ABSTRACT
Because of its flexibility and ability to respond to nuance, group analytic praxis is valuable for ‘tweaking’ culture in larger organizations, and for assisting leaders in resolving conflict and harnessing resistance to change to achieve better outcomes. Are these systems ‘closed’ or ‘open’? This first of a pair of chapters on working with whole organizations explains how the group analytic concept ‘matrix’ relates to autopoiesis, a concept from systems theory, to offer a coherent framework for understanding whole organizations as social systems with sub-groupings and a distinct identity. Concepts of identity as patterns of relating link group analytic theory and autopoiesis. There are examples of how group analytic thinking is applied practically in consultation, including two vignettes about mergers. We discuss the need for translucent, non-rigid boundaries and the anthropological lens of tribalism (‘us and them’ thinking) which opens the next chapter.
