Systems Psychodynamics Innovative Approaches to Change,
Whole Systems and Complexity, 1st Edition
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Systems Psychodynamics
Innovative Approaches to Change,
Whole Systems and Complexity
David Lawlor and Mannie Sher
With contributions from Eliat Aram, David Armstrong, Anne Benson,
Mee-Yan Cheung-Judge, Camilla Child, Jonathan Gosling, Dione Hills, Olya
Khaleelee, Susan Long, Anton Obholzer, Carolyn Ordowich and Bert Painter
Designed cover image: irabell © Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 David Lawlor and Mannie Sher
The right of David Lawlor and Mannie Sher to be identified
as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
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British Library Cataloguing-in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data
Names: Lawlor, David, 1949 – author. | Sher, Mannie, author.
Title: Systems psychodynamics : innovative approaches to change,
whole systems and complexity / David Lawlor and Mannie Sher.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2022056707 (print) | LCCN 2022056708 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032437392 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032437408 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003368663 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Organizational sociology. | Organizational behavior. |
Organizational change. | System theory— Social aspects.
Classification: LCC HM786 .L39 2023 (print) | LCC HM786 (ebook) |
DDC 302.3/5 — dc23/eng/20230203
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022056707
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022056708
ISBN: 9781032437392 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032437408 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003368663 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003368663
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Homage to Eric Trist (1909–1993) and
Fred Emery (1925–1997)
Eric Trist and Fred Emery were formidable social scientists, and their collabo-
ration at the Tavistock Institute proved extremely fruitful.
Fred Emery, a psychologist by training, had his initial academic appointment
at Melbourne University, where he made significant contributions to rural soci-
ology, and the effects of film and television viewing. Constantly drawn towards
testing social science theory in field settings, in 1958 he joined Eric Trist, one
of his closest intellectual collaborators, at the Tavistock Institute of Human
Relations in London.
Over the next 10 years, he, with Trist and other colleagues, established ‘open
socio-technical systems theory’ as an alternative paradigm for organisational
design – field-tested on a national scale in Norway – in partnership with Einar
Thorsrud. Two of Emery and Trist’s key publications were The Causal Texture
of Organisational Environments (1965) – which became a citation classic – and
Towards a Social Ecology (1972).
On Emery’s return to Australia, he continued his action research in industry
and the public sector and developed new tools for the diffusion of democracy
in organisations and in communities. The three books that perhaps best convey
the extraordinary breadth and depth of his thinking are Toward a Social Ecology
(1972, with Trist), On purposeful systems (1972, with Russ Ackoff) and Futures
We’re In (1977).
He also edited for Penguin two volumes of readings called Systems Thinking
(the initial volume was reprinted six times), which will long remain a staple
resource on the origins and development of open systems thinking throughout
the life sciences. In the final two years of his life, he co-edited the third and
final volume of the ‘Tavistock Anthology’ being published by the University of
Pennsylvania Press – The Social Engagement of Social Science.
Eric Trist’s discipline of origin was psychology, but the title of the three
chairs he held in North American universities between 1966 and 1983 offers a
succinct statement of his central contribution to the social sciences: ‘Professor of
Organizational Behavior and Social Ecology’. And the titles of his best-known
books, both written with colleagues from the Tavistock Institute, were Organi-
zational Choice (1964) and Towards a Social Ecology (1973).
viii Homage to Eric Trist (1909 –1993) and Fred Emery (1925 –1997)
Trist joined up with a group of psychiatrists and others from the Tavistock
Clinic, who told him what they were doing in the army, and he decided to
join them. Through this, Trist broadened his theoretical repertoire to include
psychoanalysis and anthropology. He and other Tavistock colleagues wished to
apply their army experience to the problems of post-war reconstruction. The
outcome, in 1947, was the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, of which
Trist was a key founder member. As deputy chairman and later as chairman,
Trist was a major driving force throughout his 20 years at the Institute.
Trist’s research in coalmining established his international reputation. His
concept of the ‘socio-technical system’ made it possible to think of work organi-
sation as a meeting of two systems, technological and psychosocial. To optimise
the one at the expense of the other was a recipe for sub-optimal performance.
Instead of technological determinism, there was a real possibility of ‘organ-
isational choice’. The semi-autonomous workgroup, internally led and self-
regulatory, was likely to be more productive and more satisfying to the workers
than the conventional hierarchy. The idea spread rapidly in different kinds of
enterprises in many countries. In continental Europe, especially Scandinavia, it
was a significant ingredient of industrial democracy and it opened the way for
the world-wide ‘quality of working life’ movement. Famous though it became,
the socio-technical concept was but one of Trist’s many contributions to the
Tavistock Institute’s work. In 1946, with Kurt Lewin, he was active in launch-
ing a new journal, Human Relations, at the Research Center for Group Dynam-
ics at Ann Arbor. He was instrumental in developing two new institutes under
the Tavistock Institute umbrella: the Family Discussion Bureau (now the Insti-
tute of Marital Studies) and the Institute for Operational Research.
