Psychological Empowerment and Workforce Agility

Unpredictable, dynamic, and constantly changing environments require an ‘agile organization.’ The notion of an agile workforce has been discussed as critical to creating an agile organization. Despite the increasing recognition that workforce agility is critical to achieve competitiveness, the concept of workforce agility has not yet been systematically studied. The current research has been proposed on the assumption that employee cognition can support agile attitude and behavior. The research has been conceptualized considering psychological empowerment as an important employee cognition capable of promoting workforce agility. Following the Spreitzer, psychological empowerment, in the form of meaningfulness, self-determination, competence, and impact, has been proposed as facilitators of workforce agility. Our result supports the conceptualization implicit in the literature and suggests that psychological empowerment must be considered as an important aspect of an organization’s effort to foster workforce agility. Further, from among the psychological empowerment variables, impact is the most influential variable followed by self-determination, meaning and competence on workforce agility. While the study result agrees with few cognitive theories such as self-determination theory, job characteristics theory, and sense-making theory, the result has important managerial implications.     

The Need for Speed: Agility Selling

In turbulent business times, organizations have sought to become more agile. Organizational agility has been asserted to require workforce agility, but thus far, little focus has been given to workers. Traditionally, salespeople have sought ways to differentiate themselves and create advantage for customers. This paper asserts that, in order to continue this tradition of differentiation and advantage, salespeople must engage in agility thinking. Agility has been studied as it applies to manufacturing processes and other firm activities. Agile salespeople have a mental dexterity at the point of customer contact. They are quick to observe opportunities and are able to anticipate customers’ ever-changing needs, wants, and preferences. This paper presents a framework for agility selling, applying concepts from the agility manufacturing literature and proffering distinct characteristics of sales force agility.     

Sport psychologists' perceptions of sport and mental health practitioners

Abstract

This study surveys recently graduated sport psychology (SP) doctoral students' (N = 34) educational backgrounds, work experiences, and perceptions of the professional field of SP inside and outside the realm of academia. Special attention was given to subjects' perceptions and expectations with regard to applied work in SP, actual work experiences, and income. Findings indicate that almost all graduates are spending their time in a variety of work activities, i.e., some combination of teaching, research, consulting, administration, and coaching, with a strong emphasis on teaching in an academic institution. Gender analysis revealed that, in general, females earned 74% of what males earned; females earned 53% of what males earned outside academia. Graduates' personal comments suggest a concern about consumer demand and financial support offered applied professionals in SP as well as the adequacy of their own training to provide applied services. Implications for AAASP and SP program directors are provided.     

From Constraints to Opportunities? Provision of Psychosocial Support in Portuguese Oncogenetic Counseling Services

Although available guidelines for familial cancer risk counseling clearly state the need to provide adequate psychosocial assessments and support, this feature of care is only available in part for individuals and families in oncogenetic counseling protocols in Portugal. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychosocial aspects of oncogenetic counseling provided by a sample of Portuguese genetics professionals. We sought to ascertain perceived need for the provision of psychosocial services and ways to enhance the psychosocial focus in service delivery. A qualitative study was designed; semi-structured focus groups and individual interviews were performed with 30 professionals from Portuguese healthcare institutions where oncogenetic counseling is offered. Findings suggest: current practice is aligned with the teaching model, with a mainly information-based focus; use of psychosocial counseling techniques and psychosocial support is limited throughout the genetic counseling timeline; there is a limited workforce of adequately trained psychosocial professionals, who are disadvantaged by structural and organizational constraints. These factors are considered to be serious barriers for psychosocial delivery. Development of multidisciplinary teams working in oncogenetics, and need for further counselling skills and training for genetics healthcare professionals were identified as priorities. Implications for practice and policy are discussed. Portuguese genetic counselors who have recently completed their training, may therefore contribute to enhanced psychosocial services delivery.     

