MGMT341 Organizational and Industrial PsychologyGroup A – at l.docx

MGMT341 Organizational and Industrial Psychology
Group A – at least 350 words each
1. How do motivation psychologists equivocate?
2. How can behaviorism be said to be an inconsistent
psychology?
3. Why did Thomas Szasz write: ‘psychiatry is the disease it
pretends to cure’?
4. Why have industrial psychologists been called the ‘servants
of power’?
Group B – at least 200 words each
5. Existentialism in workplace
6. The crises of adult life
7. The consequences of scientific psychology
8. Connection between Existentialism and psychology
Topic 7 – Group dynamics
MGMT341 – Industrial and Organizational Psychology
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Summary of Topic 6
If psychology wants to be scientific, it must study entities that
are observable
Concepts like ‘psyche’, ‘personality’, ‘mind’ or ‘self’ are ruled
out from the onset

Two alternatives present themselves
Studying society instead of personality: psychologists have to
become sociologists
Studying behaviour, without references to internal and
unobservable causes, structures, states or events: psychologists
have to become behaviourists
Anyone committed to personal responsibility will find either
option unattractive, for both lead to considering human beings
as products of their past and present environment, automatas
unable to make choices
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Social psychology
Another option must be sought after: rather than trying to study
personality or society separately, one can study the relationship
between the two
Many of the words used to make sense of human existence are
relational words: power, authority, obedience, conformity,
parent, husband, wife, teacher, student
This is the option favoured by those authors known as social
psychologists
Important names: Lewin, Asch and Milgram in industrial
psychology (this topic), Szasz in psychiatry (topic 9)
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Topic 7: Agenda
The Hawthorne Studies
Gestalt theory
Force field analysis
Asch’s and Milgram’s experiments
Experimenting and deceiving
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The Hawthorne Studies
In 1924, members of the US National Academy of Science
started a series of experiments at the Hawthorne plant of
Western Electric
In the spirit of Taylor, their intention was to study the effect of
working conditions (notably lighting, working hours, rests and
pay) on productivity
The experimental findings were unexpected and seemingly
incomprehensible
Productivity increased whatever experimenters did, even under
adverse working conditions
Monetary incentives had seemingly very little effect
The studies were abandoned, then resumed and continued until
1932 under the supervision of Elton Mayo of Harvard Business
School
Video here
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Interpreting the Hawthorne Studies
If managers welcomed the findings for obvious reasons (higher
wages do not lead to higher productivity), psychologists were
left puzzled
Mayo’s proposed answer (widely accepted to this day) was one
made on social psychological lines
Social norms, group standards and shared beliefs more strongly
influence individual output and work behavior than physical
conditions and financial incentives do
In other words, workers value not the job in itself or its
financial outcomes, but the relationships they entertain with

fellow workers; in particular, the very fact of being observed
and of being asked what matters in the work environment seems
to be enough for workers to produce more
It was the Hawthorne Studies that spurred the interest in
employee motivation
They triggered what is called the Human Relations movement
(1930s-1940s), which displaced Scientific Management as the
dominating management model
The Hawthorne Studies remain to date the most influential
social experiment in Industrial Psychology
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Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)
Lewin is often called the father of social psychology
Lewin was born in Prussia (in a place that is now part of
Poland) but emigrated to the USA in 1933 and came to fame in
that country
Although less popular today than he used to be, Lewin is
remembered for coining the expressions ‘group dynamics’ and
‘action research’, as well as for inventing ‘force field’ analysis
Lewin was among the first to study organizational development
and change management
Lewin also pioneered the study of organizational climate and
culture: anyone studying these fields is indebted to Lewin’s
ideas in one way or another
For all these reasons, Lewin’s work remains very important to
industrial and management psychologists
Lewin came to psychology by way of Gestalt theory and
remained a Gestaltist all his life; a few words on Gestalt theory
is therefore required before Lewin’s ideas can be exposed
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Gestalt theory
Gestalt theory originated in Germany in the last decade of the
19th century
Gestaltists hold that human beings perceive any given situation
as an organised whole (Gestalt in German, plural Gestalten),
which takes a meaning as such, distinct from the separate
meanings of the parts that compose it
For Gestaltists, the whole is not greater than the sum of its part
(this is a widely held but incorrect interpretation of the theory),
but it is other than the sum of its parts: the whole has a
significance that is independent of (cannot be reduced to) the
significance of the parts
Importantly, the same Gestalt will take a different meaning for
different people: not everyone perceives (interprets) a given
situation in the same way
Gestaltists firmly reject the conviction, held in particular by
behavorists, that perception is unitary (atomistic), i.e. made of
separate, discrete elements
Behaviorists believe that individuals perceive and respond to
distinct stimuli automatically and similarly if conditioned
similarly
Gestaltists insist that individuals perceive and make sense of
wholes before attending to distinct stimuli and that everyone
will understand the same whole differently
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Examples of Gestalten
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The life-space
Lewin’s major theoretical construct and basis for his force field
theory is his concept of ‘life-space’ (also called ‘psychological
field’)
The life-space is the combination of all the factors that
determines behaviour at any time
That is, behaviour is a function of the life-space; in symbolic
terms, B = f(LS)
In line with the Gestaltist view, a person’s life-space is not the
physical, objective environment E but the product of the
interaction of the person P with E
Not only two different persons will perceive the same situation
differently, but also the same person placed in the same
situation several times will perceive it differently each time
B = f(LS) can therefore be re-written as B = f(P, E) since le
life-space is a function of P and E
B = f(P, E) is known as Lewin’s equation
The equation encapsulates in (pseudo) mathematical form the
idea that personal and environmental determinants combine to
cause individuals to do what they do
The equation is meant to provide a general and flexible
theoretical basis for all psychology
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Regions and paths
The person P is somewhere in his/her life-space; this life-space
is…

enclosed by an external boundary beyond which are the features
of the physical environment with which P does not interact (that
is, of which P is not conscious)
made of regions, delineated by their own boundaries, some of
which contain sub-regions
P can pass from one region to another (cross a boundary) when
these are neighbouring
The succession of regions through which P passes is a path; the
path perceived by P as the one to follow is the ‘distinguished
pass’
Boundaries are more or less difficult to pass; when multiple
paths exist, one can be identified as more favourable than
another: the more favourable path is that which involves less
psychological distance
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Tensions
A state of tension exists in the person whenever a psychological
intention exists
This tension is released when the intention is fulfilled
A tension for which there is a recognised path makes P move on
that path, or at least makes P think about doing this
For Lewin, thinking is an activity
If a tension exists in P but if P does not distinguish a path in the
life-space to release it, then the region in which P is acquires a
negative valence (push) devoid of clear direction
P then wants to leave the region without knowing where to go,
becomes restless and starts to behave aimlessly
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Force field analysis
Lewin’s model is attractive because seemingly very rich and
flexible, while also remaining in many ways consistent with
everyday experience
It does seem to be the case, for instance, that we experience
internal tensions when we desire something and that those
tensions are released when the desired thing is acquired or that
its quest is abandoned
It is also the case that the same situation is perceived
differently by different people, or by the same person at
different times depending on psychological states and that
perception drives behaviour
Force field analysis has remained an influential framework in
social science and has been widely applied notably in
community psychology, organizational development and change
management
Force field theory describes the individual as constantly in a
state of tension, pushing or pulling him/her into behaviour
Distant features of the life-space influence the behaviour of the
individual, like the gravitational pull of the Moon influences
many events on Earth without anyone noticing
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Lewinian experiments
Lewin’s theory has lent support to a considerable number of
ingenious experiments, some of them leading to striking results
(or at least were interpreted as such)
One reason for this outcome is that Lewin’s theory translates
ordinary language and situations into equations and other

seemingly scientific jargon describing behaviour as the result of
forces operating in a psychological field
Experiments conceived upon Lewinian theoretical bases start
from a framing of subjects’ (conscious) perception of their life-
space by the experimenters
In other words, Lewinian experimenters have by definition a
broader perception of the situation than their subjects; this
broader perception provides them with an impression of greater
psychological maturity
Among all the experiments inspired by Lewin’s theory, two in
particular have become extremely famous and established group
dynamics as a branch of social psychology
They are widely quoted in management textbooks and deserve to
be studied closely
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Solomon Asch’s experiment
In 1951, Asch (1907-1996), himself a Gestaltist accepting
Lewin’s theory, devised a series of experiments in which
subjects were asked to compare the lengths of lines
Alone, subjects provided the correct answers almost 100% of
the time
In groups in which everyone else provided on cue (but
unbeknown to the subjects) a wrong answer, about 75% of
subjects conformed at least once and 37% conformed every time
(video with actual footage of the experiment here)
The closer the lengths of the lines to be compared, the greater
the proportion of people conforming (providing an answer going
against factual evidence); although there must be difference in
length beyond which people will not conform, Asch did not
investigate it
Asch’s experiment has been replicated in many settings and
with groups of various sizes; although there are great individual
differences, average results have remained comparable
They are widely used to support such concepts as ‘group

pressure’, ‘groupthink’ and ‘social influence’ (concepts not
used by Asch), mean to shape behaviour inexorably, i.e., against
people’s intentions (determinism)
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Asch’s conformity study
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Question: which line is of the same length as line X?
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Stanley Milgram’s experiment
Milgram (1933-1984) was a student of Asch
While Asch studied the way the judgment of subjects could be
influenced, Milgram inquired into how their behaviour could be
shaped
In 1974, Milgram devised what is perhaps the most famous
psychological experiment of all times, known as the ‘obedience
studies’
Full video here; excerpts there
About two third of subjects gave shocks to the maximum
intensity (thus would normally kill the ‘learner’); these results
have been replicated many times with many different subjects
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Other experiments
Many other experiments investigating peer or group pressure
have been conducted on Asch’s and Milgram’s model (and more
generally on Lewinian bases)
Perhaps the best known are
The Stanford prison experiment

