Chapter 29

TA IN EDUCATION AND
ORGANIZATIONS
From theearliest days of Eric Berne's development of T A , he regarded it
as 'a theory of social action' and as a method of working with groups. T A
can enhance effectiveness in almost any h u m a n endeavor where people
are dealing with other people.
T A is employed in a great diversity of educational and organizational
settings. Each of these has its own individual characteristics and needs. In
this chapter, we give only a brief overview of the ways in which T A can be
useful to educators, managers and organizational analysts. T h e list of
References for this chapter will give you a guide to the literature on these
applications.

Differences between educational-organizational and clinical

applications
T h e basic theory of T A is the same for educational and organizational
( E O ) work as for clinical applications, but there are differences in
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emphasis and in techniques. T h e training and accreditation of T A
practitioners takes account of these differences (see Appendix E ) .
In clinical work, the contract is usually two-handed, being negotiated
between the therapist and the individual client. By contrast, contracts in
E O settings are most often three-handed. The business contract will b e
negotiated between the practitioner and the sponsoring agency, for the
benefit of the members of the agency. F o r example, a business firm may
hire a T A trainer to work with their employees. T h e treatment contract
also is likely to be negotiated at least in part between the practitioner and
the paying agency, rather than with the individuals or groups with w h o m
the practitioner is actually working.
This implies that all parties must be particularly careful to maintain
clear, above-board contract procedures to avoid three-handed game-
playing. For example, a business firm may assign employees to a T A
training course even though the employees themselves have n o initial
motivation to attend. Unless this starting-point is made overt in the
contract negotiations between the firm, the trainer and the group
m e m b e r s , there are immediate possibilities for all three parties to take u p
D r a m a Triangle roles, with subsequent game switches.
In E O work, the practitioner operates as a facilitator, trainer or
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coach rather than as a therapist. H e will most often invite his group
m e m b e r s to deal with what is going on at the social level, rather than the
psychological level. A n o t h e r way of saying this is that E O work addresses
the overt rather than the covert agenda. Needless to say, the practitioner
himself needs to be keenly aware of the 'Martian' messages that underlie
what is happening at social level, but it is usually not appropriate for him
to bring these messages directly to his clients' awareness.
O n e reason for this difference in emphasis is that in an E O setting the
practitioner usually cannot provide the protection that is needed if the
covert level is to be laid b a r e . In an in-house team-building course, for
example, the participants may only be with the practitioner for two or
three days. W e r e he to invite the group members back into unfinished
script material, they might be left with the associated painful feelings but
with no obvious means of resolving them. In any case, work at script level
is by no means always necessary to achieve effective problem-solving.
Recall from Chapter 17 that discounting can arise from misinformation
just as easily as from contamination or exclusion.
In E O work, t h e n , the practitioner will most often focus on how the
individual or group can most effectively solve problems by thinking and
acting in the present, rather than exploring what past business a person
may need to finish. W h e n ego-state diagnosis is used, it will be behavioral
and social, rather than historical or phenomenological. T h e practitioner
may teach his group members the concept of life-script, as a way of
explaining why people may act in ways that appear self-defeating or
painful. But individual script-work will seldom be used. In the sections
which follow, we review some of the ways in which T A concepts can b e
applied in organizational and educational settings.

Organizational applications
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D o e s organizational work in T A have any overall goal which
corresponds to the goal of autonomy in T A therapy? Roger Blakeney
suggests the criterion of effectiveness. H e points out that organizations,
like individuals, may develop dysfunctional or ineffective patterns of
behavior, analogous to a person's scripty behavior. Movement out of this
'organizational script' will be marked by an improvement in the
organization's effectiveness in achieving its desired outcomes.

Ego-states
Organizations d o not themselves have ego-states, but they do have
elements that function in an analogous way. They have patterns of
beliefs, etiquette and rules that correspond to the Parent ego-state. T h e y
have technologies and problem-solving strategies that are analogous to
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the Adult. A n d they have patterns of behavior and feelings that parallel
the Child ego-state. T h e organizational analyst can examine the amount
of energy that the organization devotes to each of these three elements, in
the same way as the therapist examines the distribution of cathexis among
a person's ego-states.
On a more obvious level, communication and interactions between
individuals in an organization can be enhanced by knowledge of the ego-
state model. Managers, for instance, may realize they are taking up a
negative Parental stance, while their employees respond from a negative
A d a p t e d Child by being rebellious or overly compliant. To improve
effectiveness, both managers and employees might take action to raise
their use of Adult. They might make a clear contract on when it was
appropriate for the managers to use positive Parent and the employees to
be in positive A d a p t e d Child (in situations where safety was involved,
perhaps). Free Child, hence j o b satisfaction, might be encouraged by
such means as making the workplace brighter and more comfortable. It's
reported that some Japanese firms provide their employees with stuffed
dummies of the management, together with large wooden clubs. W h e n a
worker is feeling sore at the boss, he can take time out in work hours to go
and beat up his replica manager. This is Free Child release par excellence.

