140 posts · 56,038 views
The British Psychology Society's Occupational Digest is a blog dedicated to how psychology matters in the workplace. It follows the success of the award-winning BPS Research Digest which reports on psychology of every flavour. The Occupational Digest continues this spirit of reporting what matters, but keeps its sights firmly on what matters at work. This extends beyond academic findings to knowledge gathered through case studies and expert testimony. The purpose is to share evidence to help us understand work and make the most of it.
BPS Occupational Digest
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- June 15, 2012
- 07:10 AM
- 314 views
Why do job applicants behave the way they do?
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Truth, lies and rolling dice. Not a Vegas weekend, but new research looking at applicant self-presentation: how individuals use behaviours to give a favourable account of themselves in job selection situations. We might call it faking, but are applicants just doing what recruiters expect of them?The researchers, Anne Jansen and colleagues, drew on 53 recruiters (HR professionals) from a range of Swiss companies, and two adult student groups representing applicants (416 Masters studen........ Read more »
Jansen, A., König, C., Stadelmann, E., & Kleinmann, M. (2012) Applicants’ Self-Presentational Behavior. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 11(2), 77-85. DOI: 10.1027/1866-5888/a000046
- June 13, 2012
- 09:45 AM
- 325 views
How can photography help us to understand organisations?
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
"The drawing shows me at one glance what might be spread over ten pages in a book." - Fathers and Sons by Ivan S. Turgenev, 1862.As textual as humans have become, it's hard to deny the power pictures have to convey and enhance meaning. 20th century researchers recognised how images can be a tool for understanding, but the study of work and organisations has been slower to get in on the act. A paper from the University of Tennessee explores the possibilities of organisational research using one t........ Read more »
Ray, J., & Smith, A. (2011) Using Photographs to Research Organizations: Evidence, Considerations, and Application in a Field Study. Organizational Research Methods, 15(2), 288-315. DOI: 10.1177/1094428111431110
- June 11, 2012
- 05:30 AM
- 391 views
Training is more effective for those in their chosen job
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Why do some get more out of training than others? One major factor is motivation, leading to such outcomes as greater skill acquisition, higher post-training confidence, and stronger intentions to apply the learning in the workplace. Trainers and researchers now understand ways to act on this, enhancing motivation by giving participants more control over the procedures of training and a choice in whether to participate in the first place. What else could help? Many models suggest that intrinsic ........ Read more »
Patrick, J., Smy, V., Tombs, M., & Shelton, K. (2012) Being in one's chosen job determines pre-training attitudes and training outcomes. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 85(2), 245-257. DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8325.2011.02027.x
- June 6, 2012
- 06:11 AM
- 347 views
How do people perceive dominant behaviour by black female leaders?
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
For women in managerial positions, taking behaviours that are too overtly dominant or coloured with emotions can incur penalties: their leadership skills may be questioned and expressing anger frequently may lead them to lower status and salaries. Black leaders walk a similar line, with male black CEOs benefiting from having non-threatening, 'babyfaced' features where white leaders with more rugged features thrive. You could expect black women who are dominant and agentic to be especially penali........ Read more »
Livingston, R., Rosette, A., & Washington, E. (2012) Can an Agentic Black Woman Get Ahead? The Impact of Race and Interpersonal Dominance on Perceptions of Female Leaders. Psychological Science, 23(4), 354-358. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611428079
- May 23, 2012
- 08:36 AM
- 209 views
What makes a maverick?
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Who are the mavericks who take the path less travelled and bring organisations along in their wake? We can point to individuals, such as the British entrepreneur Richard Branson, but there has been little empirical work to establish the personal profile that predicts maverickism.Enter Elliroma Gardiner and Chris J. Jackson, who gathered data online from 458 full-time workers within a range of sectors, seeking to map a range of personal variables onto their measure of maverickism. This meas........ Read more »
Gardiner, E., & Jackson, C. (2011) Workplace mavericks: How personality and risk-taking propensity predicts maverickism. British Journal of Psychology. DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011.02090.x
- May 21, 2012
- 05:49 AM
- 204 views
Depression and burnout: vicious cycles and the saving grace of exercise
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
A rise in levels of depression contributes to subsequent increases in work burnout, and burnout to later depression, according to new research. However, physical exercise can mitigate and even prevent this vicious cycle.Here's the how: Sharok Toker and Michal Biron assessed employed visitors to a medical centre on three occasions spanning on average 40 months. They ended up with 1,632 participants from a range of occupations with a mean age of 47, mainly (70%) male. At each time point participan........ Read more »
Toker, S., & Biron, M. (2012) Job burnout and depression: Unraveling their temporal relationship and considering the role of physical activity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(3), 699-710. DOI: 10.1037/a0026914
- May 16, 2012
- 05:06 AM
- 323 views
Perfectionists worry away the benefits of a break from work
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Go on, have a few days off. Take a week - you've certainly earned it! Clear your mind, take a break - things will tick over til you return...Easier said than done, of course. But respites from work are valuable, replenishing resources and preventing negative loads (mental fatigue, adrenaline build-up) spiralling out of control. Sadly, the positive gloss of the holiday itself tends to slip quickly when we return to work - a 'fade-out effect' described well in this Psychologist article. What........ Read more »
Flaxman PE, Ménard J, Bond FW, & Kinman G. (2012) Academics' Experiences of a Respite From Work: Effects of Self-Critical Perfectionism and Perseverative Cognition on Postrespite Well-Being. The Journal of applied psychology. PMID: 22545621
- May 9, 2012
- 08:26 AM
- 356 views
A case for putting guilt-prone people in charge
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Leadership research has gained an appetite for dispositional affect, a person's tendency to feel one way more than another. Individuals who regularly express positive affects like pride or enthusiasm are seen as better leaders and produce better outcomes. Negative affects, meanwhile, are less consistently useful: although bursts of appropriate anger can help to focus efforts, frequent expressions of negative emotions lead to poor outcomes for followers such as stress and poor coordination......... Read more »
Schaumberg, R., & Flynn, F. (2012) Uneasy Lies the Head That Wears the Crown: The Link Between Guilt Proneness and Leadership. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. DOI: 10.1037/a0028127
- May 3, 2012
- 05:03 PM
- 229 views
How can managers play a positive part in a coaching relationship?
