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Psychology and Psychotherapy Articles

Nicola Caramia

Models of leadership behaviour in organisational coaching: a psychoanalytic approach.

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Nicola Caramia, BSc (Hons) MBA

 

Abstract:

Most of the research studies on leadership fail to contribute to a satisfactory explanation of the irrational and unconscious behaviour of leaders and groups in organisations. In this paper it is argued that current theories of leadership appear insufficient to predict the effectiveness of a leadership style in the context of organisational coaching. Leadership models have dealt with a narrow focus on the unconscious-irrational behaviour of leaders. A psychoanalytic coaching model is suggested to coach individuals in their leadership role.

Coaching can be defined as a form of personal development and is becoming increasingly popular in organisations that foster a leadership caching culture. Many different types of coaching exist in literature ranging from a special focus on the client such as executive coaching (Hillary, 2003), to neurosemantic coaching (Hall & Duval, 2004). Kampa and White (in Lowman, 2002) defines coaching as a form of consultation, an ongoing relationship between an individual (the client) and a consultant who possesses knowledge of behavioural and psychological change. The underlying process involves the facilitation of change that includes self-awareness, self-esteem and increased quality in communication with peers and employees.

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Understanding the Self: an exploratory study on Freudian, Object-Relations and Social Constructionism theories

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Abstract

This study examines the concept of the self from a psychodynamic perspective with a discussion on the similarities and difference among Freudian, Object Relations and Social Constructionism theories. Findings suggest that a unitary self is dominant in the psychoanalytic position, whereas the social constructionism perspective indicates the existence of a distributed self as individuals have different identities. Due to historical changes on the post-Freudian theories of the self it also appears that a unique theoretical construct of the self is unlike, but rather a gradual and evolutionary transformation of the self might be acceptable.

The origin of psychodynamics lies in neurology, psychiatry, paediatric and clinical science. The importance of early years of life for the development of the self is experienced by all human beings and it involves how, when and to what end we construct our internal representations of the external world and the creation of selfhood. Our internal world and psychic realities are our selves, the self is influenced by other people and much of the self is constructed from our internal representations of other people, relationships, aspects of people and the way we relate to us and to each other. The structure and content of the self develops during early infancy and childhood through interactions with our parental figures. In our internal world our psychic reality is the only reality that exists, which can lead us to a sense of omnipotence, idealisations and denials. The external world and its internal representations and unconscious memories are entangled in our subjective life-experience and the way we act in the real world.

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