140 Int. J. Complexity in Leadership and Management, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2013 Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Dysfunctional leadership and group unconscious dynamics in the psychoanalytic and complex living system perspectives Alessandro Cavelzani* and Lloyd C. Williams Department of People, Organizations and Society, Grenoble Ecole de Management, 12 Rue Pierre Semard, 38003 Grenoble, France E-mail: alessandro.cavelzani@grenoble-em.com E-mail: orgdoctor@ittl.org *Corresponding author Abstract: When the leader does not succeed in maintaining the team focused on the desired working objectives, unconscious dysfunctional dynamics emerge in the group compromising the business. Psychoanalysis widely studied the unconscious both at individual and at group levels. This paper aims to briefly present such unconscious dynamics, and to propose also an explanation of them which links psychoanalysis with the contemporary complex living systems theories. Keywords: leadership; dysfunctional leadership; dysfunctional management; complexity; complex systems; groups; group dynamics. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Cavelzani, A. and Williams, L.C. (2013) ‘Dysfunctional leadership and group unconscious dynamics in the psychoanalytic and complex living system perspectives’, Int. J. Complexity in Leadership and Management, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp.140–147. Biographical notes: Alessandro Cavelzani is a practicing Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst in Milan, Italy. He currently serves as an Affiliate Professor in Psychology of Human Resources Management and Leadership at the Grenoble School of Management in France, and as an Affiliate Professor for the Doctor of Business Administration online programme at the University of Liverpool in England. He received his Doctor of Psychology degree at SIPRe, the Italian Society of Relational Psychoanalysis, Milan. He previously served as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at IULM University in Milan for nine years, where he also earned his PhD in Psychology of Communication. He is also a Psychoanalytic Consultant and Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Transformative Thought and Learning (ITTL) Doctoral Research Center, a consulting and development firm in Atlanta (USA). His current research interests include the application of psychoanalysis to dysfunctional business leadership, organisational violence, and emotional intelligence. Lloyd C. Williams is a practising Organisational and Clinical Psychologist from Atlanta, Georgia. He is an Affiliate Professor at Grenoble Ecole de Management in France, and at Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey and Argosy University, USA. He is the CEO of the Institute for Transformative Thought and Learning. His current research focuses on leadership, organisational development, organisational violence, psychological invisibility in marginalised populations and the LGBTQ community. He is author of several books on the concept of congruence. He consults worldwide to governments, communities and private companies.