Utilisation of capability approach and emotional intelligence to protect the psychological well-being of persons within susceptible organisations

Utilisation of capability approach and emotional intelligence to protect the psychological well-being of persons within susceptible organisations

There is an emerging imperative to safeguard a person's emotional and psychological well-being when their occupational, or volunteer, positions in certain organisations may require they manage, or cope, a traumatic or disastrous situation. However, an extensive literature review has provided little evidence that organisations do prepare persons who are likely to be involved with a crisis or traumatic incidents and provide no level of protection of a person’s psychological well-being. Protection can be achieved by enhancement of a persons individual 'capabilities' (traits and attributes). This dissertation argues that if intervention occurs before an incident or event as a preventative measure, the effects of exposure to an incident causing damage to a person’s psychological well-being would be minimised or eliminated. The alternative is to address the consequences ‘after’ the event or incident by providing treatment for trauma-related injury such as post-traumatic stress disorder. It is essential to provide ‘proof of concept’ with a capability framework. A capability framework can be utilised as a foundational structure against which a person’s vulnerability to manage trauma can be measured. A three-year case study was undertaken with The Salvation Army New Zealand for the development and implementation of a capability framework for their 2700 personnel. The capability framework was field-tested and evaluated using Stufflebeam's CIPP evaluation process, which was also used as a quality control measure. Central to the research is the identification of organisations that would be 'susceptible' to exposing their personnel to crisis or disastrous situations. These organisations activities may become involved with relief efforts for war-affected countries and zones, civil unrest, earthquakes, tsunamis, or hurricanes. The topic of protection of psychological well-being is becoming an ‘duty of care’ issue for many Orgainastions and is evinced by court judgements against some organisation in recent cases. It is proposed that a bespoke learning and development program could be developed for a person having to cope with a traumatic event or incident by the enhancement of their individual traits and attributes.

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