Group Relations Conferences Research Articles

Group relations organisations and conferences as a fractal of society: how group relations work in different countries has been shaped by national variables of history, economics, politics, culture, and geography

This article follows the Eric Miller memorial lecture given on 1 April 2023. Based on interviews with many group relations practitioners worldwide, the article explores how group relations organisations and conferences are shaped by national variables of history, economics, politics, culture, and geography. Links between current practices in organisations and the connection of those practices to background forces are suggested. The significance of the patrons of group relations work, geography, religion and spirituality, trauma, and origin stories for the development of organisations and conferences are examined. Some current worldwide system dynamics are explored. The author's identity as an American, White man, and its relevance to the research is considered.

The learning from action (LfA) programme: reflections on how it has evolved

PurposeThe learning from action (LfA) workshop was born more than 20 years ago and held in various places in Italy. This study aims to provide a learning experience for therapeutic communities (TCs) workers. During these years, the LfA work has developed by creating a dialogue between the experiential conferences and the group relations conferences (GRC) run by the Tavistock Institute. In this paper, the author explores the dialogue between (the leadership-oriented) GRC and (democratic) TC culture.Design/methodology/approachThe authors intend to show how this dialogue has developed in LfA, describing tasks, purposes and critical aspects of LfA specific events: decision-making plenary, decision-making, TCs, action, dialog between cultures, GRC, learning methodology, decision-making group, activity group, morning and evening community meetings.FindingsThe authors confirmed the idea that acting and working together is a way of learning and communicating with each other. The role activities and works the authors do together to provide for the community in LfA have a more authentic quality of life than the purely verbal reflective work of a GRC.Originality/valueThe paper describes how LfA has developed and consolidated over the years, constituting an original learning model inspired by the typical activities of the culture of democratic TCs and the learning methodology of GRCs.

Trust issues in the development of group relations in China, 2014 to 2018: analysis and interpretation of key events

This article explores key events in the Beijing Group Relations Conferences 2014, 2016, and 2018 through key events regarding multiple leadership roles and lenses. This study analyses these key events utilising trust theory, and concludes that the development of group relations in China is based on the development of trust on multiple levels within a temporary experiential learning organisation in which the primary task is the study of authority, leadership, membership and covert/overt processes in groups and organisations. These events are described, analysed, and interpreted to illustrate how trust evolved in three group relations conferences and its implications for the development of group relations in China and other cultures unfamiliar with these in the Tavistock tradition.

Group relations love: sentience and group relations work - Part I

Part I of this article will focus on the relationship between sentience and group relations conference work. Literature concerning group relations work and sentience will be explored. Sentience will be explored structurally and externally through the lens of task and group, with a focus on systems, organisational transformation, as well as the history, philosophy, and design of group relations conferences. Group relations work and sentience will also be focused on in relation to inquiry of why one does the work, embodying an internal perspective regarding the complexities of the consultant role and relationship to the group. The construct of group relations love will be introduced in connection with aspects of sentience in group work.

Aiutare ad aiutare. Stress, burn-out e manutenzione del sistema curante

There are jobs and professions that may turn work into something dangerous or exhausting, and among them primarily emerge the helping professions - nurses, doctors, social workers, psychologists, etc. - for their continual closeness to deeply suffering people, at a physical or a psychic level, or both. The article explores the origins and the processes at stake in the various forms of painful experiences affecting those professions that are mostly exposed to high emotional costs, especially stress and burn-out. In doing so it highlights the role played by the organization and the management, and describes some of the most effective methods for the containment of anxieties and the promotion of organizational well-being, namely: supervisions, Group Relations Conferences, the executive coaching, the Social Dreaming, the Listening Post, the institutional observation, and the Balint Groups.

Group Relations and 12-Step Recovery

Group relations conferences and 12-Step recovery thrive on the participants working in groups. This article is an inquiry into the integration of these traditions, in the Loyola Group Relations Conference, January 14–16, 2011. This conference recruited staff and members from the recovery community. 12-Step meetings were integrated into the conference design. The authors discuss the similarities and differences of the two models and examine the learning of conference staff and members. The authors conclude that Group Relations Conferences focusing on leadership, authority, and recovery from addiction can bring important group relations learning to the recovery community and vice versa.

The National Group Psychotherapy Institute: A Blending of Two Educational Methods

The National Group Psychotherapy Institute of the Washington School of Psychiatry offers a two-year educational program for mental health and other professionals interested in the study of groups. Adapting the learning model of group relations conferences, the institute offers opportunities for experiential learning This article discusses the creation of the institute and describes the experiential components of the program. Advantages and shortcomings of the program are discussed.

Organizing Reflection

The aim of this article is to consider what is involved in the practice of reflection for organizational learning and change. My emphasis is on reflection as an organizing process rather than on the individual, `reflective practitioner'. I describe a way of `organizing reflection' that can create and sustain opportunities for organizational learning. After a brief explanation of the company involved and the action research, I explore some of the literature on reflection. I continue by describing four reflective practices. These are: peer consultancy groups, role analysis and role analysis groups, communities of practice, and group relations conferences. I explain and explore each of these and define their impact at different levels of organizing. Collectively, these four reflective practices constitute an approach to reflection that represents one way of organizing for learning and change.

The Relevance and Perversity of Psychodynamic Interventions in Consulting and Action Research

An attempt is made to clarify the nature and relevance of the psychodynamic perspective for the work of action researchers and organization consultants. Since this perspective is grounded in psychoanalytic theory and clinical psychology, some important distinctions need to be made between the various work-domains of the consultant/action researcher and the classic individual psychoanalytic session. The author argues that without explicit reference to observable data, interventions may in fact pervert rather than facilitate learning and development. This argument is illustrated by vignettes grouped together under: (a) questionable interventions in group-relations conferences, (b) self-reflections and interpretations as a cult, and (c) the individual in interaction with the group.

