Spotlight on I-O Organizations
Lori Foster Thompson
North Carolina State University
Greetings TIP readers! It’s hard to believe the month of October is already upon us. And you know what that means—time for Oktoberfest! But how prepared are you, really? Sure, you may be well versed in German beer, sausage, and sauerkraut. Heck, you might even have your very own lederhosen hanging in the closet. But, do you know what DGP stands for? Do you have a good sense of how our German-speaking colleagues meet and network with each other? Can you cite the predominant language used to report research results in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland? If you answered “no” to one or more of the preceding questions, this column is for you. On the following pages, Martin Kleinmann provides an excellent overview of how our I-O colleagues in the German-speaking countries learn about developments in the field and meet like-minded others within the profession.
Networking in German-Speaking Countries
(Austria, Germany, and Switzerland)
Martin Kleinmann
Universität Zürich, Switzerland
There are more than a dozen different countries with different languages in Europe. Some countries even have more than one official language. For example, there are four official languages in Switzerland. As the mother tongue for around 100 million people, German is the most common among the languages. German native speakers live mostly in Germany, Austria, and in many areas of Switzerland. Thus, it is not surprising that many German-speaking researchers use English and German as their language for publishing (unlike, for example, our Dutch colleagues, who speak a less widely used language).
German-speaking psychology scientists are organized in the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie (DGPs, German Psychological Society, http://www.dgps.de/). Currently, this organization has around 2,000 members and its president is Hannelore Weber. The DGPs is more than 100 years old, and its “1st congress of experimental psychology” was held in 1904 in Gießen (Germany). The subdisciplines of psychology are reflected in 15 sections. One section is the section for work and organizational psychology (Fachgruppe Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie, http://www.aodgps.de/), and I have just been elected its president. The section for work and organizational psychology was founded in 1985 and currently has around 300 members.
Whereas SIOP is an organization for scientists and practitioners, the DGPs does not have practitioners as members. In Germany, practitioners are organized in the BDP (Berufsverband deutscher Psychologinnen und Psychologen, Association of German Professional Psychologists, http://www.bdp-verband.org/). The BDP also has a section for work and organizational psychologists (Sektion Wirtschaftspsychologie,
http://www.bdp-wirtschaftspsychologie.de/index.html). In Austria, the situation is similar: Practitioners are organized in the BÖP (Berufsverband Österreichischer PsychologInnen, Association of Austrian Professional Psychologists), and the BÖP has a section for work and organizational psychologists (Sektion der Arbeits-, Wirtschafts- und Organisationspsychologie, http://www.boep.or.at/awo/index.htm). In Switzerland, the situation is a little bit different. There is a Swiss organization for work and organizational psychology (Schweizer Gesellschaft für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie, SGPAOP, http://www.sgaop.ch/) for both practitioners and scientists. The SGAOP president at the moment is Ivars Udris. The SGAOP is a member of an umbrella association with the abbreviation FSP. This abbreviation stands for three names (a German, a French, and an Italian one): Föderation Schweizer Psychologinnen und Psychologen/Fédération Suisse des Psychologues/Federazione Svizzera delle Psicologhe e degli Psicologhi (translated: Federation of Swiss Psychologists, http://www.psychologie.ch/). In short, a German-speaking I-O psychologist is often a member of more than one organization.
The place for networking for German-speaking psychologists is the bi-annual congress of the DGPs. Typically, the DGPs congresses attract around 2,000 attendees. This year, the DGPs congress was held in Nürnberg (Germany, http://www.dgps2006nuernberg.de/). In 2 years, the DGPs congress will be held in Berlin (Germany). It will be merged with the 29th International Congress of Psychology (http://www.icp2008.de/). This is surely a good occasion to learn more about the manifold aspects of German, Austrian, and Swiss psychological research and to meet German-speaking colleagues. It is also a great excuse to visit one of Europe’s most exciting towns. If you are interested, you can already submit your 100-word abstract and register!
Every other year, the DGPs section for work and organizational psychology holds its conference. Thomas Staufenbiel and I organized the first conference, which was held in Marburg (Germany). One guest speaker was Gary Latham. The next conference will be in Trier (Germany) in 2007, organized by Conny Antoni and Andrea Fischbach. (By the way, Trier is beautiful small town with a history of more than 2,000 years.) Many researchers in
I-O psychology attend both the (comparatively) big DGPs congress and also the smaller conference for work and organizational psychology.
Some colleagues also use the biannual congress of the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP, http://www.eawop.org/web/) for networking. The next congress will be held in the Stockholm, the gorgeous capital of Sweden (http://www.eawop2007.org), in 2007. Another networking place is the conference of the International Association of Applied Psychology (http://www.iaapsy.org/). It is held every 4 years, and the next congress will be in Melbourne (Australia) in 2010. And, of course, some colleagues travel to the SIOP conferences as well.
Networking among young scientists is fostered by annual workshops that are run by the DGPs section for work and organizational psychology. These workshops give PhD students the chance to discuss their current research with fellow students and more experienced researchers. The focus is neither on presenting fabulous-looking results nor on giving prizes to best research projects. Instead, the focus is on helping where the problems are. This seems to be an attractive workshop format for many PhD students. The workshops are always organized by the president of the DGPs section for work and organizational psychology. They were started by Rüdiger Trimpop in 2004. There is, however, a prize for the best PhD thesis that is sponsored by the DGPs section for work and organizational psychology. It was first awarded in 2005 (to Cornelius König).
