REFLECTION

Reflection

Reflection

Introduction

The concept of play is ever changing being dragged from one side to the other by its different meanings. There are said to be three definitions present in the dictionary of the word 'Play' and thirty nine definitions of the word 'work' (Burke, 1971). This confusion in the meaning of the word plays; led many to analyze various meanings and importance of play. I on the other hand will focus on the meaning of play (and work) with respect to the discipline of management sciences. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the relationship between play and work and how it has evolved over time.

The central idea is that initially wok was considered to be good and play was taken as a negative object at the time of the birth of management sciences. This played a major role in the evolution of the subject. The concept of good or bad has originated from the object relations theory and particularly the work done by Melanie Klein. Her work provides a useful framework of diagnosing the discipline.

Discussion

The discussion starts with the notion of phantasy by Klein which explains the unconscious instincts in the psychological aspect. This activity is in operation from the very beginning and defines the mental understanding of life and death.

The early ego which is said to be the more organized part of self lacks consistency for breakdown, and swap with ability towards breakdown. The fear of breakdown is patent with the death instinct, which is of annihilation, and creates great anxiety(Bendix, 1956/1963, pp. 25-33).

This threat to existence and fear is understood by the newborn as being overpowering and uncontrollable. According to Klein the infant carries both the impulses of destroying the negative elements and the positive elements of pre-disposition; this explains that the object is split into two, the good and the bad. To the good objects the other related objects are also linked to make it whole while the bad objects are not associated with any other object. This association of good object with the whole picture signifies the emergence of ego which is crucial and defines the development of psyche. The healthy child as per Klein grows to become tolerant of the bad objects and is able to lead a healthy and happy life.

According to Bion (1961/1998; Gould, 1997) this helps to understand the group dynamics and behaviors though originally the concept was developed to ...