|
|
|||
| Maryse Dubouloy | |||
|
France's gradual integration with Europe forces public sector enterprises to not only re-appraise their status, but also to change their way of dealing with the market and relating to their socio-economic environment. The repercussions on the people concerned vary in degree depending on the way in which this change is managed and, more often than not, they have no choice in this matter -- the decision-making process is out of their hands. Faced with decisions they are totally unable to influence, most people feel they are at a distinct disadvantage. Some feel their position has been completely undermined.
A fundamental part of the work of any manager is facing the realities of the current business environment. But there is one reality that most managers would gladly avoid and that is seeing the employees suffer. The spectacle of suffering in others leading, as it so often does, to suffering on a personal level. And this suffering is so often seen as simply destructive, when it is also an opportunity for the individual to let go of certain illusions, to face the reality of the world and to take a place in it.
In all the traditional texts on change management and restructuring, the suffering of those concerned is called "resistance to change". In the typical process of change management, the first stage is to outline the vision of the world to come -this is what has created the need for change in the first place and it is this, which must be the engine, which drives everyone towards the future. It is rare to find a writer who identifies this so-called resistance to change as attachment to the past and to the present which is not yet resolved. The people concerned have no choice, they are immediately called to action, to forget the past and build the future. Those who hold with the traditional style of change management tell us that any resistance can be overcome firstly by communication, and subsequently through involvement and participation (Grouard and Meston, 1998; Glass, 1998). Other writers are more sensitive to the necessary amount of time overcoming resistance requires, referring to "defrosting" as a way of breaking free of ties with the past (Alain, 1996). It is extremely rare to come across a writer who draws parallels with the stages involved in overcoming grief or suffering and, particularly, the time, which this process must necessarily involve. If some authors point the necessity of reassuring, the way they propose it is generally inefficient. Most of the time they recommend top-down communication
The aim of this paper is to outline the steps taken during the run-up to restructuring of an enterprise currently obliged to change its status by the French law of "Sueur". Specifically, the work will detail the setting up of framework to (1) allow the people affected to undergo a mourning process for what they are about to lose (2) give them the possibility of taking a fully informed decision as to whether or not they wish to remain with the resulting company (3) ease the transition towards the new organisation with its revised goals and constraints. My position as consultant Lévy (Lévy, 2003) raises the question of the balance between professionalism and personal commitment. I maintain and try and impress upon people (clients, trainees) that (1) "I am a militant supporter of collective strategies in enterprises", that (2) "not thinking is forbidden", and (3) "you have to take time with people". So what do I think these slogans mean exactly? Countering powerlessness
with re-connection Countering submission and feelings of powerlessness
with thought · Definition of power I refer to the most commonly held definition,: power is on unequal relationship between two people, "it is a feature of public life, the capacity of one will to impose itself upon others" (Barrus-Michel 2002 p.212). People are rarely instantly aware of the various forms of power at play in their immediate environment. Basically the permanent presence of power in all the relations between the individual and their immediate environment is rarely identified, named and analysed. The individual is therefore at the mercy of something he or she is unaware of and is therefore in no position to confront. · The power of words and knowledge The field of psychoanalysis has enabled me to discover one particular form of power and that is the power of words. The saying of words in the space where silence and ignorance hove become established, the naming of certain emotions and forms of suffering which have been denied, is life-giving and opens dimensions which were forgotten, repressed or forbidden. This often becomes a way of resisting or even voicing opposition, but also a way of re-establishing connections between people, or between people and themselves.
Being both a professor and a consultant, it is tempting for me to rely upon the knowledge. As Ciffali points out (2002, p.34): "I cannot let go of the hope that our knowledge of the human sciences might, in some cases, transform our relation to ourselves, others and the world. Imperfect as they are, I consider them essential to the thinking which underpins action and to the everyday lives of professional people" However, Lévy (Lévy, 2002) reminds us that those powerful words must be spoken by the participants themselves and not by those wielding either knowledge or power. THEORETICAL POINTS OF REFERENCE Change, mourning and suffering It is becoming more and more common today for people to mention the mourning process, which accompanies not only actual losses but also, in a more general sense, changes of most kinds. (Augagneur, 1999; Begoin, 1995; Hanus, 1995; Viorts, 1998). Thinking based on the idea of the mourning process is less common in enterprises but still significant (Alain, 1996; Amiel, 1999; Dejours, 1998; Dubouloy, 1996; Fabre, 1998; Kets de Vries and Balazs, 1999; Lenhart, 1992; Paillot, 1996). While people speak freely of mourning there is less mention of "the mourning process", "the task of mourning" and even less talk of the pain which comes with it (Perron-Borelli, 1997). By talking only of mourning, it is the end result that is focussed on and not the route that must be followed to get there. The mourning process specifically provides both an acceptance that the object of the grief no longer exists and a way to overcome the pain, which is connected to this reality. Overcoming the pain does not mean avoiding it, nor even less making it disappear. This is why we consider it vital that any framework which are put in place encourage open discussion of suffering and that which goes with it: silence or even an inability to speak, regressive behaviour, aggression and violence. All these must at the same time be contained and developed which is to say that a meaning must be given to the emergence of these feelings. · The "object" of grief As Freud already pointed out in a key article, loss and the subsequent mourning which must be undergone is not only attached to people but to any thing which has been the object of emotional investment (Freud, 1917). In the case of a company, the object of emotional investment whose loss will trigger feelings of bereavement could equally be a colleague, the job, certain working methods, the social atmosphere of the workplace or even the building itself (Dubouloy, 1995). It is not only a real and tangible day-to-day experience which is about to disappear, but also things as abstract as the name of the company, its identity and its culture, which are all now being questioned. It is far more difficult than people realise to let go of things once they have been internalised.
