a psychoanalytic approach as grounded theory (Arnaud, 2012(Arnaud, : 1125, it is not designed to support theory testing. Moreover, while applying a Lacanian perspective to empirical data, especially interview data, is in itself not unproblematic (Hoedemakers andKeegan, 2010: 1022), I sought to keep with an approach that still renders it valuable for illuminating "micro-moments of organization/self-making" (Harding, 2007(Harding, : 1764, while remaining aware that a Lacanian perspective cannot offer closure or generalizable findings (Parker, 2005).…”

Section: Data and Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Never social and entrepreneurial enough? Exploring the identity work of social entrepreneurs from a psychoanalytic perspective

Driver

2017

Organization

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Building on an analysis of interviews with 61 social entrepreneurs, the study offers a more fine-grained exploration of the identity work of social entrepreneurs from a psychoanalytic, particularly Lacanian, perspective. Specifically, it suggests that what defines social entrepreneurial identity work is the blurring of beatific and horrific aspects of fantasies and a desire for struggle and lack. This in turn creates an emancipatory space in which discursive movement enables alternative forms of market enjoyment and ethical agency. The latter unsettles macro-discourses of capitalism by demanding and amplifying their lack. The study contributes new avenues for exploring Lacanian concepts such as the traversal of fantasy as a product of discursive movement particularly relevant for transformative readings of identity narratives.

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Section: Data and Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Never social and entrepreneurial enough? Exploring the identity work of social entrepreneurs from a psychoanalytic perspective

Driver

2017

Organization

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“…Single cases are also used in organizational research inspired by psychodynamic theories (Arnaud, 2012), aimed at understanding how people either engage with powerful discourses (Kenny, 2012), or react in situations of organizational change (Vince, 2002), downsizing (Kets de Vries & Balazs, 1997) or sudden and traumatic transformations (Gabriel, 2012).…”

Section: Unique Case Study and Research Opportunitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Working and Resisting when One’s Workplace is Under Threat of Being Shut Down: A Lacanian Perspective

Vidaillet¹,

Gamot

2015

Organization Studies

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The case presented here shows how a set of Lacanian concepts can be useful for analysing the behaviour of employees' representatives in a factory belonging to a large globalized and financialised corporation and threatened with closure. We identify a central characteristic of this organization (the obliteration of symbolic authority) to identify the psychic processes the employees' representatives go through as a result of this characteristic and the impact in terms of their difficulties in exerting resistance. We rest our analysis on the distinction Lacan makes between utterance and enunciation and make use of the concepts of master signifier, symbolic authority, fantasy and superego. We show that in this case the absence of symbolic authority leads the staff representatives to be taken over by the fantasy of a tyrannical and unbarred Other that has the absolute power to close down the factory at any time, and to feel guilty that they never do enough, a typical sense of guilt resulting from the superego's unfulfillable demands. This theory is also relevant for understanding the paradoxes of resistance: the staff representatives will need to reintroduce a symbolic authority so as to be able to start resisting and no longer be overwhelmed by the fantasy of an unbarred Other. We emphasize the benefits of using a Lacanian approach for understanding how discursive, psychic and emotional processes are joined in the power relations characteristic of a global capitalist corporation, and reflect on the structural conditions in which resistance is possible in contemporary organizations.

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“…Policymakers respond to bounded rationality by relying on quick gut-level, instinctual, emotional, and moral choices. Put most strongly, 'Reason is emotion's slave and exists to rationalize experience' (Bion, 1970) when unconscious processes, out of awareness, are present (Arnaud, 2012). 'Hot cognition' (Lodge and Taber, 2005, p 456) describes actors' feelings about things they have thought about in the past -'political leaders, groups, issues, symbols, and ideas' -which come 'automatically and inescapably to mind' and 'become information'.…”

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confidence: 99%

How to communicate effectively with policymakers: combine insights from psychology and policy studies

2017

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To communicate effectively in policymaking systems, actors need to understand how policymakers process evidence and the environment in which they operate. Therefore, we combine psychology and policy studies to produce a three-step strategy. First, do not bombard people with evidence. Human beings have too much information to process, and they use heuristics to filter information to make decisions quickly. Synthesise and frame evidence to help you tailor it to the ways in which policymakers demand and understand information. Second, find the right time to act. Timing matters during key individuals' patterns of thinking and the alignment of conditions in political systems. Third, engage with real world policymaking rather than waiting for a 'rational' and orderly process to appear. To present evidence during mythical stages of a 'policy cycle' is misguided, and to 'speak truth to power' without establishing legitimacy and building trust may be counterproductive. Our overall message is pragmatic, not Machiavellian: effective communication requires the suppliers of evidence to see the world from the perspective of their audience and understand the policy process in which they engage.

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The Contribution of Psychoanalysis to Organization Studies and Management: An Overview

Cited by 70 publications

References 86 publications

Never social and entrepreneurial enough? Exploring the identity work of social entrepreneurs from a psychoanalytic perspective

Never social and entrepreneurial enough? Exploring the identity work of social entrepreneurs from a psychoanalytic perspective

Working and Resisting when One’s Workplace is Under Threat of Being Shut Down: A Lacanian Perspective

How to communicate effectively with policymakers: combine insights from psychology and policy studies

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