Institute of Work Psychology (IWP) Research Update 2014

Research Update Institute of Work Psychology | 2014 Welcome to IWP 2014 We are a group of enthusiastic work psychologists and organisational behaviour researchers at the University of Sheffield, UK, comprising both academic staff and doctoral researchers. These four pages contain very brief notes about a few of our projects; please follow up any which interest you online or contact a researcher directly. The I­ nstitute’s general website is www.sheffield.ac.uk/ management/research/iwp Founded in 1968 as the Social and Applied Psychology Unit and becoming the Institute of Work Psychology (IWP) in 1994, we are now part of Sheffield University Management School, one of only 59 Triple Crown accredited business schools in the world. The school has recently moved into superb new accommodation, and the Institute expects to appoint at least two additional members of academic staff during 2014.

New Stressors and New Approaches Stressors in a job can emerge in different forms as technology continues to advance. For example, the steady flow of email messages in a job may now include abuse from another person – cyberbullying.

SAM FARLEY is investigating this process, with particular attention to how cyberbullied individuals explain an episode to themselves.

For instance, they could blame the organisation, perhaps leading to poor work performance, or they might blame themselves, giving rise to reduced self-esteem. A study of junior doctors has found that self-blame for being bullied online is linked to higher mental strain. Reflecting about “Who’s to blame?” may thus have significant organisational as well as personal consequences.

A relatively new method to handle stress in the job is through the application of “Mindfulness” procedures. These involve focusing attention closely on something in the present moment and using meditation or yoga. Mindfulness has been shown to be effective in medical settings and its procedures are increasingly used in schools and on the sports field; but can they also help in jobs? LEANNE INGRAM is working to learn more about that, and would particularly appreciate contact from others interested in the topic.

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Non-Work Activities

Eva teaches on the School’s MSc in Occupational Psychology

WORK & WELLBEING Recent research has complemented traditional investigations of stress by also emphasising positive aspects of experience, for instance in the processes and consequences of engagement in a job. Environmental and personal contributors to high engagement are now well documented, and PETER WARR is examining this as a form of positive wellbeing.

Engagement incorporates raised activation and energy, whereas the much-investigated job satisfaction is also positive but with lower activation.

Both are important, but they are different in their motivational emphasis and likely impact. This draws attention to the fact that it is essential to distinguish between different types of wellbeing, for example through separate dimensions of high-to-low activation as well as high-to-low pleasure. Peter has carried out a series of studies in that area and is also concerned to specify differences between people. For instance, he is examining the personality bases of engagement and variations in the personal value attached to particular job features. Most recently, he is focusing on aspects of wellbeing and job content during self-employment.

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Paid work, unpaid work and many leisure activities provide individuals with a range of opportunities, for instance to contribute to collective goals beyond your own concerns, to become more active, to share experiences, and to make contact with people outside one’s own family. These so-called latent benefits, have been found to be linked to better mental health and greater happiness, and EVA SELENKO (pictured above) is investigating them inside and outside jobs. A recent longitudinal study comparing persons in and out of paid employment has shown that aspects of volunteer work can substitute for unsatisfying job experiences by providing similar benefits. Eva is now examining the possibility of a general factor underlying the several domains and is exploring processes of compensation between them.

What about recovery from a period of job activity? CAROLYN AXTELL has joined colleagues in several universities to look at non-work activities – those which may aid recovery from work. The study particularly focuses on people in non-traditional jobs – home-based teleworkers who are self-employed – comparing those with staff in traditional offices. Individuals of both kinds have completed research diaries across a period of 12 days and early analyses suggest, for example, that physical and social recovery activities are particularly helpful for selfemployed teleworkers. A second study is extending the findings through analyses of data from the European Survey of Working Conditions, where the effects of telework and selfemployment can be disaggregated.

After a long period at work, lazing on the couch might seem the most appealing way to recover. However active and challenging activities, such as developing skills in a favourite sport, might sometimes be even more beneficial. CIARA KELLY is investigating these recovery processes by obtaining diary reports to examine whether effortful, meaningful learning activities more accompany proactivity than do more passive pleasurable activities. Although active leisure can provide two key ingredients of proactivity – energy and confidence – the high investment of effort may impair later activities. So the project is also asking whether there are certain circumstances when particularly challenging leisure activities might have a negative impact on the psychological resources subsequently available for work.

