Based on detailed descriptive material from a three-day consultation workshop, whose primary task it was to manage the expansion process from a "family-type company" to a structured corporation of partners, this paper explores the role of emotions, conflict and unconscious phantasy inherent in such a process. The company involved, itself engaged in the work of training and consultation, proved quite psychologically-minded, and thus particularly amenable to a psychoanalytically oriented approach.

Our aim is to show that in the context of the dynamics of group life, not only individual and/or group conflicts, but also seemingly rational structural problems are experienced at a "primitive" emotional level, that is as elemental emotional phenomena in the inner world of the individuals and in the life of the group in question. These phenomena find their form and are expressed as unconscious phantasies. Although such phantasies can serve as defences against facing such structural problems, the paper demonstrates that people need to be able both to experience and reflect upon these dramatic and emotionally highly charged aspects of their basic psychodynamic "scripts" in order to access the psychic energy, the passion and the commitment necessary for the making of strategically risky decisions and the performance of difficult tasks. Further the paper shows how emotional entanglement at an unconscious level prevents proper thought and action at the structural, strategic and economic levels. However, as we must restrict ourselves to addressing the question of the particular role which emotions play in organisational life, these other equally important aspects of the consultancy are mentioned only briefly.

A Search for new Partners...or an Invitation to join a Harem?

Introduction

Based on detailed descriptive material from a three-day consultation workshop, whose primary task it was to manage the expansion process from a "family-type company" to a structured corporation of partners, this paper explores the role of emotions, conflict and unconscious phantasy inherent in such a process. The company involved, itself engaged in the work of training and consultation, proved quite psychologically-minded, and thus particularly amenable to a psychoanalytically oriented approach.

Our aim is to show, that in the context of the dynamics of group life, not only individual and/or group conflicts, but also seemingly rational structural problems are experienced at a "primitive" emotional level, that is as elemental emotional phenomena in the inner world of the individuals and in the life of the group in question. These phenomena find form and expression as unconscious phantasies. Although such phantasies can serve as defences against facing such structural problems, the paper demonstrates that people need to be able both to experience and reflect upon these dramatic and emotionally highly charged aspects of their basic psychodynamic "scripts" in order to access the psychic energy, the passion and the commitment necessary for the making of strategically risky decisions and the performance of difficult tasks. Further the paper shows how emotional entanglement at an unconscious level prevents proper thought and action at the structural, strategic and economic levels. However, as we must restrict ourselves to addressing the question of the particular role which emotions play in organisational life, these other equally important aspects of the consultancy are mentioned only briefly.

Ross A. Lazar, who conducted the consultation itself, will tell its "story", including reflection of his own countertransferential states, phantasies and associations during the process. Mathias Lohmer will then comment on the process and show how the several layers of emotional conflict which were triggered by the need for structural change can be differentiated. Finally, both authors will present some theoretical considerations about the role of emotions in organizational life in general, and regarding the consultant as a "container" for these dynamics in particular.

The Story

Prelude

One day last summer I received an unexpected call from the head of a consulting/training firm. The caller, Herr B., informed me that he was looking for an additional consultant to work with his company on a three day retreat. They already had one consultant, also male, but because of the increased numbers of staff and the new constellation of the firm, a second was required.

The Contract

We discussed modalities of time, payment and the need to co-ordinate with the other colleague. Also, Herr B. told me something of the firm´s history and of the serious problems it had run into regarding further expansion. These were somewhat difficult to understand on the telephone, but it sounded interesting, the fee was good, and I could free up the time, so I agreed.

The Setting

We met in an "alternative-type" conference hotel deep in the Bavarian Alps, a very beautiful and isolated spot, also of interest because of the fact that it was now owned and run by Herr B. himself, in conjunction with his second ex-wife. The firm to which I was to consult had been co-founded by Herr B. and his first ex-wife, Frau B. and, as it turned out, she was still a major force in the company. Furthermore, it emerged that Herr B.´s relationships with his wives had always played a key role in the firm´s history, and were to continue to do so in the dynamics that unfolded during our work.

The "Players"

Aside from my consultant colleague and myself those present at the retreat were Herr and Frau B. (the co-founders); the three other current partners in the firm, Herr Three, Herr Four and Frau Five; the three potential new partners, Frau X., Frau Y. and Frau Z. (all of whom were currently employed by the firm as consultants and trainers) and five female secretarial/ administrative employees. (Although important in the running of the firm, I will leave out for the most part the interactions with the secretarial/administrative staff and the co-consultant for the sake of conciseness and simplicity, and as they were not absolutely crucial to the dynamics we want to con-centrate on in this presentation).

