Acknowledge Your Organization's Shadow Side
  • Carl Jung described the shadow side of a personality as the traits and feelings not consciously recognized about oneself because of repression, suppression, or disowning. He suggested that integrating the conscious and unconscious aspects of personality is required for a healthy psyche. If you think this psychobabble only belongs in the therapist's office, guess what - it applies to organizations, too. Organizations have personalities - we call them organization cultures - and it is helpful to recognize the shadow side that is part of your organization's culture. Let's take a collaborative culture as an example. Most organizations today strive for collaboration and take pride in promoting a collaborative culture. To embrace a collaborative culture, the organization also needs to recognize the shadow side of collaboration. It takes longer to make a decision in a collaborative culture because of the number of people who are engaged in the process. More effort is involved in bringing together various stakeholders and negotiating the disparate interests of the stakeholders. Opportunity for miscommunication increases because of the number of people involved in collaboration. Those in authority struggle to retain their authority and responsibility to the organization while engaging many voices.
What you once thought were problems in your organization will make a whole lot more sense when you acknowledge that the problems might just represent the shadow side of your organization. Don't spend time attempting to eliminate the shadow. Embrace and integrate the shadow side as an integral part of your organization's culture. Marisa Sanchez
What is the meaning of Organization Development (OD)? Why do it? Who does it benefit and how?Organization development is a broad field that draws from a number of disciplines and can be applied to any organized (or disorganized!) group of people. Based in human behavior theories and values, the goal is to build and sustain effective organizations by leveraging the knowledge and experience within the organization. This newsletter serves as a vehicle to inspire you to use organizationdevelopment in your own work.