Gunnar Hjelholt, a pioneer within group dynamics and organizational psychology. Part 2: Boundary making and boundary breaking as consultancy theme
Engelsk titel: Gunnar Hjelholt, a pioneer within group dynamics and organizational psychology. Part 2: Boundary making and boundary breaking as consultancy theme
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Författare:
Willert, Sören
;
Madsen, Benedicte
Email: benedic@psy.au.dk
Språk: Eng
Antal referenser: 7
Dokumenttyp:
Översikt
UI-nummer: 16025270
Personnamn som ämnesord:
Hjelholt, Gunnar
Sammanfattning
On the basis of extended biographical material regarding Danish social psychologist Gunnar Hjelholt (1920-2002), the two authors present a historically oriented case study in professional culture construction. The professional culture thus portrayed is
a particular brand of Kurt Lewin-inspired social psychology. From the 1960s and onwards, Hjelholt was a key figure in developing this field in Scandinavia and, indeed, in most of Europe. Building on a chronological sketch of Hjelholt's life story presented
in Part 1 of a two-part article, the present second part of the article endeavors, not only to paint a picture of Hjelholt as a professional person with a distinctive problem solving style and impact on his surroundings, but also to search for interactions between
identified professional themes and Hjelholt's personal life story as well as his political attitudes broadly conceived. The concept of boundary and the image of the consultant as boundary keeper play important roles as recurrent, unifying metaphors in the
text. Among other themes covered, the following may be mentioned: doing versus reflecting; what is the good organization; and individuals versus organizations. In the epilogue, one overarching aim of the two texts is described as that of opening up for
discussion and dialogue concerning organization consultancy in a historical perspective.