The Structural Problem

The structural problem with which the company was presented and which they had been unable to solve for over two years was the following: the company had grown substantially over the past 5 years, expanding into new markets and regions. Both the boom in the consulting/ training market and the collapse of the GDR had contributed to this growth, and the firm now faced the necessity of regional expansion and diversification. Also, this growth required additional capitalization, and the five present owners (shareholders) were both unwilling and unable to increase either their work load or their capital investment in the company. Thus, it had become essential that they find new partners who were both willing and able to invest the required time, money, effort and creativity in order that the new constellation could come into being and function successfully.

The idea was to transform the original firm, "B. & Partners", into a holding company, "B. & Partners Holding GmbH" (stands for "Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung", the German initials for a PLC - i.e. a public liability company), while creating subsidiaries in four geographic regions of Germany. These were to be known as B. & Partners North, South, East and West GmbH. These regional partnerships would be owned in part by the new partners, having bought 49% shares in them from the holding company. The holding would however keep the other 51% and therefore retain control of these new GmbH´s. Thus the new partners would have neither a share in the holding as such, nor would they have a majority in their own regional GmbH.

Questions and controversies as to whether this was the right way for the company to go, whether it was a fair, logical and strategically sound plan, and indeed, whether it was worthwhile for the three potential partners to invest in their own and the firm´s future in this manner abounded. But the conflicts which were being acted out and which were hindering the process of company transformation and growth turned out to be much more of an emotional than of a business, financial or legal nature. At this point, psychoanalytically-oriented organisational consultation seemed called for in the somewhat desperate attempt to find an acceptable solution.

The reason for this desperation, felt especially by Herr B., was the fact that this plan, hatched some two years or more before, was still yet to be realized. During the course of the two years, a number of interested parties, again for the most part employees or ex-employees, had voiced interest, only to decide in the end that they wanted nothing to do with it. Indeed, as negotiations proceeded, several longstanding and valued relationships, working ones as well as private, went by the boards. The worst situation had transpired the summer before when a number of such colleagues, all of whom had nearly agreed to partnership on the above-mentioned basis, suddenly and dramatically backed out. A huge hue and cry arose as in the end most of them left the firm entirely. This shock, from which particularly Herr B. had still not yet recovered, was a major indication that something was going severely wrong, and that if what it was wasn´t discovered and fixed quickly, the firm was in danger of not being able to fulfill its expansion plans at all. This fact made all those now involved exceedingly wary and afraid that such a situation might repeat itself in the present constellation.

The interplay of history, structural factors, emotional relationships, conscious and unconscious fantasies and dreams

Stemming from the fact that the company had been founded by a couple, indeed, at that time still a married couple, and that its structures and its group and institutional culture had been extremely intimate and familial for the first twenty years of its existence, one can imagine how difficult, upsetting and confusing it was to have to begin to think more corporately, more institutionally and less personally. (This is, as we know, a very common problem in family businesses, but is also a prominent feature of many small-to-medium-sized businesses, even if they are not strictly speaking "family-run").

As consultant it was my task to discover, describe and attempt to understand the most urgent and important of the organisational assumptions, myths and fantasies, both at the group and at the individual level, which were blocking further development. And, this I hoped to achieve through the use of such psychoanalytic tools as the analysis of the symbolism inherent in the language chosen and the images and metaphors employed. Also any dreams dreamt during the course of the retreat could be utilized by applying for example Gordon Lawrence´s ideas and techniques regarding Social Dreaming, and any evidence provided by the emotional states and relationships I was able to observe and/or experience would serve as raw material for my understanding and subsequent interpretation of the dynamics involved. In order to gain access to such material, detailed attention to countertransferential signals from within my own inner world proved crucial.

