Understanding and shaping the future of work with self-determination theory.

Self-determination theory has shaped our understanding of what optimizes worker motivation by providing insights into how work context influences basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness. As technological innovations change the nature of work, self-determination theory can provide insight into how the resulting uncertainty and interdependence might influence worker motivation, performance and well-being. In this Review, we summarize what self-determination theory has brought to the domain of work and how it is helping researchers and practitioners to shape the future of work.

SMART Work Design: Accelerating the Diagnosis of Rare Diseases in the Western Australian Undiagnosed Diseases Program.

The accurate and efficient diagnosis of rare diseases, many of which include congenital anomalies, depends largely on the specialists who diagnose them - including their ability to work alongside specialists from other fields and to take full advantage of cutting-edge precision medicine technologies and precision public health approaches. However, highly specialized clinicians operating within a historically-siloed healthcare system is antithetical to the multi-disciplinary, collaborative, and creative approach that facilitates the diagnosis of rare diseases. The Western Australian Undiagnosed Diseases Program (UDP-WA) successfully re-designed the work of the involved clinicians to facilitate teamworking across silos.

Diagnosing rare diseases: A sociotechnical approach to the design of complex work systems.

How do complex healthcare systems that are organised into distinct speciality areas achieve effective patient care transitions when patients present with a rare constellation of symptoms that affect multiple body systems? How do these patients challenge existing ways of organising tasks, clinical activities, and interdependent responsibilities? The current study applies a sociotechnical systems perspective to understand how these complex work design and care-related challenges were resolved by the Western Australian Undiagnosed Diseases Program. We conducted a two-year longitudinal, qualitative study of this program, conceived to improve the diagnosis and management of patients with rare, multi-system disorders by piloting a re-design of the local system of diagnostic work. Specifically, we (1) compared the configuration and effectiveness of the old system and the re-designed system; and (2) analysed the process of system re-design (i.

Using Motivational Interviewing to reduce threats in conversations about environmental behavior.

Human behavior contributes to a waste of environmental resources and our society is looking for ways to reduce this problem. However, humans may perceive feedback about their environmental behavior as threatening. According to self-determination theory (SDT), threats decrease intrinsic motivation for behavior change.

Talking with consumers about energy reductions: recommendations from a motivational interviewing perspective.

Reduction of energy costs has become a concern for many organizations. First, we review energy-saving studies in organizations in which consumers showed resistance to change their behavior. Second, we relate resistance to change to the psycholinguistic construct "sustain talk" that describes verbal arguments against behavior change (e.