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Centre for Socio-Analysis

Brian McMinn 1973

“Authority, Leadership and Role”

Workshop

10 – 12 February, 2010

64 Carlton Street, Carlton 3053

Introduction In our work roles we are required to take up authority and leadership appropriate for task. But what does this “taking up authority and leadership” mean? And what is authority? Where does it derive from – position in a hierarchy, knowledge, capacity, group, community? And what is leadership and how does it relate to groups? The socio-analytic study of authority, leadership and group dynamics has its origins in the two Northfield Experiments during the Second World War. The first Experiment was carried out by Bion and Rickman, and the second is associated with the pioneering work of Main and Bridger. Further studies of group dynamics were carried out by Bion at the Tavistock Clinic after the War, and these ideas were incorporated in the first Tavistock “Leicester” Conference in 1957 with its explicit focus on the experiential study of authority, leadership and group dynamics. Since 1957 the experiential study of authority, leadership and group dynamics has been taken up in Europe, the United States, South America, India, Israel, South Africa, and Australia, This Workshop is located within this tradition. The first 3 day Workshop of this kind was run by the Centre for Socio-Analysis, 1 -3 September, 2009.We were encouraged by the learning that was gained, and the interest from people who were not able to take part to offer this Workshop in February, 2010.

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The Workshop The Workshop will provide opportunities to explore critical aspects of authority and leadership in one’s role at work, and through the roles one takes up in the Workshop Events. The mode of learning is experiential and didactic, combining as it does explorations of authority and leadership as they arise in a Study Group, in Work Role Drawings and Role Consultation Groups, with more didactic learning from a Seminar on Authority and Leadership, and Plenaries. Members will have the opportunity to explore how experiences in their Family of Origin and at School influence the templates of authority they act out of in their adult work role, and how personal Time Valencies for the Past, Present and Future affect the leadership one can offer. There is also space for Personal and Group Reflection. Aims

1. To explore how I take up authority and leadership in my role at work and in the Workshop.

2. To explore group issues that arise when authority and leadership are

taken up within the group. Concepts relevant to the Workshop

• Primary Task – “That task the Organisation has to carry out in order to survive in its current form”.

• Hierarchy based authority and its links with anxiety or defences against anxiety1. • Group based authority and the links to openness to working in an emergent reality as it

occurs. • Leadership as an individual activity and as group based • Authority as an aspect of role and power as an aspect of personal capacity. • “Container and Contained” transformations as measures of individual and group

learning2. • Organisation-in-the-Mind3

1 See Alastair Bain, “Sources of Authority: The Double Threads of Anxiety and Wonder” in Dare to Think the Unthought Known?, Ed. Ajeet N. Mathur, Aivoainut Oy, Tampere, Finland. March 2006. 2 See Alastair Bain, “Social Defences against Organisational Learning.” Human Relations, Vol 51 No. 3, London, March 1998. 3 “…each of us has in mind, a dynamic image of the organisation of which we are a part, and it is out of this image we plan and act at work. This dynamic image is called the Organisation–in-the-Mind.”. Centre for Socio-Analysis. Organisational Role Analysis Brochure, p.1, 2009.

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Membership Limited to 10 members. No previous experience of socio-analytic programs is necessary. Possible Outcomes

• Increased role clarity • A firmer sense of how to take up authority and leadership in one’s role • Greater knowledge of the effects of group dynamics on leadership • Deeper understanding of the origins of authority, and its derivation from task,

hierarchy, personal capacity, knowledge, and “rightness” of spirit. • Development of consultancy and observational skills • Awareness of family of origin, and school experiences on adult models of authority one

acts out of. • Understanding of one’s “time valency(ies)” and the influence on group behaviour and

