Eric Miller, Social Scientist and Organisational Consultant His Life and Work

Editors & Contributing Authors

Foreword

Olya Khaleelee

Introduction

Homage

Eric J Miller: His Life & Work

Part I Consultancy

An Overview of Eric Miller's Work

The Consultant Role and the Development of Theory

The Roles of the Consultant - Triangles and Polygons

Facing Up to your Own Problems, 1974

Part 2 Working Note  

Eric Miller's Ideas on the Working Note

The Grail

Part 3 Socio-technical Systems

Key Aspects of Eric Miller's work on Socio-technical Systems

Designing and Building a New Organisation: Some Lessons of a Greenfield Situation

The Influence of Advanced Technology on the Structure of Management Organisation

Social Factors in Setting up a New Works

The Human Element

The Work of the Tavistock Institute on the Design of Socio-technical Systems

Part 4 Group Relations

Introduction

Eric Miller: The Leicester Model

Part 5 Examples of Organisational Work

Introduction to Organisation Development & Consultancy

Organisational Development in the UK and USA: OD & Industrial Democracy

Varieties of Work

Church of England

Diocese of Chelmsford: Working Note

Hospital cum Medical School Complex

Calico Mills: The Drawing of Organisational Boundaries

Part 6 The Cotswold Community

Introduction: Working with the Cotswold Community

The Cotswold Community: Management Implications of the Therapeutic Task

The X Factor: The Cotswold Community, A Working Note

Thoughts on Staff Dynamics & Group Work: a Working Note

Strengthening the Organisation: Working Note

A Letter to John Whitwell, 1997

Towards an Organisational Model for the Residential Treatment of Adolescents

A Letter to John Whitwell, 1998

Part 7 Rural Development

Introduction

Goverment and Water Working Note

Mexico City Water Supply

Organisational Model & Challenges in Water Supply & Drainage Systems in Mexico City

Summarising the Planning Community

The Creation of a Planning Community in a Federal Public Sector

Compania Minera de Cananea: Working Note

Communal Schemes and Farmer Participation

The World Bank Sector Operations Review: Philippines Agriculture Sector

Part 8 Theory and Lecture Notes

Groups 

Social Systems as a Defence: A Narrative Overview

Task Organisation 1

Individual and the Group with reference to Bion's theory of Group Behaviour

The Leicester Model

A Note on the Proto-mental System and Groupishness: Bion's Basic Assumptions re-visited

The Psycho-Political Dimension in Interpersonal and Intergroup Relations

Lecture to the Training Group, Leicester Conference, April 1981

Organisations

Introduction

Boundaries of Responsibility, Authority & Criteria of Performance

Organisational Change and Implications for the Managerial Role

Bringing Different Cultures Together: Barriers and Overcoming Them

Identity and the Decay of Institutions

The Healthy Organisation for the 1990s

The Healthy Organisation, Australia, 1993

The Female Entrepreneur

Them and Us: The Functions of Splitting in Organisational Life

Part 9 Tributes & Memories

Fiddy Abraham

Eliat Aram

David Armstrong

John Bazalgette

Sue Burton

Francesca Cardona

Tim Dartington

Shmuel Erlich and Mira Erlich-Ginor

Jim Krantz

Jean Neumann

Anton Obholzer

Mark Stein

John Whitwell

Vega Zagier Roberts

Part 10

68 Conclusion

References

Index

Biography

Mannie Sher is a principal researcher, consultant, and Trustee at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. His work draws on a psycho-social approach, exploring links between individual and collective dynamics, and is grounded in a belief that democracy, social constructivism, and psychological insight foster healthier societies. He is co-author of the three-volume Systems Psychodynamics series (2022–2023).

David Lawlor is a Professional Partner at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, specialising in systems psychodynamics, organisational consultancy and action research. He is a Visiting Lecturer at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, an international Group Relations consultant, and co-author of the three-volume Systems Psychodynamics series (2022–2023).

‘You could find no better example of why our globe, and especially the NHS, is in such a mess than the fate of Eric Miller, one of our society’s most creative individuals. His work lies in the bowels of the Wellcome Foundation—out of sight and nearly lost—saved only by Lawlor and Sher. A rare Tavistock consultant, Eric viewed every intervention in relation to global systems and insisted on contained connectedness. He wove disciplines into an integrated understanding of organisational life. This approach once earned a major reputation, now replaced by a professional merry-go-round rewarding heroic individualism over systemic connectedness.’

Dr Anton Obholzer, Former CEO, Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust