COP Member Survey shows promising signs

17 April 2009

In late 2008, as part of a Masters research project, COP members had the opportunity to provide feedback on what drives members to get involved and become active contributors in the activities of the College. A major finding was that Return on Investment (ROI) motivates people to join the College of Organisational Psychologists (COP) initially, but it is the Collective Identity and pride with being associated with COP that keeps members involved (i.e. when people get involved in COP it strengthens their sense of identity as an organisational psychologist). Some other findings:

• Intention to stay is at 95%
• Level of congruence between own and COP goals is now 81%, up 14%
• Co-production (getting involved) is 56%, up 5%
• Sense of belonging in COP now 53%, up 5%
• Affective commitment to COP now 60% up 8%
• COP’s role in enhancing one’s professional reputation now 51%, up 14%
• Satisfaction with the opportunities to get involved 61%, up 14%
• Satisfaction with the Return on investment, now 45% up 5%
• Reading COP Communications sometimes or more often - still 96%
• Using member resources eg the audio-visual library has dropped off, down from 62% to 24%

The National COP Committee discussed these findings at a recent Planning Day meeting, noting that the good results probably reflected the impact of the work done in 2008 to lift the profile and professionalism of the College. The National Committee will be addressing more of these survey recommendations in the coming months.

Many thanks to Kylie Prince and Elisabeth Wilson-Evered from Monash University for doing this research with us. The full report is available to members here . Questions about the research should be directed to Kylie Prince at: [email protected].

National COP Committee elections

5 May 2009

At the upcoming COP AGM on Saturday 27 June 2009, formal elections will be held for the roles of National Chairperson, Treasurer, Secretary, Membership Secretary, Course Approvals Convenor and Professional Development Coordinator.

There are a number of positions for which COP is seeking members for the next term of the committee: from 2009 - 2011.

If you are interested in any of the positions, please contact the current National Chair, Gina McCredie  ([email protected], m 0404 024 840 ) to discuss your interest by FRIDAY 22 MAY 2009.

The time to get involved in the next stage of the College’s transformation is now. If you haven’t been active in the College for a while, or ever, please step forward. We look forward to receiving your nomination.

Results of National COP Committee elections

At the COP AGM on Saturday 27 June 2009, formal elections were held for the roles of National Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Membership Secretary, Course Approvals Convenor and Professional Development on the National Committee.

The new committee members include Fernanda Afonso (National Chair), Louise Metcalf (Membership Secretary) and Kerry Cronan (External Communications and Media Coordinator).

The National Committee is now made up of the following members:

• Fernanda Afonso, National Chair
• Mark England, Treasurer
• Dianne Lissner, Secretary
• Louise Metcalf, Membership Secretary
• Joanne Abbey, Professional Development National Coordinator
• Sally Carless, Course Approvals
• Tim Bednall, Internal Communications Coordinator
• Kerry Cronan, External Communications and Media Coordinator
• Stan Bongers, ACT State Chair
• Joanne Abbey, NSW State Chair
• Shelley Rogers, SA State Chair
• Crissa Sumner-Armstrong, QLD State Chair
• Rachael Palmer, VIC State Chair
• Paul Syme, WA State Chair

Congratulations to all these people for stepping up to help lead our College.

Many thanks go out to those stepping down from the last committee for their significant contribution to COP, including Gina McCredie, Rosie McMahon, Louise Carmichael, Peter Hayes, and Kathryn von Treuer.

South Australia

COP SA Hosts Successful Student Networking Event

For the sixth successive year, COP SA, in conjunction with the Universities of Adelaide and South Australia, co-hosted a highly successful student networking night.  With over 70 attendees, this was an exceptional event, and was held in the University of Adelaide’s Staff Club with excellent catering. Display tables were set up by a variety of practitioners to attract students. This allowed students to ascertain the inner workings of a variety of different practitioner firms, meet their personnel and negotiate potential placements for the future.

Companies represented included:

• PKF
• Locher
• Hudson
• HR Development at Work
• IGOR Human Science Consulting Group
• Lee Hecht Harrison
• The Teleran Group

Representatives from the Adelaide City Council, Department of Health, DSTO and SA Police were also attendees and available to chat to students.
COP SA was delighted that Gina McCredie was able to attend the event on behalf of National COP.  In her usual inspirational style, she spoke to the large audience about the many changes and activities that have been occurring at the national level.  We were delighted at her strong praise for the local committee, which she said was regarded as highly innovative and a source of great ideas that are often used by other states.

At each student networking night, COP SA awards a prize of $300 to the top graduation students in Organisational Psychology from the Universities of Adelaide and South Australia.  This is presented to the students who excel in both their thesis and all-round performance in their studies.

This year’s prizes went to Kylie Taylor (UniSA) who is working as a consultant with Human Interest Partners and Sarah Lewis (Adelaide University) who is currently working at ETSA as an Organisational Development consultant in Workforce Development.

As is usual, a brief COP SA AGM was held and was well attended, given that around half the South Australian membership was present at the event.  The new committee was confirmed, and Shelley Rogers, the previous secretary, took over the role of Chair of COP SA.

The local committee are delighted that this event goes from strength to strength each year, and has become a template for some of the other states.  We are encouraged at the continuing support and sponsorship from the University of Adelaide and UniSA.  We also welcome the support we have received from the national committee.

COP SA Hosts Inaugural Industry-University Research Forum

COP SA recently hosted a forum of academics, practitioners and students which was the first of its kind. Facilitated by Kathryn McEwen, the forum was the brainchild of the national COP Science-Practitioner initiative group.

The main aim of the forum was to allow honours and masters students to seek practitioners working in their field of interest who may be able to facilitate data access or other support for theses. An added benefit will be enhancing student understanding of the science-practitioner model underlying our profession.

Ideas were presented from self employed practitioners and from the corporate sector including Adelaide City council, Central and Northern CNAHS and Igor Human Science Consultancy.  UniSA academics broadly outlined their areas of research interest and discussed potential areas of work for joint grant submissions.

The evening saw lively discussion and the formation of a number of action plans to be initiated by the participants and the Science-Practitioner committee.  All agreed it was a useful and worthwhile endeavour.

Jacky Dakin
Immediate Past Chair COP SA