From Dependency to Autonomy

Book excerpt: In this absorbing collection Eric Miller draws on the experience of three decades as organizational consultant to various sorts of institutions, employing approaches drawn from psychoanalysis, systems theory and the group relations movement. He has worked and is esteemed throughout the world. Since all his work has been conducted in the midst of ongoing and temporary institutions, it is all 'action research'. Among the sites analysed in these papers are an airline; hospitals for incurables, the elderly, the mentally ill; a diocese; a prison; a diplomatic mission; manufacturing companies and rural sites. Throughout his case studies he addresses issues of dependence, independence and counterdependence. In all of the settings his aim has been to help people to gain greater influence over their environments. In the concluding chapters he lifts his eyes from small groups and society in microcosm to address society as an intelligible field of study. Throughout the book he focuses constantly on values and concepts in action.