scholarly journals A systems psychodynamic description of clinical psychologists’ role transition towards becoming organisational development consultants

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frans Cilliers ◽  
Sanchen Henning
Keyword(s):  
Data Gathering ◽  
Clinical Psychologists ◽  
Role Transition ◽  
Organisational Development ◽  
Collective Case Study ◽  
Hermeneutic Phenomenological ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Phenomenological Research Design ◽  
Value Add

Orientation: Clinical psychologists’ transition from practising in a clinical context to a large organisation implies an intensely experienced professional identity shift.Research purpose: To provide a systems psychodynamic description of the lived experiences of a group of clinical psychologists’ role transition towards becoming organisational development (OD) consultants.Motivation for the study: Although the role of clinical psychologists in organisations is theoretically explicated, limited research exists on their role transition experiences. Their lack of theoretical knowledge about and experience in organisational psychology make them vulnerable for exclusion and isolation.Research approach/design and method: A hermeneutic phenomenological research design using a collective case study, consisting of eight clinical psychologists, was used. The data gathering methods included a Listening Post and socio-analytic interviews. Systems psychodynamic data analysis was performed.Main findings: The manifesting themes related to experiences of diverse and intense anxiety, defensive structures, role, task, boundary and authorisation conflicts as well as solitary pilgrimages. Participants experienced an attack on their personal and professional identities, a sense of being overwhelmed, excluded and isolated from their colleagues and peers.Practical/managerial implications: The findings will facilitate clinical psychologists’ transition into OD roles and organisations’ awareness of their identity challenges.Contribution/value-add: Although employing clinical psychologists in OD roles is practised in many large organisations, the findings suggest that their transition into this role is underestimated in terms of emotional intensity.

scholarly journals Exploring the role of the industrial-organisational psychologist as counsellor

2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanri Barkhuizen ◽  
Lené I. Jorgensen ◽  
Lizelle Brink
Keyword(s):  
Scope Of Practice ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Short Term ◽  
North West ◽  
Qualitative Research Design ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Counselling Interventions ◽  
Depth Interviews

Orientation: Industrial-organisational (I-O) psychologists are often confronted with counselling interventions in the workplace and thus it is vital that they are effectively prepared for their role as workplace counsellors.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to review the role of I-O psychologists as counsellors and to ascertain whether these practitioners are effectively prepared for this purpose.Motivation for the study: I-O psychologists are mainly concerned with the deep-rooted problems individuals experience in the workplace, and they therefore need appropriate counselling skills. However, it is not clear whether graduates in this discipline receive adequate training for this role.Research design, approach and method: A qualitative research design with convenience and snowball sampling of 22 participants was utilised. Participants were practising I-O psychologists across Gauteng and North West (South Africa). Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used to gather data, which were transcribed verbatim and analysed using content analysis.Main findings: Participants were familiar with the meaning of counselling and confirmed that they are faced with a range of counselling situations requiring a unique set of skills and competencies. Based on these findings, participants made recommendations for the future training of I-O psychologists and recommended that counselling be included in the scope of practice of I-O psychologists.Practical/managerial implications: The role of the I-O psychologist requires training in short-term therapeutic techniques and counselling in tertiary education.Contribution/value-add: The study clarifies the role of the I-O psychologist as a counsellor that will ensure that I-O psychologists can be trained more effectively for this role.

scholarly journals The relationship between work locus of control and psychological capital amongst middle managers in the recruitment industry of South Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zurayda Shaik ◽  
Johanna H. Buitendach
Keyword(s):  
Locus Of Control ◽  
Work Performance ◽  
Middle Managers ◽  
Psychological Capital ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Work Locus Of Control ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
The Relationship