It is therefore important to provide support structures which, above all, will allow people to become aware of and to look at all the elements which make up this identity and these attachments which have become interwoven over the course of entire working lives and which now need to be carefully unravelled. Otherwise things may become ripped and torn and there is a risk of total collapse (Winnicott, 1974). Mourning: a journey of several stages The pain of bereavement is such that it frequently leads to rejection, refusal and even denial of the disappearance of the object of emotional investment. They look for clues that will show it is still present. If the task of mourning is not undertaken, this absence will continue indefinitely to occupy centre-stage. Thus the individual becomes cut off from the world in which they should be taking part and risks becoming profoundly depressed (Freud, 1917). For a company in today's competitive climate, such a scenario would very probably lead to total failure. It is vital, therefore, to become aware of this period of refusal and to pass through it, otherwise it takes hold and the individual (or indeed the company) becomes cut off from the new reality, which is in place. It is difficult to get managers to accept the idea that time must be taken to stop, or worse, to go backwards, to re examine the past and identify everything which is going to disappear -- especially when they are already only thinking about the future and their new project. Strong resistance must thus be expected from all sides to the idea of talking simply of disappearance and loss. · Emotional tension, ambivalence and detachment of the individual's drives The period of emotional tension follows the period of refusal when feelings are heightened, particularly those of anger and rejection. The people accepts that the person or thing has really gone and then all the drives which were attached to it suddenly find themselves without an object. that the people's drives start to become disentangled (Hanus 1995). Each person experiences feelings of ambivalence towards the object of emotional investment (Freud, 1921; Klein 1975). The same object is both loved and hated at the same time. Indeed, acceptance of this ambivalence is in fact the sign of a mature people. Now, during the task of mourning, these gentler feelings remain attached to the departed person or thing whilst the aggressive tendencies are directed against the outside world. It is in this way that the departed person or thing is made into an ideal object, without faults, whereas the survivors -in particular anyone who tries to take the place of that which has been lost -become the target for all the aggressive tendencies.
The place for emotions in the world of the enterprise is definitely more and more recognised (Domalgalski, 1999; Goleman, 2000) but some of these emotions, notably aggression and sadness, remain highly unwelcome. What is worse, these feelings are denied leaving the employees no choice, in the face of their inability to be heard and to find recognition for their suffering, but to direct this aggression against themselves (Dubouloy, 1996). Any settings designed to "manage" these transitional periods must give the persons concerned three things: (1) the ability to express their emotions; (2) recognition of those emotions by others and by themselves; (3) the ability to understand their emotions and know their meaning.
The other extremely rich aspect of this period is that people have the chance to notice their feelings of ambivalence not only towards the absent person or thing but towards everything. In all this it is a case of "going along with" the mourning process and not of going against it. Later we will return to this idea of outward movement -an essential ingredient, we believe. It is a matter of enabling people to get a hold once more on their own history and gradually to retake their place in the world around them.