Work engagement and task performance within a global Dutch ICT-consulting firm: The mediating role of innovative work behaviors

The information and communication technology (ICT) sector within the Netherlands is a major driver of globalization, the country’s economic growth and innovation. The Dutch ICT sector’s performance is increasingly becoming dependent upon employee driven innovations in order to address the needs of the sectors they service. In other words, the ICT sector within the Netherlands is largely dependent upon the performance and innovative capacity of its employees; both of which are functions of employee engagement. Given the high demand, and low supply of talent within this sector, ICT organizations need to develop innovative ways to enhance the performance capacities of its people. Developing an engaged and highly innovative workforce seems to be an efficient way to activate employees’ performance. As such, the aim of this paper was to investigate the mediating function of employee driven innovative work behaviors in the relationship between work engagement and task performance within the a Dutch ICT consulting firm. A cross-sectional survey-based research design, employing a census-based sampling method, was employed to obtain data from a global ICT consulting firm within the Netherlands (n = 232). The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Innovative Work Behavior Scale and the Task Performance Scale was used to assess the associative subjective experiences of ICT employees. The results showed that work engagement is a significant driver for innovative work behaviors, which in turn affects the task performance of employees. Further, innovative work behaviors are therefore important to translate the engaging energies of employees into performance. This paper discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

     

When Training Becomes Incentive for Generative Living and Working Together in Organizations

This article has come about from two considerations: on one hand, living together in a work environment is becoming more and more challenging; on the other, training professionals at work represents a used and relevant action incentive in order to support and improve individual, group, and organizational development. In light of the fact that organizations are asking more and more complex questions, this work aims at developing a reflection on how adopting a certain perspective and educational method is particularly suitable to support the organization to achieve substantial outcomes, such as developing generative living and working together in organizations. In this article, we will analyze two illustrative cases, underlining evolution and learning process with a particular focus on the consequences of living and working together in organizations.     

Teaching Families to Collaborate

Abstract

Families, being an essential component of a student's educational program, must feel valued and involved in any planning or discussion relating to children or siblings with disabilities. A collaborative, cooperative, and caring environment must be established in order for parents and professionals to work together. Sensitivity and understanding of ethnic and cultural values and differences is an important element in any interaction between families, caregivers, and other professionals. This article examines the roles, perceptions, and expectations of parents, families, and professionals relating to program planning for persons with disabilities. Guidelines and checklists are provided for families and service providers in order to improve participation and collaboration in conferences and program planning meetings.     

Organizational Culture: Critical Questions for Researchers and Practitioners

Abstract

The idea of career self-management is part of the growing move to encourage individuals to take ownership of their own development. The article explores why this makes sense both for individuals and for organizations, and defines specific initiatives individuals and organizations should take to make the concept work successfully. It is argued that most people are unlikely to take responsibility for themselves unless there is sound organizational support, but that with the right practical initiatives they can become energized by the process. There is, however, a need for organizations to centre much more closely on understanding people as individuals if performance levels at work are to be raised from competence to excellence.     

The relationship between organizational trust,resistance to change and adaptive and proactive employees' agility in an unplanned and planned change context

Modern organizations need to adapt quickly to on-going changes. The present study sought to examine employees' agility during periods of sudden, unplanned, and during periods of planned change. It was investigated to what extent one's trust in the organization and resistance to change could predict proactive agility and adaptive agility. Data came from employees (N = 188) in two different organizations, one undergoing an unplanned change and one undergoing a planned change. In both contexts, organizational trust had a negative relationship with resistance to change. In an unplanned change context (organization one), trust of employees in the organization had a positive effect on the adaptive component of agility through the (negative) mediation by affective resistance to change. In this context, trust did not have any (mediated) effect on the proactive component of agility. In contrast, in a planned change context (organization two), trust had a positive effect on the proactive component of agility, partially through the (negative) mediation by resistance to change. In this context, trust also had a positive effect on the adaptive component of agility, partially through the (negative) mediation by resistance to change. These results imply that trust works in different ways depending on the type of change. More trust through less resistance implies better adaptation during unplanned organizational change. More trust works directly and partially through less resistance to change to enhance employee proactivity and adaptability during planned change.     

Teaching Genetic Counseling Skills: Incorporating a Genetic Counseling Adaptation Continuum Model to Address Psychosocial Complexity

Genetic counselors are trained health care professionals who effectively integrate both psychosocial counseling and information-giving into their practice. Preparing genetic counseling students for clinical practice is a challenging task, particularly when helping them develop effective and active counseling skills. Resistance to incorporating these skills may stem from decreased confidence, fear of causing harm or a lack of clarity of psycho-social goals. The author reflects on the personal challenges experienced in teaching genetic counselling students to work with psychological and social complexity, and proposes a Genetic Counseling Adaptation Continuum model and methodology to guide students in the use of advanced counseling skills.     

