UL graduate earns top award for research on gender equality in the workplace

It was a double celebration for graduate Sally O’Shea as she was presented with a top award while graduating from University of Limerick.

Sally (Sara), from Clarecastle in Co. Clare, was conferred with an MSc in Work and Organisational Psychology from Kemmy Business School as part of UL’s winter graduation ceremonies. 

The day was made even more special for Sally as she was presented with a special award by the Psychological Society of Ireland’s (PSI) Division of Work and Organisational Psychology (DWOP). The PSI MSc Dissertation Award is presented each year to the student on its accredited master’s programmes who achieves the highest dissertation grade. 

Sally, who was presented with the award by her supervisor, Dr Jill Pearson, explored gender and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) within the workplace for her dissertation. OCBs, also known as extra-role behaviours, are commonly defined as voluntary behaviours within an organisation or company that are not part of an employee’s contractual tasks.

Sally said she was “honoured” to accept such a prestigious award.

“I knew it was a special topic, and that’s what drew me towards it – it was interesting from the get-go,” she said.

“It’s such an honour to be chosen [to receive the award]. I put a lot of work towards it throughout the year, so it was really nice that it was recognised.”

For Sally – who also holds a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology and English) and an MA in Psychology, also from UL – the dissertation combined her strong interest in gender and organisational psychology with learnings from her experience of teaching while travelling in Asia.

Sally explained how she and Dr Pearson were inspired by a piece of work by social psychologist Diane Bergeron, Good soldiers versus organisational wives…, which explored how OCB scales are typically gendered to measure men’s citizenship behaviour.

“Being a woman, gender and equality in the workplace is something that I’m naturally very interested in,” explained Sally.

“The main basis of the research is that people do extra work in the workplace, but it’s not always recognised, especially [when done by] women. 

“There are scales to measure organisational citizenship behaviour in the workplace – they’ll measure things like staying late in the office to help people; but they wouldn’t look at things like emotional support [which is provided more by women].”

Sally’s decision to add a cultural element to her dissertation topic stemmed from her firsthand experience with the workplace culture in Thailand, where she lived and worked for six months after completing her undergraduate degree.

“In Thailand, there are more cultural expectations compared to here. The women there, working in schools, could end up staying until 10pm helping to organise something for the next day. There would be a big difference in what they were expected to do [compared to men],” she explained.

Taking in the excitement of graduating after a combined six years spent studying at UL, Sally is excited for what lies next.

“The end-goal is to get into learning and development or be an organisational psychologist,” she said.

While Sally is firmly future-focused, this year presents an important opportunity for reflection for Dr Jill Pearson and her fellow Work and Organisational Psychologists within the Kemmy Business School as DWOP marks its 25^th anniversary.

For the past quarter century, DWOP has played a key role in advancing the profession of Work and Organisational Psychology within Ireland, in part by setting academic and professional standards. 

Dr Pearson, who is the current Course Director of the MSc in Work and Organisational Psychology at UL, said: “We are very proud of our long-standing relationship with DWOP and to have been first course in Ireland to be accredited by the PSI as well as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).”

Dr Pearson went on to express her pride in Sally’s accomplishment, adding: “It was a lovely occasion to be able to present the PSI MSc Dissertation Award to a student who is  proactive, intelligent, and insightful, and who had such an interest in her research topic.”