ABSTRACT

Group Relations conferences offer opportunities to learn about group, organisational and social dynamics; the exercise of authority and power; the interplay between tradition, innovation and change; and the relationship of organisations to their social, political and economic environments.

This book, the fifth in a series of Tavistock Group Relations Conferences, contains a collection of papers presented at the fifth Belgirate conference, plus three additional papers reflecting on and making sense of several participants’ conference experiences. Taken together, these chapters study the discourse of Group Relations conferences as well as reflecting on the changing nature and shifting patterns of this discourse. In Doing the Business of Group Relations Conferences, authors reflect on the vicissitudes of meanings this expression generates.

section |2 pages

Introduction to Section I

chapter Chapter 1.1|14 pages

Complacency

The defence of the privileged

chapter Chapter 1.2|11 pages

Fifty Ways to use (and abuse) the unconscious

An invitation to a (sincere and thorough) discussion about certain defences employed in the Group Relations community

chapter Chapter 1.3|13 pages

Has the world changed? Has Group Relations changed?

Considerations of the Group Relations movement in a postmodern world

section |2 pages

Introduction to Section II

chapter Chapter 2.1|17 pages

Doing business together

Lateral and vertical relations in the institutional partnering for a Group Relations conference

chapter Chapter 2.2|9 pages

The Yoga Event

An important here-and-now event in the Group Relations conference bouquet

chapter Chapter 2.3|17 pages

Administration

Where the business of Group Relations begins and ends

section |2 pages

Introduction to Section III

chapter Chapter 3.1|26 pages

Group Relations conferences

Can enterprises with passion become businesses?

chapter Chapter 3.3|25 pages

Beijing Group Relations Conference 2014

Cross-cultural learning and implications for the future

chapter Chapter 3.4|22 pages

Running in-house Group Relations conferences in and with client systems

Characteristics, opportunities and risks

chapter Chapter 3.5|19 pages

The Tragedy of the Commons

What might it tell us about systemic issues in the world of Group Relations?

section |2 pages

Introduction to Section IV

chapter Chapter 4.2|15 pages

Dissing this course, or the curse of discourse?

Reflection chapter for book from Belgirate V

chapter Chapter 4.3|8 pages

It takes a village to raise a director