Seth Allcorn’s recent paper (2023), The Intersubjective Entangled Multiverse, describes the “inevitable” relational entanglement in organizations. Allcorn describes entanglement as,
“a phenomenon borrowed from quantum physics. Quantum entanglement occurs when particles are connected without being in direct contact. The quantum state of a group of particles cannot be described independently of the state of the others, including when the particles are separated by distance. Observations of one of the particles provide information about the other entangled particles.”
He goes on to explain,
“A related idea in physics is the multiverse. Multiple universes are discussed in cosmology, physics, astronomy, religion, philosophy, music, and transpersonal psychology. Multiverses suggest parallel or alternate place and time spanning realities must be considered within our intrapsychic and interpersonal intersubjectivities that are dynamically entangled complex multiple dimensions.”
He concludes that,
“Together the realms of entanglement and multiverses within human relations sets the conceptual stage to explore the nature of the complexity of our intrapsychic and interpersonal worlds…in groups, organizations and societies between leaders and followers…Lived experience is complex and always has multiple dimensions.”
How might these ideas unfold in the course of an ordinary workday?
Our Entangled Lives at Work
When we arrive at work in the morning, perhaps having parked our car in the company parking lot, walk into the building, and then to our office or workspace, we once again join work groups and the organization. This geography of the workplace suggests that there is an organization there, something concrete, something inhabitable. But, the organization as we experience is really the friends and colleagues we have within this workplace geography. This leads to considering that the organization, while having a concrete presence, is also created by the people who come to work every day. It also suggests that organizations have as their primary substance an interpersonal world where ‘we’ are all joined together to achieve the organization’s mission. In other words, the substance of the organization is an underlying relational structure (Diamond, 2017), which raises for consideration the triangulation of you, me, and us. This triad contains individual and interpersonal subjectivities that, when explored, can help us better understand the complexity that lies beneath what seems like a simple process of going to work.
How can we begin inquiry into relational entanglement in organizations?
Mapping the Entangled Multiverse
As a way of beginning to map the entangled multiverse of work, the following list of experiential dimensions highlights what is always present in our experience of our workplace, but also frequently overlooked, misunderstood, or defensively denied. It is what we know, but often do not think about (Bollas, 2018; Diamond, 2014).
- Me – My self-conception and self-experience.
- You in Me – This is an awareness, or fantasy, of what others infer about ‘me’ or place within me that influences my self-experience. How we are treated by others, and how they respond to us, has a powerful not always appreciated and perhaps sensed influence on us (see Luborsky, L., & Crits-Christoph, 1988).
- You – This is my conception or creation of ‘you’ in my mind, expressed in how I engage with you both in my mind and interpersonally – who you are to me.
- Me in You – My unconscious experience of myself as an aspect of you, those parts of me I attribute to you, and the parts of you that unknowingly take on and express what I attribute to you.
- Us and Not Us – As ‘me’ and ‘you’ come together in groups, and groups are combined in different ways within the organization, much of our awareness of what goes on around us takes the form of a binary world experience. This often takes the form of splitting in terms of ‘good’ me or us and ‘bad’ you or others creating a simple black and white understanding (us and them) of our workplace experiences.
- In mind versus in Other – These organizers make clear that we manipulate others in our minds and that how we imagine others, and ourselves, in our minds has a powerful influence on our experience of those others. In other words, our experiences of others embodies both what happens in the interpersonal world and what we imagine is happening. Both influence our behaviors.
- Past, Present, Future – In the relational world, even at work, time is not linear. There is always the potential to experience a collapse of time where past experience (learning and relationships) influences the present, and how we imagine the future can create an entangled fusion of past and future in the here and now.
Each of the dimensions of experience highlighted in this list represents points of entanglement. The complexity of human existence suggests that untangling the omnipresent relational entanglement in organizations is a challenge never fully met.
Yet, this milieu of psychosocial dynamics in the multiverse of relational entanglement in organizations, even if complex, can be better understood. Our attempts to do so can make our lives at work less stressful and anxiety-ridden.
How might we achieve this understanding?
