Hum an Relations, Vol. 50, No.

4, 1997

Meeting God: When Organ ization al Members

1
Com e Face to Face with the Suprem e Leader
Yian n is Gabr iel 2,3

This pape r focuse s on a theme which fe ature s in nume rous organizational

stories, in which an ordinary member of of an organization comes face to
face with the organi zation s top leade r. This them e e choe s not only the
archetypical religious scene of meeting God as supreme judge, but also se veral
we ll-known scenes in drama, opera, and literature. Through a psychoanalytic
study of this theme , a se t of primal phantasie s projected by organizational
members onto their leade rs are explored. The paper also throws into sharp relief
the underlying asymme try of the relationship be tween leader and follower: while
the followe r m ay shake the le ad e r s han d once , the le ade r will shake
innumerable hands. The paper is based on a detaile d interpretation of three
narrative s supplied by students, drawn from 6-month industrial place ments
(internships) which they unde rtook as part of their studies. In the first narrative ,
a student de scribes her e ncounter with the leader in almost religious terms as
a liminal moment in he r life; the student idealize s the leader who serves as a
role mode l. In the second narrative , the student feels shunned by a leader who
is inadequately briefed for his mee ting with her; she proceeds to demonize the
leade r as well as the entire organization. In the third narrative, a student loses
his faith in his de partme ntal he ad, when he re alize s that he is not truly
indepe ndent bur merely follows directives from above. The three narratives are
used to identify four core fantasie s about the lader: (1) the leader as someone
who cares for his/he r followers; (2) the leade r as some one accessible; (3) the
leade r as someone who is omnipotent and omniscient; and (4) the leade r as
someone who has a legitimate claim to lead others. Two groups of follower
fantasie s are then examine d. The charismatic and the messianic. It is then
suggested that the leader may be see n as a reincarnation of the primal mother,
restoring the members narcissism and rewarding them for who they are rather
than for what they have achieved. Alternatively, the leader may be e nvisioned
more close ly to the Freudian image of fathe r substitute, who rewards and
1
Paper prese nted at the 1995 Symposium of
2
School of Manageme nt, University of Bath,
3

the ISPSO .
Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, U.K.
Reque sts for reprints should be addre ssed to Yiannis Gabrie l, School of Manageme nt,
University of Bath, Clave rton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, U.K.
315
0018 7267/97/0400 0315$12.50/1

1997 The Tavistock Institute

316

Gabriel
punishes, arousing at once fear, loyalty, jealousy, and suspicion. It is suggested
that the forme r is close to Kohuts account of charismatic leade rship fantasy,
while the latter is close r to his account of messianic leadership fantasy.
K EY WORDS: leade r; follower; fantasy; charisma; messianic; identification;
idealization; impostor; psychoanalysis.

INTRODUCTION
To many pe ople in the lowe r e chelons of organizations, top le ade rs
do not appe ar altoge the r human, not at least in the se nse that colle ague s
or immediate supe riors are . The Big Boss is the obje ct of acute curiosity,
fascination, and gossip, the more so whe n followe rs rare ly catch sight of
him/he r, and the n only on cere monial occasions. A physical and psychological gulf se e ms to se parate top le ade rs from ordinary organizationa l
membe rs, who ofte n fantasize about their le ade rs. In these fantasie s, le ade rs can fe ature in diffe rent ways as bene vole nt, fathe r-like figure s, as
de m onic sche m e rs e ngage d in plotting and machinati on, as cunnin g
whee ler-dealers who strike cleve r de als for the organization, as impostors
who attaine d their position by de ception, and so forth.
This pape r charts the dominant fantasie s that subordinate s have about
the ir le ade rs, by focusing on a particular scene , which fe ature s regularly in
such fantasie s, a scene in which an ordinary membe r of an organization
comes face to face with the organization s top leade r. This e choes not only
the archetypical Christian scene of meeting God as supre me rule r on the
day of judgme nt, but also a fairly regular episode in some works of lite rature and the stage , such as Tolstoys War an d Peace or Mussorgsky s Boris
4
G odun ov. In the ir personal historie s, individuals may expe rience their first
mee ting with a great le ade r or a charismatic individual as a liminal moment , pre saging an important turn in their live s. Commenting on writings
by 60 promine nt Nazis, Dicks writes:
In Tolstoys (1869/1982) War and Peace, for instance, we meet young Nikolai Rostov, who,
having fantasize d countless times the moment when he might meet his Emperor, finally ge ts
his chance on the morrow of a military defeat:

But as a youth in love trembles and turns faint and dares not utter what he has
spe nt nights in dreaming of, and looks around in terror, se eking aid or a chance
of delay and flight, when the longed-for moment arrives and he is alone with
her, so Rostov, now that he had attaine d what he had longed for beyond everything in the world, did not know how to approach the Empe ror, and a thousand
reasons occurre d to him why it would be untimely, imprope r and impossible to
do so. (p. 334)

Tolstoy develops at length Nikolais fantasies re garding his leader as indeed he does Pierre s
plan to assassinate Napoleon. Both subplots converge on the moment when a follower mee ts
the leader.

Meeting God

317

A good proportion of the writers stress the unforgettable magic moment when
Hitler looked (or they felt he looked) into their eyes or squee zed their hand. (1972,
p. 79)

In organizations, the the me of mee ting the le ade r has be en note d both
in apocryphal storie s, such as those re porte d by Pete rs and Wate rman
(1982) and Deal and Kenne dy ( 1982) , and also in lite rature de aling syste matically with organizat ional myths and storie s (Martin e t al., 1983;
Wilkins, 1983; Mitroff, 1976; Rose n, 1985; Gabrie l, 1991a, 1993) . Me eting
the leade r may be the subje ct of a conscious fantasy or daydre aming, when
membe rs of organizations imagine what would happe n if they had such an
encounte r. The y may then muse, for e xample , on the favors the y might ask
for, the grie vance s they might e xpre ss, the enlighte nme nt they might se ek,
the advice they might give , or the viole nce the y might pe rpetrate . Alternative ly, the the me may assume the form of a story, i.e ., a wish-fulfilling
embellishme nt of a mee ting which actually took place . Such mee tings have
a memorable quality, ofte n becoming landmarks in individual s personal
historie s or e ve n feature s of organizational folklore , recurring in differe nt
variants. Like all organizational stories, storie s of such meetings ope n a
window into the e motional life of organizatio nal participan ts (Wilkins,
1983; Mahle r, 1988; Boje , 1991; Gabrie l, 1991a,b,c, 1992a; Hanse n &
Kahnwe iler, 1993). In particular, the y le ad us to some of the unconscious
5
phantasie s which subordinate s spin around the figure of the organization s
top leade rs. The se phantasie s, in turn, re ve al a great deal about the nature
and dynamics of leade rfollowe r relations as well as the emotional ne eds
of subordinate s fulfille d by le ade rs. In this pape r, I shall argue that because
of the nature of these ne eds, subordinate s ofte n make supe rhuman demands on the ir le ade rs, e le vating the m (ofte n with the le ade rs own
collusion) to heights from which the y can rarely fail but disappoint.
This pape r is not inte nded as a contribution to the already bulging theory of leade rship (Kets de V ries, 1990; Kets de V ries & Mille r, 1984; Krantz,
1990; Bennis, 1989; Baum, 1987, 1989) but to the less-develope d theory of
followe rship. It is also intended as an e ssay in interpretation highlighting
some of the strengths of a psychoanalytic approach. Late ly, organizational
studie s have started to take a ke ene r inte rest in the psychology of followe rs,
an issue which has bee n central to political science in gene ral and political
psychology in particular. Since the publication of Freuds G roup Psychology
5

This paper acknowledge s the distinction, drawn by Isaacs (1948) , Rycroft (1968), and others,
betwe en conscious fantasy or daydreaming and unconscious phantasy whose contents are not
directly accessible to consciousness but may be approached indirectly through dreams, stories,
e motions, or conscious fantasies. The spelling phantasy is restricte d to unconscious
conste llations of ideas, whereas fantasy is use d in a more generic way. For an up-to-date
conspectus on the psychoanalytic conce pt, see Sandler and Sandler (1994) . In this article ,
the spelling phantasy is only used to underline the unconscious quality of a mental conte nt.

318

Gabriel

and the Analysis of the Ego (1921) , psychoanalysis has take n an intere st in
the psychology of the leade rfollowe r relation, making some notable contributions (Reich, 1970; Fromm, 1941/1966; Adorno e t al., 1950; Erikson,
1968); it has also, sometimes rightly, be en charge d with psychological reductionism and unprovability. In this pape r, I do not wish to enter the debate s on the rights and wron gs of psychoanal ysis, but I do wish to
de monstrate some of the possibilitie s ope ned by a psychoanalytic perspective. These occur at thre e leve ls. First, at the leve l of interpretation, psychoanalysis e nhance s our compre hension of organizational symbolism and
of the se eming trivia of organizational life; it enable s us to unde rstand why,
in organizational narrative s, factual accuracy is sacrifice d for poetic effe ct.
Se cond, it provide s some of the most powerful keys into human motivation,
emphasizing the comple xity, plasticity, and mobility of human de sire and its
manife stations. Third, it offers a model of as well as a vocabulary for the
mental personality, fragmented, at odds with itself and with the world at
large , wicke d and yet profoundly moral, savage , and yet irreve rsibly civilize d,
which is unique ly attune d to the paradoxe s of organizational life and especially the contradictions of leade rfollowe r relations.
This pape r is built around three personal accounts of mee tings with
the le ade r. Each one was writte n by an unde rgraduate stude nt re turning
to the unive rsity afte r 6 months of industrial place ment (inte rnship) . As
part of their debrie fing, stude nts are aske d to describe in de tail an incide nt
which they witne sse d during their place ment which capture s the nature of
the ir e xpe rience with the company. They are then invite d to analyze the
incide nt and discuss the emotions which it evoke d at the time it happe ne d,
as well as the e motions it gene rate s as the y write about it. In 4 ye ars, over
300 such reports have bee n colle cted, analyze d, and file d. Se ve ral stude nts
chose to focus their reports on a crucial mee ting with the organization s
top leade r(s), and several more have re porte d such storie s secondhand. The
reports were submitte d by stude nts who had only studie d at the unive rsity
for a single ye ar. The y had had no se rious e xposure to psychoanalytic theory, nor did the y know of their lecture rs interest in the psychoanalytic
the ory of leade rship. Yet, the innoce nt e ye s of these traine es can capture
admirably some of the qualitie s, good and bad, which are proje cted onto
le ade rs. Most olde r, se asone d members of organizations might find it embarrassing to discuss such fantasie s with othe rs. Stude nt-traine e s, on the
othe r hand, can write e spe cially lucidly about the ir own fe e lings whe n they
mee t the se distant figure s upon whom so much is se en to depe nd.
Anothe r re ason why these re ports have a spe cial intere st lies in the
wide ly re cognize d fact that late adole scents are particularly give n to irrational attachme nts to leade r figure s, ranging from media stars and sports
heroe s to messianic re ligious and military le ade rs. These figure s are calle d

