| This study explores the process by which individuals working in a high-anxiety organization manage anxiety. The research applies a process model to historical data gathered during a nine-month long organizational consultation to the staff of an AIDS hospice. Subjects are certified nursing attendants who provide round-the-clock care and the hospice manager. Data included assessment interviews, reports of intervention sessions, and field notes from participant observation of each staff member at work.; The process model integrates Stolorow & Atwood's (1992) psychodynamic conception of anxiety and defense with sociotechnical systems theory (Cherns, 1976; Miller & Rice, 1967; Pasmore, 1988; Rice, 1958, 1969) and psychodynamic theories of organizations (Bion, 1961; Hirschhorn, 1988, 1991; Jaques, 1974, Menzies, 1960).; This exploratory study found that the following five stages of a process occurred: Stage 1: an anxiety-producing event occurs; Stage 2: the individual experiences anxiety; Stage 3: the individual enacts the myth of the isolated mind; Stage 4: the individual seeks confirmation of this myth from others in the intersubjective context; and either Stage 5a: if others collude with the defense it remains in place and is adopted by the group or 5b: if others reject the defense, the individual begins to repair damage done by the enactment of the defense.; In nine instances, the proposed process occurred. In three cases, it did not occur. As this was an exploratory study, further research will need to be done in order to generalize. However, the study implies that in organizations where the mission or work design forces employees to confront mortality, the transitoriness of all things, dependence upon engagement with others and limited control over that engagement or the high degree to which their sense of self is influenced by others in the workplace, employees are likely to experience anxiety. Unless structures and processes are put in place to help organizational members work with this anxiety, they are likely to defend against it in ways that lead to deterioration in individual and organizational performance. |