The decisive dynamic events

The first important piece of emotional evidence came at the initial informal meeting of the participants. Whereas most people approached me casually and told me who they were and what they did, one person, a large and handsome woman, remained demonstrably aloof, made no attempt to greet me and appeared emotionally cool and slightly bitter, perhaps even angry. With all of us seated in a large circle, this woman, sitting right next to me, broke the initial silence by firing a series of questions at me as if we were in a hearing or a court of law! Immediately it was clear who she was, namely Frau B., Herr B.´s Ex-Wife Number One. Despite the fact of their having been divorced years before, she was still an extremely active partner in the firm, and still referred to herself as "Frau B.", creating the illusion that the couple were still married. And in addition to this difficult constellation, other major difficulties in the areas of leadership, power and authority also became apparent. Nevertheless, the group managed to split up into three parts: the secretarial/ administrative staff went off with my colleague, Herr S., as planned; the five original holding partners stayed with me, and the three women who were the candidates to become the new regional partners went off on their own.

Once alone with the "five", it became clear that the major rivals for leadership and control were Herr and Frau B., the other three obviously playing rather more subsidiary roles. We agreed on a list of topics which needed to be addressed: the need for more clarity, more contact, more trust, the reduction of tensions, coordination of procedures, and the need to improve consensus.

But above all the predominant feeling present was that the participants must find a way of "coming together better" in order that the mistakes of the past not be repeated. Furthermore, it became clear that it was not only at the level of trust and communication that clarity and confidence were lacking, but that there were major deficits in the areas of structural ideas, of strategic planning, and of visionary thinking. And, more immediately, the distribution of power and authority and of competence and responsibility remained totally unclear. In its stead, dissent and ignorance reigned. It was at this point that I had my first clear image of the dynamics of the situation, which I interpreted by framing it in the following image: I said I felt myself in the presence of a rather old and established pack of wolves, which at the moment was still headed by a somewhat tired and aging Alpha wolf, and who had a somewhat younger, and rather stronger and aggressive "Alpha she-wolf" at his side. At the moment, it was he who was still more or less in charge, but for how long...? The group´s reaction to this rather powerful image was one of shocked recognition and affirmation.

Upon returning to the plenary, the three potential partners-to-be reported having had to face the fact that they had enormous problems both with one another as well as with the "five", and above all with Herr B., himself. At some point it was mentioned briefly that Frau Five was the partner who took main responsibility for the financial affairs and arrangements, both of the company in general and of the expansion plans in particular. This important fact, stated in very flat, affectless manner subseequently got completely lost in the emotional foray to follow.

During the course of the highly emotional and difficult plenary session which then took place, all three potential partners broke down at one point or another, and all complained bitterly through angry tears about their discontent over the state of the proceedings. Instead of the help and support they had wanted, instead of the better, closer and indeed exclusive relationship which each had hoped to achieve with Herr B., they found themselves both at odds with one another and enraged and disappointed with him. It turned out that each of them had phantasied a private, special pairing relationship with Herr B. in which they would both work together, just the two of them, plan and discuss projects, travel together to work with clients and spend free time together after work. But now it was becoming all too clear that the kind of relationship they each had dreamt of for themselves (at the cost of excluding the others) was proving unattainable for anyone.

Finally, Frau X. mounted a scathing attack on Frau B., accusing her of being "cold as ice", "terribly distant" and "indifferent" to the needs and wishes of others. This, according to Frau X., had been the case for a year or more, but couldn´t continue like this any longer. Either they "got to the bottom of it now", or it would "pull them both down"..."taking the firm along with them!".

Despite, or rather because of these dramatic emotional outpourings, it became possible to begin to do some really significant work on the terrible state of affairs which evidently had existed under the surface for some time. By the end of the session, it had become clear to everyone that the divisive and destructive dynamic of the last year or more was much more serious and deep-seated than any one particular individual´s difficulties could explain. But exactly what it was, no one at that point could say. The meeting and the day ended in desolation and frustration.

The next morning, we again gathered in plenary session. What was to be done? Herr B., to whom all again looked for leadership out of the crisis, said that as far as he was concerned, he was fed up with the whole business. He didn´t know what to do next, and furthermore he hardly even cared anymore! As far as he was concerned, everyone could do as they liked! If it were up to him, he would make an appointment with the lawyer then and there, sign the contracts and have an end to it! Why was that so impossible, he exclaimed? What was preventing it from happening? He had had enough of this falling into helpless depression! He was going to call the notary and make an appointment for the end of the week!

