Black identity and workplace oppression

This paper is primarily aimed at counselling and psychotherapy practitioners who meet issues of workplace conflict in their practice and the resulting stress and trauma faced by their clients. I define workplace conflict as complex and enduring situations arising from diverse forms of harassment. These include bullying, scapegoating and other discriminatory and oppressive practices that affect health, esteem and work performance. This paper reports the findings from my doctoral research project which investigated and sought to understand the specific experience and nature of workplace conflict for black workers in three institutional settings: the National Health Service (NHS), education and social services. The inspiration for this research came from psychotherapy practice, where it was repeatedly observed that black workers appeared to be suffering significantly more negative and damaging effects of workplace stress and trauma than white workers. I describe these experiences as workplace oppression and differentiate them from other workplace conflicts.     

Buddhism and Counselling

The relevance of the principles and practices of Buddhism to the field of counselling is discussed. Buddhist techniques have already been used by the helping professions in many settings (e.g. Japan, Sri Lanka). The extension of their use to a wider range of settings, and to a wider group of clients, is both feasible and desirable. In addition to the obvious relevance of Buddhist techniques to clients who have a Buddhist background, it is argued that they have a wider applicability. As Buddhism espouses the notion of a productive and healthy lay life, it offers ways not only of dealing with problems and difficulties, but also of improving psychological well-being in general. Examples are cited of relevant Buddhist techniques and their application. It is argued that, once systematically evaluated, many of these could profitably be incorporated into the repertoire of techniques used in present-day counselling and therapy.     

"What's on the worker's mind": class passing and the study of the industrial workplace in the 1920s

Posing, living, and laboring as American workers, several 1920s reformist labor investigators sought to develop an alternative to Frederick Taylor's famous characterization of a typical manual laborer as mentally akin to an ox. Through their experiences as workers, they believed that they gained real if limited access to working-class psychology. Accordingly, they presented views of the worker's mind that significantly loosened the strictures of hereditarian and, especially in the case of foreign-born workers, scientific racist thought. But their efforts were shaped by their own backgrounds and biases, and by those of the academic authorities upon whose work they built, and were also mediated through the complexities of their efforts to pass across the class line. Their work finally lent itself less to the purposes of industrial democracy and reform than to those of the rising 1920s schools of industrial psychology, industrial sociology, and personnel relations.     

The vocational well-being of workers with childhood onset of disability: Life satisfaction and perceived workplace discrimination

Workers with disabilities are understudied, and workers with childhood onset of disability have been excluded from many of the studies on disability and work that do exist. This research compares the effects of childhood and adult onset of disability in a nationally representative sample of workers with disabilities. Educational disruptions due to disability status in childhood are negatively associated with life satisfaction and positively associated with perceived discrimination. Although age is associated with increased life satisfaction and decreased perceptions of discrimination for workers with adult disability onset, age is unrelated to these outcomes for workers with childhood disability onset. Receiving workplace accommodations is positively associated with satisfaction and negatively associated with discrimination for both groups, however, these relationships are stronger in magnitude for the childhood disability onset group. Organizational environments, both in education and in the workplace, play a critical role in the vocational well-being of workers with childhood disability onset.     

The Relationship between Workplace Status and Workplace Religious Expression

A growing body of literature explores religious expression in workplaces, but comparatively little research examines how religious expression might be shaped by inequality in workplace status. We hypothesize that perceived work autonomy and socioeconomic status (SES) both function as mediating links between organizational status and religious expression. Drawing on a sample of employed adults from a nationally-representative survey in the United States (n = 8611), we examine three modes of religious expression at work: displaying faith, feeling comfortable talking about faith, and expressing views when observing unfair work practices that conflict with faith. Results revealed that workers at the bottom of their organizations express their religiosity less than those at the top. Religious expression in the workplace is thus not simply a reflection of individual religiosity or religious identity, but also workplace power. Although perceived work autonomy mediated the relationship, SES buffered the relationship. Findings have important implications for workplace policy.     

