Psychoanalytic Approach to Behaviour in Organisations - Essay Example

Psychoanalytic Approach to Behaviour in Organisations Introduction The theory of psychoanalysis, which was the first complete theory of personality, was founded by Sigmund Freud. According to Freud, forces in the unconscious are what mostly guide people in their behavior. He believed that although many urges continue to be part of individuals’ characters emanating from their behaviours and dreams, they are help up in the course of growing up (Needham, 1999). As a result of this, people do not always recognize their motives and behaviours, and are rather controlled by their subconscious. In his theory of psychoanalysis, Freud identified the structure of personality to comprise of the ego, the id, and the superego. The id is characterized by deep drives and impulses, while the super ego follows the collective expectations of the society. According to Andersen and Taylor, “to maintain an ordered society, people must repress the wild impulses generated by the id. Thus, the id is in permanent conflict with the superego” (2008, p. 92). The development of the ego helps people to cope with conflicts between the superego and the id. Although tension between the superego and id takes place in the subconscious, it still shapes human behavior. Levels of consciousness, defense mechanisms, and stages of psychosexual development which are other central concepts of psychoanalysis were also developed by Freud. The theory of personality formulated by Freud applies to everyone and in all situations. According to Aquinas (2006), “although Freud’s view of unconscious conflicts emerged from his work with troubled patients, the idea was based on a coherent theory of personality that he believed could explain the behaviour of everyone” (p. 33). Psychoanalysis can be applied in the society, culture, and organisations (Sievers, 2006). This is because organisations are social institutions that are affected by developments and social change just like the rest of the society (Cooper and Lousada, 2010). Just as individuals are unique, organisations are also unique and distinct. The quality of mother to child relationship influences individual’s subsequent personal relationships. It is for these reasons that psychoanalysis has significant impacts in leadership and power, organisation development, employee dissatisfaction, and creative behaviour. Principal Concepts of Psychoanalysis Freud’s theory of personality is represented through four main concepts namely the personality structure, degrees of consciousness, defense mechanisms, and phases of psychosexual development. Degrees of consciousness. Freud identified three levels of consciousness in the human mind. These are the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. Consciousness conforms to people’s present awareness, that is, their thoughts and feelings at any moment in time. Information from past lessons and experiences is held in the preconscious. Nevid points out that “this information can be retrieved from memory and brought into awareness at any time. Your telephone number, for example, is information stored in the preconscious that you can bring into awareness when needed” (2009, p. 479). The unconscious holds a lot of the contents of the mind; due to this most people remain unaware of their deepest urges, wishes, and ideas. Personality structure. Freud stated that the personality consists of the id, ego, and superego. People’s behaviours and their ability to meet the challenges they face in life are determined by the balance in interactions among the id, ego, and superego. The three mental entities are not actual structures in the brain, but rather hypothetical concepts. Fundamental instinctual impulses or animal drives such as sex, thirst, hunger, aggression, and elimination are contained in the id. Such impulses in the id ensure that people’s biological needs are met. According to Nevid (2009), “it is the only psychic structure present at birth, and it follows what Freud called the pleasure principle, the demand for instant gratification without regard for social rules or customs” (p. 480). When means to meet a desired object in the id are not available, the id forms a mental image of the object that serves to achieve some partial gratification. Instant gratification of every instinctual demand is however impossible, a fact that infants find out sometime after birth. Infants also find out that forming the mental image of a desired object is far from the real thing. From this, infants learn how to delay gratification and cope with frustrations. The ego is formed here, in order to provide ways to manage delays of gratification, and operate according to the reality principle. The ego meets instinctual demands in practical and socially acceptable methods. “The id may motivate you to rise from your chair and seek nourishment when you are hungry, but the ego enables you to make a sandwich and keeps you from grabbing food from someone else’s plate” (Nevid, 2009, p. 480). Conscience is guided by the superego. The superego separates from the ego in middle childhood and grows by embracing ethical teachings from parents and other important figures. The superego is available in both consciousness and unconsciousness. In consciousness, the superego conforms to people’s beliefs about right and wrong, while in unconsciousness, the superego judges the actions of a person according to established morals. When a person’s actions are morally wrong, self-punishment is imposed by the superego in form of shame or guilt. Nevid (2009), points out that “the ego is a great compromiser”, because “it stands between the superego and the id” (p. 480). The ego is able to meet demands of the id without insulting the superego’s moral standards. Dynamic struggles among the id, superego, and ego form people’s behaviours. Part of the ego operates at the level of consciousness, while part of it also operates below the level of consciousness. Defence mechanisms are employed when the ego operates below the level of consciousness preventing awareness of unacceptable impulses. Defence mechanisms. Freud stated that defence mechanisms are used by the ego to prevent awareness of unacceptable behaviours and impulses, such as troubling memories and unacceptable sexual urges. Motivated forgetting or repression is the primary defence mechanism employed by people, where they banish troubling memories, wishes, and impulses deep in their unconscious minds. Although the unacceptable memories, urges, and wishes remain, repression allows people to remain outwardly controlled and calm. Nevid however points out that “yet these repressed desires may show themselves in disguised forms , such as in the form of dream symbols and slips of the tongue (so-called Freudian slips).....slips of the tongue reveal underlying motives and wishes kept hidden by repression” (2009, p. 481). Displacement, denial, rationalisation, regression, reaction formation, and sublimation were other defence mechanisms identified by Freud. Although people are able to cope with the id’s abnormal demands through defence mechanisms, they can lead to abnormal behaviour. “For example, a man who