Transactions, strokes, time structuring

The analysis of transactions has been widely applied in training personnel
who are in direct contact with the public, e.g. receptionists and booking
clerks. They learn how to keep the flow of communication smooth and
comfortable by maintaining parallel transactions, or how to thwart a
potential Parent-Child argument by crossing a transaction.
The analysis of stroking patterns has obvious application in
enhancing j o b motivation. Managers may need to learn to give positive
strokes for jobs done well, rather than giving only negatives for jobs d o n e
badly. T h e principle of 'different strokes for different folks' applies:
while you may get your greatest satisfaction from the praise of respected
superiors, I may prefer to get my strokes in the form of a bigger wage-
packet or longer holidays.
When time structuring at meetings is examined, it may sometimes
turn out that these gatherings consist of much pastiming and little activity.
As for games, they probably account for the greatest waste of time and
human resources in organizations. Individuals often resort to games
when they feel bored, not recognized or not sufficiently challenged within
the organization. Changing stroking patterns and increasing the
opportunities for positive challenge can do wonders to eliminate game-
playing and increase productivity. T A procedures of contract-making can
also help direct organizational energy into constructive action rather than
the pursuit of hidden agendas.

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Confronting passivity
Schiffian concepts have proven widely useful in organizational
applications. T h e Discount Matrix provides a means of systematic
problem-solving. It is particularly useful in situations where information
and instructions are 'passed down the line', with the accompanying
tendency for details to get lost or distorted on the way. An awareness of
verbal discounts, tangential and blocking transactions can enhance
communication and improve the effectiveness of meetings.

TA in education
A u t o n o m y implies clear thinking and effective problem-solving. The
educator aims to help her students develop these abilities. Therefore,
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autonomy as an overall goal is as relevant in educational settings as it is in
clinical work.
T h e educator will usually be able to relate to her students over a
longer period and in a more personal way than is possible for the
organizational practitioner. By the nature of educational settings, it is
especially likely that the students may 'put a face on' the teacher, and that
she in turn may buy into these replays of the past by taking on a Parental
role. She can help avoid this by acquiring a knowledge of script theory
and by learning the content of her own script.
T A theories of child development can guide the educator in dealing
effectively with young people at various developmental stages.

Ego-states
T h e basic ego-state model is readily understood by children from early
school age onwards. T A ' s simple language helps in this learning. By
examining the content and motivations in all three of their ego-states,
students b e c o m e better able to learn with a clear knowledge of their own
intentions and desires. Learning experiences themselves are most likely
to be effective if they appeal to all three ego-states. It is especially
important to recognize that the Free Child is the source of creativity and
energy in the personality and needs to be included in the learning process.
The educator herself needs to have free access to all her ego-states.
For much of the time, she will be demonstrating Adult problem-solving.
Often she will need to set firm boundaries from positive Controlling
Parent, or to show caring from positive Nurturing Parent. She can get into
Child to model spontaneity, intuitive ability and the enjoyment of
learning.

Transactions, strokes, time structuring

T h e analysis of transactions is useful in keeping communication between
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teachers and students clear, productive and free of hidden agendas.

Using Options can help both teachers and students to break out of
'locked' Parent-Child interactions.
Detecting and avoiding driver behavior can also be a great help in
clearing communication. T h e r e is a big difference between learning
something and trying to learn it. Lecturers come over more clearly when
they are taking their time instead of hurrying u p . Students improve their
study technique when they are satisfied with covering enough, rather
than setting out to Be Perfect by covering everything.
Attention to patterns of stroking and time structuring is relevant to
education in much the same way as to organizational work. T h e
classroom and lecture-hall are especially rich breeding-grounds for games
and racketeering. Students may play games such as Stupid, Y o u Can't
M a k e M e , or D o M e Something (with its potential Switch into See W h a t
Y o u M a d e Me D o ) . Teachers can play See H o w H a r d I've Tried, I'm
Only Trying To Help You, Why D o n ' t Y o u . . . , or Blemish. A knowledge
of game analysis enables students and teachers to avoid these
unproductive exchanges and get on with the activities of teaching and
learning.
T h e use of contract-making helps educators and learners to reach
clear, overt agreement about what they are each there to do and how best
they can d o it.

Confronting passivity
In educational settings, it is especially likely that people may be expecting
symbiosis. This expectation may even be overt in some cultures, where
teachers are traditionally pictured as playing the Parent and Adult role
while the student plays Child. Current approaches to education agree
with T A in viewing this as a discount of the abilities of both parties.
A knowledge of Schiffian concepts helps teachers and students to
stay out of symbiosis and make full use of all three ego-states. Educators
can learn to recognize the four passive behaviors and confront them
instead of buying into games. If the institutional setting makes it possible,
tutorial groups and classes may be set u p to provide a reactive
environment where teachers and students take mutual responsibility to
p r o m o t e clear thinking and active problem-solving.

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