Organizational Psychology

12 Key excerpts on "Organizational Psychology"

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  Psychology in Organizations

  integrating Science and Practice

  • Kevin R. Murphy, Frank E. Saal(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  III SCIENCE AND PRACTICE IN Organizational Psychology

  This section focuses on the second major subdiscipline of I/O psychology, often referred to simply as Organizational Psychology. Unlike personnel psychology, which relies on specific, human resources procedures and techniques and is still relatively devoid of theory, Organizational Psychology encompasses topics that are broader, more abstract, and (so far, at least) more amenable to theoretical development. In addition to such obviously relevant topics as organizational design, change and theory, Organizational Psychology addresses work motivation and satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment, and leadership. This subfield of I/O psychology also concerns itself with issues that pertain to the psychological environments that characterize organizations—their climates and cultures. Because of its pervasiveness and enormous potential to affect workers’ behaviors, the psychological environment within organizations is the common thread that connects the four chapters in this section.

  In Chapter 9 , Walt Freytag takes a detailed look at the construct we now label “organizational culture,” paying particular attention to how such culture evolves, the nature and some of the manifestations of its content, and some of the strategies for assessing the culture of an organization. In Chapter 10 , Robert Baron examines a phenomenon that can influence and be influenced by an organization’s culture—organizational conflict—and focuses on the major causes of and some of the dominant strategies for managing this challenging organizational phenomenon. Chapter 11 deals with another issue that almost certainly has a reciprocal relationship with organizational culture and climate—sexual harassment; Frank Saal’s program of research suggests that interpersonal misperceptions may play an important role in some of the more common forms of sexual harassment in organizations. Finally, Chapter 12

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  Frameworks for Practice in Educational Psychology, Second Edition

  A Textbook for Trainees and Practitioners

  • Barbara Kelly, Lisa Marks Woolfson, James Boyle(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Jessica Kingsley Publishers

    (Publisher)

  The specialty of industrial-Organizational Psychology (also called I/O psychology) is characterized by the scientific study of human behavior in organizations and the work place. The specialty focuses on deriving principles of individual, group and organizational behavior and applying this knowledge to the solution of problems at work. (APA 2016)

  It is significant to note that within the United States the field is referred to as industrial organisational psychology. Within the United Kingdom there are several terms used to describe the field, which include ‘organisational psychology’ and ‘work psychology’. The term chosen by the British Psychological Society (BPS) is ‘occupational psychology’. The BPS definition again has many similarities to the APA definition, and it states: ‘Occupational psychology is concerned with the performance of people at work and with how individuals, small groups and organisations behave and function. Its aim is to increase the effectiveness of the organisation and improve the job satisfaction of individuals’ (BPS 2016). For the purposes of this chapter I will continue to use the term ‘organisational psychology’, and the definition I will work to is that of the BPS. Having said this, when referring to the work of others, I will use the term that they have used.

  These definitions are both broad brush and give little understanding of the focus of organisational psychology. Riggio (2016) has provided four categories comprising the work of organisational psychologists. I have added a fifth category:

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  Community Psychology

  • John Moritsugu, Elizabeth Vera, Frank Y Wong, Karen Grover Duffy(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  organizational development (OD). OD is a set of social science techniques designed to plan and implement long-term change in organizational settings for purposes of improving the effectiveness of organizational functioning and enhancing the individuals within the organizations (Baron & Greenberg, 1990; French & Bell, 1990). There is concern for both the organization and the individual within the organization (Beer & Walton, 1990). This focus is “in general the goals of I/O psychology … to better understand and optimize the effectiveness, health and well-being of both individuals and organizations” (Rogelberg, 2007, p. xxv).

  An aspect of Organizational Psychology that parallels community psychology is the understanding that individuals and organizations have an active relationship—that is, an ever-changing, transactional relationship that occurs over an extended period of time (Keys & Frank, 1987; Maton, 2008). This is at the core of an ecological model of psychology (Kelly, 2006). For instance, at one point, an individual might be highly motivated to stay in an organization, whereas at another time, he or she may be motivated to leave, as did Sarah. Sometimes, just when a disgruntled individual wants to leave the organization, the organization needs that person and so seeks to retain him or her. The study of such dynamic relationships is pertinent to both community psychology and Organizational Psychology. In a review of 45 years’ worth of articles in the Journal of Applied Psychology and the journal Personnel Psychology , Cascio and Aguinis (2008) identified job satisfaction, work teams, and organizational culture to be among the most popular topics in recent times (2003–2007).

  Ecology and Systems Orientation

  Organizational scientists have a tradition of conducting research from an ecological perspective as well as a systems perspective (Foster-Fishman, Nowell, & Yang, 2007; Shinn & Perkins, 2000). They typically include multiple levels of a work setting (e.g., managers and employees) as well as coordinating mechanisms and processes in their research endeavors as they attempt to study and change the overall organization. It is this multilevel or holistic type of research that community psychologists hope to achieve, rather than endeavors focused merely on the individual.

