The Role of Transitional Objects in Managing Organizational Anxiety (Exemplified by the Projectised Activities)

In this paper, we address the problem of investigating the role of transitional objects in managing anxiety arising in the process of organizational change. Anxiety and disturbance caused by the process of changes in the organization can become a major barrier in the implementation of projects aimed at organizational change. Transitional object is the term introduced by Donald W. Winnicott in his study of how infants are coping with periods of their mother absences during the first years of their life. In adulthood, these are objects (or symbolic entities) that have a special meaning for the owner that goes beyond practical utility and are a tangible reminder of a stable past. Such objects help their owners cope with the deprivations of a new life and manage the fear of an unknown future. The hypothesis of the study is that the use of transitional objects by employees of a modern organization acts as a means of containment the anxiety and serves as an indicator of organisational resistance to implemented change. Based on the example of the analysis of a single case of organizational change implementation in the company from the sphere of project management, the paper examines how transitional objects are used as a support for employees of modern companies in managing the anxiety that arises in the process of organizational change. The subject of the study is the process of containment of the sense of loss in the process of organizational change using transitional objects. The practical value of the work is the use of the research results as recommendations and practical advice in organizational change projects in order to reduce the level of anxiety of employees. At the end of the work, recommendations are given for improving object relations in modern organizations. Key words: transitional object; object relations; psychoanalysis; organizational anxiety; project management