Professional Women's Midcareer Satisfaction: Toward an Explanatory Framework

For the last two decades, professional women have entered the workforce at an unprecedented pace. Despite their labor force participation rates, numerous studies reveal that professional women face stereotyping, struggle with bias in performance appraisal, promotion, and salary, and are confronted with serious work/life tradeoffs as they climb the corporate ladder. Yet, relatively little is known about how satisfied professional women are with their careers, particularly as they move beyond entry level into midcareer. What are the critical factors that explain women's midcareer satisfaction? What factors explain differences among women in their midcareer satisfaction? Drawing on streams of research in gender and organizations, careers, sociology, and psychology, this paper begins to map out key demographic, career history, organizational, job, and stress factors proposed to explain professional women's midcareer satisfaction. Directions for future research are highlighted.

     

A Review of: “International Handbook of Personal Construct Psychology”

Abstract

Constructivism is a relatively new development in the Brazilian psychological community. The dissemination of constructivist theory is difficult to trace, but can perhaps be best understood by looking at the development of Brazilian psychology and through tracing related theoretical movements like the cognitive-behavioral movement, which appears to have prepared the intellectual climate for constructivist principles. The growth of constructivism in Brazil is illustrated through the formation of constructivist organizations, a consideration of educational opportunities related to the theory, and a review of recent conferences where South American professionals could be exposed to constructivist ideas.     

Three requirements for justifying an educational neuroscience

Background. Over the past quarter century, efforts to bridge between research in the neurosciences and research, theory, and practice in education have grown from a mere hope to noteworthy scholarly sophistication. Many dedicated educational researchers have developed the secondary expertise in the necessary neurosciences and related fields to generate both empirical research and theoretical syntheses of noteworthy promise. Nonetheless, thoughtful and critical scholars in education have expressed concern about both the intellectual coherence and ethical dangers of this new area. It is still an open question whether educational neuroscience is for some time yet to remain only a formative study area for adventurous scholars or is already a fully fledged field of educational scholarship. Aims. In this paper, I suggest that to be a worthy field of educational research, educational neuroscience will need to address three issues: intellectual coherence, mutually informing and respected scholarly expertise, and an ethical commitment to the moral implications and obligations shared within educational research generally. I shall set forth some examples of lapses in this regard, focusing primarily on work on reading development, as that is my area of expertise, and make recommendations for due diligence. Arguments. First, intellectual coherence requires both precision in definition of technical terms (so that diverse scholars and professionals may communicate findings and insights consistently across fields), and precision in the logical warrants by which educational implications are drawn from empirical data from the neurosciences. Both needs are facilitated by careful attention to categorical boundary and avoidance of category error. Second, educational neuroscientists require focused and broad expertise in both the neurosciences and educational scholarship on teaching and learning in classrooms (and/or ancillary fields). If history is our guide, neuroscience implications for practice will prove unlikely in practice without expertise on practice. Additionally, respect for the expertise of others in this hybrid and necessarily collaborative enterprise is required. Third, educational neuroscience must take seriously the heightened moral and ethical concerns and commitments of educational professionals generally and educational researchers particularly. This means keeping a vigilant eye towards preserving the integrity of empirical and theoretical findings against rhetorical misuse by educational marketers, policy makers, and polemicists targeting the general public. Conclusions. I conclude that educational neuroscience is more than a hybrid patchwork of individual interests constituting a study area, and is perhaps ready to stand as a legitimate field of educational inquiry. It will not be accepted as such, however, nor should it be, unless the need to demonstrate a capacity for consistent intellectual coherence, scholarly expertise, and ethical commitment is met.     

Schedule control, supervisor support and work engagement: A winning combination for workers in hourly jobs?

The changing natures of both work and the lives of the U.S. workforce have created an array of challenges for organizations attempting to foster work engagement. To accommodate the work and family needs of an increasingly diverse workforce, many firms are offering flexible work solutions to employees. However, the distribution of these types of organizational resources is unequal, with workers in lower-wage hourly jobs having the least access to any form of flexibility. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of schedule control, as a form of flexible work practice, and work engagement among workers employed in hourly retail jobs. Authors tested a model whereby the relationship between schedule control and work engagement is mediated by schedule satisfaction and perceived supervisor support. A sample of 1343 full-time hourly retail workers was used to address the study's purpose. Hypothesized relationships were fully or partially supported. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Patching the Pathway and Widening the Pipeline: Models for Developing a Diverse Early Childhood Workforce in Chicago

