Profile Stories
Dr. Duygu Gulseren
Congratulations to Dr. Duygu Gulseren who after five years of research and writing her thesis, has completed a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Saint Mary’s. She has just accepted an assistant professor position at York University in Toronto.
Dr. Gulseren earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical and Biological Engineering and a Master of Arts in Social and Organizational Psychology at Koç University in Turkey. She taught and worked as a senior research associate at Haskayne School of Business, taught at Saint Mary’s Sobey School of Business, and worked as a human resources consultant.
Dr. Gulseren emigrated to Canada from her home country of Turkey because she knew it would offer her the intellectual environment she wanted to be a part of. She specifically wanted to work with Dr. Kevin Kelloway, who became her PhD supervisor.
In addition to publishing research articles and book chapters on her research on healthy and safe workplaces and workplace leadership, Dr. Gulseren explored the topic of abusive supervision within organizations in her thesis, titled “I’ll Show You Who’s the Boss: Subordinate Rejection as a Precursor of Abusive Supervision.” She used data collected from full-time employees and supervisors to examine the effect of one potential predictor of abuse supervision — rejection by subordinates — on the abusive behaviours of supervisors.
Educating supervisors within organizations about how to receive negative feedback and teaching employees how to express their opinions in a healthy and constructive way can help avoid issues of abusive supervision, she explained.
“Both effective leadership and healthy communication can be learned,” said Dr. Gulseren. “Subordinates don't have to accept their supervisors, of course, but there might be a healthy way of communicating rejection. Teaching them how they express their opinions in a more healthy and constructive ways can lead to less harmful consequences.”
“If supervisors are aware of potential negative consequences, they might exert more emotional regulation so they can control their emotions and behaviours better,” she said.
In practical terms, relaying messages in memos, as well as having policies and procedures in place, can relay the message about a healthy workplace in formal and informal ways. Dr. Gulseren plans to publish the research in scholarly journal, and suggests it could also be incorporated into leadership training, which could increase employee wellbeing and decrease turnover and even litigation costs.
“Dr. Kelloway is a very well-known scholar in the field. I read many of his works even while I was an undergraduate and master’s student,” said Dr. Gulseren. “I've known him to be actively involved in professional organizations in the field of Industrial/Organizational Psychology and I've also benefited a lot from his work on statistics and research methods. He started influencing me before I even knew him.”
“From the moment she arrived on campus, it was clear that Duygu would be an exceptional scholar,” said Dr. Kelloway, Professor of Psychology at Saint Mary’s and a Canada Research Chair in Occupational Health Psychology. “She is passionate about research and has no qualms in mastering the most complex of analyses. She is equally dedicated to being an effective teacher and being actively involved in her chosen profession. I have no doubt we will hear a lot more about Duygu and her work in the future.”