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Tracing the Heritage and Evolution of Gestalt Psychology in Morphologic Organisation Analysis Cover

Tracing the Heritage and Evolution of Gestalt Psychology in Morphologic Organisation Analysis

By:  and    
Open Access
|May 2026

Abstract

This paper explores the application of Gestalt psychological principles in the analysis of organisational culture and transformation. Tracing a conceptual lineage from early Gestalt psychology through Kurt Lewin’s field theory and Edgar Schein’s organisational culture model, the authors demonstrate how psychological holism and dynamic thinking continue to shape contemporary organisational diagnosis. Central to the discussion is the morphological method developed by Wilhelm Salber and further advanced by Herbert Fitzek, which interprets organisational cultures as symbolic, evolving Gestalts. The paper outlines a four-stage model of cultural diagnosis that emphasises perceptual dynamics, symbolic figuration, and psychodynamic tensions. The authors illustrate how deep structures of meaning, contradiction, and orientation can be surfaced and reworked within the organisational field. The study concludes by affirming the potential of morphological analysis to support reflexive organisational development and cultural transformation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gth-2026-0014 | Journal eISSN: 2519-5808 | Journal ISSN: 0170-057X
Language: English, German
Page range: 241 - 259
Published on: May 18, 2026
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 3 issues per year

© 2026 Jakob Mair, Valerian Warmuth, published by Society for Gestalt Theory and its Applications (GTA)
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.