![Catholic, or polemical, but sceptical. The following description of the
periodical press by the Abbé Louis Baunard, in his recent publication,
[Footnote 168] might seem to have been written for London instead
of Paris:
[Footnote 168: Le Doute ses Victimes dans le Siècle
présent, par M. l'Abbé Louis Baunard. Paris.]
"With some rare exceptions, you will not find any rude scoffing,
violent expressions, unfashionable cynicism, harsh systems, or
exclusive intolerance. Yet is not controversy that is the business of
these writers, but criticism. They deal in expositions and
suppositions, but almost always without deciding anything. It is a
principle with them that there are only shades of difference between
the most contradictory propositions; and the reader becomes
accustomed to see these shades in such questions as those which
relate to the personality of God, the divinity of Jesus Christ, and the
supernatural generally. This does not hinder these men from calling
themselves Christians, in the vague sense of a loose Christianity,
which allows the names of ancient beliefs to remain, while it
destroys their substance. They do not assault the old religion in
front, but silently undermine the foundations on which it rests, and
carry on ingenious parallels by the side of revealed truth, till some
conclusion emerges which utterly subverts it, without having
appeared to be intentionally directed against it. There is one review,
the most widely circulated of all, in the same number of which an
article dearly atheistical will be found by the side of another article
breathing the most correct orthodoxy, and very much surprised to
see itself in such company. Such concessions to truth, which are
made only now and then, serve to give the publication that makes
them a certain appearance of impartiality, and thus to accredit error,
and to lay one more snare for the reader."
We may be inclined, on a cursory perusal of such periodicals as The
Saturday Review, to indulge gleefully in the laughter excited by the
ludicrous aspect in which some pompous prelate or fussy evangelical](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/780707-250521075628-72f074d6/85/The-Dynamic-Workplace-Present-Structure-And-Future-Redesign-Seth-Allcorn-75-320.jpg)
![Lamennais to the clergyman who was instructing her, he said with a
deep sigh, "Alas! M. le Curé, all these systems lead to nothing;
better—a thousand times better—one good act of Christian faith."
The curé left his room with good hopes of his conversion, and in the
belief that the faith of his childhood had come to life again in his
part. But before he could see him again, and put these hopes to the
test, Jouffroy expired suddenly and without previous warning on the
1st of March, 1842.
Two or three of the French poets had time to ask for a priest, or to
admit one when, in the hospitals to which their excesses had
brought them, a Sister of Charity proposed it. Leopardi, outwardly at
least sceptical and gloomy to the last, received a doubtful absolution
from a priest, who came when the dying man was insensible.
[Footnote 169] To all the rest even as much as this was wanting.
[Footnote 169: We have used this expression, also aware
of the letter of Father Scarpa published first in the journal
Scienza e Fede, and afterward in the eighth addition of
Father Curci's Fatti ed Argomenti in risposta alle molte
parole di V. Gioberti, in which he gives an account of
Leopardi's recourse to his ministry and reconciliation by
his means to the church in 1836; not, of course because
we agree with Gioberti that this simple and modest letter
is "a tissue of lies and deliberate inventions and a sheer
romance from beginning to end;" but because Leopardi's
letters in the beginning of 1837 and his continuance in
the composition of his last poem the Paralipomeni, the
conclusion of which was dictated a few days before his
death, seems to suggest the melancholy alternative either
of a feigned conversion or of a relapse into skepticism. He
told Father Scarpa when he offered himself to be
prepared for confession that he had been banished from
his Father's house; and that he was now penitent, and
was about to publish papers which would show his
alterated sentiments. It is amusing to notice that to the](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/780707-250521075628-72f074d6/85/The-Dynamic-Workplace-Present-Structure-And-Future-Redesign-Seth-Allcorn-81-320.jpg)
![staid and decorus Quarterly Review, as well as to
Gioberti, this was to great an opportunity to be lost of
reviling the Jesuits. Accordingly, on no other ground than
that Father Scarpa repeated as told him by Leopardi
what his letters contradict, and that he was not quite
correct in guessing at his age and described his
appearance ten years after his interview with him, the
reviewer indorses Gioberti's description, and calls the
letter "an instance of audacity beyond all common efforts
in that kind." The habitual mendacity in Leopardi's letters,
and his offer, while an unbeliever, to be ordained in order
to hold a benefice which he intended after saying a
few Masses to have served by another, make it
unfortunately not improbable that his conversion was only
pretended.]
{555}
We have not space to go into the details of these melancholy
histories; but we must give a few extracts in illustration of the keen
regret with which these victims of doubt look back to the religious
convictions of their youth from the cheerlessness and misery of the
state to which they have reduced themselves, and of the involuntary
homage which, even while refusing to submit to the teaching of the
church, they are forced to pay to it. Here is Jouffroy's reminiscence
of the happy days of faith: "Born of pious parents and in a country
where the Catholic faith was still full of life at the beginning of this
century, I had been early wont to consider man's future and the care
of my own soul the chief business of life, and all my subsequent
education tended to confirm these serious dispositions. For a long
time, the beliefs of Christianity had fully answered to all the wants
and all the anxieties which such dispositions introduce into the soul.
To these questions, which to me were the only questions that ought
to occupy man, the religion of my fathers gave answers, and those
answers I believed, and, thanks to my belief, my present life was
clear, and beyond it I saw the future that was to follow it spread](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/780707-250521075628-72f074d6/85/The-Dynamic-Workplace-Present-Structure-And-Future-Redesign-Seth-Allcorn-82-320.jpg)
The Dynamic Workplace Present Structure And Future Redesign Seth Allcorn
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- 5. THE DYNAMIC WORKPLACE: Present Structure and Future Redesign Seth Allcorn PRAEGER
- 8. THE DYNAMIC WORKPLACE Present Structure and Future Redesign SethAllcorn Foreword by Michael Diamond
- 9. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Allcorn, Seth. The dynamic workplace : present structure and future redesign / Seth Allcorn : foreword by Michael Diamond. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1–56720–619–0 (alk. paper) 1. Office layout. 2. Work environment. 3. Work design. 4. Office management. 5. Organizational behavior. I. Title. HF5547.2 A43 2003 331.25—dc 21 2002030334 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2003 by Seth Allcorn All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2002030334 ISBN: 1–56720–619–0 First published in 2003 Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.praeger.com Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
- 10. Contents Illustrations vii Foreword by Michael Diamond ix Preface xiii Introduction xv Chapter 1 Know Thy Workplace 1 Chapter 2 Dynamic Workplace Theory 19 Chapter 3 The Elemental Forces of Dynamic Workplace Theory 41 Chapter 4 Transitional Organizational Space 59 Chapter 5 Finding Stability in the Workplace 79 Chapter 6 Managing and Consulting Using Dynamic Workplace Theory 91 Chapter 7 The Search for the Organizational Solution to the Industrial Revolution 109 Chapter 8 Ring Organization Design 119 Chapter 9 An Analysis of Dynamic Workplace Theory and Ring Organization Design 147 Chapter 10 In Conclusion 163 References 177 Index 181
- 12. Illustrations Figure 1 Dynamic Workplace Elements 22 Figure 2 Ring Organization Design 120
- 14. Foreword Seth Allcorn’s most recent book, The Dynamic Workplace: Present Structure and Future Redesign, reflects the author’s ambition to rise above the twenty- first century remnants of modern-day multi-sector Weberian bureaucracy. It is an ambitious goal stemming from wide-ranging observation and experience as an organizational analyst, consultant and executive manager. From his books and articles over the years, some of which we published together, you come to realize that Allcorn cares about restoring the humanity of the workplace as much as he does its functionality and structural adaptability. Furthermore, despite his persistent humanistic critique of hierarchy and bureaucracy he implicitly sup- ports an element of structural functionalism, which evolves out of the strategic challenges of organizations and their leadership in adapting to complex envi- ronments. Hence, he is as much a pragmatist as he is a romantic and dialectician. Early on in this book, Allcorn takes a historian’s look back at organizations and organization theory from the beginning of the twentieth century. In so doing, he at least implicitly raises questions about human nature and the human condition as seen through the experience and intellect of theoreticians as diverse as Frederick W. Taylor and Mary Parker Follett, among others. Organizational writers generally agree that a paradigmatic shift took hold in the transition of Western organization and management thought from the scientific management of the early twentieth century to the human relations and organizational hu- manism movements of the 1930s through 1960s.And, while Allcorn recognizes and applauds this ideological movement, he finds it troubling as well. That is, it appears theory has not translated into practice at work. In contrast with the emphasis on top-down control and the measured man- agement of physical movements at work under scientific management, theo- reticians of the human relations school came to see the workplace as composed of multidimensional, dynamic groups of human beings with unique needs and desires, formal and informal groups, and conscious and unconscious processes. It was a rather remarkable disparity with Taylor and his followers’ earlier as- sumptions and attributions on human motivation. Nevertheless, Taylor’s
- 15. seemingly one-dimensional portrayal of workers as tools of management and his obsession with efficiency and subordinate control may seem stubbornly in- dicative of mainstream, techno-rational management thinking at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Unless I am mistaken, Allcorn observes that Tay- lorism is in fact “alive and well” in today’s high tech, spiritless and thereby not so lively workplace. In addition to his observations on the remnants of Taylorism and scientific management today, Allcorn spends a good deal of time wrestling with Weber- ian bureaucracy and its prominent structural attribute—hierarchy. It is here that Allcorn’s argument gets interesting as well as paradoxical. It is evident that the author wants us to transcend Taylor’s perpetual and trans-generational obses- sion with control in the management of people at work and its human conse- quences in sucking the life and spirit out of organizational experience. One can say that contemporary preoccupation with downsizing and reengineering has its origins in the philosophical foundations of scientific management.There may be a tinge of existentialism here, not that either Camus or Sartre is standing in for Allcorn’s ego ideal or anything like that. Nevertheless, the author does de- mand the reader’s willingness to embrace complexity and dynamic multidi- mensionality in understanding and transforming the workplace. Ultimately he views organizational dynamics as dialectical and thereby requiring managers not to control these dynamics but to contain and facilitate their diverse modal- ities and dimensions. He begins with the idea that we need to accept both the objective and subjec- tive realities of organizational life, which comprise three simultaneous oper- ational dimensions: 1. organizational rationality; 2. organizational irrationality; 3. organizational spirituality. The notion of organizational rationality signifying the formal structures, strate- gies, and realities of the task environment demands effective external adapta- tion and internal integration. These structures include hierarchy, divisions of labor, technical specialization, professionalism and impersonal norms, among other attributes many of his readers are fully aware of. In addition to these elements of structural and technological rationalism, there is a simultaneous organizational irrationality, which demands our attention and a process for containment and creative exploitation. In so doing we require a depth of understanding, insight and most importantly, humility among leaders, consultants and students of organizations. Certainly a major premise for All- corn is that we ought not try to control the presence of irrationality in the work- place, yet as noted above it demands our awareness. Moreover, the irrational side of organizational experience operates at multiple levels of analysis: intraper- sonal, interpersonal, group and organizational. Thus, if we are to comprehend x Foreword
- 16. organizational dynamics, we have to come to understand the complexity of these interactive dimensions.We cannot escape nor deny, for example, the presence of human needs for aggression, affection, dependency and ideals at work. And rather than control and suppress human nature in the workplace, Allcorn de- mands that we accept, embrace and tap into this source of human energy and spirit. Finally, his emphasis on spirituality certainly implies that workers demand human value from their professional careers and vocations, and he further as- sumes that they want to experience their worklives as meaningful, purposeful and productive. His previous book (2002), Death of the Spirit in the American Workplace, forcefully addresses these issues and I would direct the reader to this work for further elaboration on the subject. In sum, Allcorn’s analysis of con- temporary organizations has analytic depth, and his prescriptions for change are practical and moral. Yet, there are no easy answers or quick fixes. In paying attention to the multidimensionality of organizational analysis,All- corn strives for a particular balance and tension between bureaucratic, charis- matic and chaotic dimensions of the workplace. Here, he seems to move beyond traditional forms of managerial control and toward containment and creative utilization of the contradictory dynamics of bureaucracy, charismatic leadership and the inevitability of chaos—tensions that comprise real work and passionate leadership in an unfettered structural context. Sound utopian, possibly, his pre- sentation of a prototype, the “ring organization” model combines (what he calls) physical, potential and virtual workplaces into one nonhierarchic, dynamic or- ganization. Allcorn’s vision for future organization goes beyond hybrid organization. Rather, it combines acknowledgment of technological advances in networking capabilities and increasing worker mobility with minimal structure for adapt- ability to constantly changing and complex environments. Most significantly, it recognizes the value of transitional and potential space for creativity, invention and innovation. His model of the “ring organization” transcends cumbersome hierarchy while maintaining accountability. In the final analysis, Allcorn for- mulates a new organization design that is intended to embrace complexity, free the spirit at work and process knowledge derived from inside and outside its per- meable boundaries. Michael Diamond Foreword xi
- 18. Preface One’s worklife is invariably filled with many experiences that lead to reflection and rumination, especially if that worklife is less than perfect. Executives, man- agers and employees must not only adjust to the constant presence of daily change, they must more often these days cope with the most expansive of all changes as operationalized by management phrases such as downsizing, restruc- turing and reengineering as well as merger and acquisition. Worklife can indeed be filled with many ducks nipping at one’s legs and great white sharks tearing away massive chunks of one’s well-being along with vast sections of one’s work- place. How do we as organization leaders, members, consultants and researchers appreciate these workplace events and their accompanying complexity? How do we understand a workplace that is regrettably often filled to overflowing with dis- tressing influences that make us feel anxious and defensive? This book provides the reader a way to think about workplace events and in particular organizational politics or, using a more scholarly term, organizational dynamics. What it is like to live one’s life at work is ultimately dominated by hard-to-understand complexity that can be demystified to a large extent if an insightful way of thinking about the workplace is used to examine it. This book introduces a dynamic theory of the workplace that contains elements firmly grounded in the workplace, where work can at times seem chaotic but also bu- reaucratic as well as autocratic. There are also, of course, those instances when employees feel joined together to accomplish meaningful work effectively and efficiently. Dynamic workplace theory represents an effort to draw upon the fa- miliar while at the same time providing a sophisticated cognitive map for ap- preciating workplace experience in all of its diversity. Dynamic workplace theory is an extension of earlier thinking on the part of myself and my colleague Michael Diamond (Diamond and Allcorn, 1987; All- corn, 1989; Diamond, 1993). This earlier work and this book also owe much to a number of protracted experiential learning opportunities I attended sponsored by the A.K. Rice Institute. For those who know of these learning opportunities, little more need be said and for those unfamiliar with them, no amount of words
- 19. can ultimately convey what often seems like a journey alongside Conrad into the darkness of intrapersonal, interpersonal and group dynamics. Additional learning also occurred when Michael, and another colleague, Bob Frank, and I teamed up to introduce experiential learning into graduate classes in public ad- ministration. It was certainly the case for myself that as a result of this work I came more fully to appreciate that these kinds of classroom experiences create anxieties that key-off psychological regression and defensiveness (Allcorn and Diamond, 1997). It also became equally clear that stressful workplace experi- ences promote regression to more primitive, hard-to-understand and unpro- ductive interpersonal, group and organizational dynamics. The workplace, I learned, is not so rational a place to spend one’s time. Dynamic workplace the- ory may then be understood to be the product of more than thirty years of study, writing, consultation and executive experience on my part. It represents my effort to understand the diversity and complexity of worklife. It is my hope in writing down what I have learned that you the reader can use dynamic workplace theory as a jumping-off point for your own organiza- tional research, reflection and understanding. I believe we can all appreciate that understanding workplace experience is a challenge regardless of the means used to study and analyze it. It is also the case that a perspective such as dynamic workplace theory provides a cognitive and affective anchor for gaining insight into workplace experience that may serve to minimize anxiety-filled personal experience and the possibility of regression that encourages reliance upon reality-altering psychological defenses. xiv Preface
- 20. Introduction Modern-day organizations have a life of their own, or so it seems. In many ways each is unique while they also share much in common.As we begin the twenty- first century, those of us who work within organizations are all too often con- fronted with a vast array of organizational attributes, events, leaders, followers, departments, divisions, plans, performance expectations, and goals and objec- tives—complexity that is hard to understand in a meaningful way. We may feel overwhelmed by daily worklife when we really stop to think about it. This and stressful workplace events can make us feel anxious about others, the future and ourselves. What is really happening? Why? How will it affect me? The harder we examine our worklives and workplaces, the more is revealed. Layer upon layer of organizational and management hierarchy is found to be accompanied by the inevitable interpersonal tensions and conflicts as well as unpredictable outcomes that remind us of how bounded the assumption of workplace ration- ality really is. Even the smallest organizations are filled with complexity that is not unlike the nature of their vast companions at the other end of the organizational size spec- trum. A recent change in leadership in a retail organization with fewer than fifty employees revealed in a humbling way the complexity and unintended outcomes that change introduces into the workplace. It sometimes does truly seem to be the case that a butterfly flapping its wings in theAmazon might conceivably affect the nature of change in an organization. In this case, a new manager was hired to re- place the owner. Some employees accepted the change without much comment while others became distressed, creating a feedback loop among themselves that led to ever stranger and harder to manage outcomes. One employee became per- sonally disorganized and had to use powerful psychopharmacological substances to stay his anxiety and calm his self-experience. Others felt abandoned by their leader of many years.The sense of bonding, mentoring and familiarity with their leader, it was thought, would no longer be available. Yet another felt that he had been passed over for the management role and became enraged, threatening res- ignation and condemning the owner for the change and betrayal. Surely his
