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This volume essentially gathers together Otto Kernberg's varied and substantial contributions to the study of groups and organizations written over the past 23 years. Some of these have been included in previous collections, but we have here, for the first time, the whole corpus in a somewhat revised and integrated form.
Unquestionably, it our good fortune to have these contributions available in one volume. Kernberg is one of the few psychoanalysts—certainly of his stature—who have concerned themselves with systemic and organizational issues and who have sought in a consistent way to establish the relevance of psychoanalytic thought to the experience of work.
In this venture he has been helped, of course, by his choice of forebears. Profoundly influenced by Bion's post-World War II work on small groups at the Tavistock, he has also incorporated the work of Chasseguet-Smirgel and Anzieu that grew out of their experiences in 1960s France. Thus he is able to provide a fresh look at Freud's work on mass psychology, “Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego.” But he has also drawn significantly on subsequent traditions of exploration at the Tavistock on larger systems, particularly those stemming from the work of Miller and Rice, Turquet, and Jacques. Clearly, these influences have been welded into his own thoughts by his extensive experience as an administrator and a leader of psychiatric, psychoanalytic and other professional organizations as well as his experiences in group relations conferences growing out of the Tavistock tradition.
For those who are not familiar with Kernberg's writings on these subjects, I can only suggest the richness and importance of his ideas. He has borrowed wisely but also added thoughtfully. Finally, I want to comment on what seem to me some limitations.