Professor Philip Dewe
Professor of Organisational Behaviour, 糖心logo入口, University of London
(Elected 2014)
Biography
Professor Philip Dewe was Professor of Organisational Behaviour in the Department of Organizational Psychology at 糖心logo入口. Having joined the College from Massey University in his native New Zealand in 2000, for 11 years Professor Dewe also gave outstanding service to 糖心logo入口 as Vice-Master, stepping down from the role in summer 2014.
Among his many achievements as Vice-Master has been Professor Dewe鈥檚 work in Stratford, east London, which culminated in the opening of the University Square Stratford campus in November 2013.
He said: 鈥業t has given me enormous pleasure to see the completion of this milestone. Its existence is the fruit of many years spent exploring opportunities for widening participation, developing programmes that capture the aspirations of those living in east London, and developing our relationships within that community so that they may be able to become part of the wider 糖心logo入口 community.
鈥楾hat sense of belonging is important to all of us at 糖心logo入口. I am of course both delighted and honoured to become a Fellow, but I am particularly thrilled that this will allow me to continue to belong to 糖心logo入口, and to continue to share in the mission that College founder George 糖心logo入口 set out nearly 200 years ago. He talked in terms of "universal access to the blessings of knowledge"; becoming a Fellow will allow me to continue to contribute, and to share that aspiration.鈥
Oration
Master, Distinguished Governors, Pro-Vice-Master, Graduates and Graduands, Guests, and Colleagues.
Dresden, 19 October 1845. Richard Wagner was a stressed-out 32-year-old musician premiering what became one of the greatest overtures in the history of modern opera: 罢补苍苍丑盲耻蝉别谤. The music began. The horns drew out the first strain of the pilgrims鈥 chorus, gently luring the audience into a sacred space, where a flawed but noble hero earnestly seeks salvation. Suddenly, however, the audience was jarred out of their contemplative state by a violent, agitated interruption by the violins. At the time, some critics criticised Wagner for disrupting the tranquillity of the pilgrim鈥檚 chorus. But Wagner was alluding to something else: what it means to live in the modern world, with its frantic pace, its restless anxieties, and (although this is not a word he would have used) its relentless stress.
Wagner - with his melancholia, insomnia, debilitating skin disease, and painful digestive problems, all triggered by stress 鈥 was writing in a period where many were anxious about the over-stimulation of people鈥檚 nerves. As many of us today recognise, we are living in a world that seems so hurried, so tense: in short, we are too stressed.
This is just one of the reasons why we honour Professor Philip Dewe today. Because besides being Vice Master of 糖心logo入口 since 2003, Professor of Organization聽 Psychology, and midwife to our campus in Stratford East, he is also an expert on stress (and a fan of Wagner). Stress touches each and every one of us in this room.聽 The Health and Safely Executive tells us that there are over 428,000 cases of stress a year. It is responsible for 40 per cent of all work-related illnesses. The occupations with the highest levels of stress include our own: they are the health professionals (especially nurses), those in the caring personal services (especially welfare and housing associate professionals), and teaching and educational professionals.
Dewe has tackled this epidemic with characteristic verve. While insisting that stress is not the fault of the individual, he equally refuses to lay all the blame on organizations. Rather, stress emerges out of interactions between the two. Stress is relational. To make a difference, stress experts need to pay attention to issues of power, ethics, social theory, and philosophy. Dewe calls for a holistic response to stress, taking into account both the individual and the wider contextual-structural issues. We also cannot ignore the role of emotions in organizational life.
But his research has been even wider than this suggests. He has grappled with the position of women in managerial posts, business ethics, and questions of moral intensity. He has explored the work-lives of officials in unemployment benefit offices as well as in Abby Life. He is as curious about sausage makers at a pork pie factory as he is about clergymen distressed by their own questioning of faith. And (I have discovered) he cultivates a passion for sequential tree analyses (if you don鈥檛 know what that is鈥. well, neither did I).