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Coaching at work has become more common as a way to develop employees and improve performance. These coaches are often specialists from another function or from outside the organisation. Yet there is another person with stakes in the employee's developmental priorities... their line manager. To date, there has been little scrutiny of how they affect the coaching process, but a new study helps clarify the role of this third party.Helen Ogilvy and Vicky Ellam-Dyson's study performed semi-structur........ Read more »
Ogilvy, H., & Ellam-Dyson, V. (2012) Line management involvement in coaching: Help or hindrance? A content analysis study. International Coaching Psychology Review, 7(1), 39-53. info:/
- May 1, 2012
- 08:59 AM
- 318 views
How do occupational psychology lab experiments hold up in the real world?
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
A new paper combs meta-analytic data from across psychology to better understand how laboratory research translates to the real world. Here at the Occupational Digest, we report on evidence from a range of sources, often field work from within specific organisations (such as managers ratings of performance), or more general surveys of working individuals - but also from laboratory studies, typically involving students rather than participants with a working history. Are findings from such set-up........ Read more »
Mitchell, G. (2012) Revisiting Truth or Triviality: The External Validity of Research in the Psychological Laboratory. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(2), 109-117. DOI: 10.1177/1745691611432343
- April 27, 2012
- 08:59 AM
- 305 views
How 'who you could have been' could shape your workplace identity
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Carter is at a formal drinks for a colleague back from secondment, part of a fast-track management scheme. He remembers opting not to apply for the scheme five years ago and wonders how things would be now had he taken that plunge: the overseas experiences, the pressures, the opportunities. What would that Carter be like? In subsequent months he finds herself returning to this idea, finally setting up a meeting with his manager, who is surprised to hear him reveal that he feels dissatisfied and ........ Read more »
Obodaru, O. (2012) The Self Not Taken: How Alternative Selves Develop and How They Influence Our Professional Lives. The Academy of Management Review, 37(1), 34-57. DOI: 10.5465/amr.2009.0358
- April 24, 2012
- 09:11 AM
- 280 views
The truth about nice guys, mean girls, and pay
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Analyses suggest that a personality high in agreeableness is associated with lower earnings. This might seem surprising, given that agreeableness is associated with interpersonal effectiveness, increasingly important in jobs. But at least it helps explain why women experience pay inequality, given that women tend to have warm qualities; if they want to earn more, they better toughen up, right? If this seems reasonable, you'd do well to read on, and appreciate the work of a recent study that seek........ Read more »
Judge, T., Livingston, B., & Hurst, C. (2012) Do nice guys—and gals—really finish last? The joint effects of sex and agreeableness on income. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(2), 390-407. DOI: 10.1037/a0026021
- April 20, 2012
- 09:47 AM
- 382 views
The 'taint' of sex shops can simultaneously repulse and compel its employees
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
If you worked in a sex shop, how would you handle the taint associated with that line of 'dirty work'? People employed in such occupations take various approaches, including refocusing attention away from negative features, inflating the weight of positive features, or reframing the stigmatised elements to neutralise or even valorise them.A recent paper by Melissa Tyler suggests another response to the physical, social and moral taints associated with sex shops. Her ethnographic account focusing........ Read more »
Tyler, M. (2011) Tainted love: From dirty work to abject labour in Soho's sex shops. Human Relations, 64(11), 1477-1500. DOI: 10.1177/0018726711418849
- April 11, 2012
- 03:14 AM
- 299 views
Controlled study finds mind-body stress reduction techniques effective in workplace
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
A large randomised controlled study has found yoga and meditation techniques to be effective for stress reduction in the workplace. The study screened employees from a single company at two location to find healthy individuals who identified themselves as stressed and did not practice those techniques. This led to 239 employees who were randomly assigned to a weekly program of viniyoga practice, a similar program focused on mindfulness meditation, or to a control group who were simply given info........ Read more »
Wolever, R., Bobinet, K., McCabe, K., Mackenzie, E., Fekete, E., Kusnick, C., & Baime, M. (2012) Effective and viable mind-body stress reduction in the workplace: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 17(2), 246-258. DOI: 10.1037/a0027278
- April 5, 2012
- 07:52 AM
- 350 views
Is it true that our perception of telephone waiting time depends less on the actual time than other factors?