Roles of women in the large group: Enduring paradigms in a chaotic environment

Group relations conferences offer participants and staff an opportunity to study unconscious aspects of organizational life, in particular, the projections and fantasies surrounding leaders. This paper offers an example of the way one aspect of the group relations conference, the large group, can be useful in understanding a particular set of experiences, namely that of women as leaders. Given the current social, economic, and political climate in the US, a woman working professionally as a consultant in the large group must be available for a barrage of contradictory, irrational projections. In this way, women consultants, and perhaps women leaders, represent the essential paradoxes of our existence, namely that intimacy is created through a simultaneous understanding of our separateness and our connection to one another.

Dimensions of experiential learning at group relations conferences

Four hundred and seventy-seven professionals attended thirteen group relations conferences. Conferences varied across three dimensions: context, including sponsorship and history: design, involving duration, intensity (residential setting) and complexity; and linkages, the social and authority ties between members and staff. Three month follow-up questionnaires were collected from sixty percent of participants. Significantly more self-assessed learning was reported by those who attended the residential than the non-residential conferences. The results, from a large diversified sample, suggest that a combination of training in a residential setting, strong institutional sponsorship and pre-existing authority and social linkages between members and staff resulted in the most reported learning. Group relations conferences provide unique learning opportunities for mental health professionals, (Correa et al. 1981) and have been increasingly used in the United States and Europe during the last twenty years. Despite this, there is little research evaluating the outcomes of such training in terms of member learning or the differential effectiveness of the alternative forms of conferences currently available. Conferences vary along three major dimensions: a) context, including the institutional sponsorship as well as the history of previous conferences held at the same site, b) design, including the duration, intensity and number of events which make up the conference, and c) linkages, the social and authority relations among members and staff. A review of the first decade of group relations work in the United States concluded that the characteristics of a conference, including the setting have an important impact on member learning, (Klein 1978).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Reactions to Women in Authority: The Impact of Gender on Learning in Group Relations Conferences

A study was made of the impact of gender on learning in group relations conferences. Questionnaires were sent to 265 adults who participated in seven group relations conferences. The conferences varied in context and design, but each included a small group event highlighting reactions to consultant authority. Three-month follow-up data were collected from 60% of the participants. When the participants' self-assessed learning in relation to consultant and participant gender was statistically analyzed, 9 of IO significant effects favored the women consultants. Using Eagly's theoretical model of gender role differences in adults and psychodynamic group theory, the authors conclude that a complete explanation of gender's effects on learning must consider the "agentic" and communal dimensions of a group's task, the ambiguity of criteria for evaluating performance, women consultants' status, the gender composition of the group, and transference reactions.

The effect of social systems on group relations training.

Two Tavistock group relations conferences were held for mental health professionals in different social systems: a university and a medical school. Three-month follow-up studies were conducted. When compared with those attending the medical school conference, members of the university conference reported that they participated more in the application group and conference discussion, learned more in the intergroup event and about how the group effects task performance, that the emotional impact of the conference was greater, and were more likely to recommend the training to a friend. A social systems analysis of the conferences is offered as a way of accounting for these results. The conferences differed with regard to: 1. sponsorship, legitimacy and support of training activities; 2. heterogeneity of learning opportunities, an indication of systems openness and 3. authority and sentient linkages between members and staff. The more positive responses of the university participants probably had to do with multiple departmental sponsors, a heterogeneous environment, and outside authority and sentient ties. The less positive responses of the medical school members most likely were due to sponsorship by only one discipline, low systems openness, and a lack of sentient and authority linkages between members and staff.

A bridge between training and practice: Mental health professionals' learning in group relations conferences

Tavistock group relations conferences were held for mental health trainees and staff in two different settings. Three month follow-up data were collected on the majority of members. The relationship between four sets of predictor variables: staff facilitation of learning; member participation; learning in the conference events; and learning about specific content areas; and four outcome criteria: overall learning; emotional impact; desire to attend another conference; and recommending such training to a friend were studied. As expected, in both conferences, staff facilitation, learning about specific content, and learning in conference events were all significantly positively related to members' perception of their own learning, emotional impact, desire to attend another conference, and recommendation of such training to a friend. The unanticipated finding that member participation in the conference is not related to any outcome criteria is discussed in terms of design and the nature of learning in group relations conferences. In Tavistock groups the emphasis on unconscious processes engages members both cognitively and emotionally but may lead to a lack of direct participation without a loss in learning.

Toward the Study of Society in Microcosm: Critical Problems of Group Relations Conferences

In the first half of this article, the authors consider the basic structure, culture, and technique developed for the Group Relations Conference, which aims to be an open institution for studying in microcosm the working problems of society. They argue that the traditional culture and technique are nondevelopmental, hence can do very little about societal dynamics simply being replayed in conferences, which in turn lowers the morale of these events seriously. They believed that the inherent development thrust of conference members could be as powerful as the regressive instincts and class interests that ordinarily overrun conferences, if the interferences with group development were carefully attended to by consultants. Two experimental conferences have confirmed the hypothesis and, furthermore, shown the phases of the critical second-stage development, in which group members make prominent and master the inherent aggression in groups about differences.

The impact of group relations conferences on organizational growth.

The impact of group relations conferences on organizational growth.