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Ståle Valvatne Einarsen & Anders Skogstad (Eds.)

The competent employee

Handbook of Personnel Psychology

The Competent Employee

Ståle Valvatne Einarsen & Anders Skogstad (Eds.)

The Competent Employee

Handbook of Personnel Psychology

Original title: Den dyktige medarbeider (3rd edition)

First edition 2026 / First printing 2026

ISBN: 978-82-450-5940-3

Graphic production: John Grieg, Bergen

Cover design: Fagbokforlaget

Cover illustration: ©GoodStudio/shutterstock

This manuscript was translated from Norwegian using machine translation, revised by the authors and the editors, and subsequently reviewed by a language consultant.

Direct enquiries to: Fagbokforlaget

Kanalveien 51

5068 Bergen

Norway

Tel.: +47 55 38 88 00

email: fagbokforlaget@fagbokforlaget.no www.fagbokforlaget.no

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The prohibition also applies to use of the material in artificial intelligence, including training of such systems. Text and data mining is not permitted, in accordance with the reservation right in Article 4 of the Digital Single Market Directive.

Vigmostad & Bjørke AS is Eco-Lighthouse certified, and the books are produced in environmentally certified printing houses.

Preface

The question of what makes employees competent, capable, skilled and effective has many answers. Some focus on the characteristics of the individual employee, while others relate to the organisation and its approaches to recruitment, development, and management. The Competent Employee is a handbook in personnel psychology that presents and discusses key aspects of being and becoming an effective and high-performing employee in contemporary working life, as well as effective and best-practice methods for recruiting, managing, and supporting employees in this respect.

Hence, the focus is on the individual within the organisation: their personal and individual characteristics, qualifications and biological and psychological foundations for becoming a skilled, effective and capable employee, the factors shaping individuals’ behaviour at work, and the organisation’s management of the individual employee, so to speak, from ‘cradle to grave’. Personnel psychology, and this book, are based on the premise that working life is one of the most important arenas for our development as human beings and for being a content, happy and healthy person. At the same time, the discipline and the book are founded on the recognition of individual employees as among the most important factors in well-functioning and high-performing organisations.

Our hope and intention is that this book is a valuable contribution to the discussion of what characterises and creates productive, efficient, healthy, motivated, engaged, and satisfied employees and what defines professional employers in terms of recruiting, developing, managing, and supporting employees effectively. The book is written by leading and highly experienced professionals in their fields and is based on the third and newly updated edition of an existing Norwegian book called Den dyktige medarbeider.

The book’s contributors are leading experts in their fields. We owe each of them a great debt of gratitude for creating this fourth and updated English version. We would also like to thank editor Sven Barlinn and publisher Arno Vigmostad and his staff at Fagbokforlaget for their enthusiasm, patience, and practical assistance in the development and completion of this book.

Bergen, June, 2026

Ståle Valvatne Einarsen

Anders Skogstad

Einar Marnburg and Olav Kjellevold Olsen

11 Destructive Employee Behaviour: How, When and Why?

Ståle Valvatne Einarsen, Morten Birkeland Nielsen, Bjørn Inge Raknes, and Anders Skogstad

Anette Harris and Ståle Valvatne Einarsen

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– How to Create Workplaces that are Friendly and Motivating for Older Workers

Reidar J. Mykletun

Jarle Eid and Bjørn Helge Johnsen (1959–2023)

The Competent Employee: Handbook of Personnel Psychology is a comprehensive guide focusing on the individual’s qualifications for the role of a capable, effective and skilled employee, factors influencing employees in this respect, and organizational best practice in recruiting, motivating and supporting high-performing employees.

Written by leading Norwegian and Scandinavian experts in their field, the book addresses topics such as:

• Characteristics of skilled, capable and high-performing employees

• Basic principles of effective adult learning in organizations

• Clarifying expectations: Building effective psychological contracts

• Evidence-based recruitment and selection: Best practices

• Driving high performance: Motivation, incentives and rewards

• Personality and performance: Understanding and assessing individual differences

• Supporting and motivating an aging workforce

• Onboarding and socializing young employees

• Trauma management: Supporting employees through crisis and loss

• Facing challenges and demands at work: Stress management and effective coping

• Fostering high job satisfaction and work engagement

• Characteristics of ethical behavior and ethical employees

• Performance management: Measuring and developing talent

• Maintaining individual work ability and lifelong employability

This handbook is designed for students in relevant subject areas, but also for managers, HR professionals, health and safety personnel, and organizational consultants responsible for supporting, developing, motivating and protecting individual employees within organizations, as well as for individuals seeking to improve their professional capabilities.

Ståle Valvatne Einarsen is professor of work and organizational psychology at the University of Bergen. His academic focus includes workplace bullying and harassment, conflict and conflict management, leadership, sickness absence, the psychosocial work environment, and creativity and innovation. Einarsen has extensive applied experience as an organizational consultant and adviser to private and public organizations.

Anders Skogstad is professor emeritus of work and organizational psychology at the University of Bergen and a specialist in work and organizational psychology (NPF). His academic focus has primarily been on psychosocial work environment factors, organizational culture, and destructive forms of leadership and workplace bullying. Skogstad has extensive applied experience as an organizational consultant.

ISBN 978-82-450-5940-3