Perspectives on Business Psychology

By Paula Brockwell. Most organisations are not short of culture data. They have engagement scores, listening group themes, exit interview feedback, wellbeing results, values comments and action plans. Often, they have more than enough information to know that something is not quite working. The difficulty comes next. When leaders ask, “So what do we actually change?”, the answer is often less clea

By Adrian Furnham. I am bilingual. I can speak two languages: “Academic Psycho-babble” and “Consultant Speak”. Neither language is superior, but both are very useful. How did I become bilingual?I am still a full-time academic and have been since 1979: U of Oxford (1979-1981); UCL (1981-2018), Norwegian Business School (2009-now). I publish books and papers; give lectures and supervise students.I a

By Russell Deathridge. In July 1985, shortly after the world was wowed by Live Aid, I left drama school – Rose Bruford College (the only accredited drama school at the time to offer a degree). I was broke, unemployed, homeless, and jaw-droppingly naïve. Five years later, I was a regular in what would prove to be one of the most-watched sitcoms of the day (11 million viewers a week). Yet ten years

By Scott Furlotte.Resilience is a popular buzzword in workplace wellness, leadership development, social media, and on the bookshelf in the self-help section. As practitioners and researchers, it is easy to make assumptions that we all think of resilience in the same way; as the ability to bounce back, thrive, and grow through adversity.  However, sometimes the concept of resilience takes on a nua

Developed by The ABP Membership Team. Many people worry that they should have discovered Business Psychology earlier in their careers. Yet one of the profession's greatest strengths is the diversity of experience its practitioners bring. This article explores why your previous career isn't something to overcome, it's often one of your greatest professional assets. When people discover Business Psy

By Ky Teasdale. The Equality Act 2010 requires 'reasonable' adjustments for workers with disabilities. The phrasing asks what the employer can reasonably do, not what the employee reasonably needs to function. As a legal test, this is sensible. As a moral one, it makes companies reactive, anticipating workforce needs only to conform to a legal framework. The consequences are visible in employment

By Sarah Brislen. Construction’s skills shortage is usually discussed in terms of labour supply, training provision, wages, and an ageing workforce. These are important pressures. CITB’s latest Construction Workforce Outlook estimates that the UK will need around 206,000 additional construction workers between 2026 and 2030. Yet recruitment numbers alone may not tell the whole story. From a Busine

Developed by The ABP Membership Team. Many people assume there is a single route into Business Psychology: study psychology, qualify, then begin practising. In reality, the profession is far more diverse. This article explores why there is no "typical" Business Psychologist and why your own career journey may already have brought you closer to the profession than you realise. Many of us imagine ou

By John Amaechi OBE. Who knew kittens could spark such controversy? The feedback from my session at this year’s ABP Conference is in, and I thank you for it. You described my session as “provocative but compelling”, and some of you thanked me for my frankness. The comment I liked most was about how I position psychometric testing within the bigger picture. Many of you described challenging and rob

By Dawn Nelson. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of presenting at the ABP Conference. After my presentation, a question from the audience led to an interesting discussion about the value of assessment design principles and their application outside of traditional assessments. Assessment design principles are traditionally applied to assessments constructed to evaluate candidates and support h

By Clodagh O'Reilly. Over the years I have often been asked to speak with groups of students on psychology courses about careers in Business Psychology. One of the most common questions I’m asked to address is:"What does a Business Psychologist actually do?" I love answering this question because I find almost inevitably that I can surprise people with the answer, which is both exciting and challe

By Iain McCormick. A wealth of evidence now shows that there is little clear relationship between years of professional experience and client outcome (Ericsson, 2008). As a professional you might feel that you have developed a lot over the course of your career, being more confident and being able to undertake a wider range of actions, but sadly the evidence suggests that this counts for little in

By Shameen Mehta. In the modern professional landscape, there is a pervasive myth that continuous, uninterrupted effort is the ultimate driver of success. We often treat downtime as a luxury or, worse, a sign of low commitment.However, organisational psychology tells a distinctly different story: continuous output without structured recovery leads directly to diminishing returns.Stepping away from

By Steve Carter. Five practical moves for creating more living organisations In my previous article, I suggested that trust cannot simply be summoned back into organisational life. It is not created by saying “trust us”, nor restored by communication alone. Trust is better understood as an emergent property of the psychological ecosystem of work: the living relationship between people, systems, ro

By Caralyn Bains. Throughout my previous work on Projected Helplessness, I have explored the proposition that human capability is not always a fixed internal resource residing solely within the individual. Rather, access to capability can shift significantly depending upon relational context, environmental conditions, interpersonal responses, and the expectations placed upon us by others. Recent r

By Steve Carter. Thinking more ecologically about trust, agency and resilience The ABP Industry Insights Report on trust, work and organisational systems arrives at an important moment. Many organisations are operating in a world where trust can no longer be assumed, inherited or declared into existence. It has become more conditional, more localised and more dependent on whether people’s everyday

By Dr Jennifer Spencer. Across healthcare, education, and social care, a growing body of research points to a phenomenon distinct from, but often mistaken for, burnout: moral injury. Where burnout is typically understood as exhaustion resulting from chronic workplace stress, moral injury describes the deeper psychological wound that occurs when professionals are repeatedly unable to act in accorda

From The ABP Industry Insights Team. Most managers recognise physical tiredness. Fewer recognise decision tiredness, especially when it builds quietly over time. Decision fatigue debt is a useful way of describing what happens when people make a high volume of decisions, day after day, without enough genuine recovery. The result is not just momentary tiredness, but a gradual reduction in the quali

By Dr Peter Hughes.Our work with the West Midlands Combined Authority exploring the barriers facing unemployed young people has highlighted an emerging challenge that extends beyond employability. While today's young people are exceptionally digitally capable, they are also entering a world of work where artificial intelligence is becoming the first place they turn for ideas and reassurance.This i

By Dr Liz Wall.  In many organizations, busyness remains a badge of honour. Employees skip lunch, work through meetings, and answer emails long after the working day ends. While these behaviours are often viewed as signs of commitment, Business Psychology suggests a different conclusion: sustained performance depends not on continuous effort, but on cycles of effort and recovery. Breaks are not in