Critical thinking on theory and practice of Community Psychology

Communitarian life is the human condition. In it human beings find mutuality, affection and identity – three of the fundamental resources they require to fulfill their existence. Because of the span of resources communitarian life brings about it has not only proved along human history to be a condition that grants better quality of life but has also rooted the strategy of manufacturing cells (the main tool enterprises manage to face the fierce economic competition in the beginning of the XXI century). The structure of manufacturing cells is a technique which replaces the logic of the assembly lines by the logic of the communitarian life. Notwithstanding this revival of community by the enterprises, the present day society has not spread the community model as its pattern of existence. Conversely, that kind of use of the community model was neutralized by several factors, being one of them the steady production and innovation of all sorts of gadgets, which can and have been used to solve people’s problems and satisfy their needs, thus an stimulus for an individualistic culture. The dependence of those gadgets has created a culture in which communitarian life is not required because people learn to depend on gadgets rather than on other people. Apparently, people do not need the community any more because being able to live alone, the other turns to be less important than the gadgets. That culture has been characterized by traits which being the social pattern of human life imposes hurdles to the development of the communitarian life. The first of these traits is the value given to and the dependence of sensations. This cultural trait has been an obstacle to community which is strongly dependent of affection. It is hard to think of a community grounded on sensations because the latter has to do with individuality. The second cultural trait is the loss of sensitiveness for the causality of things. The gradual but steady loss of confidence in the economic and political systems fuels the disappointment with the real word, a condition which according to Desbarats (2009) fuels in its turn “the bulimia” of work and of causality. Surrounded by technologies people have the perception of power and therefore become result directed rather than building of textures of causalities directed. Community implies the sharing of work on the causes of both the events and targets. The third cultural trait is the cult of the urgency, a kind of recreation of the non-temporal time. The conditions created by the economic competition within the context produced by technologies which shrink the time and the space impose the dependence of the flow of conjunctures. These conditions are easily seen in the “zappings”, “fast”, “spots”, “clips” and “just-in-time” patterns of social and individual behavior. The “24 hours” services confirm the non temporal time. Today to be busy all the time gives meaning to the existence. How is it possible to build communitarian life when the prevailing cultural logic is the one of the flow of the conjunctures? The individual profile fueled by that culture discloses a person flexible, always rushing, with short term focus, reactive, authoritative, intolerant to frustration and to failure, unable to delegate and unmotivated to communitarian life. As such, that individual may be master of his/her time but is turned into slave of his/her desires. These conditions nourish the social sedentarization and the individualization. Through the communitarian life people can learn that the mobile phone is a powerful weapon in the war to fight the economic competition as they can also learn that it is fragile as an instrument of emancipation. In the war people face with their own conscience the most powerful weapon is reflexivity and affection, two resources they can find easily in the communitarian life, not in the gadgets

