Introduction to Work and Organizational Psychology Gerhard Ohrband 9 th lecture Work environments and performance

Course structure Part I Introduction 1Managing diversity 2History and context for Work and Organizational Psychology / Roles and methods Part II People at work 3 Job Analysis and Design 4Personal Selection 5 Training

Course structure 6Performance Appraisal: Assessing and Developing Performance and Potential 7 Job Stress and Health Part III Human Factors at Work 8Workload and Task Allocation 9Work Environments and Performance 10The Design and Use of Work Technology 11 Safety at Work

Course structure Part IV Organizations at Work 12Leadership and management 13Work motivation 14Teams: the challenges of cooperative work 15Organizational development (OD)

Part III – Human Factors at work 9Work Environments and Performance Outline: 1. Introduction 2. Environmental demand 3. Theoretical framework 4. Environmental threats to performance 5. The nature of work tasks 6. Regulatory control of demands 7. Performance degradation under strain 8. Work management options

1. Introduction  Different kinds of changes that occur in performance under the threat of environmental factors  What can employees do to manage such problems? Work environments vary considerably: 1.Demand: very demanding (nursing, teaching, social work) 2.Determination of work flow of managers and supervisors: high (large offices, banks), more individual control (hospitals, schools, universities) 3.Team work vs. individual work 4.Work conditions (temperature, noise …) 5.Work schedules (shift work, 9 to 5)

2. Environmental demand Different types of job demands, in terms of impact on human systems Type of demandPrimary system affected Nature of demands Examples of jobs PhysicalMusculo-skeletalLifting, carrying, physical stress, constraint Heavy industry, farming, forestry, construction CognitiveInformation processing Mental work, memory, planning, decision-making Office work, computer work, teaching, finance EmotionalEmotionCaring, concern for self and others, interpersonal conflict Nursing, social work, counseling

3. Theoretical framework  Demands and goal management: Effective work requires people to make decisions about how to manage their environment. Questions: What are their priorities for task and other goals? How willing (and able) are they to make a sustained effort to maintain required performance standards under difficult circumstances?  Control Processes: Cybernetic models (e.g., Carver and Scheier, 1982)

4. Environmental threats to performance  Differential impairment  Load noise (accuracy/use of short-term memory)  Sleep deprivation (speed and accuracy, attentional focusing, memory)  Hot conditions (widespread effects, especially complex decision-making)  Subjective states of anxiety (Short-term memory, STM)

5. The nature of work tasks  Vulnerability of cognitive goals Task activities like reading, understanding, planning deciding, checking, remembering  Disruption of performance goals by 1.Distraction from other goals (especially emotional and motivational) 2.Loss of activation (the difficulty of maintaining orientation towards the task over extended periods)  A system perspective  Effectiveness versus efficiency (Hockey, 1996)

6. Regulatory control of demands  Human performance under environmental demand: effectiveness of primary task actions typically very high  The compensatory control model (Hockey): loop A and loop B control  Modes of demand management: Engaged – direct coping within the limit of the budget Disengaged – reduced priority for work goals Strain – stress (spill-over effects in the period following work, affecting the ability to relax or sleep)

Simplified control model of demand regulation task goals supervisory controller Effortmonitor external load overt performance LOOP B action monitor LOOP A

7. Performance degradation under strain: Patterns of latent decrement in performance associated with performance protection under stress and high demand Decrement typeCharacteristics Secondary decrementsSelective impairment of low-priority task components; neglect of subsidiary activities; attentional narrowing Strategy changesWithin-task shifts to simpler strategies; reduced demands on working memory; increased control activity Regulatory costsStrain of direct coping; increased anxiety; mental effort; sympathetic dominance After-effects of strainPost-task preference for low-effort strategies; subjective fatigue; risky decision-making

8. Work management options  Individual differences: Coping styles, direct vs. indirect  Efficient work management: Stress tolerance (control theory: greater range of tolerance for the discrepancy between achieved and desired output – not making corrections for every small problem, and more efficient use of regulatory effort when it is used Resilience Situational flexibility Balance of active and passive coping

Discussion Points: 1.What kind of considerations would be relevant to deciding whether to adopt the strain or disengagement modes when performance becomes difficult to maintain under stress? 2.A new office system, designed to increase efficiency, is found to increase productivity and the throughout of paperwork. Does this mean that is does what it was supposed to? What criteria of efficiency are relevant (a) in the short term, (b) in the longer term? 3.Think of the kind of work you are involved in (or know something about). Make a list of primary tasks and secondary tasks. What kinds of latent decrements might you expect to see under stress: in the form of (a) secondary task decrements, and (b) strategy short-cuts that might help to maintain performance but that run a greater risk of serious error?

Literature  Frankenhaeuser, M. (1986). A psychobiological framework for research on human stress and coping. In M.H. Appley and R. Trumbell (eds), Dynamics of Stress: Physiological, Psychological and Social Perspectives. New York: Plenum.  Hockey, G.R.J. (1997). Compensatory control in the regulation of human performance under stress and high workload: a cognitive-energetical framework. Biological Psychology, 45,