The elevator experiment
Marketers who rely on the concept of ‘group pressure’ to
explain (or to claim they can influence) consumers’ buying
decisions follow a line opened by Lewin, Asch and Milgran
Sociologists and OB authors relying on ‘peer pressure’ or
‘group culture’ to explain seemingly irrational behavior of
individuals are equally indebted to Lewin by way of Asch or
Milgram
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Group pressure?
Asch found that planting a honest partner (someone providing
the correct answer all or most of the time) in the group reduced
conformance to almost zero
This shows that what was really tested in the experiment is not
the subjects’ abilities but their perception of the situation in
which they find themselves
Although there was no direct incentive to conform, there was no
incentive not to conform either: one can presume that
conforming was a reasonable way for the subjects to cope
simply and effectively with a situation that was bizarre and
understandably stressful
If this is the case, there is no need to explain the subjects’
behaviour in terms of an inescapable ‘group pressure’; their
behaviour was reasonable given the circumstances
In other words, what was really tested was the experimenters’
ability to create a situation in which subjects behaved as the
experimenters wanted them to behave, that is, conformed
In any case, if the subjects yielded to ‘group pressure’, then the
same can be said of the experimenters: they yielded to the
pressure to publish, i.e. to organize experiments that could
serve as basis to produce material for publication
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Interpreting Milgram’s experiment
Like Asch’s, Milgram’s results were interpreted as supporting
the existence of social pressure to which individuals yield
Milgram himself thought that his results showed that people are
ready to submit to a malevolent authority and that a dictator
would have no problem convincing Americans to kill each other
This conclusion, however, is much debatable
The experimenter repeatedly accepts full responsibility for
whatever happens
Rather than being malevolent, the researcher looks benevolent
since he is visibly endowed with the prestige of a scientific
researcher
Most people believe that people working at university (and
scientists more generally) have noble intentions
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Experimenting and deceiving
As Asch’s, Milgram’s experiment was a test of the ability of
experimenters to create in the laboratory a situation in which
people behave as the experimenters want them to behave
In particular, in both cases, the experimenters lied to their
subjects in their presentation of the object of the study: the
subjects were framed (deceived)
Not only virtually any behaviour can be induced in this way, but
also and more importantly, the results of such experiments
cannot be transposed outside of the laboratory into real,
everyday life
If the subjects had known the real purports of Asch’s and
Milgram’s studies (test conformity and obedience), it is
extremely likely that they would have behaved very differently
In each case, subjects interpreted their situation as best as they
could, sought clues to help them and in then end behaved in
ways they believed were expected of them
Re-interpreted in this light, subjects’ behaviour as observed
during the experiments is rather normal, in any case not

extraordinary
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Conclusion
Group dynamics’ studies have produced results that have been
widely interpreted as supporting the theoretical (and
unobservable as such) concepts of ‘social forces’ and ‘group
pressure’, advanced as causes of behaviour
This interpretation is much debatable, however; what is
purported as evidence of reactive behaviour caused by social
forces can be re-analysed, taking the wider context into account,
as deliberate (and reasonable) action
In that case, ‘group pressure’ is not synonym for ‘cause’, but
for ‘reason’; this is another example of equivocation in
psychology (social psychology in this instance)
In any case, there is no reason whatsoever to believe that
subjects of experiments are submitted to forces or pressure they
could not control while holding the experimenters to be free of
these same force or pressure
If there is such thing as ‘group pressure’, then it applies to
everyone, psychologists included
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MGMT341
Questions?
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Topic 9 – Mental illness, madness and creativity
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Summary of topic 9
Occupational stress is a relationship between workers and their
environment that cannot be understood outside of that
relationship
This is particularly evident in the case of Repetitive Strain
Injury which, in the absence of medical signs, is best analysed
as a communication, not as a medical condition caused by
inadequate working conditions
The value of understanding the context of communications is
also revealed when looking into such issues as mental illness,
madness and creativity
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Topic 9: Agenda
The myth of mental illness
What is normal?
Creative madness
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Psychoanalysis and psychiatry
The rise of Freud’s ideas has been paralleled in the 20th century
by that of psychiatry (the origins of which are more ancient,
however)
Both disciplines share similar objectives (mental balance for
psychoanalysis, mental health for psychiatry) and are based on
similar central notions

The mind
The existence of ‘mental problems’ (neuroses for psycho-
analysis, mental illnesses/disorders for psychiatry) which they
seek to cure or at least mitigate
They differ in the means they use to reach these objectives
Psychiatry seeks to study and treat mental disorders from a
medical (i.e. physiological) perspective
Psychoanalysis pursues similar objectives but through purely
verbal means (psychoanalytic discussions)
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Neurosis and psychosis
Psychiatric illnesses used to be classified in two kinds, neurosis
and psychoses
Neurotics are people mildly affected, behaving sometimes
strangely (possibly consciously but uncontrollably) but on the
whole rather normally
Neurotics often report feeling miserable in social settings
Psychotics are people behaving in very bizarre ways, so much
so that they can be a danger to others or to themselves
Psychotics often hold incoherent conversations and seem to
have lost contact with reality yet are not completely blind to
their physical environment
These terms (of Freudian origins) are rarely used nowadays; the
American Psychiatric Association now classifies mental
disorders as ‘mild’ or ‘severe’ to mark the difference from
psychoanalysis
The term ‘psychosis’ is still used by some psychiatrists when
speaking of very severe cases, however
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Mental illness or disorder
The most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5, published in May 2013)
admits that
“although decades of scientific effort have gone into developing
[…] diagnostic criteria sets […] no definition can capture all
aspects of all disorders” (p. 19)
Yet defines a mental disorder as a
“syndrome characterised by clinically significant disturbance in
an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that
reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or
developmental processes underlying mental functioning.” (p.
20)
Schizophrenia is the flagship case, but in the DSM are listed
diseases like anorexia and excess eating, addictions to
substances or gambling, hyperactive children (ADHD), cross-
dressing, sleep walking…
Therapy is sought in terms of psychotherapy (verbal or
behavioural), medication, electroshocks or even surgery (illegal
in some countries) for extremely severe cases
Hospitalisation is generally voluntary but can also be
involuntary
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Thomas Szasz (1920-2012)
Thomas Szasz was an Hungary-born, USA-educated psychiatrist
and academic
In 1961, Szasz published in The Myth of Mental Illness most of
the views for which he is (in)famous today
Szasz’s critique of psychiatry is a radical one: he argued that
the notion of mental illness is devoid of meaning and that
modern psychiatry is a misguided effort

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Szasz’s main arguments
A disease or illness is a malfunctioning or a problem in the
structure of an organ (or group of organs)
The mind is not an organ, it is not a thing: I mind (the step, the
baby) but I have no mind
What is called ‘mind’ is the dialogue within
The ‘mind’ is the way people talk, including to themselves
(thinking)
‘Mind’ is a social, moral and linguistic concept, not a scientific
or medical one
The mind therefore cannot be sick or ill (only organs can); there
cannot be any ‘mental illness’
‘Mental illness’ is not something a person has, but is something
that a person does
Minds can be ‘sick’ only in the sense that economies or jokes
can be ‘sick’: ‘mental illness’ is a metaphor for unusual,
inadequate or inacceptable behaviour
If there is no mental illness, there can be neither treatment nor
cure
People may change their behaviour with or without psychiatric
intervention
If psychiatric, intervention is called ‘treatment’ and its effect, if
in a direction that is socially approved is called ‘recovery’
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Signs and symptoms: illness and role-
playingSignSymptomPatientExampleYesYesYesPatient with
symptomatic illness (‘normal’ patient)YesYesNoNon-patient
with symptomatic illness (‘stoic’ or ‘hardy’
individual)YesNoYesPatient with asymptomatic illness
(detected through a routine visit)YesNoNoNon-patient with

asymptomatic illness (previous case before
detection)NoYesYesPatient with symptoms but no detectable
illness (‘mentally ill’ people)NoYesNoNon-patient with
symptoms but no signsNoNoYesPatient with no detectable
illness (individual declared ill for no medical
reason)NoNoNoHealthy person
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A medical sign is “an objective indication of some medical fact
or characteristic […] detected by a physician during a physical
examination of a patient.” (Wikipedia)
A symptom is “a departure from normal function or feeling
which is noticed by a patient, indicating the presence of disease
or abnormality. A symptom is subjective, observed by the
patient and not measured.” (Wikipedia)
Szasz: cui bono?
Who benefits?
The State (control of socially deviant individuals)
Families of difficult individuals
Psychiatrists
The pharmaceutical industry
Patients themselves: life is a task which can defeat you
Video here
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Consequences of Szsaz’s arguments
Psychiatric diagnoses are stigmatising labels, phrased to
resemble medical diagnoses and applied to persons whose
behaviour annoys or offends others
Those who suffer from and complain of their own behaviour are
usually called ‘neurotic’; those whose behaviour makes other
suffer and about whom others complain are usually called
‘psychotic’
Psychiatry medicalises moral problems (problems in living);

