ORG 3410 Stress, Motivation and Self-Leadership
ORG 3410 Stress, Motivation and Self-Leadership
The candidate will gain research-based knowledge about subjects related to work environmental topics, and the meaning of motivation in a work environmental context. The Scandinavian work environment tradition and the historical context that can be traced all the way back to the Hawthorne-studies in the 1920s are some of the subjects that the course will cover. These trends contributed to the development of psychological work requirements and the extended emphasis that was placed on democracy at the workplace. Furthermore, the candidate will gain nuanced knowledge about the meaning of autonomy and co-determination, as well as other aspects that contribute to sustainable workplaces that prioritize health and well-being. Important organisational goals that promote performance and auxiliary behaviour are also a part of this course.
Motivation constitutes a central point within a working environment, and it is central to the effectiveness and productivity of organisations. The student should have a wide knowledge about the effects of different types of motivation, the connection between motivation and work engagement, and aspects that trigger and inhibit motivation at a workplace. The candidate should know that motivation is crucial when it comes to empowerment of colleagues, and if it is likely that effective self-leadership can be successfully implemented or not.
The course also highlights factors that facilitate self-leadership, and the importance of autonomy at the workplace. The course provides knowledge about strategies that promotes self-leadership and super-management, and counteracts procrastination.
Stress is also an important part of the modern work life. The candidate should know about different types of stress, like burnout, while having a nuanced understanding of the relationship between stress and mastery control, and aspects that can induce disease-promoting stress. The candidate should also know about empirical findings related to measures that can counteract stress.
Students will gain knowledge about:
- Central factors that can be used to describe and contribute to a good psychosocial work environment
- Central theories, research, terms, and models about motivation, including different practices that facilitates job engagement and empowerment at the workplace
- Central theories, research, terms, and models about stress, including burnout, at the workplace
- Central theories, research, terms, and models about themes like procrastination, self-leadership, and super-management at the workplace, including concrete tools to conduct self-leadership and super-management
The course will provide the skills needed to:
- Apply basic knowledge about the psychosocial work environment to actively contribute to a good psychosocial work environment where you work
- Apply basic knowledge about motivation and stress at the workplace to highlight and facilitate the creation of an engaging and motivating workplace for oneself and co-workers
- Apply basic knowledge about self-leadership at the workplace to highlight and facilitate how one can lead oneself in a constructive and productive way and avoid procrastination (unnecessary postponement behaviour). This happens by using concrete tools for self-leadership
- Conduct self-leadership, which means guiding others to performing self-leadership
The course will introduce central terms, theories and models within research and knowledge about. The psychosocial work environment, a motivating work life, and self-leadership. A lot of emphasis is placed on the practical use of the subjects that the course covers in relation to ones own experiences through extensive self-reflection, group discussions, cases and other aspects of the lessons. The course wants to shed a light on the topics from different perspectives, like the leader-, co-worker- and HR-perspective.
- The work environment tradition; historic context and Norwegian leadership
- Self-leadership and super-management
- Procrastination
- Different types of motivation and consequences
- Motivation and well-being in organisations
- Motivating job design, work climate and performance leadership
- Relations at the workplace, the psychological contract
- Leader motivation and destructive leadership
- Different perspectives surrounding stress
- Emotional work and burnout
- New stress factors: Job insecurity and technostress
- Work-life balance and workaholism
- Mastery of stress
The course will be taught through a combination of lectures and active learning through group discussions, problem-solving and discussions of current issues from the work life. Some weight will also be placed on reflections surrounding these topics.
The course itself is taught intensively through 7 weeks from the start of the semester and finishes with an exam in the middle of the semester.
Higher Education Entrance Qualification
Disclaimer
Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.
| Assessments |
|---|
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Invigilation Weight: 100 Grouping: Individual Support materials:
Duration: 4 Hour(s) Exam code: ORG 34101 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination every semester |
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Teaching | 39 Hour(s) | |
Feedback activities and counselling | 3 Hour(s) | |
Student's own work with learning resources | 154 Hour(s) | |
Examination | 4 Hour(s) |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 7,5 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 200 hours.