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In this article, the author offers a psychoanalytic perspective of violence and aggression in the workplace. With particular focus on public sector organizations, such as the postal service, the author submits that shame and injustice are at the emotional core of the problem. Following a statistical summary of violence in the workplace and an overview of the social and behavioral science research, the author provides a psychodynamic schema for analyzing the potential for violence at work. The model presented combines what the author refers to as a toxic mix of oppressive cultures and persecutory identities at work In conclusion, the author provides a brief description of his organizational change methodology.

The primary argument in this article is that the ability of any public organization to withstand the storms of political pressure and change stems from the character of leader-follower relations. Ultimately, the personal, political, and ethical integrity of public administrators depends on the degree of organizational resilience of public agencies. This resilience relies on the effective leadership of change. To enhance and clarify this perspective, the author uses Hobbesian and Rousseauian political theory as metaphors of organizational experience. From a psychodynamic perspective, this article attempts to explore more deeply the private world of public administrators undergoing organizational change.

This article explores the psychodynamics of language and communication in organizational change efforts. The author presents a case example of an intervention from his consulting work that describes the linkages among dialectic skills, childhood development, unconscious interpersonal and group phenomena, and he consultant's use of language. The author suggests that the participants' adroitness in communicating emotions in a group setting is a crucial factor in organizational change. He attempts to show, in theory and practice, why that is true, what the interventionist/consultant needs to know in this regard, and how positive steps may be taken to facilitate change.

Organizational identity offers a theory and practice for analyzing the intersubjective meaning of organizational behavior. It advances an explanation of individual feelings about organizations rooted in infancy, what Winnicott (1965) calls a "holding environment," and an explanation of interpersonal relationships in adulthood but with origins in infancy and childhood, what Kohut (1977; 1984) calls "selfobject transferences. "It further presents the notion of transference of emotions in hierarchical organizations as an instrument for observing and explaining key interpersonal relationships between organizational super ordinates and subordinates, and between organizational analysts and clients. Knowing organizational identity provides an understanding of unconscious motivations governing the behavior of organizational members.