Peer Review

Minding the Workplace

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Feb 11, 2019 by Psychology

Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

From the website: Written by David Yamada (Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School), Minding the Workplace is a blog that is "dedicated to news and commentary about work and employment relations. Dignity at work, workplace bullying, employment & labor law, and psychologically healthy work environments are recurring themes."

Minding the Workplace is the blog of the New Workplace Institute (NWI). The entries address contemporary issues in workplace culture and place particular emphasis on workplace bullying. They would provide excellent fodder for discussion and analysis in the college classroom.

At the time of this review, the blog had received over 1.1 million hits.

Type of Material:

Reference Material

Recommended Uses:

Materials would be very useful assigned as homework and included as part of assignments or in class discussion. The blog entries can also be used to augment class readings and to stimulate class discussion.

Technical Requirements:

All web browsers (Chrome, Explorer, Firefox, etc.) can be used to surf the blog, and no special technology is required.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The blog includes information for instructors and students studying the workplace, especially the psychology of the workplace, with special focus on dignity, bullying, the law, and psychologically healthy work environments. According to the APA video, workplace bullying affects 35% of Americans. This is useful information for everyone.

Target Student Population:

The blog is appropriate for both college (upper division, graduate school) and non-college audiences. The material is particularly relevant for courses (or professionals) in human resources management, industrial psychology, and employment law.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

All can benefit from reading the blog, and no prerequisite skills or knowledge are needed; interest in work and employee relations would be helpful.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: New content is added regularly and clearly covers the major themes of "dignity at work, workplace bullying, employment & labor law, and psychologically healthy work environments." Information includes blogs, articles, and ways to get support in an unhealthy work environment. The blog underscores workplace issues of enormous contemporary significance (e.g., diversity, bullying, toxic cultures) and provides a perspective that can deepen students' understanding. The author of the blog is an expert in the subjects that the blog addresses. The blog is exceedingly well-written, well-informed, and professionally presented. Entries link out to a variety of newspapers and periodicals. The blog contains links to key organizations and scholarly articles that address workplace bullying, employee dignity, and employment law.
Concerns:: None.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: The blogs, supported by articles and information on how to get support, are useful for anyone trying to understand today's workplace. The blog could easily be linked to a course web site, and instructors could point students to particular articles or entries of interest. It offers an effective means for staying up to date on issues, events, and perspectives related to workplace culture--with emphasis on workplace bullying. Students could be asked to follow the blog during their time in a course.
Concerns:: The blog is not designed as teaching tool. Instructors who use the blog as a class resource will want to design assignments or class discussion protocols to meet their pedagogical objectives.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

Navigation is logical and clear. New entries appear directly on the home page while archived articles can be accessed via a menu on the side of the home page. Information is easy to search - there is a search bar at the top of each page. Material is categorized by date and categories. Blog entries contain working links to previous or related entries as well as to related articles in other publications. Visitors can reply to entries or share them via E-mail or social media; users can also subscribe to the blog (which requires only an E-mail address).

Concerns:

None.

Other Issues and Comments:: An excellent resource for faculty and students who have an academic or professional interest in issues and challenges related to workplace culture. Author David Yamada's e-mail is dyamada@suffolk.edu.
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