How does workplace ostracism hurt employee creativity? Thriving at work as a mediator and organization-based self-esteem as a moderator

Drawing on the socially embedded model of thriving and conservation of resources theory, we explore the negative effect of workplace ostracism on employee thriving. We model organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) as a moderator and extend our examination to the downstream implications of thriving for employee creativity. Using a scenario-based experiment (Study 1) with 387 working adults, we find that workplace ostracism is more likely to prevent workers with higher levels of OBSE from thriving at work. This finding is verified in Study 2, in which we use multiwave, multisource data collected from 207 employees and their supervisors to test the proposed model. The results further show that for employees with higher levels of OBSE, thriving at work is more likely to mediate the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee creativity. These findings provide important practical implications for fostering employee thriving and promoting creativity in the workplace by managing workplace ostracism.     

Social Services Workers and Workplace Violence

Researchers and workplace violence experts have cited risk factors that theoretically increase the likelihood that individuals will experience workplace violence. Those include working alone, contact with the public, traveling to dangerous areas, as well as other factors. By the very nature of what social services workers do, many encounter these risk factors on a regular basis. Using national data, trends in workplace violence experienced by social services workers are examined, and comparisons are made between the rates of workplace violence among similar workgroups. Results suggest that social services workers are nearly six times more likely than other workers to experience workplace violence. In the discussion, attention is given to strategies to prevent violence against social services workers.     

Positive Leader Behaviors and Workplace Incivility: the Mediating Role of Perceived Norms for Respect

Scholars have called for research on the antecedents of mistreatment in organizations such as workplace incivility, as well as the theoretical mechanisms that explain their linkage. To address this call, the present study draws upon social information processing and social cognitive theories to investigate the relationship between positive leader behaviors—those associated with charismatic leadership and ethical leadership—and workers’ experiences of workplace incivility through their perceptions of norms for respect. Relationships were separately examined in two field studies using multi-source data (employees and coworkers in study 1, employees and supervisors in study 2). Results suggest that charismatic leadership (study 1) and ethical leadership (study 2) are negatively related to employee experiences of workplace incivility through employee perceptions of norms for respect. Norms for respect appear to operate as a mediating mechanism through which positive forms of leadership may negatively relate to workplace incivility. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for organizations regarding leader behaviors that foster norms for respect and curb uncivil behaviors at work.     

Compassion: An east‐west comparison

Compassion is an emotion that occupies a central position in Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy while it is often a neglected subject in contemporary western philosophy. This essay is a comparison between an Eastern view of compassion based upon Mahāyāna Buddhist perspectives and a western view of the same emotion. Certain principles found in Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy such as the Bodhisattva Ideal, and suffering (dukkha) to name two, are explored for the information they contain about compassion. An essay by Lawrence Blum is taken as representative of a Western view (but not exclusively) and it is analyzed for its shortcomings in light of the Buddhist view. The conclusion briefly describes the value of understanding an eastern view on compassion as a means of filling the void one finds in western medical ethics discourse which focuses so heavily, and redundantly, upon issues such as patient autonomy and paternalism.     

The Prevalence and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence Intrusion in the Workplace

This study examines the prevalence and consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the workplace. Surveys were completed by 1,390 employees in 32 different companies representing different organization types. Over half of the women and almost a quarter of the males reported that they had been an IPV victim at some point in their lives with 16% reporting victimization in the previous 12 months. Younger workers and workers who witnessed IPV frequently as a child were more likely to be current IPV victims. Further, 41% of lifetime victims reported significant workplace consequences, such as missed days of work, tardiness, and perpetrator intrusion. Younger workers, a history of IPV physical injury, more frequent IPV events over longer periods of time, and a history of stalking were associated with a greater number of IPV work consequences. The cumulative effects of IPV as well as active victimization contribute to negative workplace consequences. With significant numbers of employees experiencing IPV and reporting workplace consequences, the present research underscores the need for employers to develop a more precise means of understanding cost and response.     

