This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (15) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gabriel, Y. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Meeting God: When Organizational Members Come Face to Face with the Supreme Leader

School of Management, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, U.K.

This paper focuses on a theme which features in numerous organizational stories, in which an "ordinary" member of of an organization comes face to face with the organization's top leader. This theme echoes not only the archetypical religious scene of meeting God as supreme judge, but also several well-known scenes in drama, opera, and literature. Through a psychoanalytic study of this theme, a set of primal phantasies projected by organizational members onto their leaders are explored. The paper also throws into sharp relief the underlying asymmetry of the relationship between leader and follower: while the follower may shake the leader's hand once, the leader will shake innumerable hands. The paper is based on a detailed interpretation of three narratives supplied by students, drawn from 6-month industrial placements (internships) which they undertook as part of their studies. In the first narrative, a student describes her encounter with the leader in almost religious terms as a liminal moment in her life; the student idealizes the leader who serves as a role model. In the second narrative, the student feels shunned by a leader who is inadequately briefed for his meeting with her; she proceeds to demonize the leader as well as the entire organization. In the third narrative, a student loses his faith in his departmental head, when he realizes that he is not truly independent bur merely follows directives from above. The three narratives are used to identify four core fantasies about the lader: (1) the leader as someone who cares for his/her followers; (2) the leader as someone accessible; (3) the leader as someone who is omnipotent and omniscient; and (4) the leader as someone who has a legitimate claim to lead others. Two groups of follower fantasies are then examined. The charismatic and the messianic. It is then suggested that the leader may be seen as a reincarnation of the primal mother, restoring the members' narcissism and rewarding them for who they are rather than for what they have achieved. Alternatively, the leader may be envisioned more closely to the Freudian image of father substitute, who rewards and punishes, arousing at once fear, loyalty, jealousy, and suspicion. It is suggested that the former is close to Kohut's account of charismatic leadership fantasy, while the latter is closer to his account of messianic leadership fantasy.

Key Words: leader • follower • fantasy • charisma • messianic • identification • idealization • impostor • psychoanalysis

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. Cluley The Psychoanalytic Relationship between Leaders and Followers Leadership, May 1, 2008; 4(2): 201 - 212. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. Sinclair Teaching Leadership Critically to MBAs: Experiences From Heaven and Hell Management Learning, September 1, 2007; 38(4): 458 - 472. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Sveningsson and M. Larsson Fantasies of Leadership: Identity Work Leadership, May 1, 2006; 2(2): 203 - 224. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. Collinson Dialectics of leadership Human Relations, November 1, 2005; 58(11): 1419 - 1442. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. A. Morris, C. M. Brotheridge, and J. C. Urbanski Bringing humility to leadership: Antecedents and consequences of leader humility Human Relations, October 1, 2005; 58(10): 1323 - 1350. [Abstract] [PDF]

				Y. Gabriel MBA and the Education of Leaders: The New Playing Fields of Eton? Leadership, June 1, 2005; 1(2): 147 - 163. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. Collinson Questions of Distance Leadership, June 1, 2005; 1(2): 235 - 250. [PDF]

				C. G. Cortese Learning through Teaching Management Learning, March 1, 2005; 36(1): 87 - 115. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Sveningsson and M. Alvesson Managing Managerial Identities: Organizational Fragmentation, Discourse and Identity Struggle Human Relations, October 1, 2003; 56(10): 1163 - 1193. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. Stein Unbounded Irrationality: Risk and Organizational Narcissism at Long Term Capital Management Human Relations, May 1, 2003; 56(5): 523 - 540. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. R. Comer Not Just a Mickey Mouse Exercise: Using Disney's The Lion King to Teach Leadership Journal of Management Education, August 1, 2001; 25(4): 430 - 436. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. J. Coopman and K. B. Meidlinger Power, Hierarchy, and Change: The Stories of a Catholic Parish Staff Management Communication Quarterly, May 1, 2000; 13(4): 567 - 625. [Abstract] [PDF]

				P. Moxnes Deep Roles: Twelve Primordial Roles of Mind and Organization Human Relations, November 1, 1999; 52(11): 1427 - 1444. [Abstract] [PDF]

				Y. Gabriel Beyond Happy Families: A Critical Reevaluation of the Control-Resistance-Identity Triangle Human Relations, February 1, 1999; 52(2): 179 - 203. [Abstract] [PDF]

				Y. Gabriel An Introduction to the Social Psychology of Insults in Organizations Human Relations, November 1, 1998; 51(11): 1329 - 1354. [Abstract] [PDF]

				Y. Gabriel Psychoanalytic Contributions to the Study of the Emotional Life of Organizations Administration Society, July 1, 1998; 30(3): 292 - 315. [Abstract]