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"EXPLODING THE MYTH ABOUT RATIONALORGANIZATIONS AND EXECUTIVES"
by
Manfred KETS DE VRIES*
N° 91/15/0B
* Professor of Organisa-ional Behaviour and Management Policy, INSEAD,Boulevard de Constance, Fontainebleau 77305 Cedex, France.
Printed at INSEAD,Fontainebleau, France.
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EXPLODING THE MYTH ABOUT RATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND
EXECUTIVES
Manfred Kets de Vries*
* Raoul de Vitry d'Avaucourt Professor of Human Resource Management, INSEAD,Fontainebleau, France.
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ABSTRACT
This chapter is the introduction to the book Organizations on the Couch:
Handbook of Psychoanalysis and Management. In this introduction it is argued that
executives are not necessarily rational, logical beings but prone to a fair amount of
irrational behavior which can seriously affect organizational processes. To understand the
rationale behind this type of irrationality, the clinical paradigm is introduced as a way of
decoding organizational "text." A case study is presented to clarify the process of
organizational "textual analysis." Finally, a number of rules of interpretation are
introduced.
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Exploding The Myth About Rational Organizations And Executives*
Wo es war, soil Ich werden (Where id was, there ego shall be)
Sigmund Freud, New Introductory Lectures
The classic management theory of rational organizational action--that human beings can be
managed solely around logical means-ends models of organization--is giving rise to an
increasing amount of unease. Many students of organizational life have been seriously
disillusioned by the gap between their expectations of how decision-making takes place and
their observation of what actually happens. The lack of resemblance to the dictates of
rational action has made some students of organizations realize how simplistic many of their
concepts are.
In numerous empirical attempts to study organizations there has been a lack of
scientific imagination, a tendency to overlook much of the real data. The intrinsic richness
of the material has been lost. In many instances we are left with superficial descriptions
which neglect the underlying factors that could help explain managerial and organizational
behavior. We are reminded of a comment attributed to Thoreau: "It is not worth going
round the world to count cats in Zanzibar."
Many of these studies clearly ignore subjectively determined self-interest and
motivation. While management science talks about rational choices, many observers and
practitioners of organizational life have come to understand that the "irrational" personality
needs of the principal decision-makers can seriously affect the management process. If
these needs are not taken into consideration, it is only to be expected that many
management models will fail to work.
Interestingly enough, until very recently students of organizations were extremely
reluctant to use clinical concepts taken from psychoanalysis and dynamic psychiatry. There
are a number of possible reasons for this. Those antagonistic to the use of clinical concepts
* From M.F.R. Kets de Vries, Organizations on the Couch: Handbook of Psychoanalysisand Management. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991.
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maintain that what cannot be directly observed does not exist. This presupposition omits
one of the center pieces of psychoanalytic thought, that is, unconscious motivation. For
others, investigation of the real reasons for certain actions and behavior can become
psychologically disturbing--such probing may arouse a host of defensive reactions. We are
familiar with the tendency of first-year medical students to discover in themselves all the
symptoms of every new disease being studied. In order to prevent disturbing thoughts from
coming to the surface, many students of organizational processes find it much safer to
operate at a superficial level and stick to the obvious and banal. Moreover, the desire for a
"quick fix" in organizational intervention means that for many people psychodynamic
formulations only complicate life: and they do not like the implication that their quick-fix
solutions are more often than not completely illusory. We know all too well that
suppressing symptoms rarely has a lasting effect, news which is unfortunately not
welcomed by those who receive it.
In spite of these barriers to the clinical approach, however, an increasing number of
participants in organizational life have come to accept the fact that there are limitations to
logical decision-making, that extra-rational forces can strongly influence leadership, group
functioning, organizational strategy, structure and corporate culture. Recognition of the
existence of cognitive and affective distortions helps us to identify the extent to which
unconscious fantasies and out-of-awareness behavior affect decision-making and
management practices in organizations.
There is a substantial body of knowledge to support the contention that organizational
leaders are not necessarily rational, logical, sensible and dependable human beings.
Quantities of research show that executives are prone to a fair amount of irrational
behavior. Given the impact leaders have on their environment, organizations are not
spared. Within them (as with all human endeavors) we find both irrationality and
intentional destructiveness. Clinical investigation shows that many organizational problems
originate in the private, inner world of an organization's senior executives--in the way they
act out their conflicts, desires, fantasies, and defensive structures (Zaleznik, 1966, 1989,
Jaques, 1970; Levinson, 1981; Zaleznik and Kets de Vries, 1985; Baum, 1987;
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Hirschhorn, 1988; Kets de Vries, 1989). As the science of the irrational, psychoanalysis is
ideally placed to provide new insights into organizational functioning.
The Clinical Paradigm
The use of psychoanalytic concepts outside a purely clinical context is not new. In his
writings Freud devoted some attention to societal issues, questioning the nature of religion,
civilization and war. He also contributed to the study of group behavior by emphasizing
the peculiar nature of the identification processes which take place between leaders and
followers. Unfortunately, apart from some comments about the army and the church,
Freud said very little about the nature of organizations and work. In one of his rare
reflections on this topic, he viewed work not only as a way to neutralize human drives but
also as a means of binding the individual to reality. He emphasized the role of sublimation
and examined the relationships between work and creativity.
Since Freud, clinical knowledge has greatly expanded, contributing to the
advancement of psychoanalysis. At present, psychoanalysis can be looked at as a method of
investigation of language, action, and imaginary productions such as dreams, fantasies, and
delusions. It can also be seen as a therapeutic method distinguished by interpretation of
resistances, wishes and transference reactions. Finally, psychoanalysis is also a set of
psychological and psychopathological theories which systematize the data collected through
the psychoanalytic method of investigation and treatment. These three orientations make
psychoanalysis a rich source of understanding of life in organizations.
Furthermore, psychoanalytic theory has become increasingly complex, integrating
drive psychology, neurology, ethology, information theory, child development, ego
psychology, cognition, family systems theory, self-psychology, and object relations theory.
This has enabled the development of a more general psychology. At the same time, the
application of psychoanalytic concepts to the social sciences has become more widespread.
With this evolution, and given the importance of work to overall mental functioning,
students of organizations have begun to realize the value of applying the psychoanalytic
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method to an organizational setting. The main working premise is the role of unconscious
motivation in explaining human action and decision-making.
Psychoanalytic models of the mind are now being used to clarify life in organizations,
and to deal with issues concerning career, individual and organizational stress, corporate
culture, leadership, entrepreneurship and family businesses. Psychoanalytic
conceptualizations have proved helpful to the better understanding of the behavior of groups
(Bion, 1959). Resistance to change and intervention have been looked at in a new light. It
is now recognized that individual defensive processes operate throughout organizational life
and may become integrated in the social structure of the organization, affecting strategy
(Jaques, 1955; Menzies, 1960; Kets De Vries and Miller, 1984). Processes such as
affectionate reactions, aggression, control, and dependency have been viewed in an
organizational context. Metapsychological constructs such as ego, id, superego and ego
ideal have been introduced, indicating the importance of fantasy, anxiety, envy, shame, and
guilt and illustrating the relationship of these concepts to ambition and goal-directed
behavior.
The "clinical approach," with its premise of not taking for granted what is directly
observable, has been helped by contributions from other fields. For example, Clifford
Geertz (1973), an anthropologist, has continuously advocated the search for deep,
underlying structures. He has urged that we should go beyond the obvious and superficial.
Geertz presents his argument by distinguishing between "thin description" and "thick
description." The first approach typifies traditional studies that concentrate on what is
merely observable and a simple relating of facts. Thick description, however, is
interpretive. Like literary criticism it involves an iterative process of analysis that seeks out
the basic significance of events. It searches for a theme that can explain a myriad of facts.
Thick description is, in Geertz's words, "guessing at meanings, assessing the guesses and
drawing explanatory conclusions from the better guesses" (1973, p. 20).
