The A. K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems® (AKRI) is the educational, not-for-profit organization for Group Relations in the United States. The Institute's educational mission is the study of how unconscious thoughts and feelings significantly impact our lives when we are in groups—from family to workplace to nation. AKRI aims to deepen our understanding of complex social behaviors by providing experiential learning opportunities called Group Relations Conferences, as well as through research, publications, symposia, professional meetings, organizational consulting, experiential workshops, leadership training, and Group Relations consultant certification.


 

OPUS International Group Relations Conference
OPUS International Group Relations Conference
OPUS Despite an awareness of the terrible damage caused by slavery historically, many forms of slavery are common and continue to this day. These forms include forced labor, debt bondage, contract slavery, sex trafficking, forced marriage, domestic servitude, and child labor and soldiering.

What are the system psychodynamics, conscious and unconscious, involved in modern slavery? How are we complicit in contributing to their pervasiveness and persistence in the global economic system?

This workshop will explore these questions, beginning with an overview presentation of the subject of modern slavery by Marta Furlan, Ph.D., Senior Program Manager for Research of Free the Slaves. We will then use small discussion groups and the large plenary group to share feelings, think together, and consider hypotheses about the systemic and societal dynamics involved in the exploitative and complex phenomena of modern slavery.
OPUS
OPUS International Group Relations Conference
OPUS OPUS Marta Furlan:
Is the Senior Program Manager for Research at Free the Slaves. She is also a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center on Armed Groups and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Orion Policy Institute. Marta holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of St Andrews, UK. Her publications have appeared in the Journal of Human Rights Practice, The Middle East Journal, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, and Civil Wars. She also authored chapters in four edited volumes and contributed analyses for Armed Groups and International Law, the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, among others."OPUS
OPUS OPUS
OPUS International Group Relations Conference
OPUS This workshop is organized jointly by AKRI and OPUS with the aim of exploring and deepening collaboration between the two organizations. 

The workshop organizers are:

Raymond Bakaitis
Rebecca Ellison
Olya Khaleelee
Veena Pinto
OPUS Carlos Remotti-Breton
Augustine Sagoe
Rob Stuart
OPUS
OPUS International Group Relations Conference OPUS International Group Relations Conference
OPUS International Group Relations Conference
OPUS International Group Relations Conference

 Based on over 60 years of theory, research, and practice, Group Relations is an applied discipline that integrates open-systems theory and psychodynamic perspectives as a lens through which to view human behaviors in groups. Derived from the work of the British psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion, Group Relations can provide dazzling insights into the complex mysteries of the human psyche as it manifests in groups. Through those insights, one develops an increased capacity to navigate the challenges of today's increasingly complex and diverse neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, communities, and societies.

AKRI's focal interest, study, and training includes leadership, authority, organizational structure, boundaries, roles, work tasks, and the unconscious processes which give rise to non-rational behavior in individuals, groups, and organizations. Functions of the Institute include regular annual meetings, co-sponsorship of regular international meetings, and the authorizing and conducting of Group Relations Conferences, which are temporary institutions designed and formed to study the behavioral dynamics of groups, and individuals within groups, as they represent aspects of larger social systems ranging from family, local community, and business to multi-national corporation, country, society, and global relations.

Benefits of Membership 

  • Free electronic access to all articles from Group Relations Reader Vol. 1, Vol. 2, and Vol. 3 for personal use

  • Free subscription to the Organisational and Social Dynamics journal

  • Access to the AKRI E-list

  • Annual Reports of the A.K. Rice Institute

  • A virtual global community of people interested in group relations theory and application

  • Opportunities for collaboration and exposure of one's own work

  • Listing in the AKRI Membership Directory

  • Listing for Certified Consultants on the AKRI website

  • Exclusive discounts to the many official AKRI events, including the Annual Residential Group Relations Conference. A full listing of upcoming group relations events is available on the official AKRI Events Calendar.

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What is a Group Relations Conference?

At the core of group relations work is an event known as the Group Relations Conference (GRC). A GRC is an intensive and experiential learning event that provides the rare opportunity to study one's own behavior as it happens in real-time, without the distractions of everyday social niceties, workplace pressures, and established protocols. In the unique environment of a GRC, hidden aspects of one's motivations, behaviors, and work-life are brought to light. Once available for conscious examination, GRC participants are assisted in learning what supports or detracts from one's effectiveness, particularly how leadership and authority are manifest.