From Crisis To Character:a Practical Book For Those In The World of work

23 January 2015 04:31 am Views - 1992

By Dai Williams
Rozaine is fascinated by how character and motivation develop through our life experiences and how we can increase our effectiveness and resilience with insights from work psychology used in coaching and mentoring.Some of these insights include how individuals and organisations respond to stress, trauma and change – about how we respond to crises - and how these can lead to growth and resilience to adapt to our changing environment.


In this book Rozaine has used a number of areas of work psychology and organisational behaviour, often developed in western cultures, which she found in her work experiences and studies in Australia and in the UK. She has adapted these to the challenges of life and work in her home country Sri Lanka, which has suffered crises of human conflict like the civil war and natural disasters like the tsunami.


This is a practical book – really useful for young people entering the world of work, for ambitious executives and for managers responsible for larger organisations. Psychological theories can be useful starting points for researchers and teachers. But to be really useful in practical, everyday life (e.g. for individuals, families and employers), it is really helpful to have the experience of a professional practitioner, like Rozaine.She has taken her toolkit of psychological theories and insights, and tested these in practical ways: in day-to-day situations with individuals, managers, work organisations and local communities.


This test of ‘Does it work in real life?’ is so important in psychology. Theoretical textbooks may offer sophisticated theories that are not easy to put into practice. But many readers may prefer Rozaine’s approach, where she has adapted some of those theories to practical problems and situations in everyday working life. In this book Rozaine has taken the bold effort of combining her professional reflections into one interesting and practical book for other people to see how they may be useful in their own lives and work.


Many of the chapters were written as short articles for The Sunday Times addressing issues of interest to business readers. They often use the same style as her Crisis to Character model of change and growth – starting with the issue “What is wrong?”, then asking “Why is this happening?” with possible explanations or theory and then to the practical “How can I change the situation?”Rozaine’s style is light and practical, with energy and optimism. She confronts serious issues in the workplace that can destroy lives, careers and organisations and she celebrates entrepreneurial ambition, success and wellmanaged change.Her forté is following her dream and sharing the best insights she has found to help others to develop their own careers and organisations, adapted to local and international settings.
(Dai Williams is an Occupational Psychologist and Career Consultant at Eos Career Services, UK)