An introduction to
contemporary work
psychology
Chapter 1: Setting the Scene - People at Work
1.2 What We Talk About When We Talk About Work Psychology
There are three key elements of work:
1. It is a set of goal-directed activities that require sustained effort
2. It is a set of coordinated activities
3. It is conducted in exchange for something else
For example, a baker has work.
- Their goal is to produce a good, such as bread.
- To achieve the goal of making bread, the baker has to start on time, make the dough
using certain ingredients and baking it in the oven at the correct temperature.
- Once the bread is made, it can be sold and the baker earns their income.
Work psychology refers to people’s behavior, motivations, thoughts and emotions related to
the context of work. The central aim of work psychology is to facilitate obtaining the goal of
producing something (goods, services, or knowledge) in an optimal and sustainable manner.
Contemporary work psychology aims to promote what might be called employee sustainable
performance: a regulatory process in which an individual worker enduringly and efficiently
achieves particular desired work goals while maintaining a satisfactory level of well-being.
1.3 Who Do We Mean When We Talk About Workers?
Around 57% of the world’s population is at work and a bit less than 6% is unemployed. The
two largest sources of employment are the service sector and the agriculture sector.
1.4 The Meaning of Working
Having a job contributes positively to people’s health and well-being. Not only does it bring
in money, but it provides five classes of social benefits as stated in the Relative Deprivation
Model:
1. Time structure
2. Opportunities for social contact
3. Sharing of a common purpose
4. Social identity or status
5. Regular activity
1.5 The Roots of Work Psychology
Systematic thinking about the organization of work
Ancient Greeks and Romans already considered how particular tasks should be conducted.
,The birth of occupational medicine
The scientific study of work, worker health and well-being, and work performance can be
traced back to the 1500s.
Work psychology, 1850-1930
The industrial revolution of the 1750-1850s marked a transition towards new manufacturing
processes, in that production processes were increasingly mechanized and industrialized. This
affected the shape of employment of the masses, changing it from piece-for-piece to mass
production.
The important issues in this era became how workers could be motivated to work hard and
how they could be made more productive. Psyotechnics provided answers to these issues. It
applied psychological insights to working life, focusing on optimizing the match between
worker and vocation.
Scientific management
Scientific management or Taylorism, focused on the simplification and optimization of tasks
as well as increased work motivation by introducing strict supervision and pay-for-
performance systems.
Work psychology, 1930-present
Employers realized that redesigning jobs in line with the principles of scientific management
affected worker morale negatively. That is how the human relations movement came to.
The human relations movement
The job should fit to the worker, instead of the other way around. So there should be special
attention paid to the human side of working
Contemporary work psychology
Contemporary work psychology aims to improve employee productivity by optimizing the
organization of work, work methods, and job characteristics, but at the same time strives
towards maximization of worker health and well-being.
1.6 The Times, They are A-changin’
Six changes have been made over recent decades:
1. The changing nature of work
The nature of work has changed from mainly manufacturing work that is hard on the body
and exposes people to physical health risks to predominantly service and knowledge work,
which brings new types of job demands, such as emotion work.
2. The changing workforce
The workforce has become more diverse in terms of gender, age, ethnicity and educational
background. This makes diversity and inclusion policies increasingly important.
3. The changing flexibility of working
Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA) have been adopted by many companies. These FWAs
aim to help employees better balance their work and home life, and minimize employee stress
, and burn-out by enabling managing workload more effectively. However, there are potential
downsides, like unhealthy work-life balance, and less collaboration.
4. The changing organization
Due to globalization and ICT organizations have also changed organizations and new
organizations have emerged. These organizations continue to have to develop and adapt to
new realities.
5. The changing office
The company offices changed from traditional office spaces via larger, open-plan spaces to
the hybrid working model; that is, a flexible working model where employees work partly in
the company offices and partly remote.
6. The changing psychological contract
The psychological contract – what employees and employers want and expect from each other
– has been changed from stability and predictability to self-regulation, flexibility, and work-
life balance. Employees do not want to spend their entire careers with only one or two
companies, but value career mobility and the opportunity for lifelong learning and
development.
These changes have led to the intensification of work. That is the increasing work hours and
work pressure, the need for lifelong learning and the ability and willingness to continuously
change the type of work one does.
Chapter 3: Motivating Employees Using Self-
Determination Theory
3.2 Self-Determination Theory
People are agentic beings and have an innate tendency to be active beings who are oriented
towards growth and development and to build meaningful social relations with others.
3.2 The Basic Psychological Needs
Three basic psychological needs:
1. Autonomy
When satisfied, people act with a sense of ownership of their behavior and feel
psychologically free.
When not satisfied, people feel like they are subject to external forces.
2. Belongingness (relatedness)
When satisfied, people have close and mutually supportive relationships and
feel that they are a valued member of the team.
When not satisfied, people feel isolated, rejected, or excluded.
3. Competence
When satisfied, people can effectively achieve desired outcomes, learn new
skills or improve their abilities.
When not satisfied, people doubt their efficacy or experience a fear of failure.
