ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the ways in which John Steiner's concept of the "internal organization" and its genesis can be echoed within experiences of organizational life and the conditions that inform this. Steiner sees the structure of the defensive organization as linked to the operation of "projective identification". In Steiner's account, the pathological organization emerges as an unconscious personal construct, evolved to offer illusory containment in the face of intense anxiety or mental pain. Steiner's formulation of the "organization", and its formation and function in the internal world, has strong echoes with independently arrived-at formulations of the ways in which real-life organizations can function as defences against anxiety. The chapter describes a rather different version of a "psychic retreat" faced currently by organizations. The aim of the programme was twofold: to develop skills of facilitation in working with groups and teams, and to explore the dynamics of groups and teams in an organizational setting.
