Our History

tavinstitute.org/who-we-are/our-history

In our early work we brought together staff from different disciplines to find ways to
apply psychoanalytic and open systems concepts to group and organisational life.

Action research was from the outset a key element in the way we work. Through early
collaboration with commerce and industry, our staff developed new participative
approaches to organisation change and development.

Pioneering approaches to theory and practice:

Socio-technical systems design to help clients grapple with emerging changes in
the organisation’s context or technology, encompassing job-, work- and
organisation design for joint optimisation of both technical and psycho-social
resources. This was initially developed through collaboration in English coalmines
(Trist & Bamforth, 1951), followed by work in Indian textile mills (Rice & Miller,
1953) among many other fields in Europe, North America and Australia.
Culture change and organisation development, originally developed in heavy
industry (Jacques 1951) but with broad applications, grounded in understanding of
how unconscious processes work in organisational life, and the role of social
defences against anxiety and ‘working through’ issues inhibiting progress (Jacques
1950, Menzies Lyth, 1970).
The organisation in relation to its environment, highlighting the role of the
turbulent environment (Emery & Trist, 1963) and implications for shaping that
environment through collaborative activities.
Experiential education offered through temporary organisational settings, termed
group relations conferences, in working through unconscious group and
organisational dynamics (Rice), with global spin-offs.
Diffusion of participative design and organisational culture into industrial
democracy (Heller) and Quality of Working Life movements.
Community setting applications of participative design through search conferences
(Emery).
Broader application and innovation in organisational consultancy and education
and research and evaluation.
Collaborative approaches continued to characterise Tavistock Institute applications
and developments to broader settings, building on and extending its pioneering
approaches and include: using operations research to developing strategic choice
for networks of groups and organisations, especially around local government and
local communities (Friend, 1987).
Participative and collaborative research and self-evaluation support to
communities and single organisations in applied research and evaluation studies
(Stern, Sommerlad, Hills, Kelleher, Abraham);

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 Learning at the systems-level using Habermasian understandings of learning
through practice and dialogue in evaluation of programmes of innovation (Stern,
Cullen, Frade, Kelleher);
Organisation and interorganisation design consultancy to change and innovation,
for example, supply chain management in the construction industry (Holti, 1997);
Consultancy education in organisational theory, consultancy competence and
systems psychodynamics (Neumann, 1997);

Most of the earlier references here can be found in the three volumes of the
Tavistock anthologies, The Social Engagement of Social Science edited by Trist &
Murray.

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