Leopold Vansina and Dr. Marie-Jeanne Vansina-Cobbaert have written a new book called Psychodynamics for Consultants and Managers: From Understanding towards Leading Meaningful Change. It is published by Wiley-Blackwell. Click here for a flyer.

Benedicte Vidaillet has written a book called, Workplace Envy. The publisher is Palgrave McMillan . This book reveals that workplace envy is an omnipresent emotion in contemporary organizations. It is addressed to all those – experts, researchers, consultants, people working in organizations – interested in the role of emotions in the dysfunctions that unavoidably occur in work environments, and who wish to help create healthier environments for people who work in organizations. Work Place Envy was the Winner (in French) of the Prix du Livre Ressources Humaines. This prize is awarded according to the novelty, topicality and originality of theme, clarity of scientific explanations, readability, educational quality, practicality, and completeness of analysis and the Manpower Institute Prize.

Larry Hirschhorn has received the Elliot Jaques Award for the most outstanding article in the Consulting Psychology Journal.  The award was given for Larry’s article "The Fall of Howell Raines and the New York Times: A Study in the Moralization of Organizational Life."

Susan Long has written a new book called, The Perverse Organization and its Deadly Sins, published by Karnac, London.

Mark Stein, Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London, has been awarded the Richard Normann prize. Held in trust by Templeton College, University of Oxford, the prize is intended to reward 'outstanding insights into the service economy, value co-production, and business innovation and change'.  While the Richard Normann fund has been in existence since 2005, this is the first time an award has been made. Mark was awarded the prize for a paper that articulates the notion of 'toxicity' as a way of understanding some of the more subtle, complex and problematic aspects of the employee-customer relationship.  The international panel of judges independently and unanimously agreed that the paper merited the award.   They commented:  'Stein's work offers grounds to deeply re-think how realistic the empowerment of the front-line worker can be …[and] … has profound implications for the customer-service employee boundary and its design and management. We are thus delighted to award the 1st Richard Normann Prize to him'. Further details about the award can be found on the Richard Normann prize website at:   http://www.richardnormannprize.org.uk/ A longer version of the paper has also been published in Organization Studies (August 2007, volume 28, number 8).  SAGE, the publisher of Organization Studies, has made the paper freely available at: http://oss.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/28/8/1223

Simon Western has written a new book called, Leadership A Critical Text. The publisher is Sage. The book draws on psychoanalytical thinking (in an accessible way) to reveal new insights into the theory and practice of leadership. It is written for leaders/managers, consultants/coaches and academics/students and early feedback very positive with readers finding it very creative and engaging. This book can be purchased from Amazon or Sage. If anybody would like to review it for a journal please ask Sage for a free copy, BenSherwood@sagepub.co.uk or, if you teach there are inspection copies available.

Gordon Lawrence has been awarded Distinguished Member status in ISPSO. A copy of President Sievers 2006 Annual Meeting address honoring Dr. Lawrence is linked to this announcement.

President Sievers also delivered an address honoring Howard Schwartz, Ph.D. for his years of service as ISPSO Webmaster. A copy of the address is linked to this announcement.

Clare Huffington delivered an address honoring Rose Redding Mersky for her years of service as Professional Development Director. A copy of the address is linked to this announcement.

W. Gordon Lawrence has edited a new book called, Infinite Possibilities of Social Dreaming, published by Karnac. “Social Dreaming, discovered at the Tavistock Institute in 1982, focuses on the dream and not the dreamer; on the knowledge contained in the dreaming narrative and not on the personality of the dreamer.  This novel method is pursued in countries as far apart as Australia and Finland.  This collection contains chapters by Burkard Sievers, Hanni Biran, Tom Michael, and Alistair Bain, as well as writers from Italy, the UK and the USA.”

