Misunderstanding and Misinformation: Safety risks and intervention strategies for two common workplace occurrences

Department

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Dept. of Psychology

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

There is an overwhelming amount of information cascading online and through the media each day. Unfortunately, it can be hard to distinguish fact from fiction. In organization, misinformation can include rumors regarding safety polices and practices, incidents that occurred in the workplace, or location openings/closings. Because of this, HR and HSE professionals may find themselves in a position where they need to correct misinformation or offer managers guidance on how to correct misinformation. Unfortunately, we can unintentionally reinforce or even spread misinformation while trying to correct it. Given the importance of decisions that need to be made in this time, we need to know how to spot useful information and learn how to open conversations with people who deny, ignore, or outright reject data and science. The session will explore reasons people discount (willfully or unwillingly) facts that conflict with their opinions or points of view, provide tactics HR and HSE professionals can use to critically evaluate information, and provide tools that can be used to correct misinformation effectively.

Date

October 2020

Subject

Industrial and organizational psychology

Document Type

presentations

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Oct 24th, 2:15 PM Oct 24th, 3:15 PM

Misunderstanding and Misinformation: Safety risks and intervention strategies for two common workplace occurrences

There is an overwhelming amount of information cascading online and through the media each day. Unfortunately, it can be hard to distinguish fact from fiction. In organization, misinformation can include rumors regarding safety polices and practices, incidents that occurred in the workplace, or location openings/closings. Because of this, HR and HSE professionals may find themselves in a position where they need to correct misinformation or offer managers guidance on how to correct misinformation. Unfortunately, we can unintentionally reinforce or even spread misinformation while trying to correct it. Given the importance of decisions that need to be made in this time, we need to know how to spot useful information and learn how to open conversations with people who deny, ignore, or outright reject data and science. The session will explore reasons people discount (willfully or unwillingly) facts that conflict with their opinions or points of view, provide tactics HR and HSE professionals can use to critically evaluate information, and provide tools that can be used to correct misinformation effectively.