Meeting God

319

upon to que ll some of the anxie tie s resulting from transitional identity
stage s, le aving their pare nts home and de aling with their burge oning sexuality (Erikson 1968) . As Lindholm has observed:
Adolescents, of course, are great followers, and often form a central cadre of movements and cults, which tap their desire for identification by providing an appropriate
object in the form of a charismatic figure. For tee nage rs, then, hero-worship is a
predictable phenome non. (Lindholm, 1988, p. 22)

Leade r-cente red fantasie s and storie s may be more promine nt among
this age group than among olde r, more se asone d participants, but the y are
all the same a core feature of the unconscious life of organizations (Diamond, 1993) . No fewer than five of the se ven major type s of organizational
6
story identifie d by Martin and colle ague s ( 1983) re volve around the le ade r.
Rese arch carried out by the present author in five organizations which include d a hospita l, a public utility, a large manufact uring company, a
consume r organization, and a consultancy firm, ge ne rated 404 stories told
by 126 individuals. Thirty of those stories concerned the organization s top
le ade r, a furthe r 28 conce rne d a se nior manage r. The proportion of le ade rcentere d storie s varie d across the organizations but the y were a significant
7
fe ature in most of them (Gabrie l, 1992b) . Eight of these storie s will be
pre se nte d to amplify argume nts raise d by the stude nts accounts and to
illustrate the extent to which olde r organizational participants have fantasies about their leade rs and the nature of the se fantasie s.
THE LEADER AS REINCARNATION OF THE PRIMAL MOTHER
In the first re port, Anna, a Greek stude nt, recounts her meeting with
the Director of a publishing company.
Ann a s Stor y: The Most Preciou s Exp erience of My Placem ent
Is it re ally possible to capture the essence of an organization through a single eve nt?
This sounds quite scary, though it is a pre tty attractive idea. For three or four days now, my
mind has be en travelling back to Athens, where I had my placement, trying to re vive my
working life and experience s. I remember pe ople being stressed, running up and down in
their offices, preparing themselves for meetings, people being happy or sad, people chatting
or working nonstop.
6

Nor should it be thought that such stories and fantasies are unique to business organizations.
Portelli reports old communists fantasizing about conversations which they might have had
with the party leade r, which might have changed the course of history and led to the elusive
revolution (Portelli, 1990) .
7
This pape r focuses on three individuals leadership fantasies. It doe s not examine the extent
to which such fantasies in organizations are shared by more than one pe rson (see Gabrie l,
1991a,c) nor the relation betwe en the fantasies of followers and those of an organization s
leaders (see Kets de V ries & Miller, 1984; Schwartz, 1990) .

320

Gabriel

I can remembe r my first day at work. My brother accompanied me to the office. I was
literally shaking! I also remembe r the last day at work. I think that this is going to remain
in my memory as vivid as e ver. I was sad. All the people in the departme nt were sad also. I
wanted this day to last longer than usual. People were coming to wish me goodbye and kept
asking me when I will be back.
The re is indeed so much to write about and thus it is very confusing to try and sele ct
just one thing to re fer to. Ye t, after a lot of thinking, I have decide d on something that truly
deserves to be written down. It is probably the most precious e xperience that I had during
my placeme nt.
Working was something new for me as this was the first time I worked for a firm other
than my Dad s. This was proper work for the first time. As most people do when they find
themselves in a new e nvironment, I kept on observing and thinking. I was analysing people s
actions and re actions, attitudes and ove rall behavior. Eve rybody seeme d to have his/he r own
role, e very department its own aims and its own functions. The theories we had learned at
the university, about roles, hierarchy, working groups, etc., se emed to come alive right in front
of my eyes, leaving me satisfied and e ven more intereste d in the subject of my studies. But
what about this myth of manageme nt? What is the top person s role in all that? What is
it to lead people ? The se we re the que stions that I nee ded the answe rs for. After much
wondering, I de cided to try and have a discussion with my top manage r, a conversation which
would, hope fully, help me to solve the mystery.
As the manage r was extre mely busy for days and days, I was becoming e ven more obse ssed
with the idea that I had to talk with her and ask her to reveal to me all the secre ts that had
guide d he r to success. Finally one afternoon she was free and pleased to talk to me. I then
realised for a moment that my re quest was difficult. I wanted to find out about everything.
Was this feasible? I explaine d most of my thoughts to he r, she understood all the worries
that had be en in my mind all this time. We discussed a lot of things involving managerial
concepts and attitudes.
The first issue was that of managerial style, in particular the ways in which a manager
imposes himself/herself on his/her subordinates. Can one win the trust of others by fear or
by pe rsonal re spect? The answer was respe ct. If you have knowledge of the work subject, and
if what you want is the involveme nt and cooperation of your subordinates, then you have
found a sure way to get what you want from your departme nt. A successful manager must
first of all have passion for his/her work. This is the basis for transmitting your personal
enthusiasm to the people you are working with and to inspire the m to work with you to reach
the organizational targets.
A manager should try to analyse e ach one of his/he r subordinates and aim for a better
unde rstanding, bette r cooperation and finally positive results. By making a corre ct use of the
abilities and the talents of each one , we he lp them set feasible goals that be nefit the whole
departmen t, and enable them to succeed at a pe rsonal level as well.
A good manager must also be accessible to his/her subordinates in both business and
personal terms. People are indeed the most important issue within the organisation and the
art of handling them should be one of the major abilities a manager should be endowed with.
Nobody starts his/her care er as manager. And if this is the case, they are bound to fail. Only
by understanding and conside ring the position of a subordinate this is by taking his/her place
at least once then the manageme nt of the people and the de partme nt can be fair and
effective.
The discussion continued for a long time and all the issues we re mainly connecte d with
the human aspect of the organisation. My satisfaction from listening to my manager talk about
these issues was indescribable . All these theories I had se en applied in our departmen t with
great success, we re now reconfirme d to me by my manager, a person whom I respect and
admire enormously. I consider myself very lucky to have worked as a subordinate for this
particular manager. I hope that one day I will have the chance to practice all that I have
learne d and I am still learning, becoming a successful manage r.

Meeting God

321

Anna recounts her mee ting with the Dire ctor in almost religious terms.
If the incide nt cannot be de scribed as a Road to Damascus expe rience ,
it is because the encounte r he lped anchor and confirm a faith rathe r than
replace one se t of be lie fs with anothe r. It doe s, howe ve r, have some of the
marks of a liminal moment, which may re main with he r as a critical turn
in he r pe rsonal history (Turne r, 1974, 1980; Kunda, 1992) . At that moment,
without knowing it, she made important decisions about he r future and
distille d a new se t of meanings regarding he r unive rsity studie s, authority
relations, and possibly life as a whole . Things which had bee n bookish the orie s, or, more te llingly, myste rie s and myths be fore the me e ting,
became clear and full of meaning afte rward.
Idealization

Anna s profe sse d inde scribable satisfaction appe ars out of proportion with the vie ws on manage ment which she describe s, vie ws which would
strike some cynical commentators as pious platitude s. Yet, the very fervor
with which she reports the se vie ws provide s evide nce that banalitie s can
sound extraordinary and clich s can appe ar like wisdom, whe n uttered by
gre at leade rs, whose e ndorse ment turns mere ide as into gospe l. In fact,
eve rything touche d by the leade r acquire s a glowing aura. This is a characte ristic of the psychological proce ss of ide alization, which imbue s the
whole narrative . Not a single ne gative word or critical comme nt is allowe d
to spoil an image of shee r perfe ction and bliss. This transformation of the
commonplace into pe rfe ction has bee n single d out as a crucial fe ature ,
common to re lations with both le ade rs and love obje cts (Freud, 1921c;
Lindholm, 1988; Schwartz, 1985, 1987, 1990; Gabrie l, 1983, 1984, 1993) .
Le ade rs as well as obje cts of infatuation be come endowe d with all the
perfe ctions, forming part of an individual s e go-ide al, the se t of ide alize d
8
image s against which he /she measure s him/he rself. Anna s vivid de scription
of her ne rvousne ss be fore the e age rly anticipate d meeting as well as her
fe e ling of re lie f that her manage r had unde rstood all her worries in a
flash have a romantic quality, re minisce nt of the love rs inhibitions be fore
9
mee ting his/he r be love d. Having the manage rs undivide d atte ntion for a
long time , in which all the issue s, all the secrets and all the worrie s
are gone through e voke s a manage rial folie a deux (Krantz, 1989), a moment of initiation, meriting inde ed the inde scribable satisfaction note d.
Anna s narrative has all the marks of idealizing transference (see Kohut, 1971; Kets de
V ries & Miller, 1984) .
9
Krantz (1989) has admirably captured this quality in the idea of the manage rial couple.
The earlie r quote from Tolstoy displays the feverish quality surrounding meetings with leade rs
or love d objects.
8

322

Gabriel

Identification
Psychoanalysis distinguishe s two seminal ways in which we re late to
obje cts of our e nvironme nt, obje ct-love , and identification. In contrast to
obje ct-love which involve s a mixture of both se xual and sublimate d or aiminhibite d desire s, ide ntification involve s de se xualization of libido and its
transformation from a ple asure -se e king force into a bond-buildin g life
force . Thre e distinct type s of ide ntification were single d out by Fre ud
(1921c, p. 137) , all of which have a be aring on group phe nome na. The first
type of ide ntification is roote d in the e arlie st life e xpe rie nce s, be fore an
individual s ego has take n shape in opposition to an e xternal world. This
identification, which coincide s with the phase of primary narcissism, is irre de e mably broke n with the re alization that the mothe r is a se parate
person, yet the memory of fusion with one s e nvironme nt may persist and
resurface in ecstatic phe nomena, such as oce anic fee lings, e tc. The second
type of ide ntification occurs as a re place ment for obje ct-love . If the obje ct
of de sire cannot be e njoye d, it may be come instead an obje ct of ide ntification, losing its se xual attractive ness but becoming a role mode l. There is
a third type of identification, in which two or more individuals identify with
each othe r by virtue of a common quality, trait, or predicame nt. This is
characte ristic of the bond which siblings e stablish with e ach othe r, by virtue
of their share d relation toward the pare nts (provide d that the pare nts tre at
the m equally) . The stronge r this share d quality is, the more powerful the
identification.
Anna s brie f but poignant de scription of he r last day at work sugge sts
an identification with the colle ague s, who share d her sadne ss. Eve n more
vivid, howe ve r, is the description of Anna s ide ntification with the leade r,
some one she not only respected and admire d e normously, but also someone with whom she ide ntifie d as a role model, someone she wante d to
emulate as a succe ssful woman in a busine ss culture dominate d by men.
The fact that this outstanding woman took the time to talk to Anna in
person, to addre ss he r worrie s and answe r the que stions, was very important for Anna. O nly by unde rstanding and conside ring the position of a
subordinate this is by taking his/he r place at le ast once then the manage ment of the pe ople and the department can be fair and e ffective . In
this reve aling se ntence, she indicate s both the e xte nt of he r ide ntification
with the leade r and also the way in which this identification se rve s as the
basis of a promise , that she too will be come a leade r one day, just as her
manage r, who was he rse lf once a subordinate , did. It is note worthy how
Anna stresses accessibility as an important le ade rship attribute , and se es
her le ade r as an accessible one , not withstanding the difficultie s she had
in mee ting her. The leade r is acce ssible , but, as a ve ry busy person, her

Meeting God

323

time is pricele ss a single mee ting e stablishe s the acce ssibility of the leade r,
without at the same time sugge sting any undue familiarity. The leade r is
at once acce ssible and distant, he r gifts of time, wisdom, and care to be
accepted with gratitude rathe r than take n for grante d.
Anna s description, re sonant with narrative e lements of both re ligion
and romantic love , contains in a nutshe ll seve ral fe ature s of the psychoanalytic approach to le ade rship: ide alization, ide ntification with the leade r,
identification with othe r followe rs, suspe nsion of most critical facultie s, and
sublimation of libido.
A le ss se ntime ntal but also ide alize d account of a meeting with the
organization s top le ade r is offere d by Bob, the librarian of a well-known
chemical corporation. Like Anna, this account highlights the caring qualities of the le ade r, his acce ssibility, the fact that he is willing to give his
pre cious time to a subordinate :
I suppose in a way, I had actually forgotten the date of my twentieth anniversary
{with the company} and about a week before , I had a telephone from the chairman s
office, and they said Are you free at 3 oclock ne xt Friday? and I said Yes I
am. Oh, the chairman would like to se e you, so I thought, Uh, uh, this is it!
{Laughter} You know ... then I thought, Oh he wouldnt worry about that, he s
got other pe ople to kick me out. Anyway, I thought about this for the re st of the
we ek.
Now with Sir Roy {the previous chairman} I often saw him, and he used to ring
me up or collar me about something or other, I could tell you a story about that
later, anyway, the Friday came, and Sir Michael s secre tary, said He llo Bob, he s
got some body with him at the mome nt, hang on. It was only a few minutes and
then I went in. Oh he llo, come and sit down, tea or coffee ? Have some biscuits,
etc. Ive had a little check and its your twentieth annive rsary and I ve got a certificate for you. I hadn t really thought that this is what it was all about. We chatted
for about an hour. You know, talking about what I thought about the company. I
was quite surprised really with what he knew, to be honest; I mean, I know that
theyve got files and they can check things out, but even so. About three months
ago I saw him in the corridor, and I had had a kidney stone remove d some time
earlier, and he asked me how I was feeling. (Narrative 1)

Bobs de scription may lack the religious and romantic e lements prese nt
in Anna s narrative but contains both the nervousne ss before the meeting
with the gre at man (here acce ntuate d by the auxiliary fantasy of be ing
sacked) and the gratitude for being tre ated with conside ration, caring, and
respect. What both of the se narrative s do not contain is any e cho of the
le ade r as the harsh and omnipote nt primal fathe r, dominating his followe rs,
and e nforcing social value s. Inste ad, they are redole nt with a quality of
satisfaction and self-satisfaction which are characte ristic of narcissistic gratification. The leade r ne ither punishe s nor judge s, but give ss/he give s her
own time, s/he give s he r wisdom, s/he give s affection and s/he give s faith.
This is consiste nt with a more recent psychoanalytic line of thinking about
le ade rship, which maintains the view that we transfe r onto le ade rs fee lings

324

Gabriel

we e xpe rienced toward pare nts in early life, but replace s Freud s emphasis
on the leade r as fathe r substitute with the leade r as reincarnation of the
mother of primal narcissism, the mother who recognize s no boundarie s and
no conditions, the mother who meets all ne e ds and fuse s eve rything in
10
one . Chasse gue t-Smirge l (1976) was an e arly advocate of the view that
some le ade rs do not function psychically as fathe r substitute s in the manne r
Fre ud e nvisage d, but as re incarnations of the primal mothe r, as age nts
through which illusions are achie ve d. She note d that this type of group
. . . de sires illusion more than leadership, and chooses as maste r the one who promise s to re unite the e go and the e go ide al. No absolute leade r is without an
ideology. He is, in fact, the intermediary who negotiates betwe en the pe ople and
the ideological illusion. Understanding the ideology, there is always a fantasy of
narcissistic triumph. (p. 362)

Instead of the aloof pate rnal le ade r, who re wards and punishe s, le aving
his followe rs with weakened egos, this acce ssible , primal mothe rle ade r restore s he r followe rs narcissism and provide s a conside rable boost to their
self-este em by achie ving a fusion be tween e ach individual followe r and the
wider group. Kohut (1985) furthe r de ve lope d the distinction be tween the
two type s of leade rship, by arguing that re surrection of primal narcissism
and fusion with the mother de fine s charismatic le ade rship, while the prototypical Freudian fathe r surrogate type of le ade rship is messianic. Unlike
the followe rs of charismatic leade rs, who are prone to ecstatic phe nome na
and overflow with both self-re gard and libido, the followe rs of messianic
le ade rs are deple te d of self-regard, stand in awe of their le ade r, and are
eve r-willing to sacrifice the mselves in the interests of a supe rior cause .
Schwartz (1987, 1990) has e laborate d this argume nt furthe r by sugge sting that the idealize d organization functions dire ctly as a substitute for
individuals ego-ide als, restoring their narcissism, since as members of the
organization, they too posse ss all the gre at qualitie s of the ide al; power,
glamour, be auty, and e ve n immortality are all theirs inasmuch as the y are
membe rs. Unlike the harsh Freudian supe rego which grows out of recognition of e xte rnal authority, which re wards achie ve me nt and punishe s
malfe asance , the organization ide al re wards all and sundry mere ly for be ing
who the y are (Kohut, 1985; Schwartz, 1990) . If mee ting a messianic leade r,
like mee ting God on the Day of Judge ment, is a terrifying expe rience ,
mee ting a charismatic leade r is more like ly to prove an invigorating and
inspiring one as in the earlie r account.

10

One of the ways in which Annas account expresse s unity, fusion as we ll as the liminal
qualities of the encounte r is through the repe ated use of the word all, which occurs no
fewe r than nine time s in Annas account.

Meeting God

325

UNCARING LEADERS
Me eting the le ade r, of course , ne ed be ne ither terrifying nor inspiring.
Such mee tings, whe the r planne d or accide ntal, can e qually well end in an
anticlimax or in disappointme nt, le aving a bitter afte rtaste, as is shown by
the account which follows.
Kim s Stor y: Tim e Need Not Be Wasted on Lesser Mor tals

Six months in a national re tail organization. O K, so its not a city firm and its not
everyone s idea of a high flying business, but it seemed to offer what I thought I was after,
at a wage that couldnt be laughed at.
I went to work with few pre conceived ideas and no experience . Although, the organisation
turned out to be run like a military camp and was a complete shock to me socially and
culturally, I just about manage d to kee p my he ad above water. As far as I was concerne d,
my place ment had bee n a success, that is until I had a parting chat with the Managing Director
of the branch. Much of my confidence in management and the organization collapse d when
I went to se e the Boss. The e vent that discoloured my opinion appears to sum up a classic
syndrome afflicting many senior managers: Time nee d not be wasted on lesse r mortals.
Scathing generalization I know, ye t in this case very re levant.
My conversation with the boss took the following course :
Right, you ve be en here long?
Five months to date.
And you ve come from a Poly?
No, from a university, Bath University.
And this is part of your de gree?
Ye s, I am studying for a de gree in Business Administration.
And what has your placeme nt with us consisted of?

Basically I have had a fairly compre hensive insight into the company, spe nding time in
se ve ral differe nt de partme nts. I have cove re d both the administrative an d shop floor
departmen ts.
Right, and have we be en paying you for this?
Ye s.
And how much is that?
9,500 per year.
And when are you leaving?
This Saturday.
And do you return here on your next placement?

Its not compulsory so I will probably try and be placed in a city firm.
It was in this style that the conve rsation went on. He had obviously not bothered to
spe nd even five minutes going over my file, and hence spe nt the whole time asking what he
should have already known. Although, I was only a small cog in the machine, the impre ssion
he made upon me in those ten minutes was to be damaging to both him and organisation
that he represe nted. His inability to review my situation and relate to me reflected badly not
only upon himself, but upon the company.
Having been so scathing about the M.D., I do realize that he had ve ry limited time, and
probably more pressing e ngagements. And although this incident should not reflect on the
corporation as a whole, my instinctive inclination and to a ce rtain extent my naivet me ant
that my opinion of the branch and its managemen t had collapsed. In my view, it doe s not

326

Gabriel

say much that a se nior manager could not be bothered to find out about the subject in hand,
and appear so unpre pared.
My main thought on this incident is that certain manage rs within the company and
probably in other organisations, do not respe ct their subordinates, nor do they realise that it
is the lesse r mortals that account for the running of such businesse s.

