INDUSTRIAL-ORGANISATIONAL PSYCHOLOGISTS ENGAGING WITH THE NEW WORLD OF WORK: The unfolding challenge of future-fitness for the 4th Industrial Revolu

By Society for Industrial & Organisational Psychology South Africa (SIOPSA), Team Leader: Prof Theo H Veldsman 

As the challenge of conceptualising, designing, and implementing fulfilling and productive humane workplaces within the emerging 4th and 5th Industrial Revolutions becomes more apparent - it is clear that the future remit of every Industrial Organisational-Psychologist will be rising to the task of integrating people and technology, virtuously and optimally. Industrial-Organisational Psychology (IOP) as a science and practice embraces the psychology of work, the working person, the workplace, and the congruence between these elements. Yet, as we rapidly approach a digital era of work, how can this congruence be actualised?

 

This book explores the workplaces of the future as the outcome of an 18-month future-search, research project involving five research teams with their respective leaders, six research associates, two assistants and the head of the project, Theo Veldsman. Using emerging trends associated with the unfolding of the 4th and 5th Industrial Revolutions, Theo Veldsman and his team reimagined IOP in all its facets - intent, focus, content, mode of delivery, and capabilities - to realign it with the future workplace.

 

The research project - as reported on in the book - consisted of five interdependent research streams that aimed to build a coherent, in-depth story about the requirements for IO Psychologists to be future-ready. These research streams were: (i) the changing world of work; (ii) the IO Psychologist's moral-values-ethics base; (iii) the IO Psychologist's response; (iv) IO Psychologists' capabilities, education, training and development; and (v) IOP research.

 

This book provides a road map for IO Psychologists who want to prepare for the next five to ten years to become future-fit. These guidelines for directing and guiding the science, practice, and profession of IOP will allow IO Psychologists make a humane 4IR workplace a reality. Having visited the future through the rigorous research reported here, IO Psychologists can now return to the present, and lay a people-centric foundation for their organisations.