ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the exercise of authority, leadership, and transformation within the institutions. Institutional transformation differs from organizational development in the sense that its goal is to take into account the unconscious and its expression, whenever possible. The chapter focuses on a conference which held in East Jerusalem. The conference at Al-Quds University in July 1996 took place in East Jerusalem—a city which stands for a symbol of all religious conflicts in the Middle East–during a time when relations between Israelis and Palestinians had suddenly worsened. The conference was meant to help members understand the transformations that should accompany the recent political evolutions in the Middle East. The working hypothesis, called "prison in the mind", was formulated by the staff during the conference while trying to understand the behaviour of participants who had been in Israeli prisons for a long time. These participants lived as if they were constantly constrained by hostile authorities.