- 21. out-of-control feelings were entirely the owner’s fault, or so he seemed to think. He eventually left.Other employees fed the fires of discontent by selectively pass- ing along confidential information about the operation of the business that made the owner appear to be greedy and out to get rich at their expense.The new man- ager was described as a hatchet man brought in to tighten things up and wring more work out of the employees. Fantasy upon fantasy was generated along with underlying reinforcing themes that fed the rumor mill and poisoned the well of interpersonal trust, respect and goodwill. I was reminded that the organizational dislocation created by making this single change in a small organization shared much in common with findings in my research into the downsizing of a large hospital (Allcorn et al., 1996). In this case the lives of employees were so severely disrupted that it was hard to tell who were the victims.Were the victims those ter- minated and put out of their misery, or those who remained to feel guilty about their personal survival and were forced to tolerate the awareness that they could be next despite their best efforts to be productive? These outcomes of organiza- tional change underscore the hard-to-fathom complexity of the workplace that arises from the interaction of what is ultimately an unknowable universe of vari- ables. In sum, it is truly hard to know one’s workplace. The ability to reach an understanding of our organizations and their dynam- ics inevitably devolves into editing out some data, making certain reasonable as- sumptions about how things work and sometimes just making it up or possibly trying to ignore it. Some employees will think, “Just leave me alone and let me do my job.” For those who do try to understand how a large organization func- tions, there gradually develops a tacit and, for the most part out of awareness, cognitive model of how the organization works. This model, although consis- tently relied upon is, regrettably, not particularly open to inspection. It merely exists as a part of one’s reality filter. A second possibility for those informed about management and organizational literature is the conscious selection of a way of thinking about organizational life—a model of organizational dynam- ics. This book is about this latter approach, the development of an explicit theoretical perspective or model that explains organizational dynamics by cap- turing much of the monumental complexity that exists within the workplace and placing it into a comprehendible context. Dynamic workplace theory, as mentioned, is informed by my experience working as a manager and executive within perhaps the most complex organi- zation form of all, the academic health sciences center. These centers are at, or nearly so, the pinnacle of organizational complexity and with it near unman- ageability.Think for the moment of trying to balance the interests of twenty or more clinical and academic departments, a few research institutes, a huge out- patient facility with satellites, a large research hospital and perhaps a veterans’ affairs hospital, schools of nursing and in some instances dentistry all residing within a university context and larger competitive health care delivery arena and society. The number of variables that must be considered in decision mak- ing can be overwhelming and, therefore, most often the outcomes are subopti- xvi Introduction
- 22. mal. Dynamic workplace theory is, therefore, informed by a hard-won appreci- ation of just how complex the workplace can be. The development and explication of dynamic workplace theory raised for me many tough questions about how we design and operate our organizations today. In particular, my work raised questions about the near universality of hierar- chical and usually bureaucratic organizations. I have often wondered about whether there is some other way of creating an organization that would not only work but also conceivably work better than the bureaucratic hierarchy. Initially all of my thinking seemed to irresistibly return to hierarchy. It was as though I was stuck within a paradigm and simply could not get out of it, or as they say, “think outside of the box.” After years of reflection and pondering I have de- veloped a prototype nonhierarchical organization model to encourage critical thinking outside of the box. Ring organization design is described in this book as a counterpoint to hierarchical organizations. It is not my purpose in provid- ing this prototype to advocate that this new form of organization be adopted or to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it will work. Inevitably it is the case that some brave CEO must try it to see what will happen. Nonetheless, this new line of thinking about organizational design and operation introduces the reader to another way of understanding the complexity of the workplace, that of try- ing to find a better way of designing it. In sum, this book presents readers a challenging way of understanding the workplace that encompasses much of its inherent and often unacknowledged complexity. It also provides a thought-provoking rethinking of organizational design that permits juxtaposing the new thinking with dynamic workplace the- ory for yet more learning. This book is organized to provide readers summaries of the content as well as detailed discussions of dynamic workplace theory and its workings. In this re- gard, I appreciate that a detailed theoretical discussion is not to everyone’s lik- ing. The summaries provide a quick route through the basic points made in the book, in the hope if this route is taken the reader will take the time to read in greater detail those sections where the points made in the summaries seem to be counterintuitive. It is also often the case the prior content is not only merely summarized but also recast to provide additional insights for the reader who has read the detailed discussion. Regardless of one’s reading proclivities, it is im- portant to appreciate that a useful workplace theory must have sufficient com- plexity if it is to come close to providing a good cognitive map of the workplace. In sum, every effort has been made to balance readability with theoretical ex- plication. This book is organized as follows. Chapter 1 introduces a number of time-tested perspectives for examining the workplace, along with historical perspective. Much of what is of concern in the twenty-first century was of concern in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This chapter serves to orient the reader to the many complexities of the work- place and some of the difficulties attached to any effort to develop a workplace model or theory about how things work. Introduction xvii
- 23. Chapter 2 introduces dynamic workplace theory. A case example is provided to help the reader locate the basic elements of the theory relative to common workplace experiences. The workplace is found to be composed of four kinds of groups (chaotic, bureaucratic hierarchy, charismatically led, balanced) that con- tain specific kinds of workplace experiences as well as organizational dynamics. These groups, it is asserted, constitute the entire context within which we all labor on a daily basis. At the same time, these groups are familiar and, there- fore, may not be thought of on a daily basis as existing at all. They essentially constitute the universally accepted nature of worklife, and consequently are taken for granted thereby going unnoticed and uninspected. Dynamic workplace theory is then faced with a challenge. It must make these accepted, and for the most part out of awareness, aspects of worklife observable and subject to in- spection by organization members. Chapter 3 begins the process of “peeling the onion.” Dynamic workplace the- ory is thoroughly inspected in terms of its basic elements (the four types of group and organizational experience) and its dynamic nature. Discussed is how change occurs within and among the groups. In particular, what makes this the- ory of the workplace dynamic is the deeply embedded tensions, conflicts and im- balances that lie within each of the types of workplace experience. Change within the theory is a constant potential, the direction of which is indeterminate at any given moment. Chapter 4 continues the peeling process by inspecting the transitional spaces that exist between the four groups. Organizational change does not occur as though a switch is flipped and one moment there is only darkness and the next light. If a lightbulb is filmed at high speed one can observe the process of the fil- ament becoming heated to glowing, thereby creating light. Organizational change is much like the metaphor of the light. Even though it is tempting to think of organizational change in much the same way as flipping a switch and turning on a light, it is, in fact, a process filled with many discernible steps that exist on a time continuum. Planning and implementing organizational change is, in my experience, a demanding endeavor for any executive or consultant to undertake, as is illustrated by the above organizational change vignette. It is, therefore, essential to inspect dynamic workplace theory for its contribution to understanding how change occurs. A shift from one of the four types of group process and experience to another contains much that must be understood in order to appreciate the psychosocial elements of dynamic workplace theory. Chapter 5 explores the nature of the implicit underlying stability contained within each of the four types of work experience. Each of the four types of work- place experience described in dynamic workplace theory contains elements that encourage it to be maintained over time. Change to another of the experiences, it may be felt, is too threatening. The familiar may be lost. What will happen? Fear regarding even the contemplation of change often leads to the thought that change is too hard to achieve and that it is better to try to improve upon the cur- rent group or organization dynamic. Each of the four types of workplace expe- xviii Introduction
- 24. rience is evaluated for this underlying stability that encourages organization members to maintain the experience, however unsatisfactory it may become over time.As noted in chapter 4, organizational change is often problematic, es- pecially when it is perceived as fundamentally changing the nature of what may have become familiar organizational experience and working relationships. When problems are encountered in making change it is natural to retreat back to what has worked in the past. Why fix it if it is not broken? is a question that may be asked. “Don’t we just need to tune things up a bit?” Chapter 6 explores the contribution of dynamic workplace theory for execu- tives, managers and consultants who strive to improve the workplace and its performance. Dynamic workplace theory draws upon aspects of workplace ex- perience that are not hard to locate. What is important about the theory is that it provides an integrated perspective for understanding these types of experi- ence relative to each other. In this regard the theory offers executives, managers, supervisors, employees, students of organizational dynamics and consultants not only a way of seeing the workplace from a new perspective but also a way of working and managing within the workplace. In sum, this chapter explores the contribution the theory makes to managing and working within our modern-day organizations as well as consulting to them. Chapter 7 commences a process of introducing a new nonhierarchical per- spective for organizational design. The industrial revolution yielded what has become a nearly universal form of organization design, that of the bureaucratic hierarchy. This chapter presents the larger historical context for attempting to think outside of the box created by what must be considered to be a thought- limiting organizational paradigm.This historical perspective is especially sober- ing as we contemplate the future of organizational design and management. Have things really changed so little over the centuries? Chapter 8 introduces an entirely new and nonhierarchical concept for designing organizational structure that minimizes compulsive reliance upon bureaucratic control. Ring organization does away with the traditional notion of a formal and often rigid command and control structure where positions are arrayed in a traditional organization chart, from the most powerful and important at the top to the least important and powerful at the bottom. Ring organization design presents the reader with a new way of thinking about organizational design. It also demonstrates how difficult it is to envision a new workable workplace design when the only perspective available for assessing its efficacy is experience acquired within traditional bureaucratic hierarchies. Chapter 9 steps back from the discussion of dynamic workplace theory and ring organization design to inspect both theoretical perspectives for their ve- racity. Each perspective introduces the reader to new ideas and ways of under- standing and integrating workplace experience. In particular, ring organization design points to the exceptional difficulties involved with envisioning any kind of organization that does not have at its core a command and control structure— a bureaucratic hierarchy. This chapter inspects dynamic workplace theory and Introduction xix
- 25. ring organization design for important omissions, internal inconsistencies and conflicts with other perspectives. Is the theory and ring design ultimately use- ful in the workplace? This chapter concludes by comparing the two perspectives relative to each other.Are the elements of dynamic workplace theory applicable to the proposed ring organization design? Chapter 10 brings the book to an end by examining what the nature of the crossover may be when dynamic workplace theory is used to inform how we manage and operate our contemporary organization form, the bureaucratic hi- erarchy.The dynamic and ultimately uncontrollable nature of the theory when combined with the uncontrollable nature of an organization’s task environment directs our attention to the necessity of designing into our organizations a dynamic adaptiveness that improves long-term survivability. This chapter introduces the notion of organizational plasticity as an integral part of re- envisioning how our contemporary organizations work. The chapter concludes with the perhaps obvious observation that what is learned from dynamic work- place theory also informs how we live our lives outside of work. PROVISOS Language is an important part of any theoretical discussion. For my purposes here I will often speak of group and organization dynamics by using only the word “group” or “organization,” depending on the context. However, when ei- ther of the words is used, the other applies just as well. One of the central elements to this book is exploring not so much the con- crete aspects of the workplace but rather the harder to quantify and understand psychological and social aspects of worklife that most often become the domi- nant influence in achieving outstanding organizational performance.The human side of the enterprise is, in my experience, the most difficult part to understand and manage. Dynamic workplace theory is, therefore, most of all a perspective for understanding the psychosocial side of the workplace. However, it may also be readily understood that many of the concrete aspects of the workplace be- come the tools of the human side of the enterprise in carrying out less than thoughtful and rational human motivations. This appreciation introduces an additional proviso. Organizations are most often thought of as having a concrete presence and are spoken of in a reified manner.The organization, it may be asserted, has a certain attribute, or that “it” laid off employees. However, other than their physical properties, some of which may not exist at all in the virtual organizations of tomorrow, organizations are created every day their members come to work. In this regard the primary sub- stance of an organization is the experience of its members and it is this experi- ence that is emphasized in this book. Employees experience their workplace in many different ways, ranging from caring and nurturing to threatening and alienating.Traditional bureaucratic hierarchies are, it is suggested here, concep- xx Introduction
- 26. tual constructs that exist within the hearts and minds of their members (Czan- der, 1993).They introduce a context for experience of the workplace that, in turn, dominates their ability to succeed. Experience of organizational life is empha- sized throughout this book. Last and already mentioned earlier, the book presents a theoretical perspec- tive that is then thoroughly analyzed in terms of its workplace applicability and dynamics. It is my view that many ideas about how the workplace functions are not carefully enough thought through for all of their many implications if they are to be successfully adopted for use in the workplace. Equally important, by taking the time to try to explain the dynamics of the model, the reader is hope- fully encouraged to inspect his or her implicit out-of-awareness model(s) of how the workplace works in just as much detail. In this regard the book introduces consciousness-raising about implicit and tacit workplace theories and models that are in operation all of the time, but not at a level of formal awareness and, therefore, not open to inspection and learning. In conclusion, this book presents the reader many challenging perspectives that must be thought about and inspected for their utility based on one’s first- hand experience of worklife. In a sense, only you the reader can validate or invalidate the contributions this book makes toward understanding your work experience. Introduction xxi
- 28. Chapter 1 KnowThyWorkplace Groups are organized for different purposes, but all units are alike in one respect: they are intended to be useful to members, nonmembers, or both. If groups are to serve a specific function, it follows that the purposes of groups shift as the desires of those who have a stake in the group change— different wishes or interests cause new requirements. (Zander, 1985, p. 33) Thus organizations are composed of interdependent groups having differ- ent immediate goals, different ways of working, different formal training, even different personality types within them. These differences make for different styles of functioning within them. (Levinson, 1972, p. 3) It is relatively recent that theorists have suggested that organization struc- ture may be designed and developed through a set of motivations that may be other than rational. . . . These theorists suggest that organization struc- tures are created to reflect unconscious fantasies associated with the wishes and needs of executives.These unconscious fantasies may be associated with the wish for power, idealization, order, security, and domination, as well as fear of loss and castration. (Czander, 1993, p. 103) The workplace, regardless of whether it is a small fifty-employee retail store or a global enterprise employing hundreds of thousands of workers, is filled with a hard-to-know complexity that we most often pretend is not there in order to function in our jobs. The vastness of workplace attributes overwhelms efforts
- 29. to enumerate them, much less understand them as a dynamic whole where their unlimited interactions further multiply the vastness to unimaginable propor- tions.This appreciation amounts to a humbling additional proviso for this book and you the reader. There is no way all of this can be addressed for what it is. We are rather reduced to locating ways of thinking about this complexity that do not do a gross injustice to the true nature of the workplace.At the same time the cognitive maps that we use must provide us reasonably good insights that permit us to come to some understanding of the workplace and how it relates to us and how we relate to it. This chapter provides an overview and historical perspective of the evolving complexity of the workplace and the development of cognitive maps, models and theories for understanding it. I begin the discus- sion with a review of several serviceable perspectives of the workplace that I have found to be of use as an executive and as a management consultant. The reader is reminded that a fast path through the chapter is provided in the form of summaries. THE THREE SIDESTO ORGANIZATIONAL LIFE One way to think about the workplace is that it contains rational elements that exist alongside and in tension with irrational and spiritual elements (All- corn, 2002). Each is informed by the other where their contrasts delineate their differences.The three sides to organizational life are, for the most part, three in- dependent perspectives that ultimately exist simultaneously and are always available to organization members even though one may reach a temporary as- cendancy. Let us begin with the familiar notion that the workplace and work are logically and rationally designed to achieve efficiency and effectiveness. The Rational Side of Organization Life The amount that has been written about trying to create a more logical, effi- cient and effective workplace is staggering. A watershed was passed at the beginning of the twentieth century with the work of Frederick W. Taylor, who advocated a much more logical and scientific approach to managing work to achieve better organizational performance. Taylor (1947) writes: “The body of this paper will make it clear that, to work according to scientific laws, the man- agement must take over and perform much of the work which is now left to the men; almost every act of the workman should be preceded by one or more preparatory acts of the management which enable him to do his work better and quicker than he otherwise could. And each man should be taught by and receive the most friendly help from those who are over him, instead of being, at the one extreme, driven or coerced by his bosses, and at the other left to his own unaided devices” (p. 26). 2 The Dynamic Workplace
