Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource

Coley Swegheimer

Chapter 12 – Psychodynamic Approach

Questions for Study

  1. Explain how the Psychodynamic Approach differs from other leadership theories.

It differs because it focuses on the dynamics of human behavior, which are often the most difficult to understand.

  1. Explain what is meant by the Clinical Paradigm.

It offers a practical way of discovering how leaders and organizations really function.

  1. Explain the four basic premises of the Clinical Paradigm.

(1)Argues there is a rationale behind every human act, (2) great deal of mental life-feelings, fears, and motives- lies outside conscious awareness, but still affects conscious reality and even physical well-being, (3) nothing is more central to whom a person is than the way he or she regulates and expresses emotions, (4) human development is an inter- and intrapersonal process; we are all products of our past experiences, and those experiences continue to influence us throughout life.

  1. What is Freud’s contribution to the Psychodynamic Approach?

Freud’s contribution was that his perspective implied that every neurotic symptom or act has an underlying reason.

  1. Explain thefour streams of research from the Tavistock Institute.

The four streams are from the London TavistockInstitiue, Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Harvard Business School, and Weill Cornell Medical College.

  1. How did the Menninger Clinic apply the Psychodynamic Approach to the world of work?

The Menninger Clinic applied this Approach through the work of Will Menninger and Harry Levinson by doing an extensive national survey of mental health. Menninger then offered weeklong seminars, and Levinson continued to apply this theory to management and leadership at the Harvard Business School.

  1. What insights did Zaleznik contribute to our understanding of how the Psychodynamic Approach applies to the workplace?

Zaleznik contributed to our understanding by arguing that businesspeople don’t focus enough on ideas and emotions, and suggested that leaders should relate more to their followers in more empathetic and intuitive ways.

  1. How did Larry Hirschhorn use “applied clinical practice” to study organizational behavior?

Hirschhorn used this by consulting interventions that included diagnostic methods and actions based on a clinical, applied approach: exploring the organization systematically, and drawing on personality theory and group and organizational processes.

  1. What are fantasies, projections, and identifications, and how do they express themselves in organizational life?

Fantasies, projections, and identifications are a part of organizational life. They express themselves through repression, suppression, and idealization.

  1. Explain the concept of the inner theater and how it relates to leadership.

Inner theater is how the experiences in life have influenced someone. It relates to leadership by certain relationship themes develop over time to help shape our personalities which influences our diverse styles of leadership.

  1. Explain the following terms: dependency, fight-flight, and pairing.

Dependency is united by feelings of helplessness, inadequacy, neediness, and fear outside the world. Fight-flight is a tendency to split the world into camps of friend or foe. Pairing is to fantasize that strength will take place in pairs.

  1. What are social defense mechanisms and how do they relate to leadership?

Social defense mechanisms are when people may act out and engage in defenses to transform and neutralize strong tensions. This relates to leadership by the necessity of leaders stepping up in the work place to deescalate strong tensions.

  1. What are mirroring and idealizing, and how do they relate to leadership?

Mirroring is taking the cues about being and behaving from those around us becomes an ongoing aspect of our daily life and of our relationships with others. Idealizing is allowing fantasies to govern their interactions. They both relate to leadership because leaders can be forced to take action to shore up than their image rather than serve the needs of the organization.

  1. Under what circumstances do followers identify with the aggressor?

Circumstances where followers identify with the aggressor are to overcome the anxiety prompted by a leader’s aggressive behavior.

  1. Describe Freud’s definition of narcissism and how it affectsleadership.

Freud’s definition is behaviors that range from normal self-interest to pathological self-absorption-offers leaders the conviction about righteousness of their cause, which in turn inspires loyalty and group identification. It affects leadership by constructive narcissists have tend to be relatively well-balanced, and inspire others in contrast to excessive narcissism where leaders are fixated on issues of power and can wreak havoc in an organization.

  1. Explain the group coaching method for applying the psychodynamic principles to leadership development.

The group coaching method is learning to create or manage an effective organization by understanding the complexity of why leaders act the way they do.Brings a group of leaders together to reflect on their interpersonal relationships, work practices, leadership styles, decision-making practices, and organizational culture.

  1. What are strengths of the Psychodynamic Approach?

Some strengths are provides another lens to the study of organizational dynamics beyond a purely rational, structural support, involves an in-depth and systemic investigation of a single person, group, event, or community, and emphasized the relationship between leader and follower by focusing on the underlying drivers of each and what accounts for the type of relationship between them.

  1. What are criticisms of the Psychodynamic Approach?

Some criticisms are that it comes from early work that was based on the clinical observation of the treatment of individuals with serious mental issues, does not lend itself to training in a conventional sense,