Such an approach involves the study of "texts," which can be viewed as groupings of
inter-related elements--all types of data containing messages and themes that can be
systematized. This requires the analysis of "a multiplicity of complex conceptual
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structures, many of them superimposed or knotted into one another, which are at once
strange, irregular, and inexplicit, and which we must continue somehow to grasp and then
to render" (Geertz, 1973, p. 10). In decoding texts, significance is extracted from inter-
related factual, cognitive and affective units constructed out of experiences. The observer
looking for meaning becomes a sort of translator and cryptographer, transforming different
levels of understanding.
In studying organizations we can interpret their "texts" through the analysis of
organizational artifacts: managerial statements, writings and observable behavior (Kets de
Vries & Miller, 1987). The "text" implicit in a specific strategic decision, choice of a
particular interpersonal style, or type of organizational structure gives clues to what life in
that organization is all about. A further dimension is added if we are alert to underlying
themes, meanings behind the metaphors used by managers, reasons for the selection of
certain words, and implications of certain activities (Barley, 1989; Martin, 1982; Riley,
1983). The ability to distinguish between the signifiers and the signified (de Saussure,
1915) and understand the underlying messages (hidden agendas) can help scholars and
managers identify the crucial orientations and assumptions that influence organizational life,
an important step toward clarification, diagnosis and intervention. Recognizing the ways in
which how intrapsychic processes affect decision-making will make for a more complex,
and more authentic description of organizational life. This can direct the executive towards
more effective problem-solving and creative leadership.
The following case study will clarify this process of organizational "textual analysis"
in action. It illustrates how the personalities of the members of the dominant coalition can
affect corporate culture, strategy and structure (Kets de Vries and Miller, 1984, 1986; Kets
de Vries, 1989). However, the reader should bear in mind that the material presented here
is only a preliminary analysis and not the final reading of the case.
8
Hollywood in the Alps
The Vocatron Corporation ] was set up about fifteen years ago by Stephan Muller,
who believed that there was a niche in the market for private vocational training programs,
particularly for younger people. His hunch proved to be right and over the years the
company had steadily expanded. Muller had branched out from his home base in Denmark
and set up sales subsidiaries in most European countries, the United States, Canada and
Australia. Almost all of his fifty regional sales offices were run by women, who were
usually in their twenties or early thirties. Most of the selling took place by telephone and
through home visits. For tax reasons, Muller had very recently decided to move the head
office from his home country to Switzerland.
I was asked to visit Vocatron by a friend who was a principal in a consulting firm.
He explained that he was somewhat vexed by the problems at Vocatron and hoped that a
second party would help him understand what was really going on in the company. He
thought my experience with entrepreneurs and family businesses would be helpful.
Vocatron's head office commanded a spectacular view of snowcapped mountains.
The small parking lot in front of the building was full of Porsches and Mercedes--and a
splendid red Ferrari which stole the show. Once past the heavy security at the entrance, the
visitor discovered an opulent interior with white wall-to-wall carpeting and modern
paintings and sculptures, including a Henry Moore. An attractive secretary pointed out a
fitness center with sauna, whirl bath, and swimming pool.
We waited for ten minutes before being greeted by Stephan Muller. The president
was very well, if conservatively, dressed and seemed young for his age. His height, bushy
eyebrows and penetrating stare left a lasting impression. His manner of speaking was
obviously that of a man used to giving orders.
Muller explained that all was not well with Vocatron. Growth had levelled off and
profits had been declining. After a rapid increase in the number of sales offices, subsidiary
development had been put on ice for the last year and a half. He attributed these new
1 All names have been disguised.
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circumstances to the fact that his top management group had become seriously
overextended.
The president explained what he expected from us: he wanted us to find a way for
the company to continue the growth pattern of the past, eliminating the bottleneck caused
by what he felt was a scarcity of top management talent in the company. For that purpose,
arrangements had been made for us to interview his top management team and some of the
more experienced subsidiary directors. He also wanted us to assess his son David, who had
been working for the company for the last two years. He wanted to know if his son had top
management potential and could eventually become his successor. He mentioned as an
aside that he had heard rumors which had sown doubts about his son's competence.
The interviews quickly revealed a number of problematic issues. The directors of the
subsidiaries, who were specially flown in for the occasion, turned out to be a deeply
disgruntled group. These young women were very unhappy about the way their careers
were progressing. At first, working for Vocratron had seemed very glamorous. They had
had early responsibility, excitement, adventure, and travel. But as the years passed, the
glamour had gradually worn off.
We were astonished to discover that none of the female directors had ever been at
head office before. Communication took place by phone, fax, letter or personal visits from
senior management. Comparing the modest conditions under which she worked with the
opulence of head office, one of the directors commented, "This place is unbelievable, it's
like Hollywood in the Alps!" During her visit, this particular woman made several
attempts to see the president. She was prevented from doing so by his secretary, who
consistently maintained that he had gone out for a business meeting. The president had,
however, been seen in the office. We learnt that Muller had made promises about this
woman's future career which had come to nothing, although she had apparently been
running the most profitable subsidiary for the last ten years. A previous attempt to pacify
her by giving her a sports car as a bonus seemed to have met with only partial success.
While we were present, in an angry attempt to get through the president's door, this woman
"accidentally" spilled a cup of black coffee on the immaculate, deep-piled white carpet.
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There is no need to dwell on this personal symbolic act. What is more important is
that the feelings of this director were shared by most of the others. The common complaint
was that they all felt stuck in their present position. When they had joined Vocatron in
their early twenties, it had seemed exciting and challenging to set up a sales office in a
foreign country. Over time, however, the long hours and only average salaries had killed
the spirit of adventure. Since most of the selling took place in the evening, and there was a
lot of pressure to perform, their social life had been seriously affected. None was married
or had a long-term stable relationship. Indeed, the only relationships they appeared to have
were with some of the men from head office who made regular visits to monitor their
performance. Many complained of stress symptoms and had repeatedly been put on
medication and even been hospitalized. The mdjor criticism was that career progress
stopped with the position of director of a sales subsidiary. No woman had ever been
promoted to head office.
A close inner circle of all-male executives, many of them old school friends of
Stephan Muller, ran the head office. Some of the directors compared this group to the
KGB because of the control systems they used to monitor sales performance. When asked
why they didn't leave, the subsidiary directors replied they did not know where to go.
Many of them had left their home countries long ago and felt no sense of belonging
anywhere--their only sense of being part of something was the ambiance created by
Vocatron. They felt that the people at head office would look after them, whatever the
circumstances.
During the interviews, some of these subsidiary directors talked about David Muller,
the president's son. According to them he was incompetent, and without his father would
never have got on in business. They drew their conclusions from his behavior during
internships at three of the sales subsidiaries and cited incidents illustrating what a disaster he
had been.
This view of David rather surprised us. He had come across as a thoughtful
individual when we interviewed him and he was well trained, with both law and business
degrees. However, when talking to him, we had detected a certain amount of ambivalence
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toward his father, who gave him impossible assignments, never praised him for work well
done, kept checking up on everything he did, and chastised him in public.
Although it may have been premature at this stage of the consultation, at a further
meeting with Stephan Muller, we asked him why, given his own assessment of the need for
more top management talent in his company, he did not do the obvious thing and select the
most capable subsidiary directors for promotion to head office? Muller reacted with
astonishing violence. He became very agitated and then stiffened up, saying, "Impossible!
Women have only limited capabilities and running a sales office is as far as they can go."
According to him, having women in senior positions at head office would seriously disrupt
the general atmosphere. He then said, rather wistfully, "Wouldn't it be nice if only I could
get rid of all these older women in a pleasant way. They were alright when they were
younger but they turned into such bitches later on!"
In contrast to the female subsidiary directors, the four male executives who made up
Muller's inner circle at the head office seemed to be quite happy working at Vocatron.
They shared their boss's perception of women, believing that it would be very disruptive to
have them at head office in anything other than secretarial positions. In their opinion these
particular women needed continuous surveillance, otherwise they would begin to act
irresponsibly. Then they jokingly said, with an obvious sexual innuendo, that they knew
how to keep their subordinates in line.