- 30. Taylor (1947) further elaborated his perspective by writing: “It is true that with scientific management the workman is not allowed to use whatever im- plements and methods he sees fit in the daily practice of his work. Every en- couragement, however, should be given him to suggest improvements, both in methods and in implements. . . . And whenever the new method is found to be markedly superior to the old, it should be adopted as the standard for the whole establishment” (p. 128).Today this basic concept is often referred to as best prac- tices, total quality management, or continuous improvement, and it is a precur- sor to the Japanese model for improving organizational performance. Little has changed from management considerations raised a century or more ago. Taylor’s work and the thoughtful labors of countless others have all served to make the workplace in most instances more efficient and cost-effective by achieving ever-greater control and predictability. The organizational ideal is to have the workplace run like a clock (Morgan, 1986; Schwartz, 1990). Fayol (1949) for example writes:“To co-ordinate is to harmonize all the activities of a concern so as to facilitate its working, and its success. In a well coordinated enterprise the following facts are to be observed—1. Each department works in harmony with the rest. . . . 2. In each department divisions and sub-divisions are precisely informed as to the share they must take in the communal task and the recipro- cal aid they are to afford one another. The working schedule of the various departments and sub-divisions thereof is constantly attuned to circumstances” (pp. 103–4). He also adds: “In an undertaking, control consists in verifying whether everything occurs in conformity with the plan adopted, the instruc- tions issued and principles established” (p. 107). Problems in achieving organi- zational efficiency and effectiveness to maximize performance and profitability have been and still are seen in large part as engineering and control problems. If we skip ahead 75–100 years from Taylor’s scientific management we are confronted with much the same thinking today. Starting a decade or more ago and continuing to this day there are many rationalistic efforts to reengineer, re- structure, rightsize, and quality-assure our organizations. It is often the case that a certain organization structure or the exact size of a reduction in force is de- livered into the workplace by the analysis of numbers that may not be further questioned. During the last decade of the twentieth century almost everyone in the American workforce was downsized or restructured or knows others who were. It is, in fact, a pervasive commonality among those who work at all levels of organizations, so much so that one might suggest that our organizations seem to share a common culture (Allcorn et al., 1996). In Sum The pursuit of a rationally designed workplace that runs like a highly effi- cient and well-oiled machine has been the holy grail of executives, managers and management thinkers not only during the twentieth century but, indeed, for millennia. In some ways no stone has been left unturned or at least unin- Know Thy Workplace 3
- 31. spected in the pursuit of the profit created by efforts to make the workplace into a scientific and over-engineered enterprise. All of the work of Taylor and his le- gions of colleagues in the pursuit of the rational workplace, however, overlooked a quality to the workplace that is not so rational and indeed might be consid- ered at times irrational—human nature. The Irrational Side of Organizational Life The irrational side of the workplace has had much light shed on it during the twentieth century. If Taylor ignited the fires of scientific management, Elton Mayo introduced the confounding variable of human nature as an outcome of his early efforts to further extend the precepts of scientific management into the workplace. It is certainly the case that the reengineering of the corporation would have been informed by his work. Mayo (1945) writes, But for the individual worker the problem is really much more serious. He has suffered a profound loss of security and certainty in his actual living and in the background of his thinking. For all of us the feeling of security and certainty derives always from assured membership of a group. If this is lost, no monetary gain, no job guarantee, can be suffi- cient compensation. Where groups change ceaselessly as jobs and mechanical processes change, the individual inevitably experiences a sense of void, of emptiness, where his fa- thers knew the joy of comradeship and security. And in such situations, his anxieties— many, no doubt irrational or ill-founded—increase and he becomes more difficult both to fellow workers and to supervisors. (p. 76) Mayo’s analysis of work extended to trying to find the best possible way to control employee workplace experience in order to maximize productivity. Em- ployees in his famous lighting experiment just did not, however, behave as pre- dicted. Management could not, it seemed, perfectly engineer the workplace to create a setting where every aspect of human nature was controlled. Indeed, far from it. Many others have looked into the inner life of organizations. An ex- plosion of psychoanalytically informed inquiry that started during the last quar- ter of the twentieth century has been contributed to by many voices, including the author’s. Two of the earliest authors who advocated this line of inquiry are Abraham Zaleznik and Harry Levinson.An early example of this inquiry is rep- resented by Abraham Zaleznik’s 1966 examination of the nature of leadership. He writes: I should like to try to lift the veil somewhat on the nature of conflicts in exercising lead- ership. The two points I want to develop are: 1. The main source of the dilemmas leaders face is found within themselves, in their own inner conflicts. 2. Dealing more intelligently with knotty decisions and the inevitable conflicts of interest existing among men in or- ganizations presupposes that executives, at least the successful ones, are able to put their own houses in order. It presupposes that the executive is able to resolve or manage his inner conflicts so that his actions are strongly grounded in reality, so that he does not find himself constantly making and then undoing decisions to the service of his own mixed feelings and to the disservice and confusion of his subordinates. (p. 31) 4 The Dynamic Workplace
- 32. Harry Levinson (1968) further underscores the importance of a carefully modulated leadership style within the workplace and the difficulty in achieving this by noting:“The conception of personality developed by psychoanalytic the- ory has two implicit assumptions. It assumes that personality is a genetic phe- nomenon, evolving continuously from a changing physical matrix and shaped from experience” (pp. 23–24). He further notes: “This conception assumes, fur- ther, that personality is a dynamic phenomenon—that it is a result of many dif- ferent forces and seeks to maintain its equilibrium” (p. 24). He concludes:“These assumptions about personality underlie two propositions. First, people bring to their jobs attitudes, expectations, and modes of behavior that have evolved from their life experiences. Second, as they work, they are continually trying to main- tain their personality equilibrium” (p. 24).The workplace, it may be safely con- cluded, is filled by human nature that many times defeats the best engineered controls. In Sum The comforting aspect of the rather more concrete aspects of the rational workplace must yield to the uncomfortable and even distressing nature of indi- vidual, interpersonal, group and organizational dynamics that introduce ex- traordinarily difficult to grasp nuances and complexity. It is not possible here to more than briefly touch upon the issues raised by the irrational side of the work- place. However, discussed below is the subject of organizational dynamics that includes inspection of intrapersonal, interpersonal, group and organizational dy- namics of a psychological nature. The Spiritual Side of Organizational Life A more recent line of inquiry arises out of the monumental organizational devastation wrought by Michael Hammer and James Champy’s (1993) advo- cacy of reengineering the corporation and the many consultants cashing in on this management fad. It is noteworthy that in a recent book Hammer acknowl- edges he had it wrong. Nonetheless, in much the same way Taylor reengineered work, Hammer and Champy suggest that organizations can be created in much the same way. This toxic mix of quasi-scientific thinking ended up creating an unpalatable stew of management fads and consulting companies that irresistibly diminished the quality of organizational life (Micklethwait, J. and Woolridge, A., 1996). This diminishment and alienation from oneself, one’s work and the workplace is further underscored by Robert De Board (1978), who writes: One common effect all organizations seem able to produce is the promotion of non- human objectives above people, so that the human spirit is sacrificed to such sterile aims as profit and technology. One answer is to retire to the hills, grow organic foods, and live in a house powered by wind and sun. However, I would argue that modern society is too complex and too interdependent to develop this way. The answer, perhaps, lies in Know Thy Workplace 5
- 33. developing organizations that produce wealth and which at the same time, enable the people working in them to maintain and develop their humanity. How this will happen is uncertain. (p. vii) Employees find themselves treated as organizational fat that can be eradicated at any time, liposuctioned via the hygienic notion of outplacement. Organi- zations are flattened and otherwise hammered into shape. Employees become expendable even at the highest levels. These trends are more than distressing, they are disheartening and personally disorganizing. Organizations are having their social fabric ripped apart. Employees are faced with possible career anni- hilation and the inability to support their families. They are metaphorically packed into cattle cars and hauled out of the organizations that they have often served with a lifetime of loyal work. In the end one can think of dislocations of this magnitude and depravity as destroying the spirit within the workplace as well as the human spirit (Allcorn, 2002 and Allcorn, S., et al., 1996). Overlooked in this milieu of organizational destruction has been the much earlier work of Roethlisberger, Dickson and Wright (1939) who caution, “This resistance (to change) was expressed whenever changes were introduced too rap- idly or without sufficient consideration of their social implications; in other words, whenever the workers were being asked to adjust themselves to new methods or systems which seemed to them to deprive their work of its cus- tomary social significance” (p. 567). The same authors also remind us, “But the relation of the individual employee to the company is not a closed system. All the values of the individual cannot be accounted for by the social organization of the company. The meaning a person assigns to his position depends on whether or not the position is allowing him to fulfill the social demands he is making of his work.The ultimate significance of his work is not defined so much by his relation to the company as by his relation to the wider social reality” (p. 375). Mary Parker Follett, who wrote in the first quarter of the twentieth century, if consulted today, would no doubt caution against management fads such as downsizing, restructuring and reengineering. She writes: There are leaders who do not appeal to man’s complacency but to all their best impulses, their greatest capacities, their deepest desires. I think it was Emerson who told us of those who supply us with new powers out of the recesses of the spirit and urge us to new and unattempted performance. This is far more than imitating your leader. In this concep- tion of Emerson’s, what you receive from your leader does not come from him, but from the “recesses of the spirit.”Whoever connects me with the hidden springs of all life, who- ever increases the sense of life in me, he is my leader. (Metcalf and Urwick, 1941, p. 294) Indeed as we begin the 21st century one wonders why, if methods such as downsizing and reengineering the corporation metaphorically cut the heart out of an organization and diminish the spirit of employees in America, warnings of other contemporary management writers have been disregarded.Vaill (1989) 6 The Dynamic Workplace
- 34. reminds us that, “A culture is a system of attitudes, actions, and artifacts that endures over time and that operates to produce among its members a relatively unique common psychology” (p. 147). He goes on to note,“True culture change is systemic change at a deep psychological level involving attitudes, actions, and artifacts that have developed over substantial periods of time” (Vaill, 1989, pp. 149–50). This appreciation seems to provide an important warning for the advocates of downsizing and reengineering. Abrupt and sweeping change can destroy the culture and with it the soul of an organization. Another organization theorist, Bergquist (1993), notes, “Greater attention must be given to organizational culture and to creating a strong feeling of sol- idarity; otherwise, organizations will increasingly be experienced as fragmented and inconsistent” (p. 42). And more profoundly he suggests, “The culture of an organization provides the glue that holds the organization’s diverse elements together and creates a sense of continuity among those working in and leading the organization” (p. 47). These considerations speak to the importance of the spiritual nature of the workplace. Creating organizational change that destroys the spiritual side of the workplace and the spirituality of employees may well plant the seeds of failure requiring yet another round of destructive organizational change (Allcorn, 2002). I now turn to another complex dimension for examining the workplace, that of the psychological and social side of the workplace, and the accompanying organizational dynamics. In Sum A new consideration that adds to the complexity of understanding the work- place is the spiritual side of human nature and work. Organizations that ignore this deeper side of organizations and their members do so at great peril. An or- ganization with a downtrodden spirit is not unlike a person whose spirit is sim- ilarly downtrodden. The individual may feel listless, depressed, alienated from self and others and de-energized. One must wonder why leaders would want to create an organization with similar attributes. EXPLORING ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS The above three sides of organizational life provide us a vision of what amounts to a familiar complexity that is at the minimum intuitively known.We are usually very aware of these aspects of our worklives. The three ways of un- derstanding work experience can be further explained by using what is likely a less familiar perspective that merges psychological and sociological (psychoso- cial) perspectives of the workplace.The following discussion is intended only to highlight the importance of these perspectives, as much has been written in depth on all of these layers of organizational awareness. Despite the brevity, the Know Thy Workplace 7
- 35. reader will take away a more complete appreciation of the true complexity that is the workplace. The Intrapersonal Realm The intrapersonal realm is that part of us that is internal. It is what goes on in our minds whether it is conscious or unconscious. Our lives are in large part dominated by what we think and feel and subsequently act out. There is, in ef- fect, a blooming buzzing confusion that is with us every minute. It is in a sense who we are and is so omnipresent as to often escape any form of direct inspec- tion.Why do we seem to warm up to one of two people we just met and not the other? Why might we resent being criticized by a supervisor or cringe at re- ceiving a direct order? Why might feelings of anger be acted on by one individ- ual in a self- and other-destructive manner and not acted on by another person experiencing the same situation? These questions are intended to draw the reader’s attention to much of what we simply take for granted. There is a vast realm of conscious and unconscious process that takes place within us that in- fluences our behavior.The intrapersonal realm amounts to a black box with much going on in it that is at the same time out of awareness. This realm includes much of what is written about individual psychology, and can become the focal point of therapy if thoughts and feelings grow to be out of bounds thereby introducing personal dysfunction. Individuals starting from in- fancy may be exposed to life experience that is nurturing or along a range toward less than satisfactorily nurturing,culminating in highly pathological relationships with caretaking others. The degree of dysfunction that lies within this context deeply imprints the infant, child and young adult with a range of self-experience. This experience may be satisfying and secure, thereby promoting self-esteem, or much less so, thereby promoting exceptional personal fragility and hard to toler- ate and regulate anxiety-ridden self-experience. These childhood trends are then transferred to some degree into the balance of one’s life experience, thereby mak- ing life fulfilling or much less so. These intrapsychic dynamics enter directly into the workplace filling it with hard to understand psychologically defensive tenden- cies that may make the person an unpredictable employee (Allcorn and Diamond, 1997). Reflection upon oneself and one’s experience within the workplace is very likely all that is needed to validate the importance of intrapsychic dynamics. In Sum Individual psychology offers to those trying to understand the workplace a hard to comprehend complexity and diversity that have led to many different insights into human nature within the workplace.This complexity defies efforts to directly and even indirectly manage or reengineer it, thereby squarely con- fronting those who aspire to lead others with an extraordinary challenge. 8 The Dynamic Workplace
- 36. The Interpersonal Realm If the intrapersonal realm is complex then one need only think a moment to imagine how complex the interpersonal world is. Intrapersonal dynamics are, much of the time, directed toward others or energized by the actions of others relative to us. The interpersonal world is filled with many dynamics that have been explored in many different ways. Others starting at infancy become the focal points for many intrapersonal dynamics that leak out into relating to oth- ers, who may at first only be known in a fragmented and tentative way often described as part object relations (Ogden, 1989).This primitive side of life arises when a person such as the mother of the infant is experienced by the infant as good at one moment by offering nurturance and bad at another time by with- holding nurturance. Early object relations are described as “part” in that the good mother is known to be different from the bad mother.There are two moth- ers in this example. As the infant develops he or she gradually comes to appre- ciate that there is but one mother with both good and bad attributes.This much more integrated understanding is described as “whole” object relations that in- troduce the depressive state. The infant is no longer in control of his or her ob- jects and more importantly, objects (others) can have two or more conflicting attributes.The good mother and the bad mother are, in effect, lost to the mother as a unified person. However, part object relations are always accessible and may reappear if stressful conditions induce psychological regression. Interpersonal dynamics implicitly incorporate the intrapsychic world thereby filling relationships with others with many hard to understand elements, ten- sions and hidden agendas. For example, a child who experienced considerable physical and psychological abuse at the hands of his or her mother may very well be highly sensitized to other women who have attributes that remind the person of his or her mother.This interpersonal dynamic may be fuelled by split- ting and projection thereby creating an “all bad” other. This tendency may be further generalized to include anyone’s behavior including male behavior that reminds the person of his or her mother’s painful behavior. The result is that distressing self-experience from the past is transferred onto the present, creat- ing the proverbial “hot button.” The response becomes disproportionate to the circumstance. Other aspects of interpersonal dynamics that may be encountered in the workplace are the pursuit of fulfilling excessive dependency needs or needs to withdraw from relating to others altogether. In Sum Individual psychology combines with the interpersonal world to create a mid- dle ground or potential space between individuals who aspire to relate to each other that is filled with many hard to know and understand individual and in- terpersonal dynamics. As a result we are left with extremely hard to manage workplace dynamics that defy management when psychological “hot buttons” create explosive interpersonal relations. Know Thy Workplace 9
