Determining the exposure to and skills needed by industrial – organisational psychologists in the Western Cape Province to counsel employees towards flourishing in the workplace.

Abstract

According to literature, Industrial-Organisational psychology is mainly concerned with investigating the behaviour of humans within the work environment. It is stated that Industrial-Organisational psychology deals with well-adjusted working adults to improve we ll-being and efficiency by applying psychology principles (Health Professions Act, 2011). One of the roles of the Industrial-Organisational psychologist is to provide counselling in the workplace. Counselling in the workplace is typically done in a traditional way. This process is mostly seen as reactive and is aimed at helping individuals cope with problems and addictions with the goal of reinstating performance. This research will in part aim to suggest positive psychology as an alternative method. It is suggested that changing counselling to a positive psychology perspective could lead to greater outcomes than just assisting employees through personal and emotional difficulties. The aim of positive psychology counselling should be to enhance employees’ sense of coherence, resilience, optimism, work engagement and self-efficacy, amongst others. Thus, Industrial-Organisational psychologists need to be effectively prepared in order to counsel people towards flourishing in the workplace. This implies that they need the necessary exposure to and training in certain skills.