Reason,Irrationality and Akrasia (Weakness of the Will) in Buddhism: Reflections upon Śāntideva’s Arguments with Himself

Let it be granted that Buddhism has, e.g., in its logical literature, detailed canons and explicit rules of right reason that, amongst other things, ban inconsistency as irrational. This is the normative dimension of how people should think according to many major Buddhist authors. But do important Buddhist writers ever recognize any interesting or substantive role for inconsistency and forms of irrationality in their account of how people actually do think and act? The article takes as its point of departure a recurring theme in the writings of the 8th Century Indian Buddhist thinker, ?āntideva, who subjects his own behaviour and thought to minute scrutiny in argumentation with himself, only to be puzzled at his own seemingly irrational persistence in ways of thinking that he knows to be wrong and actions that he knows to be worse courses. The Buddhist’s situation is profitably comparable to issues of akrasia, weakness of the will, that are taken up by Plato, Aristotle and many modern philosophers, including notably Donald Davidson and David Wiggins.     

Workplace and family support and work–life balance: Implications for individual psychological availability and energy at work

This study presents three studies that explore the ways in which multiple support sources (workplace and family social support) help individuals to experience work–life balance (WLB) and thereby develop a sense psychological availability and positive energy at work. We examine this serial mediation model across three population groups in Israel using time-lagged data from part-time students (sample 1), as well cross-sectional data from workers in the industrial sector (sample 2) and physicians in public hospitals (sample 3). The results indicate a complex process in which workplace and family support augment employee positive energy through WLB and psychological availability. The findings shed light on the importance of support from work and nonwork sources for the pursuit of employees to achieve balance in the spheres of work and life and suggest that the WLB helps in the development of psychological availability and augmenting employee positive energy.     

Caught between Scylla and Charybdis: How Economic Stressors and Occupational Risk Factors Influence Workers’ Occupational Health Reactions to COVID-19

Workers and their families bear much of the economic burden of COVID-19. Even though they have declined somewhat, unemployment rates are considerably higher than before the start of the pandemic. Many workers also face uncertainty about their future employment prospects and increasing financial strain. At the same time, the workplace is a common source of transmission of COVID-19 and many jobs previously seen as relatively safe are now viewed as potentially hazardous. Thus, many workers face dual threats of economic stress and COVID-19 exposure. This paper develops a model of workers’ responses to these dual threats, including risk perception and resource depletion as mediating factors that influence the relationship of economic stress and occupational risk factors with COVID-19 compliance-related attitudes, safe behavior at work, and physical and mental health outcomes. The paper also describes contextual moderators of these relationships at the individual, unit, and regional level. Directions for future research are discussed.     

Preaching in a Time of Declining Dharma: History,Ethics and Protection in Sermons to the Sri Lankan Army

This article examines two Buddhist ceremonies sponsored by the Sri Lankan Army, a flag blessing in 2005 and a lamp lighting ceremony in 2007. I argue that, while the monks officiating at these ceremonies encourage the soldiers to fight, they do not justify war in any way. On the contrary, these preachers employ an ethical imagination more dependent upon eschatological factors than upon individual obligations. Specifically, they take for granted that ideal Buddhist moral behaviour is almost impossible in a world where the Dharma is in decline. In a world of declining Dharma, they assert that Buddhists must sometimes engage in unwholesome activities in order to preserve the possibility of Buddhist practice in the future. They do not justify these compromises according to a hierarchy of moral duties or a metaphysical ideal of justice, but rather they accept them as markers of the corrupt nature of the world. The monks thus advise soldiers to protect the Dharma that remains in the country, preserving the possibility of Buddhist ethical activity and the possibility of re-establishing Dharma in the future.     

