Consulting and leading in organisations: psychodynamic and systemic approaches (Online, ED10)
Course overview
Our work roles and professional experiences are increasingly networked, geographically dispersed, and environmentally conscious. It seems inevitable that, one way or another, a lot more of our work and working relationships will take place online. Validated by the University of Essex this course will help you develop a ‘consultative stance’ as a leader, consultant or manager in this context - offering the opportunity to study live what is required and what emerges when working in the mixed economies of face to face and online work relations. The contemporary online medium of the course will be a focus of study.
This course is also taught as a non-online version, please see Consulting and leading in organisations: psychodynamic and systemic approaches (D10) for more information.
Want to hear more? Join this course information session at our virtual open day on Saturday 25 June. Book your place using our booking form here.
This course combines experiential learning with the study of psychoanalytic and systemic theory in relation to organisations, bringing into view the complex emotional lives of contemporary organisations. You will learn how to track the flow of pressure around organisational systems, noting how pressure may move up and down hierarchies, or flow out into certain departments, roles or professions, or into ‘troublesome individuals’.
Theory seminars and webinars will introduce you to key concepts such as the individual unconscious, the group unconscious and the institutional unconscious. Contemporary papers and case studies will bring theory to life, exploring issues such as authority and power, organisational change and the politics of difference. Race, intersectionality and difference are approached using a theoretical, individual and organisational lens, in order to explore how they impact organisational dynamics, and the capacity of leaders, managers and consultants to take up their roles.
A range of conceptual tools will develop your capacity to think critically and systemically about organisations. You will learn to map organisational systems and understand the effects of organisational structure on organisational dynamics and vice versa. You will be encouraged to think creatively ‘across the boundary’ between the conscious and unconscious aspects of organisational life, including those of the organisational system in which the course takes place.
In the first year of the course, you will observe an organisation which will provide you with an invaluable opportunity to watch a group functioning when it is engaged in its usual task.
In your second year, you will undertake a supervised consultancy in small supervision groups. You will also be expected to organise yourselves to plan and staff a consultancy intervention for year one students. The focus is not only on the success or failure of the intervention but on the opportunity provided for learning about group processes that emerge when engaging with a client group.
Over the two years you will participate in experiential groups, the aim of which is to learn how to observe the functioning of a group and to understand the dynamics which influence it, while also participating in the group. Experiential groups allow for the study of issues such as leadership, followership, rivalry, boundaries, group defences and cultural and role differences.
Group Relations Conference
Students choosing this online pathway to achieve their Masters must attend a Group Relations Conference preferably in person - either joining other students for the Discovering Leadership Conference at the Tavistock Centre in London from 5 -8 September 2022, or choosing a Group Relations Conference to attend in their own country or elsewhere. A list of recognised conferences will be provided
This course will give you a better understanding of yourself in a working context and a greater capacity to understand group processes that create functioning or dysfunctional organisations and teams. It will enhance your capacity for appropriate task related leadership and develop your ability to act effectively as a consultant on organisational issues.
This course is for you if you are a manager, leader, consultant or coach who wants to gain insight into the unconscious processes that affect organisational systems.
This online version of the course will have a focus on virtual teams and mixed virtual and co-located in-person teams. We will examine if the unconscious at work prevails whether the work takes place in real or virtual rooms, or both.
In order to undertake this course, we ask that you:
- have a minimum of three years’ experience in your chosen profession
- have experience of direct involvement in the management or development of other professional workers, or engagement in consultative work for specific organisations
- have a compelling interest in and rationale for undertaking this masters on line, such as the extent to which you are (and will be) required to work online for your work
- have a first degree or equivalent, and/or professional experience commensurate with that qualification
- are comfortable in working and studying online and have access to a good internet connection.
Attendance
The course will take place across 11 Friday and Saturday blocks per annum and will run from 11.30am to 5pm UK time on Fridays and 11.00am to 4.30pm UK time on Saturdays.
There will be four hours of seminars/experiential work on each day of each block, with generous breaks provided.
In addition there will be thirty 1hour or 1.5 hour seminars on Wednesday evenings between 6pm and 7.30pm UK time
Assessment
Over the two years of the masters assessment will be through four 3000 word essays (two each year), two 2000 essays (one each year) plus a dissertation of 14000 words completed during the summer following year two. There is also an element of continuous assessment provided by tutors and supervisors in the Consulting and Leading in Practice module of the course - worth 50% of assessment for that module.
Kay Trainor
Dr Kay Trainor has led the Masters in Consulting and leading in organisations: psychodynamic and systemic approaches (D10) for over ten years. During this time she has worked as an organisational consultant in a range of organisations spanning corporate, media, health and third sectors. She has directed many group relations conferences, both nationally and internationally. Before joining Tavistock Consulting in 2008, she ran her own Consultancy Company, combining a systems psychodynamic approach with the creative practices of working artists.
ED10 Block dates for Years 1 & 2 and Evening Webinar dates for Year 1.
Year 2 Evening Webinar dates will be confirmed before Easter.
2022
Block 1 Sep 30th, Oct 1st
Year 1 Evening Webinars Oct 5th, 12th, 19th
Block 2 Oct 21st, 22nd
Year 1 Evening Webinars October 26th, Nov 9th, 16th
Block 3 Nov 18th, 19th
Year 1 Evening Webinars Nov 23rd, 30th, Dec 7th
Block 4 Dec 9th, 10th
Year 1 Evening Webinar Dec 14th
2023
Year 1 Evening Webinar Jan 11th
Block 5 Jan 13th, 14th
Year 1 Evening Webinars Jan 18th, 25th, Feb 1st, 8th
Block 6 Feb 10th, 11th
Year 1 Evening Webinars Feb 15th, 22nd, March 1st, 8th
Block 7 March 17th, 18th
Year 1 Evening Webinars March 22nd, 29th, April 5th
Block 8 April 14th, 15th
Year 1 Evening Webinars April 19th, 26th May 10th
Block 9 May 12th, 13th
Year 1 Evening Webinars May 17th, 24th, 31st, June 7th
Block 10 June 9th, 10th
Year 1 Evening Webinars June 14th, 21st
Block 11 June 30th, July 1st
Please note: These dates may be subject to change.
£ 7,425 per year
For more information about how Brexit may affect your fee status, please see Brexit information for EU & EEA and Swiss Nationals
Please note that course fees are subject to a 3% or CPI uplift each year, whichever is greater.
We are happy offer a range of ways to pay your fees, as well as some funding for specific courses.
Bursary opportunities
We are delighted to be offering two bursaries for applicants from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds who secure a place on the course starting in September 2022. Please download full information about the bursary and how to apply for it here.
Enquire about this course
Make an enquiryThis MA course now qualifies for a Government postgraduate loan
This course is validated by the University of Essex
