Modes of Interpersonal Relationship in Management Organisations

Recent ideas on emotional intelligence and servant-leadership have identified the quality of interpersonal relationship as a key factor affecting management and organisational performance. Freud was probably the first in modern times to emphasise the importance of relationship to psychological well-being. Studies now show that the quality of the client-therapist relationship per se is the most effective variable in psychotherapy and the healing practices of most cultures. Clarkson's research of the psychotherapeutic literature has distinguished discourse about five dimensions or modes of therapeutic relationship. These modes may be found across all scales from the family and groups to society at large. This article reviews this five-dimensional framework and presents management vignettes that demonstrate its relevance to management organisations. In doing so links are made to the classical management theories and to the more recent ideas on emotional intelligence and servant leadership. The article concludes that this kind of relationship framework provides both managers and consultants with a coherent and simple model by which they can understand the relational factors that hinder performance, and those relational qualities that bring improvement and change. Clarkson's framework identifies the elements that may form the basis of the relational competencies emphasised by the new approaches to management and leadership.