leadership. Events 1. Plenaries The Workshop begins with an introductory Plenary for introductions; an overview of the Program and Events; a description of the mode of learning (experiential and didactic); a discussion of entering the Program, and expectations. At the conclusion of Day 1 and Day 2 there is a Plenary to reflect on the experience of the Program. There is a Plenary at the end of the Workshop to review the experience and learning that has been gained. 2. Study Groups All members together with the two consultants meet with the task “To study the behaviour of the group as it occurs”. There are four Study Group sessions of 1 hour during the Workshop. Each Study Group is followed by a quarter hour reflection on the dynamics. 3. Work Role Drawings Members are invited to do a drawing of their experience of their role at work. The drawings are then shared with the group. 4. Role Consultation Groups Role Consultation Groups provide opportunities for Managers, Consultants and Professionals to explore real life work issues, take up the Consultant role, and gain observational and feedback experience. Roles are rotated at each Role Consultation Group Session. Members will work in two small groups each with a Program consultant. There are 3 Role Consultation Group sessions during the Workshop.

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5. Time Valencies Event On Day 1 of the Workshop there is an opportunity to explore one’s valency for working in the past, present and future. This will include reflections on the role of time in one’s life experiences, what one may hold on behalf of a group e.g. family, work organisation. and how time valencies affect how one takes up authority and leadership in one’s role. 6. Seminar There will be a Seminar led by the two Consultants on Day 3 on the theme of “Authority, Leadership and Role”. 7. Child at School in the Adult at Work Event Attitudes to authority and leadership and how one takes up one’s authority and leadership at work are partly dependent on one’s experiences at school. This event uses drawings to explore experiences at school and how they may impact on one’s adult work role. 8. Family of Origin and Adult Work Roles As school experiences can mould adult templates concerning authority and leadership so, too, can one’s experiences in one’s family of origin. This Event provides an opportunity for members to get back in touch with these early experiences and their possible impact an adult behaviour through drawings and discussion. 9. Individual Reflection There is a one quarter period each day for individual reflection on the Program. Program Timetable

10 February 9.00 – 9.45 am Plenary 9.50 – 11.05 Study Group (1) 11.05 – 11.30 Tea / Coffee Break 11.30 – 1.00 Work Role Drawings 1.00 – 2.15 Lunch 2.15 – 3.30 Role Consultation Group (1) 3.30 - 3.45 Tea / Coffee Break 3.45 – 5.00 Time Valencies Event 5.00 – 5.15 Individual Reflection 5.15 – 5.30 pm Plenary 11 February

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9.00 – 10.15 am Study Group (2) 10.15 – 10.45 Tea / Coffee Break 10.45 – 12.15 The Child at School in the Adult at Work 12.15 – 1.30 Lunch 1.30 – 3.00 Role Consultation Group (2) 3.00 – 3.15 Tea / Coffee Break 3.15 – 4.30 Study Group (3) 4.30 – 4.45 Individual Reflection 4.45 – 5.00 pm Plenary 12 February 9.00 – 10.15 am Study Group (4) 10.15 – 10.45 Tea / Coffee Break 10.45 – 12.15 Family of Origin Event 12.15 – 1.30 Lunch 1.30 – 2.30 Seminar – Authority, Leadership and Role 2.35 – 4.00 Role Consultation Group (3) 4.00 – 4.15 Tea / Coffee Break 4.15 – 4.30 Individual Reflection 4.30 – 5 pm Plenary Arrangements The Workshop takes place at 64 Carlton Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053. Carlton Street runs between Rathdowne and Nicholson Streets and is adjacent to Carlton Gardens. There is all day parking at the Museum car park, and locally 2 – 4 hour parking. Tea and coffee will be provided before the start of the Workshop from 8.45am, and with fruit and light food throughout the Workshop. Members make their own arrangements for lunch. Lygon Street and Brunswick Streets are close by. Fee The fee for the Workshop including tuition, articles, tea, coffee, and light refreshments is $1080 + GST $108 = $1188. The fee is to accompany the application form. It will be refunded less $100 in case of withdrawal before 20 January, 2010. After 21 January the refund will be for half the fee. There are no refunds once the Workshop has begun. Consultants Alastair Bain B.Sc. (Econ.) Hons (London), M.A. (Chicago)

