Groups and Work in the past and at Present: A Conversation1 with Eric Miller2

When one considers the changes that are taking place on a macro and micro social scale, one is prompted to ask oneself how groups work today. It is necessary to try to achieve a better understanding of what is taking place in a world characterised by globalisation, fragmentation, constant acceleration and an increasingly ‘invasive’ technology in daily life. In this context, we note a growing uncertainty and instability in organisations and groups. Furthermore there is also a feeling of insecurity and anxiety in individuals, who are often terrified of losing or not finding a job, or who are searching, almost spasmodically, for performance, efficiency and efficacy, but are, however, stressed by the need to keep up with the increasingly complex requests deriving from the external market and from the internal work situation.

Eric Miller's reflections open an international perspective and help us to understand how strongly we are influenced by the culture in which we grew up, and the culture around us, when we think of groups or our conception of them. The evidence and our own experience appears to strongly support the view that even the powerful processes of globalisation, with the homogenisation of life-styles, is unable to destroy national roots and identities. In my conversation with Miller, on the one hand, a non-religious, pragmatic approach emerges (a very Anglo-Saxon one) which, in a way, is also strongly influenced by the economic context in Great Britain in the late 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century, in conjunction with a labour market that is less conditioned by ties than the Italian one. I was impressed by Miller's approach, which tries always to pose questions without ever coming forth with a precise answer, free from ideologies, and in which individual discretionary power and authority become the main