This time we have interviewed Mª Mercedes Botero Posada, a psychologist specialized in Clinical Psychology, Organizational Development and Human Processes and Master in Political and Economic studies. Mª Mercedes is a works in the Universidad del Norte (Barranquilla, Colombia), where teaches within the Organizational Psychology and the Economic and Consumer Psychology areas. She is Magister of the Bioethics Committee and President of the Consumer Psychology Division of the Colombian School of Psychologists. Mª Mercedes coordinates the Consumer Psychology Group of the Interamerican Society of Psychology and the Deans Network of the Federation of Psychologists' Associations. She is also the director and founder of Inpsicon, company created for Consumer Psychology research (www.inpsicon.com), which has received several awards in the area of Psychology. In this number we have had the opportunity to interview this person who successfully combines the academic and professional fields. Mª Mercedes shared with us her opinion about the future of the Organizational and HR psychology and the main challenges that WOP psychologists will face.
Among other aspects, Mª Mercedes Botero suggest a trend towards the administrative decentralization, the organization of work based on new technologies, and the companies´ market orientation. Botero is confident that, in no much time, multidisciplinary work and unity within Psychology will be common topics to gain advancement in the applied practice.
In relation to the value that WOP psychologists can add to organizations, the teacher mentions our solid training in organizational behavior. Counting with strong models and theories of human behavior within organizations makes the difference between WOP psychologist and other professionals. But on the other side, there are some aspects that psychologists lack of. Botero highlights that psychologists are not specific about their proposals and do not deal with economic issues. During the interview, Botero made an interesting summary of WOP psychologists´ strengths and limitations, a valuable effort of reflection and critical analysis.