Critical thinking on theory and practice of Community Psychology

Communitarian life is the human condition. In it human beings find mutuality, affection and identity – three of the fundamental resources they require to fulfill their existence. Because of the span of resources communitarian life brings about it has not only proved along human history to be a condition that grants better quality of life but has also rooted the strategy of manufacturing cells (the main tool enterprises manage to face the fierce economic competition in the beginning of the XXI century). The structure of manufacturing cells is a technique which replaces the logic of the assembly lines by the logic of the communitarian life. Notwithstanding this revival of community by the enterprises, the present day society has not spread the community model as its pattern of existence. Conversely, that kind of use of the community model was neutralized by several factors, being one of them the steady production and innovation of all sorts of gadgets, which can and have been used to solve people’s problems and satisfy their needs, thus an stimulus for an individualistic culture. The dependence of those gadgets has created a culture in which communitarian life is not required because people learn to depend on gadgets rather than on other people. Apparently, people do not need the community any more because being able to live alone, the other turns to be less important than the gadgets. That culture has been characterized by traits which being the social pattern of human life imposes hurdles to the development of the communitarian life. The first of these traits is the value given to and the dependence of sensations. This cultural trait has been an obstacle to community which is strongly dependent of affection. It is hard to think of a community grounded on sensations because the latter has to do with individuality. The second cultural trait is the loss of sensitiveness for the causality of things. The gradual but steady loss of confidence in the economic and political systems fuels the disappointment with the real word, a condition which according to Desbarats (2009) fuels in its turn “the bulimia” of work and of causality. Surrounded by technologies people have the perception of power and therefore become result directed rather than building of textures of causalities directed. Community implies the sharing of work on the causes of both the events and targets. The third cultural trait is the cult of the urgency, a kind of recreation of the non-temporal time. The conditions created by the economic competition within the context produced by technologies which shrink the time and the space impose the dependence of the flow of conjunctures. These conditions are easily seen in the “zappings”, “fast”, “spots”, “clips” and “just-in-time” patterns of social and individual behavior. The “24 hours” services confirm the non temporal time. Today to be busy all the time gives meaning to the existence. How is it possible to build communitarian life when the prevailing cultural logic is the one of the flow of the conjunctures? The individual profile fueled by that culture discloses a person flexible, always rushing, with short term focus, reactive, authoritative, intolerant to frustration and to failure, unable to delegate and unmotivated to communitarian life. As such, that individual may be master of his/her time but is turned into slave of his/her desires. These conditions nourish the social sedentarization and the individualization. Through the communitarian life people can learn that the mobile phone is a powerful weapon in the war to fight the economic competition as they can also learn that it is fragile as an instrument of emancipation. In the war people face with their own conscience the most powerful weapon is reflexivity and affection, two resources they can find easily in the communitarian life, not in the gadgets

Psicologías organizacionales y de los trabajos - pots. Preguntas desde las realidades actuales del mundo del trabajo en América Latina*

Se presenta una propuesta de actualización y ampliación del campo tradicional de la Psico- logía Organizacional asociada a las prácticas de Recursos Humanos desarrollada a partir de referenciales asociados a organizaciones jerarquizadas y grandes en relaciones enmarcadas en el modelo del empleo estable, hacia una lectura que implica la proyección a un multicampo que reconoce y asume los plurales en la forma de POTs. Para ello se presentan elementos de tendencias actuales del mundo del trabajo que incluye la reinstitucionalización del mismo en modalidades tipo empleo, servicios independientes, trabajo asociativo, por proyectos, emprendimientos, y trabajo rural entre otros, los cuales co-existen y se dan simultáneamente en las economías formal, informal e ilegal, donde las personas desarrollan la actividad social del trabajo, y derivan de ella referentes ontológicos en la organización social y de su singu-laridad. Se presentan algunas reflexiones disciplinares y disciplinares en la re-configuraciónde un multi-campo tipo POTs

