| |
The Value of Values
An Online Discussion Forum
(organized by LivingPhilosophy.org)
| When: |
Starting April 1st, 2005 |
| Where: |
Sign up by sending an e-mail to ValueOfValues-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
(with the word “subscribe” in the subject line) |
| Who Should Consider Participating: |
If you work with organizations and/or individuals as a coach
(or therapist), you will find the discussion of value |
| What It’s About: |
We shall ask the question:
How can concern with values bring value to your
practice, while also being valuable to your client? |
This Discussion Group is an Online
forum where organizational consultants, coaches and therapists
can discuss the value of theories and methodologies underlying
psychodynamically oriented work with organizations and individuals.
The goal is to discuss how the values of the client system
and the values of the consultant affect our work. This online
discussion group will provide a forum where participants can
freely discuss issues relating to values, morals and ethics
in organizational and coaching work.
We can think of professionals trained
in a psychoanalytic methodology as working with the deepest
levels of a group’s (or individual’s) processes.
Because psychoanalysis works with what is unconscious or unspoken
it is perceived as being concerned with all that really
and truly drives a group or individual. To the extent
that practitioners deal with that which is unspoken and unexpressed,
yet which nevertheless exerts a powerful influence on the
system, we can say that such professionals are working “in
depth”.
This would include those trained
in a psychoanalytic perspective, as well as those using some
other methodology which involves a consideration in depth
of the group dynamics which influence the direction and psychic
life of the group. This would include – for example
– those trained in structuralist, phenomenological,
socio-technical, post-modern perspectives as well as certain
professionals calling themselves philosophical counselors.
In the western world, psychology,
psychiatry and psychoanalysis have been influenced by the
scientific method. There are certain theorists, academics
and practitioners who believe that all theory must be founded
in science. Along with this notion, perhaps, goes the belief
that we should not allow our own moral and ethical values
to intrude into our work, because this would mean we’re
not being scientific and rational.
The Value of Values Discussion
Group will be a forum where such issues – the relative
value of different methodological approaches as well as the
place of values in our work – can be discussed.
The forum will begin on March 15
and run for six weeks. Some of the material from this Online
Discussion Forum, will be incorporated into a seminar on the
psychodynamics in the online world at the ISPSO Symposium
in Baltimore in June 2005. So, if you participate you’ll
be part of an interesting and dynamic discussion and you’ll
be able to share in the findings of this research project
at the Symposium.
To join the forum, send an email
to: ValueOfValues-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Just place the word “subscribe” in the Subject
line. You will receive an email confirmation of your request.
Please follow the instructions in that email to join the Discussion
Forum. For further information, or for questions, or to submit
a case study, please email me at
Murray@LivingPhilosophy.org
I shall be presenting a paper detailing
some of my research into the psychodynamics in the online
world –discussion forums, chat rooms, video chat rooms,
IRC spaces, etc – at the ISPSO Symposium in Baltimore
in June, 2005. I have been involved with communicating with
others over the Internet for more than 15 years. I plan to
use some material from this Online Discussion Forum, as part
of the material for my seminar. So, if you participate you’ll
be part of an interesting and dynamic discussion and you’ll
be able to share in the findings of this research project
at the Symposium.
Here are a few situations to ponder:
|
| • |
There are examples in the psychological literature
of instances where this splitting off of the ethical from the
practical creates monstrous results. Think for example of the
well-known Stanley Milgram experiment (see http://www.new-life.net/milgram.htm
and http://www.stanleymilgram.com ), where he paid “subjects’
to shock an experimental aide with huge jolts of electricity,
all in the name of developing a better method of teaching. This
experiment was set up to show how people easily fall prey to
authority and authoritarianism, but it could also be read as
an example of people throwing their personal values to the winds
in the name of helping accomplish a scientific end. For these
experimental “subjects”, was the value of helping
scientific research more important than observing their own
sense of values? |
| • |
A woman consultant working with a company composed of religious
men sees that the women in the organization are undervalued,
and underpaid, and wonders if, whether and when she should express
her values, entailing fundamental commitment to equality of
women. |
| • |
Einstein spent a great part of his life developing new scientific
theories. He signed a letter to President Roosevelt, recommending
development of the atomic bomb. However, after the bomb had
been developed, and Germany defeated, he recommended to president
Truman that the bomb be dropped on a deserted island as a warning
to the Japanese. He reasoned they would see what they were up
against, and surrender. However, Einstein’s suggestion
was ignored, and the bomb dropped on Hiroshima instead. Later,
Einstein lamented, that if he could live his life again, he
would just want to be a violin player! |
| • |
In working with a client’s small business, a consultant
realizes that the owner/team leader is not accomplishing all
he could because employees do not follow the rules he has set
up – in term of attendance, quality of work performance,
etc. The consultant learns deduces from listening to the client
that he (the client) believes in being a “good person”,
guided by certain biblical values. The consultant suspects that
the client is trying a bit too hard to be liked, and so is not
enforcing workplace rules, even where there are gross violations
of work rules. He wonders how he can broach the issue with the
client: his ideals are admirable, but somehow in conflict with
what he needs to achieve in the business. |
| • |
In a recently published book “Clinical Values: Emotions
That Guide Psychoanalytic Treatment”, Sandra Buechler
argues that the analyst should attempt to promote values such
as kindness, trust, etc. One client comments to her, upon termination
of the analysis, that she recalls fondly the day that the analyst
(Dr. Buechler) lent her an umbrella, The patient feels this
was a critical moment in her analysis. |
| • |
A psychoanalyst in London is appointed to run an Outpatient
facility at a large hospital. The facility is set up to accommodate
patients with psychiatric maladies. Soup and sandwiches are
provided at lunch time, and various activities are provided
for patients amusement. The new analyst (Dr. J.) values the
psychoanalytic approach, and decides he is going to run the
facility on disciplined psychoanalytic lines. Catering to patients’
dependencies is ultimately not helpful to them. So, the soup
and sandwiches are terminated, and patients must attend psychoanalytic
groups during the day, where they are expected to gain insight
into their pathologies. Soon, there are widespread protests,
and Dr. J is accused of being abusive. He is brought up on disciplinary
charges (at the same time that his girlfriend’s book which
has to do with Fear of Flying, is released – everyone
in the hearing room is reading the book.) |
| • |
Much was made after the last presidential elections in the
US of the idea that the Republicans attracted many voters who
were concerned with “values”. In this context, the
term values was co-opted by the religious right to mean very
particular attitudes towards the world, and towards the behavior
of others, which were popularized and sanctioned by certain
fundamentalist Christian right-wing sects. The implication was
that those in the “blue states” somehow did not
have good values, or any values at all. The Democrats are now
thinking about how they can present the values they stand for
in such a way that they can appeal to a wide swath of voters
in the United States. Will they change values? Adopt new values?
Market their existing values in a new way? |
| |
|
| |
Please contact Murray Gordon at murray@LivingPhilosophy.org
if you want to contribute a case (or scenario) to the group
for discussion. |
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