The Relational Consultant

Bibliographic Data

ID20177697
AuthorsServaas van Beekum (corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume36
Issue4
Pages318-329
Publication date2006-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTransactional Analysis Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0362-1537 • E-ISSN: 2329-5244
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1177/036215370603600406
OpenAlexW2574507769
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited11

The rise of relational transactional analysis in conjunction with a reconnection of transactional analysis with its psychoanalytic roots raises the question of the importance of these developments for organizational consultants in transactional analysis. This article explores what psychoanalysis and group relations offer to organizational consultants. The focus is on three core aspects of psychoanalysis: its perspective, the value of the object relations approach, and the understanding of the role of the unconscious. From there three contributions of psychoanalysis to consulting in organizations are elaborated and integrated in a relational approach to consulting. The key is the understanding of the role of the consultant as the “signifier of transformation” (Bollas, 1987, p. 14), who, while working with a client-organization, supports the organization in integrating its ways of relating into its way of being

Epistemology · Knowledge management · Object relations theory · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Relational view · Sociology · Transactional analysis · Transactional leadership · Unconscious mind · Computer Science · Personality Disorders and Psychopathology · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology · Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy