Guest lecture for our business students on 'Building Trust and Managing Conflict and Change'

Second-year undergraduate students of the Business Administration & Economics Department of CITY College, University of York Europe Campus had the opportunity to attend an online presentation by Mr Naoum Liotas, Gestalt psychotherapist, Supervisor and Business Coach based in London, UK, about trust and its role in team cohesiveness towards managing conflict and change. The webinar was delivered on Tuesday 23 November 2021 in the context of the Organisational Behaviour unit led by Dr. Giovanni Serafini.

As living organisms, organisations are constantly affected by change that Mr. Liotas characterised as an unrestricted and difficult to foresee process. Thus, students were able to reflect on the nature of change and its dynamics whereby change needs to happen through dialogue supporting the relentless alignment and realignment of an organisation to its shifting environment. The highly engaging event stressed the critical importance of emotional intelligence, team cohesiveness, and supportive team norms in managing conflicts constructively. Mr. Liotas shared his experience and knowledge from Gestalt psychology and illustrated how insights on the human psyche can help organisations and practitioners evolve and become more efficient and humane. This unique learning opportunity concluded with an overview of a real business case related to a series of change management workshops in which Mr Liotas was involved to support the restructuring of a multinational company with offices in USA, Germany, Spain, Turkey, India, and China.