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If you Google for top 7 challenges for people at work, you will get a list that includes problems with communication and relationships; uncertainty in a changing world; concerns about technology and innovation; workplace environment issues; challenges related to employee motivation; worries about job security and career growth; and training methods that don't meet workforce needs.

The modern workspace is becoming increasingly complex, and we need new tools, knowledge, and skills to navigate through it. Nowadays, people at the workplace are not only struggling with problems for which we have legislation, policies, and codes, such as employment conditions, harassment, discrimination, work-life balance, occupational health and safety, etc., but are also having to deal with phenomena that are relatively new, such as remote working, artificial intelligence, gender and cultural diversity, new modes of communication, the impacts of social media, and a fast-changing global environment.

The idea behind this Unit is to help students understand these complexities and to offer practical solutions. To do this, we will turn to the sciences of entrepreneurship, organisational behaviour, and socio-biology and explore ways of dealing with some of these modern-day problems we encounter at work. Using an original approach, this brand-new course will provide students with the opportunity to understand and learn how to tackle these issues through a robust, evidence-based method.

The Unit will be organised around lectures addressing the following key topics. These lectures will include a presentation, aimed to equip students with theoretical fundamentals, real cases, and group discussion with the participation of all.

1. Introduction: ‘What is this about?’ In the introduction to the workplace, to organisational behaviour, entrepreneurship, and mentoring, we will present knowledge and discuss key topics and fundamentals such as the importance of work and feeling satisfied and appreciated and supported, the role of a mentor, the value of experience, how an enterprise is built on people and innovation, the importance of relationships and corporate culture, etc.
2. A safe space: ‘The pyramid starts here, safety first’. This topic addresses a very important aspect of the workplace, psychological safety. In this part, we will talk about methods to foster a culture of psychological safety and putting people’s wellbeing first, discussing issues such as fear of failure; the difference between having confidence and gaining esteem; the difference between anxiety, stress, and work pressure; the effects of management styles such as micromanagement; bullying and other forms of aggressive behaviour at the workplace; the art of saying no and how to become more assertive at work; differences in personality traits such as agreeableness; and building trust.
3. The physical workspace: ‘I’m suffocating, there’s no light, no oxygen!’ This part of the course focuses on an often-neglected aspect of wellbeing at the workplace – the importance of a working environment that meets physiological, psychological, and physical needs of people, and is not only safe and healthy, but also comfortable. Here we discuss things like lighting, ventilation, physical space and minimum distance, privacy, colours, use of common facilities, etc.
4. The truth about motivation: ‘Motivation you said? That’s a myth.’ In this lecture about motivation, we turn to theories from socio-biology and organisational psychology to unravel the basics of human motivation, understanding what makes us tick, or applied to the workplace, what it is that can convince us to get up, get out, and face the daunting traffic to get to work. What is it that drives us? Is money a motivator? These and other interesting questions will be explored in detail supported by scientific theories.
5. Group dynamics: ‘Of tribes and territories, that sounds familiar!’ This is a very interesting and broad topic. In these lectures about group dynamics, we explore the theories behind leadership, hierarchies, competition, and cooperation. One of the core questions that comes up in such discussions is: ‘are we designed to compete or to cooperate?’ In this topic, we analyse theories of group formation, dominance, altruism and reciprocity, and discuss whether these are problems or solutions. Why are we so protective of our territories? And why do we insist on making the distinction between ‘us’ and ‘them’?
6. Cultural diversity: ‘We are swimming in a sea of culture’ . Today’s workplace brings together people of different cultural backgrounds, especially in a context where foreign workers make up an increasingly high proportion of the labour force. Is culture down to food and traditions, or does it run deeper? Do people from different cultures experience and express their emotions differently? In these lectures, we discuss how culture is learned behaviour and how it influences our upbringing, values, and emotions through social influence. The aim here is to bring awareness of cultural diversity and to nurture a sense of respect for co-workers, customers, and business owners whose cultural identity is different to ours.
7. Integrity: ‘Nothing is straightforward, so many grey areas...’ This is yet another highly interesting and relevant topic, especially in today’s world when we hear about cases of conflict of interest, abuse of authority, and corruption very often. Here we discuss the basics of what it means to be honest and of good moral values. How do we define integrity? How do we decide that we will be faced with a potential or apparent conflict of interest? Topics here will include professionalism, boundaries, gifts, relationships, friendships, and networks, accountability, etc.
8. Technology and innovation: ‘Artificial intelligence will ruin us vs it is the future’. There is no doubt that some of us are more open to innovation and technology while others are simply averse. What is innovation, artificial intelligence, and what is consciousness and does AI have one but not the other? Here we discuss many topics that are rather new to older generations but have become indispensable, like the internet. We will also address questions such as whether a person is incompetent or rather a bad fit for a particular job. Should we use AI to do our work, and should we accept work that is done with AI? Does remote working improve our work-life balance? Does social media impact our work and our thinking? Do we see sex differences in the technological world? These and other questions promise an immersive learning experience for students.
9. Corporate vision: ‘I can’t see the future, and things change every day’. In this topic we discuss the importance of driving a sense of common vision and direction. This is based on the idea of an organisation’s identity, knowing and transmitting clearly what it is and what it stands for. Having vision and communicating transparently gives people a sense of security and offers workers prospects and opportunities for job security and advancement. In this topic we will also explore how to learn to deal with uncertainties in a fast-moving world experiencing threats of food insecurity, wars, political upheavals, climate change, and novel diseases, understanding risk and the nature of resilience, as well as coping mechanisms, and nurturing a sense of hope for a shared future (we are in this together).
10. Being happy at work: ‘The happy workplace. A space to be.’ In the conclusion to this course, we discuss the ingredients for a healthy workspace. These are healthy relationships, emotional well-being that also comes from emotional literacy, honest communication, values of fairness, equality, equity, and non-discrimination; but also, a consciousness of the inevitable realities of human biology and the modern world. It is here that we will remind of the available tools for learning and for growth. It is here that we discuss the importance of solidarity, because a healthy workspace is one where people support each other.

In this unit there is also an emphasis on the benefit of mentoring. Throughout the unit, students will be given the opportunity to select and focus on a specific challenge they are facing at their workplace, and will be mentored, in a one-to-many group mode, to understand the root cause of that problem and to find ways of dealing with it. They can then explore this particular topic more in depth in their assignment. For the assignment, students will be asked to present their work through a short talk in front of the other students, and through a written essay on the subject. This is intended to give the students the opportunity to learn skills such as presentation, articulation, public speaking, and communication.

This unique choice of topics to be addressed and practical mentoring through sharing of knowledge and experiences is guaranteed to support students in their learning journey, all with the aim of becoming increasingly agile and resilient in their workspace.




Main Reading List

• BUSS, D. M., 2019. Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind. Sixth Edition. USA: Taylor & Francis.
• STEWART-WILLIAMS, S. 2020. The Ape that Understood the Universe. How the Mind and Culture Evolve. Cambridge University Press.
• SAPOLSKY, R.M. 2017. Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst. Penguin Books.