The development of our discipline/profession is related to the social, employment, business and organizational situation of Spain placed of course in the broader context of the western world. In fact, its rapid development is linked to societal developments during recent decades.
Spanish W/O Psychology, similar to other social sciences, (Castillo, 1988) has been going from strength to strength during the political transition from an authoritarian regime to a modern democracy. This process coincided with the economic crisis of the 1970's, which resulted in the need for industrial rationalization and change to meet the challenge of introducing highly competitive innovations in products and services (Prieto, 1989b). This period of transition from an economy of scale to an economy of scope was also characterized by a high rate of industrial action, dispute, and unemployment, which placed both employers and employees in a state of uncertainty and insecurity. Technological changes and restructured industries also demanded transformations of both the job market and indeed of occupational structure.
The development and consolidation of trade unions has led to improvements in working conditions, quality of working-life and worker' participation in industrial relations. Further, as the new democratic system strengthened, citizens demanded greater quality and efficiency and administration.
The incorporation of Spain into the European Community (EC) and the consequences of this, set the start of a new political, social, economic and monetary union within the EC, to which it must accomodate quickly and which is expressed in the Single European Act.
Thus, viewed in the context of both, the past and the future, our present situation is seen as a period of rapid transformation attempting to create the most favorable conditions and to respond adequately to the challenge of full integration into Europe.
Four factors included in the Single European Act are particularly relevant for the future of Spanish society and W/O Psychology.
The first factor concerns the establishment of a unique interior market: "a space with no interior frontiers in which free circulation of merchandise, people, services and capital will be guaranteed". This implies fusing twelve national markets into one big unique market of three hundred and twenty million consumers. It also implies eliminating physical, technical and fiscal frontiers and therefore, developing agreements to harmonize a large number of financial, fiscal, health, commercial and judicial factors, etc.
The second factor concerns the attempt to reduce regional and societal inequalities within the European Community. As Planas (1989) pointed out, "the opening of markets, with the establishment of an interior economical space without frontiers will have evident redistributive effects among the different activity sectors and territories of the EC. But this redistributive character can seriously affect the balance of the social communitary tissue. Padoa Schioppa's report warns us of the dangers of the lack of interaction between open market policies and unequalities that may appear in the income distribution and the doubtful success of economical stability due to a package of liberalizing measures that are not accompanied by other measures to control unwanted effects (Planas, 1989, 125-126). The Single European Act involves a package of policy formulations directed at achieving economical and social cohesion by means of "an harmonious development of the whole European Community".
Thirdly, the Single European Act asserts that "the state members will try to promote improvement of working conditions to protect the workers' security and health and will have the goal of harmonization, within progress, of the existing conditions in that sphere" (Art. 118A).
Finally, there is the goal of "strengthening the scientific and technological base of European industry and supporting the development of its international competitiveness. To this end, it will encourage innovative firms, research and development centres and universities in their cooperation efforts, with the special goal of allowing full use of the interior market potential of the European Community" (Art. 130F).
Evidently, the orientation of this policy will bring about important changes in Spanish labour and business spheres. Such measures will broaden possibilities by opening new markets, allowing access to new financial sources, offering improved technology and more opportunities when selecting human resources, networks of firms, joint-ventures and so on. These measures imply a series of risks and threats. They will demand more competitiveness, less protectionism and a more efficient administration. They represent greater challenges in what concerns innovation and quality of products and services provided. To pursue this policy requires fast reaction capacity to take advantages of good opportunities and counteract the disadvantages.
In this context we should mention the existence of several different "job markets" and types of employers. Thus, while certain organizations and business firms strive to improve the quality of working life as one of the ways to achieve employees' commitment to organizational goals, others operate in the "black job" market, offering jobs of questionable quality (Sanchis and Miñana, 1988). We can also see progress in technological innovation in many sectors. Though when this innovation is compared to that of the most developed European Common Market State Members it is clear that our innovation has a long way to go (Castells, 1987). We can also observe the effort made by many business firms and holding companies in many sectors to adapt their size, boundaries and their structure to the new reality. Indeed, the incidence of processes such as fusion, alliance, mergers, lateral integration, joint-ventures and networking has increased rapidly. Quite often R & D units of different companies and countries undertake joint projects under the framework of EC funds and policies. Lastly, we must mention inter-regional differences in Spain regarding the above issues. It is important to note that the incidence of these issues in strongly industrialized areas is different and distinct from that of geographical areas where the industrialization process has barely started .
In the domain of human resources management, the Ministry of Labour has surveyed medium-sized and big businesses in order to establish which fields of professional practice are most in use (Advisory Committee for the Development of Human Resources, 1987). The following fields were identified: personnel-selection, ( 87% of the companies say that they have standard procedures), job evaluation (66% declare they have an standard procedure), performance appraisal (68% do it regularly), wages and incentives, promotion, training (68% have a Training Department), management-training programs (generally perceived as inadequate in quantity and quality), staff-planning, participative management (only 28% of the companies perceive this as real), access of women into vacancies and new positions (63% of the companies say they offer equal employment opportunities), and technological evolution (65% consider the present level is the adequate).
Another study carried out analyses in 70 companies that are thought to be quite representative of 700 Spanish businesses (those with more than 500 employees). The study found the personnel function to be "mainly centered on the administrative side" - such as reward systems, personnel recruitment, social actions - as well as on Industrial Relations. Less frequently, there is a secondary set of activities centered on human resources development: training, education and development programs, performance apppraisal, coaching, personnel appraisal and potential assessment. Lastly, infrequently, the survey found organizational diagnosis and related activities (Rodrçguez-Porras et al.1990, p.13).
In sum, the current situation requires both creative changes and strategic planning. Its integration with Human Resource planning requires, among other things, the contribution of our discipline and our practitioners to face these challenges in a competent manner. In fact, there is a real and stable demand for graduates since the specialty of W/O Psychology shows much promise for dealing with these questions and issues.
The main antecedents and the historical development of Work and Organizational Psychology in Spain have been described elsewhere (Peiró, 1985), and another author in this monographic issue (cfr. Carpintero) provides the historical background of Applied Psychology in Spain.
JOSÉ RAMÓN CORREAS GONZALEZ
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LAST UPDATED Tuesday 5 de September de 1995