Psychoanalytical reflections on greed in everyday business

Abstract

Greed is an insatiable desire that goes beyond the needs of the subject. Greed is a protection against the fear of  death. Despite the attempt to devour a libidinously occupied object, it is lost. Greed is not a defence strategy, but a symptom,  that is now used in similarly dangerous situations  to be able to cope with life. Greed represents a form of perverted love. Obviously, this has been brought about by the financial crisis. The goal was detached from a purpose, it was only about maximizing profit. So, when you think about greed, you usually mean the excesses of it. At work, such narcissistic managers devour whole teams, and although they succeed in the short term, they often cause organizations to falter after excessive abuse. In everyday life there are examples that show that people make irrational decisions due to greed and fall for their seductive effect. Inexplicable fraud cases also appear to be more understandable in this context. However, this mechanism is also used by companies to bind customers and to motivate employees to perform at their best. The counterposition to greed is satisfaction with what is there, i.e. learning to accept and deal with unpleasant situations.