The Psychologically Healthy Workplace Program, part of the American Psychological Association (APA), is a program that rewards employers for engaging in practices that promote a psychologically healthy workplace.
Specifically, organizations are recognized for practices that promote:
1) employee involvement;
2) work-life balance;
3) employee growth & development;
4) health & safety; and
5) employee recognition.
The purpose of this paper is for you to apply your knowledge of I/O psychology to a real-life
organization. More specifically, this project will give you the opportunity to examine the
organizational practices of a specific company of your choice that makes it a “psychologically
healthy workplace.”
Background Work
• Read the document Introduction: Building a Psychologically Healthy Workplace provided in this module to learn more about the determinants of a psychologically healthy workplace.
• Visit the below URLs to learn more about the PHWA and some companies that have
won this award:
o https://www.apa.org/applied-psychology/phwa-2019-winners
o https://www.psychologists.bc.ca/content/psychologically-healthy-workplace-awards
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2__qb0sOOac
• Identify a real-life organization you may analyze.
• Find a contact within the organization you have picked. This person cannot be yourself, and must be someone in a management or human resources position (i.e., someone who clearly knows about the organization’s policies and practices). If you have been or an employee of this organization, you may include your own personal experiences in the paper, but this should not be the primary perspective (see bullet below).
• In addition to the management/HR contact, you must utilize at least one other source to gain information about the organization.
This may include, but is not limited to: news articles, press releases, the organization’s employee handbook, an employee in the organization (this can be yourself), etc.
• Create a list of questions that you will ask your contact(s).
The Write-up
• Your paper should include five sections:
1) description of the organization; 2) discussion of organizational practices and policies as they pertain to each of the five psychologically healthy workplace criteria; 3) recommendations on how the organization may improve
their practices and policies to be more psychologically healthy; 4) references; 5) appendix.
Below are more details regarding each section:
1. Describe the organization you have chosen (e.g., name, location, approximate size, type of sector, etc.). Why did you choose this organization? Who was your contact and sources of information?
2. Analyze whether the organization meets any of the determinants of a psychologically healthy workplace.
You must include all five criteria in your analysis. In describing the practices/policies of the organization, do not merely include verbatim the responses of your contact person. Discuss what they shared with you in your own words, by incorporating into this section to describe the
organization.
Discuss whether the organization meets each criterion for being a psychologically healthy workplace. Be very specific about any practices that you include.
For example, do not merely state that the organization provides opportunities for employee growth; instead, describe what it is that the organization does.
Your analysis of the organization should be based upon research.
3. Provide recommendations on how to make the organization more psychologically healthy. Recommendations should be specific and based upon research .
4. You must back up your analysis and recommendations with research from peer-reviewed journal articles. Each “healthy workplace” criterion must include at least one reference; therefore, there must be a total minimum of five references included in your paper.
The research articles must come from the research journals listed on p. 18 of the Aamodt textbook; those listed under Bridge Publications and Trade Magazines and the textbook may be used but will not count toward the five required references. Failure to include references will result in deduction of points. Use APA style for your reference section.
5. Appendix should include the name, position, and phone number or email address of the person(s) whom you contacted for your paper. Remember, the primary contact must be someone in management or human resources.
Requirements:
• Final paper should be approximately 10-15 pages (not including appendix and references), double-spaced, Times Roman Numeral, 12-point font.
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