‘right’ and ‘wrong’ behaviour become ‘healthy’ and ‘sick’
person
Insofar as Occupational Health and Safety legislation and
practices are based on therapeutic paternalism (implemented by
law in the name of employees’ well-being without asking their
input), they represent a significant step toward what Szasz
called the ‘Therapeutic State’
11
.
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Szasz: a critique?
Even though Szasz’s arguments have attracted loud and intense
criticism, no convincing counter-argument has been offered to
date
His critics do not seem to grasp the full weight of his arguments
or appear to remain insensitive to logic
A very common accusation is that Szasz ignored or denied the
suffering or ‘social non-functioning’ of psychiatric patients
Even if true (Szasz can be described as a tough-minded
libertarian), this finding does not bear on Szasz’s main thesis
Another common criticism is that he ignored the possibility of
discovering one day biological causes for mental illnesses
Like it is the case for general paresis (tertiary syphilitic
infection), caused by the organism spirochete on the nervous
system
Szasz admitted this possibility, but insisted that such discovery
will rely on biological signs and not merely on behavioural
(moral) symptoms: one is healthy until proven otherwise
In any case, if a biological basis is found for a ‘mental illness’,
then it is a physiological one; if ‘mental illness’ does not mean
‘bodily disease’, then how can a medical (i.e. bodily, physical)
intervention be justified?
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In defence of Szasz (1)
To date, no biological basis for any mental disorder has been
identified
The often-mentioned ‘chemical unbalance in the brain’ has yet
to be formally established within the general population
How to differentiate between the true genius and the socially
maladapted on a biological basis?
How is it possible that a chemical unbalance in the brain
translates into schizophrenia or depression and nothing else,
like dizziness, abnormal blood pressure or temperature?
If I say ‘I am Napoleon’, there is no way to check the validity
of this claim within my body (the answer is in my birth
certificate)
That ‘mental illnesses’ (problems in living) run in families is
unsurprising
If problems in living are the visible manifestations of
inappropriate internal dialogues, if my parents face problems I
am likely to face them too, since my parents taught me to speak
(to myself)
Besides, if ‘mental disorder’ means ‘brain disease’, then the
expression is redundant and misleading
13
Cf. CCHR video.
13
In defence of Szasz (2)
Psychiatric diagnoses are based exclusively on symptoms, i.e.
on interpretations of behaviour made by the patient and / or the
practitioner; these interpretations are subjective, framed by

circumstances as well as heavily morally and culturally biased
Psychiatry has in fact little interest in seeing objective and
biological tests being developed, for patients diagnosed thus
would be automatically referred to another branch of medicine,
i.e. they would be ‘lost’ to psychiatry
Treatment cannot be forced upon someone diagnosed with a
‘bodily disease’ (tautology); yet it can be upon someone
diagnosed as ‘mentally ill’
Psychiatry is endowed with important powers, close to those of
the Police or of the Justice system; these powers warrant
scrutiny
Psychiatrists would be in a better position if they could define
‘normal behaviour’ and relate this reference to physiological
(biological) data
There are serious reasons to believe that they will never be able
to do this
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What is normal behaviour? (1)
The question of what is normal behaviour has received various
answers in the literature, none of which is very convincing
Normal is often defined in opposition to abnormal (in the sense
of pathological), which is in turn equated to specific patterns of
behaviour
Further analysis reveals that normal people behave in ways that
are otherwise considered abnormal, but in less extreme ways: in
other words, everyone is ‘sick’, but some are ‘sicker’ than
others
The question becomes then: why are some people sicker than
others? or again: what is the difference between a sick person
who behaves normally and another who does not?
Conclusion: the question ‘what is normal?’ has been replaced by

other questions which are at least as difficult to answer; no
progress has been made
15
What is normal behaviour? (2)
Another answer is to propose that behavioural characteristics or
traits are normally distributed and that the most frequent trait
defines normality
Extreme deviations from the norm indicate pathology, or again
abnormal simply means unusual
If this is the case, the extremely intelligent person is just as
abnormal, or sick, than the extremely unintelligent one
Yet there are many cases where extreme behaviour is the norm
(for instance, at one’s wedding, one is supposed to be very
happy) or where normal behaviour is extreme (soldiers are
supposed to kill enemies during battle)
Conclusion: the statistical approach to normality also fails
16
What is normal? (3)
Normality has also been defined as ‘good’ in a moral or legal
sense
Behaving normally is then synonymous to doing ‘the right
thing’
Problem: the definition of the right thing to do keeps changing
across times and places
Headhunting (chopping and desiccating heads of people) is
admired in some cultures, but is disapproved elsewhere
Slavery remained for centuries acceptable and expected, but is
now banned and considered wrong
17
What is normal? Conclusions

There is no stable and consensual definition of what is normal
behaviour
‘Normal’ simply means ‘expected or considered as reasonable
by most people’ given the circumstances
‘Normality’ (sanity) is therefore a moral and cultural concept,
not a medical one
Psychiatrists cannot ‘cure’ someone who misbehaves (behaves
strangely)
“The madman is not the man who has lost his reason; the
madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.”
(G. K. Chesterton)
If ‘normal’ means ‘expected’, then ‘abnormal’ means
‘unexpected’
It is enough to say something that goes against received
expectations to be considered ‘abnormal’ or ‘mad’: those who
held that the Earth was round, not flat, or that objects heavier
than air could fly were considered as dangerous lunatics in their
time
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Creative madness
‘Genius is (indeed) next to madness’: there is no fundamental
difference between the genius and the madman before what they
say is put to empirical test
Both hold on to ideas which run against established beliefs,
conventions or general expectations
The more what they advance departs from accepted wisdom and
the more vocal they are in their claims, the less attention they
are granted and the less likely a fair test of their ideas will be
organised
Mainstream (scientific) psychologists are unable to tell the
difference between the creative genius and the madman
They tend to label both ‘mentally ill’
As a result, there has been very few studies of creativity
conducted by psychologists worth mentioning

19
The creative process
The history of arts and science shows that no one has a better
chance of dying alone and in poverty than the authentic genius
whose ideas will eventually revolutionise parts of society
When a new idea appears, it is usually first called stupid, then
considered dangerous because going against the social order,
then finally taken for granted because self-evident
Social critic and writer Arthur Koestler proposed an attractive
account of the creative process; according to Koestler, to
innovate, one must…
acquire a solid knowledge of a field, enough to understand its
weaknesses and limitations but not to the point to be trapped in
its dominating models and ways of thinking (so-called ‘experts’
are never inventors)
do not try to force a new idea into being but wait for it to
‘spring to mind’ while going about other matters
write down and investigate carefully the value of the new idea
“The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems
afterwards” (Arthur Koestler)
20
Madness and creativity
Creative people are people who appear to be able to free
themselves from convention and apparent logic
They do not listen to people around them saying that something
is impossible
They are not deterred by propositions like ‘if A then not B, if B
then not A’ but try to reconcile A and B
If this is the case, then passion and rationality, logic and
creativity cannot be reconciled, at least not at the same time
To be passionate about something means to be irrational about
it

Creativity demands determination, courage and sometimes even
sacrifice: swimming against the current is difficult, exhausting
and often dangerous
Today, the risk of being called ‘mentally ill’ is very high when
one tries to innovate
Creativity cannot be controlled, let alone commanded
‘Be creative!’ or ‘be yourself!’ are self-contradicting
instructions
21
MGMT341
Questions?
22
Topic 12 – Individuality development
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1
Summary of topic 11
Following the Stoics, Ellis insisted that it is not what happens
that upsets and distresses people, but beliefs they develop about
what happens to them
One’s beliefs about events are under one’s control
What really matters is to remember that one is always able to
talk to oneself in ways that are self-promoting, rather than self-
defeating
Rhetoric, then, is remedy to life’s problems
But what of the formative parts of life? Why do different people

develop differently and live so different lives?
2
Topic 12: Agenda
Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
The birth of ‘I-consciousness’
Life crises, or the continuing struggle for identity
3
3
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
Piaget was a Swiss psychologist remembered for his studies in
child development; before him, children were assumed to differ
from adults only in what they knew, not in the ways they
thought
Yet children of different ages perform differently on IQ tests,
even when answering their questions do not require specific
knowledge but only reasoning
Piaget showed that children process information about the world
in ways which differ markedly from those of adults but which
are consistent and stable for a given age, because linked to
biological maturation
Piaget’s ideas have been very influential
They have led to what is often called today ‘child-centered’
education: the idea that children’s psychological development
must determine teaching and not the other way around
Piaget’s early theories were used by Elton Mayo in his analysis
of the Hawthorne Studies; Abraham Maslow retained Piaget’s
later conception of staged cognitive development when working
on his hierarchy of needs
Piaget’s theory on the development of the sense of causation
has remain a classic to this day

4
Stages of cognitive development (1)
After observing children (including his own) in daily situations,
Piaget proposed four stages in cognitive development, each with
several sub-stages
Later psychologists such as Erik Erikson (1902-1994) and
Walter Mischel (b. 1930) have proposed other models of
progressive psycho-cognitive developments but remain indebted
to Piaget
During the ‘sensorimotor’ stage (0-2), infants dissociate
themselves from their environment and learn object permanence
That is, infants progressively understand that objects continue
to exist even when they are not perceived
During the ‘pre-operational stage’ (2-7), the child learns to
speak and process information yet struggles with logic and to
see things from different perspectives
Children tend to take everything at face value even if they have
received information that goes against a surface interpretation
and believe that everyone sees the world as they do, from the
position they currently occupy
5
Stages of cognitive development (2)
In the ‘concrete operational stage’ (7-11), children learn to use
logic appropriately, but struggle with abstract reasoning
That is, they are capable of solving logical questions only when
these relate to concrete concepts (tangible objects)
Piaget’s final stage is the ‘formal operational stage’ (11 up to
20)
At this stage, children (young adults) are able to engage in
progressively more difficult formal, abstract thinking and
address purely logical questions
This kind of thinking, required in science, mathematics,

literature, etc. involves hypothetical (‘what-if’) situations that
are not found in reality
To support his ideas, Piaget devised many experiments, some of
which are still used today to assess a child’s intellectual
development
Videos here and there
6
The sense of causation
Central to Piaget’s work is his view on the development of the
sense of causation
Piaget theorised that even infants have a notion of causation, for
once they realise that activities lead to results that are pleasant
to them, they tend to repeat these activities
While Piaget’s hypotheses cannot be verified since infants
cannot report on their experiences, it is the case that infants’
world is rich in two-event sequences: pain-own cry; own cry-
parent (and food) appears; food-pain recedes, etc.
The identification of regular two-event sequences or patterns is
the first step to make sense of a confusing environment
One can reasonably assume that this ability is innate, i.e. that it
is not learnt but progressively develops and becomes more
sophisticated (like a baby’s ability to walk)
It is also the case that parents consistently (if not always
consciously) demonstrate and encourage the child to understand
that some events produce others predictably
Squeezing a rubber duck leads it to make a sound, etc.; when
adults touch the infant, this is followed by a sensation of
touching
7
Causes and pseudo-causes
Not all two-event associations, even if very regular, are causal
sequences

