Why managers mourn

In a context of greater global competition, organisations must constantly adapt to become more agile, flexible and reactive. For individuals these changes result in countless real, imaginary and symbolic losses that involve, what Sigmund Freud called, the ‘mourning process’. In most cases, companies have little or no grasp of the mental imbalances these changes may trigger for employees.

The relationship between employers and employees was earlier founded on company-loyalty in exchange for job-security, but successive economic crises have changed things. The company is no longer a place of self-realisation through adopting long-term organisational careers but a transitional setting for employees who are on an ego-based quest. Firms have thus become places for redistribution of ‘cause object of desire’.

Economic changes Owing to the economic changes, the companies are reorganising themselves and in the process, they fail to consider individual desires of their employees. Thus, the employees may experience emotions such as anguish, depression, sadness or guilt during organisational restructuring.

We conducted a year-long research that employed a psychoanalytical approach for 12 managers. The research perceived breaches and violations as part of a mourning process which further reveals an individual’s psychological costs of loss within their firm. These 12 managers were under intense pressure as the changes happening at work place had jeopardised their (managers’) position.

Beyond the shift from a commercial culture to a financial culture, managers also had to cope with top-down communication modes that altered their managerial legitimacy. New procedures and methods constrained them in a policy framework that reduced their decision-making powers. The managers regretted that their function had now been relegated to the simple role of an ‘executor’.

The research showed the passion formerly displayed at work by these managers had reduced. The managers expressed frustration at not being understood and were worried about their future.

By the end of the mourning process, during the reorganisation or reconstruction phase, a personal redefinition occurs that implies recognition and acceptance of the loss. Thus, the managers slowly accepted the changes and accepted the situation.

Companies are places where employees experience narcissistic fulfilment of varying degrees. Through rules, procedures and measurement techniques, the organisation orients managers’ individual expectations with that of organisational expectations. Also, managers’ personal desires or expectation, if different from that of the company’s, is considered deviant.

Challenge The challenge for companies lies in successfully managing individual expectations during organisational shifts. A failure to strike the right balance when such changes take place can lead to professional suffering which can be extremely difficult to heal.

(Mickael Naulleau is with the Audencia Nantes School of Management, France; and Sylvie Guerrero is with ESG - UQAM – Montréal)

COMMENT NOW