· Depression Once people have recognised and accepted the loss, it is no longer a question of repressing reality or attacking it but of facing it. This confrontation with reality brings a new form of suffering -depression, together with sadness or even distress. This often occurs within a framework of silence, solitude and an inability to act (Dubouloy, 1996; Hanus, 1995). At this point, people are unable to envisage a future for themselves, to make plans. It is not a matter of abandoning the “depressives", commonly known as "opponents" and "reactionaries". Over the course of my consultancy work, I have been able to note that, in the same enterprise, people go through the mourning process at different speeds because the nature of their attachment is not the same. It is therefore possible to build on the advances mode by those in the recovery phase, those who ore often called the "supporters". This stage of the process must be gone through, people cannot simply be left behind in it. The framework and interactive dynamic is of fundamental importance. · Recovery and building the future Gradually, the reality of the present and future situations can reoccupy their rightful place. The forgetting which is the result of the completed process of mourning is not about forgetting the past but about forgetting the "perpetual present": the completion of the mourning process is signalled, paradoxically, by the replacement of an always repeated present with a true account of the past. This takes time. Nevertheless, it does lead to a tangible end in which the memory is bound up with regret. The individuals are now in a position to engage with new objects and to take pleasure in everyday reality. Having looked at the task of mourning, we shall now examine that which can facilitate it, particularly by anticipating it. The "transitional space", an accompaniment
to the task of mourning By taking up these two approaches we aim to show how much the individual's social environment, but also certain key figures, can play a fundamental and facilitating role in the mourning process. · M. Klein and separation from the mother What Melanie Klein brings to Freudian theory is the identification of a fusional relationship between the child at the start of its life and the mother, in which there is no distinction between ego and other. The slightest separation from the "good" mother who lavishes care upon the child provokes such disarray that the child is overwhelmed by fantasies of annihilation, persecution and disintegration. These manifest themselves in the form of aggression (real and imagined) towards the mother who has become the persecuting "bad object". In order to defend itself against this mother the child, through identification with the aggressor, becomes its own persecutor. This provokes fear of destroying the mother and the guilt, which comes with it. Consequently the child becomes depressive. However, the mother's immunity to the child's attacks, as witnessed by her continual reappearance, reassures the child. Its aggression towards the persecuting object diminishes. The former is gradually introjected and recreated inside the ego of the child who is consequently greatly enriched by the process of mourning (separation). It is through this that the child also develops self-confidence, confidence in others and the capacity to love. Klein points out that it therefore takes all the love of the mother and her constant care to create the necessary environment to ease this suffering.
This all resonates with what we have previously described: the bereaved lost in a state of narcissistic withdrawal and relation to a disappeared object, then focussing their aggression on the world around them and, in particular, on that which appears to be the cause of the situation and, finally, coming to terms with the absence and becoming open to and connected with reality. · The role and position of the consultant in the light of the kleinien theory of separation From this arise three important considerations when conceiving an appropriate framework: (1) the general dynamic, (2) the role and the place of the consultant, (3) the role and the place of the people in the group. As far as the general dynamic is concerned, Klein's discoveries on the process of separation show that people traumatised by an outlook full of loss are incapable of listening to anything to do with the future or the external world. This therefore leads us to take the sequence in which change traditionally progresses and inverse it. The latter involves forcefully putting forward the leader's "vision" of the future. These studies also shed light on the important role of the person who is to act as facilitator during the work of separation and certain important characteristics which they need to have. It is vital that they are ready for the inevitable attacks of the employees who feel persecuted by them, by the settings itself and by those who are seen to have caused the situation in the first place. Finally it is equally essential that the facilitator is able to de code instances of regressive grouping when each person claims to speak on behalf of everyone and when the participants hide behind the reassurance of a group identity and refuse to recognise that they are separate and different. The facilitator must, therefore, be able to create an atmosphere in the group which is sufficiently reassuring to let the participants move on from this condition of being fused together. Winnicott's research has been most useful on this subject. The parallel between
mourning and transitional space
In order to get separated from his mother the baby needs "a good enough mother". The role of the "a good enough mother" is to identify herself to the child and provide for its needs. At the same time, she allows the child to believe that it is providing for itself. This allows the child to experience the illusion of omnipotence. In the end, it will be the mother's job to progressively disillusion the child but she will only succeed in the extent to which she has provided the child with sufficient opportunities to experience illusions in the first place (Winnicott, 1951). Throughout this, the child experiences periods of frustration as it must learn to function in its social environment in order to obtain what it requires and not to always wait for the mother to provide for it. It is in this way that the child gradually discovers an external world, separate from itself but on which he is able to have an effect. In the same way in which he discovers its own ambivalence, he accepts a world, which is neither entirely good, nor entirely bad. This is how he becomes autonomous. It can create solutions to satisfy its needs. The child's creativity can develop through contact and confrontation with reality and not in the realm of its fantasies and illusions of omnipotence.
