Organizational Paradoxes: Clinical Approaches to Management

The basic premise of Organizational Paradoxes is as relevant today as when it was first published fourteen years ago - to help individuals in organizations make sense of the things happening around them and within them. The themes of power, paranoia, work disorders, leadership and followership, alienation, folie a deux, and the vicissitudes of the career life cycle remain central concerns. Presented in the form of case vignettes of people in boundary situations or coping with major life changes, Kets de Vries illustrates the various strata of working life.
Organizational Paradoxes takes the reader on a journey into the individual's personal 'underworld'. Its primary objective remains to help the reader understand the inner theatre of leaders and followers. It looks at the deep structure of the executive's world, and tries to extricate some of the wishes, fears and anxieties prevalent in the world of organizations. This is not, however, a 'quick-fix' solution for the executive keen to improve his working life. By urging the reader to practise the self-observation that leads to self-understanding, Kets de Vries reveals that this is an essential quality of leadership.