This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in 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 Web of Science (6) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Hirschhorn, L. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Primary Risk

Wharton Center for Applied Research, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

In the Tavistock tradition, we understand an organization by first identifying its primary task. We ask, what is this organization set up to do, how is it organized to accomplish this objective, and what unconscious dynamics limit or distort its members' ability to do their work? This approach while powerful, does not help us understand organizations that live at strategic junctures in their life cycles. In these situations, the task is to choose a task. We need a conceptual framework to help us understand the psychodynamics of organizing and deciding in these situations. The following article develops the concept of the "primary risk' to explain how organizations behave in these situations. It links the primary risk to the psychoanalytic idea of ambivalence and the gestalt idea of the figure/ground relationship. It draws on case material to illuminate its concepts.

Key Words: risk • strategy • psychodynamics • consulting • Tavistock • planning

Human Relations, Vol. 52, No. 1, 5-23 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/001872679905200102


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

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. McGivern and E. Ferlie Playing tick-box games: Interrelating defences in professional appraisal Human Relations, September 1, 2007; 60(9): 1361 - 1385. [Abstract] [PDF]

				P. L. Mcleod and R. B. Kettner-Polley Contributions of Psychodynamic Theories to Understanding Small Groups Small Group Research, June 1, 2004; 35(3): 333 - 361. [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. Marcic God, Faith, and Management Education Journal of Management Education, October 1, 2000; 24(5): 628 - 649. [Abstract] [PDF]