The three potential partners were ridden with doubt. Their tendency to bail out, to drop the whole project was reinforced by the sober, depressed mood of the group. Nothing was going as they had imagined or had wished it would. They, too, were at the end of their tether. Like Herr B., they didn´t know what to do next. A meeting together with me was suggested, in order that they at least get an opportunity to speak about their feelings in a "safe" environment. Frau X. and Frau Y. both agreed immediately, but Frau Z. was strictly against the idea. She could see no need for consultation whatsoever...and I felt her to be implying 'particularly from a male consultant'. She maintained that the three of them could work things out better on their own. However, after some persuasion from the others, she agreed at least to give it a try.

The meeting of the four of us was also destined to become a highly dramatic event. I began the session by asking Frau Z. if she could say anything about why she had felt so resistant to meeting with a consultant. I said I felt I had a strong sense of the pressure under which the three of them had been placed, and of the pain and anguish that it had caused them. I added that it was no wonder to me that they felt they could go on no longer, that they felt a tendency to get out while they could, to forget the whole thing. I added that, in my opinion, this brought us very near to the centre of the problem. I assumed, I said, that the reason all the other attempts to find partners had failed must have had a lot to do with the dynamic they were feeling. By the same token, I said, I thought that if there were a practicable solution to this dilemma, that it must be sought in this very complex of feelings, both pro and contra. At this point the tense, forbidding atmosphere in the room relaxed a bit.

Frau Z.´s reaction to what I said was both immediate and intense. Highly relieved and suddenly very communicative, she reported that she had not slept for three nights. Instead she had spent them pacing up and down, crying and worrying what to do. Finally, in the early hours of this morning, she had fallen asleep and had had a terrible dream, a dream which she felt might be of significance in helping to answer the question I had just posed. Her dream went as follows:

She was in her bedroom at home, but it was not her house. It was a huge old mansion, spooky, dark and cold. People came, (adolescents, perhaps). They tried to get to her, to get into the room...wanted to do something with her...something sexual she thought. She fled in her nightgown onto the street, but the people followed, keeping after her. She ran through the dark streets, the others in pursuit......cold with sweat and full of anxiety she awoke.

This disclosure shocked the group even more. In the interchange which followed, each was able to speak more freely for the first time of the terrible anxieties they had been suffering and which they had felt unable to share with anyone. All spoke of feelings of being pursued and of being subtly forced to do something against their will.

At this point, on the basis of my countertransference reaction and the evidence I had been gathering, I formulated the following interpretation: I said they appeared to me to be like candidates waiting to be admitted to a harem. To talk of equality or of freedom of choice seemed absurd. They all felt themselves compelled, forced under enormous pressure to agree to become something akin to subordinate concubines, to accept a lesser position in comparison to the original partners, and above all to submit to being under the aegis of the No. 1 Wife, Frau B.

Their conscious intention and wish had been to become at least " partial" partners in a growing and flourishing company. Unconsciously, however, each had secretly been wishing, hoping and phantasizing themselves in a unique and special relationship with the "Chief-Founder-Father", only to have been brusquely rebuffed by him and attacked and/or snubbed by No. 1 Wife, Frau B. Meanwhile, they felt all the others were badgering them to go along with something they were neither willing nor able to do. This had made them extremely anxious and totally unsure of themselves, for on no account could they agree to go along with things as they were. But, on the other hand, neither did they want to give up the whole idea altogether. For this reason it was essential that these phantasies, wishes and fears be tested against reality, in order to see whether an objective, realistic basis for cooperation and partnership could be formed upon which new and more reality-oriented working relationships could be based.

All three found this interpretation fit their experience very well, and many associations and examples supporting my hypothesis followed. Finally, as the time was nearly up, they decided unanimously, albeit with much trepidation to bring what we had discovered into the next plenary meeting. Whatever might happen, they felt they owed it to themselves and to the group to share with them their experience, their feelings and their phantasies.

For a start, the seating arrangement of this plenary, quite in contrast to the previous ones, was particularly remarkable. Along one wall sat the secretaries and admistrators, whom I was soon to dub the "old and young maids". Opposite them sat the "Ex-couple" (Herr and Frau B.) and the other three holding partners, whom I subsequently referred to as "the two uncles and the auntie". And in beween these two groups, flanked on either end by a consultant, sat the three "novitiates".

