B6419 - Psychology of Wellbeing in Organizations

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will know the theoretical and applied models in the area of work and organizational psychology related to the assessment, protection and promotion of workers health and well-being using different intervention approaches targeting both work organization and individual workers.

Course contents

The course presents theories, methods, and assessment and intervention tools to promote health and wellbeing in the organizations and in different workplaces. The course involves the following integrated and complementary modules:

Module 1. Prof. Stefano Toderi (36 hours)

Contents

1. Introduction to the module and the course
2. Introduction to organizational wellbeing and key concepts of Work and Organizational Psychology
3. Job analysis: methods, instruments and products. Application to a real context
4. Work stress and its prevention: theoretical models, measurement and the European Perspective on prevention.
5. Work stress prevention phases and activities
6. The supervisor’s role in creating healthy workplaces
7. The 10 Sigtuna Principles
8. Work stress prevention in a real workplace context

Module 2. Prof. Luca Pietrantoni (12 hours)

The module provides an advanced theoretical and empirical approach to understanding the role of technologies in health and safety in different workplaces and industries. Topics include:

- Safety, behaviours and accidents; Human Error Prevention, Nonon-technical skills training.

- Acceptance of technology in the workplace; human-technology interaction in the workplace (human-AI, human-robot collaboration); impacts of new technologies on the workplace; methods for analysing the usability of technological solutions.

- Nudging techniques and methods; digital nudging; behaviour change in organisations (e.g. promoting physical activity in the workplace, use of PPE).

- Examples and use cases from European projects; case studies from industrial projects with national and international companies.

Each module consists of theoretical parts, presentations of tools and group activities in the context of research and intervention projects on the topics covered.

Readings/Bibliography

Module 1. Prof. Stefano Toderi

Scientific papers and other course materials for Module 1 will be made available during the course and at "Virtuale". During the course, students are required to regularly consult the “Virtuale” platform and download the materials indicated for study and activity in the classroom and for the examination.

Module 2. Prof. Luca Pietrantoni

Mandatory readings:

1. Gualtieri, L., Fraboni, F., De Marchi, M., & Rauch, E. (2022). Development and evaluation of design guidelines for cognitive ergonomics in human-robot collaborative assembly systems. Applied Ergonomics, 104, 103807.
2. Morandini, S., Fraboni, F., De Angelis, M., Puzzo, G., Giusino, D., & Pietrantoni, L. (2023). The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Workers’ Skills: Upskilling and Reskilling in Organisations. Informing Science: The International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 26, 039-068.
3. Hollnagel, E. (2008). Risk+ barriers= safety?. Safety science, 46(2), 221-229.
4. Venema, T., & van Gestel, L. (2021). Nudging in the workplace: Facilitating desirable behaviour by changing the environment. In A handbook of theories on designing alignment between people and the office environment (pp. 222-235). Routledge.

Supplementary readings:

1. De Angelis, M., Giusino, D., Nielsen, K., Aboagye, E., Christensen, M., Innstrand, S. T., Pietrantoni, L. (2020). H-work project: Multilevel interventions to promote mental health in smes and public workplaces. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(21), 8035.
2. La Bara, L. M. A., Meloni, L., Giusino, D., & Pietrantoni, L. (2021). Assessment methods of usability and cognitive workload of rehabilitative exoskeletons: a systematic review. Applied Sciences, 11(15), 7146.
3. Other paper indicated during classes

Teaching methods

Module 1. Prof. Stefano Toderi

Frontal lectures to interactively discuss the topics covered by the course, group class presentations, work in small groups to write a job description and a project concerning interventions to prevent work-related stress in the organizations.

The Module is designed to be very interactive, based on students’ active participation. Therefore, students are requested to attend systematically all the lectures. Exchange students, aiming to choose this course for their learning agreement, should carefully consider – in their own interest – that they are requested to attend the full course.

Module 2. Prof. Luca Pietrantoni

Teaching methods are:

A) Lectures where the lecturer gives a review of the literature, shows conceptual issues and empirical findings and opens up for questions and comments. The slides presented during the lectures of Module 2 will be made available on the virtual platform after the lectures.

