2014 Organizational Psychology Summer Seminar
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street
No booking required
Come along and join us on Wednesday 23 July 2014 to hear about the latest research taking place in the Department of Organizational Psychology at Birkbeck. This is a wonderful opportunity for alumni and current students to hear about the latest developments in the fields of Occupational Psychology, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management. There will also be time to network with alumni, current students, academics and staff from the department during the day and at the wine reception following the seminar.
How can I attend this exciting event? This event is free to extend and is open to all alumni, current students and professional colleagues engaged or interested in the field of organisational behaviour, HRM and beyond.
Summer Seminar: Proceedings at a Glance
Welcome and Opening Address
Professor Pat Tissington, Head of Department, Birkbeck, University of London
Pat was appointed Head of Department in June 2013 at a point where the department had been through some significant changes. He will outline new developments and what the department looks like as we move towards another new academic year. There are new courses and new staff, but still the same core values that our alumni will recognise.
Keynote Presentation: “Beyond Job Crafting”
Professor Kevin Daniels, University of East Anglia
Job crafting refers to informal attempts made by workers to improve their working conditions. Job crafting has become a ‘hot’ topic in job design research and is seen as a ‘bottom-up’ alternative to ‘top-down’ management-led job design (e.g., formal introduction of semi-autonomous team working). Job crafting may, therefore, help explain some of the mixed results concerning the introduction of planned job re-design interventions to improve work related well-being. Such interventions are based on research that indicates associations between the presence or absence of job features and health and well-being, without taking into account the genesis of such job features (crafted or imposed). In this presentation, I will explore the: (i) individual, social and organisational processes of how jobs come to be; (ii) the cognitive and emotional processes that translate job characteristics into outcomes such as well-being and motivation; and (iii) how a better understanding of the complexities of job design and job crafting can inform the better management of job redesign interventions.
Kevin Daniels is Professor of Organizational Behaviour and head of the Employment Systems and Institutions Group at the University of East Anglia. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Chartered Psychologist and a full member of the Division of Occupational Psychology. From 1998-2007, he was an associate editor of the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology and from 2007-2012, he was an associate editor of Human Relations. He currently serves on the editorial board of both these journals and the Journal of Management. Kevin has been principal or co-investigator on several Health and Safety Executive funded projects concerned with stress and well-being in the workplace, as well as Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grants concerned with job design and safety in high hazard engineering.
“Deciding not to decide: Rationale thought or strong emotions? “
Dr Chris Dewberry, Birkbeck, University of London
There is a great deal of theory research on how we make decisions, but little on how we avoid them. In this talk an investigation into the psychological mechanism by which people avoid decisions will be presented, as will the influence of this mechanism on decision-making competence. Individual differences in the tendency to put off decisions off will be considered, and the relevance of this research for decision-making at work will be discussed.
“A performative examination of accounts of clinical practice in medical director identity”
Dr Kate Mackenzie Davey & Megan Joffe , Birkbeck, University of London
Medical directors struggle to maintain their identity as doctors. This study identifies the performative aspects in their accounts of the role of clinical practice in their credibility as managers. In doing so it highlights the instability as well as the power of identity as doctor and the cultural context in which this identity is nurtured and valued. This exposes the identity medical directors are sacrificing or putting at risk and raises our own ambivalence about those who “give up” the practice of medicine
“The Eye of the Beholder: On observation in organizations”
Dr Andreas Liefooghe, Birkbeck, University of London
Does not all science start with an observation, regardless of the (lack of) theoretical neutrality? Can we question why so few observational studies are conducted in organizations these days, and how this might contribute to an arguably diminished field? Drawing on three longitudinal observational studies, we will discuss the problematics of seeing and being seen. Touching on Popperian falsification, Russell’s induction, the Foucauldian gaze and the Lacanian scopic drive, this paper charts a messy course in the quest for beauty if not truth.
“Can Barbie* be an entrepreneur?”
Dr Katrina Pritchard, Helen Cooper and Dr Kate Mackenzie-Dave, Birkbeck, University of London
In February 2014 Mattel announced the launch of “Entrepreneur Barbie*” as the latest in their “I can be” range of the classic (even iconic,) doll. This latest career move for Barbie was widely reported in the press and was the subject of much discussion on various Web 2.0 media. Considering such discussions as a discursive resource, our research poses the question: Can Barbie be an entrepreneur? Our data are Web 2.0 discussions and company information distributed by Mattel (including via/from Barbie’s very own twitter account @Barbie) via the internet. Firstly, we will unpack Barbie’s* career to date, and review the implications for understandings of gendered careers. Secondly, we will reflect on the latest move to ‘entrepreneur’ considering the implications for (gendered) understandings of entrepreneurship. We further reflect on the construction of Barbie’s career as a significant cultural artefact that extends the reach of the material artefact, the Barbie doll.
(*© Mattel)
Concluding Remarks and Closing Session
Professor Pat Tissington, Head of Department, Birkbeck, University of London
Networking Event: Wine Reception
Contact name: Isobel Edwards
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