Behaviour is usually associated with signs (sound, displaced
objects, tangible results) but this is not automatic
Some actions are followed by pain, others by pleasure or are
neutral but this association is not constant and can be reversed
(overeating causes discomfort, for instance)
In particular, symbolic connections are not causal relationships
Calling out the name of a person is not always followed by the
appearance of this person
Once the difference between causes and pseudo-causes is
understood
Symbols can be used in communications, first as they refer to
concrete objects, then as pure abstractions
Rewards and punishments can be distinguished from pleasurable
and painful events: a reward is a pleasurable event 1) which is
not automatic and 2) the cause of which is another person (same
distinction with regard to punishment vs. painful event)
8
Third to first person speech
Children, up to 5 years of age, tend to speak of themselves in
the third person
That is, they often say their own name when referring to
themselves: ‘Peter is hungry’ or ‘Katy is tired’
This way of speaking is challenged by two phenomena taking
place concurrently
Using their growing ability to identify patterns, children cannot
not notice that people around them use ‘I’ to name the cause of
the effects they produce
This understanding emerges while their parents, through
rewards and punishments, educate their children in seeing
themselves as being responsible for the consequences of what
they do
9

The ‘age of reason’
Usually by the age of 7, children emerge equipped with an ‘I-
consciousness’, that is, start to develop their self-consciousness
They understand they are the cause of their actions and can plan
(and choose) their behaviour accordingly
They hold others responsible for the consequences of their
actions
The birth of ‘I-consciousness’ allows children to start having
more complex conversations about themselves and others
This is why this period is also traditionally called ‘the age of
reason’; it is often associated with the 7th birthday
This event is comparable to (and occurs at about the same time
that) the transition from Piaget’s pre-operational to concrete
operational stages
When the age of reason and the concrete operational stage are
reached (that is, when the concept of causation is understood),
children emerge with a sense of personal responsibility
10
Coming of age
Between 15 and 20 years of age, most people face the task of
‘finding themselves’
This usually means adopting serially various styles of behaviour
and clothing (perhaps modelled on the public image of actors,
singers, celebrities, etc.) while going through an important
bodily transformation, until a synthesis emerges
This effort is often accompanied by a rejection of established
rules, relationships (especially with parents) and of whatever
role models the person was attracted to as a child
During this transition, people tend to engage in extreme sports
or physical activities; many travel abroad, seek out as many
experiences as possible and some even try drugs
Engaging in difficult studies or personal projects (becoming a
chess champion, writing software, books, poetry, composing
music, etc.) are other possible avenues in which rebellious

energy can be channelled
11
Identity crises
German-American psychologist Erikson called the teenage or
‘coming of age’ phase the ‘identity crisis’
While most people emerge with a sense of identity, others fail
to settle on stable patterns of behaviour
The result is a ‘role confusion’ which often translates into
promiscuity or isolation (video here)
12
The crises of adulthood
Adulthood is marked by another major difficulty, that of finding
a balance between one’s newly-found personal identity and
one’s parent or professional role
Children and professional organisations have one point in
common: they make exacting demands on the individual with no
or little room for negotiation
In both cases, success in the new role demands that one
surrenders to and accepts to be largely defined by relationships,
with children as a parent, with colleagues as a professional
At the extreme, the wife becomes a picture-perfect ‘model’
housewife and the husband moulds himself to become an
‘organisation man’ (or vice-versa)
When this conflict disappears (when the relationships in which
one has engaged as parent or professional are relaxed or cease
to be), the conditions for yet another crisis are set
The joy of seeing one’s children leaving the nest is offset by the
feeling of loneliness and isolation that follows (a large house
without children feels very empty)
13

The crisis of retirement
Retirement, even when it is welcomed, is often a very difficult
transition
Overnight the successful professional, executive or athlete
looses all authority, power, status, prestige and perks
Many couples are left with the task of living together again and
to busy themselves without external support
If in good health, retirees can decide to travel, volunteer or take
part in many social activities
Divorces and sudden ill-health or not uncommon
Insofar as the role of looking after the children is traditionally
devolved to wives, women tend to experience the ‘retirement
crisis’ (in this case triggered by children’s independence)
earlier than men
14
Coping strategies
To cope with this crisis, retirees (especially women)…
re-enter the workforce and find a new identity as a professional
(perhaps after additional studies)
start their own business
invest their time and energy in a hobby or charity work
become ‘desperate housewives’, have affairs and/or divorce
consult a fortune-teller to find solace in the promise of a better
future
become extremely religious
become ‘depressed’ and take medication
seek help in the form of psychotherapy
In the last case, therapists trained in scientific psychology will
offer advice based on one of the main psychological
perspectives discussed in class
15
Psychological perspectives (1)

Psychoanalysis
Freudians acknowledge that their theory promotes submission to
existing rules of behaviour and classifies eccentric behaviour as
neurotic (sick)
As such, psychoanalysis is antagonistic to self-expression and
creativity
Being deterministic, it also weakens personal responsibility,
self-control and thus ultimately undermines those societies
which are built upon the principle of personal responsibility
NB: insofar as psychoanalytical therapy promises greater self-
control, it is inconsistent with its theoretical bases
16
Motivation
Motivation theorists also advocate a deterministic view of
human existence insofar as they argue that motivation is a force
that controls behaviour
This view has been made acceptable through equivocations,
especially on motivation which is used to mean both ‘motive as
reason’ and ‘cause of behaviour’
The concept of motivation-as-cause has been used by managers
to manipulate employees and by many of them to deny their
own freedom or power of choice
17
Personality psychology (dispositionalism)
Personologists, very popular in management circles, do not
seem to realise that personality traits are inferred from
behaviour and therefore cannot, in and of themselves, explain
behaviour, let alone predict it
Many studies have confirmed that scores obtained on
personality tests do not predict performance on the job and

beyond
Personality tests tally self-reported answers in hypothetical
situations; they often inquire into private matters
Management is and should concerned with performance; the
interest of personality tests to managers is (should be)
inexistent
18
Behaviorism
Behaviorism seeks total control of behaviour and assumes a
model of human existence that is entirely mechanical
Among the various perspectives discussed in this course,
behaviorism is the most explicitly deterministic; it is also the
most scientific and (at least at first sight) the most consistent
For all that, while behaviorists insist that human behaviour is
determined, they do not seem to include themselves in this
determinism
19
Social psychology
With few exceptions, social psychologists are also determinists,
since they depict individuals as products of society by way of
relationships, social forces or ‘peer pressure’
Moreover, if individuals are products of society, then society is
itself uncontrollable (the chicken and egg problem follows
otherwise), contrary to what most social psychologists and
sociologists hold
20
Summary
Scientific psychology, committed to observation (experiment) in

view of prediction is by necessity deterministic
Moreover and as exemplified by psychoanalysis and motivation
theories (and also by psychiatry), by trying to explain the
structure or workings of the psyche or ‘I’, scientific psychology
hollows out and destroys the very core of human existence
In the hands of scientific psychologists and psychiatrists, man is
reduced to a string puppet; depending on the version, the strings
are called needs, libido, traits, dispositions, personal factors,
neuroses, mental disorders, etc.
Insofar as it depicts the individual as subject to forces beyond
his control, therapeutic advice informed by scientific
psychology or psychiatry will therefore tend to aggravate
personal problems, rather than address them
The alternatives to scientific psychology are existential
psychology (which insists on responsible freedom) and Stoic
(Ellis’ REBT) psychology, with their promise that individuals
can regain control over their emotions through changing self-
talk
21
MGMT341
Questions?
22
Topic 11 – Workplace performance counselling
1
1

Summary of Topic 10
Existentialists reject all scientific models of man
They believe that freedom is the primary datum of human
existence: that is, for existentialists, people are never without
choice
In particular, in the existentialist outlook, emotions are
strategies, stereotyped behaviour that people adopt in specific
situations…
to comply with social expectations
to escape personal responsibility and ultimately existential
anxiety
If this is the case, then alternatives exist and must be sought
after when stereotyped answers do not lead to productive
outcomes
This perspective, although demanding, can be applied to
counselling and performance appraisal, that is, to work and
other social contexts where performance is found wanting
2
Topic 11: Learning objectives
Stoic virtue
Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT)
Intellectual maturity
Workplace performance counselling
Rhetoric as remedy
NB: the content of this lecture has been in main extracted from
pp. 79-86 of Spillane, R. & Joullié, J.-E. 2015. Philosophy of
Leadership. London: Palgrave (cf. reading on myGust); see also
the Spillane (1987) reading on myGust
3