Their report of our work on Frau Z.´s dream and my harem phantasy unleashed a flood of feelings in the group. The predominant feelings voiced were of consternation and dismay, but also, not surprisingly, of denial and disbelief. By and large, however, their words were carefully listened to, and seemed to be heard. The atmosphere became pensive and subdued. Frau B., whose reaction to this information was obviously crucial, seemed rather annoyed and sceptical at first, but also somewhat relieved. Partly it seemed as if as if she felt herself to have been "caught in the act", but also as if she might perhaps even be a bit glad of it.

In any case, the uncovering of this phantasy led to a substantial feeling of relief in the group as a whole, and seemed to unblock the stalemate and release substantial energy and more positive feelings towards one another. Immediately, the appointment with the notary was made, and a lighthearted, relaxed mood and feeling of relief spread throughout the room. Phantasies of champagne flowing, of a wonderful meal in celebration of the event, and even of "wedding dresses" to be worn on the way to the "altar" replaced the terrible images of the days and nights before. But whether this was truly the solution to the emotional impasse in which they had been stuck or the "harem" had been simply and manically transformed into a "group marriage" still remained to be seen.

Hypotheses

Moving from surface to depth in this material, one can differentiate several levels of emotional conflict produced by the necessity of managing the structural changes planned.

On the first level, the level of manifest behaviour, we find a conflict within the group of the three new "partners-to-be" of the yet-to-be-formed subsidiary companies; each for herself feel-ing ambivalent about becoming a partner and all have conflicting feelings about the "old" partners. These feelings centered primarily on the co-founders, Herr B. and his ex-wife, Frau B. The "old" partners on the other hand, felt equally ambivalent towards the planned changes in the firm´s sturcture, but their ambivalence was expressed more through impatience, annoyance and exacerbation with the "partners-to-be" and with the emotional demands being placed on them.

At first glance, this looks to be a problem of bad communication. Looking closer we discover considerable rivalry amongst the newcomers. In addition, their behaviour also stimulates thoughts about how this company deals with the problem of generativity and the development of "offspring" for the next generation – a problem whose solution (or in this case lack of solution) - tells us a great deal about the level of maturity of an organisation.

On the second level, the level of conscious and unconscious organisational dynamics, we find conflicting emotions around the crucial question of the handling of primary risk in the organisation-as-a-whole, by its individual participants and the subsystems they form. The application of Hirschhorn's concept of primary risk to this material reveals that both subsystems experience unconscious conflicts around strategic planning, specifically about both their willingness and their ability to shoulder the burdens of the primary risk, which had not been spelled out thus far. The holding company partners have to make a strategic decision and carry it through: "Do we choose to remain a small, cosily informal family-type of organisation, or shall we definitively decide to grow and to invite new partners to join us ? If we do go for expansion, are we prepared to share control and decision-making powers with them? Choosing the latter course will, as we know, necessitate our building new and more formalized structures with clear definitions of the distribution of power, wealth, profit and control. Can we manage this? Do we really want to?".

Complimentary to this, the potential new partners have to decide whether to remain in a dependent position as employees, with all the comforts and restraints which accompany that status (being part of a family-like, cosily dependent group, being taken care of, bearing little or none of the risk but also being limited in their amount of financial profit and decision-making power)...or whether they prefer to develop into more mature, more self-sufficient partners. The choice of self-sufficiency over continued dependency automatically brings with it a loss of familial cosiness and an increase in isolation and loneliness, but also an increase in autonomy, responsibility and commitment. In the case at hand, however, the autonomy to be had by this means is still of a limited nature, as it does not carry with it the full rights, powers and recognition which pertain to the holding company partners' role.

Interestingly enough the conflict about the uneven distribution of power and the primary risk, and the inherent danger of losing the comfortable satisfaction of dependency needs, had hardly been mentioned by any of the members of the organisation thusfar. Instead, the unspoken, for the most part unrecognised, and in any case unresolved conflicts had lead to the clear formation of a massive social defence. This social defence, namely that of hesitation, manifested itself in endless discussions and the postponing of decisions, which in turn resulted in the institutional symptom of organisational stalemate.

