Katharina Balazs

Transforming the Mind-Set of the Organization: A Clinical Perspective

In this article the processes of individual and organizational change—their characteristics and dynamics—are explored, and resemblances between personal and organizational change are highlighted using a clinical orientation. Factors such as a period of distress, a crystallization of discontent, a focal event, and a public declaration of intent are shown to play a role in both individual and organizational change. The process of working through the loss associated with change—a process that is made up of a number of predictable stages: shock, disbelief, discarding, and realization—is outlined. Social support, locus of control, and hardiness are introduced as factors facilitating the change process. Finally, a case study showcasing a company that experienced a dramatic transformation is presented to highlight some of the critical change variables and to show how top management can use many of the levers that make for a successful transformation and change program.

Creating the “Authentizotic” Organization: Corporate Transformation and its Vicissitudes—A Rejoinder

This article is a rejoinder to the critique by Robert Golembiewski of the authors’ article “Transforming the Mind-Set of the Organization: A Clinical Perspective,” in which the processes of individual and organizational change and the resemblance between them were highlighted. Golembiewski’s major points of criticism suggested limitations to the authors’ approach to organizational transformation, possible negative ethical implications, and low estimates of success rates. He referred to quality of working life (QWL) and organizational development (OD) studies as more appropriate approaches. The authors respond by emphasizing the difference between small-scale change as represented by QWL and OD and major organizational transformation efforts they have engaged in, pointing out the dimension added by the clinical orientation to conventional approaches to organizational change as one that may be more appropriate for the shift in organizational paradigms. The authors clarify the definition of healthy organizations and introduce the concept of the “authentizotic” organization.

The Shadow Side of Leadership

This chapter explores the origins and manifestations of the failure factors in leadership. It reviews some of the psychological pressures leaders face, such as the loneliness of command, addiction to power, fear of envy, depression and narcissistic behaviour. It makes a distinction between two forms of narcissism: reactive and constructive. Furthermore, it explores the relationship between personality, leadership style, culture, strategy and organisation. The article concludes by making a number of suggestions of how to cope with dysfunctional leadership behaviour.

Coaching in a Family Conundrum

Katharina Balazs finds herself in a family-business situation that is charged with past history and current emotions. Financial needs, career prospects, life expectations, and relationships between family members create a multilayered challenge for the coach, who has a limited number of sessions at her disposal and thinks that years of therapy are probably needed to deal properly with the issues presented. The coach is also challenged by her own confusion about where her loyalties lie: With the coachee or with the party paying the coach’s fees.