3
Stoicism
Stoicism is a philosophy that emerged in Greece in the 3rd
century BC and remained important until the 6th century AD
Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180) was a major
contributor to stoic thought
For stoics, knowledge is virtue and ignorance, vice; among the
various virtues, the most important ones are wisdom, justice,
courage and self-control
Wisdom is knowledge of good and evil
Justice is knowledge that makes one superior to anything that
happens
Courage is knowledge of what should be done or chosen
Self-control is knowledge of that reason that no emotion or
passion can overcome
Conversely, passions lead to unhappiness
The most destructive passions are anxiety, fear, desire and
craving for pleasure
Desires are to be satisfied only if virtue permits
4
Stoic virtue
Human beings have the capacity for virtue and happiness but
need to choose them since neither is not the result of social
conditioning
Stoics believe that, no matter how many misfortunes befall
them, people can always do something about these misfortunes
In other words, what really matters is not what happens to one,
but how one takes it
In all situations, stoics seek to remain calm, composed, rational,
just, independent and dignified, that is, psychologically stronger
than those who keep complaining
The essence of good and evil is in the will, the control of which
lies in one’s power: one can conquer one’s will but nothing in

the external world can conquer it
To be rational is to work hard to overcome the obstacles to
virtuous life through self-talk: irrational thinking is self-
defeating self-talk
The most important power is thus that of self-persuasion
5
Stress and distress
Most people believe that external factors (stressors) are causes
of stress and distress, with distress being viewed as severe,
chronic stress
Stoics insist that such conception is a fundamental error
They accept that stress is externally imposed, but maintain that
distress is internally generated: people have to accept a degree
of responsibility for their stress
Stoics insist that stress is always followed by beliefs about
stress which, in turn, lead to either desire to overcome one’s
problems, or distress and eventually giving up on one’s life
(a.k.a. ‘depression’)
They argue that people have considerable powers to cope with
and eliminate distress
All behaviour can be changed and stress is a good reason to do
so if current habits are self-defeating
Eliminating distress does not automatically lead to happiness
but is a first step
6
Albert Ellis (1913-2007)
Ellis was an American psychologist remembered as the founding
father of cognitive-behavioural therapies which revolutionised
psychotherapy from 1950 onward
In 1982, Ellis was voted by the American Psychological
Association the second most important psychologist of the 20th
century, before Freud

In 2007, he came sixth on the same survey
Rational Emotional Behavioural Therapy (REBT), Ellis’ major
contribution to psychology, owes some ideas to existentialism
but is much indebted to Stoicism
7
Ellis’ Stoicism
Ellis embraced the Stoics’ fundamental assumption that
individuals are disturbed not by events, but by how they take
these events
Individuals must accept the fact of their free will and accept
their responsibility for creating their distressing feelings and
the irrational actions that flow from them
It is therefore a mistake to believe that stress automatically
causes distress or that distress can only be eliminated by
removing stressors: irrational thinking, not stress, creates
distress
Learning to recognise and change the self-talk that creates
upsetting emotions leads to developing greater capacities for
dealing with problems in living and eventually leads to more
satisfying lives
On these principles, Ellis developed a series of techniques
meant to help people address their problems and improve their
lives: REBT
8
Irrational and rational beliefs
According to Ellis, a belief…
is rational if it is self-promoting and can be supported by logic
and evidence
is irrational if it is self-defeating and cannot be supported by
logic and evidence
By encouraging individuals to dispute and abandon irrational
beliefs about themselves, REBT follows a critical method not

unlike that of science and invites people to appreciate the
difference between dogmatic and critical beliefs
By careful examination of facts and rational argumentation, one
can recognise that one distorts reality, that does not ‘have to’
succeed and that alternatives exist
9
Overall model of REBT
Self-defeating cycle
Self-promoting cycle
10
Stress
Why me?
Destructive (irrational) self-talk: I am worthless
Distress
This is awful!
This is unfair!
Self-defeating behaviour

Stress
This is unfortunate but can happen to anyone
Willingness to improve
Coping strategies
Constructive (rational) self-talk: can I do better?
REBT’s five basic principles
Adverse events are not upsetting but irrational beliefs and
behaviour about these events are, because they lead to
distressing emotions
When individuals believe that adversities are terrible, awful and

unbearable, they develop irrational feelings and ultimately
‘depression’, hostility and anxiety
Individuals always have a choice of how they can take adverse
events since beliefs are not forced upon them by anyone
Individuals can learn to see the difference between the
consequences of rational and irrational choices when faced with
adverse events and correct their choices accordingly
Individuals can become more virtuous by embracing three
positions
Unconditional self-acceptance (accepting that one is not perfect,
i.e. fallible)
Unconditional self-acceptance of others (accepting that they are
not perfect , i.e. fallible human beings)
Unconditional life-acceptance (accepting that life is not perfect)
11
Ten clusters of noxious self-talk (1)
Everyone must be loved or endorsed by everyone else
Everyone must be thoroughly competent, adequate and
successful to be worth anything
Some people are wicked and must be severely blamed and
punished for their villainy
It is awful and catastrophic when things are not as individuals
want them to be
Human unhappiness is externally caused and individuals have
no ability to control their emotions
12
Ten clusters of noxious self-talk (2)
If something is or may become dangerous, individuals must be
terribly concerned about it and must keep thinking about the
possibility of its occurring
It is easier to avoid than to face life’s difficulties and
responsibilities

Individuals must be dependent on others and need someone
stronger than themselves on whom to rely
The past history of individuals determines their present and
future behaviour; something that once affected their lives will
have the same effect indefinitely
Individuals must become upset over other people’s problems
and emotional disturbances
13
Three life-sabotaging habits
Unreasonable thinking: people upset themselves by making
unreasonable demands on the world, other people and
themselves (‘musturbation’)
Exaggeration: people exaggerate the negative consequences of
practical problems (‘disastritis’)
Overgeneralisation: when people or others fail to solve
problems or perform poorly at a task, they rate themselves or
others as worthless (‘awfulizing’)
14
Shame-attacking exercises
Ellis acknowledged that changing self-talk is not enough; one
also has to change self-defeating behaviour
Many people berate themselves for incompetent performance
That is, they suffer from shame and embarrassment at the
thought of their failures
It is possible to desensitise oneself to situations that provoke
shame and embarrassment by way of shame-attacking exercises
(example here)
Perform in public acts that one finds foolish, ridiculous,
humiliating or embarrassing
When one performs such acts, one must do one’s best to replace
feelings of shame or embarrassment with more rational feelings
The point of Ellis’ shame-attacking exercises is to understand

that one does not have to feel ashamed or embarrassed in
particular situations
Indeed, one can feel amused, happy or energised when acting
eccentrically
15
Stress, intellectual maturity and managerial performance
The ability to resist (di)stress is part and parcel of a manager’s
job
It is a sign of this manager’s intellectual maturity
Besides, most jobs and in particular management jobs entail a
degree of decision-making
Applying existing rules and procedures to situations does not
involve decision-making: a machine could do the job
Decision-making typically requires ignoring or adjusting, to
some extent, existing rules and regulations, or requires
improvising new ones suited to the particular issue at hand
Doing so requires independence of judgement and personal
responsibility
Performance, especially managerial performance, thus demands
resistance to stress and a degree of autonomy, both of this
demand intellectual emancipation
16
Workplace performance counselling
Workplace performance counselling is the process by which an
employee’s performance is appraised and discussed
Individual performance has two aspects
Technical performance is a measure of how competent the
employee is
NB: for an entry-level position, this aspect is typically the most
important; for a senior managerial position, this aspect is
normally inexistent or negligible

General (behavioural) performance, which is a reflection of how
the employee makes decisions and interacts with peers,
colleagues and subordinates, i.e. how the employee
communicates and behaves generally
The more senior the employee, the more important this
dimension becomes
If technical performance is defective, the remedy is training
If general performance is defective, the remedy is development,
notably by helping the employee become more intellectually
mature
17
Pitfalls of performance counselling
Most managers, when conducting performance appraisals, tend
to reprimand their subordinates and offer direct
recommendations to improve their performance
Doing this amounts to presenting oneself (knowingly or not) as
psychologically superior to them
Such interviews increase managerial control, place subordinates
in a position of psychological dependence and are unlikely to
help them improve their autonomy and intellectual authority
Scolding or the provision of advice (even if well-intended)
discourages people from accepting responsibility for their
decisions
18
Improving performance
Productive counselling (that is, counselling meant to improve
performance) rejects the traditional model and is not unlike
REBT
The ideas is to grow people’s own ability to identify problems,
consider them rationally, investigate new solutions and accept
the responsibilities that flow therefrom
This is done by helping subordinates…

clarify their situation
confront their problems
identify possible alternatives and choose responsibly one of
them
Since counselling is a linguistic exercise, genuine counselling
requires understanding the functions of language and
recognising that rhetoric is either noble or base
19
The functions of languageFunctionsWhat is
conveyedPromissoryIntentionsAdvisoryRecommendationsArgu
mentativeReasonsDescriptiveStatementsExpressiveFeelings
20
To promise, one must accept recommendations.
To advise, one needs to justify.
To argue, one needs to describe (explain what one believes the
world to be).
To describe, one needs to express (convey how one senses the
world).
20
Noble versus base
rhetoricValueFunctionNobleBasePromissoryResponsibilityNon-
responsibilityAdvisoryCooperationControlArgumentativeAuton
omyDependenceDescriptiveTruthFalsityExpressiveRevealingCo
ncealing
21
Noble versus base rhetoriciansNoble rhetoricians…Base
rhetoricians…encourage promising because it requires
responsibility and overcoming adversities.discourage promising

but encourage looking for excuses.argue to clarify
misconceptions and to liberate from prejudices.argue to
obfuscate and coerce.describe to cooperate and point to
possibilities.advise to control and promote their reputation or
agenda.describe to expose.describe to hide.
22
Example of base rhetoricFunction of languageRestaurant
manager (line manager)Maître d’hôtel
(subordinate)Promissory‘My manager will now decide what
happens next; this matter is now out of my hands.’‘I do not
know what to do. It’s not my fault!’Advisory‘You must
improve! All your colleagues are complaining about you; they
believe you are stupid! They want me to fire you! Look at how
good Helen is. You could learn at from her!’‘Stop harassing me
or I will sue!’Argumentative‘I can make your life hell!’
‘You have no choice but do as I say!’‘I don’t know what’s
wrong with me. I can’t help it.’
‘I was not late; you say this because you don’t like me. You are
sexist and racist.’Descriptive‘What’s wrong with you? You are
hopeless! You Latinos are all the same! Because of you the
restaurant is going broke!’
‘You make a mess of everything.’‘You are mean with me. You
always give me horrible looks. Stop watching me! When you
watch me, I get nervous!’ ‘I am not like this with other people.’
‘This booking system is stupid!’
‘Nothing ever works for me!’Expressive‘I do not know what to
do with you! I am so upset with you!’‘I am sorry; I’ve got too
much on my mind since I broke up with my partner and I do not
know where to start.’
23
Example of noble rhetoricFunction of languageRestaurant
manager (line manager)Maître d’hôtel

