Management Forum nr. 3 vol. 4

The presented papers form an important starting point for academic discussions and show us the diverse spectrum of in¬teresting issues perceived from the perspective of organizational behaviours and organizational culture, enriched with examples of the interpretational possibilities offered by the psychoanalytic understanding of social phenomena. What merits special attention is the fact that half of the articles contri-buted to the collection present a systemic-psychodynamic approach, still relatively little known in Polish management. This approach is based on psychoanalytic theories and the concepts developed therein.
The exceptional nature of this collection consists in showing the diversity of perspectives regarding both the understanding and the empirical examination of the phenomena and proces¬ses which we observe in organizations. It contains six articles that describe from the cognitive-behavioural perspective phenomena as complex as whistleblowing (I. Świątek-Barylska, M. Opara: Perception of whistleblowing by professionals-to-be. Results of the research) and organizational creativity and ambi-dexterity in Polish enterprises (K. Bratnicka: Creativity and performance. Testing ambidextrous hypotheses in Polish SME’s context). These two articles are based on extensive empirical studies and can form a very good groundwork for further rese-arch, and they have a great practical importance for managers, too.
The two subsequent papers present the issue of organizational culture described from the behavioural standpoint (J. van Cle¬eff, and P. van Nispen: Organisations, Projects and Culture) and from the systemic-psychodynamic perspective (L.F. Stapley: Exploring the Meaning of Work in the Context of Organizational Culture). Although it might seem that everything has already been said about organizational culture, it is worthwhile to consider the thought expressed by L.F. Stapley that we focus on the identification of symptoms of culture rather than understanding what it really is.
Then, the last two papers reveal the world of organizations through reference to strictly psychoanalytic constructs, such as death drive, mourning and melancholia (S. Kahn: Eros &Thana¬tos: A Psychoanalytic Examination of Death in the Context of Working Life) and the concepts of organization-in-the-mind, narcissism, unconscious, introjective identification (X. Eloqu¬in: The Tyrant-in-the-mind: Influences on Worker behaviour in a Post-totalitarian Organisation). These papers, based on psychoanalytic theories, reflect upon and illuminate some of the new contours and shapes, perhaps previously not fully seen or appreciated from others perspectives.
It is my hope that this collection of six papers will form a framework for noticing, exploring, and reflecting upon the forces and processes that exist beneath the surface of our interac¬tions with other people and our changing world. I believe that the submitted publications constitute interesting reading on modern management from the perspective of psychoanalytic and “classic” approaches to management. I hope they will become the source of many inspiring discussions and academic polemics.

Adela Barabasz

• organizational behavior
• organizational creativity
• firm’s performance
• whistleblowing
• narcissism