I would like to inform you about the book that was published late last year, 2006, by Karnac Books:
Group Relations Conferences : Reviewing and Exploring Theory , Design , Role-Taking and Application, edited by Brunner, Nutkevitch and Sher.  (Contributors to this book include a number of ISPSO members).  From the Karnacwebsite: "This new book on Tavistock Group Relations Conferences contains the collection of papers presented at the Belgirate conference plus two additional papers, representing a collective picture of the current group relations thinking for addressing organisational and societal needs.   An international community of group relations practitioners met on the shores of Lake Maggiore, Italy in November 2003 to reflect on and debate contemporary issues in group relations and their application to the changing needs of organisations and society. The conference aimed to study Tavistock Group Relations Conferences via an innovative integration of reflective and didactic elements. There were two keynote lectures and eight side lectures and other group events that focused on the theory, design, role-taking and application of Group Relations Conferences". Contributors: Jan Baker, Siv Boalt Böthius, Gabi Bonwitt, Louisa Brunner, Mira Erlich-Ginor, Lilian A.J. Hupkens, Karen Izod, Olya Khaleelee, Ross A. Lazar, Ilana Litvin, Carl Mack, Jnr., Avi Nutkevitch, Anton Obholzer, Allan Shafer, Mannie Sher, Joseph Triest.  The book can be ordered through the Karnac Book website.

Lionel Stapley has written a new book called Individuals, Groups and Organizations Beneath the Surface. The publisher is Karnac. This volume is an introductory text to individual and organizational dynamics. Dr. Stapley is Director of Opus, Chair of the Editorial Management Committee of the Journal Organizational and Social Dyamics, and is a long standing member of ISPSO.

Rina Bar-Lev Elieli, President, Faculty Member and Training Analyst at the Israeli Psychoanalytic Society, died on August 20, 2005. She was, as well, a founder and the former Co-Director of the Program in Organizational Development and Consultation - A Systems Psychoanalytic Perspective at the Sigmund Freud Center of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. You can read Laurence Gould's Personal Reminiscence of Rina Bar-Lev Elieli by clicking here.

Harold Bridger, the last surviving founder member of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, has died at the age of 95 (May 3, 2005). Bridger was part of a remarkable group of social scientists at the Tavistock Institute that – since its creation following the Second World War – has made an enduring contribution to the field. You can read Mark Stein's obituary for Harold Bridger by clicking here.

Clare Huffington, David Armstrong, William Halton, Linda Hoyle and Jane Pooley, of the Tavistock Consultancy Service, have written, edited, and published a book called Working Below the Surface: The Emotional Life of Organizations. The publisher is Karnac. "From their own perspectives, they tell a story of the experience of working as consultants over the decade with individuals, teams and whole organizations." Other contributors are Andrew Cooper, Tim Dartington, William Halton, Sharon Horowitz, Kim James, Sarah Miller, and Anton Obholzer.

Gilles Amado and Leopold Vansina have published and edited a second book on transitional change: Transitional Change in Action. London: Karnac, 2005. ISBN 1-85575-912-8 The chapters in this volume cover a wide range of topics that concentrate around four themes: Transitional change in therapeutic communities; in working conferences for professional development; in organisation consulting with an emphasis on organisational learning; and in self studies of working systems in action. The contributors are: Gilles Amado, Rina Bar-Lev Elieli, Harold Bridger, Caroline Drevon, Ernest Frugé, J. Alan Harrow, Marc Horowitz, Dominique Lhuilier, Derek N. Raffaelli, Rafael Ramirez, Dominique Rolland, André Sirota, Marie-Jeanne Vansina-Cobbaert and Leopold Vansina. Gilles has also recently written a book in French with Richard Elsner, called "Leaders et transitions. " It will be translated into English and published soon (Pearson, 2004).

A paperback edition of Howard Schwartz's book The Revolt of the Primitive: An Inquiry into the Roots of Political Correctness has been brought out by Transaction Publishers. For a review that appears in the Spring 2002 issue of Sexuality and Culture, click here. The book is available through Amazon.com.

Howard Stein has recently published a book called Beneath the Crust of Culture: Psychoanalytic Anthropology and the Cultural Unconscious in American Life. It was published in December 2003 by Rodopi (Amsterdam and New York). Its price is $43.00 US dollars. It is a study of the Amerca of the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine shootings, September 11th 2001, the execution of Timothy McVeigh, the December 1999 Worcester fire, and other nodal events in recent American life.

With David Levine, he has also published a co-authored book called A Low Autumn Sun, published by Broken Tree Press in Denver, Colorado. Dr. Levine took the breathtaking color photographs, and Stein wrote the poems. Dr. Levine and his wife, Dr. Pamela Wolfe, paired his photographs with Stein's poems, resulting in an eighty page book. It is available to be ordered at the website www.brokentreepress.com. Its cost is $34.99. He says that its subject is the mood of autumn after the brief burst of color. It is about loss, decline, decay, both outer and inner.