If Anna s mee ting he lped strengthe n her faith, confide nce , and selfrespect, Kim s faith in the le ade r as well as in the organization collapse d
following the meeting. Kim attribute s this collapse to her own naive t; yet,
the strength of fee ling of injure d pride made this the most te lling incide nt
of her place ment. Kim doe s not claim that the Dire ctor inte nde d to insult
her, ye t the discussion of he r fee lings indicate s that an uninte ntional slight
is as hurtful as an intende d one . The incide nt re veals the emotional vulnerability of the subordinate whe n me eting the organization s leade r. It also
shows how loss of faith in the leade r ofte n brings with it loss of faith in
the organization as a whole .
Are Kim s negative re fe re nce s to the organization ( military, not a
high-flying busine ss) evide nce that she never re ally identifie d with it? A
psychoanalytic re ading of her re port would sugge st that it is more like ly a
retrospe ctive e motional distancing from the organization, which, following
the insulting be havior of its leade r, come s to be se en as the e mbodime nt
of all negative qualitie s. If Anna s organization was an obje ct of idealization, an organiz ation ide al ( Schwartz, 1987) which functione d to
restore he r pride and narcissism, Kim s organization came to function as
an organization malignant (Gabrie l, 1991c, 1993) . Following the mee ting,
her pride and narcissism could be restored, by se ve ring her ide ntification
with the organization, by de monizing it, and distancing he rse lf from it. Had
Kim ne ve r ide ntifie d with the organization or its leade r at all, if she had
regarde d it merely as a job, she would probably not have take n se rious
offe nse at the director s patronizing be havior. Nor would his arrogance
have affected her vie w of the e ntire organization, as it pointe dly doe s. It
would then se em that e ven in such an organization (impe rsonal, unglamourous, disciplinarian) a bond of identification linke d a temporary member
like Kim to the invisible le ade r and to he r colle ague s, until the ill-fate d
mee ting.
Why did the mee ting shatte r this bond and destroy Kim s total image
of the organiz ation? Kim s use of the words le sse r mortals, time
wasted and not bothe red indicate that she was hurt by his lack of caring. In diame trical opposition to Anna s and Bobs narrative s (well-brie fed
le ade r, long meetings) , Kim s le ade r had no re al time for he r (ill-brie fed
le ade r, pe rfunctory meeting) . Caring (or the abse nce of it) is a common
fe ature of many followe rs fantasie s regarding their leade r, and is a foundation stone of the psychoan alytic the ory of re ligion. Followe rs are

Meeting God

327

pre pare d to endure the le ade rs harshne ss and, to a degre e, arbitrarine ss

in re turn for fulfilme nt of a nee d for prote ction, roote d in infantile help11
le ssne ss and de pe nde ncy. An uncarin g le ade r doe s not me re ly de ny
his/he r followe rs the satisfaction of a vital ne ed, but force s the m to confront
the ir de pe nde ncy and casts a se rious blow to the ir pride (see Be nnis, 1989;
12
Hirschhorn, 1988, 1989) . Kim was not mere ly hurt, she was angry. Anger
is not so much a response to neglect, as to re jection. Had the le ade r not
bothe red to meet he r at all, Kim may have felt hurt, though she is unlike ly
to have felt angry. Her ange r is the product of injure d pride and self-respe ct. What insulte d he r was the le ade rs double presumption; first, that
she should fe e l grate ful about being allowe d to meet him at all, and second,
that no brie fing was ne cessary for such a meeting. Not only did the leade r
not care about her, but he did so while pre te nding to care, i.e ., he took
13
her for stupid. As in Anna s account, the le ade r in Kim s narrative is
acce ssible , but his acce ssibility is spurious, just as his pre tence of caring
conceals indiffe re nce.
THE ASYMMETRY IN LEADERFOLLOWER RELATIONS

Anna s and Kim s storie s highlight the fundame ntal asymme try in most
le ade rfollowe r re lationships. Leade rs mee t many of their membe rs in the
course of their work. Shaking hands with the boss may be a unique e xpe rience for an e mploye e ; a leade r, howe ve r, will shake nume rous hands eve ry
day and it can be hard to make every handshake meaningful and warm,
in the knowle dge that it may be the othe r person s only handshake with
the leade r. The followe r will usually know the name of the organization s
le ade r, will be able to recognize his/he r face from photographs, may know
his/he r like s and dislike s from pre ss reports, inte rvie ws, and gossip. The
le ade r, on the othe r hand, will probably not know the nam es of the majority
of his/he r followe rs, their face s will be virtually indistinguishable from those
The derivation of religious needs from the infants helplessness and the longing for the
father aroused by it se ems to me incontrovertible, especially since the feeling is not simply
prolonged from childhood days, but is pe rmanently sustaine d by fear of the superior power
of Fate. . . . I cannot think of any nee d in childhood as strong as the need for a father s
protection (Freud 1930a, p. 19; La Barre , 1979) .
12
An uncaring leader is not the same as an aloof or distant leader (Kohut, 1985; Lindholm,
1988) . Such a le ader may be endowed with caring qualities even in the light of overwhelming
evidence to the contrary. Solzhe nitsyn, for instance reports how many Soviet pe ople
remained attached to the image of Stalin as a be nign fathe r, who would set everything right
if only he knew the crimes perpetrate d by his patsie s. Aloof leaders kee p their followers
on tenterhooks as to whether they truly care or not. The mere suspicion that perhaps they
do not care can be see n as betrayal of the leader and bring about feelings of guilt.
13
A patronize d follower shares several qualities of the spurned love r, just as the fulfilled
follower (Anna) shares qualities with the lover whose feeling has be en reciprocate d.
11

328

Gabriel

of members of any othe r organization and their like s and dislike s are virtually immaterial. The e sse ntial diffe re nce be tween Anna s and Kim s story
is that whe re as Anna s boss bridge d the gulf, making he r fee l value d and
respected, Kim s boss (probably unknowingly) use d the parting ritual to
unde rline the status and powe r distance which se parate d them, tre ating
her as just anothe r traine e . In doing so, he inflicte d a blow on he r narcissism, which was alre ady tarnishe d by the infe rior re putation of the
company, compare d to the prestigious city firms in which some of Kim s
frie nds did the ir place ments.
Brid gin g the Gu lf
O ne variant of the fantasy of meeting God has the le ade r visiting the
troops, meeting them en masse (rathe r than individually as in the e arlie r
narrative s), administe ring praise , large sse , or re buke , or simply socializing
with the m. Some leade rs are e spe cially ade pt at bridging the gap in this
manne r. In the case of Sir Roy (who feature s in Narrative 1), a re al folklore
14
had de ve lope d around his impromptu mee tings with subordinate s. Here
are some accounts in which he fe ature d, se ve ral ye ars after his re tire ment:
Sir Roy, the lege nd live s on. Generally speaking, he was very popular, people liked
him, especially he re at HQ but also throughout the company, he had the re putation
that the troops appreciate . Here is a bloke ... you d be sitting down eating your
lunch and he d come and he d sit ne xt to you and say How is it going, I am Roy
Plum and he would chat to you. That gave him a be tter grasp of what pe ople at
the grass root leve l were thinking, are they looking for jobs elsewhere, this sort of
thing. (Narrative 2)

Se ve ral unsolicite d accounts center on impromptu mee tings with Sir

Roy e ithe r in lifts or in the bar.
If you got in the lift with Sir Roy, he talke d endle ssly with e verybody; he always
had some thing ve ry pleasant, very amusing to say. He e nhanced your day if you
came across him. It wasn t that he kne w you personally but he always said hello
to eve rybody; he was gifted at re membering name s, but you wouldnt expect him
to remember the names. I was at a very low level really, for him, you know, but
he did remember people s names. He was a very outwardly pleasant e asy-going
chap, just like he comes across on TV . (Narrative 3)

The nice thing about Sir Roy, I didnt have many dealings or any de alings, in fact,
but he was always around, he was quite visible in the luncheon club having egg
and chips for lunch, or in the bar having a pint and people could go and talk to
him if they wanted. No matter what he did while he was in power, he was always
se ems as a very human person. Sir Roy was differe nt from all the other chairmen,
Ive known. Although I didnt see him every day, someone would say, Oh yes, I
saw him today in the bar having a sandwich, so yes, that made me feel differe nt,
that he was around.
14

Sir Roy was the object of intense nostalgia on the part of subordinates who had known him
(see Gabrie l, 1993) .

Meeting God

329

Intervie wer: Is the curre nt chairman a human being?

{Laughter} Yes, he is, but I wouldnt go back home and say The chairman was
having egg and chips today; he doesn t. I dont feel I know him at all. (Narrative 4)

Familiarity with Sir Roy only rare ly bred contempt. In the majority of
narrative s he feature s as a characte r, either through his ability to support
and e ncourage or through his penchant for the une xpe cted and the unpre dictable . In fact, his fre que nt appe arance s on radio and tele vision as a
national cele brity made him an even more god-like leade r, in spite of descriptions of him as human, humane or e ven as one of the boys.
While he bridge d the gulf betwee n himse lf and his followe rs, the re was
never any que stion of the existence of the gulf. In the following narrative ,
expre ssions like go up to and come down offer an insight into the gulf
and its bridging.
I am sure that if I we nt up to Sir Roy we wouldnt have too much to say to each
other ....
Intervie wer: Why not?

Well, it de pends... what Id go up to talk to him about, whether or not it was all
superficial, just to look good and human, yet to me it was all pretty good. Some
people gave him a lot of flak for coming down, but the way that I saw it was that
it was nice that he came round and spent time in the areas that we did. At least
he could see that if the bar was dirty, for instance , it wouldnt be all cle aned up
for him to come down; he d just drop down like everybody e lse. (Narrative 5)

Unlike Sir Roy, many le ade rs find mixing with the troops difficult or
embarrassing. The result the n may be traumatic (as it was for Kim) or
mere ly disappointing, as is the case with more se asone d organizational participants. The following brief story, told by Norman, se nior researcher in
a re search and publishing organization, illustrate s the conseque nce s of a
le ade rs inability to bridge the social and emotional gap which se parate s
him/he r from his/he r subordinate s:
Ive only met him {the director} once, after last Xmas when we all we nt to meet
him in groups, a particularly stilted affair. It was wine and something to eat for
each group at a time, but hardly anyone talked to him directly.
Intervie wer: Do you talk a lot about him?
Ye s. Usually disparagingly. (Narrative 6)

Norman, as an olde r and more cynical organizational participant than

Kim, did not allow his disappointme nt with the dire ctor to make him angry;
inste ad, it was absorbe d in a litany of criticisms of the dire ctor, told in a
knowing, dismissive manne r. The director s inability or unwillingne ss to
bridge the gap betwee n himse lf and the ordinary organizational members
became e mblematic of his ge neral isolation and unconce rn.