Orientation: The role of traits as a determinant of states has resulted in researchers closely examining their potential for enhancing work behaviour. This is achieved through the examination of the trait and state perspectives.Research purpose: This research sought to determine the relationship between work locus of control (WLOC) and psychological capital (PsyCap), with the objective of increasing alertness on the trait and state approach.Motivation for the study: The current study investigated the role of traits and states in contributing to the positive psychology arena within the recruitment industry.Research approach, design and method: This longitudinal research design involved 425 middle managers at Time 1 (T1), at both supervisory and specialist levels, and 190 middle managers at supervisory levels at Time 2 (T2). This longitudinal study used a biographical, WLOC and PsyCap questionnaires.Main findings: The findings indicated that WLOC has predictive value for PsyCap: a statistically significant and practical relationship was established between WLOC and PsyCap at T1 and T2. However, the multiple regression analysis results were not consistently demonstrated over time.Practical managerial implications: Understanding the role of personality traits and psychological states can provide managers with additional means of increasing employee efficiency through improving work processes such as recruitment and selection.Contributions/value-add: The recruitment and other industries are encouraged to utilise a strength-based approach to enhance work performance through selection processes that incorporate traits and states to further increase organisational competitiveness.

scholarly journals The role of experience in the development of social competencies

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynette Louw ◽  
Noel J. Pearse ◽  
Jateen Dhaya
Keyword(s):  
Critical Incident ◽  
Social Competencies ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Service Oriented ◽  
Open Coding ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Development Of Competencies ◽  
Value Add

Orientation: The role of experience in the development of managers’ social competencies has been analysed in this research.Research purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of the process through which experience contributed towards the development of service-oriented managers’ social competencies.Motivation for the study: Understanding the contribution of experiences to the development of competencies may have important implications for the selection and development of managers within service industries.Research design, approach and method: Following a multiple case study design, face-to-face interviews with service-oriented managers were held, based on the critical incident technique. Data were analysed using the open coding procedures of grounded theory.Main findings: Experience was found to contribute to the development of service-oriented managers’ social competencies, through a process that established an awareness of unfamiliar social competencies, or a reinforcement of the effects of familiar effective social competencies.Practical/managerial implications: The proposed process, the Social Competency Cache Development (SCCD) Process, is the practical outcome of the research which offers a tool to facilitate the development of social competencies through conscious leveraging of an individual’s experiences.Contribution/value add: The SCCD Process is recommended as a new avenue to leverage and thereby develop social competencies.

scholarly journals Risk management as a social defence against anxiety

2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk J. Geldenhuys ◽  
Madia M. Levin ◽  
Annelize Van Niekerk
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
African Country ◽  
Operational Risk ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Operational Risk Management ◽  
Doing Business ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Managing Risk

Orientation: This article deals with the unconscious role of risk management in an African country.Research purpose: The aim of the study is to describe how risk management unconsciously influences behaviour when doing business in an African country.Motivation for the study: Operational risk management is a rational management imperative. However, this does not take cognisance of the unconscious role of risk management. A systems-psychodynamic perspective might be particularly relevant if the anxiety implied in risk management is not appropriately contained. Awareness of these dynamics may provide an opportunity for addressing them and allow for a more holistic way of managing risk.Research design, approach and method: The researchers conducted the study as a qualitative case study in an African country. They used purposive sampling and analysed the data using qualitative content analysis.Main findings: Viewing risk management from a systems-psychodynamic perspective allowed the researchers to identify the influence of risk management on the behaviour of people. The emerging hypothesis was that, if businesses do not address the anxiety underlying risk management, managing risk becomes a social defence against the anxiety.Practical/managerial implications: Awareness of the anxiety involved in risk management may assist businesses to manage risk in a more realistic way, making provision for, and even capitalising on, the human element.Contributions/value-add: The article provides a systems-psychodynamic, and hence a more complete, perspective of operational risk management when doing business in an African country.

scholarly journals Positive organisation: The role of leader behaviour in work engagement and retention

2011 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fallen Mendes ◽  
Marius W. Stander
Keyword(s):  
Work Engagement ◽  
Psychological Empowerment ◽  
Intention To Leave ◽  
Role Clarity ◽  
Business Unit ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Utrecht Work Engagement Scale ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add

