ABSTRACT
There seems to be a general assumption in the working environment that available resources, such as staff, leadership, finance, technology, etc., are used in a constructive way; that there is a capacity to develop adequate structures and boundaries in the work context and that there is a capacity for containment. The primary task of a university is to provide academic education and research, in which the general basic assumption is 'fight-flight'. People fight for their ideas, fight to get students to do their work, fight for grants, etc. These dilemmas are presented through a case study based on the author's personal experience in a university clinic abroad, which had recently been reorganised following an international evaluation of the research work carried out in the department. The overall aim is to describe the dilemmas caused by contradictory demands and how fight-flight and dependency behaviour characterised the work and the organisational culture of the clinic.
