Leading Contemporary Organizations: Psychodynamic Perspectives on Crisis and Change

Description

Why do organizations fail? What hinders otherwise responsible leaders from recognizing looming disasters? What prevents well-intentioned people from responding properly to an emerging crisis? Using systems psychodynamics to analyze an array of international crises, Amy L. Fraher explores ethical challenges at Silicon Valley tech companies, the Wall Street implosions that led to the 2008 financial industry crash, and a wide range of social crises, policy failures, and natural disasters, offering a crisis management philosophy applicable in diverse settings. Rather than viewing crises as anomalies that cannot be anticipated, Fraher persuasively argues that crises can, and should, be embraced as naturally occurring by-products of any organization's change management processes. If leaders do not proactively manage organizational change, they will inevitably manage crisis instead. This accessible textbook will appeal to business students and researchers studying leadership, change and crisis, as well as progressive-minded business leaders keen to improve their own organizations.

Professor Amy L. Fraher is a retired US Navy Commander and Naval Aviator, and former United Airlines pilot, currently serving as head of department in the Southampton Business School. She has authored several books, including Thinking Through Crisis: Improving Teamwork and Leadership in High-Risk Fields (Cambridge, 2011).

'This is a 'must read' book for anyone interested in how crises arise, how they need to be understood, and how they can be managed. Taking a multidisciplinary approach and a psychodynamic perspective, Fraher combines scholarly rigour with practical relevance to provide critical insights into processes of organizing, organizational change, and leadership relevant to scholars, practitioner and students alike.' Andrew Brown, University of Bath 'Fraher's book challenges us all to think differently about crisis as a manifestation of change and therefore an everyday concern for both business scholars and practitioner leaders alike.' Layla Branicki, Macquarie Business School 'A wide ranging and up to date critique of traditional approaches to crisis, and a constructive alternative to the latter. It should be on the reading list of all interested in, or faced with, leading in crises.' Keith Grint, University of Warwick 'Using her personal experience of major crises including a memorable account of piloting a commercial plane on 9/11, the author demonstrates that crisis is an inevitable feature of contemporary life and something that all organizations are called to face from time to time. Crisis results from our inability to cope with conditions of extreme change and unpredictability that trigger explosive feelings of anxiety. Her analysis of denial and scapegoating as the psychological default responses to anxiety makes this book essential reading for scholars and students of organizations but also for organizational leaders, consultants and followers willing to look beyond the blame game.' Yiannis Gabriel, Emeritus Professor, University of Bath 'This is a much needed contribution offering an in- depth understanding how leadership works and why it fails. The volume by Fraher is theoretically sophisticated and highly readable - an indispensable guide for scholars and practitioners alike.' Marianna Fotaki, University of Warwick 'All CEOs and Risk and Crisis leaders within organizations should read this thought provoking book. Amy dissects a wide range of contemporary crises in a critical manner and helps explain why most of these could have been avoided.' Brian McGarrie, Director, Part Time BSc Business Management Programme (Singapore), University of Birmingham