The Workplace Multiverse
The implicit relational entanglement in organizations becomes understandable, at least in part, if we can begin to apply the dimensions of experience described above to the context of work. A workplace example helps to make this clear.
A Staff Meeting to Confront a Major Operating Problem
The meeting begins at a round conference table with the director of operations and four key staff members all of whom are capable experts in their areas of responsibility (1). They feel frustrated that they, as a group, did not seen this problem coming. (6). Several staff feel threatened by the director’s likely (in their minds) critical if not punitive response (4,6). The meeting begins with the director (1), who is aware of this tension (4), asking each of the four staff to explain the problem from their own perspective (3). They each, given their respective areas of responsibility and expertise, see the problem a little differently (1). The director wonders if they are each “spinning” the problem and its likely root causes to avoid a punitive response (6). These thoughts, however, are not articulated. After going around the table the four staff also seem to be a bit anxious about what their colleagues are thinking and feeling – am I getting ‘thrown under the bus’ (4)? It has happened before (7). Are they hiding something to not be blamed (6)? Once again this is not articulated. The group also seems to frame the problem as having its root cause arising from elsewhere in the organization – several other groups are ‘bad’ at managing their contributions to production (4).
The director moves to a large whiteboard in the conference room and begins to lay out what has been shared so far regarding the problem – developing a negotiated reality that incorporates each staff member’s notion of the problem and its historical and present causes as described (7). Gradually the group comes to a consensus of the nature of the problem and its root causes, which include having elements of a systemic nature beyond those present in the room, elements often created by marginally competent leadership and work (4). Having reached consensus on the problem, the question is, what needs to be done to fix it?
A number of ideas are offered from each of the unique perspectives of those present (5). Gradually the director (1) leads the group to locate a consensus response that the director also agrees with (4). Finally, the director works with the group to locate who is going to do what, by when, with whom, and with what hoped for outcome (4). However, there still remains an unspoken fear that someone may get punished and that the other groups and departments not in the room will not be receptive and perhaps defensive, which is briefly discussed but a wait and see approach is adopted (6).
Entanglement – Navigating Unmapped Territory
The staff meeting, mapped with the dimensions of workplace experience, highlights the complexity of groups and organizations that have an underlying relational nature that includes the triangulation of you, me, and us – a “process” that is always present but seldom rises to awareness or is open to discussion. It remains under the surface because it is both personally and interpersonally stressful. Nevertheless, leader, member and group dynamics that become too dysfunctional may necessitate venturing into the interpersonal ‘space’ to explore, ‘what is going on’. This example with its suggested links to undiscussable individual and group dynamics provides a way of thinking about how we might pay attention to all of these relational entanglement, remain grounded, and continue to meaningfully lead groups and relate to others.
Meeting the Challenge
Intentionality and reflectivity form the basis of meeting the challenge of understanding the undiscussable, unthought, and anxiety-provoking dimensions of the multiverse of interpersonal, group, and organizational dynamics. Maintaining intentionality means that we maintain awareness of our anxieties in a way that allows us to manage our self-experience while minimizing the extent to which we become psychosocially defensive by relying on our ”go to” psychologically defensive strategies (denial, rationalization, splitting, and projection). If we are not aware of these deeply personal tendencies, we are not in a good position to try to self-manage them and stay connected with our entangled universe.
Remaining intentional is enabled by reflective awareness of self, other, group and organizational processes, where maintaining attention span and critical thinking permits exploring and understanding distressing leader and group dynamics. This is essential for both leaders facilitating group process and for group members to assume positive functional roles in the group.
In sum, the entangled workplace has many dimensions that are a challenge to be aware of, understand and to respond to in constructive ways that minimize dysfunctions and optimize group performance. Meeting this challenge, while demanding, also represents a form of personal and organizational development that should not be passed up.
Getting Started
Have you ever wondered how to begin understanding your workplace multiverse? Do you find that you become anxious when confronting the never-ending array of possibilities and challenges it presents? We can help you begin to develop intentionality in the face of the demands that mapping this uncharted territory creates. Contact us for a free consultation.