(subordinate)Promissory‘I will have to let you go if you do not
improve.’‘I need this job to pay for my Uni fees and will make
it up for you. We meet again in two weeks – you will not be
disappointed. And if you are, I will resign.’Advisory‘When
Helen started with us, she also made many mistakes. You should
have a chat with her; she might have some tips for you.’
‘You have strengths; try to use them.’‘I recommend we simplify
the booking procedure. I also believe that whoever takes the
bookings over the phone should not be responsible for taking
orders from diners.’Argumentative‘Your recent behaviour is not
compatible with the kind of restaurant this place tries to be. We
have worked hard to have the reputation we have now and
cannot risk having it damaged further.’‘The booking system is
not user-friendly; there are too many screens to go through.
Much of the information we have to key in is not relevant. This
makes it difficult to process orders.’Descriptive‘You have
arrived late 6 times over the last 3 weeks and each time I had to
cover for you. You have also made mistakes on 5 customer
orders. Yesterday, 11 guests arrived, saying they had a booking
but we did not know because you did not record their request in
the system. This is not acceptable.’know. I also forgot the
coffees of table 22 last night, yet they were on the bill. I
apologised to the clients.’Expressive‘How are you?’‘Very well
thank you. And yourself?’
24
Rhetoric as remedy
If thinking is talking to oneself as the Stoics insist, then the
languages one uses in self-talk determines how one thinks,
behaves, sees the world and understands oneself
Employing base rhetoric in self-talk will result in self-inflicted
misery
One will believe that one is not in control of one’s life, one will
not see reality for what it is or what it could become, for one
will be unable to make promises, to oneself or to others

The remedy to such misery is noble rhetoric, i.e., a language of
accurate descriptions, logical arguments, autonomy and
responsibility
The good news is that noble rhetoric can be taught and learnt
25
MGMT341
Questions?
26
Topic 8 – Occupational stress
1
1
Summary of topic 7
Industrial psychologists attracted to Lewin’s force field theory
have sought to explain behaviour at work in terms of causes,
called social forces or group pressure
Although experiments are advanced to support these views, it is
possible to re-interpret their results as evidence that people
choose their behaviour rather than being forced into it
Another field where psychologists have sought to apply Lewin’s
ideas is occupational stress, loosely defined as the opposite of
well-being at work
Ill-health issues linked to work such as depression, suicide, etc.
make headlines regularly
Occupational stress is now daily news; managers ignore it at
their perils, for they expose their organisations to lawsuits and

hefty compensation payments
2
Topic 8: Agenda
The concept of stress
Stress and performance
Repetitive Strain Injury
NB: the content of this lecture has been extracted from Chapter
10 of Lansbury, R. & Spillane, R. 1991. Organisational
Behaviour: The Australian Context 2nd ed. Southbank:
Longman Cheshire (cf. myGust)
3
3
Growing concerns
The focus on productivity at work, combined with the rise of
automation, has been accompanied by concerns about employee
health and safety
Score of studies have confirmed that work effectiveness and
employee well-being are deeply linked
People who report being dissatisfied with their work are more
likely to suffer from physical disorders than people whose work
is described as challenging and interesting
The incidence of sleep problems and use of medication are
highest among people with monotonous jobs with little or no
opportunity to learn or develop basic skills
People with constrained jobs are less likely to participate social
or cultural activities outside their job
These matters have received considerable attention from
industrial psychologists
Most countries have now adopted occupational health and safety

legislation
More and more cases are brought before the courts for
arbitration; compensation payments have been at times very
high
4
The concept of stress
Stress means different things to different people
To engineers, stress is a force which deforms bodies, ultimately
to the point of breakdown
To managers, stress makes employees work harder
To physiologists, stress is the release of chemicals in the body
when it prepares itself for action
To sociologists, stress is the reaction of people to unfavourable
social conditions like poverty, unemployment or war
To psychologists, stress refers to the psycho-physiological
changes which occur when people try to cope with demands on
them and which can lead to breakdown
Although psychologists have modelled their definition of stress
on that of engineers, important differences exist
There is no tangible entity or force called ‘psychological
stress’; only its effects on people can be observed and these
have to be communicated before they can be known
Psychological stress is therefore a relational term: it is a
metaphor employed to describe particular interactions between
individuals and their environment
Unlike physical objects, different people respond to
psychological stress differently; video here
5
Stress and stressors
Demands placed on people that produce physiological and
psychological reactions are called stressors
Shiftwork, night work or work on a fast-paced assembly line

increases heart rate and flow of hormones in most individuals; a
general fatigue and feeling of frustration are also often reported
but different people respond differently
Importantly, stressors can only be identified by their effects on
people: there is no such thing as a stressor in itself
For instance, loud noise is not in itself a stressor because of the
meaning that is attached to it: while for some people, noise is
stressful because associated with the possibility of danger, for
others it is pleasurable stimulation
If noise is understood as part and parcel of one’s job that is
otherwise valued, then people typically decide to put up with it
Stress and stressors are therefore subjective matters
Psychologists have therefore tried to measure stress through
questionnaires called ‘attitude surveys’, which try to capture
general feelings toward work, working conditions and employer
6
Physiological aspects
To assess the physiological cost of stress, researchers have used
biochemical techniques to measure hormonal levels in blood,
urine and saliva, as well as heart rate and blood pressure
Many animal and human studies have established that intensity
of stressors and hormonal levels correlate
Arousing (exciting) stimuli increase adrenaline levels
Efforts to reach a goal are associated with noradrenaline release
(‘fight’ response)
Cortisol secretion is associated with feelings of hopelessness
and despair
Adrenaline, noradrenaline, cortisol, heart rate and blood
pressure increase when performance is maintained under
difficult conditions
While it is not possible to say that hormonal secretion is by
itself indicator of stress that is harmful to present or future
well-being, it has been established that elevated hormonal levels
are associated with degenerative diseases like cancer

Which is the cause and which is the effect is not known,
however
7
Distress
Stressful situations for which there is no solution generate
chronic stress, or distress
The long term effects of distress can be serious
Being stressed, the body is prepared for action through the
release of hormones and other chemicals, which does not
eventuate
These chemicals, being unused, have a detrimental effect on
some organs
Because its effects are usually difficult to discern in the short
term but are serious when finally detected, occupational
(di)stress has been called in the media ‘the silent killer’
8
Commonly cited consequences of stress
9
Physical
Heart diseases and strokes
Digestive problems
Back pain, headaches

Increased blood pressure and heart rate
Psychological
Feelings of exhaustion and burnout
Anxiety
Sleep problems
Family issues
Behavioural
Absence
Lateness
Drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse
Accidents
Poor performance

Turnover
A loaded issue
The interest for occupational stress has had two faces
Managers are interested in ensuring that employees remain
engaged, committed and productive at work
Unions want to protect employees’ health (psychological and
physiological) for its own sake yet realise that a stressed
employee is more likely to join a union
Although both parties have commissioned industrial
psychologists to investigate stress-related matters, for reasons
exposed in week 1, most research on occupational stress has
been conducted on behalf of management
Very few independent studies exist
10
10
Limitations of ‘attitude surveys’
One important problem with ‘attitude surveys’ (a better name
would be ‘perception surveys’) is that questions bear heavily on
answers
For instance, questions like ‘are you satisfied with your present
job?’ or ‘do you feel accepted by people in your group’ attract
highly positive responses

Conversely, questions such as ‘do you receive enough
information about your career prospects?’ or ‘do you receive
enough information about organizational change?’ typically
attract negative answers
People are therefore unreliable instruments for measuring the
general fitness of the work environment
More generally, attitude research focuses on employees’
response to work, not to the adequacy of work itself
Quite naturally, managers have tended to attribute high levels of
stress to incompetent or socially maladjusted employees, not to
the work environment
11
Stress and performance
Stress is necessary to performance, even to life, because stress
is a form and source of energy
Without the stimulation of stress, people become bored,
apathetic and inactive, physically as well as psychologically; in
many professions, people look actively for stress
Without stress no one would be able to survive difficult
conditions: it is because people experience stress that they
defend themselves against a threat
The only place where one can find people who are not stressed
at all is a cemetery
Conversely, too much stress flowing from too many problems
leads to physical and psychological exhaustion, lack of focus,
irritability, poor performance and ultimately withdrawal or
breakdown
Although some people require more stimulation than others and
respond to it with energy and determination, there is a point
beyond which performance deteriorates
There is therefore a level of stress at which performance is
maximised: this is the Yerkes-Dodson Law, discovered in 1908
This is why ‘job satisfaction’ (however defined or measured) is
not a relevant indicator and should not even be taken into

account
A level of job dissatisfaction is required for employees to try
harder; in other words, job dissatisfaction is another (if
unfortunate) name for the desire to improve
12
12
The Yerkes-Dodson Law
13
A central concept: controllability
Workload has quantitative and qualitative aspects
Quantitative aspects refer to the amount of work to be
performed
Qualitative aspects refer to the complexity of the tasks involved
Occupational stress can therefore come from
Quantitative overload: too much to do, not enough time
Qualitative overload: tasks too complex, new job, too much
accountability with too little authority
Quantitative underload: too little to do, too little variation in
tasks
Qualitative underload: too simple job in relation to personal
resources
To perform, people at work therefore need to have a moderately
varied flow of experience and events as well as authority and
accountability
In order to do this, they need to be able to exercise sufficient
control over the stimulation in their jobs
The essential aspect to effective coping with stress (and to
performance) is thus controllability, the control people have
over job-related decisions

