Preface

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This is a book about powerful processes that impact organizations but usually remain unseen, unspoken, or unacknowledged. Collectively called covert processes, they include hidden agendas, blind spots, organizational politics, the elephant in the room, secret hopes and wishes, tacit assumptions, and unconscious dynamics.

Although covert in their workings, these processes can be insidious in their impacts, often shaping outcomes without our fully realizing it. One of my earliest encounters with covert processes at work was during a meeting between the heads of two divisions. The meeting had been called to resolve conflicts over responsibilities and to establish greater collaboration between the two divisions. I was there in a staff role to follow up on any agreements that came out of the discussions. The two division heads greeted each other in friendly terms and exchanged jokes and pleasantries. Eventually they each acknowledged that there were disagreements and difficulties that were creating problems. After about an hour, they smiled at each other, shook hands, and got up to leave. Even though I was not supposed to speak, I blurted out, “But what are you going to do about the issues? You didn’t agree to anything.” The division heads both looked at me, said nothing, and walked out of the room. After they left, one of the other people in attendance turned to me and said, “They can’t stand each other.” This may have been one of my earliest encounters with covert processes at work, but it certainly was not my last. In more than thirty years as a staff specialist, executive, and organization change consultant I have witnessed the impacts of many types of covert processes on a daily basis.

Purpose

My experiences with covert processes, especially during organizational change, led me to inquire more deeply into their causes and manifestations xii and to try out different ways to identify and address them. It also led to developing and facilitating for many years with my colleague Judith H. Katz a training program called the “Dealing with Covert Processes Workshop.” During the workshops we had opportunities to work with participants from all types of organizations, and to test and refine our insights and ideas about covert processes. Furthermore, despite the routine warnings in management textbooks that what is overt in organizations is only the tip of the iceberg, I also discovered that with a few exceptions (e.g., Egan, 1994) there was little guidance available on how to deal with the unseen aspects of the iceberg. All of this convinced me that a manual to help change leaders, staff specialists, and consultants better understand, recognize, and manage the covert processes that could undermine their change efforts would be a useful contribution.

In some ways this book can be seen as an extension of the pioneering work by organizational psychologist Ed Schein on process consultation, especially on the importance of being able to decipher hidden forces. “One of the most important functions of process consultation is to make visible that which is invisible” (1999, p. 84). Toward that end, this book provides frameworks, principles, and practices that will be useful in diagnosing and addressing the hidden dynamics that can impact what you are doing and how it gets done. Although the ideas are grounded in a wide range of social science research and theory, there is little attention to definitions and literature reviews of specific theories or types of covert processes. A thematic bibliography is included for readers interested in exploring the ideas that helped shape the book.

Finally, the book integrates all hidden dynamics instead of focusing on one or two. It asks and answers the question: What do all types of covert processes have in common and what can you do about them?

Organization

The book is organized into ten chapters that address both principles and practices. The examples and cases are based on real incidents. Except when referring to the author, the names of companies, individuals, and some information have been disguised.

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Chapter 1 addresses the overt and covert dimensions of organizational change and why focusing only on what is overt and rational will be insufficient to ensure success in most change efforts. Five more covert dimensions will need attention to increase the likelihood of success. Separately and together, those dimensions have the potential to block even the best-planned change effort. The Analyteks case illustrates these concepts.

Chapter 2 continues laying the foundation by presenting an integrated framework to explain the sources and manifestations of all covert processes. This framework is called the Covert Processes Model and is based on the metaphor of what’s on-the-table and what’s not. This model forms the theoretical foundation for the diagnostic and action principles described later in the book. The model is then applied to understanding the Whiz Tech case.

Chapter 3 is the first of two chapters on diagnosing covert processes—or “how to go about seeing what is not there.” It presents and explains a formula for diagnosing covert processes. This formula offers a method for developing hunches about the presence of possible covert dynamics, which is then illustrated through the Alpha Corporation case. The chapter ends with a discussion of diagnosing covert processes in work groups and work teams.

Chapter 4 continues the theme of diagnosis by explaining how intentional and unintentional symbolic communications, such as word images, may reveal important insights for developing hunches about hidden dynamics. The paradoxical principle that you need to “explore symbolic messages literally and literal messages symbolically” is introduced as one way to guide symbolic diagnosis. The chapter illustrates four symbolic modalities and shows how they can help reveal what might otherwise be covert. The Smith-Jones case demonstrates the way symbolic communications serve as early indicators of covert organizational themes.

Chapter 5 begins the active part of the book by presenting five keys to preparing yourself to engage covert processes successfully in pursuit of organizational change. Collectively, the five keys form the “basics” for anyone wishing to address covert dynamics. The chapter concludes by showing how the basics were applied in the Comfort Foods case.

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Chapter 6 focuses on how to engage and manage covert dynamics. It illustrates four general approaches with examples. The chapter ends by showing how the approaches were used in the Common Program Structure case.

Chapter 7 presents ways to address hidden beliefs through recognizing and rethinking interventions with specific tools, methodologies, and examples. Chapter 8 concludes the discussion of interventions with an extended discussion of the principles and practices of reframing. Two cases show the practices in action.

Chapter 9 invites you to rethink and reframe your ideas about organizational politics. The chapter posits that there are political and managerial perspectives to organizational change and that it is important to be able to use both to ensure success. The chapter discusses operating from a political perspective and presents a framework for diagnosing an organization’s political system. A comparison of the ABC and XYZ Corporations underscores the chapter’s ideas.

Chapter 10 summarizes the book by looking at comments and guidelines for addressing covert processes in your organization during organizational change.

Concluding Comments

Over the years, I have found the models, principles, and practices presented in this book to be a powerful framework for addressing covert dynamics that might otherwise impede your change effort. This framework invites you to think and act more holistically and to consider possibilities that traditional change practices may downplay or ignore. This book will help you to address the literal and the symbolic; the conscious and the unconscious; the rational and the artistic; deep fears and great hopes; what is said and done, and what is not spoken and suppressed. Use the information wisely, ethically, and for the purpose of enhancing the performance of individuals, groups and organizations.

Robert J. Marshak
Reston, Virginia
January 2006