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Alastair Bain is a socio-analyst. He trained and was a Consultant at the Tavistock Institute in London, 1968 – 1983, before returning to Australia to help found the Australian Institute of Socio-Analysis (AISA) in 1983. He was Director of AISA, 1983 – 2003, during which time he helped establish group relations work, and socio-analytic training, consultancy and action research in Australia. He was Director of the Socio-Analytic Fellowship Program - a 3 year Training Program leading to qualification as a socio-analyst. He gave the discipline of “socio-analysis” its name. Alastair was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at Monash University, 1986 – 1998. He has worked in Australia, U.K., Europe, U.S., and more recently India. Since 2004 Alastair has been a Director of the Centre for Socio-Analysis. He is a Member of International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations, and the Tavistock Institute Association. He has published extensively. See Articles at www.acsa.net.au Christopher Falkingham Christopher Falkingham is a Chartered Accountant and CPA. He is a director of the Centre for Socio-Analysis Pty Ltd (CSA) and a partner in an accounting practice Balance Corporation Pty Ltd. Christopher is an accountant and socio-analyst. He did three years training in the Socio-Analytic Fellowship Program at the Australian Institute of Socio-Analysis ( AISA) from 2001 to 2003 and has since been involved in the evolution of socio-analysis from 2004 to now in work undertaken by the CSA. He has worked as an organiser and participant of two Social Dreaming Conferences at Mallacoota and been involved in workshops, reading group and regular management meetings. He has presented at two exploration meetings on the meaning of money in organisations and the meaning of social dreaming. He has worked as a consultant on the Brotherhood of St. Laurence and Victorian Police projects. Centre for Socio-Analysis Founded in 2004 in Melbourne, the Centre for Socio-Analysis (CSA) develops socio-analytic ideas and methods pioneered at the Tavistock Institute in London, at the Australian Institute of Socio-Analysis, and by other organisations and practitioners who work in the socio-analytic tradition pioneered by Wilfred Bion. It does this through consultancy, action research, action learning, socio-analytic programs for professional development and training, conferences, workshops, exploration meetings, public presentations, and publication. See Website www.acsa.net.au . What is the psychological truth for an individual, group, organisation, or other social system? How may this best be brought to light as a means for creative transformation and growth? Socio-analysis is grounded in wonder and exploration, and it seeks to illuminate and express the interplay of wonder and knowledge in creating new realities. The Centre for Socio-Analysis is concerned to explore new forms of community, and organisation for our society; ways of being together, and working together, that engender the expression of human spirit, and the growth of our capacities

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The Centre formally defines its primary task as: “To increase human capacities through socio-analysis”.

Reading relevant to the Workshop Bain A., Social Defences against Organisational Learning, Human Relations, Vol 51 No. 3, London, March 1998. (www.acsa.net.au Articles) Bain A., The Lines We Draw, Teacher, September, 2004. (www.acsa.net.au Articles) Bain A., Sources of Authority: The Double Threads of Wonder and Anxiety in Dare to Think the Unthought Known, Ed. Ajeet N. Mathur, Aivoairut Oy, Finland. March 2006. (www.acsa.net.au Articles) Bion W.R., Experiences in Groups and other Papers, Tavistock Publications, London, 1961. Chattopadhyay G.P. and Malhotra A., Hierarchy and Modern Organisation: A Paradox Leading to Human Wastage, The Indian Journal of Social Work, Vol L11, No. 4, pp. 561 - 584. (www.acsa.net.au Articles) Lawrence G., Bain A. & Gould L., The Fifth Basic Assumption., Free Associations, London, Vol. 6, Part 1 (no. 37), 1996. . (www.acsa.net.au Articles) Miller, W.B. Two concepts of authority, American Anthropologist, 57, 271-89, 1955. Obholzer A., Authority, Power and Leadership: contributions from group relations training; in The Unconscious at Work: Individual and Organizational Stress in the Human Services; edited by Obholzer, A; and Roberts, VZ; Routledge; London, 1994. pp 39-47. p.39. Weber M., The Theory of Social and Economic Organisation, 1947, Oxford University Press, New York.

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Centre for Socio-Analysis PO BOX 1296

CARLTON, VICTORIA 3053 Telephone: + 61 3 9347 2053 Email: acsa@acsa.net.au

Website: www.acsa.net.au ABN 49 109 435 403

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