Historical Context

Question 1

What is Work and Organisational psychology?

Answer 1

The study of people and their behaviour at work, and of the organizations in which people work; Work Psychologists develop psychological theory and apply the rigour and methods of psychology to issues that are important to businesses and organizations, to promote and advance understanding of individual, group and organizational effectiveness at work, and the well-being and satisfaction of people working in or served by organizations

Question 2

How has the nature of work changed over time?

Answer 2

Historical Work Patterns:
Foragers worked flexibly, balancing work with rest and social activities.

Modern Work Patterns:
Many modern workers face long, rigid work hours, leading to questions about the quality of work and organisational experience.

Question 3

How is engagement defined?

Answer 3

A positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterised by vigor (high levels of energy and mental resilience) , dedication ( being strongly involved in ones work) , and absorption (being fully concentrated and happily engrossed).

Question 4

Why is engagement so low in EU?

Answer 4

People spend a large proportion of their lives undertaking activities that bring them little satisfaction, sense of growth and development, or positive emotional experience.

Question 5

What contributes to the toxic cocktail of work characteristics that damage people.

Answer 5

Stress is common in their workplaces and the data suggest that work stress contributes to half of all lost working days. Poor work design, organization and management result in negative outcomes for people, including stress, heart disease, depression, burnout and musculoskeletal problems. Excessive workloads, conflicting work demands (quality versus volume of work, oppressive supervision, job insecurity, psychological and sexual harassment, and low rewards for effort invested.

Question 6

How does health-care have an effect on well-being and engagement?

Answer 6

In health services, higher levels of health service worker well-being and engagement are associated with better care quality, better financial performance, less employee absenteeism and lower levels of patient mortality.

Question 7

What are the core values of work and organizational psychology?

Answer 7

The ways in which work psychologists approach the development of understanding and application of their knowledge in these areas of interest are influenced by the core values of work and organizational psychology.

Science: Commitment to methodological and scientific rigour in order to understand people and their behaviour at work, and to reveal the functioning of organizations

Pragmatism: Commitment to solving practical problems, and to the application of psychology to issues that matter to people at work, and in organizations.

Ethics: Commitment to ethical best practice in the application of psychology to work and organizations

For people and organizations: Commitment to seeking solutions to organizational problems that enhance organizational effectiveness, and the well-being of people working in organizations. Work and organizational psychologists avoid compromising on either of these outcomes, and rather strive to balance and promote both

Question 8

What are some of the events that showed the development of work psychology?

Answer 8

The applications and successes of science were growing and entering public consciousness, and had done so increasingly since the Enlightenment.

Modern psychology emerged as a fledgling but quickly developing area of study. In the UK, the work of Francis Galton and Karl Pearson on individual differences heralded the start of the assessment tradition, in which measurement techniques for capturing information about human beings (such as aptitude and personality tests) were being designed and tested.

More widely, the nature of work was changing rapidly, brought about by industrialization. Stimulated by new developments in technology and engineering.

Question 9

What is Taylorism?

Answer 9

The psychologist was Lillian Gilbreth, whose work with husband Frank (an engineer) aimed to quantify and measure human behaviour in basic, elementary chunks. Their purposes were to measure and manage: to quantify what people did in factory settings; and to make work more efficient. This is the fundamental basis of scientific management or ‘Taylorism’, named after the entrepreneur and management theorist Frederick Taylor

Question 10

What is the Hawthorne Effect?

Answer 10

Refers to outcome changes that are attributed to a specific intervention, when, in fact, any intervention providing increased attention to workers would be effective.

Question 11

How did the World Wars have a effect on industrial psychology?

Answer 11

Just as the First World War was a major factor in the development of work and organizational psychology (After the First World War, psychologists in both the USA and the UK transferred their new techniques from the military into industry) , the Second World War saw major growth and development also. In the USA, hundreds of psychologists were employed by the US army in a variety of roles in service of the war effort. Some of the main assessment techniques used in organizations today for selection and appraisal of staff originated in the US military during the Second World War, including assessment centres, multi-instrument test batteries and rating forms for measuring performance.

Question 12

What is positive organisational scholarship?

Answer 12

Defined as the states and processes that arise from and result in life-giving dynamics, optimal functioning and enhanced capabilities and strengths; an emphasis on identifying individual and collective strengths (attributes and processes) and discovering how such strengths enable human flourishing; ‘a focus on dynamics that are typically described by words such as excellence, thriving, flourishing, abundance, resilience, or virtuousness.
Does not involve excluding negative emotions from consideration. Rather, it is a focus on ensuring that negative experiences and situations are incorporated into life-enhancing dynamics wherever possible

Question 13

What is meant by flourishing?

Answer 13

Refers to being in an optimal range of human functioning

Question 14

What are the focuses of positive organisational scholarship?

Answer 14

What makes people flourish within organisational environments

How individuals can grow from having problems and challenges

How the culture of an organisation can facilitate innovation in times of difficulty

How we can build individual and collective strengths and capabilities by engaging with challenges

Study examples of positive processes and outcomes, innovation, outstanding leadership, and resourcefulness and learn from that

Encourages positive relationships, good communication, and positive energy at work

Organisational processes – including Human Resource Management processes – that are key to providing positive work environment

Encourages a positive work psychology that focuses on positive relationships, good communication, and positive energy at work, rather than focusing only on problems, threats and weaknesses in organizations

Question 15

What are the three contemporary themes in work and organisational psychology?

