How Can Work and Organisational Psychologists Fortify the Practice of Workplace Innovation?

Abstract

The increasing adoption and implementation of workplace innovation (WPI) practices in business organisations poses a number of challenges for the role of work and organisational (W&O) psychologists in WPI. Here, by work and organisational psychologists we refer to researchers and practitioners in the fields of occupational psychology, occupational health psychology, industrial and organisational psychology, and cognate areas, whereas we use the term WPI to refer to innovations in deploying human talent and organising work processes that should result in good work and better organisational performance. In this chapter, we discuss how the practitioner-researcher challenges for W&O psychologists are framed within WPI practice. Then we identify a range of ways in which W&O psychologists can demonstrate the value of the field to WPI and examine ways in which the role of W&O psychologists can be strengthened for successful WPI practice. By examining the transaction between W&O psychology and WPI practice, with this chapter, we address the question "how can work and organizational psychologists fortify the practice of workplace innovation?". To achieve this, we draw from a range of literatures, such as W&O psychology, WPI, Human Resource Management (HRM), and industrial relations, taking a necessarily integrative and critical approach. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)