Context and the interpretive act: Developing the language of the matrix for working in and with organizations (Oliver, 2010)

Oliver Christine. 

The art and science of working together: Practising group analysis in teams and organizations (1st ed.) 2019; 130. 

Available online at this link 

This chapter demonstrates the value of taking notice of acts of interpretation and highlighting them in organizational consultancy, for making sense and for design and facilitation. It, taking the Batesonian notion that there is no meaning without context, offers a contextual framework for group analytic practice in organizations, developing the notion of communication as a contextualized unit of meaning. The chapter defines interacting units of meaning as interpretive acts, emphasizing the unique interpretation individuals make in any given communicative moment, relating to group-as-a-whole themes, shaped consciously and unconsciously by histories, the social unconscious, and by the cultural, relationship, and identity narratives and patterns alive in the interacting dynamic matrix of which, as a consultant, one is always part. It describes a consultancy process with a community of Anglican monks, with whom the author had worked for eighteen years, now preparing for an important decision. It also shares how they, as consultants, made key decisions and explores contexts and consequences of those decisions, developing the language of the matrix through linking particular interpretive acts to the contexts that shape them. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)