Games Organisations Play

This month’s Triangle TA Group workshop was entitled “Games Organisations Play – Seek and Destroy!”

I researched some of the work of Rosa Krausz and Oswald Summerton and found their ideas worked really well together. I run the workshop so that we cover theory in the morning and then run supervision sessions in the afternoon, where we analyse issues and situations and hopefully gain a greater understanding.

So we started with Krausz’s article “Organisational Script” (1993), in which she refers to Berne:

“A script is an ongoing program, developed in early childhood under parental influence, which directs the individual’s behaviour in the most important aspects of his life” (Berne, 1972)

…. and goes on to say that individuals create organisations as part of their ongoing programs, based on theories of how to succeed or fail. So founders of organisations, consciously and unconsciously mould their organisations according to their belief system – warts and all!

These belief systems become ideologies that form the “personality” of the organisation and individuals are attracted to that organisation based on any perceived alignment with their own individual script.

Krausz says there are four issues which she identifies as relevant in the analysis of organisational functioning: work; time; people; and money. In each of these areas she describes effective and destructive behaviours.

We had some fascinating discussion about the way a script can be handed down for decades and how people can adhere to it even in the face of economic crisis such as that which we are now experiencing - when here-and-now, grounded, accounting problem solving is what is really required!

In the second theory session, we explored Summerton’s Game Pentagon (1992). His model is based on a systems approach to the “relationship knots” that occur in organisations and it recognises that while Berne identified, in his book “Games People Play” unconscious games (played outside of the player’s awareness), he also described conscious games.

Conscious games are played through angular transactions and are played to deliberately manipulate others.

The Game Pentagon takes account of conscious and unconscious games and adds to the roles of Victim, Persecutor and Rescuer (Karpman,1968), Stage Manager and Spectator.

In the group we explored the model, relating it to situations we have observed (or been part of!) in organisations and found it to be a really useful model for helping people to recognise alternative behaviours. As an example, if someone understands they were a Spectator in a game, they can be encouraged to take responsibility for action where appropriate.

It allows those in coaching, consulting or training roles etc to analyse situations in order to shed some light onto what has happened, and to then diagnose potential actions as a result, or once again whatever is appropriate within the contract.

We found the model to be rich in its possibilities and very helpful.

The works of both Krausz and Summerton are really interesting and I have a feeling we will be returning to learn more from them!