The primary argument in this article is that the ability of any public organization to withstand the storms of political pressure and change stems from the character of leader-follower relations. Ultimately, the personal, political, and ethical integrity of public administrators depends on the degree of organizational resilience of public agencies. This resilience relies on the effective leadership of change. To enhance and clarify this perspective, the author uses Hobbesian and Rousseauian political theory as metaphors of organizational experience. From a psychodynamic perspective, this article attempts to explore more deeply the private world of public administrators undergoing organizational change.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Argyris, C. , & Schon, D. (1978). Organizational learning. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
2.
Baum, H. S. (1987). The invisible bureaucracy. New York: Oxford University Press.
3.
Baum, H. S. (1990). Organizational membership. Albany: State University of New York Press.
4.
Benjamin, J. (1988). The bonds of love. New York: Pantheon.
5.
Bion, W. R. (1959). Experiences in groups. New York: Basic Books.
6.
Blits, J. H. (1989). Hobbesian fear. Political Theory, 17(3), 417-431.
7.
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss (Vols. 1-3). New York: Basic Books.
8.
Denhardt, R. B. (1987). Images of death and slavery in organizational life. Journal of Management, 13(3), 529-541.
9.
Diamond, M. A. (1984). Bureaucracy as externalized self-system: A view from the psychological interior. Administration & Society, 16(2), 195-214.
10.
Diamond, M. A. (1985). The social character of bureaucracy: Anxiety and ritualistic defense. Political Psychology, 6, 663-679.
11.
Diamond, M. A. (1986). Resistance to change: A psychoanalytic critique of Argyris and Schon's contributions to organization theory and intervention. Journal of Management Studies, 23, 543-562.
12.
Diamond, M. A. (1988). Organizational identity: A psychoanalytic exploration of organizational meaning. Administration & Society, 20(2), 166-190.
13.
Diamond, M. A. (1992). Treating the parataxic organization: A case example of intervention strategy. Administration & Society, 24(1), 61-80.
14.
Diamond, M. A. , & Allcorn, S. (1987). The psychodynamics of regression in work groups. Human Relations, 40, 525-543.
15.
Erikson, E. (1964). Insight and responsibility. New York: Norton.
16.
Freud, S. (1922). Group psychology and the analysis of the ego. New York: Norton.
17.
Glass, J. (1976). Political philosophy as therapy: Rousseau and the pre-social origins of consciousness. Political Theory, 4(2), 163-184.
18.
Glass, J. (1989). Private terror/public life. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
19.
Greenson, R. (1978). Explorations in psychoanalysis. New York: International Universities Press.
20.
Hirschhorn, L. (1988). The workplace within. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
21.
Hobbes, T. (1968). Leviathan (C. B. Macpherson, Ed.). Great Britain: Penguin. (Original work published 1651)
22.
Hummel, R. P. (1991). Stories managers tell: Why they are valid as science. Public Administration Review, 51(1), 31-41.
23.
Jacobson, N. (1978). Pride and solace. Berkeley: University of California Press.
24.
Janis, I. (1982). Groupthink. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
25.
Kernberg, O. (1980). Internal world and external reality. New York: Jason Aronson.
26.
Kets de Vries, M.F.R. (Ed.). (1984). The irrational executive. New York: International Universities Press.
27.
Kets de Vries, M.F.R. , & Miller, D. (1984). The neurotic organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
28.
Klein, M. (1959). Our adult world and its roots in infancy. Human Relations, 12, 291-303.
29.
Kohut, H. (1977). Restoration of the self. New York: International Universities Press.
30.
Kohut, H. (1984). How does analysis cure?Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
31.
LaBier, D. (1989). Modern madness. New York: Simon & Schuster.
32.
Laplanche J. , & Pontalis, J. B. (1973). The language of psychoanalysis. New York: Norton.
33.
Mahler, M. S. , Pine, F., & Bergman, A. (1975). The psychological birth of the human infant. New York: Basic Books.
34.
Marris, P. (1986). Loss and change. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
35.
Menzies, I. (1960). A case study in the functioning of social systems as defense against anxiety: A report on a study of the nursing service of a general hospital. Human Relations, 13, 95-121.
36.
Mitchell, J. (Ed.). (1986). The selected Melanie Klein. New York: Free Press.
37.
Moore, B. E. , & Fine, B. D. (1990). Psychoanalytic terms and concepts. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
38.
Morgan, G. (1986). Images of organization. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
39.
Rousseau, J. J. (1976). The social contract (Earnest Barker, Ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1762)
40.
Schon, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner. New York: Basic Books.
41.
Schwartz, H. S. (1990). Narcissistic process and corporate decay. New York: New York University Press.
42.
Sederberg, P. (1984). Organization and explanation: New metaphors for old problems. Administration & Society, 16(2), 167-194.
43.
Sennett, R. (1981). Authority. New York: Vintage.
44.
Shulman, G. (1989). Metaphor and modernization in the political thought of Thomas Hobbes. Political Theory, 17(3), 392-416.
45.
Waldo, D. (1984). The administrative state (2nd ed.). New York: Homes & Meier.
46.
White, J. (1986). On the growth of knowledge in public administration. Public Administration Review, 46(1), 15-24.
47.
Wolin, S. (1960). Politics and vision. Boston: Little, Brown.
48.
Zaleznik, A. , & Kets de Vries, M.F.R. (1975). Power and the corporate mind. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