- 37. The Group Realm Group dynamics have also been subjected to an exceptional amount of analy- sis and theorizing by academics and consultants (Bion, 1961 and Colman and Bexton, 1975).The group realm introduces yet another level of complexity that transcends the individual and interpersonal worlds.We are once again reminded by Mary Parker Follett (Metcalf and Urwick, 1941) that the importance of un- derstanding group dynamics in the workplace is nothing new; only an ongoing and hard to master challenge. She writes: “The leader in scientifically managed plants tends not to persuade men to follow his will. He shows them what it is necessary for them to do in order to meet their responsibility, a responsibility that has been explicitly defined to them” (p. 282). She continues: “If the best leader takes all the means in his power to develop leadership among his subor- dinates and gives them opportunity to exercise it, he has then, his supreme task, to unite all the different degrees and different types of leadership that come to the surface in the ramifications of a modern business. Since power is now be- ginning to be thought of by many not as inhering in one person but as the com- bined capacities of a group, we are beginning to think of the leader not as the man who is able to assert his individual will and get others to follow him, but as the one who knows how to relate the different wills in a group so that they will have driving force” (p. 282). The workplace, while filled with individuals, is composed of groups where one individual may be a member of more than one group and most often is. Group leaders are faced with the challenge of not commanding group members but rather drawing them into a mutually acceptable context where leadership and followership occur. It is equally important to appreciate that groups are periodi- cally filled with many hard to understand individual, interpersonal and subgroup interactions that often confound the efforts of the best managers and consultants to understand, much less manage. Also to be considered is that groups interact with each other, which directs our attention to the organizational realm. In Sum Group dynamics have long been considered an important element within the workplace that requires inspection, study and analysis in order to be effectively incorporated into the workplace. Groups may take many forms such as infor- mal groups, task and work groups, teams, departments and divisions.They usu- ally share in common a group culture—who we are and how we understand what is going on within the workplace. This culture governs group dynamics and interaction with other groups.A great deal more could be said about groups and group dynamics. Regrettably, this brief overview will have to suffice for the moment. Much of the balance of this book is devoted to delving into group dy- namics in the workplace. 10 The Dynamic Workplace
- 38. The Organizational Realm Organizational dynamics might be thought of as the sum total of individual, interpersonal and group dynamics mixed with a healthy dose of reality testing relative to the task environment of the organization. Good reality testing is es- sential in order to keep competitors from eating your sandwich for lunch. The complexity at this level is once again increased. Our hierarchical organizations are constructed of many horizontal layers and vertical divisions that introduce communication and coordination discontinu- ities as a result of organizational fragmentation. Communication, for example, up and down an organizational hierarchy is notoriously inaccurate and fraught with interpretations and reinterpretations that may serve as “spin” to protect one’s domain from another’s oversight. Similarly, communication may be found simply to not occur between divisions and operating sections (organizational silos or smokestacks) that represent specialties with their own language such as legal services, finance and marketing. There are many other organizational attributes that contribute to the com- plexity. Leaders throughout an organization may pursue their work and fulfill their responsibilities by using many different leadership styles, some of which are adaptive and some less so. Organizational history is also often a factor where old grudges may linger and misunderstandings predominate. Organization cul- ture is yet another aspect of organizational dynamics that can serve in many ways to make the organization more effective or less so (Diamond, 1993).There is indeed much to comprehend about the organization realm. The challenge is to do so without introducing too many distortions. Consultants, researchers, executives and employees are, at the organizational level of analysis, faced with so many possible data points that it can seem im- possible to locate what is important. This complexity makes it essential to try to encompass as much as possible what is happening within an organization in any model-building effort. It is also essential to be able to locate those elements and trends that are most pronounced at any moment in time. In this regard there is perhaps no better argument for the support of the use of explicit organization models than when trying to understand organizational dynamics, especially if insights are to be shared with others. In Sum The organizational realm of analysis is inclusive of the complexity of the other realms while adding many of its own complex elements. Understanding and changing organizational dynamics at the organization level can be infinitely challenging as a result of the combination of intrapersonal, interpersonal and group dynamics. Know Thy Workplace 11
- 39. The Societal Realm All organizations exist within a larger context that I shall limit consideration of to a society as compared with the world or universe, although both apply. Our organizations are influenced by larger social trends and conversely they influ- ence society. Within the United States there are many often conflicting social values and mores that enter directly into the workplace. For example, during the later portion of the twentieth century the rise in nontraditional families where divorce has created many working mothers has introduced into the workplace many demands to support this social trend. Issues such as health care insurance, childcare and working hours that flex with childcare needs have all influenced how employers design jobs and company benefit plans. A closely related social trend has been feminism, where the women who do enter the workforce are ex- pected to be treated equally in terms of both compensation and career advance- ment. Certainly areas such as sexual harassment have dramatically affected male/female working relationships. Other areas where the social and political nature of our nation influences the workplace are legislation and administrative policies whereby many aspects of the workplace come under federal and state regulation.Areas such as equal opportunity, employment law, immigration, oc- cupational safety and conserving the environment have all heavily impacted the workplace. Not to be overlooked are the many other contributions our society makes to the workplace such as monetary policy that limits inflation, constantly improving transportation systems and infrastructure and the fostering of in- ternational trade. The influences are bidirectional, as evidenced by the many aspects of the workplace and business community that positively and negatively affect our society. On the positive side are jobs and economic prosperity, new products and services that improve our lives and contributions to our communities in the form of donations to charities. On the negative side are such things as plant closings, downsizings and layoffs, destruction of the environment and inter- est in making a profit sometimes at the expense of customers such as is often said to be the case with health maintenance organizations (HMOs). All of this complexity resident within the workplace is hard to comprehend without some type of cognitive map or theory of the workplace. This appreciation leads to considering exactly why these orienting and sense-making tools are necessary. In Sum Social influences are major contributors to workplace dynamics as are work- place dynamics to society.Appreciating this much greater level of complexity is important in order to understand what exactly is going on in the workplace and why. 12 The Dynamic Workplace
- 40. WHY DOWE NEED ATHEORY OR MODEL OF THEWORKPLACE? The foregoing overview of some of the complexities of the workplace should be sobering to every reader. Our organizations and how they operate can, upon close inspection, seem to be infinitely complex and in final analysis defy ready management and efforts to change them. Executives, employees, consultants and researchers, it will hopefully be appreciated by now, need to have a clear and ex- plicit model of how organizations work that permits them to locate the most im- portant data points while also creating a framework for their understanding and discussion with others. In sum, one needs a theoretical perspective or model to facilitate knowing the workplace in an integrated and systemic way. PlacingThings into Perspective The discussion thus far has underscored many important workplace attributes that must be attended to if organizational life is to be understood. Many of these are commonly accepted aspects of the workplace that are seldom questioned or indeed open to being questioned. Such things as the organization, arrangement of work, tools and equipment used, facility, goals, production schedules, raw ma- terials, products, sales and desired profit levels do not really seem to be open to being questioned most of the time by organization members. In this regard it may be noted that Taylor’s admonitions have been heeded. These attributes of worklife may only be questioned at great personal risk. In particular, leadership styles, planning and decision making, while often the subject of much organi- zational conversation, are, at the same time, not available for open discussion. Authority may not be questioned. Nonetheless, in order for organizations to be- come and remain successful, there must exist opportunities for change fostered by somehow finding safe ways to question what is going on and why.Therefore, the ability to locate the most important organizational elements and place them into a larger context where they may be examined and discussed with objectiv- ity is essential if change is to be achieved. In Sum A theory or model of the workplace offers a way of looking at the workplace and seeing new patterns and connections between all of these attributes and, most importantly, between individuals and within work groups. By making the model explicit it also becomes open to discussion and validation or revision.This openness is essential in terms of coming to an understanding of what is going on in the workplace, what I have come to describe as “negotiated organizational reality.” Know Thy Workplace 13
- 41. Sorting Out Organizational Experience The workplace as described is a vast assortment of different kinds of data sets. Putting aside for the moment all of the more concrete aspects of the workplace that can be measured by efficiency experts, we are confronted with even greater complexity when we examine the wonderful and frustrating complexity that human nature introduces into the workplace. The use of an explicit model or theory of the workplace that demystifies human nature by locating it within a comprehensive organizational and operations perspective is essential in terms of facilitating an open discussion of the intrapersonal, interpersonal, group and organizational dynamics that are dominated by what people think, feel and do. Indeed, without such a model into which may be placed many of these usually undiscussable dynamics, change may not be contemplated. It is often just too dangerous to approach others about leadership and followership styles as well as interpersonal relations and group process. Dynamic workplace theory proposed here offers to do several important things in terms of locating the important aspects of organizational experience and creating a context in which they may be discussed. First, the theory helps to create meaning in terms of how all the experience of organization life may be brought together. Patterns can be found in what seems like confusing and overwhelming experience.The theoretical approach described in chapter 2 helps to create meaning where none may be observed to exist at the moment. A sec- ond and closely related outcome of having a model or theory of organizational dynamics is that it serves to allay anxiety.There is something comforting about having in hand a useful way of understanding what is going on. In particular it must be appreciated that the more anxious consultants, executives and employ- ees become, the less likely they are able to think objectively about events and appreciate their feelings and those of others that contribute to the distressing workplace experience of the moment. In Sum The ability to understand the complexity of worklife and the ability to dis- cuss it with others with an eye on changing those aspects that are dysfunctional is dependent upon having a shared context that permits joining together to do this work. Dynamic workplace theory offers the promise of providing this con- text for organization members. NOTES ON ORGANIZATIONAL MODEL BUILDING The workplace has thus far been described as a humbling place for even the brightest of researchers and theorists to understand even though they have the luxury of time to do their work, as compared with employees who have little 14 The Dynamic Workplace
- 42. time available to them to reflect upon and analyze workplace events and attri- butes (Jaques, 1989, 1990 and Kilmann and Kilmann, 1994). Outstanding aca- demics and consultants have provided many organizational perspectives and models. Each provides a framework that helps the observer of organizational life to see the patterns in all of the detail and complexity. Things might be thought of as coming into focus. In this regard, there are two aspects to all of this theo- rizing and model building that must be mentioned in order to appreciate dy- namic workplace theory presented in this book. Start withTheory and Apply to theWorkplace This is a time-tested approach. A famous example is Einstein’s theory of rel- ativity, which has been subjected to testing ever since its conception. This ap- proach is at least in part if not in large part unencumbered by the realities of the universe, which may be the case in some management books. Many wonderful points of view, theories and models have been created. Some have advocated ra- tionally engineering the workplace to create the perfectly operating machine (Weber, 1947 and Jaques, 1990). Others have pointed out that science and engi- neering overlook the fact that human nature is also a dominant influence in the workplace, at least for now (Baum, 1987; Czander, 1993; Diamond, 1993; Kets de Vries, 1984 and Schwartz, 1990). These theories and models offer the reader many thought-provoking per- spectives on what makes the workplace tick. And it is certainly the case there are a great many points of view that focus on but one or a few aspects of the workplace (Allcorn, 1997; Diamond, 1984; Kernberg, 1979 and Schein, 1985). Almost any kind of theory can be ingeniously adapted to the workplace to ex- plain how it works or some of its parts operate.The uppermost question is, how- ever, does the theory seem to fit the reality of the workplace? It is certainly the case that some do and some don’t and some fit to some extent some of the time. As a creator of a few of these perspectives I am always humbled by the problem of trying to determine the efficacy of the approach advocated. I am equally taxed to avoid introducing observer bias that creates self-fulfilling prophecies where magically the theoretical perspective is observed to be at work regardless of data to the contrary. In Sum Creating a theory of the workplace that may in part be borrowed from other fields can offer many new insights that are at least initially only loosely con- nected to the workplace.At the same time these efforts are problematic in that they may do a poor job of explaining actual workplace experience or guiding work and decision making. They may also encourage biased observation that encourages proving the theory rather than disproving it or qualifying its utility. Know Thy Workplace 15
- 43. Start with theWorkplace and Build theTheory This is also a time-tested approach.Newton,while sitting under a tree,watched an apple fall and he wondered why. When one looks about within the workplace there are many organizational attributes, artifacts, events, trends, goals and lead- ership styles, to list but a few elements of the workplace, that provoke the ques- tion why.As one observes more facets to the phenomenon under study,there may emerge the appearance of causality thereby leading to hypotheses and conclusions as to why things happen as they do.This strategy for building organizational the- ory also confronts some limitations. One important limitation is that there are limits to how much can be observed or probed,especially if one wants to keep one’s job. There are, therefore, limits to how much data can be collected. Perfect data is not available, much less perfect information and knowledge. A second related as- pect to this is that experiments to test the efficacy of one’s organization theory or model are not possible unless you are the boss and perhaps not even then. It is reasonable to conclude that it is hard to test one’s insights against reality.A third important limitation, as already mentioned, is that as a theory develops it often introduces observer bias in favor of supporting the theory. Last, it is also the case that elements of workplaces vary across organizations thereby introducing the likelihood that a good theory developed to account for worklife in one organi- zation may not generalize to other organizations. The theory described in this book arises in this manner, from firsthand expe- rience in the workplace, therefore, making its elements familiar to anyone with work experience in a large organization. The model may be understood to be backward engineered from work experience to explain what can be observed at work. In this regard the reader must critically examine it for its veracity based on the above theory-building provisos. In Sum Workplace theories may be developed as intellectual exercises that may or may not fit well with the workplace or provide useful guidance for leaders and organization members. Workplace theories and models may also be developed after a careful observation of what is going on in the workplace. How much data can be collected and processed as well as observed impartially limits this ap- proach to theory building. The resulting work may also not necessarily apply well to other organizations. Dynamic workplace theory has its origins in this latter type of model building. It represents an effort to better understand what is observed to be going on in the workplace. IN CONCLUSION This chapter has introduced the reader to much of the nature of the com- plexity of organizational life that leads directly to the problematic nature of ul- 16 The Dynamic Workplace
- 44. timately understanding it with any clarity. Rationality, irrationality and spiri- tuality are interspersed with individual, interpersonal, group and organizational dynamics that are in turn interactive with the larger society. This complexity serves to underscore the necessity for those who would lead and study organi- zations having a model or theory of organizational life and experience.Whether we can acknowledge it or not, every member of an organization has developed an implicit and usually unarticulated theory about how things work.These tacit theories represent one of the confounding problems that leaders, consultants and researchers must confront to more completely appreciate organizational dy- namics.The knowledge-creating limitations of these tacit organization theories are often only directly addressed by the use of an explicit model that when ar- ticulated introduces objectivity to organizational experience as well as promotes its testing against the tacit models that lie within every employee.Also discussed have been some of the problematic aspects of building any form of explicit the- ory or model of organizational life. This appreciation must be kept in mind as we turn to a detailed explanation of dynamic workplace theory. Know Thy Workplace 17
- 46. Chapter 2 DynamicWorkplaceTheory One of the major perplexities confronting those who want to understand groups and to work with them effectively is how to explain the great dif- ferences in “groupness” that distinguish groups from one another. Why is it that the attendance of one group is so irregular as to result in its slow death while the attendance of another group with similar activities and lead- ership remains high? What makes a group “healthy” so that its members work harder, make more sacrifices for the group, more readily extol its virtues, seem happier together, interact more often, and agree with one an- other more readily than do the members of a dying organization? (Cartwright and Zander, 1960, p. 69) Dynamic workplace theory focuses attention not on the concrete aspects of or- ganizations such as physical plant, production lines, marketing and profit, but rather on the more subtle and harder to understand side of the workplace— groups and their dynamics.The workplace is readily understood to be composed of task groups, teams, departments and divisions. How all of the many kinds of groups function and relate to each other in large part determines the viability of the organization. The reader is again reminded that the words “group” and “organization” are, for the balance of the book, used in an interchangeable man- ner. It is important to appreciate at the outset that, while groups and organi- zations have readily apparent physical parameters, they also represent unique experiential and cultural settings that evoke one kind of experience over another. This chapter begins with a case example that presents the context onto which dynamic workplace theory may be overlaid to help locate insight and meaning in what may otherwise be a complex and overwhelming experience of the psy- chological and social aspects of the workplace.