However, all this requires a sufficiently secure environment where the child does not fuel threatened, either by ifs own drives, or by the world which, little by little, it comes to see as separate from itself. This is the role of the mother but also of "playing" -a privileged space of risk-free experimentation (Winnicott, 1971). · Characteristics of the framework according to the theory of transitional space. The above should therefore be one of the features of the framework for periods of restructuring. This stands in direct opposition to those who think people should be destabilised in order to bring about change. As far as we are concerned, there is absolutely no point in engineering something, which will happen anyway. On the other hand, it is essential to rebuild that which has been destroyed. To do this, the consultant should stand in the position of the " good enough mother", tolerating for the time being the Manichean vision of the social environment and not prematurely seeking to introduce the real world (with all its paradoxes and complexities). He or she will know how to recognise the right moment to focus open what, sooner or later, will be said of the real world by those employees who are less attached to the past and more in touch with reality. Throughout, the consultant should show themselves to be capable of adapting to the needs of the people whilst always keeping in mind the goals of the restructuring process and the future plans of the company. · Beyond recovery-creativity We would like to stress this notion of creativity, something that we feel is essential to life and particularly to periods of change. We subscribe to Winnicott's understanding of creativity (1971, p. 91) "in its broadest sense, not restricted to the confines of that which is successful or recognised, far from it, but seen as the shading which makes up an entire attitude towards external reality. It is, above all, a matter of a creative outlook, which provides the individual with the feeling that "life is worth living". It is also important that the framework incorporates spaces for "playing" where people can explore "as if" scenarios. It is; therefore, a question of giving the people concerned the opportunity of coming up with solutions to their new situation. In other words, participating in the construction of the new set-up and building in reality in all its forms -shareholders, competitors, customers, economic, social and human constraints. The consultant is therefore in the position of "holding" or support, allowing them first to rediscover their capacity for action and allowing them to progress at their own speed. It is for them to form their way of interacting with the external world. · The position of the consultant for encouraging creativity This position has also been described by Kaës (1979). He looked into the possible nature of mechanisms or "frameworks" for containing and working through periods of crisis in companies. He insists upon the operation of a "containing structure geared towards the re-establishment of normal psychological functioning thanks to the transformation of the destructive contents by a practitioner performing a role of active containment and possessing the necessary skills to bring about this metabolic process. Clearly instances of transference between the consultant and the participants will arise. It is important to define the nature of this framework which will favour the emergence of the "transitional function", which makes possible the reestablishment of social links, avoiding the temptations of the tendencies towards "union-fusion" and "division-separation". The framework is, at the same time, responsible for emergence, the forming of a structure and the symbolisation of the process. "The framework is a permanent presence without which the self cannot take form or develop. It is a -non-process, that is to say a series of fixed points within the limits of which the process is able to unfold." (Kaës, 1979, p.64).
AN ACCOUNT OF THE INTERVENTION One year before the deadline, the managing director contacted me after having read one of my papers on the mourning process in companies {Dubouloy 1996). He wished to put in place a framework for managing the changes, whose stated goals were to (1) allow the employees to choose whether to remain with or leave the company, (2) to undergo a process of mourning for the old organisation and (3) to successfully make the transition to the new set-up [2]with its new goals and constraints.
The company has to evolve within the framework of a state monopoly with, however, a few competitors from the private sector, some of them the subsidiaries of companies operating on a global scale. Relative to this its prices are very low and it also offers a number of free ancillary services. There is no need to point out that the profitability of this is extremely low.
Since the beginning of the century, the total number of staff has decreased by a factor of five. The workforce is more than 90% male. The level of education of the employees is very low (in over 100 workers, fewer than ten have completed higher education and there are almost no graduates among the supervisors promoted from the shop floor).
Prior to our arrival, the new managing director clearly announced his intention of launching the company to compete on the open market, of meeting the client’s requirements in terms of services and of satisfying the shareholder’s expectations in terms of profitability[3]. He had regular meeting (both formal and informal) with the staff. He styles himself as a « communicator » and is also seen as such by others. He has already recruited some new managerial staff (notably a director of human resources and a management controller). There are a very large number of anticipated changes, which cover all aspects of the company’s operations. The services offered will have to be significantly developed and altered. The distribution network will no longer be the same (more companies and people to deal with, the need for telephone services). Partnerships will need to be developed in order to increase the company’s market impact. High levels of investment have also been proposed to the shareholders. Staff numbers will have to be reduced although there is not yet a fixed figure for this. The managing director is waiting until the end of our consultancy period to see if, as far as possible, this can be conducted on a voluntary basis. It was, in short, a complete revolution -- legally, strategically, culturally, socially and in terms of organisation. The employees were in a state of turmoil. Only 20 to 25% of them had signalled their intention of remaining with the company. The unions agreed that the project should go ahead. A summary of the support
mechanism's features based on the theories described - The framework provides a structure but does not enclose people in it; - It must ultimately give the participants on opening onto the real world around them; - It is a dynamic which will allow people first to discover themselves and then to discover the world; - It enables movement from the past towards the future; - It must provide a secure atmosphere; - Suffering and its expression have a place there; - It must allow for (and indeed encourage) the expression of all manner of emotions and feelings; - It is essential that these emotions and feelings be elaborated (given a meaning); - The frame seeks to develop awareness of the ingredients and of the attachments and all the entwined bonds of o long working life, so that the knots can be undone; - It encourages the expression of resistance and its acknowledgement and of all regressive tendencies and defence mechanisms; - It promotes the discovery of ambivalence and paradox; - It must allow each stage of the mourning process to be gone through; - Each person must do this at their own speed; - The people must be allowed to express their creativity there when they wish; - The consultant must be the "sufficiently good mother" who indulges the illusion of omnipotence, who knows when to frustrate and who encourages and supports creative expression; - The collective dimension of the framework is essential; - The interactions between the participants can be decisive. The three phases of
the Framework - The "regression" phase: the passage through the mourning process and suffering, undoing the knots of attachment; - The opening out phase: discovery of customers, competitors, shareholders, and the surrounding environment. - The construction and creativity phase: definition of the various jobs and employment structures, suggestions for products, services, possible set-ups.