With the growing appreciation of the importance of early learning experiences for children's healthy development, attention to the cultivation and maintenance of a qualified workforce has steadily increased. Such a workforce must have not just the knowledge and skills related to child development and early learning, but also be linguistically and culturally prepared to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse child and family population. To ensure a highly qualified workforce, programs and policymakers must attend to both the “pipeline” through which new early childhood educators (ECEs) enter the workforce and the “pathways” by which ECEs work toward and obtain the necessary education and credentials for different roles within the field. In line with the aims of this special issue, this paper leverages the first‐person account style to describe barriers to and creative solutions for the development of practitioners in low‐resourced communities in Chicago, with the goal of informing practice and policy. We describe three prior and ongoing partnership programs between community‐based organizations and institutions of higher education, each tailored to support a unique population in the ECE pipeline on the pathway for increased educational attainment and credentialing. Each program is grounded in a specific community of Chicago, a diverse city with a sizable population of children raised in non‐English speaking homes. Each program addresses specific needs of the communities they serve, especially around the recruitment, retention, and promotion of bilingual ECEs. Program administrators and community members describe each programs’ goals, development, and key components unique to their target population as well as key takeaways. We conclude with an overview of critical components that we identified across these programs in order to create pathways for change within the workforce and the communities they serve.     

MySkillsFuture for Students,STEM Learning,and the Design of Neoliberal Citizenship in Singapore

Abstract

There is a great need for interrogating the politics of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning at a global level and for STEM literacies that include robust sociopolitical analysis. This article analyzes neoliberal underpinnings of STEM discourse on an online portal created for pedagogic use with primary and secondary students in Singapore. We find that the portal leverages student interests, self-discovery, and diverse identities to recruit them into (neoliberal) figured worlds of learning, work, and citizenship that narrowly imagine a disciplined society and workforce appealing to global capital. Excluded and rendered invisible are skills to address pressing global issues (e.g., inequality, poverty, or sustainability) or to understand the world, others, or power relations, except strategically as instrumental skills that support industries and economic growth. We conclude by offering a hopeful vision that builds on the diversity, hybridity, and cultural crossroads of Singapore, asserting that alternate speculative futures are possible, including for decolonized or desettled STEM perspectives.     

Creativity at the Crossroads: Pragmatic Versus Humanist Claims in Education Reform Speeches

Obama's, and other policymakers’, speeches claim that creativity—the ability to derive novel, excellent and relevant ideas and products—is a valuable student asset for the 21st century, but why? Two types of rhetorical appeals to long-held educational values in these speeches are examined: pragmatic claims about student creativity focus on economic recovery, which implies a need to teach and research the link between creativity, academic success and workforce preparation. In contrast, humanist claims about student creativity emphasize a teaching and research agenda of promoting self-realization, cultural identity formation, and aesthetic learning principles, which include empathy and emotional awareness in addition to cognitive aspects of creative thinking and problem solving. These rhetorical appeals are examined in light of education reform and directions in art education.     

Schedule control,supervisor support and work engagement: A winning combination for workers in hourly jobs?

The changing natures of both work and the lives of the U.S. workforce have created an array of challenges for organizations attempting to foster work engagement. To accommodate the work and family needs of an increasingly diverse workforce, many firms are offering flexible work solutions to employees. However, the distribution of these types of organizational resources is unequal, with workers in lower-wage hourly jobs having the least access to any form of flexibility. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of schedule control, as a form of flexible work practice, and work engagement among workers employed in hourly retail jobs. Authors tested a model whereby the relationship between schedule control and work engagement is mediated by schedule satisfaction and perceived supervisor support. A sample of 1343 full-time hourly retail workers was used to address the study's purpose. Hypothesized relationships were fully or partially supported. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

New Perspectives on the Child‐ and Youth‐Serving Workforce in Low‐Resource Communities: Fostering Best Practices and Professional Development

The professionals and paraprofessionals who work daily with youth in low‐resource, marginalized communities are integral to youth wellbeing; yet, their professional development, and the factors that promote it, are not well understood. In this introduction to the special issue, Understanding and Strengthening the Child‐ and Youth‐Serving Workforce in Low‐Resource Communities, we focus on understudied practitioners operating in an array of sectors and settings, such as home visitors, mental health paraprofessionals, early childhood assistant teachers, teachers in low‐income countries, school resource officers, juvenile justice staff, and after‐school and community‐based program workers. We put forward a conceptual model detailing the interactive, layered set of proximal‐to‐distal ecological factors that influence the practice and professional development of these workers, and show how papers in the current issue address these layers in their examination of workforce development. We conclude with a summary of the contributions and lessons from this work – including the value of a whole‐person approach, the importance of sharing process across research stages, and the need to build on the foundation provided by community psychology and implementation science – toward the twin goals of understanding and building the skills and strengths of the workforce, and ultimately, enhancing youth development.