Learning outcomes:
1. Critically evaluate current theory and practice in organisational psychology relevant to employee well-being;
2. Critically evaluate problems and issues that arise in explaining behaviour and experience at work;
3. Critically evaluate the psychological evidence base for relevant interventions and how these might be implemented and evaluated in practice.
4. Evidence applying within ethical guidelines with sensitivity and integrity
You can find more information about each coursework component below.
Resources to link to:
• APA Guide: https://libguides.coventry.ac.uk/apa
• Referencing landing page (linking to APA): https://libguides.coventry.ac.uk/referencing
• Librarians for referencing support: https://libguides.coventry.ac.uk/sr/lib
You must achieve a module mark of 40% or above to pass the module. Should you fail the module, you may be permitted an opportunity to re-sit the failed assessment at the discretion of the Programme Assessment Board (PAB) in line with University regulations. Information about the resit coursework for this module will be made available on Moodle following the relevant assessment board. Please note that resit marks are capped at 40%.
CW1: Essay Question – Designing a Wellbeing Intervention
“Critically present and discuss the design of an intervention to tackle a key well-being issue within the workplace.” Identify and evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed intervention; how does it work and who is responsible for their implementation.
Improving the psychological well-being of a workforce brings benefits for both the individual employees and the organisation as a whole. For organisations, the business case for investing in psychological well-being is strong and associates with improved outcomes for organisations, including lower levels of turnover, sickness absence, and improved work performance.
The intervention discussed in your essay should convey the core message that psychological well-being can make a difference to work, individuals’ working lives and the success of organisations. The wellbeing intervention you will propose can be of two main kinds: 1) focused on treatment (i.e. interventions implemented once a health and wellbeing issue has been identified); or 2) focused on prevention (i.e. interventions introduced to prevent the likelihood of reduced wellbeing occurring).
Essay Guidance
The markers will be looking for an in-depth discussion of your proposed intervention which will aim to tackle a key well-being issue within the workplace. You need to indicate how the well-being issue can affect employee work outcomes (e.g. motivation, engagement and performance) and how the proposed intervention will allow individuals and organisations to deal with this issue.
The format of your essay should cover:
• An introduction to the essay to state the well-being issue covered and why, as well as a brief reference to the designed intervention. This section should set the scene for your essay and its content, expanding on the necessity of intervening.
• Next, you should indicate sufficient understanding and in-depth critical discussion of different theories, models and psychological evidence relating to the presented well-being issue. This module will introduce different topics from which you can choose, including but not limited to stress, bullying and harassment, resilience, and work-life balance. If you choose stress, you could for example elaborate on and compare the Job Demand-Resources model (JD-R) and the Person-Environment Fit theory to provide a greater explanation of stress development and its impact on both the individual and the organisation.
• The main body of the essay should provide a clear, coherent, and critical description of the intervention presented to tackle the discussed well-being issue. Your answer should thoroughly discuss the questions below:
• What is this intervention about? What does it include? Will the wellbeing intervention focus on prevention or on treatment. For example, you may elaborate on stress prevention initiatives, or on interventions aiming to manage and reduce stress.
• What would the outcome of the intervention be? Would the intervention effectively contribute to behavioural change? Would we expect, for example, individuals who are exposed to the intervention to acquire skills which will help them cope with stress? Or could the intervention contribute to organizational change, impacting for example on how work is arranged?
• When expanding on the interventions’ effectiveness you could consider the role that each member of the organisation (e.g. top and lower management, HR staff and the employees) should play during its implementation. Remember, considering the process and context of interventions is essential to understand their effects.
• Note that as a Business/Occupational Psychologist, you need to consider and acknowledge ethical guidelines relating to the intervention presented.
• Your intervention should conclude with a discussion about evaluation. Think about how to monitor, measure and evaluate the wellbeing intervention, including information on what to measure, how frequently to measure and how to safely store the data. This is very important as your intervention should make meaningful changes for the benefit of the workforce, learning from any possible mistakes. You should aspire to firmly place organisations in a great place; a place where people want to work and where their well-being is looked after.
*Remember, you need to ensure that you base your answer on newly introduced or previously discussed psychological theory and empirical evidence, where possible.
• A concluding paragraph is required summarising what was your essay’s focus and contribution. Final remarks about the intervention: Well-reasoned discussion of strengths/limitations and future applications/implications of the intervention.
• References
Essential Reading for this assignment:
Hesketh, I., & Cooper, C. (2019). Wellbeing at work: how to design, implement and evaluate an effective strategy. Kogan Page Publishers.
Nielsen, K. (2013). How can we make organizational interventions work? Employees and line managers as actively crafting interventions. Human Relations, 66(8), 1029-1050.
Nielsen, K., & Abildgaard, J. S. (2013). Organizational interventions: A research-based framework for the evaluation of both process and effects. Work & Stress, 27(3), 278-297.
Nielsen, K., Taris, T. W., & Cox, T. (2010). The future of organizational interventions: Addressing the challenges of today’s organizations. Work & Stress, 24(3), 219-233.
