ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how people in different roles in an organisation may unconsciously interact with others in a way that keeps the status quo and existing power dynamics. In a symbiotic relationship, one person uses only Parent and Adult and the other person uses only Child, so that between them they use only three ego states instead of the potential six. Holdeman describes a Symbiotic Chain where this phenomenon of power over the other is passed down the chain of command and hero worship and loyalty are passed up the chain. Holdeman noticed that the top management became isolated from the innovative and creative ideas of autonomous people lower down and adopted an autocratic style of leadership promoting their own ideas regardless of any new thinking emerging.