Origin, consolidation, and perspectives of Work and Organizational Psychology

Abstract This essay is a reflection on the trajectory of Work and Organizational Psychology (WOP). The content analyzes its growth and introduction into society. Along this path, WOP took on the phenomena and problems of the relationships between individual, work, and society. Today, WOP presents a set of scientific, technical, and cultural productions integrating the conceptual and instrumental patrimony of society. WOP has enriched the understanding of performance at work by applying the concepts of Psychology to explain the relation between behavior and subjectivity. Facing the re-institutionalization of work from a form of employment to one of precarious autonomous work, WOP will be challenged to understand new phenomena that will arise within its territory. Its solid experience and firmness in the search for efficacy and for existential conditions sustains the assurance with which it faces the evolution of economic production. WOP has become a specialization capable of responding to the re-institutionalization of work now in progress in society. Origem, consolidação e perspectivas da Psicologia das Organizações e do Trabalho Resumo Este ensaio consiste numa reflexão sobre a origem e trajetória da Psicologia das Organizações e do Trabalho (POT). Seu conteúdo analisa sua construção e inserção na sociedade. Nessa trajetória, a POT assumiu os fenômenos e problemas das relações entre a pessoa, o trabalho e a sociedade e ganhou confiança dos gestores e da sociedade. Hoje, a POT apresenta produção científica, técnica e cultural no patrimônio conceitual e instrumental da sociedade. A POT enriqueceu a compreensão do desempenho no trabalho aplicando conceitos da Psicologia na interface comportamentos e subjetividade. Diante da institucionalização do trabalho da forma dos empregos para o trabalho autônomo precário, a POT será desafiada pela compreensão de novos fenômenos. A solidez de sua experiência e sua firmeza na busca da eficácia e das condições existenciais alimentam sua segurança frente à evolução da produção econômica. A POT tornou-se capacitada para enfrentar a atual reinstitucionalização do trabalho, na sociedade. Origen, consolidación y perspectivas de la Psicología de las Organizaciones y del Trabajo Resumen Este ensayo es un análisis de la trayectoria de la Psicología de las Organizaciones y del Trabajo (POT). Su contenido expone su origen e inserción en la sociedad asumiendo los fenómenos y problemas entre la persona, el trabajo y la sociedad. Hoy, la producción conceptual, técnica y cultural de la POT integra el patrimonio instrumental de la sociedad. La POT enriqueció la comprensión de la relación entre el desempeño y la subjetividad. Delante de la reinstitucionalización del trabajo como empleo para actividad autónoma precaria, nuevos fenómenos y problemas surgirán para los cuales la POT está capacitada y motivada. Su experiencia y firmeza en búsqueda de la efectividad del desempeño y de las condiciones de existencia la capacitan para enfrentar eses nuevos fenómenos y problemas en la evolución de la producción económica

Work and organizational psychology paradigms, thematic streams and tensions in Brazil

O panorama de abordagens da psicologia do trabalho e das organizações (PTO) no Brasil mostra grande diversidade teórica e metodológica que reflete a presença de distintos paradigmas científicos na delimitação e organização desse campo. O objetivo deste artigo é analisar esses paradigmas e relacioná-los com três eixos temáticos da PTO no Brasil: o do comportamento, o da subjetividade e o clínico. Investiga-se os fundamentos epistemológicos e metodológicos, alguns trabalhos e autores de cada um desses eixos, discutindo sua contribuição para o campo da PTO no Brasil. O artigo desenvolve uma discussão sobre as tensões existentes entre esses eixos, derivadas da pressão de corresponderem, ao mesmo tempo, a critérios de rigor acadêmico e relevância organizacional. O artigo, por fim, mostra a diversificação do campo da PTO no Brasil e os desafios disso decorrentes.The great theoretical and methodological diversity of Work and Organizational Psychology (WOP) approaches in Brazil reflects the presence of distinct scientific paradigms in the setting of boundaries and the organization of this field. The purpose of this paper is to analyze these paradigms and relate them with three WOP thematic streams in Brazil: the behavioral stream; the subjectivity stream; and the clinical stream. We investigate epistemological and methodological fundamentals, some studies and authors in each of these streams, discussing their contribution to the field of WOP in Brazil. The paper discusses the stresses that exist among these streams, which arise from the pressure of corresponding at once to academic rigor and organizational relevance criteria. Finally, the article shows the diversification of the field of WOP in Brazil and resulting challenges

Identidad profesional y carrera de mujeres en posiciones gerenciales: Un estudio en la ciudad de Cali.