German-speaking colleagues report their research results predominantly using German as the language. For example, main figures of the Action (Regulation) Theory, like Winfried Hacker and Eberhard Ulich, have published nearly everything in German. It is only fairly recently that authors such as Michael Frese and Dieter Zapf have presented this important theory to larger (i.e., English-speaking) audiences. The main peer-reviewed German I-O journals are the Zeitschrift für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie (editor: Gerhard Blickle, http://www.hogrefe.de/?mod=zeitschriften&action=1&site=ao) and the Zeitschrift für Personalpsychologie (editor: myself, http://www.hogrefe.de/?mod=zeitschriften&action=1&site=pps). These outlets publish mostly original, empirical articles (sporadically also in English) but also overview articles, book reviews, discussions, and practice reports. Books are also a popular research outlet among German-speaking I-O psychologists.
Despite the dominance of German as the language for publishing, a general trend in German-speaking psychology can be noted: More and more research is progressively being published in English. There is a German database called PSYNDEX that keeps track of research published by German-speaking psychologists, independent of the publishing language. PSYNDEX analyses (ftp://ftp.zpid.de/pub/info/zpid-monitor.pdf) show that the output of German-speaking psychologists has more than doubled in the last 23 years (3,064 publications in 1980; 7,821 publications in 2003). Of the 3,064 publications in 1980, 7% were in English. In 2003, nearly 20% were in English.
A closer look at publishing strategies, however, reveals important differences between more basic research and more applied research. Whereas German-speaking cognitive psychologists published nearly two thirds of their work in English in 2003, German-speaking I-O psychologists published still less than 10% in English (out of their 833 publications, only 50 were in English). A similar finding can be seen for another applied subdiscipline, educational psychology.
Is the low percentage of English publications good or bad for the German-speaking I-O psychology? This is a hotly debated issue among researchers. Take, for example, Michael Frese and Lutz von Rosenstiel. Both have produced more than 100 publications—Michael Frese mostly in English, Lutz von Rosenstiel mostly in German. Michael Frese is most likely known among many SIOP members, and Lutz von Rosenstiel is most likely known among many German-speaking human resource (HR) managers. Although both are thus well-known, I guess they are only well-known among specific groups of people. I would be happy if the work of Michael Frese were better known among German-speaking HR managers, and I would also be happy if more SIOP members knew the work of Lutz von Rosenstiel. Some people argue that research is only valuable if it can be internationally read and if it is connected to the worldwide community of I-O researchers. According to this viewpoint, research ought to be published in English because that is world’s scientific language. Other people argue that it is difficult to get a paper accepted at a U.S. journal if it uses German scales, which are specifically adapted to the work situation in Germany (or Austria/Switzerland). They also argue that substantial differences between the German-speaking countries and the U.S. make a transfer of findings rather unlikely. For example, legal dismissal protection is much higher in Germany than in the U.S. Job insecurity might therefore mean something very different in these two countries. Thus, some colleagues think that the countries benefit more from German-speaking I-O researchers if they publish German book chapters than if they publish journal articles in English. Such a position coincides with a view expressed in an in-press discussion article to be published in the Zeitschrift für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie: “It is not rare that a well written chapter in a German textbook has more impact on German companies than a complete volume of an American top journal.”
Given the magnitude of the German market within Europe and given the peculiarities of German-speaking countries, it is easy to forecast that publishing in German will continue in the future. However, it is also likely that more and more researchers will also publish in English for several reasons. First, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are changing the systems of their tertiary education (as are many other countries in Europe). They are in the process of adopting the system of having bachelor studies followed by a master’s program, whereas, for example, getting a “Diplom” in psychology after 5 ½ years was the standard in Germany for a very long time. The hope is that introducing BAs and MAs will make the exchange of research(ers) and students within Europe easier. The main language for any exchange will surely be English. Second, evaluations of psychology departments are increasing and becoming more rigorous, and evaluators seem to agree more and more that publishing internationally in peer-reviewed journals should be the goal, even for the applied subdisciplines of psychology. This puts pressure on German-speaking I-O psychologists to write articles in English.
It should be noted that some German-speaking I-O researchers are already well-connected in the international arena. For example, Christian Dormann is the editor of the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Sabine Sonnentag is associate editor of the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology and of Applied Psychology: An International Review, and Michael Frese is the president of the International Association of Applied Psychology. Jürgen Deller (and Deniz Ones) organized a symposium about “personality at work” in Lüneburg (Germany) last year. Researchers from all over the world came to this symposium (among others: Neil Anderson, Filip Lievens, Timothy Judge, Fred Oswald, Neal Schmitt, and Chockalingam Viswesvaran). Several work and organizational groups foster their informal contacts by inviting researchers to their colloquiums. For example, the I-O psychologists at the Universities of Gießen, Mainz, and Frankfurt have such a colloquium.
In closing, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are certainly worth visiting, not only for traveling around, but also for getting to know the ideas and research projects occurring in the area. Visitors at German-speaking universities can rest assured that talking in English will not be a problem. Nearly everyone has learned English at school, so it only might be a little bit rusty. Certainly, there is much to be gained by increasing the amount of networking that takes place among German-speaking, American, and other I-O psychologists. Such connections are likely to benefit the individual researchers involved, as well as the field overall.
Concluding Editorial
So, there you have it—everything you need to know to ensure that you can hold your own when the banter at this month’s Oktoberfest celebration inevitably turns to the topic of I-O psychology in and around Germany. Clearly, there are many excellent networking opportunities within the German-speaking countries. By describing them in some detail, this article can serve as a useful starting point for readers with an international bent, who are interested in taking a closer look at I-O psychology in the German-speaking countries.