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Management Practices and Organisational Behaviour

Notes In Freud's view, the contents of the conscious mind are only a small part of personality. The
mind is like an iceberg, without conscious thoughts resembling the iceberg's small tip; beneath
the surface – beyond conscious awareness – lies the massive unconscious. The unconscious
includes instinctual drives and infantile goals, hopes, wishes and needs, and all memories that
are not available to the conscious mind. These impulses have been repressed, or concealed from
conscious awareness, because they are unacceptable and cause internal conflict. The process
devised by Freud – to retrieve repressed memories and feelings, allowing them to be examined
and understood – is known as psychoanalysis.

Basic Structural Concepts

Although Frued's view of unconscious conflicts emerged from his work with troubled patients,
the idea was based on a coherent theory of personality that he believed could explain the
behaviour of everyone.
The personality structure can be explained within the unconscious framework, by three
interrelated, but often conflicting, psychoanalytic concepts: the id, the ego, and the superego.
1. The Id Concept: The id is the core of the unconscious. It is the unleashed raw, primitive,
instinctual drive of the Freudian approach. It is the animal-like part of the personality.
Since it is the only aspect of personality that exists at birth, it can be thought of as the
"infant" within us that persists throughout life. The id operates according to what Freud
called the pleasure principle; the id wants to obtain pleasure immediately and at all times,
and it wants to avoid pain at all costs. This aspect of personality follows no rules or logic,
harbours no doubt, knows no time, and has no moral code. The id, constantly struggling
for gratification and pleasure, is manifested mainly through the libido (sexual urges) or
aggression. The libido strives for sexual relations and pleasure, warmth, food and comfort.
Aggressive impulses of the id are destructive and include the urges to fight, dominate and
generally destroy. In a conflict sense, the id incorporates life instincts that compete with
its death instincts. As individuals develop and mature, they learn to control id. But even
then it remains a driving force throughout life and an important source of thinking and
behaviour.
2. Ego Concept: The logical part of the mind that develops as the child grows up was called
by Freud the ego – the "real" us, as we like to think of ourselves. In contrast to the id, the
ego operates on the reality principle; it tries to mediate between the demands of the id and
the realities of the environment.

The ego's functioning contrasts sharply with that of the id. The unconscious, amoral,
illogical id directs crude and primitive thought patterns that Freud called primary process
thinking. Dreams, which break rules of space, time and logic, and which often contain
bizarre, irrational images, are manifestations of the id at work. The ego functions in an
entirely different fashion. Part of the ego is conscious; it obeys the rules of logic and
reason and learns from experience. It functions in a fashion that Freud calls secondary
process thinking. We can see the ego at work if we consider what happens when a child
observes a candle flame. When he reaches out to touch the pretty yellow flame, he is
burned. From this experience he learns not to touch the flame (an ego function) even
though he feels the desire to do so (an id impulse).
3. Superego Concept: The superego is the third element of the Freudian framework. It can be
best depicted as the conscience. The superego provides the norms that enable the ego to
determine what is right or wrong. Where the id demands gratification, the superego seeks
perfection. The superego begins to develop around the age of two or three, the period
during which children are toilet trained and become aware that they must conform to
social rules that govern "good" and "bad" behaviour.

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