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  Psychology in Organizations

  • S Alexander Haslam(Author)
  • 2004(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  1

  ORGANIZATIONS AND THEIR PSYCHOLOGY

   

  Humans are social animals. No one who reads this book lives entirely alone, remote from the influence of society and other people. We each seek out contact with others, in the knowledge that this has the capacity to enrich our lives in different ways. This contact usually appears to be natural and uncomplicated, but most of it is highly structured. It is regulated, coordinated and managed. This is partly because much of our day-to-day activity involves dealing with people who are acting as members of organizations. As well as this, a great deal of our own behaviour is determined by our place within an organization. Today you may encounter a shop assistant, a bus driver, a lecturer, a newsreader, a politician, and you may also act, and be treated by others, as a student, a teammate or a fellow worker. Precisely because these sorts of interactions are aspects of organizational behaviour, they are – at least to some extent – purposeful, predictable and meaningful.

  Understanding the psychological underpinnings of individuals’ behaviour in organizations is a particular focus for researchers in two subdisciplines: Organizational Psychology and social psychology. Among other things, both fields examine and attempt to understand the mental states and processes associated with behaviour in structured social groups and systems. This chapter discusses in more detail what organizations are and how they have been studied by organizational and social psychologists, before going on to outline how the social psychology of organizational life will be examined in this book.

  A central question that provides a backdrop to the issues addressed in this chapter, and in the book as a whole, is how we should understand the contribution that groups make both to the psychology of individuals within organizations and to the functioning of organizations as a whole. Do groups detract from individual motivation and performance or do they augment it? Do groups introduce error and bias into judgement and decision making or are they sources of validation and validity? Are individual products and behaviour superior to group output and collective action? More importantly, when and why

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  Studying the Organisation and Delivery of Health Services

  Research Methods

  • Pauline Allen, Nick Black, Aileen Clarke, Naomi Fulop, Stuart Anderson(Authors)
  • 2004(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 5 Organisational psychology

  John Arnold

  Introduction

  Psychology as a discipline concerns the description, explanation and prediction of behaviour, thoughts and emotions. Organisational psychologists draw upon a range of theoretical and methodological traditions in seeking to address issues to do with human behaviour, thoughts and emotions at work. Most of this work is not specific to health care settings, but is designed to be generalisable to many contexts. Existing research and theory have something to say of practical importance in health service delivery and organisation, even though it is rarely framed in ways that exactly match health service managers’ day-to-day concerns or vocabulary. The methods used by organisational psychologists permit the investigation of a wide range of topics and a choice of underlying research philosophy. There are many published examples of organisational psychology making significant potential and actual contributions to health service delivery and organisation, particularly concerning aspects of human resource management.

  Definition and theoretical basis

  There are a number of sub-disciplines within psychology, including elements drawn from the arts, humanities, and the biological and physical sciences as well as social science. One way of viewing the sub-disciplines is as follows.

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  A Handbook of Work and Organizational Psychology

  Volume 4: Organizational Psychology

  • De Charles, P J D Drenth, THIERRY HENK, Charles, De, Wolff(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  Many of the assumed conditions (also called contingent factors) in this second question are possibly embedded in the organization itself. Technology, nature of the work and product, size, centralization, formalization, specialization, etc. come to mind. Other contingent factors may be found in the individual of the group itself, such as age, sex, socio-economic level, rank in the organization, and education. Again, others are to be located in the broader physical and social environment, such as geographical conditions, political structures of the country, level of the country's development, unemployment level, and the dominant value system.

  Within Organizational Psychology still other questions occur, such as the question of the interrelationship between organizational characteristics, or the question of the relationship between work attitudes and work performance. However, the broad field of Organizational Psychology in principle deals with both “organizations” and “(behaviour of) individuals”, and cannot restrict itself to one of these aspects.

  Now, given the preceding definition of Organizational Psychology, the question of the subject-matter of cross-cultural research in Organizational Psychology still remains to be answered.

  Brought into a cross-cultural perspective, the two general questions just designated could be transformed into the following (see figure 7.1 , in which the numbers refer to the subquestions that follow):

  1. Can cultural factors explain the differences in:
     • 1a. organizational characteristics, which might influence the work behaviour and performance of people in organizations?
     • 1b. attitudes and behaviour of people in organizations, which might influence various aspects of the organization?

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  A Handbook of Work and Organizational Psychology

  Volume 1: Introduction to Work and Organizational Psychology

  • Charles De Wolff, PJD Drenth, Thierry Henk, Charles, De, Wolff, P J D Drenth, THIERRY HENK(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  1

  What is Work and Organizational Psychology?

