The chapters in this volume cover a wide range of topics that concentrate around four themes: transitional change in therapeutic communities; in working conferences for professional development or training; in organisation consulting with an emphasis on organisational learning; and in self studies of working systems in action. In all these psychic activities, "e;time and space"e; were created to allow for transitional processes to become alive. A therapist, a manager, a consultant or a layman may create conditions that facilitate or hinder human beings to become engaged in these normal, healthy processes, but the persons concerned undertake the basic psychic work.'It is encouraging to notice that more and more clinical institutions, organisations and even professional associations are becoming aware of the important and complex interactions between psychic processes and organisational realities. The engagement in transitional processes, however, demands courage. Courage that is proper to any pursuit of truth and social justice. At times, this search generates excitement, at other times we become scared by the realities we discover.

The chapters in this volume cover a wide range of topics that concentrate around four themes: transitional change in therapeutic communities; in working conferences for professional development or training; in organisation consulting with an emphasis on organisational learning; and in self studies of working systems in action. In all these psychic activities, "e;time and space"e; were created to allow for transitional processes to become alive. A therapist, a manager, a consultant or a layman may create conditions that facilitate or hinder human beings to become engaged in these normal, healthy processes, but the persons concerned undertake the basic psychic work.'It is encouraging to notice that more and more clinical institutions, organisations and even professional associations are becoming aware of the important and complex interactions between psychic processes and organisational realities. The engagement in transitional processes, however, demands courage. Courage that is proper to any pursuit of truth and social justice. At times, this search generates excitement, at other times we become scared by the realities we discover.