#68

Rethinking the Workplace

Prof Deirdre O’Shea

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Prof Deirdre O’Shea is Associate Professor of Work and Organisational Psychology at the University of Limerick, a Fellow of the Psychological Society of Ireland and Chartered Work and Organizational Psychologist (I/O Psychologist). Her research focuses on work motivation and occupational health psychology. 

Her expertise is in the design and evaluation of psychological resource-based interventions, but her work also covers self-regulation, emotions and emotion regulation, and proactive behaviour, amongst others. 

She has published her research in top academic journals and is a regular contributor to national and international media outlets. In 2018, she was featured in the RTE documentary ‘Stressed’.

Summary

02:23 The role and work of an Organisational Psychologist

• It’s applying principles of psychology to the workplace
• In Europe it’s referred to as Organisational, in the UK it’s Occupational and the US it’s Industrial
• It’s about trying to make the workplace a better place for employees

04:16 Deidre’s focus on the individual level

• Deidre still takes into account the wider context that the individual is working in

05:27 The different types of motivation in the workplace

• It’s about the direction, intensity and the persistence of behaviour
• It is more accurate to focus on the type of motivation that we experience, as opposed to to if someone is motivated or not
• Self-determination theory suggests that people are motivated to grow and change by three innate and universal psychological needs: competence, connection and autonomy

08:24 Are some people more intrinsically motivated than others?

• It’s about the person interacting with their environment
• We can experience different types of motivation when doing the same task, e.g. feeling pressured or enjoying something intrinsicly

10:42 The problems with personality tests

• There is no doubt that we all have different personality traits
• We tend to overuse our traits in the workplace environment
• Personality tests can only predict general behaviour in the workplace

15:15 Identifying motivational triggers 

• Self-awareness is important to know what you enjoy doing
• We can learn different ways to motivate ourselves
• It’s important to identify the barrier to our motivation for a task

18:07 Where does the drive for achievement come from?

• Goal-setting theory is an employee-engagement tactic that involves setting specific and measurable goals to improve productivity
• We have direction if we have a specific goal

20:41 The role of incentives in goal achievement 

• Incentives aren’t particularly effective for work that demands proactivity
• People work for different reasons, and that can be for money, making a difference or having a ‘calling’ for a profession, etc. 

24:50 How long can motivation last?

• Identify first what the person is striving to achieve
• Have a self-regulation strategy that identifies what are you going to do in order to achieve that goal
• Set realistic goals so you don’t fall into the trap of doing too much too soon and end up quitting
• Have strategies for managing potential obstacles
• Once you start to enjoy doing your habitual tasks, you are more likely to sustain it for the long term

29:10 Is the self-determination theory more prevalent in the post-covid workplace?

• Covid has lead to an awareness that people can work remotely
• Working from home makes it harder for people to separate their work from their home lives

32:36 The relationship between goals and performance

• Action Regulation Theory (ART) is a psychological theory that looks at how individuals achieve their goals through processes of action and regulation
• From considering your external environment, what are you able to realistically achieve?
• Once we make a decision with what we want to achieve, we pass the point of no return
• Negative emotions towards feeling like you are not on track with your goals is a powerful signal that can actually help you re-focus or focus on a different goal that you need to achieve instead

37:46 How to ensure that your emotions are not sabotaging your motivation

• Within positive and negative emotions, there are both active (e.g. excitement or anger) and passive (e.g. contentment or lethargy)
• Active emotions are what drive us to take action
• Motivation is, at its core, an individual concept, but leaders can design the right environments for individuals to work in

43:02 Is autonomy at work more important than ever?

• The Fordist philosophy of production lines took away the opportunity for autonomy
• There has always been a need for humans to be autonomous, but in the 21st century we have been able to see even more the opportunities that come with being more autonomous
• People have realised that there are other ways of having autonomy, e.g. people don’t have “job for life” anymore

46:00 The role of positive reinforcement

• Reinforcement theory has merit, but it only motivates the behaviour that is being rewarded

47:04 How leaders can improve their transformational leadership skills

• It’s very important to build your relationships and trusts individually and collectively

49:29 Hiring for cultural fit

• There is a fit for the job (i.e. skills and competence) as well as the overall company culture
• In the job interview, ask situational questions to see if the interviewee is aligned with the company’s values

54:17 How our lives outside of work impacts our wellbeing at work

• An Organisational Psychologist can help teach someone how to cope with a stressful situation at work
• Mindfulness is powerful, but if a job is demanding long hours or extra work, then it’s not sustainable

58:56 What are the common signs of burnout?

• It is something that happens over time through chronic stress
• The main characteristics are emotional exhaustion, a cynical attitude and not feeling effective with your job
• During Covid, a lot of people had to learn new ways of doing things in their home environment

01:02:50 How being in nature helps people on a psychological level

• Nature helps us to feel calmer without taking much energy

01:08:00 Being proactive versus reactive

• Proactive behaviour is self-directed
• If the task at hand brings a lot of pressure and demands proactive behaviour, it causes a lot of strain on the employee
• For organizations, it’s important to apply proactive behaviour for more autonomous tasks

01:12:22 Finding purpose in the work that you do

• Identify the values that are important to you versus what you spend your time doing
• Regardless of what career or job you have, acknowledge that there will always be parts that you enjoy and don’t enjoy

Links Mentioned:

• RTE documentary: ‘Stressed’
• Lisa Feldman Barrett on the 1% Podcast
• Deidre’s TED Talk