330

Gabriel

Meetin g the Lead er: Where Phan tasy Con fron ts Reality

Why is meeting the organization s leade r such an important eve nt in

people s emotional life? Why doe s it fe ature in so many organizational storie s? As we argue d e arlie r, fantas izing about le ade rs is comm on in
organizations. Me eting the boss te sts these fantasie s, re inforcing some, and
turning othe rs into the ir opposite . All the narrative s discusse d so far revolve , whether positive ly or ne gative ly, around the fantasy of a caring and
accessible le ade r who acknowle dge s and recognize s his/he r followe rs and
15
addre sses them as worthy membe rs of the organization. One dominant
characte ristic of our fantasy life is its disregard for the endle ss comple xitie s
and nuance s of the real world, which come to be re place d by certain binary
oppositions, like good bad, true false , real unre al. These oppositions have
be e n note d in many fairy-tale s (Bette lhe im, 1977) , myths (Levi-Strauss,
1963/1968, 1958/1976, 1978) as well as organizational storie s and folklore
(Gabrie l, 1991a) . Such fundame ntal oppositions are also a fe ature of many
followe r phantasie s about the ir le ade rs.

THE LEADER AS REINCARNATION OF THE OMNIPOTENT

PRIMAL FATHER
The following report introduce s a ne w dime nsion in the phantasie s
held by subordinate s apropos of their le ade rs omnipote nce. It is perhaps
not accide ntal that this account was provide d by a male traine e, since it
tre ats the le ade r le ss as a primal mothe r figure , caring, supporting and re cognizin g, and more as a figure of authority, re ve re nce and fe ar. The
phantasy of the leade rs omnipote nce (and the associate d phantasy of the
le ade rs omniscie nce) is one of the commone st, if not the commone st phantasy about le ade rs. It is often consciously furthe re d by le ade rs themselve s,
15

The image of the leader singling one out from a crowd of followers and according one
special recognition is a common fantasy of followers aspiring to the role of favored disciple
or child and possible successor. It is also a fantasy regularly acted out, for example, when
students want to be noticed by their teache r or conscripts by their commanding officer.
Kapuscinski provides the following vivid account:
A crowd awaite d the Emperor.... We all gathe re d e arly so as not to miss the
Emperor s arrival, because that moment had special significance for us. Everyone wanted ve ry badly to be noticed by the Emperor. No, one didnt dream of
spe cial notice, with the Reve re d Emperor catching sight of you, coming up, starting a conve rsation. No, nothing like that, I assure you. One wanted the smallest,
se cond-rate sort of atte ntion, nothing that burdene d the Emperor with any obligations. A passing notice, a fraction of a se cond, ye t the sort of notice that
later would make one tremble inside and overwhelm one with the triumphal
thought I have been noticed. What strength it gave afte rward! What unlimited
possibilities it cre ated! (1983, p. 113)

Meeting God

331

whose own narcissism is enhance d in this way, though followe rs tend to

proje ct truly supe r-human powers onto them. One of the most pote nt organizational expe rience s, spawning numerous storie s and myths, cente rs on
the discove ry that le ade rs the mselves are only human and fallible , that they
too are afraid and that they too may be drive n by some one standing above
the m. In the story which follows, Ste ve vividly describe s how his faith in
his own leade r, in a large transnational corporation, was shatte red when
he re alize d that he was but a puppe t on some one else s string.
Steve s Stor y: Th e day I los t faith in Mike McK ie
B efore discussing the incident in question, it is helpful to give a few details of the
company. Although DACRO UK is an affiliate of DACRO International based in the US,
it is officially a separate entity with its own manage ment, culture and vision. DACRO UK is
split into seven major product divisions each of which functions indepe ndently of the others.
The division to which I was assigned is called the Consume r Appliances Division (CAD) and
deals in the traditional appliances. CAD is heade d up by an exe cutive name d Mike McKie.
Whe n I joined DACRO the de mands on McKie appeared to come from two source s. I
have al re a dy m e n tion e d the U S co n ne c tion , but D A CR O U K pride d itse lf on its
indepe ndence, its distinct culture and its ability to outperform its US parent company. If the
British subsidiarys independence was genuine, McKie should be answe rable to the demi-gods
of DACRO UK (i.e., the Board of Directors). Perched on the 17th floor of DACRO House
these mythical cre ature s are reputed to rule from sumptuous quarte rs of mahogany and
leathe r. Nobody you meet within the company has actually entered the 17th floor and nobody
is quite sure what goes on there. Howeve r most pe ople have their own story of a personal
encounter with Z eus himself Erroll Bates, CEO of DACRO UK.
This report de scribes the events surrounding December 9, the day I lost faith in McKie .
McKie had stressed on fre quent occasions that CAD needed a radical change in structure in
order to become more customer focused a condition he believed to be essential if DACRO
we re to remain succe ssful in the 90s. He had develope d his own plans to this effect and had
be gun to impleme nt some of them with considerable ceremony. However all these plans were
laid to re st on De cembe r 9, when Pe ter Ke llner, Head of CAD world-wide in corporate
Headquarte rs in B oston, announced his global strate gy for change . DACRO UK senior
management were told of the announceme nt a fortnight before the e vent. The y spent two
we eks anticipating what Kellne r would announce and how his decree would affect CAD
UK. Indeed they we re so anxious, that they arranged a sate llite link-up with the US so that
they could listen to Kellner live. However there was little or no communication betwee n
se nior managemen t and the rest of the workforce during this pe riod. The workforce sensed
how significant the announce ment was to senior management and be gan to speculate on what
it would m e an for the future of DAC RO UK ne gative rumou r was rife. Incre dibly,
manage me nt did absolutely nothing to dispel these rumours: they must have known what
scenarios we re being discussed and ye t they stuck their heads in the sand and pre tended that
it was business as usual.
December 9 came to pass and Kellner made his spe ech. His grand de sign was swallowed
hook, line and sinker and McKie has made changes in line with the edict e ver since .
No conside ration has bee n given to the possible culture differences and marke t disparities
be tween the US and the UK, or any attempt to interpret the edict in line with the strategy
of DACRO UK. In fact, McKie completely disregarded his own strategy for the future of the
division and appears to have adopted e nthusiastically Ke llners plans in their entirety.
Initially, I had a lot of time and re spect for McKie. He was (in my mind) an unsuccessful
{sic} e xecutive who would in time turn CAD around by adhering to his principles and sticking

332

Gabriel

it out. He was very much a people manager with a high profile always e ncouraging, and
se eing the silver lining in eve ry cloud. All my pre conceptions were shatte re d by the e vents of
and around December 9. The way McKie and his managemen t team acquiesced to Kellner s
announceme nt was spineless. Why didnt McKie have the guts to continue with his strategy
for the UK? The sudden change in vision and direction was detrimental to the divisions
morale and de vastating on McKie s authority. Kellne r had made the call and McKie had
jumped. During the wee ks prece ding De cember 9, McKie frequently scurried off to Boston,
presumably to ingratiate himself with US se nior managemen t (this only se rve d to alienate
him further from his UK workforce). I completely lost faith in his authority because it be came
so se cond-hand in my eyes. I also experience d a feeling of vulnerability as an e mployee. The
se curity that a strong management provides had been remove d the UK management team
appeare d to lack the guts to lead it was as if they would stick their he ads in a fire at the
whim of the US.
Pe rhaps more important was the impact on morale . Manage me nt did not e ffectively
commun icate with the re st of the workforce in any shape or form. W e we re se nt one
communiqu outlining what was happening on December 9, a critical announceme nt which
may result in radical changes within CAD. That was all the information which we we re give n
and so we were left to speculate what these change s might involve. Many scenarios evolve d,
and human nature being what it is, these inevitably included much doom and gloom: massive
job cuts and reshuffling were the favourite e lements in most prophecie s. Consequently for a
we ek leading up to the announce ment morale at work plummeted. The atmosphere be came
polluted by fear and suspicion. CAD has be en going through difficult time s re cently but until
this incident the manageme nt still e njoye d the support of those under them. However their
complete disregard for anybody other than themse lve s over this affair really lowered the
este em in which they we re held.
It would be worth mentioning that this incident was of much more significance to me
than to others within the division. Those employees who had be en with the company for a
while had perhaps come to terms with the fact that their senior managemen t were little more
than puppets of Boston. Howeve r, because I was new to the company, I felt let down.
Initially, I had almost idolised the executive s at DACRO UK, and when my image of them
was shattered I became bitter and resentful. To cope with my feelings, I found myself turning
my attention away from the UK senior managemen t team towards the US for signs of where
the com pany was he ading. Dire ctive s which we re e ndorse d by B oston be cam e highly
significant, while those of UK origin I dismissed as petty.
Finally, it is worth pointing out how the whole affair destroyed the magic of the 17th
floor myth. I had adopted the fantasy that surrounded Bates and the directors and it had
be come a form of motivation to think of these ove rseers controlling operations. However the
implication of the Kellner affair is that Bates and his Board are little more than figure-heads,
with no re al power or purpose. This realisation filled me with disillusion and the 17th floor
be came quite a pathe tic spectacle.

