ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with organisational ranking, making the link between these preoccupations and the prevalence of envious attacks in organisational life: what happens when someone “doesn’t know their place”. It explains the envious attack in organisational life from the perspective of disturbance of hierarchical or ranking order. Garland’s address to the Organisation for the Promotion of Understanding in Society Conference contained a rare foray into the issues of organisational ranking as she explored the question of hierarchy and “ranking order” in the context of examining the impact of the arrival of a new member into an established analytic psychotherapy group. The restored health of the organisation was as nothing in their insistence on the maintenance of their powerful hierarchical position through their envious attack on Kegan Paul’s ability and creativity. Over-deference to hierarchy and rank order is observable in most organisations and has, for instance, been identified as a major factor in cases of malpractice in the health service.
