Organizational change: tales of intergenerational and sibling rivalry

Organizations often reproduce family relationships with conflicts against authority and sibling rivalry. Although seemingly aberrant, these behaviours are a typical and normal human response to organizational change. Relates four events from a major computer project which illustrate these Oedipal themes. First, the critical incident when the renewal contract for consultancy services was unexpectedly awarded to the competitor of the incumbent supplier: the analysis suggests that the decision to change supplier was not solely commercial but also had a strong emotional basis. After the initial turbulence had settled and the handover between suppliers was complete there was a further, minor, reorganization. Episodes from this period relate an aspect of the staffing change which appears to support the senior manager’s Oedipal needs; an envious attack and, finally, the introduction of performance statistics with the subsequent defiant compliance of the middle managers. The analyses provide several alternative explanations.