Certain e lements in Ste ve s narrative e cho the earlie r one s. Like the m,
it touche s on the leade rs caring, accessible qualitie s, e mbodie d by McKie
before his fall from grace ( A people manage r). Ye t, the image of leade r
as prote ctor ( I also e xpe rienced a fee ling of vulne rability ...), goe s beyond
the m. Unlike Anna and Kim, who saw a caring le ade r as one who offe rs
recognition and guidance , Steve looks at the caring leade r as some one who
should prote ct him in a hostile e nvironme nt. Se ve ral othe r feature s se t this
narrative apart from the e arlie r two. In the first place , the the me of meeting
the organization s top le ade r feature s only indire ctly, ( Most pe ople have
the ir own story of a pe rsonal e ncounte r with Ze us himself ). It is altoge ther

Meeting God

333

on a grande r scale ( global strategy for change , Head of CAD Worldwide ), revolving crucially around the power of leade rs, who are invisible ,
myste rious, and te rrifying. Its language (de mi-gods, mythical creature s,
spine le ss, guts, ingratiate , etc.) is overwhelmingly a language of masculine
qualitie s, a language of rude power and raw fear. Le ade rship feature s in
this narrative not as a unitary e ntity (a single leade r) but as a fairly e laborate authority struc tur e ( Mc Kie , the U .K. dire c tors, the H e ad of
World-wide CAD and, finally, Boston ). Moreove r, unlike the earlie r narrative s, Ste ve is fully conscious of the fantasy of omnipote nce he was
proje cting on Bates and the dire ctors ( I had adopte d the fantasy ... ). His
loss of faith in the company s British le ade rship coincide s with what he
see s as the shatte ring of this fantasy. He therefore presents himself as one
wiser and le ss gullible , like the longe r-standing members of the organization
( Those e mploye e s who had be en with the company ...), in contrast to
16
his younge r, more impressionable self.
If acce ssibility and caring form the two axe s around which Kim s and
Anna s fantasie s revolve , Ste ve s self-profe sse d le ade rship fantasy revolve s
around a comple x of ideas which include aloofne ss, indiffe re nce, power,
and myste ry; the se have bee n discusse d extensive ly by authors like Se nne tt
(1980) and Baum ( 1987) . Baum, for e xample , argue s that
...the indiffere nce of some one who is powerful simultaneously poses a riddle and
incre ase s that person s control. The riddle concerns the identity of someone who
exercises such undeniable authority in virtual anonymity. How doe s this person do
it? And what does he or she want from subordinates? Efforts to solve the riddle
lead to greater atte ntiveness to and, conse quently, dependence on the authority.
(Baum, 1987, p. 66)

The mystery surrounding a le ade rs prove nance and his/he r personal

circumstance s, doubtle ss re inforce his/he r psychological hold over his fol17
lowers. Conve rsely, acquaintance with the mundane realitie s of a leade rs
eve ryday life (his/he r marriage to an ordinary spouse , his/he r pe rfectly
18
ordinary bourge ois taste s, etc.) se verely dents the leade rship mystique .
Mystery fe ature s not only in Steve s story, but, in a diffe rent way, in Anna s
too; it is not accide ntal that both of the se narrative s de al with faith in the

16

We shall presently see that, far from losing his faith in the omnipotence of leade rs, Steve
has me re ly shifted his fantasy from the companys British to the U.S. leadership.
17
The Japane se pe ople had not heard the voice of their re vered Emperor until his famous
radio broadcast in August 1945 ( The circumstances of the war have not deve loped
necessarily to Japan s favour ... ). It is almost self-evident that the loss of mystique of the
British royal family has cast the final blow on any claims it may have had to leadership.
18
Goffman (1959) recounts several instance s of Sir Frede rick Ponsonby, late Eque rry of the
British Court, advising monarchs to keep their distance from their subjects. The view that
familiarity bree ds contempt seems uniquely apt to people s attitudes toward monarchs.

334

Gabriel

le ade r. Anna s meeting with the le ade r clarifie d the mysterie s without
destroying the mystique of the leade r. Her meeting with the dire ctor was
a unique and special occasion, ( probably the most pre cious expe rience )
and in no way could it be se en as marking familiarity. In Steve s account,
the mystery of the leade r as well as the mystique of the unvisite d 17th
floor are sustaine d by his faith in the le ade rs omnipote nce.
19

Fals e Messiah s

Steve s loss of faith in the le ade r is accompanie d by some of the distancing and diside ntification, note d in Kim s account. Unlike Kim s fee lings
of ange r, howe ve r, Steve s fe e lings are closer to conte mpt, his scarce ly conceale d sarcasm in sharp contrast to Kim s injure d pride . If Kim s re sponse
is similar to that of a spurne d love r, Steve s response is that of someone
who place d his/he r faith in a false messiah. Unlike Kim, Ste ve s loss of
faith and re spe ct for the leade r is pre cipitate d not by the e xpe rience that
the leade r doe s not care but that the le ade r is not strong enough. Time
and again in the narrative , we re ad that McKie s authority be came se cond-hand, that the idolize d de mi-gods of DACRO UK turne d out to be
mere puppe ts of Boston, etc.
If Kim s and Anna s fantasie s cast the le ade r in the role of the primal
mother, recognizing, fusing, and re storing, Ste ve s fantasy is much closer
to the Freudian vie w of the le ade r as a fathe r surrogate , a person of formidable stre ngth, at once judgme ntal and seve re , caring and punishing.
Could then his leade rship fantasy be describe d as messianic (Kohut, 1985) ,
in contrast to Anna s and Kim s charismatic leade rship fantasie s? Inste ad
of highlighting fusion and unity, his report vividly depicts the great powe rs
with which leade rs are e ndowe d in some followe rs e ye s and also the devastating conse quence s of discove ring that they are only fallible after all.
Le ade rs who inspire d faith, commitme nt, and awe are re le gate d to mere
mortals and become targe ts for e xtraordinary hostility and contempt. Discove ring that the le ade r is not omnipote nt unde rmine s his/he r perceived
capacity to prote ct the subordinate s and to stand up for the m. The leade rs
weakne ss makes the followe rs fee l vulne rable and e xpose d, unde rmining
his/he r legitimacy. More importantly, it make s them fe e l be traye d, as if the
messiah has turne d out to be an impostor.
It is hard to ove re mphasize the importance of the impostor the me in
our e motional live s, both inside and outside organizations. This theme may
assume several forms, attaching itself both at an individual s self and at
19

Myste ry is, of course, a central eleme nt of faith, as indicated by the dictum Cre do quia
absurdum (see Freud, 1927c) .

Meeting God

335

othe rs. It may manife st itse lf as a crisis in self-confide nce ; we may fear,
for instance , that a certain lack of knowle dge or e xpe rtise, an infe rior qualification, or an e arlie r failure will be uncove re d, thus de stroying our
20
credibility. The impostor the me can also be found in the common fantasy
referred to by psychoanalysis as the family romance a child imagine s
that his/he r real pare nts are king and quee n, and his actual pare nts mere
21
impostors, who se ize d him/he r up at a young age . The the me is also rehearse d in numerous organizational storie s, in which the legitimacy of an
individual and especially a le ade r is que stione d, for a wide varie ty of re asons, such as that his/he r claims are false, that his/he r qualifications are
fraudule nt, or eve n that his/he r position has be en usurpe d by an actual
pre te nde r. Goffman ( 1959, p. 77) has note d that Weste rn culture re gards
an individual s pe rformance s as either authe ntic or fraudule nt, so a person
can be either true or an impostor. He argue s that this is logically far from
true, though, perhaps, he unde re stimate s the vital psychic nee ds fulfille d
by this dichotomy. In our fantasy life , a claim is either true or false ; this
is especially so in the case of a le ade rs claim to be the me ssiah. O ne cannot
be half a Me ssiah or a differe nt type of Messiah; if the Me ssiah is found
22
to make fraudule nt claims once, his e ntire credibility is de stroyed.
The librarian in the re se arch and publishing organization re porte d e arlie r in Norman s story admitte d to some de te ctive work to unrave l the
mystery of the dire ctor.
One couldnt find out much about him... I reme mbe r doing an on-line se arch, it
was all about his handling of the Pilkington affair. He claime d to have written a
lot of scie ntific papers, but I couldnt find any of them. He claimed to have written
a book, but in fact he d only edited it, in fact he d hardly e dited it, I think the
se cond editor got it out actually. I certainly discovered that he had a re putation
that he d tried to ruin libraries, he d done it at both institutions he d led. I dont
think he likes me and all the librarians. {Why? } I don t know, he thinks that libraries

20

Chasseguet-Smirgel examines nightmares regarding examinations in the light of this theme .

Even if an examination was passed in practice, the nightmare builds on the suspicion that
the success was undese rve d and may one day become discovered (1976, p. 352) . There is
a substantial literature on the impostor phenome non as it applies to an individuals own
se lf. What is nove l about the presentation he re is the projection of the impostor theme
onto an organization s leader.
21
It is also a theme dominating Mussorgskys great opera Boris G odun ov, in which, against a
background of re bellion and a false Czar, the Pre tender Dimitri, the simpleton confronts
Boris accusing him of being a murderer and an impostor. The family romance, in its straight
Freudian variant, is acted out in Mozart s Figaro, where the eponymous hero turns out to
be the son of noble parents. It can be found in countless fairy tale s and myths. One of the
stronge st and most elaborate versions of the impostor theme is in the Grimm s Brothe rs
tale The Goose Girl. This theme has be en discusse d in great depth by Be ttelheim (1976) .
22
In G roup Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, Freud ( 1921c) speculates the effects on
Christianity of a hypothe tical discove ry of a written confession by Joseph of Arimathea which
debunks the claims of Christs Resurrection.

