93519 - 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:

Stefano Toderi (6 credits; 45 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
6. Work stress interventions
7. The supervisor’s role in creating healthy workplaces
8. Work stress prevention in a real workplace context

Luca Pietrantoni (2 credits; 15 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:

- Acceptance of technology in the workplace; human-technology interaction in the workplace (human-AI, human-robot collaboration).

- Designing technologies in different industries to meet the different needs and preferences of workers; potential and realised impacts of new technologies on the workplace; methods for analysing the usability of technological solutions.

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

- Non-technical skills training and team-based training in health and safety.

- 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

Scientific papers and other course materials for Module 1 will be made available during the course and at "Virtuale".

Module 2. Prof. Luca Pietrantoni

Papers for the preparation of the written exam (30 multiple-choice questions) will be indicated during the first lesson.

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 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: flipped classroom, in-class activities to be performed in pairs or in small groups, role-play and case work. Flipped classroom is the process of moving lecture content from face-to-face class time to before class by assigning it as homework. This allows for more interactive forms of learning to take place during class.

Assessment methods

Module 1. Prof. Stefano Toderi

The final assessment of the Module 1 is based on:

- An “individual reflection paper” on the contents of the module. This will give 0-5 points

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

- A small-group project on work stress prevention. This will give 0-15 points

Scoring from 0 to 15 (0-5 for “individual reflection paper”; 0-10 for job analysis) points is graduated as follow:

• 0-3 points (0-1; 0-2): markedly inadequate, evident misunderstanding, lack of critical comprehension, or content off-topic
• 4-7 points (2; 3-4): presentation and/or discussion are not fully adequate; imprecisions, surface exam and description of the contents, lack of critical comprehension
• 8-11 point (3; 5-6): presentation and discussion are sufficiently clear and understandable; there are elements that denote critical deepening of the contents, albeit not fully evident
• 12-14 points (4; 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
• 15 points (5; 9-10): presentation and discussion fully meet the requirements as it concerns clarity, lexicon specificity, understanding and explanation of evidence.

Module 2. Prof. Luca Pietrantoni

The final assessment of Module 2 is based on the evaluation of the acquired knowledge and skills and is carried out adopting variours evaluation methods.

Assignments.

By means of assignments, the knowledge and skills acquired in class in writing, presenting and researching relevant scientific documents are assessed. The assignments must be submitted via the virtual platform (virtuale.unibo.it). The instructions for each assignment are provided on the virtual platform. The assignments require individual work at home for the following lesson. This may also include the preparation of an oral presentation.
The assignment will be awarded the maximum number of points if: the assignment fully complies with the instructions; is structured with clear and logical sections; offers original and thoughtful insights; thoroughly develops the objective with well-argued arguments supported by specific, concrete, and appropriate details; is written entirely in Standard English and contains no significant errors in spelling, punctuation, or grammar; fully adheres to the conventions of academic prose; and references meet the standards of APA.

Contribution to the final grade: 34%, up to 10/30 points in total.

Active participation.

Active participation will be assessed by the following behavioural indicators: Asking questions, taking notes, not engaging in secondary tasks, building on prior knowledge and personal experience, participating in group activities in class. Attendance will also be taken into account. Contribution to the final grade: 16%, up to 5/30 points.

Written exam.

Written exam with 30 questions with closed answers. The questions have a multiple-choice format with four options (one answer is correct, three answers are not correct). A correct answer is worth 0.5 points, an incorrect answer 0 points. Questions are based solely on the papers and chapters read (not on slides). Each student is required to find the full text versions of the papers and chapters listed. The written exam will take place on a specific date one week after the last class. It will last 45 minutes.

Contribution to the final grade: 50%, up to 15/30 points.

Final grade for the Module 2: between 0 and 30 points.

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Toderi

See the website of Luca Pietrantoni