PSYC313 Test 1

What are the four key factors for understanding Indigenous employees’ experiences of work?

• Colonialism and Indigenous employment

• The work-culture interface

• Relationships

• Perceptions

What does it mean to say that colonialism is a “structure, not an event”?

Colonialism is an ongoing structural influence that continues to shape Indigenous people's ability to secure and maintain employment, rather than something that only happened historically.

What is work-culture alignment?

The extent to which an Indigenous employee perceives and experiences fit between their Indigenous culture and their work contexts, such as their organisation, industry, or profession.

What is cultural double-shifting?

Additional work beyond an employee's core role that primarily draws on their Indigenous cultural knowledge, skills, or networks.

What can a lack of Indigenous co-workers lead to?

Loneliness, tokenism, and responsibility for managing Indigenous matters.

What is work-community integration?

The extent to which, as part of their job, an Indigenous employee works with or within Indigenous communities, including their home community or another community.

What are the three varieties of Indigeneity-work relationships?

• Synergistic: Indigeneity and work infuse meaning into or facilitate the evolution of one another.

• Strained: Indigenous identity and work are in tension.

• Ambivalent: A mixture of synergistic and strained relationships, with different aspects of Indigeneity aligning differently with aspects of work.

What is a workplace stereotype?

A cognitive framework or mental representation used to categorise and understand members of social groups.

Examples discussed include stereotypes of Indigenous employees as the “lazy worker,” “authentic” Indigenous person, or troublemaker.

What is Big-B organisational behaviour?

An approach that emphasises interesting behaviour that may be relevant to organisations.

Problem: It may fail the Core Competence Test because other disciplines could provide the same insights.

What is contextualized-B organisational behaviour?

An approach that emphasises behaviour occurring within an organisational context.

Problem: It may fail the Organisational Centrality Test because many behaviours occurring in organisations are peripheral to the actual process of organising.

What is Big-O organisational behaviour?

An approach that focuses on behaviour central to the task of organising.

It:

• Highlights the centrality of organising

• Eliminates peripheral behaviours

• Draws attention to processes

• Requires cross-level research

What are the “mechanics” and “activists” perspectives in organisational psychology?

Mechanics / mainstream-functionalists:
Focus on improving organisations' and managers' ability to achieve their goals.

Activists / critical researchers:
Focus on exposing how organisations can reinforce social inequities and how organisational power can be used to create more equitable outcomes.