336

Gabriel
are expe nsive and a waste of time and money.... He is very keen on computers.
(Narrative 7)

But if the Director s claims to scholarship were suspe cted of be ing

fraudule nt, so too was his e xcelle nce in compute rs:
The gre at story about {the director and} computers is the common belief that he
didnt actually know anything about compute rs at all, because one of my friends in
the rese arch departme nt, she was a PA, and she was always ge tting called into his
office to sort things out in his computers, and she would say You know its only
this, that and the other, and he pretends he knows all about it, but in fact he knows
bugger all, and he s just showing off. He had these computers as symbol of how
important he was and all the rest of it but he actually didnt use them, so there
was a great de al of that going round, true or not I don t know. (Narrative 8)

The fantasie s containe d in these narrative s cast the director as an impostor (fraudule nt claims) and as a persecuting figure . Similar elements featured in other narrative s obtaine d in that organization, though none que stions
the dire ctor s power and even omnipote nce . By contrast, what in Steve s
imagination turns McKie from Messiah to impostor is not a major revelation
about his mysterious past, but a relative ly routine discove ry, that he is not
self-drive n, but a cog in an organizational hierarchy. His fraudule nce lies not
in his qualifications or credentials but in his bravado, his closeness with his
staff and his presumed power, all of which had encourage d Steve s faith in
him in the first place . The standards by which Steve judge d McKie may seem
harsh and unrealistic. Yet they are not untypical of standards by which we
often judge our organizational supe riors. Why do subordinate s use such harsh
standards when judging leaders? Why do they delibe rately forget that they
too are members of hierarchie s, with superiors of their own? Why can they
not merely treat leaders as ordinary humans, just like themselves, confuse d,
fallible , capable of great de eds but also of great errors? Doubtle ss many le aders connive in the power mystique which surrounds them, by isolating themselves on 17th floors and executive suites, awarding themselves awe-inspiring
salarie s (Krantz, 1990), wearing masks of unshake n certainty and conviction,
and eschewing all traces of humility, doubt, or hesitation. Other leaders, possibly like McKie, connive with the mystique by being defiant or disparaging
toward the organization s top management in front of their subordinates, yet
obsequious and subservient in front of their own superior. Yet what Steve s account suggests is that leaders, like McKie, are often invested with powers which
are totally out of proportion with their actual position or personal qualities.
THE FOLLOWERS CORE FANTASIES ABOUT THEIR LEADERS
The narrative s explore d in this pape r have re ve aled a numbe r of fantasies which subordinate s construct around their superiors. The se revolve
the matically around four axe s:

Meeting God

337

First, the leade r as someone who cares for his/her subordinates, either offering recognition and support or protection. The re verse of this fantasy is the leader who
is indifferent to the plight of his/her subordinates and may even be an axeman
(Watson, 1994), willing to sacrifice them in order to achieve his/her ambition.
Second, the leader as some one who is accessible, who can be se en and he ard, eve n
if his/her appe arances constitute special occasions. Conversely, the leader as someone who is mysterious and aloof, distant and inscrutable.
Third, the leader as someone who is omnipotent, unafraid and capable of anything.
Omnipotence sometimes extends to omniscience, especially an ability to read the
minds of his/her subordinates and recognize true loyalty from flattery and sycophancy. Conversely, the leader as someone externally driven, afraid, and fallible.
Fourth, the leade r as someone who has a legitimate claim to power; conversely,
the leader as an impostor, someone who usurpe d power and whose claims are
fraudulent.

Fantasy fragme nts from diffe rent axe s may combine or may turn into
the ir opposite s. Anna s and Kim s narrative s re volve d primarily around the
first two axe s, the le ade r e nvisione d as the age nt throug h whom, in
Chasse gue t-Smirge ls te rms (1976) illusions are achie ved. In this way, it was
sugge sted that the leade r was constructe d as a re incarnation of the primal
mother, re storing the members narcissism and rewarding them for who
the y are rathe r than for what the y have achie ve d. Ste ve s narrative , on the
othe r hand, include d elements from all four fantasy axe s, though the last
two had special promine nce. Here, the le ade r was envisione d much more
closely to the Freudian image of fathe r substitute , who re wards and punishe s, arousi ng at once fe ar, loyalty, je alous y, and suspicion . It was
sugge sted that the forme r was close to Kohut s account of charismatic le ade rship fantasy, while the latte r was close r to his account of messianic
le ade rship fantasy.
If we are reluctant to draw a firm distinction betwee n the two configurations of fantasy (i.e ., the messianic and the charismatic) it is because
identification and ide alization do not follow the clearly separate paths sugge sted by Kohut (1985) and e laborate d by Lindholm ( 1988) . Instead, all
accounts presented he re display some common prope rtie s, like ide alization
(or its obve rse, de monization) an d ide ntification (or its obve rse, diside ntification) as well as an unde rlying narcissistic quality. We could there fore
view all of them as creative amalgams (conde nsations) of le ade rship fantasie s. If m ost of us proje ct on to le ade rs qualit ie s of omnip ote nce ,
omniscie nce , and wisdom we once attribute d to our fathe r we also proje ct
onto them the fusion and unity which once tied us to our mothe r.
CONCLUSIONS
Instead of looking at the distinction be tween charismatic and messianic
le ade rs as determine d by the attribute s of the leade rs the mselves, we would

338

Gabriel

the re fore be incline d to se e it as the product of followe r fantasie s. A leade r

may be pe rceive d as messianic by some followe rs, charismatic by othe rs,
and as a mixture by ye t othe rs. He or she may be se en as an impostor, as
caring or as aloof by differe nt followe rs. In the course of re he arsing fantasies through joke s, stories, and myths a few principal leade rship fantasie s
may e merge , e xpre sse d in a share d folklore , as in the narrative s concerning
Sir Roy.
What all the narrative s in this pape r highlight is the ke y psychoanalytic
insight that pre se nt relations are structure d by and resemble past one s,
most notably, those from early childhood with mothe r and fathe r (O glensky, 1995, p. 1036) . It is ve ry difficult to re late to leade rs in ways which
are unaffe cted by our early relations with mother and fathe r; the se e arly
relations provide a core of primal political e xpe riences which will fore ver
23
color our subseque nt relations with authority. Diffe re nt individuals will
relate to authority in differe nt ways, develop distinct fantasie s and spin diffe rent stories about the ir leade rs. As O gle nsky points out, the role of the
subordinate does actually de pend upon his or he r unique biography of attachme nt to pare nts as prototype s of authority (1995, p. 1051) , e ach
biography unfolding around a specific authority te mplate . For some individuals, the le gitimate -impostor axis may dominate their political fantasy
life , for othe rs the caring-pe rse cuting axis may pre dominate . In Ste ve s
story, the impote nce-omnipote nce axis overshadows the legitimate -impostor
dimension. Eve n though his faith in McKie was shatte re d when faced with
McKie s weakne ss, he quickly substitute d Boston for McKie, and pre served
his fantasy of leade rship omnipote nce . The loss of faith in one le ade r did
not unde rmine his faith in all leade rs, but rathe r the substitution of a false
messiah by a suppose dly true one.
In this, Ste ve is ne ithe r naive nor untypical. His reaction re ve als that
most people find it difficult to acce pt working for an organization led by
ordinary functionarie s, appointe d in bure aucratic ways, and subje ct to both
regulations and hierarchie s. We bers essential insight that impersonal hierarchie s kill le ade rship (or at le ast what he saw as leade rship base d on
emotion) cannot be re versed merely by elevating leade rs to superstar status
and according them the public relations tre atment. At the same time , the
Webe rian insight cannot banish people s continuing psychic nee ds for le aders on whom to transfe r e motion by turning them into obje cts of fantasy.
Le ade rs must be endowe d with supe rhuman qualitie s be cause only then
can the y re ally be perceived as real leade rs, acce pte d and respected. Yet,
23

Is it ever possible for followers to relate to leaders in pure ly bureaucratic ways, unaffected
by fantasy, e motion, or psychological authority templates? With few exce ptions (e.g., Jaques) ,
psychoanalytically-inspired theory would not entertain this possibility. It would, howeve r, be
a question worth pursuing further.

Meeting God

339

at the same time, the entire apparatus of bure aucracy conspire s against
this illusion. O rdinary powe r broke rs cannot turn into messiah figure s
24
through the force of fantasy alone . Mee ting an organization s top le ade rs
is usually a memorable expe rience , e ithe r be cause the y te mporarily manage
to live up to the extraordinary fantasie s subordinate s spin around the m,
thus reinforcing the se fantasie s, or more freque ntly, be cause their human
limitations cannot but le ad to the dislocation of the fantasie s across the
axes note d earlie r.
Yet, as Hirschhorn (1988, 1989) and Bennis (1989) have shown, opposition to le ade rship fantasie s is not only external. Both authors have
argue d that the way many individuals relate to their le ade rs in conte mporary organizations is affe cted by the pre dominant culture of narcissism.
Narcissistic personalitie s both claim to long for strong le ade rs, and yet
are unique ly unwilling to acce pt a leade rs claim to authority for any pe riod
of time . To a narcissistic individual, any notion of leade rship is both ne cessary and unbe arable . It is ne cessary as a psychological defense against
anxie ty, ye t at the same time it is unbe arable since it thre atens the autonomy and self-de lusions of the ego. The only acceptable leade r is one who
not only has truly outstan ding qualitie s but one who must constantly
prove these qualitie s. Narcissists, the re fore, find the mselves profoundly
ambivale nt in their relations to their leade rs. On the one hand, their e xagge rate d opinion of the huge and famous organizations which dominate
our socie ty, the organizations whose products, logos, and adve rtisements
are utte rly ne cessary for sustaining conte mporary narcissism, calls for the
demi-gods, featuring in Ste ve s story. O n the othe r hand, howe ve r, such
demi-gods cast a fatal injury on narcissistic longings, and are eventually
doome d to be brought down from their pe destals. This argume nt would
sugge st, that in an organization people d by narcissists all le ade rship romance is e ve ntually doom e d, e nding in cynicism , with le ade rs se e n as
usurpe rs or impostors. In fact, the stronge r the romance with spe cific le aders, the gre ater the final disappointme nt which they are like ly to generate .
In developing the theory of followe rship, the argume nts put forward
in this pape r do not imply that le ade rs themselve s have no influe nce on
the nature of fantasie s generate d by the ir subordinate s or that the ory of
24

The realization that the leader is merely human, cutting an idol down to size, can be highly
unsettling to a young man like Steve. The discovery of the father s weakness is one of every
boys great traumatic discoveries. It is discusse d in supreme ly insightful terms in Dostoe vskys
Brothers Karam azov, while Freud discussed his own disillusionment on hearing the story of
how his father had rece ived uncomplainingly an anti-Semitic slur and a blow ( 1900a, p.
286) . Yet, the re alization that the leader is me re ly human can be quite liberating, if by
accepting the fact that leaders are fallible, confused and human helps one overcome one s
own fear of them; feared supervisors, managers, or teachers can lose some of their terrifying
qualities if they can be see n as fearful of their own supe riors (see Gabrie l, 1991a,c) .

