Topic: Workplace Challenges and Psychological

Wellbeing

Date: January 11, 2011

 

Speaker Profile :

Dr. Ray holds a PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, MPhil, MA and BA from Utkal University, Orissa. Her areas of concentration ranges from Immigrant/Ethnic Minority Communities and Health Risk Factors; Asian Mental Health Risks/Health Disparity issues; Diversity/Multicultural Psychology; Body image issues/Eating Problems; Trauma; Resiliency & Empowerment; Positive Psychology to Cyber psychology. Dr. Ray has many publications to her credit in her field of concentration which is outstanding. She has firmly guarded a place for her in an alien country though she is deeply rooted to the Indian culture and proudly claims that she belongs to Odisha. She is a lady with high spirits and positive energies which has molded her into a very positive and bright human being.

Detail:

Dr. Sukanya Ray interacted with the students of KSOM and delivered an informative talk on “Workplace Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing”. She asked the students about their goals, roles, whether they wanted to be leaders, who they were proud of and whether they wanted to be happy. Asking them about their fears she said that those who accept their fears are the ones who would be great leaders.

Prof. Ray said that knowledge of psychology is well applied in management as while managing people, we need to know the psychology of people.

Discussing with the students the meaning of self knowledge, she stressed on the rich self knowledge that Indians have and the need to know who we are, to accept ourselves with our positives and negatives (self-acceptance) and to respect others and to have relational ethics. Giving real life examples of confused Indians, she stressed on the need to identify ourselves with our roots, instead of running away from it.

Talking about the various roles we play and the need to have a balance in this world of multi-tasking, she focused on the importance of staying connected and the number of people we actually talk to, on our psychological wellbeing. She said that unless we take care of ourselves we cannot take care of others; the prerequisite for mental health.

Dr. Ray spoke on the use of support to bounce back from obstructions and need to resolve conflicts. Reflecting on what has happened acts as a tool. She said that as organizations are made of people, Individual Psychological wellbeing leads to Organizational well being.

On being asked to choose from various emotions one has, as the students chose smile, she said it was due to the positive energy that it spreads and the need to evolve into a more empathetic manager who leads to a positive work atmosphere.

Speaking about the multiple intelligences that we posses, she highlighted the impact of emotional intelligence, understanding own emotions (intra psychic capacity or insight skills) and empathizing with others.

Asking the students on which emotions they share with others, she talked about the importance of sharing our feelings, not just when we are glad but also when we are sad and scared, as it helps to completely know ourselves, thus bringing in confidence.

While answering the questions of the students Dr. Ray spoke about managing emotions in bureaucratic organizations, about not being nasty and making laying off easier without harming the psychological wellbeing of the other person and instead acknowledging the person, the need to maintain the balance of yogic culture in not overusing technology and losing touch of human connections by texting the person in the adjoining room. Finally she stressed that it is important to be there with people as much as we can, and use technology only when we need to, so that we can make the best use of verbal and non-verbal communication and understand people better.