Answer 15

Environment and sustainability, technology and diversity.

Question 16

What is meant by environmental sustainability?

Answer 16

Work psychologists must accept responsibility for ensuring that organizations and those who work within them play a full role in combating the climate emergency. The potential threats to us as a species are huge, with major impacts on weather, biodiversity, flooding, disease, international conflict and agriculture. And the climate emergency poses particular challenges because of our human nature. We find it difficult to understand or engage with threats that are abstract, long term, remote, complex, mostly invisible and multifaceted.

Some general prescriptions are to frame environmental issues around values such as protecting the environment for our children and their children, ensuring future economic prosperity and preserving nature. It helps also to highlight organizations that are doing damage, because this raises awareness and promotes action.

Work psychologists are involved in organizational strategy, development and change processes, and this affords an opportunity to counsel for the inclusion and utilization of environmental outcomes in those processes. A central aspect of change at an organizational level is the creation of cultures and climates that support environmental sustainability.

Values-based approaches to work and organizations must include caring for the environment as a core value if we are not to destroy resources that enable us to survive as a species on this planet

The individual value of caring for the environment is therefore not generally reinforced through people management practices. Work psychologists can bring to bear realigned tools to support the push for environmental sustainability, such as recruitment, selection, training, performance management and employee surveys.

Direct intervention such as training or performance management around protecting the environment. Psychologists can assess the extent to which these different types of interventions are successful, such as providing prompts or appeals to employees about their ‘green behaviours’; providing information, instruction, knowledge; monitoring employees and giving feedback; or using techniques such as goal-setting

Question 17

What is meant by technology?

Answer 17

If we are to understand human experience in work and organizations, we have to understand the role of digital media.

This has both advantages (such as enriching people’s access to resources) and disadvantages (witness the invasion by work life into home life). The digital workplace is therefore the experience of work delivered through technologies such as connected devices, platforms, software and interfaces. There is no doubt that digital media affect employee engagement, stress, knowledge management, socialization of new employees and organizational culture.

The insidious side to all this is the increasing incursion of work into family and leisure time, breaking the boundaries between employment in service of others and the freedom to live our lives in the way we wish without being subject to the demands of work every hour of every day.

AI or machine learning (as it is also known) involves programming computers to process large amounts of data and identify patterns and trends that are not pre-programmed. It ensures intelligence can be gathered far more swiftly than human processors could manage.

The new uses for AI are affecting jobs and people’s experience of work in ever more profound ways.

Some companies will not use AI to get rid of existing jobs but are already looking for ways of avoiding creating new jobs. Others are using AI to comb through employees’ communications to detect dishonesty or disgruntlement, leading to fear for many of being spied on by their employers. Some companies are using AI to listen to agents’ conversations with customers and identify emotion fatigue so the computer can prompt the agent to be more empathic.

AI is also being used to ensure diversity is encouraged.

AI can be used beneficially for workers, such as monitoring safe practice in high-risk environments and ensuring the right equipment is in place. In the very near future, AI can be used to identify that a management team is failing to communicate effectively with other departments; that parts of the building are not being used enough; and that diversity initiatives are not working.

There is a huge role for psychologists in understanding these developments and their implications, especially to provide guidance in preventing the damaging consequences of new technologies and promoting fulfilling consequences for workers

Question 18

What is meant by diversity?

Answer 18

When mismanaged, diversity can damage employee morale across an organization, resulting in poorer organizational performance and employee stress and poor physical health. When managed effectively, it can create synergies that produce creativity, innovation, productivity and (in the commercial sector) profitability.

Understanding how diversity in organizations undermines or facilitates social cohesion, wellbeing, performance and innovation is an integral part of the work and organizational psychology research agenda. Understanding effective diversity management policies, procedures and practices has also become a key focus.

Work psychology is also examining the effectiveness of diversity management policies, procedures and practices used in organizations to help us understand when diversity might lead to favourable or unfavourable work-related outcomes.

Question 19

How did colonial and apartheid eras affect work?

Answer 19

Labour systems were highly racialised and exploitative.

Racial segregation policies limited job opportunities and career advancement for non-white South Africans.

Economic activities were centred on mining and agriculture, with black labourers often in low-wage, unskilled positions

Question 20

What are some examples of Post-Apartheid Developments?

Answer 20

Implementation of policies like the Employment Equity Act (1998) and the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) to address past inequalities.

Focus on increasing diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Efforts to enhance skills development and career advancement for previously disadvantaged groups.

Question 21

What are some practical applications in South Africa

Answer 21

Employee Well-Being Programs:
Organisations are increasingly adopting well-being programs to support employee health and productivity.

Leadership and Management Development:
Emphasis on developing inclusive leadership styles that reflect South Africa’s diverse workforce.

Performance Management:
Strategies to ensure fair and equitable performance assessment and development opportunities.

Training and Development:
Focus on continuous learning and skills development to keep pace with technological changes