- 47. CASE EXAMPLE: GROUPS ATWORK Working as a manager in a large organization can be a confusing and frus- trating experience. During a workweek any one of us might wonder whether it is worth it.Trying to get a handle on why we feel this way usually leads to think- ing over the major organizational influences we contend with. An example is Sarah, who is a member of WDL’s pest control production team. The Making of a Better MouseTrap Sarah is worrying about who is leading the organization. The inability to get timely and adequate decisions from on high has led to a number of production crises. No one seems to care.Work experience is somewhat chaotic. No one seems to be in charge. Risk taking to surface problems and making decisions is avoided. Issues are not confronted. No one wants to be fingered as the messenger of the bad news or go unheard if the risk of speaking up is accepted. This had not been the case for Sarah when she was a member of a product development project. It seemed at first that the leaderless culture of the organi- zation had been imported into the group. No one assumed responsibility, including the manager assigned to lead the group. After weeks of aimless and ineffective work, news arrived that a similar team in a competing organization was about to come up with a product similar to the one being worked on by her team.The realization that losing out was imminent had a sobering effect.At first there was an unrestrained attack on top management’s inactivity and incompe- tence. Eventually feelings of fear, confusion and frustration led to the willing- ness to take some major risks.This led to the drafting of a new member into the team, Bill, to replace top management’s “plant.” Management provisionally ac- cepted the decision and their man was withdrawn. Bill was expected to lead the group in beating out the competing company. Flattered and amazed by his sud- den selection, he was, nonetheless, willing to rise to the occasion. He proceeded to provide clear direction that got things moving along rapidly even though not everyone was buying in. Just when the project team was beginning to make progress, Sarah was reas- signed to the production section responsible for tooling up to make the new product. For Sarah, her new job became an instant replay of her experience with the product development team. The manager in charge of the section provided little leadership. He was absent most of the time from meetings, and eventually indicated his willingness to hand over leadership of the group to one of its mem- bers.The group’s members responded by developing a meticulous selection pro- cess beginning with defining the future leader’s position, power and authority. A position description was developed. Rules of order for conducting meetings were adopted. Interested members of the group were interviewed as to how they 20 The Dynamic Workplace
- 48. would act if selected to be the leader. This bureaucratic process was, for Sarah, a marked contrast to the knee-jerk reaction of the product development group. The process was slow and painstaking and eventually led to the selection of a leader everyone felt comfortable with, but no one was too sure would be able to lead the group in meeting its deadlines. Within a few months Sarah was surprised to learn that Bill had been replaced as leader of the product development group in what had been a dramatic shift of support. Bill was “dethroned” by a coalition of group members who had gone unheard and had been systematically excluded from major decision making. Bill and key members of his development team were to be reassigned. Meanwhile the production group’s work ground on. Deadlines were missed. Work was arduous. Nonetheless, the many rules that the group had developed were followed. Regular progress and deviation reports had to be prepared. The acknowledgement that the group was not going to meet the deadlines led to the realization that more expedient means were needed. What was needed, many thought, was a more active and directive leader and less bureaucratic red tape. Coincidental with this perceived need was Bill’s availability. His experience with the product’s development and his take-charge and in some instances take-no- prisoners charismatic leadership style made him a natural to take over the lead- ership of the group. In contrast to everything the group had done up to this point, Bill was recruited and appointed the team leader in one meeting. Bill and his colleagues from the development team quickly energized the group. Meet- ing the deadlines now seemed possible. Sarah was puzzled by what had happened. It was not too long before it was rumored Bill was being considered for an influential top spot. Despite the fact his leadership style was also eventually rejected by the production group, he made it to the top. Sarah’s frustration and skepticism with how the company was being managed continued to grow.Why was there so much trouble with or- ganizing groups, selecting suitable leadership and getting work done? Why was it always necessary to change the structure and leadership of the groups when major problems and threats were encountered? In Sum Managing individual and group behavior in organizations requires under- standing the psychological and social aspects of organizational life. Complex interpersonal and group dynamics require conceptual frames of reference to un- derstand them. One conceptual framework Sarah could have used is dynamic workplace theory that, as will be observed, offers managers a useful way to think about what is going on around them.The theory assumes group behavior, while arising from a core of individual psychological processes, can be understood on a group-as-a-whole basis. Dynamic Workplace Theory 21
- 49. DYNAMIC WORKPLACE THEORY’S TYPOLOGY OF GROUP EXPERIENCE The typology of workplace experience that comprises the core element of the theory identifies groups and group experiences that are familiar to anyone who has worked in small or large organizations. They would be familiar to Sarah. The three psychologically defensive groups to be discussed are the chaotic group, the bureaucratic group, and the charismatic leadership group (see Figure 1). Each group offers its members a different psychological defensive solution to the same problem, anxiety arising from distressing experience of group membership and the workplace. In contrast, the balanced group experience minimizes psycho- logically defensiveness where, to a much greater extent, free will exists, personal responsibility is embraced and intentionality becomes a pervasive aspect of group culture and experience. These four groups exist within a mutually dynamic context where each con- tributes to knowing and understanding the others while simultaneously threat- ening their existence. Change and stability in the theory, as discussed here and 22 The Dynamic Workplace Figure 1. Dynamic Workplace Elements
- 50. to a greater extent in chapters 3–5, is driven by collective trends in individual needs for security and self-esteem and by threats to group existence arising from within the larger organization or the arena in which the organization seeks com- petitive advantage.The following discussion explains each of the types of work- place experience and the chapter concludes with a discussion of the theory’s deeply embedded dynamic nature. Chaotic Group Experience The chaotic group presents its members with the most primitive workplace experience of the four groups, thereby provoking the most psychologically de- fensive response of the three psychologically defensive group experiences. The following discussion points out the many interactive aspects of this experience that tend to be mutually supportive thereby creating a reinforcing circularity. The chaotic group acts “as if” there is a lack of effective leadership within the group (organization) and that there is no clear agenda or task for the group to work on although some members may occasionally point out that these are pres- ent at least to some degree. Direction may be only minimally provided or not followed if offered. Phrases like “too many bulls in the china shop” and “herd- ing a group of cats” express experience in this chaotic setting. Group members appear to be uncertain as to what to do and how to act.This lack of direction and purpose leads to the experience of the group as fragmented and lacking cohe- sion. This outcome makes most of its members feel anxious about their experi- ence of the group. The group essentially acts as though “doing nothing” is an option. There does not appear to be any compelling reason to accomplish work within this experiential context as time seems to have stopped and external events are not taking place. Participation in this group, despite all of the personal autonomy it provides, eventually becomes unrewarding for most of its members. In particular many of the needs of individual members to feel good about themselves and their par- ticipation in the group are diminished or absent. Their wish to feel secure rela- tive to each other and their leader is frustrated by the chaotic fragmentation. These experiences of self, others, the formal group leader and the group are stressful. It is not uncommon for some group members to feel that their partic- ipation in the group is actually threatening and dangerous to their well-being. At times almost anything seems possible, even interpersonal violence where someone is picked out by the group for ritualized aggression. These experiences frequently lead to a lack of member self-individuation. Ev- eryone just wants to blend in. This usually takes the form of avoiding partici- pation such as performing work or offering information or direction.In fact there are many indications that self-individuation not only is experienced as person- ally dangerous but also is actively suppressed by some group members. Those who do speak up to offer direction often seem to be speaking into a vacuum where their words go unheard by most group members. Their efforts, in a sense, fall Dynamic Workplace Theory 23
- 51. upon deaf ears. In this context, if a group member or perhaps the nominal leader of the group persists in trying to provide direction, the individual may ultimately find him- or herself the focus of the group’s anxieties, fears, frustrations and anger.As a result those who offer direction find themselves being interviewed by group members as to their intentions, motivations and experience.They may be quizzed about all aspects of their point of view, and their leadership challenged by a few who also aspire to lead the group.Why is he or she advocating this point of view? Why does he or she feel empowered to do this? What credentials does he or she have to make such an assertion? In general anyone observing these group dynamics including its members is discouraged from self-individuation that attracts attention to one’s self. It just seems too dangerous. These group dynamics predictably lead group members to experience them- selves as cut off from themselves, their skills, their work, and from each other. These threatening and frustrating elements of group experience frequently evoke hostility that is expressed in many directions and many different forms. Hostility may then be directed toward fellow group members who are hiding out in the group by not saying anything (avoiding self-individuation). Not con- tributing, therefore, becomes dangerous. The group as a whole may also be at- tacked for being incompetent to do anything.The nominal group leader may be criticized and challenged for not doing anything to allay anxiety arising from distressing group experience. Even those outside of the group who are thought to be responsible for creating the group and assigning it work may be attacked. The group’s hostility may take many forms ranging from passive to active aggression. Passive aggression usually takes the form of not supporting others, indifference to the group’s dynamics and the undermining of the efforts of oth- ers who try to make contributions aimed at getting the group back on track.Ac- tive aggression usually takes the form of intense questioning of anyone who has something to say, and may include verbal attacks and public character as- sassinations. Despite the perceived presence of aggression or the distinct possi- bility that someone is about to be attacked, when hostility does emerge, it is most often paradoxically contained and suppressed by other group members. It is just too unpleasant and threatening to be tolerated and simply makes the group experience too distressing and anxiety ridden. No one really wants to see someone, figuratively speaking, destroyed by the group.The mere threat of per- sonal destruction, it is hoped, will contain self-individuation and the possibility an effective leader might emerge to threaten individual autonomy. The circular reinforcing nature of chaotic group experience may, at this point, be observed to have been established. Group members behave in an aimless, per- haps joking or escapist manner to relieve anxiety.This further reduces the group’s productivity,adding to the threat the group may not succeed.Group members are not supportive of each other and are combative regarding each other’s needs for security and self-esteem. Group members are all in the same boat and it may be easier to go down together than face each other and the situation.The group may 24 The Dynamic Workplace
- 52. gradually lose touch with important aspects of its task environment as members of the group withdraw from accomplishing assigned work. Alienation, anxiety and hostility abound. This chaotic, uncertain and threat- ening group experience may also be inspected from a depth psychology per- spective. In psychological terms, experience of this nature promotes primitive forms of aggression. Oral sadistic and incorporative hunger for objects (inter- personal connectedness) creates anxiety over safety. Group members paradoxi- cally feel that they need others while simultaneously fearing that they will consume their friends as well as be consumed by them. As a result there gradually emerges a great hunger for relatedness that is at the same time threat- ening to everyone. One outcome of these group dynamics is that group members seek safety by psychologically and sometimes physically dropping out of the group. Members may withdraw from active participation while denying their feelings of frus- tration, aggression and fears that group members may devour them. Paradoxi- cally, the greater their desire (hunger) for interpersonal relatedness within the group, the greater the likelihood others will feel unbalanced by the threat of being devoured by those in need.This experience results in an increasing inter- personal defensiveness to avoid being used by others to meet their affiliation needs to feel connected and good about themselves. Groups that contain these conditions accomplish little work.The unacknowl- edged primary task becomes one of personal survival that is made all the more difficult as members withdraw from each other and active participation in the group. Few opportunities for interpersonal support exist at a time when sup- porting each other is most needed. Members often experience themselves as nei- ther in nor out of the group, and may express considerable ambivalence about the group and their participation in it. Most members seem to be unable to com- mit to group participation while at the same time they are unable to separate from the group at the risk of annihilation by the group or a superior who as- signed them to work in the group. As a result, group and self-experience contains within it a reinforcing circu- larity. To be found in the group is what seems like an inability to learn from experience that forecloses the possibility of changing to another type of group experience that promises to resolve bad feelings and lack of productivity.As dis- cussed in chapters 3 and 4, change, in the case of these group dynamics only seems possible when a mutually acceptable and willing leader is identified in a time frame when the group contains within it a readiness to follow a leader such as Bill. In this regard group experience is so distressing that threatening and painful reservations about allowing a leader to self-differentiate are overcome. As will be discussed in chapter 4, a fight/flight mechanism leads to a readiness to change.This occurs when fleeing from the current group experience becomes paramount or, conversely, fighting back against it or external events is felt to be necessary to insure personal and group survival. Dynamic Workplace Theory 25
- 53. In Sum Members of the chaotic group may feel: (1) fear regarding the perceived consequences of being heard or acting, (2) helpless as others are observed to be attacked by the group’s members, (3) much more secure by going unnoticed within the group, (4) the group has lost its purpose and direction and (5) frustrated that nothing seems to help restore the group’s ability to perform work. These feelings that are held by many group members lead them to shrink away from interacting with others and from participating in the group. At the same time, individual survival is also threatened by poor group performance that may, if felt by many group members, create a context for change where a leader is identified to lead the group in a new direction.This new direction will be toward one of the other two psychologically defensive groups or perhaps toward the more psychologically balanced group where group experience contains inter- personal trust and cooperation. Bureaucratic Group Experience In contrast to the chaotic group where effective leadership is for the most part absent, participants in the bureaucratized group control their anxieties by cre- ating a socially defensive system aimed at eliminating adverse group experience and containing anxiety.The result is the familiar hierarchical organization struc- ture and accompanying policies and procedures, rules and regulations that regulate work and member interactions. Bureaucratic hierarchies provide for nonthreatening leadership where the leader’s power and authority are carefully circumscribed and preferably exercised in an impersonal manner. The leader must, in effect, play by the rules of the organization or risk rejection and even termination. The bureaucratized group controls the action of its members by creating rigid routines,impersonal professional interactions,carefully defined authority and rou- tinized leadership.Working relationships are preferably role-to-role interactions. Communication, interactions and decision making must follow prescribed proto- cols that maintain the integrity of the chain of command where progressively more decision-making authority lies with ever higher positions within the man- agement hierarchy. Many layers of command and control exist, as well as spe- cialized departments and divisions that may not be allowed to interact directly across organizational boundaries. These outcomes introduce vertical and hori- zontal organizational fragmentation. It is, therefore, fairly easy to conclude that within an organizational context such as this, meaningful interpersonal relation- ships are, for the most part, discouraged in favor of promoting a mechanistic pro- fessionalism devoid of feelings, passion and personal interests and motivations. 26 The Dynamic Workplace
