Oeuvre prize and article award for psychologist Carsten de Dreu
Carsten de Dreu, social psychologist and professor of Work and Organisational Psychology at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), has been awarded two prizes this month: the Kurt Lewin Medal for his oeuvre to date, and the William Owens Scholarly Achievement Award for an article on conflict culture in organisations.
The Kurt Lewin Medal is being awarded to De Dreu by the European Association for Social Psychology (EASP). De Dreu has been awarded the prize, which will be officially presented on 11 July, for his publications in the field of social psychology. De Dreu’s work has been published in a number of leading academic journals, covering issues such as conflict, inter-group relations, decision making and creativity.
Conflict culture at the organisational level
The William Owens Scholarly Achievement Award is being awarded to De Dreu by the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) for a 2012 article in which he and others including Michele Gelfand determined not only that conflict culture exists at the organisational level, but also that specific types of conflict culture can be identified, and how they emerge.
De Dreu: ‘One of the conclusions is that an organisation’s conflict culture is determined by those steering it. If they're conflict seekers, they attract people who fit that mould too, and so a company with a conflict culture emerges. If the leaders are people who deal with conflict constructively, the company can create an open culture in which problems are solved. That culture can often be traced back to the company’s original founders. The pioneers lay the foundations for an organisation’s conflict culture. To change that culture, you’ll need to start with the people steering the organisation.’’
Recognition for interdisciplinarity
Receiving two awards for two different areas in psychology, all within a matter of weeks, is ‘very nice and unusual’ according to De Dreu. ‘A senior colleague once said: “If you work in an interdisciplinary way like you do, you’ll discover new things and establish great connections. But it will be difficult to convince people within their disciplines of the relevance of that work.” In that sense, it’s extra special and nice to be awarded a prize by both the work and organisational psychologists and the social psychologists.’