Buddhist Life Stories

This article argues that contemporary Buddhist memoirs are an important source to investigate and understand the phenomenon of modern Buddhism. Modern Buddhism is a current development in which Buddhists consider their tradition in new ways. The connections between life stories and modern Buddhist traits are striking. No document can get closer to the source of this movement than a life story. In this article I consider this in terms of the memoirs of the German Buddhist nun Ayya Khema and the Sinhalese monk Bhante Gunaratana. Although the figures may not represent all of the categories of modern Buddhism, the reader understands their choices in terms of their entire lives. The reader is constantly faced with the interplay between modern and traditional traits that make up their life stories.     

Defining Work Stress in Young People

Stress experienced by young workers can be very different from stress experienced by adults because of differing psychosocial developments. It is important to understand how early workplace experiences shape young workers' subsequent attitudes and behaviors, which may affect their psychological well‐being. This study examined how 18 young workers ages 17–29 perceive work stress. The authors found that young workers view job stress in 3 dimensions: lack of opportunity to learn, poor social interaction, and lack of opportunity to exercise initiative. Young workers also view work demands as challenging tasks and become job crafters to find more satisfaction in routine tasks.     

Asking for work adjustments or initiating behavioural changes – what makes a ‘problematic co-worker’ score Brownie points? An experimental study on the reactions towards colleagues with a personality disorder

People with mental disorders, especially personality disorders, often face low acceptance at work. This is particularly problematic when returning to work after sick leave, because it impedes reintegration into the former workplace. This study explores colleagues’ reactions towards a problematic worker dependent on the returning person’s reintegration strategy: The returning person undertaking changes in their behaviour is compared with the person requesting adjustments of the workplace. In an experimental study, 188 employed persons read one of four vignettes that described a return-to-work-situation of a problematic co-worker. Across all vignettes, the co-worker was depicted as having previously caused problems in the work team. In the first vignette, the co-worker did not change anything (control condition) when she returned to work; in the second, she asked for workplace adjustments; in the third vignette she initiated efforts to change her own behaviour; and the fourth vignette combined both workplace adjustments and behavioural change. Study participants were asked for their reactions towards the problematic co-worker. Vignettes that included a behavioural change evoked more positive reactions towards the co-worker than vignettes without any behavioural change. Asking for workplace adjustments alone did not yield more positive reactions compared to not initiating any change. When preparing employees with interactional problems for their return to work, it is not effective to only instruct them on their statutory entitlement for workplace adjustments. Instead, it is advisable to encourage them to proactively strive for behaviour changes.     

An epidemiological study on work and family stress among Chinese in Hong Kong

Hong Kong, with a population of over six million in a modern city, has been shown to be a very stressful place to live in. However, epidemiological data from a big-scale study in this regard are lacking. The present territory-wide survey, from a sample representative of the general population, was aimed to investigate the work and family stress of Chinese adults in the community with respect to the impact on their psychological well-being. The psychosocial context was considered as an important source of stress. The results showed that coping with work demands and rearing children were reported as the highest stress responses. Moreover, workers in Hong Kong took an instrumental attitude, i.e., one emphasizing material rewards, in order to reduce the job stress arising from interpersonal conflicts in the workplace.     

Social Workers and Battered Women: The Need to Study Client Violence in the Domestic Violence Field

Domestic violence is a significant issue for the United States and internationally. Although many social workers may desire to work in the domestic violence field, such work is far more difficult and challenging than many social workers would expect. In fact, many domestic violence workers are abused by their clients or their clients' family members in the course of their work. The purpose of this article is to clarify why examining client violence toward workers in the domestic violence field is critically important, describe the current state of the research, and discuss recommendations for future research in this area.     

Career Adaptation Wheel to Address Issues Faced by Older Workers

Older workers face increasing challenges in the workplace. Many find that they work more years than anticipated because of changes in social security and uncertain retirement accounts, along with the need for adequate healthcare. Counselors face unique opportunities to assist older workers. This article presents a Career Adaptation Wheel for Older Workers. The model can be used to help identify areas in which older adults are having challenges with job selection, colleagues at work, changes in the workplace, and learning new tasks. Counselors can then begin to consider appropriate interventions to help older workers adapt to changes in the work environment. This model offers a conceptual framework within which one's career can be viewed.