B) Student-active teaching methods: in-class activities to be performed in pairs or in small groups, role-play and case work. This allows for more interactive forms of learning to take place during class.

Assessment methods

Module 1. Prof. Stefano Toderi

Evaluation of learning of the lesson content will be carried out “during the course” and based on the following products.

- A small-group work on job analysis. This will give 0-10 points

- A small-group project on work stress prevention. This will give 0-10 points

- An “individual reflection paper” on the contents of the module. This will give 0-10 points (bonus of up to 2 points for outstanding paper)

Scoring from 0 to 10 points is graduated as follows:

• 0-2: markedly inadequate, evident misunderstanding, lack of critical comprehension, or content off-topic
• 3-4: presentation and/or discussion are not fully adequate; imprecisions, surface exam and description of the contents, lack of critical comprehension.
• 5-6: presentation and discussion are sufficiently clear and understandable; there are elements that denote critical deepening of the contents, albeit not fully evident
• 7-8: presentation and discussion are very clear, lexicon is specific to the topic, evidence is clearly understood and described, and critical comprehension is evident; some of these aspects, however, is present but not fully achieved
• 9-10: presentation and discussion fully meet the requirements as it concerns clarity, lexicon specificity, understanding and explanation of evidence.

The mark for module I is the sum of the marks obtained in the three products. A bonus of up to 2 points added to the final mark is possible for an outstanding “individual reflection paper”

IMPORTANT: Once course products are delivered for evaluation, they are no longer editable, and a second version cannot be submitted for evaluation. If the grade obtained is rejected, the student switches to the "post-course" assessment mode. This is an oral exam concerning the critical discussion of the following mandatory readings:

0 Truxillo, D., Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2021). Psychology & Work: Perspectives on Industrial & Organizational Psychology - 2nd Edition. NY: Routledge. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 12, 14

1 Nielsen, K., Randall, R., Holten, A.-L., & González, E. R. (2010). Conducting organizational-level occupational health interventions: What works? Work and Stress, 24(3), 234–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2010.515393

2 Nielsen, K., & Noblet, A. (2018). Organizational interventions: Where we are, where we go from here? In Nielsen, K., & Noblet, A. “Organizational Interventions for Health and Well-being”, London: Routledge https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781315410494-1/introduction-karina-nielsen-andrew-noblet

3 Nielsen, K., Abildgaard, J. S., & Daniels, K. (2014). Putting context into organizational intervention design: Using tailored questionnaires to measure initiatives for worker well-being. Human Relations, 67(12), 1537–1560. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726714525974

4 Nielsen, K., & Abildgaard, J. S. (2013). Organizational interventions: A research-based framework for the evaluation of both process and effects. Work and Stress, 27(3), 278–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2013.812358

5 Kelloway, E. K., & Barling, J. (2010). Leadership development as an intervention in occupational health psychology. Work and Stress, 24(3), 260–279. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2010.518441

6 von Thiele Schwarz, U., Nielsen, K., Edwards, K., Hasson, H., Ipsen, C., Savage, C., Simonsen Abildgaard, J., Richter, A., Lornudd, C., Mazzocato, P., & Reed, J. E. (2021). How to design, implement and evaluate organizational interventions for maximum impact: The Sigtuna Principles. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 30(3), 415–427. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2020.1803960

Module 2. Prof. Luca Pietrantoni

The written exam consists of 40 close-ended questions + 1 open-ended question. All the close-ended questions have a multiple-choice format with four options, where one answer is correct and three are incorrect. The close-ended questions are based on the mandatory papers and the lectures slides. The open-ended questions is about the supplementary paper. Time available: 60 minutes. A bonus will be given for active participation in the classes.

FINAL MARK

The final mark for the course (ModuleI + ModuleII) is the weighted mark of the two previous assessments and is derived from the following formula:

Final mark = (ModuleI /4 x 3) + (ModuleII /4 x 1)

Students are allowed to reject the grade for one module and keep the grade for the other module. The final mark will be calculated once a grade has been obtained for the rejected module.

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Toderi

See the website of Luca Pietrantoni