Reflections of a Former ABP Chair
By Steve Whiddett.
Business Psychology, Occupational Psychology (OP), Organisational Psychology: in 1984, I was three years into a four-year psychology degree course and I hadn’t heard any mention of these titles. This despite the British Psychology Society (BPS) having founded an Industrial and Organisational Section in 1919, renamed it as the Occupational Psychology Section in the 1950s, and establishing a Division of Occupational Psychology (DoP) in 1971.
In 1984, some major employers had OPs in-house, several public sector organisations had teams of OPs, and some major universities had departments devoted to OP or some aspect of it. I also discovered that there were a few consultancy practices that were wholly or partially OP practices. Yet it would be another 16 years before the ABP began and more than 20 years before it came to my attention.
During those intervening years, I became a consultant Occupational Psychologist and received very thorough training and supervision on the main tools and techniques of the ‘trade’. Significantly, none of that training or development was provided by the DoP or ABP. It wasn’t available from the DoP during that time, and ABP offerings were limited to workshops at their annual conferences.
How I Found The ABP
While attending a DoP conference, several attendees suggested The ABP might also be of interest to me, as it was more practice-based, where academic papers dominated DoP conferences.
I attended an ABP conference in the 2000s and was immediately persuaded to remain a member of The ABP because of the excellent inclusive community vibe at its annual conference. Held early in the year, the conferences had the feel of a belated Christmas party with the bonus of practice-based presentations during the day.
A common theme to both ABP and DoP conferences was the dominance of papers relating to tools and techniques in the late 2000s. Development and validation of tools and techniques at DoP conferences, and applications and outcomes of their use at ABP conferences. To be fair, The ABP also offered some very novel additional presentations that sometimes tested the boundaries of psychology in business.
Joining the Association
When I joined The ABP, Francis Butler was Chair (2004 – 2009). During this time, when responsibility for regulating standards in psychology for BPS-registered psychologists was transferred from the BPS to the Health and Care Professionals’ Council (HCPC), the ABP Management Board contributed to successful arguments for the term ‘psychologist’ not to become a protected term. This proved crucial: as the term, had it been included in protected occupational titles, could not have been used by The ABP in its or its members’ titles.
The ABP During My Time As Chair
Sadly, Francis died unexpectedly while in post in 2009. I joined the board and served as Chair from 2009 to 2013.
The ABP priorities at that time were centred on maintaining its impressive conference offering, developing its membership, and managing its outward presentation to Business Psychology communities, including successes in recognising courses in Business Psychology. The management board’s primary focus was on pursuing strategic objectives relating to these priorities, managing income from each annual conference, and organising the next one. Membership numbers appeared very healthy, at around 1200, but when examined more closely, membership fees were only being collected from about half that number.
Administration was limited to one paid person and the voluntary input from board members. It was agreed that we needed a more progressive strategy, and we needed the necessary administrative and procedural support to enable such a strategy to be implemented.
To develop such a strategy, we needed to be clear about our purpose and how we could make good on that purpose. The Board agreed to review our purpose, values and objectives for the future. This began with a few Board-level workshops to explore potential directions and some initial priorities. These were tested out with ABP members at interactive workshops at the next conference, the Association’s 10th anniversary conference. The conference featured the use of live voting technology to collect and collate views on the strategy and its priorities, and live video was used to record the sessions as well as key presentations and interviews with attendees. The video was also used to promote the conference and a new approach for the Association.
Major advances were made in the next few years, including a review of the admin load the strategy would generate and how this would be met. The review resulted in the appointment of professional management services and changes in management practices within the board to release board appointees from working at an administrative level to manage delivery of specific strategic objectives.
By the end of 2012, as one board member commented when stepping down from the board, “the work of the Board in establishing strategy, direction and priorities was largely done”. However, this was not strictly so. The major output from this board was in establishing the conditions in which substantial strategic changes could be made and sustained. Those changes would be designed, developed and delivered during the next Chair’s tenure.
In addition, the Board fended off an attempted coup aimed at manipulating the choice of next chair, contributed to the standards for Assessment and Development Centres (later published by the DoP), provided critical evidence and professional insights into an academic review of the use of competencies as assessment criteria, and increased our links with key figures in both business and academia.
What Came Next
The strategy generated much discussion about how The ABP differed from the DoP. The DoP was a home for individuals possessing the title ‘Occupational Psychologist’; a title only available to individuals who had completed a BPS-recognised course in OP. The Association of Business Psychologists implied much the same; that it was the home for individuals trained in Business Psychology.
However, we recognised that Business Psychology was not practised only by individuals called ‘Business Psychologists’. Business Psychology was practised by trainers, recruiters, managers, HR and development specialists, and many more who may have had no formal training in psychology.
The change of name for The ABP to The Association for Business Psychology had been tabled in spring 2010. It would be formally recognised as the name for The ABP during the time of the next Chair. It widened our membership to a much larger community, recognising the dispersed nature of the practice and its practitioners.
It is my hope that anyone involved in the management of people, performance, organisational efficiency, and personal and organisational effectiveness will continue to use Business Psychology knowledge and practices supported by the efforts and reach of The ABP.
About the Author
Steve Whiddett was awarded Honorary Membership of The ABP in recognition of his outstanding service to the profession and his pivotal role in shaping the Association. A Chartered Psychologist, consultant, and author, Steve has been a leading voice in applying psychology to organisational performance, change, and leadership. As founder of WHE-UK, he championed ethical, human-centred change, and his published works, including The CIPD's Competencies Handbook (1999, with Sarah Hollyforde) and A Practical Guide to Competencies (2003), have become standard references in the field. Representing The ABP, he also contributed to the BPS Division of Occupational Psychology’s Professional Guidelines for Assessment Centres (2015).
Steve served as Chair of The ABP from 2009 to 2013, a period of transformation in which the Association refined its purpose, values, and governance, introduced professional management services, and laid the foundations for long-term stability. He was instrumental in affirming The ABP’s inclusive identity, ensuring it welcomed all who apply psychology in business, and preparing the way for its renaming in 2013 as The Association for Business Psychology. Steve’s leadership, clarity of thought, and generosity of spirit continue to inspire the ABP community.