Professor David speaks at the Executive Yuan’s Civil Service Development Institute (CSDI)

One of our Professors, Dr. David McConville (Assistant Professor, Institute of Human Resource Management), was recently invited by the Civil Service Development Institute (CSDI) to speak at their ‘2020 Talent Development Forum’, held in Taipei on October 21, 2020. The CSDI is a government institute based in Taipei, and is part of Taiwan’s Executive Yuan. 

About 176 civil servants from departments within the Executive Yuan and local governments attended the event. The event, which lasted a full day, gave civil servants an opportunity to listen to guest speakers as they presented their thoughts and perspectives on the topic ‘Leading Change & Developing Talent’. Among the guest speakers, Mr. Florian Rustler (Founder of the Creaffective) talked about innovation/transformation strategy, factors that hinder innovation in organizations, ways to foster innovation (in the public sector) and the benefits that innovation could bring to organizations. Mr. Kenn Ross (Managing Director of Asia, Minerva Project) talked about the skills needed for the future of work, and how Minerva develops talent.

Dr. McConville’s talk, entitled "This is ‘OUR’ organization! The Importance of Developing Ownership Feelings" outlined how psychological feelings of possession over one’s work can develop, how manager and leaders can build feelings of ownership, and how these feelings can help strengthen relationships between employees and their organization. This, he argued, is an important contributing factor in building a culture in which employees feel motivated to innovate and learn.

David was very pleased to have the opportunity to represent the Institute of Human Resource Management, speak to civil servants from departments within the Executive Yuan and local governments, and share his interest in psychological ownership. Reflecting on the event, David said “I think part of the role of being a Professor is to both generate knowledge (through research) and disseminate knowledge (to people working in roles where this knowledge may be of interest). This was a good opportunity to share and discuss theory with Taiwan’s civil servants, focusing on practical application. As I continue to do more research in the future, I hope to have the chance to share more research evidence”.