It is not our intention to detail the entire consultancy period, but to show the extent to which the project was able {or was unable) to provide support during the mourning process. The "regression"
phase The various topics expressed
-suffering, resistance and relationships based solely on power - and
their "answers". It was obligatory to be present at the sessions. The employees, though, had not requested this intervention or any kind of assistance. It had been agreed that anyone, who did not attend the first meeting, after the general introduction, would have to see the consultant individually. The point of this was to distinguish between resistance to an authoritarian decision made by the management and the expression of an unconscious defence mechanism provoked by suffering. It was important to hear what the people had to say. Three people did not attend the first meeting. They all rejoined the group from the next session. Then, over the course of the following sessions, around ten people stopped attending the sessions altogether. Acknowledgement of their position (their absence was not ignored), respect for their decision and the fact that no sanctions were imposed certainly curtailed more widespread absenteeism. In the place of the traditional statement of power: "you do not have a say" was the suggestion: "tell us personally what you find unacceptable about this". Relationships based solely on power and entrenched positions were substituted for listening and the beginnings of dialogue. · Presence-absence -somewhere between submission, provocation and on appeal: empathy and contextualisation The first session started with a tense silence. A handful of people expressed their apposition and distrust then retreated again behind the wall of silence: "The management wants to pick out the people who'll be kept on in the new company!" "We're not looking to get recruited". This silence could equally be taken for a resigned attitude: "No-one's ever listened to us before, they're not going to suddenly start now !" Inhibition was also on important contributory factor. It was made up of difficulty talking in front of the others, of inability to put their feelings into words and of having been talked over by the "bosses" and by certain "bigmouths". Some people persisted with the attitude of "presence-absence" throughout the sessions. An example of this was reading the newspaper. An awkward situation where exclusion is not the answer, neither is passive acceptance or just making a little joke about it. It was necessary to give a meaning to this attitude which would be understood and shared, thereby using the occasion as a means of defining acceptable and non-acceptable behaviour within the group. It was vital to engage in o dialogue with those whose mission was to imprison us in a monologue. We adopted the stance of using words and not behaviour to illustrate what we were feeling. This reaction undermined them, they mumbled some excuse like, "we’ve got nothing against you personally, it's just that we're not interested in it all". A dialogue had been re-established; sometimes it was enough to say, "what does interest you, then?" for the words to come out in o flood of bitterness, rancour and suffering built up over the years. Behind the mistrust and the usual attacks, it was important to hear the expression of feelings of betrayal and old troubles that the current situation had revived. It was crucial that all this could be said and, above all, that it could be heard. Trust and construction
of a new self-image While it was hard to build confidence in the management and the consultant, it was even harder to build people's confidence in them. We are under no illusions about the final outcome of our work with the company: for too long certain practices, which treated the employees like children had given them the certainty that, "they weren't able to do or achieve anything". We therefore had to acknowledge and encourage the smallest of results. They needed reassurance. They would no doubt have welcomed a few soothing words but it was part of the role of "the good enough mother" to frustrate by confrontation with reality. For this reason, we made frequent mention of what they could expecting the new company -uncertainty, difficulty, new and unfamiliar things. As they were beginning to discover this new environment, it was important that they had the resources to face it. · Drawing as a means of revealing the ambivalence inherent in attachments As was mentioned earlier, all the attachments bound up with the object which is about to disappear must be identified, but it is equally important to recognise the feelings of ambivalence towards this object. This reduces the risk of creating an ideal image and thus leaves a place for other objects worthy of love and a future, which is worth living.
