Reflections on my PhD journey
Reflections on my PhD journey, NIODA Graduation 2019 As well as exploring face-to-face and online ways of working, I wanted my thesis to integrate cognitive and intuitive ways of knowing. To this end, I developed an art-based systems psychodynamic method. Reflections on my PhD journey For my PhD, I chose to investigate a team where […]
Trust at work
Trust at work Contemporary workplaces tend to be flatter, more collaborative and more distributed and, as such, require leaders and managers to develop trusting relationships with staff and stakeholders. But how do we define trust? This article draws upon different models of trust at work, to develop an understanding of trust from a systems psychodynamics […]
Reflexivity: Learning to Reflect in-action
Reflexivity: Learning to Reflect in-action The idea of reflecting on our experience is often associated with having the luxury of time to spend in quiet contemplation, looking back and ruminating on what was and what might have been; recollecting the forks in our road and identifying the choices that have shaped our current state of […]
Beneath the lotus flower: discovering organisational cultures
Together with the concepts of ‘leadership’ and ‘strategy’, ‘organisational culture’ must surely be one of the most fascinating and infuriating objects of study in organisational life. Beneath the lotus flower: discovering organisational cultures On 13 September 2019, NIODA held its third symposium in Melbourne. The theme was ‘building healthy and ethical organisational culture’. We will […]
Authority – a short enquiry
Authority is the legitimate use of power. But what do we count as legitimate authority and how is such legitimacy achieved?Authority – a short enquiry The NIODA Group Relations Working Conference in November 2019 (Identity, Gender, Authority and Community at Work) has a focus on how difference and identity influence the ways we take up authority […]
Trump’s style of executive functioning
Trump’s style of executive functioning Introduction In assessing Donald Trump as a president, it is common enough to evaluate his character in psychodynamic terms, for example, to highlight his apparent narcissism, grandiosity or impulsiveness. There is nothing wrong per se with this point of departure. But in doing so we deprive ourselves of learning about […]
Community at Work
The 2019 NIODA Group Relations Conference aims to explore the idea of the community at work, especially those systems within the community that affect or are affected by identity and gender, and how these are affected by authority relations see
Professor Emeritus John F Newton
Professor Emeritus John F Newton, conferred at NIODA graduation ceremony 2018 Read of this fitting tribute to an extraordinarily gifted man, and his career that has impacted Victorian organisations in a profound way. You are likely to have been privy yourself to John’s wisdom (and wit) or know of others who have learnt through […]
‘This’ by Susan Campbell, NIODA graduation
‘This’ by Susan Campbell, NIODA graduation speech 2018 The poet Marie Howe wrote ‘This’ following the experience of caring for her brother before he died at age 28. It’s called ‘The Gate’. I had no idea that the gate I would step through to finally enter this world would be the space my brother’s body […]
How to coach leaders for a networked society
Our workplaces and home life are becomingly increasingly networked. Through the use of technology, people are able to connect just as easily with people who are geographically distant as they are with people in their local area. In addition, our definition of the ways in which work is contracted and conducted has changed. The gig […]
Alumnus Insights
Address to the NIODA Graduands from alumnus, Deb Martindale (RMIT Organisation Dynamics Masters Graduate 2009) What a great privilege it is to be here with you tonight. I feel very humble. Between you and our new mutual friends Bion, Trist, Chapman, Alderfer and the rest of the gang, I’m a lot more like you than […]
Learning about Economics and Organisational Dynamics
Learning about Economics and Organisational Dynamics Economics: the science of the creation and distribution of resources Organisation Dynamics: the capacity for understanding and influencing the ‘push and pull’ of conscious and unconscious resources in the human endeavor to collaborate on primary work tasks. Neo-classical economics is often referred to as ‘the dismal science’ because […]
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