Work and health psychology
Lecture 1 Introduction
What is ‘work’?
‘A set of coordinated and goal-directed activities that are conducted in exchange for something
else, usually some form of monetary reward’
Example: Waiter/Waitress
- Coordinated?
- Goal-directed?
- In exchange for something else?
What is work? Work is coordinated, goal-directed, and in exchange for something else.
What is work psychology?
Work psychology: Use insights from psychology to help workers achieve their work-goals in an
optimal manner, and to help organizations achieve their goals
Balance approach!
Belief: engaged employees = productivity
What is work psychology? Work psychology is to help workers to achieve their work-goals and to
help organisations to achieve their goals.
What do work psychologist do?
How to design work so that it is motivating, enjoyable, does not induce stress, and allow the
employees to work in a productive way?
Why is work psychology important?
1. Because of the amount of time we spend working
2. Because work has the potential to make us happy
3. Because work has the potential to make us sick
4. Because of the increasing expectations of employers
Work & health psychology
Course positioning
This course, Work and health psychology, deals with the individual worker and his/her work, well-
being, and performance. It mainly deals with literature in the area of job design, work psychology
and occupational health psychology
- Individual worker
- His/her work
- Well-being
- Performance
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, What is work and health psychology? Work and health psychology is the individual worker, his/her
work, well-being and performance.
The roots of work psychology
When dit it start? And why?
Psychotechnics / Applied psychology
Psychotechnics = The practical or technological application of psychology, as in analysis of social
or economic problems.
Psychotechniek = De praktische of technologische toepassing van psychologie, zoals in
analyse van sociale of economische problemen
Pioneers:
Jean Marie Lahy (France, from 1903 onwards)
- experiments on the selection of streetcar operators
- general method for employee selection (normed tests)
Münsterberg (Germany/U.S., 1913)
- “selection of those personalities which by their mental qualities are especially t for a particular
kind of economic work.”
- Work on the selection of drivers, typists, army gunners, etc.
Scienti c management, Taylorism
Country of origin: USA
Founding father: Frederick Winslow Taylor
“As to the importance of obtaining the maximum output of each man and each machine, it is only
through the adoption of modern scienti c management that this great problem can be nally
solved”
Not focusing on the match between worker and tasks, but mostly on the task
—> Focus on the task (simpli cation of tasks)
—> Why?
—> Two assumptions about the workers
First assumption of Taylor approach —> Workers are lazy
Second assumption of Taylor approach —> Workers are stupid
Scienti c management, also known as Taylorism, is a theory of management that emerged in the
early 20th century. It was developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor, an American engineer, and is
often considered one of the earliest attempts to apply science to management.
Solution
To maximize productivity
- Simplify tasks as much as possible
- Examine the best way to conduct the tasks
- Training workers in the one best way to conduct the tasks (High control)
- Separating the planning of tasks from their execution
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, 1930 - now
1. 1930s-1940s: Industrial and Organizational Psychology Emergence
2. 1950s-1960s: Human Relations Movement
3. 1970s-1980s: Occupational Health Psychology
4. 1990s-Present: Integration of Work and Health Psychology
Human Relations Movement
1950s-1960s: Human Relations Movement
• The Human Relations Movement emphasized the importance of social and psychological
factors in the workplace. Researchers, in uenced by the Hawthorne studies, explored how
social and group dynamics impacted productivity and worker satisfaction.
Hawthorne studies (1924-1932)
1. E ects of lightning intensity on productivity
2. Relay Assembly Test Room (5 woman in a secluded room, variations in the number and
duration of rest breaks, and the length of the work day and work week)
3. 2nd Relay Assembly Test (Incentive schemes (team-based)
4. Mica Splitting Test Room (Incentive schemes (team-based)
5. Interviews (Importance of empathic listening and participation)
6. Bank Wiring Observation Room (14 workers, Informal system and group norms)
Het Hawthorne e ect (observer-expectancy e ect)
= de verandering in het gedrag of de prestaties van
individuen wanneer ze zich bewust zijn dat ze
worden geobserveerd of als onderdeel van een
studie.
Contemporary work psychology
A balance approach
- Performance but also well-being
Perfomance
“The action or process of performing a task or function”
Work performance: Action or outcome?
Action:
“Performance is what the organization hires one to do, and do well”
Outcome:
“The consequence or the result of the individual worker’s behavior”
Dimensions of individual job performance
1. Task performance (pro ciency)
2. Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB; going the extra mile)
3. Counterproductive work behaviors
4. Employee withdrawal behaviors
- Absenteeism
- Turnover
Well-being
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,“The state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy”
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being
and not merely the absence of disease or in rmity.” (WHO)
Well-being at work
- Health (physical well-being)
decrease disease and injuries, stress, and increase health bene ts
- Relationships (social well-being)
increase trust, support, decrease exploitation, and power abuse
- Happiness (psychological well-being)
increase pleasure, satisfaction and ful llment / engagement, and decrease the opposite
thereof
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, Lecture 2 Theoretical perspectives I
- Classic Theory of Job Design
- The Job Characteristics Model
- Modern Theory of Job Design
- The Job-Demands Resources Model
Design
What is design?
a) The art or action of producing a plan or drawing of something before it is made
b) Purpose or planning that exists behind an action, fact, or object)
What is job design
“speci cation of the contents, methods, and relationships of jobs in order to satisfy technological
and organizational requirements as well as the social and personal requirements of the jobholder”
From Theory X to Theory Y
Scienti c management (Taylorism) —> Job design
- Simpli cation of the task - How to create ‘good’ jobs
- Increasing productivity
Classic Theory of Job Design
The Job Characteristics Model (JCM)
Core job dimensions
1. Skill variety
2. Task identity
3. Task Signi cance
4. Autonomy
5. Feedback
Five core job characteristics
Intrinsic motivation
Applying the JCM to enhance your motivation
How to create a working environment that facilitates:
1. Skill variety
2. Task identify
3. Task signi cance
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