Getting in and getting on – what does a good start look like for new employees?
| Date: | Tuesday 22 May, 4:30pm - 6pm |
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| Location: | WA224, AUT City Campus |
| Cost: | Free |
| Contact: | sue.chapman@aut.ac.nz |
Helena Cooper-Thomas's inaugural professorial address
We have all experienced being new to a group or organisation, feeling excited but perhaps also slightly anxious. Professor Cooper-Thomas’s research focuses on one group of newcomers, namely new employees. For new employees, their initial days and weeks in the role provide important opportunities to learn and discover the realities of their new tasks, colleagues, and organisation.
Colleagues will vary in their interest and willingness to invest in the integration of newcomers, potentially providing positive behaviour such as support and assistance, or they may instead neglect or even undermine newcomers. Organisations vary in their preparedness for newcomers, optimally providing a structured induction and orientation, but at the other extreme newcomers may be left to figure it out.
In her inaugural address, Professor Cooper-Thomas will highlight findings from the newcomer, newcomer’s colleagues, and organisational perspectives to provide insights for all parties on how to enable a good start. Professor Helena Cooper-Thomas joined AUT as Professor of Organisational Behaviour in January 2017.
Born and raised in London, she earned her BSc Psychology (Hons) from the University of Durham, MA in Applied Social Psychology from the University of Saskatchewan, and PhD from the University of London. During and following her PhD, Professor Cooper-Thomas consulted to industry on organisational psychology and organisational behaviour issues, before returning to a full-time academic position in 2003.
In her research, Professor Cooper-Thomas focuses on the relationships between employees, and between the organisation and its employees, and the range of positive through to negative effects of these relationships, which at one end of the spectrum includes feelings of being deeply involved in and attached to one’s work, and fitting in to the organisation, while at the other end of the spectrum includes experiences of stress and intentions to quit.