ABSTRACT
In the first section of this chapter, the focus is on transference dynamics in organizations between the employees, middle managers and top management and between men and women in these various positions. The concept of transference stems from psychoanalysis and refers to a phenomenon where the analysand instead of associating freely, as he or she has been instructed to do, begins to behave towards the analyst as if he or she were the analysand’s father, mother or sibling, that is, with feelings of hate, infatuation, betrayal and so forth (Freud 1914/1958). Transference occurs when the memory has become inactivated due to repression. This causes the person to repeat certain patterns in the interaction that may be traced back, through analysis, to conflict situations earlier in life. In romantic relationships the partners will often push each other into certain roles, which turn out to resemble parental or sibling roles. Thus, we person transfer scenes with significant figures from our own past on our shared life ‘here and now’.
