Organizational psychology is Definition, methods and process

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Organizational psychology is a rather young scientific and practical direction. It has much in common with social psychology, it includes certain features of managerial, labor and even engineering. The new science is considered to be formed at the intersection of professional, systemic psychology and the theory of optimal management. The key subject she studies is reality within the organization. It is also influenced by specialists in this field.

General information

Organizational psychology is a system that combines interrelated components. It assumes the presence of two or more persons, deals with the connections between them. The system is formed deliberately, but in some aspects spontaneously, through mutual work, business interaction. Other formats of interaction may play a role, but this is lesstypical of such a system.

Organizational psychology is not only a way to study business reality. In the field of this science, special attention is paid to management processes, their study, as well as the peculiarities of the management of the company's staff. Specialists in this area of psychology deal with the placement of personnel, the selection of people to work in the company. The main purpose of the selection is to exclude conflict, crisis situations in the professional community, the labor community. Calculations devoted to these aspects can be seen in the works on a given topic, published by Klimov. The contribution of this scientist to the definitions and terminology of young science is difficult to overestimate.

Approaches and theories

In Western science, organizational psychology is a direction that is understood primarily as an industrial science. This is especially noticeable if you study the works of American authors devoted to the topic. The task of science is understood as ensuring human well-being. For this, it is supposed to apply a variety of knowledge accumulated in psychology, as well as organizational methods. It is necessary to use such tools when organizing work in any modern enterprise responsible for the manufacture of products or the provision of some service.

Work in this area involves the formation and application of psychological theory. It is necessary to create a methodology that will allow finding a way out of the current difficult situations, as well as solving various problems,disturbing individuals working in the company.

Main problems and their features

It is customary to talk about three circles of difficulties, the solution of which is possible using the approaches of the new psychological science. The first block was conditionally called "working person". It involves the recruitment and selection of the best candidates, the distribution of workers to achieve optimal results, followed by training people. This includes the problems of socialization of personnel, motivation of employees, providing them with a sufficient level of satisfaction. The first circle of difficulties includes the loss of a temporary resource, turnover, loy alty of employees to the company.

The second block of difficulties was conditionally called “work”. Within its framework, the psychology of organizational behavior deals with the planning of work processes, the formation of working conditions. This includes aspects of the safety of the hired person, the level of well-being of workers, their state of he alth. This block includes features of the execution of work tasks and measurement of work, as well as professiographic research, labor cost assessment.

Faces and Themes: Continuing the Review

The final, third block of problems investigated by young science is called "organization". Certain issues considered within its framework presuppose a social system. The communication links that are formed within the company are studied. It is necessary to analyze the work in groups. This unit deals with leadership issues within the enterprise where people work. He also considersaspects of progress, transformation of the organization over time.

The described structure of organizational psychology was proposed in the works of Jewell. At the moment, they are considered one of the basic works on the topic under consideration.

Relevance of the issue

Today, works on organizational psychology by Zankovsky, Jewell, Klimov and other authors are attracting more and more attention. This is due to the desire of any entrepreneur to make his company as efficient as possible. We are forced to exist in a world where competition is incredibly high. This is characteristic of interpersonal communication, the labor collective, the market for goods and services - any sphere of social and industrial life. It is not surprising that every employer seeks to increase the productivity of the work process in the company entrusted to him or the enterprise he created, resorting to any available methods and means. Among others, the way of studying the mental activity of hired workers seems especially attractive. Knowing why people behave in a certain way, an entrepreneur can develop measures and manipulations to improve the performance of the state as a whole. A complex event related to research and the application of its results in practice began to be defined as organizational psychology.

Although scientific-organizational psychology is a relatively young area of research activity, no one denies that it belongs to fundamental disciplines. This is due to the fact that the new field of research is based on the fundamental sciences. Among the sources of the formation of the psychological direction, Taylor's research on scientific management deserves special attention. From his works you can learn about aspects of the rationalization of the work of a particular person. No less important are the works devoted to the study by differential psychology of the features and differences of personalities. The basis of the new science was the work to identify objective patterns that would explain why a person acts in a certain specific way.

Subject and tasks of science

Psychology of organizational activity deals with the relationship between the reactions caused by the human psyche and the specific moments of the behavioral reactions of the staff, as well as the nuances of organizing the work process in the enterprise.

Organizational psychology is a science that specializes in conducting applied research activities to determine the features of the patterns of the work process, as well as the nuances of the behavioral reactions of hired personnel. Specialists in this young science are formulating recommendations based on previously obtained information bases. Among the tasks of organizational psychology is maintaining a close relationship between research and scientific work and practical activities that take place within a particular firm.

Some believe that such a scientific direction is almost indistinguishable from the psychology of work. In reality, the field of study of labor psychology is much larger than organizational psychology. This is due to the fact thatsuch science is not limited to the production site. But organizational psychology deals with a wide variety of issues, aspects of activity, but only within the same enterprise. It is noted that organizational psychology specializes in various forms of relationships between employees, including romance.