340

Gabriel

le ade rship is a se parate discourse from the the ory of followe rship. To be
sure , fantasy, as expre sse d in joke s, gossip, nicknam es, graffiti, cartoons,
and above all storie s, e nable s us symbolically to re -fashion organizational
practice s in the inte rest of pleasure (Gabrie l, 1995) . Fantasy may distort,
re inte rpre t, or subve rt any re al action in accordanc e with unconscious
wishes, creating charisma out of mediocrity or diminishing genius into ordinarine ss. Yet, the le ade rs own be havior when meeting subordinate s (as
highlighte d in the example s involving Sir Roy), has a crucial, though not
determining, influe nce on the followe rs fantasy. The length of time he /she
spe nds with the m, the quality of his/he r brie fing, the warmth of the handshake , the words used for the occasion, the se are all matte rs over which
le ade rs, through the ir own be havior, may influe nce the ir followe rs fantasies.
This is the point where the theory of followe rship must engage with
the theory of leade rship, in at least two ways. First, if leade rs fe ature in the
fantasy life of their subordinate s, so too do subordinate s in the fantasie s of
leade rs. Thus, groups of subordinate s may fe ature as recalcitrant malcontents, as pote ntial rebels, as tire less workers, as pawns to be manipulate d
and exploite d or as potential heroes open to mutual stimulation and elevation (Burns 1978, p. 4).25 Second, if leade rs, taking a cue from Burns,
manage to read the unconscious wishes, emotions, and nee ds of the ir subordinate s, they may then engage with the m, stimulate them, frustrate them,
de flect them, or satisfy them. In doing so, the y may make conscious what
lies unconscious among followe rs (Burns, 1978, p. 40), using power not
mere ly to meet targe ts or gratify personal ambition but to achie ve what
Burns (1978, p. 251) see s as the ultimate te st of true le ade rship re alization
of colle ctive purpose in unle ashing real and intende d social change .

REFERENCES
ADO RNO , T. W., FRENKE L-BRUNSWIK, E., LE V INSO N, D., & SANFO RD, N. The
authoritarian personality. New York: Harper, 1950.
BAUM, H. S. The invisible bureaucracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.
B AUM, H. S. O rganiza tional politics again st organizational culture : A psychoan alytic
perspective . Hum an Resource Managem ent, 1989, 28( 2), 191-207.
BENNIS, W. Why leaders can t lead. The unconscio us conspiracy continues. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 1989.
BETTELHE IM, B. The uses of enchantm ent. London: Thames and Hudson, 1976.
BO JE, D. M. The storytelling organization: A study of story performance in an office-supply
firm. Adm inistrative Science Quarterly, 1991, 36, 106-126.
BURNS, J. M. Leadership. New York: Harper and Row, 1978.
25

It is possible to explore the leaders fantasies as they go down to me et the troops just as
this paper has investigate d the followers fantasie s.

Meeting God

341

CHASSEGUE T-SMIRGEL, J. Some thoughts on the ego-ideal: A contribution to the study

of the illness of ideality. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 1976, 45, 345-373.
DEAL T. E., & KENNEDY A. A. Corporate cultures. Re ading, MA: Addison Wesle y, 1982.
DIAMO ND, M. A. The unconscio us life of organizations: In terpreting organ izational identity.
London: Quorum Books, 1993.
DICKS, H. Licenced mass murder: A socio-psychological study of som e SS killers. London:
University of Sussex Pre ss, 1972.
ERIKSO N, E. Identity, youth and crisis. New York: Norton, 1968.
FREUD, S. The interpretation of dream s. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1900.
FREUD, S. G roup psychology and the analysis of the ego (Standard ed.). London: Hogarth
Pre ss, 1921.
FREUD S. The future of an illusion (Standard ed.). London: Hogarth Press, 1927.
FREUD, S. Civilization and its discontents (Standard ed.). London: Hogarth Press, 1930.
FRO MM, E. Escape from freedom . New York: Avon Library, 1941/1966.
GABRIEL, Y. Freud and society. London: Routledge, 1983.
GABRIEL, Y. A psychoanalytic contribution to the sociology of suffering. In ternational Review
of Psychoanalysis, 1984, 11, 467-480.
GABRIEL, Y. Turning facts into stories and stories into facts: A hermene utic e xploration of
organizational folklore. Hum an Relations, 1991, 44(8) , 857-875. (a)
GABRIEL, Y. On organizational stories and myths: Why it is easier to slay a dragon than
to kill a myth. International Sociology, 1991, 6(4) , 427-442. (b)
GABRIEL, Y. Organizations and their discontents: A psychoanalytic contribution to the study
of corporate culture. Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 1991, 27, 318-336. (c)
GABRIEL, Y. Heroes, villains, fools and magic wands: Computers in oganizational folklore.
International Journal of Inform ation Resource Managem ent, 1992, 3(1) , 3-12. (a)
GABRIEL, Y. An exploration of organizational culture through the study of stories and myths.
ESRC End of Award Report, Number R000232627, 1992. (b)
GABRIEL, Y. Organizational nostalgia: Reflections on The Golden Age. In S. Fineman
(Ed.), Em otion in organ izations. London: Sage , 1993.
GAB RIEL, Y. The unmanage d organization: Stories, fantasie s, subjectivity. Organization
Studies, 1995, 16(3) , 477-501.
GO FFMAN, E. The presentation of self in everyday life. Garde n City, NJ: Anchor, 1959.
HANSEN, C. D., & KAHNWEILER, W. M. Storytelling: An instrument for understanding
the dynamics of corporate relationships. Hum an Relations, 1993, 46(12) , 1391-1409.
HIRSCHHO RN, L. The workplace within. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1988.
HIRSCHHO RN, L. Professionals, authority, and group life: A case study of a law firm. Hum an
Resource Managem ent, 1989, 28(2), 235-252.
ISAACS, S. The nature and function of phantasy. International Journal of Psycho-analysis,
1948, 29, 73-97.
KAPUSCINSKI, R. The em peror. London: Picador, 1983.
KETS de V RIES, M. F. R. The organizational fool: Balancing a leader s hubris. Hum an
Relations, 1990, 43(8) , 751-770.
KETS de V RIES, M. F. R., & Miller D. The neurotic organization . San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass,
1984.
KO HUT, H. The analysis of the self. New York: International Universities Press, 1971.
KO HUT, H. Self-psychology and the hum anities. New York: Norton, 1985.
KRANTZ, J. Le ssons from the field: An essay on the crisis of leadership in contemporary
organizations. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 1990, 26(1), 49-64.
KRANTZ, J. The manage rial couple : Superiorsubordinate re lationships as a unit of analysis.
Hum an Resource Managem ent, 1989, 28(2), 161-176.
KU ND A , G . En gin eerin g cu lture: Con trol an d co m m itm en t in a h igh -tech co rpo ratio n,
Philadelphia: Temple Unive rsity Pre ss, 1992.
LA BARRE, W. Spe cies-spe cific biology, magic and religion. In R. H. Hook (Ed.), Fantasy
and sym bol. London: Academic Press, 1979.
LE V I-STR A U SS, C. T he structural study of m yth. In Le vi-Strau ss ( E d.) , Structural
anthropology (Vol. 1) . Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963/1968.

342

Gabriel

LEV I-STRAUSS, C. The Story of Asdiwal. In Le vi-Strauss (Ed.), Structural anthropology (V ol.
2) . Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1958/1976.
LEV I-STRAUSS, C. Myth and m eaning: The 1977 Massey Lectures, London: Routledge, 1978.
LINDHO LM, C. Lovers and leaders: A comparison of social and psychological models of
romance and charisma. Social Science Inform ation, 1988, 27(1) 3-45.
MAH LE R, J. Th e que st for organizational me an ing: Ide ntifying and interpre ting the
symbolism in organizational stories. Adm inistration and Society, 1988, 20, 344-368.
MARTIN, J., FELDMAN, M. S., HATCH, M. J., & SITKIN, S. B. The uniqueness paradox
in organizational stories. Adm inistrative Science Quarterly, 1983, 28, 438-453.
MITRO FF, I. I., & KILMAN, R. H. On organization stories: An approach to the design and
analysis of organizations through myths and stories. In R. H. Kilman, L. R. Pondy, and
D. Slevin (Eds.), The managem ent of organ ization design . New York: Ne w Holland, 1976.
OGLENSKY, B. D. Socio-psychoanalytic perspective s on the subordinate. Hum an Relations,
1995, 48(9) , 1029-1054.
PETERS, T. J., & WATERMA N, R. H. In search of excellence. New York: Harper and Row,
1982.
PO RTELLI, A. Uchronic dre ams: Working class memory and possible worlds. In Samue l,
Raphael, and P. Thompson (Eds.), The myths we live by. London: Routledge, 1990.
REICH, W. The m ass psychology of fascism . Ne w York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1970.
RO SEN, M. Bre akfast at Spiros: Dramaturgy and dominance . Journal of Managem ent, 1985,
11(2), 31-48.
RYCRO FT, C. A critical dictionary of psychoanalysis. London: Nelson, 1968.
SANDLE R, J., & SANDLER, A.-M. Phantasy and its transformations: A conte mporary
freudian vie w. International Journal of Psycho-analysis , 1994, 75, 387-394.
SCHWARTZ , H. S. Narcissistic process and corporate decay, Ne w York: New York University
Pre ss, 1990.
SCHWARTZ , H. S. The usefulness of myth and the myth of usefulness: A dilemma for the
applied organizational scientist. Journal of Managem ent, 1985, 11( 1), 31-42.
SCHW ARTZ , H. S. Anti-social actions of co mmitte d organizational participants: An
existential psychoanalytic pe rspective . Organ ization Studies, 1987, 8(4) , 327-340.
SENNETT, R. Authority. Ne w York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.
TO LSTO Y, L. War and peace (translated by Rosemary Edmonds) . Harmondworth: Pe nguin,
1869/1982.
TURNER, V. Dram as, fields, and m etaphors. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1974.
TURNER, V. Social dramas and stories told about them. Critical Inquiry, 1980, 7, 141-168.
WATSO N, T. J. In search of managem ent. London: Routledge, 1994.
WILKINS, A. L. Organizational stories as symbols which control the organization. In Pondy,
L. R., P. J. Frost, G. Morgan, and T. C. Dandridge (Eds.), Organ izational sym bolism .
Gre enwich: JAI Press, 1983.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
YIANNIS GAB RIEL was born in Athe ns, Gre ece in 1952. He studied engine ering and
industrial sociology at Impe rial College, London, and obtained his PhD in Sociology at the
Unive rsity of California, Berkele y. He is the author of Freud and Society, Working Lives in
Catering ( bo th Ro utle dg e ) , an d join t au thor of Organ izing an d Organ izations ( Sage ) ,
Experiencing Organizations ( Sage ) , and The Un manageable Consum er ( Sage ). He has also
written numerous articles which bring together his re search interests in psychoanalytic theory
and organizational studies. He is curre ntly e ngaged in a study of organizational folklore,
collecting, classifying, and interpreting a large numbe r of organizational myths and stories.
He has be en a lecture r at the University of Bath, School of Management since 1989.