New opportunities in organizational psychology: theories, topics, methods and practice

1. New opportunities in organizational psychology: theories, topics, methods and practice Professor Catherine Cassell Keynote presentation to 2011 AIP, Milan, October 15th catherine.cassell@mbs.ac.uk

2. Plan • Introduction • Current issues facing work and organizational psychology • Work psychology: time for a review? • Opportunities for the future • Conclusions.

3. Current issues facing occupational psychologists • The changing nature of work • The changing nature of organizations • Professional identity • Epistemological and methodological developments • Values • The move towards evidence-based practice.

4. The changing nature of work

5. The changing nature of work • Rapidly changing technologies at work • Increasingly globalised in nature (Gelfand et.al., 2008) • End of careers for life • Aging population • Increased significance of the service sector • New societal priorities (e.g. environmentalism).

6. An example: Work organization and job design

9. Research into work organization and climate change • Davis and Challenger (2009) use a socio-technical systems perspective to look at green behaviours in the work place • Draw on established theories such as social identity theory and goal setting to encourage attention to the role of user control and empowerment in green behaviours • Argue that work psychologists are well-placed to take the lead in this area by re-framing green issues as a more traditional organizational problem.

10. The changing nature of work organizations

11. The changing nature of work organizations • Traditional forms of management and organization are changing • Fewer large centralised workplaces • Distributed teams, groups and leadership • Where is culture located?

12. Example: the taxi driver study • Changing expectations of customer service • Increasing interest about customer abuse and bullying in the workplace • Research regarding emotional labour and emotional regulation in the workplace (e.g.: Niven, Totterdell and Holman, 2009) • Interviews with 22+ black cab drivers.

14. Key issues • Changing expectations of customer service • The skills of the cab driver in regulating the emotions of others • Stories of customer abuse as commonplace • Culture is multi-sited.

15. Professional Identity

16. Concerns about the professional identity of work psychologists • Seen primarily as assessment experts (Kandola, 2010) • WP is at a ‘tipping point’ in its professional identity, “evolved away from psychology to a critical juncture in terms of distinctiveness from other fields” (Ryan and Ford, 2010) • Lack of influence over public policy and lack of visibility to organizational decision-makers. • The futility of the academic / practitioner divide.

17. Epistemological developments

18. Epistemological developments • Work and organizational psychology research can be conducted in a range of epistemological traditions and a range of novel approaches are available (Symon and Cassell, 2006) • Example: Action Research (Cassell and Johnson, 2006).

19. Types of action research (Cassell and Johnson, 2006) • Experimental action research practices • Inductive action research practices • Participatory action research • Participatory research practices • Deconstructive action research practices.

20. Methodological developments

21. Methodological developments • Ten methodological barriers to progress in work psychology (Edwards, 2008) • All based on quantitative methods e.g. Measurement error; conditions for causality etc. • Plea for methodological diversity and the use of qualitative methods in work psychology (Cassell and Symon, 2006).

22. The use of qualitative methods in work psychology research

23. The research project • Work with Gillian Symon • Focus is upon how work psychologists define good qualitative research • Interviews with 22 work psychologists in positions to define quality (international journal editors; MSc Directors; Research Institute Directors; Practitioners).

24. Identification of narratives Research question: How do work psychologists explain quality in qualitative research? Underlying narratives: Good qualitative research is fit for purpose Good qualitative research is hard to assess Good qualitative research needs to be demonstrated Focus upon the link between those narratives and sensemaking.

25. Challenges in adopting new methods • Capability in the discipline • Links to professional identity • Little understanding about assessment processes.

26. Values Lefkowitz (2008) criticises the fundamental values of work psychology: • Overly economic and insufficiently humanistic in nature • Present the field as being more value-free than it really is • Ignore normative perspectives of what organizations ought to be like • Reflect a pro-management orientation • Define the field with respect to technical prowess rather than societal good.

27. Evidence-based practice • Case for evidence-based practice in work and organizational psychology (e.g.: Briner and Rousseau, 2011) • Emphasis on the ‘best available evidence’ including the use of systematic reviews • Concern that this ignores the ‘political nature of evidence and encourages methodological standardization (Cassell, 2011).

28. Work psychology: time for a review? • Debates within Industrial and organizational psychology (APA Journal) for example about the professional identity of work psychology • Special issue of Journal of Organizational Behavior in 2008 entitled to prosper, organizational psychology should ..... • Debate in the U.K. Magazine The Psychologist entitled Occupational Psychology in a changing world (2011).

29. New opportunities • Current economic climate generates new research questions and topics • The changing nature of work and organizations • Interesting epistemological and methodological developments.

30. Conclusions • There are a number of challenges ahead • If opportunities are taken then the future is bright • We live in interesting times!

31. References • Briner, R. and Rousseau, D. (2011) Evidence-based psychology: not there yet. Industrial and organizational psychology: Perspectives on science and practice, 4, 3-22. • Cassell, C.M. (2011) Evidence-based I-O Psychology: what do we lose on the way? Industrial and organizational psychology: Perspectives on science and practice, 4, 23-26. • Cassell, C.M. And Johnson, P. (2006) Action research: explaining the diversity. Human Relations, 59 (6), 783-814. • Cassell, C.M. and Symon, G. (2006) ‘Qualitative research in industrial and organizational psychology’, International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology , Vol. 24, • Cassell, C.M. and Symon, G. (2011) ‘Assessing ‘good’ qualitative research in the work psychology field: A narrative analysis’, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, (In press). • Davis, M.C. and Challenger , R. (2009) Climate change: warming to the task. The Psychologist, 22 (2), 112-114. • Edwards, J.R. (2008). To prosper, organizational psychology should ... overcome methodological barriers to progress. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 469-491.

32. Gelfand, M.J., Lexlie, L.M. And Fehr, R. (2008). To prosper, organizational psychology should ... Adopt a global perspective. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 493-517. • Greenberg, J. (2008). Introduction to the special issue: to prosper, organizational psychology should ... Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 435-438. • Kandola, B. (2010) . Occupational Psychology in a changing world, The Psychologist, volume 23. • Lefkowitz , J.(2008), To prosper, organizational psychology should … expand the values of organizational psychology to match the quality of its ethics. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 439 – 453. • Niven, K., Totterdell, P., and Holman, D. (2009). Affect regulation and well-being in the workplace: An interpersonal perspective. In A. Antoniou, G. Chrousos, C. Cooper, M. Eysenck, & C. Spielberger (Eds),Handbook of Occupational Health Psychology and Medicine. Elsevier. • Ryan, A.M. and Ford, K.J. (2010). Organizational Psychology and the tipping point of professional identity. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: perspectives on science and practice,  3: 277–280. • Symon, G. and Cassell, C.M. (2006) ‘Neglected perspectives in work and organizational psychology’, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 79., No. 3., 307-314.