23 July – 13:30-20:30 – Department of Organizational Psychology Summer Seminar Series

Venue: Room TBA, Malet Street

Booking: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/summer-seminar-series-tickets-11777134727

Speakers include: Professor Patrick Tissington, Dr Chris Dewberry, Dr Katrina Pritchard, Dr Kate Mackenzie Davey, Dr Andreas Liefooghe, and a keynote address by Professor Kevin Daniels

Come along and join us on Wednesday, 23 July 2014 to hear about the latest research taking place in the Department of Organizational Psychology at Birkbeck. This is a wonderful opportunity for alumni and current students to hear about the latest developments in the fields of Occupational Psychology, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management. There will also be time to network with alumni, current students, academics and staff from the department during the day and at the wine reception following the seminar.
How can I attend this exciting event?
This event is free to extend and is open to all alumni, current students and professional colleagues engage or interested in the field of organisational behaviour, HRM and beyond.

Welcome and Opening Address

Professor Pat Tissington, Head of Department, Birkbeck College University of London.

Pat was appointed Head of Department in June 2013 at a point where the department had been through some significant changes. He will outline new developments and what the department looks like as we move towards another new academic year. There are new courses and new staff, but still the same core values that our alumni will recognise.

Keynote Presentation: “Beyond Job Crafting”

Professor Kevin Daniels, University of East Anglia

Job crafting refers to informal attempts made by workers to improve their working conditions. Job crafting has become a ‘hot’ topic in job design research and is seen as a ‘bottom-up’ alternative to ‘top-down’ management-led job design (e.g., formal introduction of semi-autonomous team working). Job crafting may, therefore, help explain some of the mixed results concerning the introduction of planned job re-design interventions to improve work related well-being.
Such interventions are based on research that indicates associations between the presence or absence of job features and health and well-being, without taking into account the genesis of such job features (crafted or imposed). In this presentation, I will explore the: (i) individual, social and organisational processes of how jobs come to be; (ii) the cognitive and emotional processes that translate job characteristics into outcomes such as well-being and motivation; and (iii) how a better understanding of the complexities of job design and job crafting can inform the better management of job redesign interventions.

Kevin Daniels is Professor of Organizational Behaviour and head of the Employment Systems and Institutions Group at the University of East Anglia. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Chartered Psychologist and a full member of the Division of Occupational Psychology. From 1998-2007, he was an associate editor of the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology and from 2007-2012, he was an associate editor of Human Relations. He currently serves on the editorial board of both these journals and the Journal of Management. Kevin has been principal or co-investigator on several Health and Safety Executive funded projects concerned with stress and well-being in the workplace, as well as Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grants concerned with job design and safety in high hazard engineering.

“Deciding not to decide: Rationale thought or strong emotions?“

Dr Chris Dewberry, Birkbeck College University of London

There is a great deal of theory research on how we make decisions, but little on how we avoid them. In this talk an investigation into the psychological mechanism by which people avoid decisions will be presented, as will the influence of this mechanism on decision-making competence. Individual differences in the tendency to put off decisions off will be considered, and the relevance of this research for decision-making at work will be discussed.

“A performative examination of accounts of clinical practice in medical director identity”

Dr Kate Mackenzie Davey, Birkbeck College University of London
Dr Megan Joffe, Edgecumbe Group, Bristol, UK

Medical directors struggle to maintain their identity as doctors. This study identifies the performative aspects in their accounts of the role of clinical practice in their credibility as managers. In doing so it highlights the instability as well as the power of identity as doctor and the cultural context in which this identity is nurtured and valued. This exposes the identity medical directors are sacrificing or putting at risk and raises our own ambivalence about those who “give up” the practice of medicine

“The Eye of the Beholder: On observation in organizations”

Dr Andreas Liefooghe, Birkbeck College University of London

Does not all science start with an observation, regardless of the (lack of) theoretical neutrality? Can we question why so few observational studies are conducted in organizations these days, and how this might contribute to an arguably diminished field? Drawing on three longitudinal observational studies, we will discuss the problematics of seeing and being seen. Touching on Popperian falsification, Russell’s induction, the Foucauldian gaze and the Lacanian scopic drive, this paper charts a messy course in the quest for beauty if not truth.

“Can Barbie* be an entrepreneur?”

Dr Katrina Pritchard, Birkbeck University of London
Dr Helen Cooper, Helen Cooper Associates
Dr Kate Mackenzie-Davey, Birkbeck University of London

In February 2014 Mattel announced the launch of “Entrepreneur Barbie*” as the latest in their “I can be” range of the classic (even iconic,) doll. This latest career move for Barbie was widely reported in the press and was the subject of much discussion on various Web 2.0 media. Considering such discussions as a discursive resource, our research poses the question: Can Barbie be an entrepreneur? Our data are Web 2.0 discussions and company information distributed by Mattel (including via/from Barbie’s very own twitter account @Barbie) via the internet. Firstly, we will unpack Barbie’s* career to date, and review the implications for understandings of gendered careers. Secondly, we will reflect on the latest move to ‘entrepreneur’ considering the implications for (gendered) understandings of entrepreneurship. We further reflect on the construction of Barbie’s career as a significant cultural artefact that extends the reach of the material artefact, the Barbie doll.
*© Mattel

Concluding Remarks and Closing Session
Professor Pat Tissington, Head of Department, Birkbeck College University of London.

Networking Event: Wine Reception

24 July – 18:30-20:00 – “Blowin in the Wind” -Imaging the Counterculture. The rise of Eco-Protest

Venue: Kensington Central Library

Booking: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/blowin-in-the-wind-imaging-the-counterculture-the-rise-of-eco-protest-tickets-10855267397

1960’s Week 2014
An introductory workshop to discuss the visual culture of ‘eco-protest’ as emerging in the 1960s. How can we study this influential aspect of a transformative decade using a range of visual material, including some related film and music? As well as looking at the American scene there will be a focus on activities and activism in urban and rural England including marching and singing, fayres and festivals, sitting in and dropping out.
The role of images was at the centre of activities. Word was spread through photography and film documenting marches and protests, through DIY magazines, posters, placards, T-shirts and badges. Artists shared their work through album covers, street murals too were an alternative to established, often conservative galleries and musuems. Decades before camera phones and social media the visual culture of ‘Eco protest’ was crafted and distributed in a variety of colourful and inventive ways.
This is a workshop to look at some of the now iconic types of images that were ‘Blowin in the wind’ of change.
Lets look at how, and what is the legacy – what’s happening now?
Liz will give a short talk followed by an informal workshop and is looking forward to meeting anyone who would like to bring a visual work that they feel represents the spirit of the 1960s ecology movements, protests or Flower Power in general. This may be a photograph old or new, an image from a film, an album cover, T-shirt or button badge. This may be from a photocopy or a page from a magazine, a newspaper or from the internet. The image may be from the 1960s or since then, including contemporary items that are based on the original ideas or items.
Liz Johnston Drew is staff from the School of Arts (History of Art, including Photography , Architecture and Museums) and has much experience in working with adult and young adult learners. Liz can also discuss your interest in further study and working in the world of arts, art histories and visual culture.

To make any enquiries email: tryit@bbk.ac.uk

25 July –  18:30 onwards – On the Border film screening

Venue: Birkbeck Cinema, 43 Gordon Square

Booking: TBA

Lizzie Thynne, On the Border film screening and Q&A – A daughter’s exploration of her Finnish family’s history, prompted by the letters, objects and photographs left in her mother’s apartment.