Innovation and Entrepreneurial Activity Organisational, technological and social innovations depend on peoples’ ideas – sometimes arising from “eureka” experiences but often requiring more than that. KAMAL BIRDI (pictured below) has developed a training programme for individuals and organisations to improve the generation and implementation of new ideas – the “CLEAR IDEAS” framework.

This has been applied and evaluated in several organisations, and participants have reported significant impacts in terms of organisational effectiveness and efficiency. One large police force has introduced the framework to drive continuous improvement.

Innovation through entrepreneurial activity to create social good is expanding, but we know very little about the process by which ideas are developed into social ventures. ANDREANA DRENCHEVA is working to understand this process and to aid current and potential social entrepreneurs. Jointly with colleagues in Sheffield and Aston, she is conducting a longitudinal mixed-methods study (“Startup Journeys for Social Good”) to go beyond retrospective inquiries and to track the process in close to real time.

Leadership and Social Identity Examining the connection between leadership and social identity processes, DAVID RAST is examining how anti-normative leaders emerge within their groups, and how effective leadership in conflict-ridden groups becomes established. For instance, findings illustrate how extremist leaders can rise to power by emphasising a shared identity and strategically using uncertainty to exert influence over their group. The research has been conducted with student as well as non-student samples, and in varied settings of political and organisational leadership. Among current projects, David is working to understand when and why people prefer different kinds of leader, and several studies have found that uncertainty among followers tends to promote the emergence of non-prototypical, autocratic, and change-oriented leadership.

Kamal teaches his European Police Research to Management School staff

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One part of PENNY DICK’S research is concerned with understanding how gender inequalities are perpetuated through everyday taken-for-granted work practices. For example, the chronic and ongoing under-representation of women in the UK police service is at least partly attributable to the problems women have in combining domestic and childcare responsibilities with shift work.

Penny’s research exposes how shift-working is not necessitated by police activities but is constructed as such through the way jobs have been traditionally defined and understood.

Organisations and their Culture Better understanding of psychological and organisational aspects of health-care has long been a goal of IWP. MALCOLM PATTERSON is focusing especially on older patients. He is co-investigator in a programme to change the culture of hospital care for that group. The programme asks staff to scrutinise their own procedures with special concern for the dignity of older patients, and actively encourages the involvement of patients and their carers.

The research seeks to implement and assess ways in which nurses can lead in the creation of hospital environments where older patients, their family carers and members of staff all feel they are listened to and valued. It builds on a three-year study of culture change and the quality of older people’s care led by Malcolm.

JEREMY DAWSON is also continuing his research in the UK National Health Service (NHS). He is examining how staff experiences in team-working, engagement and other aspects of human resource management affect absenteeism, patient satisfaction and health outcomes. The research has revealed high levels of care by most NHS staff, improving levels of staff engagement and some highly successful innovations, but also found that many NHS Trust boards are unclear about their objectives and focus excessively on targets and productivity rather than quality and safety.

Two other projects have also been with police. In one, Penny has been working with the College of Policing to identify the competencies required for effective performance at experienced police constable and special constable level. Second, she has explored definitions of competence in police work, recording how those are not gender-neutral and how they can deter women from applying to the service and also disadvantage them in career terms, especially following childbirth.

KAMAL BIRDI’S research has included studies of knowledge-sharing across organisations. In a fouryear research programme on issues of change in police forces across the European Union, he has led investigations into information-transmission within and between organisations. Ten types of factor were found to particularly influence knowledge-sharing in different domains, for example staff capabilities, financial resources and organisational characteristics, and a knowledge-sharing diagnostic tool was created specifically for police work. The IWP contribution has also included case studies by ANNA TOPAKAS into the implementation of changes in policing procedures.

The Institute is also examining how information is shared upwards in organisations. Specific emphasis has been placed on the relationship between police constables and police sergeants and the way that they share information informally. Within a UK force SARAH BROOKS is exploring the issue of organisational silence and the factors which prevent police constables from voicing their concerns, doubts and opinion about operational performance with their sergeants. The study will involve a matched-pair analysis to investigate how police officers and police sergeants use both informal and formal channels to share information with each other.

www.sheffield.ac.uk/management/research/iwp Institute of Work Psychology, Sheffield University Management School, Conduit Road, Sheffield S10 1FL, United Kingdom.

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