Reflections on Groups and Organizations is the third and final book in theOn the Couch with Manfred Kets de Vries series.

Broadening the Kets De Vries canvas, this book examines concepts of organizational health, performance, and change. Material ranges from studies of high performance teams based on time the author spent with the pygmies of central Africa to the study of organizational stars, to the use of coaching interventions to improve personal and organizational functioning.

Kets de Vries looks at the interpersonal and group processes that determine how organizations work within specific contexts, including family firms. He studies dysfunctional leader-follower relationships, downsizing, and organizational transformation. Kets de Vries also introduces his concept of the "authentizotic" organization a pleasant, healthy, well-functioning workplace.

Manfred Kets de Vries brings a much-needed fresh perspective to the subjects of leadership and change, drawing on his knowledge of economics, management, psychology and psychoanalysis.
He is Clinical Professor of Leadership at INSEAD where he holds the Raoul de Vitry dAvaucourt Chair of Leadership Development. He is also a Visiting Distinguished Professor at the European School of Management and Technology, (ESMT), Berlin. In addition, he has held professorships at McGill University, the Ecole des Haute Etudes Commerciales in Montreal, and Harvard Business School, and has lectured at management institutions all over the world. He is the author, co-author, or editor of more than 35 books, includingThe Leader on the Couch andFamily Business on the Couch, and over 300 articles and papers.
The Financial Times, Le Capital, Wirstschaftwoche, andThe Economist have judged Manfred Kets de Vries one of the worlds leading thinkers on leadership. In 2008, he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Leadership Association as a "founding professional of the development of leadership as a field and as a discipline." Previously, in 2005, he was the first non-American recipient of the ILA Leadership Award for his "contributions to the classroom and the boardroom." In 2010, the Dutch Psychoanalytic Institute presented Manfred Kets de Vries with the Freud Memorial Award in acknowledgment of his exceptional work on the interface between psychoanalysis and organizations.

Introduction ix

About This Book xix

Acknowledgements xxi

PART 1 INTERPERSONAL AND GROUP PROCESSES 1

Introduction 2

Chapter 1Folie à Deux: Acting Out Your Superior's Fantasies 5

Chapter 2 Group Dynamics 27

Chapter 3 High Performance Teams: Lessons From the Pygmies 43

PART 2 THE PEOPLE DIMENSION IN ORGANIZATIONS 65

Introduction 66

Chapter 4 The Question of Organizational Culture 71

Chapter 5 Personality, Culture and Organizations 91

Chapter 6 The Downside of Downsizing 121

Chapter 7 Beyond the Quick Fix: The Psychodynamics of Organizational Transformation and Change 151

Chapter 8 The Dynamics of Family Controlled Firms 173

PART 3 CHANGING PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS 191

Introduction 192

Chapter 9 Leadership Coaching for Organizational Transformation 197

Chapter 10 Can Leaders Change? Yes, but Only if They Want To 225

Chapter 11 The Many Colors of Success: What Do Executives Want Out of Life? 259

Chapter 12 Coaching to Stardom: How to Identify and Develop Top Performers 281

Conclusion: Creating Authentizotic Organizations303

References 313

Index 327