Trist was ambivalent about leaving the Tavistock for an appointment at
UCLA. The precipitating factor was that his wife, Beulah, was advised by doc-
tors to move to a warmer climate. Although he had many American friends, he
was not really happy until he moved to the Wharton School at Philadelphia in
1969, alongside Russ Ackoff, of operational research fame. From then his career
continued its upward trajectory. He extended his interest in work organisation
to wider social systems. Later, at York University, Toronto, he initiated a pro-
gramme of future studies.
He conceived a massive anthology of work, and the title ‘The Social En-
gagement of Social Science’ captured the focus of his life’s work. What these
volumes do not display is the Eric Trist who had a great sense of humour and
was the life and soul of parties, in which, in his younger days, he could be
persuaded to give a spirited rendering of a Navaho rain dance. He was a man
of many parts.
Contents
List of figures xiii
Acknowledgements xv
Authors xvii
Contributing Authors xix
Foreword by James Krantz xxiii
Introduction 1
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER
‘Emergence’ 3
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER
PART I
Change 5
1 The vicissitudes of change 7
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER
2 Socio-technical systems and change 24
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER W I T H M E E -YA N C H EU NG -J U D GE
3 Socio-technical systems in the 21st century (part 1) 48
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER W I T H BERT PA I N T ER
A N D C A ROLY N OR D OW IC H
4 Socio-technical systems in the 21st century (part 2) 61
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER W I T H BERT PA I N T ER A N D
C A ROLY N OR D OW IC H
x Contents
PART II
Action research and evaluation 75
5 The application of action research 77
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER
6 Evaluation of systems psychodynamics activities: Approaches
and challenges 97
DION E (SA N J I ) H I L L S
7 Planning and conducting an organisational development evaluation 115
DION E (SA N J I ) H I L L S
8 Varieties of action research 133
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER
PART III
Leadership and whole systems 151
9 Socio-ecological: Working with large complex collaborative
partnerships (whole systems) 154
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER W I T H C A M I L L A C H I L D
10 Complexity theory 175
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER W I T H E L I AT A R A M
11 The systems psychodynamics view of leadership 195
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER W I T H E L I AT A R A M,
A N T ON OBHOL Z ER A N D JONAT H A N G O S L I NG
12 Social dreaming 217
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER W I T H SUSA N L ONG A N D
DAV I D A R M S T RONG
13 Systems psychodynamics and the impact of digitalisation,
AI and virtual working on the eco-system 239
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER W I T H OLYA K H A L EE L EE
Contents xi
PART IV
Systems psychodynamics developments,
definitions and professional development 257
14 Professional development for systems psychodynamics consultants 259
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER W I T H A N N E BE NS ON
15 Systems psychodynamics – developments and definitions 275
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER
16 Theoretical developments in the systems psychodynamics paradigm 301
DAV I D L AW L OR A N D M A N N I E SH ER
Appendix I: Systems psychodynamics – organisational resources 317
Appendix II: Literature review on systems psychodynamics 325
References 337
Index 379
Figures
2.1 Cycle of Planned Organisational Change. © J.E. Neumann
(1996, 1998, 2006). Reproduced with permission from the
Tavistock Institute of Human Relations 40
2.2 Reality of ‘Planned’ Change. Reproduced with permission
from the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations 40
2.3 Generative Change (Marshak & Bushe, 2018). Reproduced
with permission from the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations 41
2.4 Consultancy Approaches. Reproduced with permission from
the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations 41
3.1 STS Design Conceptual Foundation, reprinted with
permission from the author 52
5.1 Systems Model of Action Research Process. From Matt
Bond (2014). https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.
php?curid=34814552. This file is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence 78
5.2 Action Research Cycles by Margaret Riel (2006), https://
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Riel-action_research.
jpg. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence 87
7.1 An Example of a System Map. From Penn AS, Knight
CJK, Lloyd DJB, Avitabile D, Kok K, Schiller F, et al.
(2013). Participatory Development and Analysis of a Fuzzy
Cognitive Map of the Establishment of a Bio-Based Economy
in the Humber Region. PLoS One 8(11): e78319. https://doi.
org/10.1371/journal.pone.0078319 © 2013 Penn et al 123
9.1 NHS Citizen Model 159
10.1 Visual, organisational map of complex systems broken
into seven subgroups. Created by Hiroki Sayama, D.Sc.,
Collective Dynamics of Complex Systems (CoCo) Research
Group at Binghamton University, State University of
New York, 2010, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
xiv Figures
File:Complex_systems_organizational_map.jpg. This file
is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 3.0 Unported licence 178
16.1 Hirschhorn’s Development Propositions. Reproduced with
permission from the author 306
Acknowledgements
Writing one book, let alone three, is a big task. It was a labour of love to de-
scribe, in a systematic way, the ideas, constructs and theories of systems psycho-
dynamics, and their application, to which we have been attached for over half
a century and which forms essential parts of our individual and professional
identities. In this task, we were assisted by colleagues, collaborators, contribu-
tors and endorsers who helped these volumes appear in print. We also had our
critics. To all, we offer our grateful thanks because through their support and
challenge, they influenced the shape and content of these volumes.