Orientation: The positive organisation creates a framework in which its elements can be investigated in relation to the retention of talent.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate if leader empowering behaviour can positively impact on role clarity, psychological empowerment and work engagement, with the final outcome being the retention of talent.Motivation for the study: In the ever changing work environment organisations place great emphasis on their human capital. The positive organisation utilises specific elements to optimise human capital’s potential. It is therefore important to identify the elements contributing to a positive organisation as well as the elements which lead to the retention of talent.Research design, approach and method: A survey research design was used. A convenience sample (n = 179) was taken from a business unit in a chemical organisation. The Leader Empowering Behaviour Questionnaire, Measures of Role Clarity and Ambiguity Questionnaire, Measuring Empowerment Questionnaire, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Intention to Leave Scale were administered.Main findings: Leader empowering behaviour, role clarity and psychological empowerment predicted work engagement. Role clarity interacted with competence to affect employees’ dedication and interacted with the development of employees to affect absorption. Work engagement predicted employees’ intention to leave.Practical/managerial implications: Organisations should foster the elements of a positive organisation if they want to retain their talent.Contribution/value-add: The results of this research contribute to scientific knowledge about the effects of a positive organisation on retention.

scholarly journals The impact of silo mentality on team identity: An organisational case study

2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frans Cilliers ◽  
Henk Greyvenstein
Keyword(s):  
Data Gathering ◽  
Team Identity ◽  
Group Relations ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Organisational Behaviour ◽  
Value Add ◽  
The Impact

Orientation: Organisational silos do not only refer to conscious structures, but also to an unconscious state of mind and mentality that takes on a life of its own. Silos result in the splitting of organisational artefacts and relationships, and impact negatively on relationship forming between individuals and within teams.Research purpose: The purpose of this research was to describe how the silo mentality impacts on team identity.Motivation for the study: During a recent organisational consultation the researchers realised that a so-called silo phenomenon had much more unexplained unconscious behaviour than was traditionally realised in terms of organisational development. It is hoped that findings from this qualitative study could give consultants entry into what happens below the surface in the silos’ unconscious.Research design, approach and method: A qualitative and descriptive research design using a case study strategy was used. Data gathering consisted of 25 narrative interviews. Using discourse analysis four themes manifested, integrated into four working hypotheses and a research hypothesis. Trustworthiness and ethical standards were ensured.Main findings: Themes that emerged were the physical environment and structure, intra-group relations, experiences of management, and intergroup relations.Practical/managerial implications: Consulting on silo behaviour as physical structures only may not be successful in changing organisational behaviour. The silo resembles an iceberg – the largest part is below the surface.Contribution/value-add: The findings evidenced silo behaviour to be an unconscious phenomenon influencing team identity negatively. Consultants are urged to study these manifestations towards understanding silos and their effect on team identity better.

scholarly journals The psychometric relationship between career thinking and salutogenic functioning amongst unemployed adults

2011 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirk Austin ◽  
Frans Cilliers
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Coherence ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Career Decisions ◽  
Career Indecision ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Psychological Maturity ◽  
Value Add

Orientation: Corporate survival mechanisms, like mergers, downsizing, restructuring and outsourcing, contribute to unemployment levels amongst adults. Psychological maturity seems to influence the quality of the career decisions that people make in these difficult circumstances. However, we do not know what their behavioural strengths are.Research objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the psychometric relationship between career thinking (negative and positive career thoughts) and salutogenic functioning (locus of control and sense of coherence) amongst unemployed adults.Motivation for study: Career decision research has consistently surveyed students to understand career indecision. Adults are not a homogenous group. Therefore, this trend may not reflect throughout the larger adult population. For this reason, the researchers conducted exploratory research into the nature of career indecision amongst non-student adults.Research design, approach and method: The researchers used a quantitative design that included a four-instrument survey on a purposive sample of 225 Canadian unemployed and non-student adults who had not decided on a career. They calculated correlations and regressions.Main findings: The researchers reported significant relationships between the four constructs. They found that a sense of coherence predicted career thinking.Contribution/value-add: A sense of coherence, which includes comprehension, meaningfulness and manageability, acts as a facilitator of effective career thinking.Practical/managerial implications: During career assessment and guidance, the role of sense of coherence as a strength factor will indicate the person’s readiness to make important career decisions.

scholarly journals Improvement interventions: To what extent are they manifestations of social defences?

