Week 1.1 Work & Work Behavior
work = prevalent, invasive, impacts health, happiness & personality, prolonged work life (67+)
benefits of work
personal finance, time structure, regular activity, social contact, social identity,
lifelong learning & development, sharing common purpose, happiness & health
drawbacks
impact of technology: less physical & more complex tasks
working at very high speed, hiding feelings to appear professional (i.e. retailment, service)
→ surface acting (faking emotions) vs deep acting (express emotions → beneficial for health)
meaning of work
health, family life, happiness → knowledge of work, work behavior & experience to understand behavior
scope is dynamic
→ scope of field: strong interaction with societal changes
→ rapid changing work environment → flexibilization (operational, structural, strategic)
→ life long learning & development
→ future buildings look more aesthetic, more open space, less privacy
social dynamics & organizational dynamics
→ intensification: what we feel as individual: intensive & more complex tasks due to technology
→ flexibilization: personal, working time, work staff, operation, strategic level due to environmental change;
highest productivity at lowest costs
→ mentalization: more mental & knowledge work
→ digitalization: keep up with technological changes, challenge for oldies
→ life expectancy rises → prolonged working life
healthy life expectancy
not rising to similar extent, strongly related to education level (less educated: poor jobs, earlier start
→ longer duration & more exposure to job, unhealthy lifestyle)
→ Welfare diseases (diabetes) increasing
work & health psych. structure work conditions, resting times for optimized performance & health
→ job design, fatigue, stress, motivation, sickness absence
organizational psych. Structure organizations & business processes for best workers‘ effectivity
→ organizational structure & culture, leadership, organizational change, dealing with resistance
personnel (HR) psych. Individual capacities match work demands & opportunities within organization
→ recruitment & selection, development of competences, performance appraisal, (financial) reward system
History Industrial Revolution (1750-1850)
· Wundt: founding father of empirical psychology → started with experiments
· Münsterberg: applied psychological knowledge → fatigue in organizations
·Taylor: started studying behavior of employees in time and motion studies
→ mapped work activities, developed diff. shovel for diff. types of materials → increased productivity
→ used stopwatch to measure time of all activities
→ people got fired, because the acquired skills got higher and fewer people were necessary
· Frank & Lillian Gilbreth: cared more for wellbeing of humans
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,Scientific Management (1911) = Taylor Assumptions:
· ‘One best way’: efficiency (time & motion studies)
· Employee is lazy by nature
· Piecework pay: money is the only motivator → payment for pieces of work
· Managerial control over job performance is essential → more profit
Four principles Scientific Management (1911)
1. Scientific approach: time & motion studies
2. Selection of right worker for the job → most efficient employees
3. Training and development of worker
4. Strict separation of head and handwork: managers think, workers do
Practice
· Worker is extension of machine → not taking seriously & were exploited
· Protest from labor unions → bad human conditions
· US Congress investigation → stopwatch forbidden in public sector, not in private sector
Modern forms of Scientific Management = Taylorism is alive and well!
· McDonalds → Very standardized, no cognitive skills required
· Call centers → Written texts they have to speak out, no improvisation
· Ryanair
Until World War I and after
1913: The first assembly line Ford Motor Company
· Man is extension of machine, standard products → T-Ford
· Mass production, no right to labor unions
· Ford ‘Gestapo’ and culture of fear → Safety cards who created a culture of fear.
→ He implemented the ideas of Taylor → The Ford became cheaper, so it was affordable for more people.
Henry Ford (1863-1947)
High nazi-award from German Government (30-7-1938)
→ He was against Judes and immigrants and had hardly any respect for workers.
· Unionism not Fordism → The employees started strikes, because they wanted to be treated better
· Ford Head Quarters, Battle of the overpass (1937) → It changed the credit that Henry Ford had built up
· Ford’s security force attacks leading union organizers → The photographers placed photos in newspapers
Between the World Wars
· Yerkes developed intelligence tests → controversial bc cultural-biased
→ North European immigrants performed way better than the south immigrants → Selection Psychology
· More selection collaboration from 1920s
· Human Relation movement: more social aspect
· World War II: Selection and ergonomics were dominant
World War II, Ergonomics:
· application of psychological and physiological principles to the (engineering and) design of products,
processes, and systems
· goal of human factors is to reduce human error, increase productivity, and enhance safety and comfort with
a specific focus on the interaction between the human and the thing of interest
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,After World War II
Postwar period:
· Industrialisation:
→ Growth of selection psychology: selecting, testing
→ Also broadening: “Organisational Psychology”
· Training & schooling
·Theories of leadership, fatigue/stress
· Preventing accidents, ergonomics (designing tanks, aircraft)
1960s:
· Wave of democratization
· Criticism of selection psychology
· “Servants of power”
· Opposition of labor unions
· Civil Rights Act (1964)
From 1970s onwards:
differentiation, broadening and scientific deepening of W&O Psychology
Current challenges (threats, opportunities) Smart Technology
What about the psychological needs of workers?
· Autonomy Machines suppress the autonomy.
· Competency Which skills are still needed?
· Relatedness Many organizations are online, like Airbnb. Do they still feel connected?
· Inclusiveness of labor market? To what extent are the employees still included.
W&O psychology typified by..
· Strong interaction between practical questions and development of scientific knowledge
· Theories develop against the background of societal influences
Recent examples
· Effects of New Ways of Working and Smart Technology Prolonged working life
· Legislation on work conditions (1998) and work hours (2007) Health Behaviour (exercise, diets)
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, Week 1.2 (Practical) X Model of Work
Work & Health Analysis
collection & assessment to judge task/job/application & work-related health of employee
1) Work Situation
work demands work that has to be done, time, resources & language
work circumstances (physical) environment pleasant or not
work relationships atmosphere, style leadership, bullying
work conditions formal aspects, contract, resting hours, breaks, overtime
2) person coping capacity, care tasks, knowledge, skills, abilities & other characteristics (KSAOs)
→ tasks at home, care for children (double load), experience in job
3) work behavior how work is done & how it is dealt with problems
4) work performance positive vs negative outcome → mistakes, accidents
5) personal outcomes
job satisfaction, learning, fatigue, burn-out, physical outcomes (back & health issues)
reverse influence: work performance → work situation & personal outcomes → person possible
work performance → work situation: more responsibility → work situation gets harder; social support
increases
personal outcomes → person: bad performance → more tasks, stress, no social support ↺
women get more burn-out: affects work situation, person (coping capacity, role model) & environment (work
more often in burn-out sections)
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