We set out to write a ‘how to’ book for organisational development consult-
ants and social science researchers, but inevitably, at times, we were drawn back
to the theories of organisations and social institutions. We realised then that
theory and practice are two indivisible elements of the same thing, and we ac-
cepted Lewin’s message that there is nothing so practical as a good theory. The
theories that have emerged from the field of psychoanalysis and the Tavistock
Institute of Human Relations have stood the test of time. We are grateful to
the ‘giants’ of psychoanalytic thinking like Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein,
Wilfred Bion and Donald Winnicott, and the ‘early pioneers’ of the Tavistock
Institute like Eric Trist, Fred Emery, Cyril Sofer, Elliott Jaques, Isobel Menzies
Lyth, Kenneth Rice, Eric Miller, Pierre Turquet, Robert Gosling, the Balint’s,
Evelyn Cleavely, Tim Dartington, Gordon Lawrence, Larry Hirschhorn, Larry
Gould, Margaret Rioch, Jim Krantz and Susan Long, for the legacies they have
left us, which sustained our confidence when the going got rough. We were
spurred on by their demands for ‘more and better research’ and ‘building on
the foundations’ laid by them. It is easy to rest on the laurels of others. We were
often forced away from a tendency to worship our ancestors. We needed to ac-
knowledge that we had to move forward. This led us to examine and think how
changing circumstances and conditions in the world challenge cherished ideas.
We had to let go of some of them or refresh them to be relevant for the con-
temporary world and to make room for the new. We hope our books adequately
reflect that struggle and that they are refreshing to read and act as stimuli to
new thinking and action.
xvi Acknowledgements
We offer a special thank you to Eliat Aram and to the Council and members
of staff at the Tavistock Institute who continue to support thought leadership
in the Institute and all who associate with it. ‘Thought leadership’ is to become
recognised as experts, without being expert, and used as a go-to resource in
particular fields, areas or topics. Eliat overseas the environment of the Institute
where everyone faces challenges and finds their own ways to address them. The
ideal of academic freedom is an enshrined value at the Institute, and while it
can sometimes lead to sharp differences between people, there is enough shared
agreement on principle and practice to unify the Institute into a healthy work-
ing environment. This enables individual creativity, which continues to flourish
despite the demands of an increasingly competitive environment. At the same
time, we can see across the globe that systems psychodynamics is an evolving
discipline. For instance, it has deep roots in the USA via Group Relations and
the A K Rice Institute, in Australia via The National Institute of Organisation
Dynamics, Australia, and its innovative group relations programme, in India
via Group Relation India, in Europe and South Africa, in Israel via OFEK and
in China via Tavistock Institute China, to name a few. Systems psychodynamics
is seen as helpful to what seem to be intractable social problems. In the UK,
the Organisation Promoting the Understanding of Society (OPUS) continues
to thrive and grow and is now established as an international organisation, and
the Tavistock Clinic continues with its advanced academic programmes. The
International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations (ISPSO)
acts as an important forum for debate and intellectual work.
I would like to thank Barbara Williams, Nuala Dent and Annie Boland for
their help in editing and refining this Foreword.
Authors
David Lawlor is professional partner at the Tavistock Institute of Human
Relations, where he specialises in research and consultancy practice. He is
a co-director on the Organisational Consultancy: Working with the Dynamics
programme. David is a visiting lecturer at the Tavistock and Portman NHS
Trust. He is an experienced international Group Relations Conference con-
sultant. He was head of the Social Work Discipline at the Tavistock and
Portman NHS Trust and a principal consultant at Tavistock Consultancy.
David has extensive experience managing and working in local authority
settings, voluntary organisations and psychiatric hospitals. At the Tavistock
Clinic, he trained in organisational consultancy and psychoanalytic psycho-
therapy. He has delivered a wide range of training and staff development
programmes in the care sector. As part of his PhD research, he has evaluated
consultancy interventions and examined how to improve the outcome for the
client. He is particularly interested in the impact of stressful environments
on staff functioning. He is author of Test of Time: A Case Study in the Function-
ing of Social Systems as a Defence Against Anxiety: Rereading 50 Years on, Clinical
Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Vol. 14 No. 4, 2009; and with Liz Webb: ‘An
Interview with Isabel Menzies Lyth with a Conceptual Commentary’, Organ-
isational and Social Dynamics, Vol. 9 No. 1 (2009).
Mannie Sher is principal social scientist at the Tavistock Institute of Human
Relations, London. He manages a portfolio of organisational development
and change assignments and consults to boards and executives on their stra-
tegic and leadership challenges. His research and consultancy work focuses
on the impact of thought on the dialectic relationship between social con-
structivism, the unconscious and liberal democracy. Mannie is a practising
psychoanalytical psychotherapist. He has published on subjects of consul-
tancy, leadership, organisational development, social dreaming, ethics and
corruption. His latest books are The Dynamics of Change: Tavistock Approaches
to Improving Social Systems (2013) with David Lawlor, published by Karnac
Books, and Dynamics at Boardroom Level: A Tavistock Primer for Leaders,
Coaches and Consultants (2020), edited by Leslie Brissett, Mannie Sher and