An examination of the third level of dynamic conflict, the level of unconscious phantasy reveals the fact that the subgroup of the new partners was paralysed by a highly specific unconscious phantasy, which was first experienced emotionally at an unconscious level and which then, with the help of dream work and countertransference analysis, could be interpreted by the consultant. The new partners all shared the unconscious phantasy that by becoming a"partner in the firm", they would in fact become the boss´s "new wife", the male company founder´s "one and only" as it were. The fulfilment of this phantasy would have meant gaining full power over him, while at the same time still remaining "part of the family" . This in turn would mean remaining "cared for" and dependent at both an economic and emotional level. However, this unconscious wish stimulated an opposing fear, namely that of domination by the strong ex-wife of the founder, and thereby being condemned to the status of "secondary wives". In other words, the invitation being extended to the potential new partners could be seen and felt to be nothing other than an invitation to join a group of hierarchically ranked women, a structure felt to be akin to a sultan's harem. The dynamics of their wishes and their corresponding fears resulted in an unresolved conflict against which the social defence of hesitation and postponing of decisions was erected. At a psychosexual level, this phantasy - ie. of becoming either the "Number One Wife" or joining the ranks as just one of a number of new "concubines" symbolized the unconscious relationships and related emotions inherent in the proposed business structure, centering as it did around the uneven distribution of power.

Interpreting the interplay between these three levels of emotional conflict, one can now postulate that the ongoing predominance of this unconscious phantasy and the intense emotions stirred up by it actually served in a secondary manner as a defence against the threats engendered by the fear of having to bear primary risk. By remaining preoccupied with feelings of rivalry, oedipal conflict, triumph and submission, the new partners-to-be managed to avoid having to face and deal with the loneliness, the financial risk and the problem of the distribution of power implicit in the new structure. In this way they could remain in a cosily dependent position but thereby abandoning the opportunity to become more autonomous. Evidence for this hypothesis is that the discussion of the details of the new role and the decision-making processes were discussed in only the most brief and superficial way, without the liveliness and conflictual feelings one might expect as the emotional counterpart to such fundamental negotiations, particularly given the large sums of money involved. Complimentary to the lack of emotional involvement of the partners-to-be at the "business" level, the partners of the holding company could "afford", as it were, to remain aloof and passive, thus acting out in an indirect way their ambivalence about the threat to their position that the expansion plans presented.

This dilemma appears to be a common one in the developmental historical process of organisations such as this. Larry Greiner (1998) describes four phases in the development of "know-ledge organisations" and "service" businesses. His description of the third phase seems to fit the state of affairs in this case very well. Greiner writes, "A third phase of geographic or service expansion typically ends with a struggle over ownership: how much equity are the original partners willing to share with the younger partners...?" The answer to this question, which could hardly even be posed during the course of the retreat itself, will be crucial in the success or failure of the expansion plans of the company. The extent to which this challenge can be met and solved at the emotional and relational levels on the basis of the work done during the retreat remains to be seen.

In order to be effective, the consultancy process thus had to address this unconscious phantasy which served both as a defence against further development as well as expressing the conflict inherent in the transformation from a familial to a corporate structure. By interpreting at the point of emotional urgency, the consultant helped the group to experience their ambivalent feelings again, together with the necessary strongly emotional reactions characterized by shock and consternation, but also by feelings of relief. At the level of the self and the inner world, this helped them develop more autonomy, which in turn helped them to assert themselves at the business level. But due to the time restraints on the consultation, it was not possible to deal sufficiently with the ambivalence connected with the question of primary risk, leaving the consultant with fears that the sudden solution of a "happy marriage ending" possibly indicated recourse into manic flight rather than the workingout of a well-considered, well thought out course of action.

Theoretical considerations

Organisational developmental processes require that a variety of different emotional states be lived and worked through. Dynamically charged emotional life entails experiencing moments of pain, of joy, of sadness, of frustration and, indeed,of freedom, to name just a few. All of these experiences provide for an element of relief on the one hand, and for opportunities for insight and growth on the other. And both, of course, are essential for adequate and healthy psychic development, so necessary for finding mature, rational and effective solutions to problems long-term.

But in order for them to be properly lived and worked through, all these emotional states have to be both felt and acknowledged, otherwise the type of organisational emotional learning which W.R. Bion (1962) has dubbed "learning from experience" cannot take place. In the case illustrated above these emotional states ranged from despair to aggression and out-and-out hostility, to rivalry, loneliness and the fear of abandonment, to joy, mutual idealisation and the longing for contact, comfort and even love.