sexually assaults a woman may rationalise to himself that ‘she had it coming’ rather than directly confronting his aggressive urges” (Nevid, 2009, p. 481). Phases of psychosexual development. Freud identified five psychosexual stages of an individual’s life span. He regarded basic activities connected to life’s functions as sexual due to the fact that they are innately pleasurable, such as elimination, feeding, and reproduction. The activities, according to Freud were also pleasurable due to their importance in survival. Freud’s psychosexual theory therefore identifies the oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital stages of an individual’s life span. The oral stage covers individuals first year of life, when the mouth is the primary source of sexual energy. Louw points out that “by sucking the mother’s breast, the baby not only satisfies its need for nutrition, but also its oral sex drive” (1998, p. 45). The mother’s breast therefore acts as the object that satisfies the oral sex drive. An oral aggressive drive follows the oral sexual drive, and at this stage babies enjoy biting things after their teeth. The first indefinite development of the ego and superego begins when babies are punished for biting, and this leads to displacement, as a defence mechanism. By displacement this refers to the mechanism of babies finding other objects to suck, although this does not last long, as babies are soon restricted from sucking replacement objects, and this result to frustration. A lot of frustration may however lead to fixation. Older people may revert to earlier developmental stages, especially in cases of serious psychological tension. “The defence mechanism is known as regression. Excessive eating, drinking, and smoking, according to Freud, are signs of regression to the oral stage” (Louw, 1998, p. 45). During the anal stage, the anus becomes the primary erogenous zone. This occurs during an individual’s second and third year of life. At this stage, children learn to control their excretions, since toilet training starts at this stage restricting the anal erotic pleasure of children. “By learning more of society’s rules, the development of the superego is taken a step further” (Louw, 1998, p. 46). Qualities such as cleanliness, neatness, punctuality, thrift, and accuracy are influenced by the way parents handle toilet training. During the phallic stage, the sexual organs become the primary erogenous zones. Both boy and girl children become fond of fondling their sexual organs. At this stage, “the boy develops an Oedipus complex, which is a mixture of aggressive fantasies and guilt feelings. He desires his mother sexually, and wants to take his father’s place” (Louw, 1998, p.46). Repression and identification are the defence mechanisms developed by boys in order to cope with Oedipus complex. During the latent stage, play with same-sex friends and school work are the activities that individuals are fond of, while during the genital stage, puberty begins and so does attraction to the other sex. Mature sexual relationships are established and individuals follow reproduction, which is a biological goal (Sigelman and Rider, 2010). Impacts of the Psychoanalytic Approach to Behaviour in Organisations Although psychoanalysis is taken as a sub-discipline of psychology and medical science, it can also be applied in the society, culture, and organisations (Sievers, 2006). This is because organisations are social institutions that are affected by developments and social change just like the rest of the society (Cooper and Lousada, 2010). Just as individuals are unique, organisations are also unique and distinct. Subsequent personal relationships in individuals depend on the quality of mother-child relationship to a large extent (McKenna, 2000). For example, the ego in all human beings has a lot of impact on how they relate and cope with situations. The psychoanalytic approach developed by Freud has a significant impact on organizational behaviour. The approach has had profound impacts in the following areas of organisations: Development of organisations. Psychoanalytic thoughts, such as group or team development and transactional analysis are applied in organization development techniques, in order to do away with ‘game playing’ and improve interpersonal communication skills. Power and leadership. The study of leadership and power in organisation behaviour gives a lot of attention and dominance to psychoanalytic approaches (Aquinas, 2006). Employee behaviour. Some behaviour among employees in organisations can only be analysed through psychoanalytic methods. Such behaviours include rationalisation, absenteeism, sabotage, tardiness, alcoholism, apathy, forgetfulness, and daydreaming. Creativity. Psychoanalytic methods are used to bring out creative talents in employees. “For example, certain stages of the creative process are unconscious in nature” (Aquinas, 2006, p. 34). In recent studies, psychoanalysis is included when studying the emotional life of organisations. This is done at the individual, group, and organisational levels. A key feature of work and work places is emotions, thus, presence of the right emotional attitude is very crucial for organisations to be successful. Pride, fun, enthusiasm, trust, commitment, and care are necessary for organisations to be successful (Gabriel, 1998). Conclusion In conclusion, the concept of psychoanalysis applies to everyone both in society and organisations. Psychoanalysis is therefore crucial in the study of individuals in society and organisations, and their behaviours. This can help in understanding why they behave the way they do, and find ways to forge the right emotional attitudes for the success of organisations. Reference List Andersen, M. L. and Taylor, H. F. ed., 2008. Sociology with Infotrac: Understanding a Diverse Society. California: Thomson Higher Education. Aquinas, P.G., 2006. Organisation Behaviour. New Delhi: Excel Books. Cooper, Andrew and Lousada, J., 2010. The Shock of the Real: Psychoanalysis, Modernity, Survival. [pdf] Available at: < http://repository.tavistockandportman.ac.uk/322/1/The_shock_of_the_real_%28Cooper_%26_Lousada%29.pdf> [Accessed 18 February 2013].  Gabriel, Yiannis, 1998. Psychoanalytic contributions to the study of the emotional life of organizations. [online] Available at: < http://www.utm.edu/staff/mikem/gabrielemotionallife.htm> [Accessed 18 February 2013]. Louw, D.A. ed., 1998. Human Development. Cape Town: Kagiso Tertiary. McKenna, Eugene F. ed., 2000. Business Psychology and Organisational Behaviour: A Student's Handbook. Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis Inc. Needham, D. ed., 1999. Business for Higher Awards. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers. Nevid, Jeffrey S. ed., 2009. Psychology: Concepts and Applications. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Sievers, B., 2006 .The Psychotic Organization: A Socio-Analytic Perspective. [pdf] Available at: < http://www.ephemeraweb.org/journal/6-2/6-2sievers.pdf> [Accessed 18 February 2013]. Sigelman, Carol K. and Rider, Elizabeth A., 2010. Life-Span Human Development. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.   Read More