This group of executives seemed to be quite satisfied with the existing reward
structure. Further prompting revealed, however, that at Vocatron bonuses were given
rather haphazardly. One of the executives had once gone to Muller saying that he needed a
yacht and, surprisingly enough, in due course, he received it.
Reading the Signs
An organizational consultant is something of a detective. We try to decipher and
interpret what is going on in the world around us. As "code breakers" we are constantly
bombarded with different kinds of information; sometimes we understand its meaning,
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sometimes we are at a loss, and sometimes we fail to realize that an important piece of
evidence is being presented. In every situation however, our task is to make sense of
things, to get behind the surface and disclose the underlying significance. Inevitably, we
engage in interpretative acts. This becomes a reiterative process: every interpretation
brings up new associations and leads to new interpretations. Thus, there will never be
complete closure.
This visit to the company's head office and the interviews with the key players
provided us with a preliminary "text." It was now up to us to translate the signs, to find
the rationale behind all this irrational behavior. We had to be literate enough, however, to
make sense out of the text that was presented. If scholars of organizations and executives
want to understand their world, they must pay attention to the subtleties of the text. They
must interpret the way in which the stories unfold, and assemble the fragments into a
coherent whole. They will have to find the hidden meanings, motives, and consequences
behind acts, decisions, and social behavior.
During a subsequent dinner with the president, we learnt more about his background.
He was an only child and he had not been happy growing up. A key event of his childhood
had been his father's leaving home when Stephan was only five years old. His father had
moved to another country where he had started a new family. His son had not seen him
since.
Muller described his mother as an irresponsible, unreliable individual who went
through an endless series of short-lived love affairs. He felt that his father's departure had
really changed her. He cherished a few early memories of family togetherness. Later on,
his tactics for survival at home had been to minimize his stays there. He spent most of his
time with a close circle of friends, some of whom now worked for him. The interest shown
in him by an uncle who regularly took him on excursions had helped to overcome his
feelings of desertion by his father. His uncle had provided some kind of stability.
Muller explained that his own marriage had not been successful. He and his wife had
not divorced, but they lived separate lives. Although it had never been explicitly stated, his
wife was aware that he had had (and maybe still had) a number of mistresses.
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After some prompting about stress symptoms, the president said that at times he had
stomach problems. He also complained about recurrent nightmares, describing one where
he would dream that he was cornered by a horrible-looking witch who would jump on his
back and almost choke him. He would begin to scream, which woke him up.
This dinner conversation helped put some of the irrational patterns prevailing in the
company into perspective. An essential aspect of the organizational "text" obviously had to
do with Muller's relationship to women. In his inner world, he had developed some kind
of mental block vis-a-vis women following the experiences he had had as a child. Women
seemed to him to be dangerous, unreliable, and untrustworthy. In order for him to keep the
upper hand, they had to be played off against one another and kept down, otherwise chaos
would prevail. So, by recreating his childhood situation within his organization, he and his
small "band of brothers" could keep things in order and prevent this from happening. And
he knew all too well what chaos meant, given the "messes" he had experienced when
growing up.
In his company, the president had managed to create a sort of folie a deux situation,
in that his key executives had begun to share his strange feelings about women (Kets de
Vries, 1979). They did not have much choice--if they thought differently they would be
asked to leave. Muller had made it clear that "fickle" women could never become part of
the inner circle. Every kind of behavior was permitted in order to keep women in line,
including sexual manipulation. The origins of this way of thinking were not hard to find:
after all, his mother had provided a negative role model as far as sexual relationships were
concerned.
The organizational consequences of the president's behavior were predictable. A
strong paranoid streak ran through the company; a fight-flight culture prevailed. Not only
was there a "war" going on with the competition, another "war" was taking place within the
company, and the adversaries were the women. They were hired for the purpose of being
continuously put down, in order to master the anxiety of the president and others who had
absorbed his ideas. With this kind of attitude there was obviously a lack of trust and a
considerable amount of secrecy between the inner circle and the others. Information was a
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much-sought-after commodity, with the sales subsidiaries usually kept in the dark. In spite
of its irrational nature, this formula had worked for many years. Only now, because of its
success, had it begun to crack at the seams.
As might be expected, these management practices were causing tremendous anger
and bitterness on the part of the women in the company. In spite of the perks, they
eventually came to feel that they had given the best years of their lives to Vocatron. They
had been molded into workaholics with no consideration given to their private lives. And
what could have been a major "pacifier"--a top job at head office--would pass them by.
The accumulated result of the irrational practices at Vocatron was a demotivated group of
sales directors, overextended head office executives, stagnation in sales and a decline in
profits.
How did this state of affairs affect the president's son, David? It is quite possible that
he became the victim of displacement activities when he was sent to the subsidiaries to learn
the rules of the trade. He may have been a scapegoat for the disgruntled group of directors,
who may have been trying to "kill" the father through the son. Apart from this "displaced
parricide," we should not rule out a problematic father-son relationship. Did David ever
really have a chance of joining the "band of brothers" that surrounded his father? Would
they be willing to accept such an interloper? Could it be that the father, because of his
unresolved problems with his own deserting father, projected his sense of responsibility for
that occurrence onto his son? Maybe, because he had not been able to keep his own father,
sons unconsciously became "bad" for him. Perhaps he had set up his own son and sent him
on an impossible mission. Unconsciously, he may have given him assignments which were
insurmountable. Of course, the other side of this Oedipal drama could be that his son may
have been rebelling, unwilling to submit to his father's wishes and thus consciously or
unconsciously playing the role of the incompetent.
Finally, there is the way the consultant is perceived by Stephan Muller. Will he turn
into the "good uncle" of Muller's childhood, or will be become the deserting father or even
the responsible and reliable mother? Or will he play all of these characters at once, or in
turn? Muller's future reactions towards the consultant will tell.
15
Our interpretation of the "text" of "Hollywood in the Alps" has really only just
started. The few inferences proposed represent the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Longer
term interaction with the key players will be needed in order to succeed in validating some
of these conjectures. We should bear in mind here that acting is another form of
remembering. More data about the past will help us understand the present better and give
counsel for the future.
The story of "Hollywood in the Alps" illustrates how, by putting an organization "on
the couch," we can find a rationale for what would otherwise come across as highly
irrational action and behavior. In this case, the intrapsychic fantasies of the key power-
holder turned out to be the catalyst for a series of highly unusual management practices.
Freud and the Semantics of Desire
For Freud the "semantics of desire" became the basis for understanding a text. He
developed a theory aimed at revealing the messages hidden in manifest statements and the
desires implicit in these messages. He wished to understand the resistances against
expressing these desires in order to comprehend better the patient's basic fears and needs.
Freud's early work on dreams is illustrative. He was trying to solve the riddle of dreams,
to discover the hidden logic of their processes. In his magnum opus, The Interpretation of
Dreams, he claimed that:
The dream-work is only the first to be discovered of a whole series of
unconscious, hidden psychical processes, responsible for the generation of
hysterical symptoms, of phobias, obsessions and delusions. Condensation and,
above all, displacement are invariable characteristics of these other processes as
well... (1900, p. 671).
The themes and symbols that result from an individual's subjective experience create
an evolving series of "signifiers" through the processes of displacement (the transference of
16
emotions from the original idea to others) and condensation (two or more images combine
to form a composite image) under the influence of social forces. Certain signifiers come to
be preferred over others. These become manifest and recur in social interactions. What
initially may have been a purely subjective experience becomes a "text" more readily open
to interpretation by others, particularly in a clinical setting. We have observed in the
Vocation case that, like the structural anthropologist, the clinical investigator becomes a
code breaker or interpreter. He "listens with the third ear," searching for hidden meanings
in texts and looking for the unconscious ideas and fantasies that underlie manifest
experience.
In the psychoanalytic setting, the task is to recreate or re-experience the thought of the
creator of the "text." In principle, at least, it possible to enter into a dialogue. We
realize that the text will deepen if we re-experience the author's thoughts and check our
empathic understanding (Devereux, 1978; Lacan, 1978; Levine, 1980; Watson, 1976). To
do this, there must be an effort to understand the individual's past, to examine his personal
history for clues regarding his current behavior.