- 54. These organizational attributes, it is hoped, will provide group members the comforting illusion of stability, predictability, equality and dependability. Per- sonal autonomy that abounds in the chaotic group experience is discouraged. Control of feelings, beliefs and actions is the primary task. Productivity para- doxically may be of secondary importance. However, unlike chaotic groups that produce little other than anxiety and an occasional but uncoordinated flare of creativity, bureaucratized groups are able to accomplish work by following the policies and procedures. Readers will no doubt possess the deepest familiarity with this kind of group and organizational experience and further elaboration of its attributes is not necessary. Reliance upon the bureaucratic hierarchical approach to designing organi- zations and groups is not without its difficulties and dysfunctions. Many have noted that bureaucracies have difficulty in learning from experience and ad- justing to new circumstances, and they encourage dependence on the part of their members (Blau and Meyer, 1956; Jacoby, 1977 and Merton et al., 1952). This solution to controlling group process, however, also often fails to provide its members a permanent solution to controlling their anxiety. Feelings of op- pression and alienation readily emerge that threaten security and control. Self- individuation remains undesirable as was the case in the chaotic group. These experiences are especially likely to occur among those who are most apt to self- differentiate either by offering new ideas or perhaps outperforming others (Allcorn, 1991). Czander (1993) also points out that while the espoused practice appears to be one of professional objectivity, actual experience is different.“Re- wards and punishments are used as motivational instruments and are supposed to be based on ‘objective’ evaluations of performance. However, this process is rarely objective; instead it is political, which precipitates conflict and adversar- ial relations between superior and subordinate” (p. 119). Problems such as these readily lead to a greater reliance upon bureaucratic control in the belief if “we just do it right (according to the policies and procedures), everything will be all right” and by extension our anxious feelings will be allayed. Bureaucratic hierarchical organization contains many elements that are ei- ther the fulfillment of psychologically defensive tendencies or conversely nur- ture their persistence. This structure is, in part, the outcome of the pervasive pursuit of control over inner experience. Control presents a paradox. It allevi- ates anxiety on the part of management and employees and it encourages anx- iety on the part of those who must submit to the control. Within this context there is never enough control within the hands of management and there may never be too little control relative to those who must submit (Czander, 1993). As mentioned, deviation and self-individuation is ideally to be avoided in favor of maintaining rigorous order. Czander (1993) notes: The structure assumes regulatory authority over the subordinate only when the subor- dinate assumes a submissive position.The regulators’ authority takes over the superego functions, such as conscious ideals, morality, equality, self-observation, and the reality Dynamic Workplace Theory 27
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- 56. WHAT CAME OF A LAUGH ON A CHRISTMAS EVE. "Beg your pardon, sir," said I, as soon as I could compose myself sufficiently to speak; "I couldn't help it." "Glad to hear it. Just what I want. I was debating with myself whether it was sure for a laugh. I am looking for things that will make one laugh; in short, buying up causes for laughter on a Christmas day. There can be no doubt, you think, about this being funny?" "Not a bit of it," said I. "Well, I'll have one for every basket, then," said the old gentleman, his eyes twinkling with delight, as he danced the toy up and down. It was one of those jointed wooden monkeys that by means of a slide performs the most comical evolutions around the top of a pole. "You see," continued he, "I cannot always trust my own judgment. There's no credit in my laughing, bless your heart. I'd be a monster, yes, a monster, my dear sir, if I didn't. I'm just like this monkey as you see him now in this position, ready to go over the other side with the slightest provocation. I have everything that heart can wish, sir, to laugh at and be happy; but they, poor dears, they are so far on the minus side of merriment, as well they may be, that it takes a little something extra, you see, to get a good hearty squeal out of them." I became at once intensely interested in the "poor dears" alluded to. The sight of the old gentleman was enough to make one do unheard-of feats of heroism in favor of any person or thing of which
- 57. he might take the least notice. I ventured to suppose that they had lost something or somebody lately, with the intention of offering my hand or purse as the case might be. "Can't say that they have," he replied, rubbing his shiny bald head. "Being generally on the minus side of everything, including laughter, they haven't anything to lose which you or I might think worth keeping, except their lives, and somehow I think they've got used to losing even them pretty comfortably." I was perplexed, and muttered, "Curious sort of people, those." "But interesting, you'll allow?" said he. I replied that I had no doubt of it; and I meant it, for so charming and open-hearted was this old gentlemen, that I was ready to subscribe unhesitatingly to any asseveration he might be pleased to make; "but—" I added, about to express my ignorance of the individuals in question, when he interrupted me. "Why—but? My Minnie, the Darling of the World and the Sunshine of my life" (expressing the titles of that person in the largest capitals), "and I held an ante-Christmas council this morning, and it was proposed by the president, that is myself, and seconded by the said Darling of the World and Sunshine of my life, and carried by an overwhelming majority, including Bob, who said he went in for anything good, that buts were unparliamentary when Christmas was concerned; and so we called the roll, twenty in all, and there being no buts, they all stood unchallenged, making twenty baskets, and now as many monkeys to go in them. What do you think of it! Capital, wasn't it?" I was certain it was, and was prepared to go any odds in its favor. "What's more," he added, "they are going privately." {543}
- 58. Being committed beyond all explanation, I said I was glad to hear that too, "if Miss Minnie approves." This last supposition I made with a deprecating cough, not being quite sure of the relation which the old gentleman bore to the Darling of the World and the Sunshine of his life. "It was her own proposal," was his rejoinder, "and you can't imagine what an immense relief it was to me too. It is more than I can stand to get through with the "thank ye sir's," and the "much obliged's" and the "long life to your honor's." I'm a baby, sir, in their presence, and by the time the distribution is made I'm a spectacle of unmitigated woe, as if I'd been to as many funerals as there are baskets. I remember that as I was coming out from a widow and five children, last Christmas, that rascal Bob saw me wiping my eyes, and says he, 'Most of 'em dead, sir?' 'No, Bob,' says I, 'it's the smoke, I suppose; they've a precious smoky chimney.' But when we got to the next place—let me see—oh! yes, a man with a broken leg, the scoundrel says to me, as he handed out the basket, 'Now, let us bury another one, sir.' Not bad for, was it? I had such a good laugh on each pair of stairs beforehand that I got through that one pretty comfortably But it was a glorious proposal of my Minnie's, was it not, that these should go privately? for we'll sit at home, and check them off as they go in, for I've arranged that the messenger shall deliver them by the watch, sir, and we'll imagine their surprise and their happy faces, and the bringing out of the monkeys, and then we'll have a roar and be jolly, and get rid of the thank ye's and all the rest of it that chokes up a man's throat and turns him into a born baby." And here the good-hearted old gentleman, in the fulness of his delight, caused the monkey in his hand to perform a series of rapid gymnastics over the top of his pole, beyond the powers of any monkey that ever lived. He presented such a comical appearance in doing this that I burst into another hearty laugh in which he as heartily joined. "It is irresistibly amusing," said I, meaning the monkey.
- 59. "I knew it would be," he returned, his mind running upon the happy scheme by which he might prevent his left hand knowing the deeds of the right; "we will have twenty merry Christmas laughs all rolled into one. There I'll be, as it were, on this side," here he took a position on the floor opposite me, "and my Darling over there, as it were you," a distinction I acknowledged by a profound bow, "and Bob standing behind her chair, as that rocking-horse stands behind you; and then, watch in hand, we'll check them off: Number One, Widow Bums, two small children; Number Two, Susy Bell, orphan girl, works in a carpet factory and supports her two orphan sisters; Number Three, old Granny Mullen, with consumptive son and three grand-children, and so on; and there we'll have them all right before us, and they knowing nothing about it (there's the beauty of it, all due to that blessed Darling of the World and Sunshine of my life), and out will come the joint of meat, ready cooked, and the mince- pie, and the plum-pudding with a dozen of silver quarter dollars in each one, and the shoes and the stockings, and I don't know what else besides, packed away by my Darling's own sweet little hands, and last of all the monkey with a label around his neck, with an inscription, say, for instance, 'From Nobody in particular, with best wishes for a Merry Christmas.' There you have it," added he, waving the monkey triumphantly in the air, "and won't it be grand?" "I'd give the world to see it," I exclaimed, quite carried away by the old gentleman's enthusiastic manner. Just then the keeper of the toy-shop handed me a package of marbles, tops, jewsharps, a pocket spy-glass, and a few other things of a like nature calculated to make glad the heart of {544} boys, which I had purchased for my little nephew, Willie, in the country. "This for you, Mr. Holiday; but if you wish, I'll send it around to the doctor's," said the toy-vender. "Lord bless my heart and soul!" exclaimed the old gentleman, seizing me suddenly by both hands. "Not Alfred Holiday is it?"
- 60. "That is my name," said I. "Nephew of Dr. Ben?" "Nephew of Dr. Ben," I repeated. "And how long have you been in the city?" "About a week," said I. "I came up to spend Christmas with Uncle Ben and Aunt Mary." "And to take a look in at the Owl's Retreat, No. 9 Harmony place, of course?" I intimated my ignorance of the Retreat in question, and of my not having the pleasure, etc. "My house, man, my house," said he, shaking my hands up and down. "Dr. Ben and I are old acquaintances; in fact, ever since my Minnie was—I beg your pardon," added he, suddenly recollecting himself, and producing a card from his vest pocket. "Name of Acres, Thomas Acres, who, with the compliments of his daughter Minnie to the same effect, will be—most happy—to see—Mr. Alfred— Holiday—on to-morrow morning—to join in—the grand— checking off—of the—twenty baskets—and their—contents— including—monkeys—and of course stay to dinner." If the old gentleman's cordial manner had any weight in deciding my acceptance of the invitation, it must be confessed that the curiosity to see the "Darling of the World and the Sunshine of his life" added not a little to it. Promising to be on hand at No. 9 before eleven o'clock, at which hour the checking off was to begin, I bade my new- found friend good-morning and went home. But it was very provoking not to know more of the "Darling and Sunshine" This is him him him him question. Standing in such a light to such a father, she was, of course, a peerless being. Age—say,
- 61. twenty. Height—medium, I am five feet ten. 10 Blonde or brunette— difficult to determine. Sunshine would seem to indicate blonde, yet darling might be either. Good, amiable, witty, accomplished—not a doubt of it. Beautiful name too, said I, as I scribbled it in every style of the caligraphic art, thereby destroying no small amount of my uncle's property in fine gilt-edged note paper. Has she suitor already. Hoity-toity, Mr. Alfred Holiday, you are castle-building on a small amount of material, it seems to me; and if she have, what affair is that of yours? a question which that imaginative young gentlemen finding himself unable to solve fell into a fit of despondency, and went to bed in a despairing state of mind. Punctual to the appointed hour I walked into Harmony place, a quiet unpretentious street, and open the gate of No. 9. There had been both a rain and heavy frost in the night, and the trees and shrubs, clothed in a complete armor of ice, sparkled and glittered in the bright sunshine. Unfortunately, the ground shared in this universal covering, and being under the impression that someone was looking from behind the curtains, who might possibly be the Darling of the World and the Sunshine of the life of Mr. Thomas Acres, I insanely endeavored to walk upon the glassy pavement with careless ease, as if it were the most ordinary ground in the world. I now advise my bitterest enemy to try it. In an unguarded moment my feet slipped, and I came down in the most unpleasant manner into a sitting posture upon the ground. I thought I heard the sound of a clear ringing laugh following immediately upon my ignominious fall. I hoped it was from No. 10 or No. 8; yet my heart misgave me as Mr. Acres, with a half dozen superfluous bows, divided between his daughter and myself, introduced me, and a pair of dark, deep eyes, in which I thought I detected a merry twinkle, quietly but warmly acknowledged my presence. {545} "Mr. Alfred Holiday, my child, our old friend, Doctor Holiday's nephew; Mr. Holiday, my daughter Minnie, the Darling of the World
- 62. and the Sunshine of my life, as I have already told you, and the Dove of this Owl's Retreat." I was "most happy," of course, and wished them both, with a bow to Miss Minnie, a Merry Christmas. "We were getting afraid, Mr. Holiday, lest we should be obliged to begin without you," said that bright-eyed and altogether beautiful young lady, in a tone of voice which I afterward characterized in a violently worded poem, written just before midnight, as 'rippling diamonds' and 'dropping pearls.' "Afraid!—without me?" I exclaimed, placing a most unjustifiable emphasis upon the personal pronoun. "I am highly flattered." "Not at all; my father tells me he feels deeply indebted to you in assisting him in the choice of some toys designed for the children." "For—for—laughing," stammered I. "Do you think, Miss Acres, that one might be indebted to another for a laugh?" I was thinking of my stupid fall on the ice, and began to regret my having accredited to No. 8 or 10 those sounds of merriment which reached my ears. "If one gives good cause," she replied, with the quietest and most provoking of smiles. The deep, dark eyes twinkled again, and Nos. 8 and 10 stood acquitted. "Come, Mr. Holiday," said Mr. Acres, "let us take an inspection of the forces. Wagon is loaded, strange man hired, with a watch in his pocket, off he goes; whence he comes or whither he goes, nobody knows. Ha! ha! Minnie, my dear, put me down one, your ancient Owl has struck a poetic vein; no time to register it, however. Come along; while I am immortalizing myself, twenty hungry families are waiting for a Christmas dinner they don't expect to get, and their mouths watering for plum-puddings and mince pies that they have not the most distant expectation of"—and the good old soul led the way into the hall, and thence into the court yard, at the entrance of
- 63. which stood a large covered furniture-cart, filled to over-flowing with the wonderful twenty baskets destined to distribute happiness among as many poor and suffering families, and make their hearts merry on Christmas day. Each basket was labelled with its direction, number, and time of delivery. "Now, John," said Mr. Acres to the driver as he mounted to his place on the cart, "remember, you are born deaf and dumb, can't hear a word nor even say 'Merry Christmas,' until you come back here and report." "Lave me alone, sir," replied John with a broad grin, "the fun shan't be spiled for me." "He enters into it, he enters into it, you see," said Mr. Acres, addressing Minnie and myself. "What's the time, John, by yours?" "Near eleven, sir." "Time's up, then. "One, two, three, and off you go. Twenty baskets piled in a row: Ask me no questions, for I don't know. Positively, my darling, there's something inspiring in the air this morning." John cracked his whip, and the cart moved out of the yard, turned down the street, and was soon out of sight. Mr. Acres was a perfect picture of happiness as he stood gazing at the departing vehicle, rubbing his hands with delight, and his full, round face beaming with intense satisfaction. As I glanced at Minnie I saw her eyes filled with tears of love and pride as she watched the movements of her father. Turning about suddenly he noticed her emotion, upon which he went up to her, and placing a hand on her either cheek said with mock gravity:
- 64. {546} "Miss Minnie Acres, the Darling of the World and the Sunshine of my life, is hereby invited to attend the funeral of twenty baskets without further notice. Ha! ha! you recollect Bob, you know; and no time to lose either," he added, taking Minnie's hand in his right and mine in his left, and turning toward the parlor; "so let us get at it, my dears; excuse the liberty, Mr. Holiday, I'm in a glorious humor, and it's Christmas day, and here we are, and here's the list, so sit ye down; and Bob, Bob! you rascal, where are you?" The rascal thus vociferously called for responded immediately by presenting at the door a form about four feet in height, of the rarest obesity, clothed in a dark-gray suit, evidently denned for the first time, and holding with both hands the stiffest and hardest of hats. There was no motion of his lips visible, but a sound was heard as if it proceeded from the inside of a cotton-bale, which was understood to mean— "Here I am, sir; respects, gentlemen and ladies, and a Merry Christmas." "Pretty time of day for that" said Mr. Acres, "as if a body were just out of bed, and hadn't heard Mass yet. Oh! I see," he continued, glancing at Bob's new clothes, which I have no doubt were the delivery of an order from T. Acres, Esq., made that very morning by Tibbits & Son, fashionable tailors. "Well, Merry Christmas, Bob; but don't stand bowing there all day"—which feat that individual seemed to be vainly attempting to execute, but could not get through with to his entire satisfaction—"come in, and stand there by Miss Minnie, and listen to the checking off, and we'll see if it's all right as a trivet, as it should be. Lord! I'd eat no dinner if there was one left out." The "checking off" commenced immediately, the time being up for the delivery of the first basket. Nothing could exceed the delight of the old gentleman as Minnie read from the list the names of the
- 65. parties who at that moment received the basket, their places of residence, and a detailed account of the articles sent. Each basket contained a sufficient supply for a hearty Christmas dinner for the family, jellies, wines, and other delicacies for the sick, some articles of clothing, and last of all the toy monkey. "They've all got one," said Mr. Acres, chuckling with glee as monkey Number One was mentioned; "but we must do it regular and put them all down, or I should be afraid we overlooked one, which isn't likely, however, for they are all down at the bottom of each basket, and I with them there myself." One by one the baskets were checked off, Mr. Acres with watch in hand calling "time," and Minnie reading thereupon the names of the parties and contents of the basket allotted to them. We very soon realized the old gentleman's promise that we would have a roar, for as the distribution went on the merriment increased, as all considered it their bounden duty to laugh louder and longer at the mention of the monkey of the basket then checked off than they did at the last one. Even Bob, whose risible powers seemed to be rather limited, and which were evidently under still greater restraint by reason of the additional dignity which became the new outfit, succeeded in increasing the hilarity of the occasion by the comical manner he performed his appointed duty in the checking off, which consisted in answering "right" when the number and names were announced, and submitting any information obtained of the parties in question through the intervention of a certain Mrs. McQuirey, whose "absence at the present delightful reunion," explained Mr. Acres, "was owing to the numerous duties with which that excellent lady had burdened herself." These duties, I afterward learned, consistent in making a daily morning visit to a number of sick poor people who Mr. Acres had taken under his fostering care. Bob's information was remarkable for its brevity of expression as well as for its peculiarly ventriloquistic character, due to the extraordinary amount of adipose matter which enveloped his organs of speech. {547} Of basket Number Five, for instance, he said, "Bad—husband
