The Conference is a social organization or institution. Social institutions are created and designed by people to meet needs or purposes.  We influence the organizations we take part in, and they, in turn, influence us. 

 

To achieve the aims of an organization or institution an internal structure is formed consisting of roles, tasks, and leadership and authority formations, each with their own boundaries and areas of intersection. 

 

The aims of an organization, its internal structure, the roles and the delegation of authority in it are usually explicit, overtly and consciously stated.  Simultaneously however, hidden or covert aims, needs, roles and influences materialize.  These elements which are mostly unconscious, may exercise power and influence over the behavior of the organization and its members.  Difficulties in the functioning of the system or unexpected resistance to change may be the first evidence of the existence and influence of unconscious aims and hidden power positions. 

 

The influence of unconscious processes is particularly powerful in times of significant social and organizational changes.  In such periods reliance on traditional and familiar patterns may prove unhelpful and may undermine adaptation and integration.  The breakdown of the familiar creates uncertainty and anxiety but is also an opportunity for creativity and innovation. 

 

Whether in a position of leadership or followership, the responsible exercise of authority requires that we become more aware of our own contributions to these conscious or unconscious processes.    

 

The conference is a temporary organization created for a specific purpose: learning.  It is an organization that has a short life but is in many ways similar to larger and more enduring organizations with which we are all familiar.  

Like other organizations, it has a primary task. The primary task of any organization refers to the purpose, the raison d'etre of the organization and defines its main activity.  Based on the primary task it is possible to evaluate the development of the organization, its efficiency and its success in attaining its goals. 

The primary task of this Conference is learning from experience in the here and now about the conscious and unconscious aspects of authority and leadership under threats to autonomy, identity, and existence.  

 

Our exploration and learning take place in this country's polarizing society and of our tumultuous times. 

 

Our Conference, our temporary organization, is also like other organizations in that it is composed of people who meet and work in various groupings, hold different roles and accomplish a variety of tasks. It is designed so that the processes that take place within it can be continuously scrutinized. Our understanding is based on the assumption that members, through the examination and interpretation of their experiences within the conference, will widen and deepen their understanding of their own organizations and the roles they take up within them. 

 

Authority. Authority is here defined as ‘the right to make decisions and take action’. The sources of authority are among the topics examined in the conference. Authority can derive from inside or from outside – from within the person or from external sources, from "above" or from "below” – from superiors (parents, teachers, commanders, directors), or from subordinates (children, students, junior colleagues), and from formal or informal sources. 

 

Assuming authority is always a result of an “internal drama” involving internalized relations – conscious and unconscious – with significant authority figures (such as parents, siblings, teachers), from the present as well as from the distant past, and from benevolent or traumatic experiences that left a mark, even when ostensibly forgotten.  

 

The conference, in its totality and in its various work units, will provide ample opportunity to experience and observe the exercise of authority. 

 

Leadership. Leadership has to do with the individual’s ability to identify the needs of the group or organization, to contain the emotional aspects of the situation, to forge meaning, to offer a direction, and to try to lead a group or a larger system in the direction offered. 

 

The qualities of the leader, as well as the internal and external conditions that enable or prevent the assumption of leadership may be examined during the conference. 

 

Role. Role is a structure defined by the organization or the society in order to fulfill an organizational, psychological, or social function.  

Every role has a formal and an informal aspect. The formal aspect is aimed at serving the primary task, and at integrating into the organizational hierarchy – for example manager, supervisor; the informal aspect may derive from psychological and social needs that are not directly related to the primary task – for example to be a caregiver or a scapegoat. Therefore, it is often the case that the two layers –the formal and the informal – are in conflict.  The way a person deals or copes with this conflict defines to a large extent his or her working style, and may affect the quality of their work and their feelings about it. 

