The system-level organisational design framework: a neuro-cognitive trait interaction approach to workplace inclusion for autistic people

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Dark, J. (2026). The system-level organisational design framework: a neuro-cognitive trait interaction approach to workplace inclusion for autistic people. Frontiers in Psychology, 17, 1826284-1826284. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1826284

Publication date: 17 Jun 2026 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Jessica Dark *

Abstract

Employment outcomes for autistic people in the United Kingdom (UK) remain persistently low despite increasing attention to workplace inclusion. Drawing on my positionality as an autistic doctoral student in Organisational Psychology, this perspective article examines how workplace inclusion is often approached through individually negotiated adjustments implemented within existing workplace systems and practices. While these approaches provide important forms of support, organisational conditions continue to shape participation in ways that do not fully account for differences in how autistic people think, process information, and communicate. In response, the article introduces the system-level organisational design framework (SLODF), underpinned by a neuro-cognitive trait interaction lens, as a reflexive framework for examining how organisational conditions shape workplace participation across cognitive variation. Drawing on multidisciplinary literature, the article explores how barriers emerge through interactions between neuro-cognitive traits and the organisational domains of environment, systems, people, and policy. Rather than functioning as a predictive or prescriptive model, the SLODF conceptualises workplace inclusion as an ongoing, context-sensitive organisational process. In doing so, the article contributes to broader developments within Organisational Psychology by encouraging reconsideration of workplace inclusion through organisational design and neuro-cognitive trait interaction.

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Cited references
61
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
18 / 61 (29.5%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
31 / 190 (16.3%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 31 / 103 (30.1%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 21 / 146 (14.4%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
103 / 190 (54.2%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 64 / 146 (43.8%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
72 / 103 (69.9%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 72 / 190 (37.9%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 43 / 64 (67.2%).
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