- 66. goes it every Saturday night—children thin as broom handles." Or Number eight he reported: "Measles—shanty—rags scare—allers hungry." Of Number Ten, "Wus—man broken leg—wife no work— ain't fit neither if there was millions." Of Number Twenty, the last, having by this time exhausted his stock of adjectives, he summed up his report thus: "Extremely wust o' the hall lot—widder—nine mortal bags o' hungry bones—and what will you do with 'em?" "Do with them!" exclaimed Mr. Acres, "we'll have Mrs. McQuirey look them up, Bob, eh? Minnie, dear, take a note of Number Twenty, that basket is only a bite." The baskets being all checked off, Bob was ordered to produce forthwith a bottle of wine and glasses. "Now that we've got through with it comfortably," said Mr. Acres, "we'll drink all their healths, and wish 'em a Merry Christmas," which was done, all standing. "Hoping," continued that Prince of Charity, glass in hand, and following toward the four points of the compass, as if the whole twenty families were arranged about him in a circle, "that you may all have many happy returns of the season, and never know a Christmas that is not a merry one." Never was a toast drunk with purer enthusiasm or a heartier good- will. Believing it to be the part of some one to cheer the sentiment, and not seeing any of the parties present who might with great propriety perform that duty, Bob took it upon himself to act their proxy, which he accordingly did by waving his new hat in a circle and giving three muffled "Hoo-rays" from the cotton bale. In a few minutes John the messenger returned. He was at once introduced to the parlor, where he gave a glowing account of his errand. "The shammin' deaf an' dumb was thryin' to me sowl above all. It wint aginst me not to be able to say the top o' the mornin' to ye, or aven God save all here on a Christmas dhay to the crathers, an' the
- 67. Lord forgive me for peepin' an' a listenin' whin they thought I was deaf as a post, but it was in a good cause. It tuk the tears out o' me two eyes, so it did, to hear thim wondherin and prayin 'and a blessin' yez, and a cryin' for joy, and to see the childer dancin' the monkeys like mad. Och! but it's a glory to be a rich man like yer honor. Me mouth wathers whin I think o' the threasures ye're a hapin' up above." "Bob," interrupted Mr. Acres, shifting uneasily in his seat, "you had better get out the crape hat-bands, for I see a funeral coming round the corner." "A funeral is it?" said John. "May it be a thousand years afore it shtops forninst yer honor's doors." "Thank ye, John; thank ye," said Mr. Acres, suddenly rising and going to the window, where he stood apparently deeply interested in the view of a blank wall and some smoky chimney-pots before him. "Whin his day comes," continued John, loud enough to be overheard by Mr. Acres, "what a croonin' and a philaluin' thim poor crathers will be makin'. Sure, their tears will be droopin' like diamonds into his grave." This was too much for Mr. Acres, who turned around, presenting a picture of inconsolable grief. It was only after two or three violent efforts to clear his throat of some unusually large obstacle which appeared to have stuck there that he succeeded in saying: "Merry Christmas, John! Merry Christmas! You will find a plum- pudding, John, waiting down-stairs," and immediately began another survey of the blank wall and chimney-pots, making at the same time several abortive attempts to whistle. {548}
- 68. John took the hint, and bowed himself out of the room. A dead silence ensued upon his departure, which no one appeared to find sufficient reason to break. In vain did I rack my brains to find an appropriate remark, but the words would not arrange themselves into a grammatical sentence. As I chanced to lift my eyes to the full- orbed face of Bob, standing bolt upright behind Minnie's chair, I became convinced at once of the fact that I had been intently and impudently staring at that Darling of the World for some time, whose beautiful downcast face, half shaded by a profuse cluster of raven curls I thought might engage the attention of any individual, say for an unlimited term of years. Embarrassed by this discovery, I took up the basket list and became at once deeply absorbed in its perusal. Unfortunately, the paper appeared to be possessed of some diabolical fascination which prevented my looking away from it or opening my mouth. How long this state of things might have continued is difficult to say, had not Bob broken the silence by a question, addressed, as it seemed, rather to mankind in general then to any particular individual within hearing: "This ain't Christmas is it?" "Yes, it is, you rascal," replied Mr. Acres; who, being either satisfied with his inspection of the blank wall and the chimney-pots, or had concluded to defer their more minute examination to another time, at that moment came forward to the table. "Go and order up lunch directly, Minnie, my darling; Mr. Holiday will give us the pleasure of his company, and also to dinner. Meanwhile, Mr. Holiday will be glad to hear you sing, my dear, and I will go and have Number Twenty looked after; that basket was only a bite, only a bite." Mr. Alfred Holiday immediately led Miss Minnie Acres to the piano, where he listened with rapt attention to that young lady's singing of Miss Hemans's "O lovely voices of the sky;" upon which Mr. Alfred Holiday made the stupid remark that he had never heard any one of those "voices of the sky" before that day. Afterward Miss Minnie Acres and Mr. Alfred Holiday looked over a portfolio of prints
- 69. together, when that young gentleman discovered that all his fingers were thumbs, and besought Miss Minnie Acres to hold one of the prints for him, when, looking at her and at the same time pretending to examine the picture with a critical eye, he declared he never saw anything so beautiful in his life, which irrelevant observation caused Miss Minnie Acres to say to Mr. Alfred Holiday, "Why! you're not looking at it!" whereupon that gentlemen became speechless and blushed from the roots of his hair to the depths of his best necktie. Of the events of the rest of the day Mr. Alfred Holiday distinctly remembers the following facts. Lunch being announced, Mr. Alfred Holiday took Miss Minnie Acres to the table, acted in the most insane manner while there, and lead Miss Minnie Acres back to the parlor; that he played backgammon with Miss Minnie Acres, and doubtless left an impression on the mind of that young lady that he was utterly ignorant of the game; that he accompanied Miss Minnie Acres to Vespers, and returned with her; that he took Miss Minnie Acres to dinner, during which a gentleman, who to the best of his belief was Mr. Thomas Acres, told him several times that he, Mr. Alfred Holiday, ate nothing, a fact of which that gentleman was not aware; that after the cloth was removed Mr. Alfred Holiday sat staring at an empty chair opposite him, for the possession of which he could cheerfully have impoverished himself and gone upon the wide, wide world; that certain musical sounds proceeded from the direction of the parlor, Mr. Alfred Holiday asseverated in the strongest terms to be "divine;" that upon his return to the parlor he was only restrained by the presence of a third person from throwing himself upon his knees and explaining: "Thou art the Darling of the World and the Sunshine of my life," but which he nevertheless repeated {549} in his mind an innumerable number of times; in a word, that Mr. Alfred Holiday fell head over ears in love with Miss Minnie Acres, and made of all, which up to the present writing he has religiously, that if she would accept his hand and heart, which she did a few weeks after, he would send her twenty baskets of provisions to as many poor families every Christmas Eve, as a thank-offering, and a grateful remembrance of the hour when he laughed, and thereby one the most beautiful and most faithful wife that a man ever have.
- 70. From The London Society.
- 71. A CHRISTMAS DREAM. A Pilgrim to the West returned, whose palm-branch, drenched in dew, Shook off bright drops like childhood's tears when childhood's heart is new, Stole up the hills at eventide, like mist in wintry weather, Where locked in dream-like trance I lay, at rest among the heather. The red ferns, answering to his tread; sent up a savor sweet; The yellow gorse, like Magian gold, glowed bright about his feet: The waving brooms, the winter blooms, each happy voice in air, Grew great with life and melody, as if a Christ stood there. Unlike to mortal man was he. His brow rose broad and high: The peace of heaven was on his lip, the God-light in his eye; And rayed with richer glory streamed, through night and darkness shed, To crown that holy Pilgrim's brow, the one star overhead. Long gazing on that staff he bore, beholding how it grew With sprouts of green, with buds between, and young leaves ever new. The marvels of the Eastern land I bade him all unfold. And thus to my impassioned ears the wondrous tale he told: "Each growth upon that sacred soil where one died not in vain, Though crushed and shed, though seeming dead, in beauty lives again: The branching bough the knife may cleave, the root the axe may sever, But on the ground his presence lighted, nothing dies for ever.
- 72. "Where once amid the lowly stalls fell soft the Virgin's tear, The littered straw 'neath children's feet turns to green wheat in ear. The corn he pluck'd on Sabbath days, though ne'er it feels the sun, Though millions since have trod the field, bears fruit for every one. "The palms that on his way were strewn wave ever in the air; From clouded earth to sun-bright heaven they form a leafy stair. In Cana's bowers the love of man is touched by the divine; And snows that fall on Galilee have still the taste of wine. "Where thy lost locks, poor Magdalen! around his feet were rolled, Still springs in woman's worship-ways the gracious Mary-gold: Men know when o'er that bowed down head they hear the angels weeping, The purer spirit is not dead—not dead, but only sleeping. {550} "Aloft on blackened Calvary no more the shadows lower: Where fell the piercing crown of thorns, there blooms a thorn in flower. Bright on the prickled holy-tree and mistletoe' appear, Reflecting rays of heavenly shine, the blod-drop and the tear. "The sounding rocks that knew his tread wake up each dead abyss, Where echoes caught from higher worlds ring gloriously in this; And, leaning where his voice once filled the temple where he taught, The listener's eyes grew spirit-full—full with a heavenly thought." The Pilgrim ceased. My heart beat fast. I marked a change of hue; As if those more than mortal eyes a soul from God looked through. Then rising slow as angels rise, and soaring faint and far, He passed my bound of vision, robed in glory, as a star.
- 73. Strange herald voices filled the air: glad anthems swelled around: The wakened winds rose eager-voiced, and lapsed in dreamy sound. It seemed all birds that wintered far, drawn home by some blessed power, Made music in the Christmas woods, mistaking of the hour. A new glad spirit raptured me! I woke to breathe the morn With heart fresh-strung to charity—as though a Christ were born. Then knew I how each earth-born thought, though tombed in clay it seem, It bursts the sod, it soars to God, transfigured in a dream. ELEANORA L. HERVEY From the Month.
- 74. VICTIMS OF DOUBT. It is not the fashion at present to scoff at Christianity, or to make an open profession of infidelity. Ponderous treatises to prove that revealed religion is an impossibility, and coarse blasphemies against holy things, are equally out of date. Yet to men of earnest convictions, whether holding the whole or only some portions of revealed truth, the moral atmosphere is not reassuring. The pious Catholic, the Bible-loving Protestant, and the hybrid of the last phase of Tractarianism, are alike distrustful of the smooth aspect of controversy and the calm surface of the irreligious element. There is something worse than bigotry or mischief, and that is skepticism. And, if we may judge from what we hear and read, it is this to which most schools of thought outside the Catholic Church are rapidly drifting, if they have not already reached it, and into which restless and disloyal Catholics are in danger of being precipitated. An answer made to an old Oxford friend by one who was once with him in the van of the Tractarian movement, but did not accompany him into the fold, "I agree with you, that if there is a divine revelation, the Roman Catholic Church is the ordained depository of it; but this is an uncertainty which I cannot solve," would probably express the habitual state of mind of a fearfully {551} large number of the more thoughtful of our countrymen, and the occasional reflection of many more who do not often give themselves time to think. And to the multitudes who are plunging or gliding into doubts the Catholic system, which there unhappy training has made it one of their first principles to despise for detest, has not even presented itself as an alternative. The current literature of the day, which is mostly framed to suit the taste of the market, and reacts again in developing that taste further in the same direction, is pre-eminently, not blasphemous, or anti-
- 75. Catholic, or polemical, but sceptical. The following description of the periodical press by the Abbé Louis Baunard, in his recent publication, [Footnote 168] might seem to have been written for London instead of Paris: [Footnote 168: Le Doute ses Victimes dans le Siècle présent, par M. l'Abbé Louis Baunard. Paris.] "With some rare exceptions, you will not find any rude scoffing, violent expressions, unfashionable cynicism, harsh systems, or exclusive intolerance. Yet is not controversy that is the business of these writers, but criticism. They deal in expositions and suppositions, but almost always without deciding anything. It is a principle with them that there are only shades of difference between the most contradictory propositions; and the reader becomes accustomed to see these shades in such questions as those which relate to the personality of God, the divinity of Jesus Christ, and the supernatural generally. This does not hinder these men from calling themselves Christians, in the vague sense of a loose Christianity, which allows the names of ancient beliefs to remain, while it destroys their substance. They do not assault the old religion in front, but silently undermine the foundations on which it rests, and carry on ingenious parallels by the side of revealed truth, till some conclusion emerges which utterly subverts it, without having appeared to be intentionally directed against it. There is one review, the most widely circulated of all, in the same number of which an article dearly atheistical will be found by the side of another article breathing the most correct orthodoxy, and very much surprised to see itself in such company. Such concessions to truth, which are made only now and then, serve to give the publication that makes them a certain appearance of impartiality, and thus to accredit error, and to lay one more snare for the reader." We may be inclined, on a cursory perusal of such periodicals as The Saturday Review, to indulge gleefully in the laughter excited by the ludicrous aspect in which some pompous prelate or fussy evangelical
- 76. preacher is presented; or to admire the acute and seemingly candid dissection, at one time, of a Protestant scheme of evidences, at another, of an infidel philosophy; or to rejoice in the substitution of decorous calmness for rancor and raving in handling Catholic truth. But when we study a series of such publications, and notice how systematically all earnest convictions are made to show a weak or ridiculous side, and all proofs of Christianity to appear defective, and how, under a smooth surface of large-minded impartiality, there beats a steady tide of attack upon all supernatural virtue and all supernatural truth, our hearts must needs ache to think of the effects of such teaching on multitudes of imperfectly grounded minds. In the words of the author to whom we have referred: "Right and wrong, true and false, yes and no, meet and jostle each other, and are mistaken for each other in minds bewildered and off their guard, and mostly incapable of discrimination: till at length, lost in these cross-roads, tired of systems and of contradictions, and not knowing in what direction to find light, all but the most energetic sit down and rest in doubt, as in the best wisdom and the safest position." But to sit down in doubt is either to abdicate the highest powers of a reasonable being, or to admit an enemy that will use them as instruments of torture. Except for {552} souls of little intellectual activity, or wholly steeped in sense, this sitting down in doubt is like sitting down in a train that is moving out of the station with the steam up and no engine-driver, or in a boat that is drifting out of harbor into a stormy sea. The Abbé Baunard has collected the experiences of some of these reckless and storm-tossed wanderers into a painfully interesting volume. He has selected from the chief sceptical philosophers and poets of the present century those who, in private journals or autobiographical sketches, have made the fullest disclosures of the working of their own minds, and has let them speak for themselves. He calls them "victims of doubt," and bids us listen with compassion to their bitter lamentations over the wreck of the past, and their gloomy anticipations of the future, and to the cries of pain and shame which seem forced out of them, even amidst their proudest
- 77. boasts of independence and most resolute rejections of revealed truth. But, although an expression here or there may be unguarded, he distinguishes very clearly between pitying and excusing these victims. He reminds us that compassion for the sufferings entailed by doubt cannot absolve from the guilt of doubt. He protests against the claim made by sceptics to be regarded as warriors in conflicts in which only the noble engage, and as scarred with honorable wounds; and against the notion that to have suffered much in a wrong cause is a guarantee of sincerity and a title to salvation. He quotes with reprobation the plea of M. Octave Feuillet: "Ah! despise as much as you choose what is despicable. But when unbelief suffers, implores, and is respectful, do you respect it. There are blasphemies, be assured, which are as good as prayers, and unbelievers who are martyrs. Yes, I firmly believe that the sufferings of doubt are holy, and that to think of God and to be always thinking of him, even with despair, is to honor him and to be pleasing to him." He would not admit the same plea in the more plausible form and more touching language in which it is urged by Mr. Froude: "You who look with cold eye on such a one, and lift them up to heaven, and thank God you are not such as he, and call him hard names, and think of him as of one who is forsaking a cross, and pursuing unlawful indulgence, and deserving all good men's reproach! Ah! could you see down below his heart's surface, could you count the tears streaming down his cheek, as out through some church-door into the street come pealing the old familiar notes, and the old psalms which he cannot sing, the chanted creed which is no longer his creed, and yet to part with which was worse agony than to lose his dearest friend; ah! you would deal him lighter measure. What! is not his cup bitter enough, but that all the good, whose kindness at least, whose sympathy and sorrow, whose prayers he might have hoped for, that these must turn away from him as from an offence, as from a thing for bid? —that he must tread the wine-press alone, calling to God-fearing man his friend; and this, too, with the sure knowledge that of coldness least of all he is deserving, for God knows it is no pleasant task which has been laid on him." The fallacies which are dextrously interwoven in this passage, that