 

Boundaries. Boundaries separate (but are also the place of intersection) between the inside and the outside, the self and the other, one’s own identity – personal, familial, cultural, religious, political, ethnic etc. – and the identity of others. Boundaries define and separate individuals and groups, tasks and roles, an organization and the larger environmental context in which it operates. Boundaries distinguish between the person as a whole and a role s/he/they take up, mark the extent of one’s authority, and delineate the domain of leadership. 

 

Boundaries can be rigid or flexible, open or closed, permeable, semi-permeable or impermeable. Metaphorically, boundaries are not a “line” but a “space,” a “border zone”. A boundary can be experienced as “a danger zone” or conversely, as “a safety zone”; it can be perceived as a sign of exclusion, or as a reassuring demarcation of where one’s internal or external territory end, and the territory of the other begins. Boundaries can be experienced as limitations or restrictions, or as a protecting measure, a container that enables constructive and creative functioning. 

 

Either way, the boundary space of a system requires management. 

The concept of, and attitude to boundaries, borders and limits are dramatically changing in a world where virtual reality, globalization and neo-colonialism gain progressively more power, and change our understanding of human limits and limitations, a world where the unification of a continent and the abolition of differences are gradually and systematically taking place, while in other parts of the world groups fight for their survival, fortify their boundaries, and subdivide into ever more tiny identity groups or tribes. 

 

We will examine these topics as they manifest in our experiential conference, in the context of dynamic processes, both conscious and unconscious, manifest or hidden.     

 

Organization. Organization is a construct that exists in reality.  From the early days of human civilization organizations have been formed for the purpose of regulating and synchronizing the greatly varied personal needs of the individuals comprising them. 

For an organization to fulfill its objectives, it needs certain structures to regulate the operation of its component parts. These formal structures 

include definitions of roles and tasks, organizational hierarchy, division of authority, allocation of jobs, and setting of boundaries. All these represent the formal, overt aspect of the organizational structure.  

 

Naturally, not all the parts of an organization are out in the open. The organization has a mental existence which by its nature dwells in the space between fantasy and reality, between dream and action, in the boundary zone between the inner world and external reality. "Underneath" the formal layer of the organization there exists an informal one; covert processes take place below the overt ones. Some of these covert processes are unconscious. This may be thought of as “the organization-in-the-mind”.

 

The impact of the dynamic forces (conscious and unconscious) on the life of the organization and on its constituent individuals is very powerful; these forces influence organizational culture, impact the way members take up their roles and affect members’ ability to take leadership and assume authority. 

 

While members ostensibly support the declared policy and goals of the organization, they are sometimes subjected to covert, subversive processes which cause disunity and animosity and undermine all their efforts. Support and sabotage often coexist, as do cooperation and conflict. There are intricate interrelationships between the organizing aspect of an organization and the unavoidable chaos from which the organization is born, in which it exists, and to which it might return. 

 

Unconscious. Unconscious is defined here as a space or function in the mind of the individual, group, organization or society which remains outside consciousness. The unconscious is replete with emotions, wishes, thoughts, memories, drives, and fantasies that are kept outside of consciousness to prevent mental anguish, anxiety, conflict, guilt, shame, etc. Still, the unconscious shapes much of the communication between people, and influences the behavior of the individual, group, organization and society mostly without their awareness. 

 

Relationship and Relatedness. These are two concepts which describe different dimensions of interpersonal, relational life. Relationship refers to the actual or real interpersonal exchanges and engagements that occur between people as they take up their roles and perform the associated tasks. Relatedness refers to the assumptions – usually unconscious – that people have about each other as they go about these engagements. Relatedness refers to the unconscious mental assumptions one has about others.  

 

The working assumption of the conference is that people and groups, aside from their conscious and concrete actions, tend to perceive unconsciously, and to attribute or project fantasies, wishes, fears and unwanted feelings, onto and into other individuals and groups. 

 

As a result, what we might think of as emotional systems – relatedness – may develop alongside actual transactions – relationships - between the individual, the group, the organization and society. These systems greatly influence the experience of the individual, as well as the functioning of the organization and of society as a whole.