Learning Resources
Whether you are new to Group Relations or have been engaged in this work for years, this page offers resources for deepening your understanding of groups, organizations, authority, leadership, and social systems in the Tavistock tradition.
Group Relations is learned experientially, most often through participation in Group Relations Conferences and other here-and-now learning environments. Reading can offer useful frameworks and language, but the work comes alive through participation, reflection, and continued study.
Getting Oriented
One of the primary vehicles for learning in this tradition is the Group Relations Conference.
These immersive learning events create opportunities to study group and organizational dynamics in real time through direct participation, observation, and reflection.
If you’re new to this work, the questions below offer a helpful starting point.
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Each conference is structured as a temporary organization with a defined task and set of roles. Participants take part in a range of experiential events, including small and large study groups, intergroup events, institutional events, and application or reflection spaces. Consultants help participants study what is happening in the moment, both overtly and beneath the surface, as a way of learning about authority, leadership, membership, and organizational life.
Because the work is experiential, no two conferences unfold in exactly the same way.
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No.
Group Relations Conferences are designed for both newcomers and experienced participants. No prior training is required unless a program specifically states otherwise.
What matters most is curiosity, openness to experiential learning, and willingness to reflect on your own participation.
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No.
While Group Relations experiences can be personally meaningful and emotionally impactful, they are educational, not psychotherapy or treatment.
The primary task is learning about group and organizational dynamics, not personal therapeutic change.
Key Terms
Group Relations theory has developed a shared language for thinking about groups, organizations, and social systems. The concepts below offer useful starting points for those new to this work and opportunities for deeper reflection for those with prior experience.
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Authority refers to the capacity to act, decide, influence, or take up responsibility within a group or organization.
Authority may be formally assigned through role, informally granted by others, resisted, assumed, or unconsciously shaped by group dynamics.
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Role refers to the function or position a person occupies within a system.
Group Relations distinguishes between the individual person and the role they are taking up, making it possible to study how expectations, projections, and organizational pressures shape behavior.
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Task refers to the work a group or organization is organized to accomplish.
Groups sometimes move away from their stated task in response to anxiety, uncertainty, conflict, or competing demands, making task an important focus of observation.
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Boundaries create structure and containment within groups and organizations.
Time, space, membership, authority, and task boundaries help define organizational life and make collective work possible.
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Basic assumption behavior describes ways groups may unconsciously organize themselves to manage anxiety rather than focus on their stated task.
Classic examples include dependency, fight/flight, and pairing.
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Projection refers to the process by which unwanted feelings, anxieties, or conflicts may become attributed to another person, subgroup, or role within a system.
In groups and organizations, projection can shape relationships, conflict, and role expectations.
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Social defenses are collective ways groups or organizations manage anxiety, uncertainty, or emotional strain.
These patterns may reduce discomfort in the short term while limiting learning, flexibility, or effective functioning.
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The here-and-now refers to attention to what is happening in the present moment within the group or system, rather than focusing primarily on external events or past experiences.
This emphasis helps make group dynamics available for direct observation and study.
Want to Learn More?
For those interested in exploring Group Relations, organizational dynamics, and systems thinking more deeply, these resources offer useful starting points.
Foundational Reading
Experiences in Groups — Wilfred Bion
Learning for Leadership — A.K. Rice
The Tavistock Primer II — Charla Hayden and René J. Molenkamp
The BART system of group and organizational analysis: Boundary, authority, role and task — Zachary Green and René J. Molenkamp
Organizations & Communities
Continue Learning with CCSGO
Group relations theory is ultimately learned through participation, reflection, and community.
Whether you are new to this work or looking to deepen your engagement, CCSGO offers conferences, workshops, events, and opportunities to connect with others exploring groups and organizational life.