A major device for understanding the meaning of text in a psychoanalytic setting is
the interpretation of transference (Gill, 1982, Greenson, 1967; Kets de Vries and Miller,
1984; Racker, 1968). Briefly, transference is a process whereby attitudes which developed
early in life are repeated in the present. Thus the transference reactions that appear in the
psychoanalytic dialogue, the kind of feelings the person evokes in the other, can be
considered as additional text, confirming or disconfirming other "textual" information about
a person. This additional text provides clues about the person's past and facilitates the
recognition of fundamental themes and important defenses, since these will often be acted
out when the patient reacts to the analyst as though he were a key figure from the past.
There is, however, a difference between the work of a psychoanalyst in a consulting
room and that of an organizational consultant: the psychological contract tends to be
different. In a psychoanalytic relationship the analysand is there for the long haul; he or
she is involved in a continuing exploratory journey to learn more about the self. Time
factors tend to become more-or-less irrelevant. By contrast, the client usually wants quick
17
results from consultancy. In most instances the luxury of a long-term learning commitment
is not really an option. So, in some ways consultancy work can be likened to clinical
intervention "on the run." In spite of all these disadvantages, however, consultants have
one advantage: unlike psychoanalysts, they can observe their clients in their natural
environment. They can visit the places where they operate. Through conversations with
superiors, subordinates, friends and family members they can check some of their
conjectures.
We should also note that the psychoanalyst tries to make conscious what is
unconscious. (We have only to remember Freud's famous dictum, "Where id was, there
ego shall be.") Clinically trained consultants often arrive at more realistic and durable
interventions using their understanding of unconscious processes but without necessarily
making the unconscious conscious, given the different psychological context within which
they operate. Basically, there is usually much less opportunity for clarification,
confrontation and working through in consultation (Kets de Vries and Miller, 1984;
Zaleznik, 1987).
Rules of Interpretation
Putting organizations on the couch involves a search for central themes in apparently
unstructured processes. The patterns, ideas, or sentiments that surface often appear to
explain many phenomena. We use the notions of compression and underlying structure--the
idea that much surface complexity can be explained by an underlying organizing theme.
This was suggested by Geertz (1973, 1983), Levi-Strauss (1955, 1969), and the proponents
of hermeneutics (Palmer, 1969; Radnitzky, 1973).
We must look for elements that are not only logically central, but have deep, perhaps
unconscious, emotional significance (see Freud, 1900, 1920; Greenson, 1967; Lacan,
1978). The emotional components that motivate an organizational text are crucial to its
decoding. These components are best understood by some form of "historical" analysis.
Finding out about the individual actors, their past, and their current modes of interaction,
18
can disclose information about their aspirations, goals, and fears, and explain their
behavior. This involves dialogue.
Obviously, in order to tease out deeper structures, a process of discovery is necessary
rather than a single stab at explanation. Initial conjectures must be tested against reality as
it is perceived by others. Informal predictions are made, based on initial insights, and these
are compared to what actually happens or are tested to determine if they can explain other
parts of the "text" (Kets de Vries and Miller, 1984). Interpretation is a dynamic, iterative,
and interactive process that may bring insights but rarely provides any final, unitary
solution. The tentative conjectures or explanations that evolve are made more concrete and
operational and are checked against other aspects of the situation or against events to come.
The importance of dialogue, reformulation, historical analysis, tentative explanation, and
modification cannot be overemphasized.
In interpreting organizational texts, the rule of thematic unity comes first. When we
analyze an organizational story we try to shape the different observations into an
interconnected, cohesive unit. In the case of Vocatron, we found the unifying theme of the
unreliability and limited capabilities of women; consequently, women were denied greater
responsibilities and had to be carefully monitored.
Secondly, we are engaged in pattern matching, looking for structural parallels, for a
"fit" between present-day events and earlier incidents in the history of an individual or
organization. We are watching out for revealing repetition (Geertz, 1973; Spence, 1982).
To turn to Vocatron again, the president of the company consistently transferred his
childhood situation into the present. For example, his remark that women turn into
"bitches" when they get older is probably very closely related to his childhood perception of
his mother's behavior before his father left. His recreation of his childhood situation with
the "band of brothers" is another indication. Pattern matching is based on the tendency
each of us has to become entangled in displacements in time. Instead of remembering the
past, we may misunderstand the present in terms of the past and relive the past through our
present actions. We often react to important individuals and situations as if these were
figures or incidents from the past (Greenson, 1967). What might have been an appropriate
19
reaction at one time now turns out to be transparently anachronistic. This is what is
referred to as "transference" in psychoanalysis.
Thirdly, interpretation must be guided by the rule of psychological urgency (Freud,
1920; Lacan, 1978). The challenge is to identify a pervasive relationship pattern
(Luborsky, 1984; Luborsky et al., 1988). The assumption behind this rule is that
somewhere in the text it is always possible to identify the most pressing need or needs. In
our case study, it was the need of the president to settle a score with women, to get even
for the wrongs he had experienced at the hands of his mother. He wanted to be free from
domination, to assert himself, and impose his will on others. His agitation at the idea of
breaking the vicious circle in the company by giving the female directors more
responsibility was highly revealing. He clearly saw this as opening the way to being
controlled by women. The need to assert oneself and the preoccupation with getting even
pulsated throughout the company, as it was shared by the other executives. When we play
organizational detective, then, it is important to note the persistence, enthusiasm,
regularity, pervasiveness, and emotions surrounding decisions, interactions, and
pronouncements.
Finally, there is the rule of multiple function. Depending on the psychological
urgency of the matter at hand, a part of the text can have more than one meaning and can
be looked at from many different points of view (Waelder, 1936). Sometimes
organizational resistances and defensive processes stand out. At other times the key
dynamics may be related to how organizational participants manage aggression or
affectionate bonds. Processes centered around shame and guilt can also become important.
To complicate matters even further, these issues may all play a concurrent role and may
occur at the individual, interpersonal, group, and organizational levels (Geertz, 1973, 1983;
Kets de Vries and Miller, 1987). It is thus necessary to seek out meaning at multiple
levels, and determine the individual and organizational roots and consequences of actions
and decisions.
Interpretation is at the center of work in organizations. Researchers and executives
are inevitably involved in a continual dialogue with other actors in the organization. They
2 0
must search for basic themes and configurations in their text, finding meaning in what at
first glance may seem random or insignificant. Text, as we have indicated, must be viewed
in context for true decoding to take place. The rules outlined above--thematic unity, pattern
matching, psychological urgency, and multiple function--are useful clues in the search for
continuity and connection. They disclose patterns that can be woven into a unified Gestalt,
revealing a matrix that helps to explain the psychodynamics of organizational life.
21
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INSEAD WORKING PAPERS SERIFS
1988
88/01
88/02
88/03
88/04
88/05
88/06
88/07
88/08
88/09
88/10
88/11
Michael LAWRENCE andSpyros MAKRIDAKIS
Spyros MAKRIDAKIS
James TEBOUL
Susan SCHNEIDER
Charles WYPLOSZ
Reinhard ANGELMAR
Ingemar DIERICKXand Karel COOL
Reinhard ANGELMARand Susan SCHNEIDER
Bernard SINCLAIR-DESGAGNE
Bernard SINCLAIR-DESGAGNE
Bernard SINCLAIR-DESGAGNE
"Factors affecting judgemental forecasts andconfidence intervals", January 1988.
"Predicting recessions and other turningpoints", January 1988.
"De-industrialize service for quality". January1988.
"National vs. corporate culture: implicationsfor human resource management", January1988.
"The swinging dollar: is Europe out ofstep?", January 1988.
"Les conftits dans les canaux dedistribution", January 1988.
"Competitive advantage: a resource basedperspective", January 1988.
"Issues in the study of organizationalcognition", February 1988.
"Price formation and product design throughbidding", February 1988.
"The robustness of some standard auctiongame forms", February 1988.