Emotions are always connected to and part and parcel of unconscious phantasies, which manifest themselves in various ways. Dreams, metaphors, works of art, "acting in" and "acting out" and unconcious phantasies at a group level all are examples of the possible ways in which unconscious phantasies can make themselves known to us. Furthermore, these unconscious phantasies always represent some aspect of our relationships, internal and external and vice versa. Internal object relations get projected onto aspects of the outside world and external experience gets taken into and included in the experiences and structures of the internal world. Following a formulation of Otto F. Kernberg´s (1980), one can say, that these internal object relations always consist of a subject, an object and a specific affect (an expressed part of an underlying emotion) which serves to connect the two. Following Susan Isaacs' (1970) classic formulation, one can further state that each such emotional experience and object relation correlates to emotions belonging to the corresponding and ever-present stream of unconscious phantasy which makes up our mental life.

In the context of the dynamics of group life not only individual and group conflicts and ambivalences, but also seemingly rational structural problems (e.g. a strategic plan for a certain form of structural change and growth and its concomitant distribution of power) are experienced at the same time as "primitive", basic, elemental emotional phenomena in the inner world and its unconscious processes. Thus the dynamics of the unconscious inner worlds of individuals and groups press feelings, phantasies and other psychosomatic manifestations of their existence upon us, which then demand that we make "emotional sense" of otherwise seemingly formal and rational tasks and problems. Evidently, human beings need these dramatic, suspenseful and emotionally highly charged experiences of basic psychodynamic, mythological "scripts" in order to access the psychic energy, the passion and commitment necessary for the performance of difficult and risky tasks. This continuous processing of unconscious contents, phenomena and dynamics (to which Donald Meltzer (1984) has given the name "dream-life") is therefore essential for psychic development and problem-solving at an intrapsychic level.

A word of caution, however, regarding the enactment of the emotional level of organisational life is necessary here. Abraham Zaleznik (1997) reminds us of the dangers of paying too much attention to what he calls the "psychopolitics" of organisations. Especially when the leader-ship of an organisation is "misled" into believing that "management by ambiguity and indirection", conducted through the use of ""polite and even deferential language", is the best way to go, the organisation´s capacity to accomplish "real work" as Zaleznik calls it, becomes diminished. When the attention paid to "process" supercedes that paid to "substance" and when "ritual" threatens to replace "thinking" (which, according to Zaleznik, is the main task of a successful executive) "the acting out of psychodramas" is encouraged, rather than the furthering of superior business performance.

Applying these thoughts to the case material, it becomes apparent that the dramatic experiences of being lost and in danger which the group of the three "partners-to-be" had, were able to be processed, to some extent at least, through dreaming, remembering, telling, sharing and – with the help of the consultant – understanding of the dream and the hidden unconscious "harem" phantasy. Also this processing helped them look at the structural problem from a new perspective. Interpreting the oedipal dilemma of wanting to become "daddy's wife" at the expense of their autonomous capacities, helped the subgroup and the whole system to confront its developmental task of making the transition from a "family-type company" to a structured corporation of partners. To do this the hidden myths and the"script" of the "old company" needed first to be enacted, emotionally experienced and finally consciously understood in order a) to realise how dysfunctional they were, and b) to begin to be able to imagine how they might be changed, how this old script might be "rewritten" as it were.

Each task, each role, each organisational structure, business plan or strategy is thus embedded in layers of varying emotions with their correlate unconscious phantasies at the different levels of conflict, psychosocial and institutional dynamics, as shown in the material above. In order to metabolize this emotional experience, organisations – especially in periods of rapid change and growth – need both the time and the mental space as necessary conditions both for the containment and the working through of this process. Anton Obholzer (1994) has termed this "containing systems thinking".

Thus the consultant to an organisation serves as a "temporary container" for the organisational dynamics and the emotional ups and downs of its members. He/she does this by establishing and maintaining an appropriate setting with its necessary boundaries of time, task and territory, and by the mobilisation and use of his own internal containing function, entailing both the willingness to become "infected" by the conflictual emotions of the members of the organisations, and the readiness to experience and deal with those complimentary emotional states which inevitably get stirred up within him. By these means, he can help the organisation to tease out the different meanings of organisational change at both conscious and unconscious levels, and thus help its members to enrich their emotional understanding of their roles and tasks. This, in turn, encourages and supports the development of a work group mode of functioning as opposed to a basic assumption mode, which leads not only to more rational, realistic and successful work being accomplished, but to more satisfaction and a feeling of personal accomplishment and fulfillment as well.

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