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
A customer's experience of dealing with a call centre on the phone can colour their attitude towards the organisation. A recent study claims that customer satisfaction with how long such calls take depends less on call time than on the quality of service we receive, suggesting that companies' focus on an 'ideal call time' may be misplaced. An interesting claim, but is it borne out by the data?The team, writing in the journal Scientific Research, worked with a call centre to analyse data from 301........ Read more »
Garcia, D. (2012) Waiting in Vain: Managing Time and Customer Satisfaction at Call Centers. Psychology, 03(02), 213-216. DOI: 10.4236/psych.2012.32030
- April 2, 2012
- 09:42 AM
- 298 views
Too much focus on 'learning from failure' can make us unhappy
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
When we fail, how we feel and what we end up learning from it depends upon our coping strategy, according to new research. In particular, focusing exclusively on 'learning from failure' may make us miserable in the process.This research explored experiences of working scientists, investigator Dean Shepherd and colleagues noting how this domain involves facing disappointing project failures, see e.g. the low rates of success for bringing drugs to market.The researchers personally contacted employ........ Read more »
Shepherd, D., Patzelt, H., & Wolfe, M. (2011) Moving Forward from Project Failure: Negative Emotions, Affective Commitment, and Learning from the Experience. The Academy of Management Journal, 54(6), 1229-1259. DOI: 10.5465/amj.2010.0102
- March 23, 2012
- 09:29 AM
- 247 views
Job outcomes and experiences suffer when managers regularly work remotely
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Technology gives us the option to work in locations beyond conventional offices, both partially - termed teleworking - or as a full-time 'virtual' worker. We now understand that remote workers experience certain challenges such as isolation and less access to resources. But there is scant research on the consequences of a teleworking or virtual manager. Fortunately, a new article gets us up to speed.Investigators Timothy D Golden and Allan Fromen surveyed over 11,000 employees from a Fortune 500........ Read more »
Golden, T., & Fromen, A. (2011) Does it matter where your manager works? Comparing managerial work mode (traditional, telework, virtual) across subordinate work experiences and outcomes. Human Relations, 64(11), 1451-1475. DOI: 10.1177/0018726711418387
- March 16, 2012
- 05:45 AM
- 281 views
Leader evaluations draw on different racial stereotypes depending on leadership performance
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
We may think of stereotypes as fixed entities, but research suggests they are applied under certain conditions, often to make sense of situations. A new article applies this theory of 'goal based stereotyping' to leadership, specifically the stereotype that 'black' people (the term used in the article) possess less leadership competence, in terms of qualities like intelligence, determination, or decisiveness. When a black leader performs poorly, the incompetence stereotype can be applied to easi........ Read more »
Carton, A., & Rosette, A. (2011) Explaining Bias against Black Leaders: Integrating Theory on Information Processing and Goal-Based Stereotyping. The Academy of Management Journal, 54(6), 1141-1158. DOI: 10.5465/amj.2009.0745
- March 12, 2012
- 11:52 AM
- 435 views
Be all you can be: how military training affects personality
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Military training intends to change behaviour, drilling the military way into new recruits, and providing incentives for sticking firmly to it. But how enduring are its effects? A recent study suggests that we may exaggerate the degree to which the military 'makes the man' (in this case), but that there are influences that endure well into the labour market.Joshua Jackson of Washington University and a team from the University of Tubingen studied young German men performing their 9 months of mil........ Read more »
Jackson, J., Thoemmes, F., Jonkmann, K., Ludtke, O., & Trautwein, U. (2012) Military Training and Personality Trait Development: Does the Military Make the Man, or Does the Man Make the Military?. Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611423545
- March 6, 2012
- 11:16 AM
- 251 views
Sleep less and waste more time online: the temptations of cyberloafing
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Cyberloafing is when work time is frittered away on unrelated online activities, whether it be web comics, perusing news sites or watching the 1982 snooker championship final. A new article suggests that we may be more prone to it when we haven't had enough sleep. Its authors, led by David Wagner, began sifting through Google's publically available data for rates of Entertainment-related searches, judged to be a reasonable proxy of cyberloafing. But how can anonymous data shed light on an i........ Read more »
Wagner, D., Barnes, C., Lim, V., & Ferris, D. (2012) Lost Sleep and Cyberloafing: Evidence From the Laboratory and a Daylight Saving Time Quasi-Experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology. DOI: 10.1037/a0027557
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