"When stationary strategies are equilibriumbidding strategy: The single-crossingproperty", February 1988.
88/12 Spyros MAKRIDAKIS
88/13 Manfred KETS DE VRIES
88/14 Alain NOEL
88/15 Anil DEOLALIKAR andLars-Hendrik ROLLER
88/16 Gabriel HAWAWINI
88/17 Michael BURDA
88/18 Michael BURDA
88/19 Mi. LAWRENCE and
Spyros MAKRIDAKIS
88/20 Jean DERMINE,Damien NEVEN andJ.F. THISSE
88/21 James TEBOUL
88/22 Lars-Hendrik ROLLER
"Business firms and managers in the 21stcentury", February 1988
"Alexithymia in organizational life: theorganization man revisited", February 1988.
"The interpretation of strategies: a study ofthe impact of CEOs on thecorporation", March 1988.
"The production of and returns fromindustrial innovation: an econometricanalysis for a developing try", December1987.
"Market efficiency and equity pricing:international evidence and implications forglobal investing", March 1988.
"Monopolistic competition, costs ofadjustment and the behavior of Europeanemployment", September 1987.
"Reflections on "Wait Unemployment" inEurope", November 1987, revised February1988.
"Individual bias in judgements ofconfidence", March 1988.
"Portfolio selection by mutual funds, anequilibrium model", March 1988.
"De-industrialize service for quality", March1988 (88/03 Revised).
"Proper Quadratic Functions with anApplication to AT&T", May 1987 (RevisedMarch 1988).
88/24
B. Espen ECKBO and
"Information disclosure, means of payment,
Herwig LANGOHR and takeover premia. Public and Private
tender offers hi France", July 1985, Sixth
revision, April 1988.
X8/25
Everette S. GARDNER
"The future of forecasting", April 1988.
and Spyros MAKRIDAKIS
88/26
Sjur Didrik FLAM
"Semi-competitive Cournot equilibrium in
and Georges ZACCOUR multistage oligopolies", April 1988.
88/27
Murugappa KRISHNAN
"Entry game with resalable capacity",
Lars-Hendrik ROLLER
April 1988.
Sumantra GHOSHAL and
C. A. BARTLETT
Naresh K. MALHOTRA,
Christian PINSON and
Arun K. JAIN
"The multinational corporation as a network:
perspectives from interorganizational
theory", May 1988.
"Consumer cognitive complexity and the
dimensionality of multidimensional scaling
configurations", May 1988.
88/28
88/29
88/30
Catherine C. ECKEL
"The financial fallout from Chernobyl: risk
and Theo VERMAELEN perceptions and regulatory response", May
1988.
88/31
Sumantra GHOSHAL and
"Creation, adoption, and diffusion ofChristopher BARTLETT
innovations by subsidiaries of multinational
corporations". June 1988.
88/32
Kasra FERDOWS and
"International manufacturing: positioningDavid SACKRIDER plants for success", June 1988.
88/33
Mihkel M. TOMBAK
"The importance of flexibility in
manufacturing", June 1988.
/34 Mihkel M. TOMBAK "Flexibility: an important dimension in
manufacturing", June 1988.
88/35 Mihkel M. TOMBAK "A strategic analysis of investment in flexible
manufacturing systems", July 1988.
88/36 Vikas TIBREWALA and "A Predictive Test of the NBD Model thatBruce BUCHANAN Controls for Non-stationarity", June 1988.
88/37 Murugappa KRISHNAN "Regulating Price-Liability Competition To
Lars-Hendrik ROLLER Improve Welfare", July 1988.
88/38 Manfred KETS DE VRIES "The Motivating Role of Envy : A Forgotten
Factor in Management", April 88.
88/39 Manfred KETS DE VRIES "The Leader as Mirror : Clinical
Reflections", July 1988.
88/40 Josef LAKONISHOK and "Anomalous price behavior around
Theo VERMAELEN repurchase tender offers", August 1988.
88/41 Charles WYPLOSZ "Assymetry in the EMS: intentional or
systemic?", August 1988.
88/42 Paul EVANS "Organizational development in the
transzuitional enterprise", June 1988.
88/43 B. SINCLAIR-DESGAGNE "Group decision support systems implement
Bayesian rationality", September 1988.
88/44 Essam MAHMOUD and "The state of the art and future directions
Spyros MAKRIDAKIS in combining forecasts", September 1988.
88/45 Robert KORAJCZY.K "An empirical investigation of international
and Claude VIALLET asset pricing", November 1986, revised
August 1988.
88/46 Yves DOZ and "From intent to outcome: a process
Amy SHUEN framework for partnerships", August 1988.
88/47 Alain BULTEZ,
Els GUSBRECHTS,
"Asymmetric cannibalism between substitute
items listed by retailers", September 1988.
88/23 Sjur Didrik ELAM
"Equilibres de Nash-Cournot dans le marche
and Georges ZACCOUR eump6en du gaz: un cas oh les solutions en
boucle ouverte e4 en feedback coincident",
Mars 1988.
"Reflections on 'Wait unemployment' in
Europe, II", April 1988 revised September
1988.
"Information asymmetry and equity issues",
September 1988.
"Managing expert systems: from inception
through updating", October 1987.
"Technology, work, and the organization:
the impact of expert systems", July 1988.
"Cognition and organizational analysis:
who's minding the store?", September 1988.
"Whatever happened to the philosopher-
king: the leader's addiction to power,September 1988.
"Strategic choice of flexible production
technologies and welfare implications",
October 1988
"Method of moments tests of contingentclaims asset pricing models", October 1988.
"Size-sorted portfolios and the violation ofthe random walk hypothesis: Additionalempirical evidence and implication for testsof asset pricing models", June 1988.
"Data transferability: estimating the responseeffect of future events based on historicalanalogy", October 1988.
88/59 Martin KILDUFF
88/60 Michael BURDA
88/61 Lars-Hendrik ROLLER
88/62 Cynthia VAN HULLE,Theo VERMAELEN andPaul DE WOUTERS
88/63 Fernando NASCIMENTOand Wilfried R.VANHONACKER
88/64 Kasra FERDOWS
88/65 Amoud DE MEYERand Kasra FERDOWS
88/66 Nathalie DIERKENS
88/67 Paul S. ADLER andKasra FERDOWS
1989
89/01
Joyce K. BYRER andTawfik /ELAM!
"The interpersonal structure of decisionmaking: a social comparison approach toorganizational choice", November 1988.
"Is mismatch really the problem? Someestimates of the Chelwood Gate 11 model
with US data", September 1988.
"Modelling cast structure: the Bell System
revisited", November 1988.
"Regulation, taxes and the market forcorporate control in Belgium", September1988.
"Strategic pricing of differentiated consumerdurables in • dynamic duopoly: a numericalanalysis", October 1988.
"Charting strategic roles for internationalfactories", December 1988.
"Quality up, technology down", October 1988
"A discussion of exact measures ofinformation asymmetry: the example of Myersand Majluf model or the importance of theasset structure of the firm", December 1988.
"The chief technology officer", December
1988.
"The impact of language theories on DSSdialog", January 1989.
Philippe NAERT andPiet VANDEN ABEELE
88/48
Michael BURDA
88/49
Nathalie DIERKENS
88/50
Rob WEITZ andAmoud DE MEYER
88/51
Rob WEITZ
88/52
Susan SCHNEIDER andReinhard ANGELMAR
88/53
Manfred KETS DE VRIES
88/54
Lars-Hendrik ROLLERand Mihkel M. TOMBAK
88/55
Peter BOSSAERTSand Pierre HILLION
88/56
Pierre HILLION
88/57
Wilfried VANHONACKERand Lydia PRICE
88/58 B. SINCLAIR-DESGAGNE
"Assessing economic inequality", November 89/02 Louis A. LE BLANC "DSS software selection: • multiple criteria
and Mihkel M. TOMBAK 1988. and Tawfik JELASSI decision methodology", January 1989.
