“Could We Have A Word”
or
Some reflexions on 20 years’ experience in
The Tavistock Clinic Consulting to Institutions Workshop

Anton Obholzer

This paper is based on 20 years experience in the Tavistock Clinic Consulting to Institutions Workshop and focuses on which psychoanalytic concepts have stood the test of time in their application to institutional consultancy. Psychoanalytic concepts by themselves are not enough to give a three-dimensional perspective on understanding institutions nor an institutional intervention, and so the psychoanalytic concepts are interwoven with concepts arising from group, group relations, systemic and management theory.

This paper will address some of these issues and the presentation will hopefully encourage a debate linking experience from a variety of technical and work-related perspectives.