People faced with an environment they cannot control in some
important aspects often call their situation ‘stressful’,
irrespective of the nature of their job
14
Robert Karasek’s stress model (1979)Job demands on
workersLowHighControl
over jobLow
(unskilled or semi-skilled jobs)Passive
People losing ability to make judgements, solve problems and
accept challenges; feelings of monotony and coercion
(ex: janitor, night watchman)High stress
Highest frequency of stress symptoms; feelings of exhaustion
and depression
(ex: mail worker, cashier)High
(professional or managerial jobs)Low stress
High levels of participation in social activity
(ex: dentist, architect)Active
High levels of participation in social activity
(ex: actor, physiotherapist)
15
Executives and line workers report stressful jobs, but executives
declare higher job satisfaction.
Findings based on studies on bus drivers, hospital employees
and white-collar workers.
15
Other findings
Among those involved in low-control and machine-paced jobs,
feelings of monotony are more intense among young and better-
educated workers

Income differences do not matter on reported stress levels
Workplace accidents are more frequent when remuneration is
based on hourly rates
Shift-work and irregular working hours are detrimental to health
and family life
Passive jobs lead to non-participation in active and creative
leisure activities (‘carry over’ effect)
16
Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)
RSI is a general term used to describe pain felt in muscles,
nerves and tendons attributed to repetitive movement and
overuse
Unknown until the late 1970s, incidences of RSI exploded in the
1980s (five-fold increase between 1979 and 1984 in Australia;
comparable statistics for the USA)
Even if numbers have plateaued or fallen since, RSI cases have
led to very high increases in insurance premiums and
compensation payments (more than $20bn in 2000 for the USA
alone); it is estimated that RSI cost US employers over $80bn in
1993
February 28 is Repetitive Strain Injury Awareness Day in
Canada
Although RSI has been attributed to automation (including the
rapid computerization of the office throughout the 1980s) and
productivity gains, how can a global ‘epidemic’ of such
proportions be explained?
Another outstanding feature of the debate about RSI is the lack
of agreement (indeed, vigorous controversy) among experts
about its nature, causes and prevention
Four perspectives have been proposed to explain RSI:
biomechanical, psychiatric, malingering and pain-patient
17

Biomechanical perspective
RSI is a medical condition that can be diagnosed: workers are
physically injured
RSI is deemed to be a condition similar to carpal tunnel
syndrome
The injury is caused by repetitive movement, inadequate work
environment and practices which can and must be corrected
Treatment includes rest and physiotherapy; typical video here
This is by far the dominating perspective, adopted by many
National Health & Safety bodies or commissions
On such bases, responsibility lies with the employer
Compensation payments logically follow since duty of care has
been breached
Problem: no physical evidence has ever been observed to
confirm the biomechanical explanation
18
Psychiatric perspective
RSI is not a physical condition but a psychiatric problem
Workers unconsciously ‘convert’ psychological issues into
apparently physiological ones that are symbolic but not real
Such psychogenic illnesses which closely mimic physical
diseases have been know to occur ‘en masse’ in industrial
settings
The source of the illness is not to be found in the physical work
environment but in psychic or personal conflict
The worker requires psychotherapeutic assistance
The employer is not at fault; compensation payments are
unwarranted
The psychiatric perspective has been used by employers’
lawyers to avoid compensation payments, most of the time
unsuccessfully
19

Malingering perspective
RSI is neither a medical condition or a psychiatric problem but
faked illness
RSI is a hoax that workers consciously use to obtain
compensation payments, sick leaves, special arrangements, etc.
This view has remained marginal
When advanced, it has been met with public furore, since it
impugns workers’ motives and medical professionals’
diagnostic skills
The fact remains, however, that no unambiguous physiological
sign has ever been associated with RSI
RSI cases are diagnosed solely on the basis of communications
(complaints) from the worker
20
Pain-patient perspective
Workers have always been liable to experience pain
Pain on the job is nothing new and those who experience it are
essentially healthy
What is new is the decision to complain about it
The social environment (colleagues, family or friends, union
representatives, the media, etc.) has encouraged healthy people
experiencing pain to become patients with pain
This is all the more likely to happen that there are incentives
(notably sympathetic response from friends and family,
compensation payments) to do so
21
Signs and symptoms: being ill and being a
patientSignSymptomPatientExampleYesYesYesPatient with
symptomatic illness (‘normal’ patient)YesYesNoNon-patient
with symptomatic illness (‘stoic’ or ‘hardy’
individual)YesNoYesPatient with asymptomatic illness
(detected through a routine health check)YesNoNoNon-patient

with asymptomatic illness (previous case before
detection)NoYesYesPatient with symptoms but no detectable
illness (RSI)NoYesNoNon-patient with symptoms but no
signsNoNoYesPatient with neither symptoms nor detectable
illness (malingerers)NoNoNoHealthy person
22
A medical sign is “an objective indication of some medical fact
or characteristic […] detected by a physician during a physical
examination of a patient.” (Wikipedia)
A symptom is “a departure from normal function or feeling
which is noticed by a patient, indicating the presence of disease
or abnormality. A symptom is subjective, observed by the
patient and not measured.” (Wikipedia)
The choice of patienthood
Unless one is declared sick for non-medical reasons (for
instance, political dissidents were called mentally ill in Soviet
Russia), patienthood is a choice
It is not because one is sick that one has to behave as sick: one
can decide to conceal pain
The RSI movement captures the fears and prejudices of
industrial life and leads to a redefinition of oneself from healthy
to sick person
Patient becomes a status, one that is the object of empathy and
envy (since compensation payments are normally forthcoming)
from friends and peers
Being officially sick, people with no control over their job open
themselves the possibility to take the initiative, that of suing
their employer and being the object of attention of doctors,
lawyers and union representatives
RSI can therefore be understood as a confrontational
behavioural strategy adopted to regain some control over one’s
situation and ultimately some dignity in one’s job
The pain-patient perspective has not received much attention
This is unfortunate, because it is the only one that offers a

comprehensive model of the RSI phenomenon
23
A remedy worse than the disease?
RSI has been widely considered a biomechanical problem
That is, as a medical condition (first category in the previous
table)
In addition to compensation payments to those affected, this
view has resulted in widespread reorganisations of the work
environment and adjustments of work practices to prevent
further occurrences
Restriction of keyboard activities, height of desks and computer
screens, forced rotation of workers, mandatory breaks, etc.
Remedial measures have therefore reduced workers’ autonomy
and ability to control their workspace and routines
Since those who report suffering from RSI are found mainly
among workers who have little control over their job, the
remedy will at best be ineffective but can be expected to worsen
the incidence of RSI cases
Statistics compiled by the Australian National Occupational
Health & Safety Commission have confirmed this analysis
24
Occupational stress: conclusion
Work effectiveness and efficiency on the one hand and
employee well-being on the other are closely related
The quest for productivity must not come at the expense of
health and safety
Stress is a relationship between individuals and their
environment and cannot be understood outside of that
relationship
People exposed to stimuli which they find stressful are more
likely to suffer from psychological and physiological problems
These problems are more serious among people with narrow,

monotonous jobs which do not allow individuals to learn and
expand their skills
In the absence of signs, managers must remain open to the fact
that stress claims can be complains about lack of autonomy and
control, not about physical working conditions
25
MGMT341
Questions?
26
Topic 10 – Existentialism
1
1
Summary of previous topics
Analysing the individual scientifically amounts to destroying it
Depending on the approach taken, one is left with internal
entities (Freud), motivations, needs, traits, social forces or
mental disorders but the ‘I’ as free agent has disappeared
Facing these difficulties, social psychologists have tried to
locate the individual in its relationships with others
Although not without merit, this approach still leaves the
individual open to external manipulation, as studies in group
dynamics illustrate
It is thus understandable that thinkers, seeking another
approach, dismissed entirely the idea of the individual as object
of scientific investigation (an idea that psychiatry exemplifies)

2
Learning objectives
Sartre’s existentialism
Critical comments
Freedom and responsibility at work
NB: the content of this lecture has been extracted from chapter
12 of Joullié, J.-E. & Spillane, R. 2015. The Philosophical
Foundations of Management Thought. Lanham: Lexington
Books (cf. reading on myGust)
3
3
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
Sartre’s work can be analysed as an attempt to find alternative
answers to the problems that traditional (scientific) psychology
faces
If his work sounds at times poetic, it is because it does not want
to be (and appear as) scientific
Being and Nothingness, which Sartre published in 1943, is
widely considered as existentialism’s most complete expression
Existentialist psychology is now out of fashion
This is unfortunate, for it contains interesting insights
An excellent (if long) BBC documentary on Sartre is available
here
4
4

Sartre’s starting points
I am free because I must be: without psychological freedom,
human existence is nonsensical
If I am not free, then rationality is in fact irrationality, action is
reaction, reasons are causes and responsibility is
irresponsibility
If I am not free, then human beings have been in grave error
about themselves for millennia: this is preposterous
In a determinist outlook, man is a string-puppet, a non-person
Man is no longer the embodiment of a self-determined ‘I’ but
merely the focal point of internal and external, past and present
forces which result, with the help of uncontrollable biological
processes, in the movements of the limbs
For Sartre, accepting a determinist picture of man is failing
humanity; he sees determinism as a degrading position stripping
mankind of its obligations towards itself
5
5
Condemned to be free
Self-consciousness is the primary datum and the sole proof of
existence
‘I am self-conscious, therefore I exist’: my self-consciousness
is my ‘I’
My ‘I’ is the first cause of my existence: I exist out of my I
Self-consciousness is ‘freedom to’ (not mere ‘freedom from’)
‘Freedom to’ is power, the power to choose
I am never devoid of choice
When I think I have no choice, I must elevate my level of
consciousness until I recognise that I indeed have choice
I am absolutely free since I make everyday the choice of not
killing myself