89/03 Beth H. JONES andTawfik JELASSI
89/04
Kasra FERDOWS andArnoud DE MEYER
89/05
Martin KILDUFF andReinhard ANGELMAR
89/06
Mihkel M. TOMBAK andB. SINCLAIR-DESGAGNE
89107
Damien J. NEVEN
89/08
Arnoud DE MEYER andHellmut SCHOTTE
89/09
Damien NEVEN,Carmen MATUTES andMarcel CORSTJENS
89/10 Nathalie DIERKENS,Bruno GERARD andPierre HILLION
89/11
Manfred KETS DE VRIESand Alain NOEL
89/12
Wilfried VANHONACKER
"Negotiation support: the effects of computer
intervention and conflict level on bargaining
outcome", January 1989.
"Lasting improvement in manufacturing
performance: In search of a new theory",
January 1989.
"Shared history or shared culture? The
effects of time, culture, and performance on
institutionalization in simulated
organizations", January 1989.
"Coordinating manufacturing and business
strategies: I", February 1989.
"Structural adjustment in European retail
banking. Some view from industrial
organisation", January 1989.
"Trends in the development of technology
and their effects on the production structure
in the European Community", January 1989.
"Brand proliferation and entry deterrence",February 1989.
"A market based approach to the valuation
of the assets in place and the growthopportunities of the firm", December 1988.
"Understanding the leader-strategy interface:
application of the strategic relationship
interview method", February 1989.
"Estimating dynamic response models when
the data are subject to different temporal
aggregation", January 1989.
89/13 Manfred KETS DE VRIES
89/14
Reinhard ANGELMAR
89/15
Reinhard ANGELMAR
89/16
Wilfried VANHONACKER,Donald LEHMANN andFareena SULTAN
89/17
Gilles AMADO,Claude FAUCHEUX andAndre LAURENT
89/18
Srinivasan BALAK-RISHNAN andMitchell KOZA
89/19
Wilfried VANHONACKER,Donald LEHMANN andFareena SULTAN
89/20
Wilfried VANHONACKERand Russell WINER
89/21
Arnoud de MEYER andKasra FERDOWS
89/22
Manfred KETS DE VRIESand Sydney PERZOW
89/23
Robert KORAJCZYK andClaude VIALLET
89/24
Martin KILDUFF andMitchel ABOLAFIA
"The impostor syndrome: a disquietingphenomenon in organizational life", February1989.
"Product innovation: • tool for competitive
advantage", March 1989.
"Evaluating • firm's product innovation
performance", March 1989.
"Combining related and sparse data in linear
regression models", February 1989.
"Changement organisationnel et Oath&
culturelles: contrastes franco-amOricains",
March 1989.
"Information asymmetry, market failure and
joint-ventures: theory and evidence",
March 1989.
"Combining related and sparse data in linear
regression models", Revised March 1989.
"A rational random behavior model of
choice", Revised March 1989.
"Influence of manufacturing improvementprogrammes on performance", April 1989.
"What is the role of character in
psychoanalysis?" April 1989.
"Equity risk premia and the pricing of
foreign exchange risk" April 1989.
"The social destruction of reality:
Organisational conflict as social drama"
zApril 1989.
89/25 Roger BETANCOURT and
David GAUTSCHI
Charles BEAN,
Edmond MALINVAUD,
Peter BERNHOLZ,
Francesco GIAVAllI
and Charles WYPLOSZ
David KRACKHARDT and
Martin KILDUFF
Martin KILDUFF
89/29 Robert GOGEL and
Jean-Claude LARRECHE
89/30 Lars-Hendrik ROLLER
and Mihkel M. TOMBAK
89/3I Michael C. BURDA and
Stefan GERLACH
89/32 Peter HAUG and
Tawfik JELASSI
89/33 Bernard SINCLAIR-
DESGAGNE
89/34
Sumantra GHOSHAL and
Nittin NOHRIA
89/35
Jean DERMINE and
Pierre HILLION
"Two essential characteristics of retail
markets and their economic consequences"
March 1989.
"Macroeconomic policies for 1992: the
transition and after", April 1989.
"Friendship patterns and cultural
attributions: the control of organizational
diversity", April 1989.
"The interpersonal structure of decision
making: a social comparison approach to
organizational choice", Revised April 1989.
"The battlefield for 1992: product strength
and geographic coverage", May 1989.
"Competition and Investment in Flexible
Technologies", May 1989.
"Intertemporal prices and the US trade
balance in durable goods", July 1989.
"Application and evaluation of a multi-
criteria decision support system for the
dynamic selection of U.S. manufacturing
locations", May 1989.
"Design flexibility in monopsonistic
industries", May 1989.
"Requisite variety versus shared values:
managing corporate-division relationships in
the M-Form organisation", May 1989.
"Deposit rate ceilings and the market value
of banks: The case of France 1971-1981",May 1989.
89/36
Martin KILDUFF
89/37
Manfred KETS DE VRIES
89/38
Manfred KETS DE VRIES
89/39
Robert KORAJCZYK and
Claude VIALLET
89/40
Balaji CHAKRAVARTHY
89/41 B. SINCLAIR-DESGAGNE
and Nathalie DIERKENS
89/42
Robert ANSON and
Tawfik JELASSI
89/43
Michael BURDA
89/44
Balaji CHAKRAVARTHY
and Peter LORANGE
89/45
Rob WEITZ and
Arnoud DE MEYER
89/46
Marcel CORSTJENS,
Carmen MATUTES and
Damien NEVEN
89/47
Manfred KETS DE VRIES
and Christine MEAD
89/48
Damien NEVEN and
Lars-Hendrik ROLLER
"A dispositional approach to social networks:the case of organizational choice", May 1989.
"The organisational fool: balancing a
leader's hubris", May 1989.
"The CEO blues", June 1989.
"An empirical investigation of international
asset pricing", (Revised June 1989).
"Management systems for innovation and
productivity", June 1989.
"The strategic supply of precisions", June
1989.
"A development framework for computer-
supported conflict resolution", July 1989.
"A note on firing costs and severance benefits
in equilibrium unemployment", June 1989.
"Strategic adaptations multi-business
firms", June 1989.
"Managing expert systems: a framework andcase study", June 1989.
"Fatty Encouragement", July 1989.
"The global dimension in leadership andorganization: issues and controversies", April
1989.
"European integration and trade Rows",
August 1989.
89/26
89/27
89/28
89/49 Jean DERMINE "Home country control and mutual
recognition", July 1989. 89/62 Arnoud DE MEYER
(TM)89/50 Jean DERMINE "The specialization of financial institutions,
the EEC model", August 1989. 89/63 Enver YUCESAN and(TM) Lee SCHRUBEN
89/51 Spyros MAKRIDAKIS "Sliding simulation: a new approach to time
series forecasting", July 1989. 89/64 Enver YUCESAN and(TM) Lee SCHRUBEN
89/52 Arnoud DE MEYER "Shortening development cycle times: amanufacturer's perspective", August 1989. 89/65 Soumitra DUTTA and
89/53 Spyros MAKRIDAKIS "Why combining works?", July 1989.
(TM,
AC, FIN)
Piero BONISSONE
89/54 S. BALAKRISHNAN "Organisation costs and a theory of joint 89/66 B. SINCLAIR-DESGAGNEand Mitchell KOZA ventures", September 1989. (TM,EP)
89/55 H. SCHUTTE "Euro-Japanese cooperation in infonnation 89/67 Peter BOSSAERTS andtechnology", September 1989. (FIN) Pierre HILLION
89/56 Wilfried VANHONACKERand Lydia PRICE
"On the practical usefulness of meta-analysis
results", September 1989.
199089/57 Taekwon KIM,
Lars-Hendrik ROLLER
and Mihkel TOMBAK
"Market growth and the diffusion of
multiproduct technologies", September 1989. 90/01TM/EP/AC
B. SINCLAIR-DESGAGNE
89/58 Lars-Hendrik ROLLER "Strategic aspects of flexible production 90/02 Michael BURDA
(EP,TM) and Mihkel TOMBAK technologies", October 1989. EP
89/59
(OR)
Manfred KETS DE VRIES,
Daphne ZEVADI,
Alain NOEL and
"Locus of control and entrepreneurship: •three-country comparative study", October1989.