Drawing helped to remove the silence, which had built up around a number of taboos, and contradictions which could not be mentioned as that seemed to go right against the values enshrined in the company culture. Whilst respect of the rules was perceived to be sacrosanct, all the company's tacit codes (which everyone knew although they were supposedly "secret») were spoken in public. The way in which conflict had been bottled up becomes clear. The traditional discourse, "we're all one big family here", gave way to the revelation of rivalry between colleagues/brothers and authoritative and abusive behaviour from those who sought to occupy the position of father. Basically, the discourse of "family harmony" and its myth went out the window. Gradually, the post ceased to be this lost paradise that could not be given up.
It was time to let it be known that it was equally wrong to see the future as some hell that must be avoided at all costs by taking early retirement or moving to another company. It was the moment to start building together a representation of the outside world and on image of a possible future. A meeting with the
outside world A number of people from "the outside" were called in. - employees from companies which had recently entered into public-private partnership came to give an account of their new situation and status; - customers; - shareholders; - politicians; - employees from the company's competitors; - representatives of associate companies and future partners; - people from a few public sector companies who might be willing to take on those employees who did not want early retirement or a job in the public-private sector were also brought in.
All these people were to give a talk of about one-hour and then is ready for the usual question and answer session. The mission of each speaker was to introduce "reality" at a time when a number of employees were still wanting to shut themselves off in the closed world of the past and they’re suffering. This stage of the process was seen as intrusive by some of the employees and they felt it to be an aggressive move. Some of the speakers were not well received -far from it. More often than not they were accused of trying to spread disinformation and of not understanding their jobs.
We often witnessed an inversion of the situation. Instead of listening to those who came to give them an account of other places, other ways, the employees wanted the speakers to listen to their situation and hear about their suffering. To our considerable relief, but unsurprisingly in the end, we finally saw examples of that compassion which people often spontaneously exhibit when faced with another's suffering. These people were quite willing to listen carefully to the anxiety and confusion of the employees. In this way, the world and the future came to be seen as less of a threat than they had imagined. Social connections, links with other people were being re-established.
Some of the employees, though, showed themselves to be extremely attentive to what they were being told. Thanks to this some very rich and pertinent ex changes took place, the foundations of creativity in the future.
At the same time, some of the staff admitted that they were very flattered by the fact that important people (a Member of Parliament, the future President of the board of directors who is also the head of a large international company) went out of their way to meet them, mere employees of a public sector company. This helped to rebuild their narcissism, weakened by the announcement of the disappearance of that which they had worked for so many years to create. The reconstruction of the individual and their perceived future proceeded at different speeds for different people, depending on the time it took for their different wounds to heal and on their varying sensibilities. However, the goal was that each person should understand that there was a place for them, and whether that was to be there in the company or elsewhere was their choice. Gradually the tendency to repeatedly put the some questions began to disappear and the answers began to be accepted, with their mixture of reassurance and uncertainty. A space for creation
and construction of the future Next it was a question of getting them to take hold of their own futures and, if possible, to turn them into actors. Running alongside these meetings, we suggested a series of formalisation exercises - brainstorming possible set-ups for the new company. One of them consisted in writing on the left side of a sheet "What should we keep", and on the right side " What should we give up". Using various remarks made by various employees, we created a mock-up of their representation of the world of their workplace. We then asked them if they thought it was possible to change anything about each of these facts, if they should be kept exactly as they are, gradually altered or abandoned altogether. The anticipated danger was they just imagined an ideal company. The fact was that the" ideal company" was not the same for each of them. They played the "frustrated mother" in turns. The subsequent discussions were lively, sometimes tending towards polemic and full of contradictory representations and opinions. The long silences of the first session seemed far behind us. Nearly everyone had opinions (desires) about nearly everything. The managing director was able to appreciate the nature and relevance of the attachment of the staff to customers, social practices and to the know-how they had developed which could be preserved in the future. As he was unaware of the foundations and underlying values of these things, they had previously been scheduled to disappear in the process of becoming a semi-private company.
Beyond all expectations, the staff proved to be genuinely creative and the source of many new proposals. In particular, they came up with new ideas for services and products and projections of the impact that might have on the nature of the various jobs and on the company set-up.