2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremias J. De Klerk
Keyword(s):  
Coping Mechanisms ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
Defence Mechanisms ◽  
Essential Interventions ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Improvement Interventions ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Statistical Record ◽  
Rational Coping

Orientation: The statistical record of change and improvement interventions to deliver on expectations is notoriously poor. Yet, new interventions are started constantly.Research purpose: The aim is to provide an explanation to the lure behind interventions and to contribute to building a theory on plausible systems psychodynamic drivers and mechanisms of recurrent change interventions.Motivation for the study: This study provides insights into social defences in ways that did not receive much attention previously; specifically how defence mechanisms act as drivers for new change and improvement interventions.Research design, approach and method: A literature study, consisting of a literature review and a phenomenological analysis. The study was conducted from the systems psychodynamic approach.Main findings: Improvement interventions often represent defences that serve to contain anxieties or maintain fantasies. Four specific themes emerged: interventions defend the perception of being in control, they maintain the fantasy that one is busy with worthy actions to overcome challenges, they are defences against boredom or contain anxieties about incompetence, and they maintain the fantasy of being heroic leaders.Practical/managerial implications: The findings can assist leaders to understand their own defences in order to avoid embarking on non-essential interventions. This can free up much time, energy and effort to spend on other priorities, assisting organisations to achieve better results.Contribution/value-add: The study refutes the notion that improvement interventions are always rational coping mechanisms and highlights the role of improvement interventions as defences to reduce anxiety, even though they may contribute little to organisational survival in real terms.

scholarly journals The impact of COVID-19 on an employee assistance programme in a multinational insurance organisation: Considerations for the future

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Veldsman ◽  
Ninette Van Aarde
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Employee Assistance ◽  
External Context ◽  
Assistance Programme ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Education And Awareness ◽  
Value Add ◽  
The Impact

Orientation: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to an increased focus on the effectiveness of employee assistance programmes (EAPs).Research purpose: To evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the value, utilisation and scope of an EAP within the South African insurance sector.Motivation for the study: Higher levels of stress and anxiety experienced by employees because of COVID-19 has necessitated the need to better understand the reasons for EAPs utilisation and its effectiveness within organisations.Research approach/design and method: The study provided an overview of employee well-being and an overview of the origins and evolution of EAPs. The study utilised thematic analysis to analyse 1002 cases with a sample of n = 907, pre-and post-onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.Main findings: The utilisation of EAPs increased because of COVID-19, yet the reasons for accessing these programmes remained largely consistent before and during COVID-19. At a sub-theme level, the priority of themes differed across the time periods influenced by external context and circumstance.Practical/managerial implications: The study found a need to clearly define employee well-being and reposition the role of EAPs within the organisation. Organisations need to broaden the scope of EAPs and through continuous education and awareness create an environment where employees feel like they can safely access these services.Contribution/value-add: The study contributes towards the current literature on employee well-being and providing a perspective on the relevance, value and utilisation of EAPs before and during a pandemic.

scholarly journals An organisational coherence model to maintain employee contributions during organisational crises

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik J. Pelser ◽  
Anita Bosch ◽  
Willem Schurink
Keyword(s):  
Authentic Leadership ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Crisis Leadership ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Leadership Crisis ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Financial Need

Orientation: Crises that threaten an organisation’s continued existence cannot be seen in isolation when considering the perception of threats to individual job security. These threats often go hand in hand with employee panic.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to establish a model to assist organisations in managing employee emotionality and panic during times of crisis.Motivation for the study: Environmental crises threaten organisations’ existence, threatening employees’ livelihood and resulting in employee panic. Panic reduces employees’ contributions. Organisations that are successful harness employee contributions at all times.Research design, approach, and method: A modernist qualitative research methodology was adopted, which included a case study as research strategy, purposive sampling to select 12 research participants, semi-structured interviews for data gathering, focus groups for data verification, and the use of grounded theory for data analysis.Main findings: An organisation’s ability to manage employee panic depends on the relationship between the foundational elements of authentic leadership, crisis readiness, resilience practices, versatile and committed talent, strategic management, quality management, and coherence actions taken during the crisis, which include crisis leadership, ongoing visible communication, mindfulness, work flexibility, and decisions based on the greatest financial need and social support.Practical/managerial implications: The study provides a best-practice option for managing emotionality during crises for the case organisation and other organisations within the vehicle components and other manufacturing industries.Contribution/value-add: The Coherence Hexagons Model is presented as a tool to manage employee panic during crisis.Keywords: crisis management; employee emotionality; employee panic; authentic leadership; talent management

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