ABSTRACT
This chapter develops a theory on containing the destructive forces in a corporate merger. The theory is structured in two parts: the factors in containing destructive forces; and a model of the systems psychodynamics of a corporate merger. In a corporate merger the container itself is transformed and therefore its capacity to contain is disturbed. The act of a necessary destruction when creating something new carries within it the possibility for destructive impulses to be directed inward; when a merger is already an action directed inwardly. A corporate merger significantly ruptures the organizational container, so that when the organization is at its most vulnerable, and therefore in need of containment, it needs necessary structures and capacity in its management to contain emotional anxiety. To witness a merger is to witness a developmental process in the creation and growth of a new organization. The factor that merits the exploration is to study a wider perspective of the experiences of a merger.