  Pieter J.D. Drenth, Henk Thierry and Charles J. de Wolff

  In the first half of the 1980s, the Handbook of Work and Organizational Psychology edited by us—and by our deceased colleague Paul Willems—appeared, at first in Dutch and subsequently in an English translation. It was the first comprehensive handbook in this field on European soil, and the Handbook found a widespread market. Our discipline is developing rapidly, and the need for an enlarged and new edition of the Handbook became apparent. An enlargement was deemed necessary, as in many fields many new studies had been published and many interesting applications had presented themselves. A revision was required as some new topics deserved a separate chapter.

  The present result has appeared, not as an updated book, but as a completely rewritten new Handbook. In this first chapter we will begin with a characterization of the domain of work and Organizational Psychology. Attention will be paid to its relations with other subdisciplines in psychology, and its relation with other disciplines that are also concerned with work and organization. In connection with this topic, a section deals with the relation between pure and applied science. Following an exploration of possible or probable developments in work and Organizational Psychology in the (near) future, the chapter is concluded with a brief presentation of the organization of this new Handbook.

  THE DOMAIN OF WORK AND Organizational Psychology

  Work and Organizational Psychology refers to the subfield within psychology that is specifically concerned with human behaviour at work in, or in connection with, a work organization. Three aspects characterize this description. First, it concerns the behaviour of working people. Behaviour is not only understood to mean directly observable work actions, but also intentions, attitudes, emotions, habits, motives, etc. of a person in work. In fact, behaviour at work comprises all actions and reactions coming from a worker that can be observed or derived from this behaviour. This is why in work and Organizational Psychology of old, much emphasis is laid on the importance of valid diagnostic instruments—such as tests and scales—and of proper methods of research (see also Chapter 2 , this Volume). Many topics in work and Organizational Psychology relate to behaviour of the individual

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  Organizational Effectiveness

  The Role of Psychology

  • Ivan T. Robertson, Militza Callinan, Dave Bartram, Ivan T. Robertson, Militza Callinan, Dave Bartram(Authors)
  • 2003(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Psychology provides some useful concepts that al-low the psychosocial aspects of work to be organized in a meaningful way that facilitates understanding and action—concepts that link into organizational re-search and thinking from other domains. Two dominant concepts are culture and competencies . As well as being a central organizing concept in the psychological approach to organizations, the concept of culture has dominated management thinking about problems of adaptability and change according to Sparrow and West. Cartwright and Baron describe culture as being the “social glue that binds people together” performing the joint functions of internal integration and external adaptation. Many of the authors have outlined the cyclical links between their own domains of interest and organizational culture. An organization’s leadership is intrinsically linked to its culture, being described as “two sides of the same coin” by Alimo-Metcalfe and Nyfield (Chapter 9). Senior management shapes and maintains the cultural context of the firm. In fact, the task of leadership has been viewed as the management of CONTRIBUTION OF WORK AND Organizational Psychology 277 shared meaning, in other words, attempting to bring about a cohesive culture. Of course, individuals bear on the creation and maintenance of cultural contexts. Murphy and Bartram discuss how recruitment and selection practices are reflec-tions of the organization’s culture and ways of dealing with people which impact on applicants’ perceptions and decision-making. The authors suggest a “virtu-ous cycle” affecting recruitment whereby effective organizations are perceived as more attractive locations by job applicants which creates a larger applicant pool of higher quality candidates from which the organization can choose. This process suggests that the culture will be maintained because only those who fit the organization’s requirements and who are also attracted to the prevailing values and attitudes will be employed.

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  Psychology

  Modules for Active Learning

  • Dennis Coon, John Mitterer, Tanya Martini, , Dennis Coon, John Mitterer, Tanya Martini, (Authors)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  644 MODULE 75 consumer psychology, sports psychology, health psychol-ogy, and space psychology. Industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology , the study of people at work and in organizations, is one of the most important applied areas (Aamodt, 2016; Bryan & Vinchur, 2013). The efforts of I/O psychologists likely will affect how you are selected for a job and tested, trained, or evaluated for promotion. Most I/O psychologists are employed by the Learning Outcome 75.1 Define applied psychology, I/O psychology, and three leadership styles, and explain some issues underlying job satisfaction and organizational culture Applied psychology refers to the use of psychological principles and research methods to solve practical prob-lems. The largest applied areas are clinical and counseling psychology, but there are many others, such as community psychology, educational psychology, military psychology, Organizational Psychology—Psychology at Work Have you ever had a job that made you feel like a cog in a ma-chine? Charlie Chaplin captured this feeling in his 1936 film Modern Times . Fortunately, the world of work has changed since Chaplin’s day. Consider Armando, a software engineer working long hours developing a novel way to predict hurricanes for a sat-ellite weather system. His work efficiency cannot easily be mea-sured or improved. Instead, Armando’s success depends on his own initiative, creativity, and commitment to his work. Armando quit his last job because it made him feel like he was “punching the clock,” which is something he does not want to do. Do you believe that you should live to work or work to live? Whatever your attitude, the simple fact is that most adults work for a living. Whether you are already employed or plan to begin a career after college, it helps to know something about the psy-chology of work and organizations.

