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What's Playing in the Organizational Theater? Collusive Relationships in Management

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Human Relations

Abstract

This article takes as its point of departureconcepts derived from couple therapy to betterunderstand collusive relationships in organizations. Aswe examine these dysfunctional workplace relationships— these interpersonal “gridlocks” —four main types of collusive superior subordinateinteraction patterns are identified — thenarcissistic, the controlling, the paranoid, and thesadomasochistic — and the consequences of each such dyad in organizationsare explored. In conclusion, the paper presents a numberof recommendations on how to recognize the presence ofsuch collusive arrangements (taking leadership behavior as a point of departure) and suggestspreventive steps that can be taken.

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Author notes

  1. Manfred F. R. Kets De Vries

    Present address: INSEAD, Bd de Constance, 77305, Fontainebleau, Cedex, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Raoul de Vitry d'Avaucourt Professor of Human Resource Management, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France

    Manfred F. R. Kets De Vries

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  1. Manfred F. R. Kets De Vries
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De Vries, M.F.R.K. What's Playing in the Organizational Theater? Collusive Relationships in Management. Human Relations 52, 745–773 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016942415669

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