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The OK Corral: The Grid for Get-on-With

Ernst · Trust & Interpersonal · Transactional Analysis Journal · 1971 · Paywalled

Introduced the OK Corral: a two-axis grid mapping four life positions derived from Eric Berne's transactional analysis — I'm OK/You're OK, I'm OK/You're not OK, I'm not OK/You're OK, I'm not OK/You're not OK. The grid provides a simple but powerful model for the psychological stance an individual brings to interpersonal interactions, with direct implications for how they approach risk, authority, and voice. The I'm OK/You're OK position is the psychological precondition for genuine psychological safety: it requires both the belief that one's own contribution is legitimate and that others can be trusted to receive it. The other three positions map onto well-recognised failure modes — deference, contempt, and withdrawal. Widely used in coaching and organisational development contexts.

Connected concepts (8)

• Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams (paper)
• Calculus of Voice
• Affect- and Cognition-Based Trust as Foundations for Interpersonal Cooperation in Organizations (paper)
• Leadership Behavior and Employee Voice: Is the Door Really Open? (paper)
• Local Rationality
• The Intuitive Psychologist and His Shortcomings: Distortions in the Attribution Process (paper)
• Barriers to PS
• Four Stages Critique