De maatschappij-kritische missie van de arbeids- en organisatiepsychologie:Commentaar op Matthijs Bal: ‘Voorbij neoliberalisme in de arbeids- en organisatiepsychologie’

Matthijs Bal (2015) is argued to be right when he observes that mainstream organizational psychology fails to sufficiently address problems that are inherent to today's organizations. His statement, however, that this state of affairs is due to a neoliberal paradigm which has gained control of the discipline is argued to be incorrect, simplistic and - most importantly - unfruitful in view of the desired development of innovative research agendas

Development (f)or Maintenance? An Empirical Study on the Use of and Need for HR Practices to Retain Older Workers in Health Care Organizations

The aims of this article are to (a) examine the prevalence of HR (HRM and HRD) practices to retain older workers in health care organizations; (b) evaluate those HR practices that are specifically designed to facilitate the retention of older workers; and (c) classify those HR practices against the needs of older workers, line managers, and HR professionals. To achieve these aims, 51 interviews were conducted with older workers, line managers, and HR professionals working in 15 Dutch hospitals and care service organizations in late 2010. The study had a mixed-methods setup in that the collected information was partly quantitative (figures about the prevalence and outcomes of practices), and partly qualitative (incorporating illustrative reflections or observations offered by interviewees), the latter complementing the former. Maintenance HR practices (practices that are focused on retaining older workers in their current jobs) appeared to be by far more prevalent compared to development HR practices (practices that are focused on advancement, growth and accomplishment, and that encourage individual workers to achieve new and challenging levels of functioning). In general, both types of HR practices were evaluated as successful by older workers, line managers, and HR professionals. Unexpectedly, the successful evaluations of the maintenance practices appeared to be attributed to developmental rather than maintenance processes. Furthermore, the needs of older workers appeared to be strongly related to both development practices and, although to a lesser degree, maintenance practices. The article concludes with relevant directions for future research

Which HRM practices enhance employee outcomes at work across the life-span?

Based on the social exchange theory and on ageing and life-span theories, this paper aims to examine: (1) the relationships between perceived availability and use of HRM practices, and employee outcomes (i.e. work engagement and employability); and (2) how employee age moderates these relationships. Using a sample of Nmaximum = 1589 employees, correlational analyses and multiple hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. First, confirming our hypotheses, results showed predominantly positive relationships between work engagement and both perceived availability and use of development HRM practices, such as HRM practices related to learning, development, and incorporating new tasks. The study outcomes opposed, however, our hypotheses with predominantly negative relationships between work engagement and perceived availability and use of maintenance HRM practices. Predominantly positive relationships were furthermore found, as was hypothesized, between employability and perceived availability and use of development as well as maintenance HRM practices. Generally speaking, these results were not more pronounced for any of the age groups. That is, age appeared to not play any significant moderating role. Research limitations, implications for practice and directions for future work are also discussed