I cannot choose not to choose however
‘I am a freedom that chooses but I do not choose to be free: I
am condemned to be free’
6
6
Self-consciousness is nothingness
Self-consciousness is not a thing (object), therefore it is a no-
thing
If my ‘I’ (self-consciousness) was an object, it would not be
free
Objects are; animals are conscious (aware); only human beings
are self-conscious thus free
The essence of man is freedom, is nothingness
Out of this nothingness, I must invent myself everyday: I am
shapeless but can adopt any shape I want and must create
myself out of my nothingness
I (must) decide what I want to be: I am defined by my actions
and my potentialities
There is therefore no essential difference between man and
woman
‘One is not born a woman, one becomes a woman’ (Simone de
Beauvoir): in other words, sex is biological contingency but
gender is a choice
7
Self-consciousness and emotions
Consciousness is distinct from emotional content
One does not ‘have’ emotions; one experiences emotions
Emotions are not part of one’s ‘nature’ or ‘personality’ :
emotions are mere examples of self-talk, they are strategies
employed to make sense of situations

One chooses which emotions one wants to experience
One is not angry (depressed, jealous, in love, etc.), but one
chooses to act angrily (depressingly, jealously, lovingly, etc.) in
relation to someone or something; changing an emotion only
requires a different form of self-talk
To claim to be under the control of an emotion is to be weak-
willed and of bad faith
Every time one believes that one can only surrender to a
feeling, one must elevate one’s level of consciousness until one
realises that it is not the case
One is never harmed by one’s experiences, but one is harmed by
how one takes them, i.e., one chooses to be harmed by the
emotions these experiences trigger: unhappiness is the result of
one’s allowing one’s emotions to take control of one’s life
8
Consciousness as a relationship
Being conscious is being conscious of something
Consciousness does not possess or hold any content (if it did, it
would be an object)
Consciousness is constant projection into and onto the world:
consciousness is purposive (intentional)
Consciousness, like intelligence, is a relationship
Intelligence is an ability manifesting itself in interactions
between individuals and their environment; one acts
intelligently (or not), one is (or not) intelligent, but one does
not have intelligence
People constantly seek objects to confirm their existence as
self-conscious individuals
They need the presence of an Other (object, animal or fellow
human being) to know that they exist because they are different
9
Existential anxiety

I am free but with freedom comes responsibility
Responsibility is precisely the difference between
consciousness and self-consciousness, between animality and
humanity: it is understanding and accepting that one is the
origin of one’s actions
This freedom is demanding
I am committed to my responsible freedom and every act is
purposive
I have to reinvent who I am everyday: I am (have to be) my own
foundation
My values are what I do: the choices I make today define the
values I embody and set as examples
I am not only responsible for myself, I am responsible for all
mankind: for instance, if I marry, I support the institution of
marriage
Human existence is therefore a constant source of anxiety
(anguish)
This anxiety is inseparable from freedom, that is, is
consubstantial to existence
10
Bad faith
Many people cannot bear this anxiety; to escape it and to avoid
facing their responsibility, they sacrifice (escape from) their
freedom
They conform to the expectations of society, fashion, family,
work organisation, etc.
Or they accept to be the slaves of their own orders
Or they believe that their behaviour is caused by unconscious
drives, needs, instincts, mental illnesses or personality traits
beyond their control
Acting thus is for Sartre displaying ‘bad faith’
The price to pay for bad faith is a pervasive guilt
Guilt arises when one renounces the infinity of one’s
potentialities: it is abandoning freedom, i.e., what one is

Existential guilt is the sign that one has become an object
11
Authenticity
My ‘me’ is the public face of my ‘I’: it only exists in and
because of the gaze of the others; in their eyes it is an object
Yet I must recognise that others, which are objects to me as I
am to them, remain their own subjects
Being authentic is to treat others are subjects, as other ‘I’s
This is the only way to prevent the depersonalisation of the
relationships in impersonal social structures
This is also the only way to grant others the respect which is
due to they being the seeds of unlimited possibilities
Authenticity also requires to reject all desires to be
encapsulated, to be socially validated, to refer one’s decisions
to external agencies
Authenticity is the remedy to existential guilt: I must face (my)
nothingness if I am to learn to face myself and my difficulties
in living
12
Authority and power in relationships
The differences between authority and power in relationships
are traditionally defined in moral terms
Authority is defined as the right to act (authorisation), granted
by the person accepting its rule on moral terms; it is dissolved
by dissent
Power is described as being effectiveness in action, i.e. the
actual ability to bring events to pass; it is said to be morally
neutral and not dissolved by dissent
For existentialists, this difference is only superficial, for they
insist that one always has a choice, even if between life and
death
When I say ‘I do not have a choice but to follow orders’, what I

am in fact saying is that I value my life (my job or some other
material advantage) more than doing something that I
disapprove: this is in itself a moral decision
By following orders, I am happy to grant authority and power
over me to the person in command; I could always have done
otherwise, even at a great cost to me
13
Human nature?
Existentialists insist that there is no such thing as human nature
Human nature is self-consciousness, i.e., nothingness
If it was a thing (an object), it could be acted upon and it would
thus cease to be free
Human behaviour is unpredictable
If it was predictable, individuals would not be free: the notion
of choice and responsibility would automatically disappear
Existentialists thus reject all scientific models of man (like
psychoanalysis’, psychiatry’s, Maslow’s, McClelland’s,
Herzberg’s or Skinner’s) or of society
For existentialists, the very idea of a science of man or of
society (social science in general) is not only misguided, but is
also an attack on human dignity
14
Employees as string puppets?
15
15
Popular psychological theories (especially those used in
management) attribute the cause of one’s behaviour to aspects
beyond one’s control

Maslow and McClelland: people must satisfy their ‘needs’
Skinner: people automatically respond to positive and negative
reinforcement
Herzberg: hygiene and motivator factors drive behaviour
This opens the possibility of external psychological control,
explaining the popularity of the word ‘motivation’ in
management
Cattell and Eysenck: people’s behaviour is determined by their
personality traits
Critical comments
‘I’ is free; consciousness is nothingness

People are thus ‘embodied nothingness’ (!?)
Yet if human beings are not things (as opposed to objects) but
immaterial freedom, how does they interact with the material
world?
Sartre insists that the others are to be seen as ‘I’s, as subjects
This does not follow from his ‘consciousness as freedom’
axiom: if freedom is truly absolute, why should I respect others’
freedom?
Sartre asserts that freedom is absolute, that people cannot be
‘half free’
But what about children? Where do they stand in this
perspective? When do they become free?
Existentialism is a philosophy for educated, tough-minded yet
sociable adults
Sartre’s conception of freedom is attractive but demanding
That a tough-minded yet sociable person can exist at all is very
unclear for the concept seems self-contradictory
16
Existentialism and management
Existentialism reasserts the existence of individuals against a
social order which seeks to encapsulate them (most of the time
with their own consent)
Existentialism re-emphasises the gulf between descriptions of
relationships (such as job descriptions) and the reality of
relating
Where management aims for an objective view of people (as
‘human resources’), existentialists call for empathy and an
inter-subjective understanding of human relationships
Existentialists insist that, whatever people are, they are not
adequately represented by scientific, let alone mechanistic,
models; it is up to everyone to develop their own theory of
personal existence
Authority granted to management is for existentialists nothing
more than a fiction, a confidence trick (so as to fight anxiety)

without moral justification, but one that they recognise
managers cannot do without if they are to act at all
17
17
The existentialist psychologist...
Believes that the notion of ‘personality’ is a treacherous
reification, leading to labelling and pigeonholing
Believes that ‘motivating’ or influencing people’s values is
manipulation
Understands that freedom implies options and that
responsibility implies obligations
Hence never attempts to provide his clients for excuses for their
behaviour
Believes that people behave for their own reasons, on their own
terms
And that these cannot be known or should even be inquired into
The most that can be done is to help people clarify the reasons
and values underpinning their actions
18
The existentialist manager...
Uses a language of freedom and responsibility
Speaks in terms of incentives, reasons, objectives, rewards
Provides employees with a degree of autonomy and decision-
making authority
Seeks employees’ inputs: asks them to write their job
description and define their Key Performance Indicators
Asks subordinates to write their own performance assessment
report; accepts it only when it shows clear evidence of critical
reflection and commitment to improvement
Grants employees the authority to re-write the rule book when

they believe (and can justify) that it has to be re-written
Assesses performance, not ‘potential’ or ‘personality’
Plays the ball, not the (wo)man
19
The existentialist subordinate...
Seeks self-respect rather that respect of others
Seeks autonomy rather than dependency
Approval of one’s superior is certainly pleasing, but not a
precondition for action; in all essential respects, one is alone in
the world
Help from others is at times required, but in the end one is sole
responsible for one’s actions
Does not set him/herself ‘must do’ objectives, but only
desirable ones
It is better to focus on doing than on doing well
Failure is a fact of life and is merely an incentive for trying
harder; seeking perfection is self-defeating
It matters not if one achieves more or less than others, but it
matters a lot if one values what one does
Is not upset by one’s colleagues’ failures or criticisms
Rectifying one’s mistakes and showing that alternatives are
possible is more productive (if more difficult) than refusing
criticism
20
MGMT341
Questions?
21

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