However, at the same time, the management was able to see the extent to which people were ignorant of the way economics works. Training in economy and management have therefore been planned. It was a question of providing them with the means to think about their situation and to act upon it in appropriate ways. · The new set-up and newly-created jobs The construction of the new organisation had been broadly formalised. A team of consultants specialising in the job definition within companies had taken over from where our work left off[5]. The staff had been involved in the task. Some of employees had wished to be involved in the planning stages on a number of issues: the new organisation, the move to new premises, the role of the training staff, new services which could be offered to customers. Training courses were set up around the newly created jobs and new working methods (working in teams, the principals of delegation and empowerment). CONCLUSION
People came to terms with and went through their suffering both individually and collectively whereas, usually, the employees are left to cope on their own. There was a period of deconstruction and a period of reconstruction, requiring more than a year. Confrontation and even conflict was not shied away from. The fact that the period of deconstruction was long and difficult meant that the reconstruction phase could proceed more quickly. But, more than this, it meant that the reconstruction was more solid as it was based on an acknowledgement of differences and respect for them and, wherever possible, their incorporation into the shored venture.
In the end, the number of people wishing to leave the company was around 20% when, at the start, only 20% let it be known that they would stay on and work for the public-private partnership. An impressive turnaround. It was necessary to plan the redeployment of those employees whose jobs were to disappear but who had expressed the wish to stay on and work for the new company [6]. However, it would not be wise to get carried away with the successes. There will still be conflicts and sometimes they will be difficult, but they will not be destructive, for the people involved or the company.
The concept of transitional space is crucial in that it favours an approach to change that includes the three dimensions of time -past, present and future. It uses the past to build the future. It demands that the complexity of people and the social environment be acknowledged, as well as their often-paradoxical aspects. It brings clarity at moments when blindness sometimes becomes the rule, beneath the pressure of unformulated desires. It helps to stimulate creativity, which in turn brings innovation. It rebuilds the relationship of people both to their own desires and to each other as agents conscious of their own power and of what is at stake for themselves and the company. BIBLIOGRAPHY
AMIEL M. (1999), "Les survivants des plans sociaux : au-delà de l’effondrement du mythe fondateur" Revue Française de Gestion n°126, sept-oct.
AUGAGNEUR M. F. (1995), Vivre le deuil, de la désorganisation à une réorganisation, Lyon, Chronique Sociale
BARRUS-MICHEL, J., & ENRIQUEZ, E. (2002). Pouvoir, le vocabulaire de Psychosociologie, références et propositions (pp. 212-221). Paris: Erès.
BÉGOIN J. (1995), 'La problématique du deuil et le métabolisme de la souffrance psychique", Le deuil, monographies de la Revue Française de Psychanalyse, Paris, P.U.F., 2ème édition
CIFALI, M. (2002). "Bienheureuse indignation" ou les dilemmes d'une enseignante clinicienne. Revue Internationale de Psychosociologie, VIII(19, automne), 33-44.
DEJOURS C. (1998), Souffrance en France, ed. du Seuil, Paris.
Domalgalski, T. A. (1999). Emotion in roganisations : main currents. Human Relations, 833-853.
DUBOULOY M. (1996); "Les processus et rituels de deuil dans les organisations", Actes du colloque de l’AGRH, Paris
DUBOULOY M. (1998), "La certification entre Eros et Thanatos", communication au Colloque de l’AGRH de Montréal
ENRIQUEZ E. (1992), L’organisation en analyse, Paris, P.U.F., coll. Sociologie d’aujourd’hui
FABRE C. (1998), Les conséquences humaines des restructurations, L’Harmattan, Paris.
FREUD S. (1917 [1915), "Deuil et mélancolie", Métapsychologie, Paris, Gallimard, 1968; SE,12; GW,8
FREUD S. (1921), "Massenpsychologie und Ich-Analysis" (Psychologie collective et Analyse du Moi) Essais de psychanalyse, Paris, Payot, 1981, 119-216
GLASS N. (1998), Management Masterclass, Nicholas Brealey Publishing Ltd, Management les 10 défis, Paris, Editions d’Organisation
GOLEMAN D. (2000), L’intelligence émotionnelle : accepter ses émotions pour s’épanouir dans son travail, Paris, J’ai Lu
GRISON S. (1998) "L'action de changement dans les organisations : quels impacts sur les individus", Pratiques psychologiques n°1 diagnostic, Paris
GROUARD B. , MESTON F. (1998), L’entreprise en mouvement, Paris, Dunod
GUITTIERES-GREEN L. (1997), "La douleur psychique : enjeux narcissiques et objectaux ", Le mal-être, Débats de Psychanalyse, Paris PUF, 1998 pour la 2ème édition.
HANUS M. (1995), Les deuils dans la vie, deuils et séparations chez l’adulte et chez l’enfant, Paris, Maloine.
HANUS M (1995) ; "Le travail de deuil", Le deuil, monographies de la Revue Française de Psychanalyse, Paris, P.U.F., 2ème édition.
