International Forum
Dirk D. Steiner
Universit de Nice-Sophia Antipolis
I recently realized that our English-speaking cousins in Great Britain had
not yet had a chance to tell us of their activities in the International Forum.
This issue seeks to correct the oversight. Chris Smewing, who is the current
chair of the Occupation Section of the British Psychological Society, has
written an interesting piece which focuses on the history of our field in his
country.
For your comments and suggestions concerning this column, contact me at: Dirk
Steiner; Dpartement de Psychologie; Ple Universitaire St. Jean d'Angely; 24,
Avenue des Diables Bleus; 06357 Nice Cedex 4; France. E-mail: steiner@unice.fr.
Phone: (33) 492-00-11-91. Fax: (33) 492-00-12-97.
Occupational Psychology in the United Kingdom
Chris Smewing
Chair of the Occupational Section of the BPS
Head of Training Quality and Performance
CGU Insurance
Douces Manor
West Malling
Kent ME19 PF
Great Britain
CSmewing@aol.com
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the little lumpy
bit on the top northwest corner of Europe. During the 19th century we gave the
world football, rugby, cricket and golf, and the rest of the world has enjoyed
beating us at all these activities fairly regularly ever since. The last century
was also a time when Britain was at the forefront of the industrial revolution
in Europe. Despite this however, industrial/occupational psychology did not
really appear in Britain until 1915, and then it started, almost literally, with
a bang.
The first world war required production of ammunition on a massive scale. The
munitions factory workers, most of whom were women, were required to work longer
and longer days in order to keep up with demand. Ninety hours a week was common,
and a 100 hour work week was not unknown (Smith, 1943). One consequence of this
was increased fatigue which, in turn, led to increased errors. It was soon noted
that, if one is going to make errors at work, a munitions factory is not a very
good place to be working. Therefore, in 1915, the Health of Munitions Workers
Committee was established. This committee addressed a number of interrelated
topics including fatigue at work, the health of workers, environmental
conditions, organization of the factory, and methods of pay. The committee
declared a need for "a sympathetic and correct understanding of the
physical and mental capacities of each worker and their most satisfactory and
economical application" ( Smith, 1943).
Following the war, the Industrial Fatigue Research Board was established to
continue the work of the Munitions Committee, and at almost the same time the
National Institute of Industrial Psychology was created. However, during the
1920s and 1930s interest in the new practice of industrial psychology dwindled,
as unemployment rose and traditional industries declined.
It was not until the outbreak of World War Two that industrial psychologists
were once again in great demand. The need for good assessment and selection
techniques by the army, navy, and airforce resulted in more than 3 million
military recruits taking assessment tests between 1939 and 1945 (Vernon &
Parry, 1949). Industrial psychologists were also working in many other areas
including study of skills and performance such as the analysis and measurement
of unfamiliar tasks (e.g., radar surveillance) and the effects of stress on
performance (Shimmin & Wallis, 1994).
Since the second world war, industrial psychology or, as it now called,
occupational psychology, in Britain has flourished. Within the British
Psychological Society (BPS), the Occupational Section is the single biggest
interest group, whilst the Occupational Division, which maintains professional
standards, has more than 850 chartered occupational psychologists belonging to
it.
In order to become a chartered occupational psychologist a person must go
through a three-stage process. Firstly they must obtain either the BPS
Postgraduate Certificate in Occupational Psychology, or complete an approved
master's course. Secondly, the person must demonstrate practical and application
skills in at least five areas of occupational psychology, selected from:
- Human_machine interaction
- Design of environments and work; health and safety
- Personnel selection and assessment
- Performance appraisal and career development
- Counseling and personal development
- Training (identification of needs, training design, and evaluation)
- Employee relations and motivation
- Organizational development and change
Thirdly, the person must demonstrate competence to practice independently and
unsupervised in working with the public.
The growth of interest in occupational psychology is reflected in the number
of universities now offering master's courses in the subject, as well as
conducting research. These include London (Birkbeck College, and Goldsmiths
College), Sheffield, Nottingham, Manchester, and Hull.
Although occupational psychology is now well established, it is clear that
the content of the subject has become increasingly eclectic in recent years (Shimmin
& Wallis, 1994). Each year the BPS runs a 3-day occupational psychology
conference, and among the topics at the January 2000 conference are
organizational values, conflict at work, the impact of mergers , and managing a
diverse workforce.
Publications from British Psychological Society include the Journal of
Occupational and Organizational Psychology, the Occupational Psychologist,
and Selection and Development. Other popular British publications include
Human Relations, the Journal of Organizational Behaviour, and Work
and Stress.
At the present time, British occupational psychology is going through a
period of transition. There is much debate as to how the areas of expertise of a
chartered occupational psychologist can best be defined, and also what the
relationship should be between occupational psychology and similar professions
such as human resource management and organization development. Even the title
of "occupational psychologist" is being scrutinized with regard to
whether this accurately reflects the breadth and depth of work in which we are
now involved. Overall, it is definitely an exciting time to be an occupational
psychologist in Britain.
References
Shimmin, S. & Wallis, D. (1994). Fifty years of occupational
psychology in Britain. British Psychological Society: Leicester.
Smith, M. (1943). An introduction to industrial psychology. Cassell:
London.
Vernon, P., & Parry, B. (1949). Personnel selection in the British
forces. University Press: London.
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