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It is only in the last decade that dreaming has become part of the methodological repertoire of action researchers in organisations but some evidence has already emerged that dreaming is essential for discerning what is taking place below the surface of consciousness in organisations (Lawrence, 1998). Lazar and Lohmer (2000) provide a typical example. They had been invited to work with a company that was expanding from a family-type organisation to a structured corporation of partners. The original company had been created by Herr B and his first ex-wife, who was still a member of the company, and it was being run by Herr B and his second ex-wife.
Lazar and Lohmer held a retreat with Herr and Frau B (the two company co-founders), Herr Three, Herr Four and Frau Five (current partners), and Frau X, Frau Y and Frau Z (the three potential partners who were currently employed as consultants and trainers). The idea which had been first proposed by Herr B was to transform the original firm into a holding company; B & Partners were to become B & Partners Holding as a legal entity. Subsequently, they were to create four subsidiaries based on the geographic regions of Germany to be known as B & Partners North, South, East and West. These regional partnerships would be partly owned by the new partners who would purchase from the holding company 49% of the shares with the holding company retaining 51%. Questions were being raised as to the fairness of this proposition for the three potential partners and would it be worthwhile to invest in the firm's future?
The consultants recognised that the difficult organisational problems facing the company would be linked to the emotions, phantasies and dreams of the members. In the course of the retreat these emotional issues and problems were surfaced and addressed. It became clear that