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An overview is presented of some basic psychoanalytic insights into organisations that collectively reinforce the reasons why management studies should concern itself with psychoanalysis. The paper highlights the different psychoanalytically informed approaches that have been adopted thus far in the organisation literature and then raises some issues related to those who seek to use psychoanalytically informed insight to make interventions and manage organisation dynamics.

Aspects of the psychodynamics of organisation change are explored and in particular how emotion and emotionality should be conceived. A case is made to go beyond the dichotomous world of “rational” versus “emotional” and develop a greater appreciation of how the rational and the emotional can be “fused” or act in a co‐existent and co‐dependent fashion where one cannot be understood in the absence of the other. Read through the optic of identity, acts of so called rationality may simply be an expression of a deeper, albeit unconscious realm – psychodynamics in which emotion and emotionality are significant. It is through the optic of identity that the individual’s attachment to the organisation is described and the meaning of behaviour in the midst of change is canvassed. It is noted that, depending upon the degree of identification with the organisation, one encounters behaviours that reflect dislodgement of identity and those more commonly associated with the processes of grieving. Some tentative strategies are advanced in managing these behaviours.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.Abstract Raises the initial problem of what is meant by the term critical theory and discusses some common misconceptions that have arisen about the meaning of this term. The dialectic logic that was championed by the group of scholars collectively known as the Frankfurt School is outlined and it is noted how dialectics transcends binary oppositional thinking. It is argued that the body of work of these scholars has a strong contemporary relevance to issues in the management of change in organizations. The other papers in the issue are introduced.

The case literature strongly suggests that both in England and in Australia health care reforms have had very little impact in terms of "improved performance". It is in the context of a perceived failure in the implementation of the reforms that an interest has arisen in leadership at the level of individual clinical units (e.g an orthopaedics unit or birth unit), as the possible "fix" for bridging the promise-performance gap. Drawing upon extensive case studies that highlight the problem and context for appropriate forms of leadership, this paper argues that the appropriate discourse, in terms of leadership in health reform, needs to focus upon the issue of authorization. In making this argument, addresses the current conceptions of leadership that have been advanced in the discourse before offering some case study material that is suggestive of why attention should be focused on the issue of authorization. Illustrates how and why the processes of leading, central to implementing reform, cannot be construed as socially disembodied processes. Rather, leading and following are partial and partisan processes whose potential is circumscribed by participants' position-takings and what is authorized in the institutional settings in which they are located Argues that the "following" that clinical unit managers could command was shaped by the sub-cultures and "regulatory ideals" with which staff of each profession are involved In the interests of reform, policy players in health should not be focusing attention solely upon the performative qualities and potential leadership abilities of middle level management, but also on their own performance. They should consider how their actions affect what is authorized institutionally and which sets the scope and limits of the leadership-followership dialectic in clinical settings.

While the Internet and email can be great assets to an organisation, especially in respect to creating new knowledge, nonetheless a number of problems have accompanied the introduction of the Internet into the workplace. Some of these problems include: _cyberslacking_, cyber-harassment and _Netiquette_. Employers have attempted to obviate these problems by developing Internet usage policies, implementing filtering software and monitoring their workers. It has also been suggested that psychological tests could assist employers in identifying potentially _problem_ employees. Although each of these methods have their uses, none of them have been successful in dealing with such problems. We argue that if we are better able to conceptualise cyberspace and the relationship workers have with this space, then we may be able to develop more effective solutions to deal with these new problems in the workplace. This paper attempts to do just that, by drawing upon object-relations theories, developed by Winnicott, Bollas and Klein. We also draw upon Serres_ work on quasi-objects. We believe that cyberspace is a unique and important tool for organisations to utilise, but if not understood well, the existing problems that have already emerged, and those yet to emerge, will continue to be ineffectively addressed.

Jung's discussion of archetypes and the psychodynamics of mirroring is applied to the results of a ten-year longitudinal case study. Empirical evidence of such psychodynamics and insights into how these psychodynamics are related to the management of change are presented. Directions for further research are also discussed.

Much of the literature in organization theory has yielded an image of the individual which could be called `skilfully partial'. The viewpoints talk `about' human agency without having a view `of' human agency, turning what is a `process' into an `object'. Other viewpoints raise the same dichotomy, without an underlying theoretic about the dynamic between the two. An example of this difficulty is apparent in the literature that seeks to address the issues of compliance and dissent in organizations. There is little in the way of explanation of the psychodynamics that are involved. This paper puts forward an explanation of compliance and dissent in organizations and explains how these issues are very much intertwined with the dynamic processes involved in the construction of individual identity. This explanation recognizes the importance of individual experiential histories, including those that are specifically institutionally fashioned, such as gender and the primacy of work. Drawing upon psychoanalytic theory (with some of its Frankfurt School and other variants), an essential lens is provided through which the issues of compliance and dissent can be readily viewed and understood. Results from recent studies are used to illustrate this different perspective, and the psychodynamics that are put forward are discussed in terms of further implications for the field.