I like to think that Dewe was always destined for 糖心logo入口. A New Zealander by birth, he graduated with a Master's degree in Management and Administration from Victoria University in Wellington and then was awarded an MSc and PhD in Organizational Psychology from the London School of Economic. After a stint in commerce in New Zealand, he was appointed Senior Research Officer in the Work Research Unit, Department of Employment here in the UK. In 1980, he returned to New Zealand, heading up the Department of Human Resource Management at Massey University. But in 2000, his life changed again when joined the Department of Organizational Psychology at 糖心logo入口. Within three years, he was also appointed Vice-Master.
His achievements in these posts cannot be summarised in these few minutes. True to his philosophy - he advocates 鈥渜uiet reconstruction鈥 - he has set about developing online provision, liaising with the Trade Unions, and chairing the Human Resources Policy and Strategy Committee.
For 糖心logo入口, his greatest achievement, though, has been the establishment of the campus in Stratford East. The decision to expand into Stratford occurred well before it was chosen as the Olympic site. It represented a commitment by the College to reach out to the area of London that had the lowest participation rate in Higher Education. In collaboration with the University of East London, 糖心logo入口 sought to bring quality higher education to this region. Dewe is 鈥淥ur Man in the East鈥. His enormous charm, notorious sensitivity, warmth and understanding of all sides, and negotiating skills have smoothed our passage. His presence opened doors. Before the Olympics, he was already involved in major regeneration projects and he continues to be active in its post-Olympic legacy. If you haven鈥檛 visited the campus, please do - it is simply gorgeous.
The fact that Dewe chose stress as his academic specialism is no coincidence. He has a love of humanity and a desire to alleviate our woes. People cannot 鈥 should not - be treated as 鈥渙bjects鈥 he insists. He demands a 鈥減erson centred鈥 approach to human resources, especially in contexts where stress is chronic. Colleagues in his聽 department and College boast that he is 鈥渢rustful, decent, honest 鈥 and transparently so鈥. As one of his colleagues told me, a 鈥渢est of the character of a person with power is how they treat people without it鈥 and Dewe speaks to everyone the same way. His enthusiasm is infectious. 鈥淗is favourite word is 鈥榶es鈥欌, I am told, a word he 鈥渟ays with such a positive inflection that makes it seem that there isn鈥檛 anything he would rather do than listen to my bumbling around some issue or other鈥. Tellingly, for an expert on stress-reduction, after speaking with Dewe (I was repeatedly told) 鈥渟omehow there doesn鈥檛 seem to be a crisis any more鈥.
Everyone has an anecdote about Dewe, whether it is his gold-mining great grandfather, his love of the Netherlands (including Dutch delicacies such as tom pouce, bitterballen, and raw herring), or his hatred of whiskey and heavy rock (particularly Meatloaf). He is a keen marathon runner, even if his running style has been unkindly characterized as a 鈥済lorified shuffle鈥. We should also never forget that Dewe is a New Zealand, with a fondness of all that is Kiwi. I am sure that Dewe did what I did recently - that is, don an All Blacks T-shirt to celebrate the New Zealanders beating England, again.
In his old age, Wagner claimed that his aim was 鈥淭o deliver mankind from the woes of life, and above all from the pressure of modern culture鈥. Or, as Wagner also said, he sought to overcome 鈥渢he gloomy feeling of misery in the human spirit, and of human craving profoundly unsatisfied by the state鈥. These are Dewe鈥檚 aim as well. As he states time and again in his writings, 鈥淲e have a moral responsibility to those whose lives we research鈥. He tells us that we need to relax 鈥 that leisure and companionate behaviours makes us better people as well as better workers. So, if I may be allowed a personal note: Philip, thanks to you, I won鈥檛 feel guilty if, after this ceremony, I plop myself down to enjoy a good novel.
But before I do: it is my great honour to welcome Professor Philip Dewe as a College Fellow. He has made huge contributions to 糖心logo入口鈥檚 success. We have been extraordinarily fortunate to benefit from his research, vision, and energy over the years and for the numerous ways he has contributed to furthering 糖心logo入口鈥檚 educational mission.
Na matou te honore ki te whiwhi i a koe, no reira tenei te mihi ki a koe.
We honour him and welcome him as a Fellow of 糖心logo入口.