Group Relations Programme

Group Relations conferences offer opportunities to learn about group, organisational and social dynamics; the exercise of authority and power; the interplay between tradition, innovation and change; and the relationship of organisations to their social, political and economic environments.

The focus of Group Relations conferences is on the relatedness of individual to group, organisation and environment and hence has synergies with other work of the Tavistock Institute including organisational redesign and organisation culture. Participants may expect to develop their capacities to manage themselves in the multiple roles necessary for contemporary leadership and hence the conferences provide a useful stepping stone in the process of leadership development and strategy development.

The learning at the conferences, which are educational and are part of the Tavistock Institute’s professional development stream, emphasises increased insight into irrational, or unconscious, processes we get involved in as we take up our roles in various groups. The basis of group relations theory is that ‘groups’ move in and out of focusing on their task and back and forth between a number of different defensive positions based on unarticulated ‘group’ desire and anxiety.

‘Group Relations’ aims to help groups improve the focus on their tasks, improve performance, better utilise group members’ potentials and reduce the constraining effects of competing dynamics.

Group Relations is a method of study, training and development that was developed by the pioneers of the Tavistock Institute including Ken Rice, Eric Miller, Pierre Turquet, Isobel Menzies-Lyth and Gordon Lawrence. The method of Group Relations study is usually in conference design of varied lengths, some of which are residential; others not.

Group Relations conferences, as other methodologies developed at the Tavistock Institute, are rooted in action research and hence offer opportunities for people to learn through experience.

The Tavistock Institute’s Group Relations Programme organises and runs several different forms of Group Relations conferences – some are open to everyone; others are in-house events for organisational clients. The best-known of these conferences is the Leicester conference.

The Leicester Conference