IGSPO - South African Organisations on the Couch: A Listening Post - 12 November 2026

Description

Interest Group System Psychodynamics of Organisations presents...

South African Organisations on the Couch

A Listening Post

Listening Posts (LP) enable participants as citizens to reflect on their relatedness to society and try to develop an understanding of what is happening now. The LP will allow us to take a "snapshot" of our organisations. As we collectively explore both conscious and unconscious dynamics manifesting in organisations and the broader society at this moment in time.

The aim of the Listening Post is to describe the systems psychodynamic behaviour manifesting in South African organisations at the present time. Introduction:  explanation of the research context and Listening Post.

Part 1. The sharing of experiences. Participants are invited to free associate, identify, contribute, and explore their experiences, referred to as their ‘social’ role or their ‘external’ world.

Part 2. The identification of major themes. Participants actively take part in the data analysis of the Part 1 content by identifying the manifesting themes.

Part 3. Hypothesis formulation. Working with the information resulting from parts 1 and 2, participants collectively identify the underlying dynamics - both conscious and unconscious - that may be predominant at this time and develop hypotheses as to why they might be occurring at this moment. This involves the ‘psycho’ or ‘internal’ world of the system. Participants’ collective ideas and ways of thinking both determine how they perceive the external realities and shape their actions towards them. Hypothesis formulation consists of: Because of A (context, circumstance), members of organisations do B (behaviour), resulting in C. Ending.

WORKSHOP BENEFITS

• Gain deeper insight into the conscious & unconscious dynamics shaping South African organisational life.
• Learn from diverse perspectives & identify shared patterns, tensions, & previously unspoken concerns.
• Develop practical understanding of roles, leadership, authority, belonging, & organisational responses to complexity.
• Participants may arrive with individual experiences & leave with a richer understanding of the systems in which those experiences occur.

EVENT INFORMATION

• DATE: 12 November 2026
• TIME:  17h30 - 20h00
• LOCATION: Zoom Online

WORKSHOP FACILITATORS

• Dr Louise Tonelli

Dr Louise Tonelli is a past chair of IGSPO, a registered IOP and Senior Lecturer in the IOP department at Unisa. She teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students. She supervises Masters and Doctorate students within her research focus areas of Systems Psychodynamics, Social Analytic methods, Smart Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Algorithms (STARA) in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and Open Distance e-Learning. She has published her research in several national and international journals. As an avid life-long learner driven by her curiosity of the dynamics of systems she applies her teaching and learning into the contexts she finds herself in.

• Prof. Frans Cilliers

With a long history in academia and writing, Prof. Cilliers is currently an Emeritus Professor at UNISA, where he continues to teach and mentor postgraduate students at the master's and doctoral levels. He gives lectures at other South African universities as well. The Interest Group on Systems Psychodynamics of Organisations was founded by Prof. Cilliers. In addition, he belongs to and is associated with a number of international organisations.