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  Understanding Occupational & Organizational Psychology

  • Lynne J Millward(Author)
  • 2005(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  Recently there has been much debate about whether the British Psychological Society’s (BPS) Division of Occupational Psychology (DOP) should change its name (Brotherton, 1996). This debate is underpinned by the argument that the term ‘occupational psychology’ no longer reflects the activities in which practitioners are engaged. However, no clear name preference has yet been agreed by members of the Division. The equivalent role in Europe is known as ‘work and Organizational Psychology’ and in the USA as ‘industrial and Organizational Psychology’.

  The BPS recognizes that the remit of the occupational psychologist is broad, overlapping with other fields such as management science, organizational science and human resource management. The work undertaken by occupational psychologists is listed as follows (BPS, 2004):

   

  • Organizational development consultancy

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  Work and Stress

  A Research Overview

  • Philip Dewe, Cary L Cooper(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 1

  Organizational Psychology, organizational behaviour and workplace stress

   

  We begin this book by reflecting on alternative approaches and movements that have, since the beginning of this millennium, shaped Organizational Psychology and organizational behaviour, and set researchers with a responsibility to be mindful and to question what this means for workplace stress research. These developments spawned by economic crisis and turbulence, the ever present and always ready portable technologies, and the tsunami of globalization (Dewe & Cooper 2017) define the context of stress research. It is this context which shapes our research, gives it explanatory power, and sets the challenges for the direction and the relevance of what we do. These alternative approaches and movements acknowledge this context and, indeed, have significantly shaped our understanding and the state of our knowledge, and influenced the nature of our discipline; testing our ability as researchers to ‘achieve a more meaningful integration of findings across the array of topics researched’ (Porter & Schneider 2014, p. 15).

  The ‘good news’, as Cooper (2009, p. 7) points out, is ‘that organizational behaviour [and Organizational Psychology] moves with the times, and reflects the issues, concerns and dilemmas of the age and beyond’. Nevertheless, these new pathways and new developments, coupled with the speed at which the context changes, its reach and authority, ‘calls for the refining of existing theories, methods and practice’ (Dewe & Cooper 2017, p. 93). It is a powerful reminder for us to recognize and, at times, question not just where our theories are taking us, but also how well they express the realities of the workplace. Giving power and legitimacy to concepts like context, relevance, refinement and, of course, our moral responsibilities to those whose working lives we research (Dewe & Cooper 2017). Taken together these concepts provide a platform and a foundation for building and developing our research into workplace stress, giving it meaning and balance.

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  The Psychology of Behaviour at Work

  The Individual in the Organization

  • Adrian Furnham(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  Much of the objection to the human relations perspective has been initiated by modern behavioural scientists who are interested in many of the same phenomena. Behavioural scientists are concerned with the systematic analysis of human behaviour and take pride in the objectivity with which they approach their subject and their adherence to the conventional methods of experimental science. They also view their research as interdisciplinary in character and realize that it is often difficult, if not impossible, to understand the sociology of a group separate from the psychology of the individuals comprising it and the anthropology of the culture within which it exists. However, there have been few subsequent studies, of whatever scientific quality, that have had such an influence on work psychology thinking (Duncan, 1978).

  Integrating the different perspectives

  This history of Organizational Psychology and work psychology can be approached in different ways through different perspectives. It is important to emphasize that these histories are complementary rather than contradictory.

  The history of work psychology can probably be usefully thought of as falling into three categories. From the turn of the twentieth century until the beginning of the Second World War, work psychology was termed “scientific management” or industrial psychology. In this period, workers were thought of as factory hands. Both management and employees were thought of in rational economic terms. The idea that scientific principles could be applied to the world of work (especially management and ergonomics) was new, but the great thinkers of the day – Fayol, Taylor and Weber – all stressed this. They all believed that, by following relatively straightforward explicit principles, organizations could become more efficient. All the writing in this early period emphasized structure, order, logic and rules.

  The industrial psychologists of the day certainly saw their job as increasing efficiency. The image of the time-and-motion psychologist hiding in the cupboard spying on workers probably arose at that time. The work psychology researchers and psychologists of the day certainly “took the side of management”: they were not interested in occupational fatigue out of compassion for the workers, but rather how to ensure the most cost-efficient production from those workers. Yet it would be unfair to the thinkers and researchers of this first period to argue that they were not concerned with worker welfare. In hindsight it may seem patronizing, but many large companies took a genuine interest in the health and living standards of their workers.

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