Work and organizational psychology: could the field adopt an open systems perspective to embrace the new context? A reaction to: "Beyond neoliberalism in work and organizational psychology" (Bal, 2015)

© 2016, Boom Lemma Publishers. All rights reserved. Bal (2015) depicts a reduction of focus in A&O psychology towards instrumental employer-employee relations, which he attributes to the increased impact of neoliberalism on society. In this reaction we point towards other factors that determine scientific agendas and practices. Bal prescribes a focus on human dignity and organizational democracy as remedial action. We argue that action research, respecting the essential relational character of human interaction in context, together with an open systems research approach, accounting for diversity in substantive and relational inputs and outputs, can foster the desired enlargement of scope in A&O psychology.

Publication year:2016