EDWIN C. NEVIS — Organizational Consulting: A Gestalt Approach

Cambridge : Gestalt Institute of Cleveland Press 1998 sec. pr. XIII + 212 p., ills., index, bibliogr. SOFTCOVER: Orig. paperback. VERY GOOD) RARE COPY estalt therapy originated in Germany in the 1930s. Fritz and Laura Perls were psychoanalysts in Frankfurt and Berlin. The Perlses' ideas differed from Freud's so radically that they broke off and formed their own discipline. This 1st book by Perls is significant because in addition to criticising Freud, it also lays the groundwork for a new system of psychotherapy. In fact it's the beginning of the gestalt therapy by one of the founding fathers of this therapy.-- Ehrenwald Frederick Perls received his M.D. in Berlin in 1921. Like Wilhelm Reich he started out as a Freudian analyst, but under the influence of Kohler, Wertheimer & Kurt Goldstein developed his own school of Gestalt Therapy. His principles of gestalt therapy have been adopted by countless encounter & sensitivity groups. He aims in this book to examine some psychological & psychopathological reactions of the human organism within its environment. The author is criticsl of orthodox psychoanalysis, & claims that the use of the new intellectual tools holism (field conception) & semantics (the meaning of meaning) can greatly improve our theoretical outlook. In this classic text, pioneering organizational consultant Edwin C. Nevis presents an approach to organizational consulting which is grounded in Gestalt theory. Nevis brings his well-known insight, conceptual clarity and decades of experience to bear on the entire spectrum of concerns facing organizational consultants in a wide variety of settings. Beginning with the development of the Gestalt approach and the "Cycle of Experience" model, Nevis traces the implications of Gestalt theory for such areas as organizational assessment, modes of influence in organizations, dealing with resistance, developing relationships, working at the boundary and the matter of the consultant's presence. The conceptual framework provided in this groundbreaking work gives organizational consultants a powerful tool for understanding and influencing the behavior of organizations, and at the same time invites them to actively partake in the ongoing development of their unique individual styles.