Group Relations and Other Meditations: Psychoanalytic Explorations on the Uncertainties of Experiential Learning

This book explores the Tavistock tradition of using group relations conferences as temporary training organizations and how they can inform and enrich the theory and practice of experiential learning. It analyzes the structures, rituals, and beliefs of these conferences, discusses the tension between psychoanalysis and systemic theory, and offers a critique of the polarity between spontaneity, mystery, openness to the unexpected, and trust in unconscious processes. It also suggests possible ways of putting known things together to approach new meaning as provisional and shifting.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 206 pages
Publication date: 30 September 2021
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive book delves into the Tavistock tradition of utilizing group relations conferences as temporary training organizations for groups and institutions, exploring how these conferences can inform and enhance the theory and practice of experiential learning in broader contexts.

In the first part, the book conducts a thorough analysis of the structures, rituals, and beliefs that underpin group relations conferences, drawing on the author's extensive field experience. This analysis is then extended to broader topics, including the social nature of corruption, martial arts, Western cultures' longing for creativity, and the use of drawing in social science research. The book addresses the tension between psychoanalysis and systemic theory in group relations thinking, refining and redefining key concepts of the practice while challenging notions of dependence and dependency. It also explores performative poetics, learning, the politics of power, nostalgia, and the unspoken reasons for individuals' desire to join conference staff teams.

The book offers a critical critique of the polarizing terms such as spontaneity, the sense of mystery, openness to the unexpected, and trust in unconscious processes, as opposed to the desire for certainty and the confusion, anxiety, and aggression that groups experience when they lack familiar signposts. Drawing on his diverse perspectives as an organizational consultant, artist, designer, teacher, researcher, and poet, the author invites the reader to challenge boundaries and engage with the Other in a less rigid and defensive manner.

The book employs the metaphor of bricolage, an activity that fosters creativity and originality, to suggest possible ways of combining known elements to approach new meanings as provisional and shifting. The many strands gathered in this book reveal new dimensions of group life that have a significant impact on our daily lives and social interactions.

In conclusion, this book offers a valuable contribution to the field of group relations and experiential learning, providing insights into the structures, rituals, and beliefs of group relations conferences. It challenges traditional notions of dependence and dependency and encourages a more flexible and creative approach to engaging with the Other. By employing the metaphor of bricolage, the book offers practical ways of combining known elements to approach new meanings and reveals new dimensions of group life that have a profound impact on our social interactions.

Weight: 366g
Dimension: 156 x 235 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032051178