Purpose Statement

The purpose of the Chicago Center for the Study of Groups and Organizations (CCSGO) is to further the development and application of the principles and practices of Group Relations in the Tavistock tradition. This is achieved through local and regional educational and consultative activities, research and scholarship as well as the support and sponsorship of Group Relations Conferences. The purview of this mission includes a range of theory, practice and study of groups, organizations, and social systems as well as inter-group and inter-organizational dynamics. The organization operates exclusively for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes.
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Who We Are
The Chicago Center for the Study of Groups and Organizations (CCSGO) was founded in 1989 as an affiliate of the A. K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems (AKRI).  The Center initially served as a platform for governance of local and regional Group Relations Conferences and Group Relations consultants, as an institutional structure to connect the greater Chicagoland Group Relations community with the National Institution and other regional centers. 
In the tradition of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, the Chicago Center developed and sponsored Group Relations conferences and other related training programs based on the application of psychodynamic and open systems theories.
In short, the Group Relations or Tavistock model was traditionally dedicated to advancing the understanding of the covert processes affecting leadership and authority within groups and social systems, with particular attention to:  
  • Experiencing the ways in which covert processes in groups and organizations may impede or facilitate the accomplishment of work and goals that affect one’s ability to lead and to follow. 
  • Studying the effects on leadership and followership of individual differences, such as race, culture, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and age 
  • Learning about the multiple ways in which individuals can more successfully take up roles as leaders and followers, exercise authority and responsibility, and enhance a group’s or organization’s effectiveness.
Group Relations conference provides a powerful and distinctive means for participants to learn from their own experience how to take up authority, leadership, and participation in increasingly responsible, effective and informed ways. Learning about the covert influences social systems can exert advances greater individual and group development as well as greater organizational and social system effectiveness.
Over time, the Chicago Center began sponsoring and supporting ongoing Peer Consultation and Study Groups, conducting training events for consultants and partnering with a variety of organizations to support Group Relations activities and services beyond the traditional Group Relations conference.

Board Members
CCSGO's board is made up of a diverse group of professionals interested in cultivating Group Relations work in Chicago.