Abstract :
A key aim of the conference was to stimulate cooperative research, education and practice in Work and
Organisational Psychology the Asia – Pacific region to bring mutual benefits to society (in this case to
organisations, to workers, and to the economy). As anticipated the W&O psychology area is well developed
in North America and the UK in particular and increasingly in Europe. Most research in W&O psychology
is focused on large urban organisations in developed and western cultures. Yet the worlds’ rural population
(51.3%) outnumbers the urban population (48.7%), so why not look at rural enterprise. At our own
doorstep we have indigenous communities experiencing extreme poverty, unemployment and life
expectancy at embarrassingly lower levels than other Australians. Surely there is a role here for work
psychologists to work cooperatively with indigenous people/organisations to achieve a better standard of
living, and surely we should ponder why in Australia the number of Indigenous work psychologists is
miniscule? Given the size and importance of the ‘other worlds’ it is no longer appropriate not to consider
them in the global world of work. The conference set some vexing themes to challenge and engage delegates,
to encourage reflection, and inspire action on key issues at a local, national and international level. In
addition, mainstream interest areas of work and organisational psychology such as team work,
organisational change, gender and work, groups, organisational change, selection & training, leadership,
organisational culture, measurement, motivation, work-family balance, and careers were discussed. Diverse
and emerging topics particularly relevant to the Asia Pacific region were set down for this conference (e.g.
What role can we play in international aid organisations? What role can we play in capacity building
enterprise in emerging economies? What is rural work psychology and how can we assist rural enterprise
development and service delivery? What are the needs of work psychologists in the Asia Pacific region?
What are the potential areas of work/education for the work psychologist?). As I look to the contributions
to the conference there does indeed seem to be some progress towards these objectives, yet there is much
room for improvement. It would be a major force in the W&O psychology of the world if Australia and the
Asia Pacific could work together to build a new kind of knowledge and practice that serves their mutual
interests. This conference was a first step in that direction. The crucial nexus between research, education
and practice is increasingly recognised by universities and practitioners world wide, and my hope it that the
conference provided an important forum for lessons to be translated from one area to the other. The
abstracts presented here reflect that objective.