90/03TM
Arnoud DE MEYER
Mihkel TOMBAK
89/60 Enver YUCESAN and "Simulation graphs for design and analysis of 90/04 Gabriel HAWAWINI and(TM) Lee SCHRUBEN discrete event simulation models", October FIN/EP Eric RAJENDRA
1989.
89/61 Susan SCHNEIDER and "Interpreting and responding to strategic 90/05 Gabriel HAWAWINI and(All) Arnoud DE MEYER issues: The impact of national culture", FIN/EP Bertrand JACQUILLAT
"Technology strategy and international R&D
operations", October 1989.
"Equivalence of simulations: A graph
approach", November 1989.
"Complexity of simulation models: A graph
theoretic approach", November 1989.
"MARS: A mergers and acquisitions
reasoning system", November 1989.
"On the regulation of procurement bids",November 1989.
"Market microstructure effects of
government intervention in the foreign
exchange market", December 1989.
"Unavoidable Mechanisms", January 1990.
"Monopolistic Competition, Costs of
Adjustment, and the Behaviour of EuropeanManufacturing Employment", January 1990.
"Management of Communication in
International Research and Development",
January 1990.
"The Transformation of the European
Financial Services Industry: From
Fragmentation to Integration", January 1990.
"European Equity Markets: Toward 1992and Beyond", January 1990.
90/06 Gabriel HAWAWINI and "Integration of European Equity Markets:FIN/EP Eric RAJENDRA Implications of Structural Change for Key
Market Participants to and Beyond 1992",January 1990.
90/17
FIN
Nathalie DIERKENS "Information Asymmetry and Equity Issues",Revised January 1990.
90/18 Wilfricd VANHONACKER "Managerial Decision Rules and the90/07 Gabriel HAWAWINI "Stock Market Anomalies and the Pricing of MKT Estimation of Dynamic Sales ResponseFIN/EP Equity on the Tokyo Stock Exchange",
January 1990.Models", Revised January 1990.
90/19 Beth JONES and "The Effect of Computer Intervention and90/08
TM/EP
Tawfik JELASSI and
B. SINCLAIR-DESGAGNE
"Modelling with MCDSS: What aboutEthics?", January 1990.
TM Tawfik JELASSI Task Structure on Bargaining Outcome",February 1990.
90/09 Alberto GIOVANNINI "Capital Controls and latentational Trade 90/20 Tawfik JELASSI, "An Introduction to Group Decision andEP/FIN and Jae WON PARK Finance", January 1990. TM Gregory KERSTEN and Negotiation Support", February 1990.
Stanley ZIONTS90/10 Joyce BRYER and "The Impact of Language Theories on DSSTM Tawfik JELASSI Dialog", January 1990. 90/21 Roy SMITH and "Reconfiguration of the Global Securities
FIN Ingo WALTER Industry in the 1990's", February 1990.90/11 Enver YUCESAN "An Overview of Frequency DomainTM Methodology for Simulation Sensitivity 90/22 Ingo WALTER "European Financial Integration and Its
Analysis", January 1990. FIN Implications for the Linked States", February
1990.90/12 Michael BURDA "Structural Change, Unemployment BenefitsEP and Iligh Unemployment: A U.S.-European 90/23 Damien NEVEN "EEC Integration towards 1992: Some
Comparison", January 1990. EP/SM Distributional Aspects", Revised December
198990/13 Soumitra DUTTA and "Approximate Reasoning about TemporalTM Shashi SHEKHAR Constraints in Real Time Planning and 90/24 Lam Tyge NIELSEN "Positive Prices in CAPM", January 1990.
Search", January 1990. FIN/EP
90/14
TM
Albert ANGEHRN end
Hans-Jakob LOTHI
"Visual Interactive Modelling and IntelligentDSS: Putting Theory Into Practice", January
90/25
FIN/EP
Lars Tyge NIELSEN "Existence of Equilibrium in CAPM",January 1990.
1990.
90/26 Charles KADUSHIN and "Why networking Falls: Double Binds and90/15
TM
Arnoud DE MEYER,
Dirk DESCHOOLMEESTER,
Rudy MOENAERT and
"The Internal Technological Renewal of aRaciness Unit with a Mature Technology",January 1990.
OB/BP Michael BRIMM the Limitations of Shadow Networks",February 1990.
Jan BARBE 90/27 Abbas FOROUGHI and "NSS Solutions to Major NegotiationTM Tawfik JELASSI Stumbling Blocks", February 1990.
90/16 Richard LEVICH and "Tax-Driven Regulatory Drag: EuropeanFIN Ingo WALTER Financial Centers in the 1990's", January 90/28 Arnoud DE MEYER "The Manufacturing Contribution to
1990. TM Innovation", February 1990.
90/40 Manfred KETS DE VRIES "Leaders on the Couch: The case of Roberto90/29 Nathalie DIERKENS "A Discussion of Correct Measures of OB Calvi", April 1990.FIN/AC Information Asymmetry", January 1990.
90/30 Lars Tyge NIELSEN "The Expected Utility of Portfolios of90/41FIN/EP
Gabriel HAWAWINI,Itzhak SWARY and
"Capital Market Reaction to theAnnouncement of Interstate Banking
FIN/EP Assets", March 1990. Ik HWAN SANG Legislation", March 1990.
90/31 David GAUTSCHI and "What Determines U.S. Retail Margins?", 90/42 Joel STECKEL and "Cross-Validating Regression Models inMKT/EP Roger BETANCOURT February 1990. MKT Wilfried VANHONACKER Marketing Research", (Revised April 1990).
90/32 Srinivasan BALAK- "Information Asymmetry. Adverse Selection 90/43 Robert KORAJCZYK and "Equity Risk Premia and the Pricing ofSM RISHNAN and
Mitchell KOZAand Joint-Ventures: Theory and Evidence",Revised, January 1990.
FIN Claude VIALLET Foreign Exchange Risk", May 1990.
90/33 Caren SIEHL, "The Role of Rites of Integration in Service 90/44 Gilles AMADO, "Organisational Change and CulturalOR David BOWEN and Delivery", March 1990. OR Claude FAUCHEUX and Realities: Franco-American Contrasts", April
Christine PEARSON Andre LAURENT 1990.
90/45 Soumitra DUTTA and "Integrating Case Based and Rule Based90/34FIN/EP
Jean DERMINE "The Gains front European BankingIntegration, a Call for a Pro-Active
TM Piero BONISSONE Reasoning: The Poulinlistic Connection",May 1990.
Competition Policy", April 1990.90/46 Spyros MAKRIDAIUS "Exponential Smoothing: The Effect of
90/35 Jae Won PARK "Changing Uncertainty and the Time- TM and Michele HIBON Initial Values and Loss Functions on Post-EP Varying Risk Prernia in the Term Structure
of Nominal Interest Rates", December 1988,Revised March 1990. 90/47 Lydia PRICE and
Sample Forecasting Accuracy".
"Improper Sampling in NaturalMKT Wilfried VANHONACKER Experiments: Limitations on the Use of
90/36 Arnoud DE MEYER "An Empirical Investigation of Meta-Analysis Results in BayesianTM Manufacturing Strategies in European Updating", Revised May 1990.
Industry", April 1990.90/48 Jae WON PARK "The Information in the Term Structure of
90/37TM/OB/S14
William CATS-BARIL "Executive Information Systems: Developingan Approach to Open the Possibles", April
EP Interest Rates: Out-of-Sample ForecastingPerformance", June 1990.
1990.90/49 Soumitra DUTTA "Approximate Reasoning by Analogy to
90/38 Wilfried VANHONACKER "Managerial Decision Behaviour and the TM Answer Null Queries", June 1990.MKT Estimation of Dynamic Sales Response
Models", (Revised February 1990). 90/50 Daniel COHEN and "Price and Trade Effects of Exchange RatesEP Charles WYPLOSZ Fluctuations and the Design of Policy
90/39TM
Louis LE BLANC andTawfik JELASSI
"An Evaluation and Selection Methodologyfor Expert System Shells", May 1990.
