Talk talk: what is the “Tavistock Model”?

In this chapter, I offer an account of the “Tavistock Model” of clinical thinking, training, and organizational life. This “model” is much quoted, debated, and contested but much less written about or defined. It provokes polarized responses. Some people love it and some detest it, but probably more are baffled when called upon to describe it, even if implicitly they understand it well. I hope what I set out here helps clarify and illuminate matters, but equally I hope it provokes further debate and argument because, as I suggest, the model itself concerns the nature and value of open thinking and open-mindedness, not closure and dogma.