Se presentan los resultados de la investigación que pretende, a través de la exploración de la trayectoria de mujeres que han ocupado puestos gerenciales durante un mínimo de 8 años, construir con sus relatos, versiones sobre su identidad como expresión de su lugar en el mundo laboral del cual se habla y se ha hablado ampliamente. Con esta investigación se pretende mirar la relación mujer – trabajo desde la exploración de la carrera como hilo conductor y proceso dinamizador que contribuye a la construcción de la identidad laboral. La importancia de esta investigación estriba en “escuchar” desde las voces de las mujeres implicadas, como el hacer una carrera en un cargo identificado históricamente como masculino, construyen su identidad como trabajadoras en posiciones de poder y como las contradicciones, tenciones, rupturas y continuidades contribuyen a responder la pregunta ¿quién soy yo como mujer gerente? Los resultados permiten arriesgar una serie de conjeturas sobre la interface carrera – identidad como cualificador de la relación personas – trabajo en medio de las tendencias, condiciones y exigencias de los mercados de trabajo actuales desde una perspectiva discursiva adoptada como método y que permite una lectura que a su vez es un aporte adicional de la investigación. En el proceso se exaltan las voces de las mujeres que ocupan puestos gerenciales para que desde sus relatos se observe como se construyen versiones sobre el lugar que la mujer se da en el mundo gerencial y como las soluciones autobiográficas aportan elementos importantes para evidenciar la identidad como un proceso de metamorfosis, que le permite implementar cambios constantes para lograr sus metas sin ser un proceso solamente adaptativo. La obtención de la información se realizo mediante una mescla de entrevistas con conversaciones en donde se potencializo la participación de las mujeres en la construcción de sus relatos. El método utilizado para el análisis de la información aporta la posibilidad de abordar los relatos desde los intereses de los de los investigadores, aportándole transparencia a los mismos

Una Revisión Crítica de La Noción de Sufrimiento Presentada por La Psicodinámica del Trabajo

El propósito es reflexionar críticamente sobre la noción de sufrimiento presentada por Christophe Dejours. Se parte de reconocer el valor del aporte teórico y político de la psicodinámica del trabajo y su apuesta por el estudio del sufrimiento laboral en clave psicoanalítica, pero advierte algunas limitaciones en esta apuesta teórica que pueden ser debatidas para contribuir al perfeccionamiento de la comprensión y definición del concepto de sufrimiento en el marco amplio de las denominadas clínicas del trabajo.

Empleabilidad, cambios y exigencias psicosociales en el trabajo

RESUMEN: El presente artículo sintetiza reflexiones sobre el constructo empleabilidad, basados en la Investigación “Empregabilidade: Versões e implicações. Uma leitura desde a Psicologia Social”, Rentería (2008). En primer lugar se presenta su historia como noción instrumental que implica un sinnúmero de acepciones orientadas a la responsabilización de las personas para entrar, mantenerse o salir del mundo del trabajo. La reflexión incluye, más allá de la individualización, el cuestionamiento sobre los actores visibles o invisibles implicados en los mercados de trabajo y en la definición de sus criterios y reglas. Complementariamente se discuten interfases con la academia y dispositivos de formación; así como exigencias para las personas y prácticas de Recursos Humanos. Finalmente se presentan cuestionamientos sobre las implicaciones psicosociales del fenómeno.ABSTRACT: This article presents some reflections on the ‘employability’ construct, based on the “Empregabilidade: Versões e implicações. Uma leitura desde a Psicologia Social” research project. Its history is presented first as an instrumental notion implying several meanings, all oriented towards holding people responsible for entering, staying at or leaving jobs. This reflection includes, beyond individualization, questions about visible or invisible actors involved in labor markets and in the definition of its criteria and rules. Interfaces with the academic world and formation devices are also discussed, as well as demands for Human Resources personnel and practices. Finally, questions about the psychosocial implications of the phenomenon are presented

O Paradigma do Dom e a Arte de Legar

Procurou-se com este artigo estruturar a noção de Legado, em sua articulação com o trabalho. Partindo das noções de conhecimento tácito, de Polanyi, da Teoria da Dádiva de Mauss, e de conceitos da psicanálise, procurou-se mostrar que o Legado se estrutura como um saber oriundo de uma síntese pessoal, que se insere em uma situação de circulação de um Dom, articulando ao mesmo tempo a dimensão pessoal do sujeito, e a dimensão social, em relação à qual o conhecimento foi estruturado