Jacques, P. (2001). Trauma et culture : de la mémoire collective à la reconstruction psychique ou singularité et appartenance2003].
KAËS R. (1979 ), "Introduction à l’analyse transitionnelle", Crise, rupture et dépassement, Paris, Dunod
Kets de VRIES M., BALAZS K., (1999), "La dimension humaine des restructurations", in l’Expansion Management Review, juin
KLEIN M. (1975), "Envy and gratitude", Our adult world, Melanie Klein Trust, London, Envie et gratitude, Gallimard, Paris, 1968.
KLEIN M. , RIVIERE J., (1935/1975), Love, guilt and reparation, and other works , London, The Hoggarth Press and Institut of psycho-analysis, "l’amour, la culpabilité et le besoin de réparation" L’amour et la haine, Petite Bibliothèque Payot, 1969 pour la traduction française.
LENHARDT V. (1992), Les responsables porteurs de sens, Paris, INSEP Editions.
LEVY, A. (2002). Quelle psychologie politique. Revue Internationale de Psychosocilogie, VIII(19, automne), 67-76.
LEVY, E. (2003). Intervention psychosociologique : les rapports entre engagement et professionnalité (pp. 1-5).
PAILLOT Ph. (1996), "Propositions sur les conditions d’application de la théorie du deuil dans les sciences de gestion", actes des 6èmes journées nationales d’études psychanalyse et management, Nantes.
PERRON-BORELLI M. (1997), "Au delà de la douleur : le travail de deuil" Le mal-être, Débats de Psychanalyse, Paris, PUF, 1998 pour la 2ème édition, p.163-169.
SENGE P. (1999), The dance of change, La danse du changement, Paris, Editions Générales First.
VIORST J. (1986) ; Necessary losses, Simon & Schuster, New York, Les renoncements nécessaires, tout ce qu’il faut abandonner en route pour devenir adulte, Paris, Robert Laffont, coll. Réponses,1988.
VIORST J. (1988), Les renoncements nécessaires, tout ce qu’il faut abandonner en route pour devenir adulte, Paris, Robert Laffont, coll. Réponses.
WIDLÖCHER D. (1983), Les logiques de la dépression, Paris, Fayard.
WIDLÖCHER D. (1994) ; "Deuil fini et deuil sans fin", in Le deuil, Monographies de la Revue Française de Psychanalyse, Paris, P.U.F., 2ème édition.
WINNICOTT D. (1951) ; "Transitonnal objects and transitionnal phenomena", Collected papers : through pediatrics to psycho-analysis, Tavistock Publications, Londres, 1958, "objets transitionnels et phénomènes transitionnels" De la pédiatrie à la psychanalyse, Payot, 1969.
WINNICOTT D. (1962), "Ego integration in child development", The maturational processes and the facilitating environment, London, Hogarth Press and the Institut of Psycho-Analysis, (1965), Intégration du moi au cours du développement de l’enfant, Processus de maturation chez l’enfant, Paris, Payot, 1969.
WINNICOTT D. (1963), "Elaboration de la capacité de sollicitude", The maturational processes and the facilitating environment, London, Hogarth Press and the Institut of Psycho-Analysis, (1965), Intégration du moi au cours du développement de l’enfant, Processus de maturation chez l’enfant, Paris, Payot, 1969.
WINNICOTT D. (1963), " Le passage de la dépendance à l’indépendance dans le développement de l’individu», Processus de maturation chez l’enfant, Paris, Payot, 1969.
WINNICOTT D. (1971), Playing and reality, Jeux et réalité Gallimard, Paris (1975).
WINNICOTT D. (1971), "la créativité et ses origines", Playing and reality, Jeux et réalité Gallimard, Paris (1975).
WINNICOTT D. (1974), "Fear of Breakdown", International Review of Psycho-Analysis, n°1, "la crainte de l’effondrement" in Revue Française de Psychanalyse.
Winnicott, D. W. (2000). La crainte de l'effondrement. In La crainte de l'effondrement et autres situations cliniques. Paris: Gallimard. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] This thought was largely inspired by an unpublished paper given by Emmanuelle Lévy. Lévy. 2003#6) during a conference of the CIRFIP [2] For those employees who wanted it : the others would be able to stay in the public sector. but they would hove to leave the company [3] They had announced that their expectations for the first few years look into account the cost of restructuring and the need for sizeable investments [4] The choice of this format was the result of o compromise between over riding economic factors and the time and support necessary for the task of grieving
[5] The person in d1arge of this phase had attended most of the planning meetings and the debriefing meetings from the previous phases [6] We did not participate in this process
|
|||
 |
|||