The Institute of Work Psychology

On the 4th November 2009, Dr Angela Carter and doctoral researcher Thomas Calvard of IWP launched the first business breakfast of the new ConsultIWP 2009/2010 series. Their topic- ‘How to create successful and adaptable work teams’ was well received and met with much enthusiasm by all attendees.

Are employees either proactive or reactive? And how does the actual process of being proactive look like? These are just some of the questions I am interested in exploring in my line of research…

Last weekend I went away with a group of friends, for a relaxing couple of days in Snowdonia.  However, on the first day there, one of our party had a nasty biking accident and hurt his leg badly.  A trip to hospital in an ambulance and a hasty surgery ensued.  Dealing with the emotions this incident elicited in myself and my injured friend left me feeling completely drained…

ConsultIWP, the commercial arm of the Institute of Work Psychology, have been holding a series of free business breakfast and evening events since October 2008. The series has been aimed at senior managers, executives, and professionals within medium to large sized organisations for whom flexible, innovative, self-directed employees are important for business success. The Business Series covers topical HR issues facing companies in the current climate, and offers practical tools and techniques to take back to their workplace. Due to the success of our previous business sessions, ConsultIWP will launch an Autumn Series in September.  In preparation for this, we would very much like to hear your views on what topics you would like to see covered in the future.

Working in an increasingly diverse society poses significant psychological challenges in terms of the way we integrate values and points of view with sensitivity, open-mindedness, and maturity. Psychologists have studied our capacity for empathy and our theories about other people’s views, and philosophy has termed it the ‘other minds’ problem. Just how easy it is in a modern workplace to cater for and consider everyone’s view in a politically charged, culturally diverse environment? I ask these questions in order to see how organizational actors might minimize the drawbacks of diversity whilst maximizing gains for their knowledge, learning and well-being. I make five broad research statements concerning what psychologists really know about this incredibly challenging phenomenon, this rewarding response to mental demand, this perspective-taking capacity.