Group Relations Conferences

This book is a compilation of chapters based on presentations at the third Group Relations (GR) international meeting in Belgirate, Italy in November 2009, plus a number of pieces from participants reflecting on their experience of the meeting. The book takes yet another step in continuing the discourse, which began in 2003, articulating the relevance of the GR conference method and the timeliness of its application globally. The chapters in the book deal with the personal as well as the organisational journeys of GR practitioners and examine these through the lens of tradition, succession and creative application. The authors are experienced Group Relations practitioners internationally and together they enrich further the tapestry of GR model and its application and potential.

This book reflects the culture of the Belgirate Conference, namely combining traditional and experiential modes of developing new ideas and knowledge; and in order to further the field of Group Relations. It contains the collection of papers presented at the conference plus two additional papers.

Group Relations conferences offer opportunities to learn about group, organisational and social dynamics; the exercise of authority and power; the interplay between tradition, innovation and change; and the relationship of organisations to their social, political and economic environments. This book, the fifth in a series of Tavistock Group Relations Conferences, contains a collection of papers presented at the fifth Belgirate conference, plus three additional papers reflecting on and making sense of several participants’ conference experiences. Taken together, these chapters study the discourse of Group Relations conferences as well as reflecting on the changing nature and shifting patterns of this discourse. In Doing the Business of Group Relations Conferences, authors reflect on the vicissitudes of meanings this expression generates.

This book presents a sort of angsty identity crisis and offers many clear illustrations of the multiple useful and relevant applications of group relations in different parts of the world, reflecting on the theory of group relations and its relevance to contemporary phenomena.

This book, the second in a series on Tavistock Group Relations Conferences, contains the collection of papers presented at the second Belgirate conference plus four additional papers reflecting on and making sense of several participants conference experiences. Taken together, these papers offer an exciting picture of the Group Relations enterprise as it continues to adapt and innovate its approaches to the practice of Group Relations conferences globally. It will be of interest to members of the group relations community as well as others who are agents of change and development in their professions and organisations, and who might use group relations thinking in their research, management, consultancy or educational roles.

The unconscious dynamics that surface in groups when authority is exercised are of paramount importance in Group Relations Conferences; this volume addresses these considerations through research findings and speculation on the future of Group Relations both within conferences and outside of them. This is the sixth instalment in a series of books based on Tavistock Group Relations Conferences and contains a collection of papers presented at the sixth Belgirate conference. Combining chapters on theory and practice, this volume delivers a meditation on the relationships between the physical spaces we inhabit or co-create, the psychic, inner or spiritual space and the liminal space in-between. Group Relations provides a window of understanding into why inequity and intergroup hostilities pervade the modern world alongside a method that illuminates how people consciously and unconsciously contribute to these tensions, whether personally, in groups or in organisations. This will be an invaluable resource for practitioners, academics, and scholars of Group Relations, as well as managers and organisational members wanting to learn more about how Group Relations methods can contribute to their organisational success.

This book reflects the culture of the Belgirate Conference, namely combining traditional and experiential modes of developing new ideas and knowledge; and in order to further the field of Group Relations. It contains the collection of papers presented at the conference plus two additional papers.

This is an authoritative sourcebook on a major strand of Group Relations Theory - "learning from experience". This approach was developed jointly from psychoanalytic and open systems theories, including those of Bion, Kegan, Klein and Freud. It will be invaluable for all those involved in working with groups and organisations.The papers in this collection look at the underlying theory and the practical application of learning from experience. They address the broad issues of authority, leadership and organisational culture, whilst concentrating on other issues in-depth, such as inter-group conflict, and gender and race relations in the workplace.