ABSTRACT

Work is complicated: It can be fulfilling and exciting, or disappointing and disruptive. We spend most of our adult lives at work; it shapes our identities and provides a context for our creativity and talents. It can be the source of great pleasure – and of profound distress.

In Work Matters, organizational consultant and Tavistock lecturer Francesca Cardona examines our changing relationship with work today. Drawing on case studies from a wide range of individuals and organizations, she considers the dynamics at play in our working lives. Cardona examines how to navigate times of transition, and the balance of power in the work place, while also addressing latent issues such as the effects of shame, the cost of ill-conceived organizational structures and tasks, the interface between the personal and the professional, and the manager’s most precious skill: the ability to be psychologically present. Finally, Cardona casts an eye on the consultant’s role in helping organizations move forwards in ways that are professionally and personally rewarding.

Whether you are a business leader, manager, consultant or student, or simply interested in how your work affects you, Work Matters offers essential insights into an area that occupies so much of our lives.

chapter |6 pages

Introduction

Why this book?

part I|12 pages

The context of work

part II|62 pages

Organizational consultancy in the Tavistock tradition

chapter 1|12 pages

The team as a sponge*

How the nature of the task affects the behaviour and mental life of a team

chapter 2|8 pages

Vulnerable leadership

Consultancy to management in transition

chapter 3|5 pages

Organizational and personal shame

The devastating effect of feeling a failure or being exposed as one

chapter 4|6 pages

The grey area

Consulting at the interface between the personal and the professional

chapter 5|7 pages

The challenge of succession

Leadership dynamics and conflicts in different contexts

chapter 6|8 pages

The manager’s most precious skill*

The capacity to be ‘psychologically present’

chapter 7|8 pages

Consulting to the boss

Leadership beyond the textbooks

part III|33 pages

The consultant’s role

chapter 8|6 pages

The complexity of entry

Seduction and potential collusion in negotiating a contract with a new client

chapter 9|8 pages

The consultancy stage

The ‘third’ dimension in the engagement between client and consultant

chapter 10|7 pages

Who is the boss?*

Balancing power and vulnerability in the client–consultant relationship

chapter 11|10 pages

Ending and regeneration

Reflections on the emotional experience of ending a consultancy assignment

chapter |2 pages

Conclusion