About the method

Organizational methods in psychology include monitoring the working staff, conducting regular surveys of employed persons. Persons in charge of the work should conduct experimental studies from time to time. It is necessary to use special methods, certain features of a particular enterprise, selected based on it. All methods should be used in a complex, simultaneously, collectively. Surveys, observations allow the psychologist to accumulate a maximum of useful information, which can then be applied in the workflow. This database is the basis for guessing what measures will optimize the workflow and make it more efficient. The task of the psychologist is to suggest options and ways that can be put into practice. At the same time, the experiment is the main method for clarifying the reasonableness of the proposal. Personnel trainings can become special methods within a particular enterprise.

The application of organizational methods in psychology has certain difficulties. Currently, any psychologist is forced to work in conditions of increased complexity. Certain problems are caused by the organization of research activities, the formation of plans. It is no less difficult to translate into reality a well-thought-outsolution.

About problems

Organizational psychology of management is a science in which specialists are often forced to deal with the lack of consistency between the goals of the person and the team of the enterprise as a whole. Such mismatches are observed very, very often, and this significantly complicates the work. Equally difficult are the contradictions between the desire for improvement, progress, development and the stability of a particular company.

A psychologist must take into account: working with superiors is somewhat different from interacting with line personnel. The task of a specialist is to correctly interact with all persons employed at the enterprise. At the same time, a specialist is often forced to work in conditions where he is treated very wary. This is observed by all members of the team and affects the results of the research. Accordingly, the problem of the work becomes the unreliability of the results, due to the attitude towards the experimenter.

About the nuances

In educational courses at institutes, organizational psychology is presented as a young science, still developing, so people who specialize in it are forced to regularly face difficult situations. It is noted that the management personnel of the enterprise is not always able to adequately assess what is happening within the enterprise entrusted to him. Many managers find it difficult to understand that specific changes are already needed. The psychologist may suggest such measures, but is more likely to be rebuffed byparties of responsible persons, rather than consent to innovations. People tend to rule out possible innovations for as long as possible. This is largely due to the need to invest money in the implementation of experiments, the result of which is sometimes impossible to predict. The desire of the authorities to save money becomes a serious obstacle in the work of a psychologist.

Specialists educated in the field of organizational psychology in institutes are well aware that in practice, working in this speci alty is a rather difficult task. To some extent, this is due to the problem of determining the mutual relationships that are characteristic of the psychological response of a person and her behavior. Manifestations inherent in behavior are quite specific, multifaceted, and not always obviously caused by a psychological response. When you need to limit this to the outside of the company and find the root causes of this or that phenomenon and act inside it, this becomes an even more difficult task.

However, all the current difficulties do not prevent psychologists from being indispensable employees of an enterprise that wants to reach new heights. The involvement of an experienced specialist allows you to increase the productivity of the workflow, makes it possible to identify difficult situations and problems in time, and take measures to eliminate them.

Everything is connected and important

Psychology of work and organizational psychology are relevant today, since psychologists (and at the same time the enterprises in which they work) need to be formedfundamentally new conceptual means and methods to improve the performance of hired people while maintaining their mental he alth. These kinds of problems have to be solved within a wide variety of firms engaged in very different lines of business. For a psychologist, a person becomes a subject of activity, which can be conditionally excluded from the current system of relations, placing him on the role of a member of some organization. Personal behavior is actions that are inscribed in the structure of a value-mediated system, accepted norms, certain goals.

Dealing with human behavior within a particular firm, social-organizational psychology specializes in human activity - and such is everywhere and everywhere. There is simply no such organization in which there would be no people in principle. Equally, one cannot find such a person who would not interact with some organization. Calculations devoted to such observations were first published in 1998. The work was published by Milner.

Science & Research

Currently organized in accordance with the provisions and theories of organizational psychology, research is relevant, since scientific work has a direct practical application. The knowledge obtained by researchers is important for organizing the effective operation of a particular enterprise. By correctly applying such results of experimental and observational work, it is possible to reliably develop the company, providing it with excellent opportunities in the present and future. Any publication dedicated toorganizational and managerial issue, considers organizational behavior as a complex of phenomena, processes, and also as a sphere of scientific interest.

Procedural, phenomenal complex, attracting more and more attention with the development of organizational psychology, is the behavior of persons, groups within a certain enterprise. People hired daily perform some of the operations assigned to them by position. They work with people and aggregates, achieve their own goals, realize their interests. People try to cope with stressors, some influence others, others seek to avoid other people's influence. Someone is forced to make decisions, others - to obey and adjust. All this behavior of individual persons greatly affects the operation of the enterprise as a whole. If it is implemented by orgsils, we can talk about organizational behavior. The postulates devoted to such formulation of terms can be seen in Bateman, published in the 86th work by Organ.

Reality and science

What is human behavior in the framework of scientific research, Davis, Newstrom tried to formulate in their works. The most significant work of the authors was published in 2000. Organizational behavior studied by science is human behavior in relation to persons and groups within an enterprise. It is assumed that the knowledge gained during the research will be further used in practice.

Research in this area makes it possibleidentify the most successful ways to improve staff performance. Organizational behavior studied by organizational psychology is becoming a scientific discipline with an impressive and ever-increasing body of data, including conceptual works. At the same time organizational psychology acts as an applied field of knowledge. It is she who ensures the dissemination of information about the successes and failures of various enterprises. Other firms may benefit from the experimental experience of companies that have already done something.