- 78. sympathy precludes condemnation, that intense suffering of any kind sanctities the sufferer, and that the state of doubt is imposed as a burden and not wilfully incurred and retained, are refuted out of the mouth of those who resort to them. We see, indeed, in the records of these victims of doubt, various circumstances leading to their fall; such as the heathenish state of the colleges where some of them lost their faith, the antichristian theories of science and philosophy magisterially propounded to them, the personal influence of friends who were already committed to skepticism, poisonous literature thrown in the way, and the excitement of political revolutions; and, of course, in the case of {553} those who had not received a Catholic education, the far greater palliation of the absence of a coherent system of belief. But, at the same time, we see no less plainly the working of wilful negligence and presumption in their descent into the abyss, and of wilful pride and obstinacy in refusing to seek the means of extrication from it. They are victims of doubt as others are victims of a habit of opium-eating or gambling; and if we sympathize with them more deeply than with these latter, it is rather because their anguish is more intense and more refined than because it is less the harvest of their own sowing. By the side of those who fell, there were others of the same sensibility of mind, placed in the same circumstances, exposed to the same assaults, who stood firm by prayer and humility, and who found in their faith a provision for all their mental wants, and a fountain of peace under the heaviest trials. And by the side of those who, having once made shipwreck of their faith, plunged more and more deeply into despair of knowing anything with certainty, till they flung away the life that their own doubts had made an intolerable burden, there were others equally astray and equally burdened, who worked their way back to life and peace by the same path of earnest and humble prayer. Some of these contrasts are very effectively presented by our author, and others will suggest themselves to his readers. The victims whose wanderings and sufferings are portrayed in this volume are Théodore Jouffroy, Maine de Biran, Santa Rosa, Georges, Farcy, and Edmund Schérer from among the philosophers of the
- 79. century; and Lord Byron, Friedrich Schiller, Heinrich von Kleist, and Leopardi from among the poets; followed by a less detailed account of a group of French sceptical poets, Alfred de Musset, Henri Heine, Murger, Gérard de Nerval, and Hégésippe Moreau, whose writings are mostly too gross for quotation, although enough is given to show that their experience of the effects of doubt resembled that of the rest. All, with the exception of M. Schérer, who is the editor of the French paper Le Temps, have passed into a world where doubt is no longer possible—two of them by their own hand, and two more by violent deaths which they had gone to meet rather from weariness of life than from enthusiasm for the cause for which they fought. There is only one of the whole number, Maine de Biran, whose death was thoroughly satisfactory; and he, though certainly to be reckoned among the victims of doubt, which clouded the best years of his life, and from which he only very slowly worked his way to freedom, is introduced rather in the way of contrast to the other philosophers and especially to Jouffroy. The great difference in his case lay in two things, that he paid more attention to the moral nature of man, and did not so wholly subordinate the desire of the good to the search after the true, and that he was on his guard against that pride of intellect which we see so rampant in his fellow-philosophers. While all the most celebrated men of Paris were paying court to him, and although, even before he had published anything beyond some short metaphysical treatises, M. Royer Collard cried, "He is the master of us all," and M. Cousin pronounced him to be the greatest French metaphysician since Malebranche, his own private reflection was: "Pride will be the ruin of my life, as long as I do not seek from on high a spirit to direct mine, or to take its place." Yet it was not till his fifty-second year, after many years' vain pursuit of truth in different systems of sensualistic and rationalistic philosophy, and of happiness first in pleasure and then in study and retirement, that he set himself resolutely to try surer means. "Not finding," he wrote in May, 1818, "anything satisfactory either in myself or out of myself, in the world of my ideas or in that of objects, I have been for some {554}
- 80. time past more determined to look for that fixed resting-place which has become the need of my mind and of my heart, in the notion of the Absolute, Infinite, and Unchangeable Being. The religious and moral beliefs which reason does not create, but which are its necessary basis and support, now present themselves to me as my only refuge, and I can find no true knowledge anywhere than just there, where before, with the philosophers, I found only dreams and chimeras. My point of view has altered with my disposition and moral character." From this time the progress upward was steady. We find notices in his journal of earnest prayer, of daily meditation, of study of the gospels and the Imitation of Christ. Four years of physical suffering and outward trials deepened the work of conversion, and were passed with Christian resignation. The last words that he wrote were words of certainty and peace: "The Christian walks in the presence of God and with God, by the Mediator whom he has taken as his guide for this life and the next." The Ami de la Religion of July 24th, 1824, contained the notice: "Maine de Biran fulfilled his Christian duties in an edifying manner, and received the sacraments at the hands of his pastor, the curé of St. Thomas d'Aqnin." Théodore de Jouffroy, if his life had not been suddenly cut short, would probably have had the same happiness. After having devoted his immense powers of mind to the study and dissemination of sceptical philosophy from 1814 to 1839, when bad health forced him to resign the professor's chair, he had begun to soften his tone, to speak respectfully of revealed religion, and to look wistfully and hopefully to it for the solution of the great problems which it had been the business and the torture of his life to investigate by the unaided light of his own intellect. He had conversed with Monseigneur Cart, the bishop of Nîmes, and had said to him, "I am not now one of those who think that modern societies can do without Christianity; I would not write in this sense to-day. You have a grand mission to fulfil, monseigneur. Ah! continue to teach the gospel well." He took pleasure in seeing his daughter preparing herself for her first communion; and speaking about a work of
- 81. Lamennais to the clergyman who was instructing her, he said with a deep sigh, "Alas! M. le Curé, all these systems lead to nothing; better—a thousand times better—one good act of Christian faith." The curé left his room with good hopes of his conversion, and in the belief that the faith of his childhood had come to life again in his part. But before he could see him again, and put these hopes to the test, Jouffroy expired suddenly and without previous warning on the 1st of March, 1842. Two or three of the French poets had time to ask for a priest, or to admit one when, in the hospitals to which their excesses had brought them, a Sister of Charity proposed it. Leopardi, outwardly at least sceptical and gloomy to the last, received a doubtful absolution from a priest, who came when the dying man was insensible. [Footnote 169] To all the rest even as much as this was wanting. [Footnote 169: We have used this expression, also aware of the letter of Father Scarpa published first in the journal Scienza e Fede, and afterward in the eighth addition of Father Curci's Fatti ed Argomenti in risposta alle molte parole di V. Gioberti, in which he gives an account of Leopardi's recourse to his ministry and reconciliation by his means to the church in 1836; not, of course because we agree with Gioberti that this simple and modest letter is "a tissue of lies and deliberate inventions and a sheer romance from beginning to end;" but because Leopardi's letters in the beginning of 1837 and his continuance in the composition of his last poem the Paralipomeni, the conclusion of which was dictated a few days before his death, seems to suggest the melancholy alternative either of a feigned conversion or of a relapse into skepticism. He told Father Scarpa when he offered himself to be prepared for confession that he had been banished from his Father's house; and that he was now penitent, and was about to publish papers which would show his alterated sentiments. It is amusing to notice that to the
- 82. staid and decorus Quarterly Review, as well as to Gioberti, this was to great an opportunity to be lost of reviling the Jesuits. Accordingly, on no other ground than that Father Scarpa repeated as told him by Leopardi what his letters contradict, and that he was not quite correct in guessing at his age and described his appearance ten years after his interview with him, the reviewer indorses Gioberti's description, and calls the letter "an instance of audacity beyond all common efforts in that kind." The habitual mendacity in Leopardi's letters, and his offer, while an unbeliever, to be ordained in order to hold a benefice which he intended after saying a few Masses to have served by another, make it unfortunately not improbable that his conversion was only pretended.] {555} We have not space to go into the details of these melancholy histories; but we must give a few extracts in illustration of the keen regret with which these victims of doubt look back to the religious convictions of their youth from the cheerlessness and misery of the state to which they have reduced themselves, and of the involuntary homage which, even while refusing to submit to the teaching of the church, they are forced to pay to it. Here is Jouffroy's reminiscence of the happy days of faith: "Born of pious parents and in a country where the Catholic faith was still full of life at the beginning of this century, I had been early wont to consider man's future and the care of my own soul the chief business of life, and all my subsequent education tended to confirm these serious dispositions. For a long time, the beliefs of Christianity had fully answered to all the wants and all the anxieties which such dispositions introduce into the soul. To these questions, which to me were the only questions that ought to occupy man, the religion of my fathers gave answers, and those answers I believed, and, thanks to my belief, my present life was clear, and beyond it I saw the future that was to follow it spread
- 83. itself out without a cloud. At ease as to the path that I had to pursue in this world, at ease as to the goal to which it was to conduct me in the other, understanding the phases of life and death in which they are blended, understanding myself, understanding the designs of God for me, and loving him for the goodness of his designs, I was happy with the happiness that springs from a firm and ardent faith in a doctrine which solves all the great questions that can interest man." His faith, the liveliness of which had been somewhat shaken by an indiscriminate perusal of modern literature during the latter part of his classical studies at Dijon, gave way entirely before the lectures of M. Cousin in the Ecole Normale at Paris, to which he was transferred in 1814, and the combined influences of flattery and ridicule with which his sceptical fellow-students there assailed him. He describes the terrible struggle between "the eager curiosity which could not withdraw itself from the consideration of objections which were scattered like dust throughout the atmosphere that he breathed," and on the other hand the influences "of his childhood with its poetic impressions, his youth with its pious recollections, the majesty, antiquity, and authority of the faith which he had been taught, and the rising in revolt of the whole memory and imagination against the incursion of unbelief which wounded them so deeply." His faith was gone before he realized the loss: some time afterward he thus painted the horrors of the discovery: "Never shall I forget that evening in December when the veil that hid my unbelief from myself was rent. I still hear my footsteps in the bare narrow apartment, in which I continued walking long after the hour for sleep. I still see that moon half-veiled by clouds which at intervals lit up the cold window-panes. The hours of night glided by, and I took no note of them. I was anxiously following my train of thought, which descended from one stratum to another toward the depth of my consciousness, and scattering, one after another, all the illusions which had hitherto concealed it from me, made its outline every moment more visible. In vain did I try to cling to these residues of belief as a shipwrecked sailor to the fragments of his ship; in vain, alarmed at the unknown void in which I was about to be suspended, I threw myself back for the last time toward my childhood, my
- 84. family, my country, all that was dear and sacred to me: the irresistible current of my thought was too strong. Parents, family, recollections, beliefs—it forced me to quit all. The analysis was continued with more obstinacy and more severity in proportion as it approached its term, {556} and it did not pause till it had reached it. Then I was aware that in my inmost self there was no longer anything left standing. It was an appalling moment, and when, toward morning, I threw myself exhausted on my bed, I seemed to see my former life, so smiling and so full, effaced, and another gloomy and desolate life opening behind me in which I was henceforth to live alone—alone with my fatal thought which had just banished me thither, and which I was tempted to curse." A few years after this crisis in Jouffroy's life, the same sort of catastrophe was experienced in a distant country by another highly gifted soul, and wonderfully similar is the victim's description of it. Leopardi, the rival, in the opinion of many of his countrymen, of Tasso in poetry and of Galileo in philosophy, in whom a prodigious industry was united in rare combination to a subtle intellect and a refined imagination, who was reading Greek by himself at eight years old, and before he was nineteen was versed in several oriental languages, was engaged in literary correspondence with Niebuhr, Boissonado, and Bunsen, and was the author of numerous translations from the Classics, a valuable translation of Porphyry on Plotinus, and an erudite historical essay in which there are citations from four hundred ancient authors—had, like Jouffroy, prepared the way for his fall by an overweening confidence in his own great intellectual powers, and by a recklessly excessive devotion to study. To this was added the chafing of disappointed ambition, and irritation against his father for refusing to give him the means of leaving home. His ruin was completed by the conversation of Pietro Giordani, an apostate Benedictine monk, who soothed and condoled with him, flattered his vanity by telling him that "if Dante was the morning star of Italy's sky, Leopardi was the evening star," and succeeded in inoculating him with his own scepticism, which in himself was mere shallow impiety, but in the deeper mind of his
- 85. pupil, led, if his writings can be trusted, to as hopelessly complete a disbelief of God, the soul, and immortality, as is possible for a human being to bring himself to endure. In a letter of March 6th, 1820, to his friend and seducer, he says: "My window being open one of these evenings, while I was gazing on a pure sky and a beautiful moonlight, and listening to the distant barking of dogs, I seemed to see images of former times before me, and I felt a shock in my heart. I cried out, like a convict, baking pardon of nature, whose voice I seemed to hear. At that instant, as I cast a glance back on my former state, I stood, frozen with terror, unable to imagine how it would be possible to support port life without fancies and without affections, without imagination and without enthusiasm—in a word, without anything of all that, a year ago, filled up my existence and made me still happy, notwithstanding my trials. Now I am withered up like to reed; no emotion finds an entrance any longer into my poor soul, and even the eternal and supreme power of love is annihilated in me at my present age." He was but twenty-two then; and through the seventeen years that is shattered constitution lasted, he was ever speaking of life as an agony and a burden, sometimes proudly declaring that he would not bend under its weight, sometimes passionately asking for sympathy and love, but always recurring to this sad refrain: "The life of mortals, when youth has past, is never tinged with any dawn. It is widowed to the end, and the grade is the only end to our night." "I comprehend, I know only one thing. Let others draw some profit from these vicissitudes and passing existences; it may be so, but for me life is an evil." We have seen the account given by the French philosopher Jouffroy and the Italian poet Leopardi of their feelings on waking up to the knowledge that the faith of their childhood had passed away; let us compare one more such experience that of the German {557} Von Kleist. "For some time, my dear friend," he writes to the lady to whom he was affianced, "I have been employed in studying the philosophy of Kant, and I am bound to communicate to you a conclusion which I am sure will not affect you as deeply and as painfully as it has myself. It is this: we cannot be certain whether
- 86. what we call truth is really the truth or only an appearance. In this last case, the truth that we sought after here below would be nothing at all after death; and it would be useless to try to acquire a treasure which it would be impossible to carry to the tomb. If this conclusion does not pierce your heart, do not laugh at a wretch whom it has deeply wounded in all that is most sacred to him. My noble, my only aim has vanished, and I have none. Since this conviction entered my mind, I have not touched my books. I have traversed my chamber, I have placed myself by an open window, I have run along the street. My interior disturbance has let me to visit smoking-rooms and cafés to get relief. I have been to the theatre and the concert to dissipate my mind. I have even played the fool. But in spite of all, in the midst of all this agitation, the one thought that occupied my whole soul and filled it with anguish was this: your aim, your noble and only aim has vanished." A few years of the repetition of this sorrowful wailing, and then, after writing to his sister, "You have done everything to save me that the power of a sister could do, everything that the power of man could do; the fact is, that nothing can help me here on earth," he escaped from doubt to pass before the Judgment-seat by his own hand. We must give one more of the many recurring expressions of regret with which the volume abounds. We are inclined to regard Santa Rosa with even more profound compassion than the other victims, on account of the warm and tender piety of his earlier youth, and the absence in him of the arrogance and scorn that overflows in the others in the midst of their sufferings. All who knew him agreed that it was hardly possible to know him without loving him. Unfortunately, his struggles in the cause of Italy threw him into close association with many who had mistaken infidelity for liberty. Still more unfortunately, he contracted a close intimacy with M. Cousin, and soon began to love him more than truth and than God, and under the blighting influence of his teaching his own faith disappeared. M. Cousin has published his letters with frequent and large omissions, but there remains abundant evidence that he was always regretting the past. The following passage occurs after something omitted: "O
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