The Consultant Between the Lines of Fire: The Dynamics of Trust, Mistrust and Containment in Organisations

Working as an organisational consultant these days, again and again one encounters an atmosphere of mistrust in working relationships between management and staff. This mistrust may be understood as resulting from cultural changes in many organizations due to the dynamics of economic crisis and globalization.

This article discusses the conditions which determine the fate of trust as a fundamental precondition for cooperation in organizations. The article makes a point for the following working hypothesis: the fear of organizational change plus growing work pressure is defended against by employing social defences, especially by substituting demands made by the outside world with internal fights, with internal ‘enemies’. Examples of this might be a management which is felt by its staff to be ‘selfish’ or ‘egotistical’ or, on the other hand, a staff felt by the management to be overly demanding and never satisfied, either of which could well contribute to the dynamics of mistrust.

Using an example from a consultation in a hospital setting, we will discuss how the consultant gets drawn into such a dynamic as a potential ally. Finally, the article shows, how a crisis in working relationships can be used to improve the capacity for trust and to enhance the conditions for adequate containment within an organisation.