Coordination", April 1990.
90/51 Michael BURDA and "Gross Labour Market Flows in Europe: 90/63 Sumantra GHOSHAL and "Organising Competitor Analysis Systems",EP Charles WYPLOSZ Some Stylized Facts", June 1990. SM Eleanor WESTNEY August 1990
90/52 Lars Tyge NIELSEN "The Utility of Infinite Menus", June 1990. 90/64 Sumantra GHOSHAL "Internal Differentiation and CorporateFIN SM Performance: Case of the Multinational
Corporation", August 199090/53 Michael Burda "The Consequences of German EconomicEP and Monetary Union", June 1990. 90/65 Charles WYPLOSZ "A Note on the Real Exchange Rate Effect of
EP German Unification", August 199090/54 Damien NEVEN and "European Financial Regulation: AEP Colin MEYER Framework for Policy Analysis", (Revised 90/66 Soumitra DUTTA and "Computer Support for Strategic and Tactical
May 1990). TM/SE/11N Piero BONISSONE Planning in Mergers and Acquisitions",September 1990
90/55 Michael BURDA and "Intertemporal Prices and the US TradeEP
90/56
Stefan GERLACH
Damien NEVEN and
Balance", (Revised July 1990).
"The Structure and Determinants of East-West
90/67TM/SE/FIN
Soumitra DUTTA andPiero BONISSONE
"Integrating Prior Cases and Expert Knowledge Ina Mergers and Acquisitions Reasoning System",September 1990
EP Lars-Hendrik ROLLER Trade: A Preliminary Analysis of theManufacturing Sector", July 1990 90/68 Soumitra DUTTA "A Framework and Methodology for Enhancing the
TM/SE Business Impact of Artificial Intelligence90/57 Lars Tyge NIELSEN Common Knowledge of a Multivariate Aggregate Applications", September 1990FIN/EP/ Statistic", July 1990TM 90/69 Soumitra DUTTA "A Model for Temporal Reasoning in Medical
TM Expert Systems", September 199090/58 Lars Tyge NIELSEN "Common Knowledge of Price and Expected CostFIN/EP/TM in an Oligopolistic Market", August 1990 90/70
TMAlbert ANGEHRN "'Triple C': A Visual Interactive MCDSS",
September 199090/59 Jean DERMINE and "Economies of Scale andFIN Lars-Hendrik ROLLER Scope in the French Mutual Funds (SICAV) 90/71 Philip PARKER and "Competitive Effects in Diffusion Models: An
Industry", August 1990 MKT Hubert GATIGNON Empirical Analysis", September 1990
90/60 Pen IZ and "An Interactive Group Decision Aid for 90/72 Enver YUCESAN "Analysis of Marko, Chains Using SimulationTM Tawfik JELASSI Multiobjective Problems: An Empirical TM Graph Models", October 1990
Assessment", September 1990
90/61 Pankaj CHANDRA and "Models for the Evlauation of Manufacturing90/73TM
Arnoud DE MEYER andKest-a FERDOWS
"Removing the Barriers in Manufacturing",October 1990
TM Minkel TOMBAK Flexibility", August 1990
90/62 Damien NEVEN and "Public Policy Towards TV Broadcasting in the 90/74 Sumantra GHOSHAL and "Requisite Complexity: Organising Headquarters-EP Menno VAN DUK Netherlands", August 1990 SM Nitin NOHRIA Subsidiary Relations in MNCs", October 1990
90/75
NIKT
Roger BETANCOURT and
David GAUTSCHI
"The Outputs of Retail Activities: Concepts,
Measurement and Evidence", October 1990
90/87
FIN/EP
Lan Tyge NIELSEN "Existence of Equilibrium iu CAPM: Further
Results", December 1990
90/76 Wittried VANHONACKER "Managerial Decision Behaviour and the Estimation 90/88 Susan C. SCHNEIDER and "Cognition in Organisational Analysis: Who's
MKT of Dynamic Sales Response Models",
Revised October 1990
011/MKT Reinhard ANGEL-MAR Minding the Store?" Revised, December 1990
90/89 Manfred F.R. KETS DE VRIES 'The CEO Who Couldn't Talk Straight and Other90/77 Wilfried VANHONACKER "Testing the Koyck Scheme of Sales Response to Oil Tales from the Board Room,' December 1990
MKT Advertising: An Aggregation-Independent
Autocorrelation Test", October 1990 90/90 Philip PARKER "Price Elasticity Dynamics over the Adoption
MKT Lifecycle: An Ethpirical Study," December 1990
90/78 Michael BURDA and "Exchange Rate Dynamics and Currency
EP Stefan GERLACH Unification: The Ostinatit - DM Rate",
October 1990
90/79 Anil GABA "Inferences with an Unknown Noise Level in a
TM Bernoulli Process", October 1990
90/80 Anil GABA and 'Using Survey Data in Inferences about Purchase
TM Robert WINKLER Behaviour", October 1990 1991
90/81 Tawfik JELASSI 'Du Prison au Futur: Bit= et Orientations des
TM Systbmes Interactifs d'Aide D la DtIcision,"
October 1990
91/01
TNUSM
Luk VAN WASSENHOVE,
Leonard FORTUIN and
"Operational Research Can Do More for ManagersThan They Think1,"
Paul VAN BEEK January 1991
90/82 Charles WYPLOSZ "Monetary Union and Fiscal Policy Discipline,"
EP November 1990 91/02
TM/SM
Luk VAN WASSENHOVE,
Leonard FORTUIN and
"Operational Research and Environment,"January 1991
90/83 Nathalie DIERKENS and "Information Asymmetry and Corporate Paul VAN BEEK
FIN/TM Bernard SINCLAIR-DESGAGNE Communication: Results of a Pilot Study",
November 1990 91/03 Pekka HIETALA and 'An Implicit Dividend Increase in Rights Issues:FIN Timo LOYTTYNIEMI Theory and Evidence,' January 1991
90/84 Philip M. PARKER 'The Effect of Advertising on Price and Quality:
MKT The Optometric Industry Revisited," 91/04 Lan Tyge NIELSEN "Two-Fund Separation, Factor Structure and
December 1990 111N Robustness,* January 1991
90/85 Avnit GHOSH and 'Optimal Timing and Location in Competitive 91/05 Susan SCHNEIDER "ManamMg Boundaries in Organisations,"
MKT Vika, TIBREWALA Markets," November 1990 011 January 1991
90/86 Olivier CADOT and 'Prudence and Success in Politics," November 1990 91/06 Manfred KETS DE VRIES, 'Understanding the Leader-Strategy Interface:
EP/TM Bernard SINCLAIR-DESGAGNE OB Danny MILLER and Application of the Strategic Relationship InterviewAlain NOEL Method,' January 1990 (89/11, revised April 1990)
91/07 Olivier CADOT "Lending to Insolvent Countries: A Paradoxical
EP Story," January 1991
91/08 Charles WYPLOSZ "Post-Reform East and West: Capital
EP Accumulation and the Labour Mobility
Constraint," January 1991
91/09 Spyros MAKRIDAIUS "What can we Learn from Failure?", February 1991
TM
91/10 Luc Van WASSENHOVE and
TM C. N. POTTS
"Integrating Scheduling with !latching and
Lot-Sizing: A Review of Algorithms and
Complexity", February 1991
91/11 Luc Van WASSENHOVE et al. "Multi-Item Lotsizing in Capacitated Multi-Stage
TM Serial Systems", February 1991
91/12 Albert ANGEHRN "Interpretative Computer Intelligence: A Link
TM between Users, Models and Methods in DSS",
February 1991
91/13 Michael BURDA "Labor and Product Markets in Czechoslovakia and
EP the Ex-GDR: A Twin Study", February 1991
91/14 Roger BETANCOURT and "The Output of Retail Activities: French
MKT David GAUTSCHI Evidence", February 1991
