Exploring feelings about technology integration in higher education : Individuation and congruence

Purpose – This study aims to utilize two key psychoanalytical concepts – individuation and congruence – in order to analyze individual responses to organizational change and to propose a tentative framework for considering psychoanalytical dynamics when organizational change is proposed, or underway. Design/methodology/approach – The authors analyzed 146 responses to an open‐ended survey, which focused on respondents' attitudes to the introduction of learning technology in a higher educational context. The authors asked organizational members to share their views about the proposed organizational change, and clustered these anonymous responses into meaningful categories, based on the psychoanalytically relevant notions of congruence and individuation. Findings – As well as generating a proposed list of archetypes associated with individual responses to organizational change, the authors emphasize how strongly their own tentatively generated categories align with the notion of authentic individuation as an important aspect of motivated organizational behavior. Originality/value – This tool could provide a useful analytical backdrop for organizational change in general, and it could help to focus organizational attention on the importance of a psychoanalytically informed discussion on change by paying attention to privately held views, and partially articulated feelings about change.