Introduction
Organizational psychology is t the branch of psychology that deals with training people with the aim of improving the performance at work, the motivation among the employees, job satisfaction and the general conditions at work place. It is the field of study that spans over a century and deals with a wide range of topics that involve working in an organization. This primarily concentrates on uplifting the productivity of a workplace and other issues that are related like both physical and the mental well being of the employees. This generally deals with the study of human behaviors in workplace that have a significant application to the psychological theories and the principles of an organization (Aamodt, 2015). The main aim of the organizational psychologists is to work with the human resource manager of an institution in enhancing the process of recruitment, the selection of the employees and enhancing the performance of the employees (Wofd, 2013).
Thus, organizational psychology imparts people with the knowledge that they use in analyzing the performance of the organization and the most important part is the analysis of the employees performance. Organizational psychologist play a wide range of roles such as studying the attitudes of the employees, the behavior of the employees, the effectiveness of the employees, well being and the performance of the workers at an organization. It also helps in understanding the concept of team work at an organization in order to enhance the productivity. The theories that are used in organizational psychology include the social-organizational theories, leadership theories, the contingency theories, and the follow based theories. The skills that organizational psychologists gain during their study are used by the organization in enhancing the performance of the organization (Wiley, 2011). This is because with the knowledge on how employees can be effective with their work it is an advantage to an organization in terms of output. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate how Organisational Psychology as a discipline has contributed to our understanding of how people function in the work environment. This will be completed by providing evidence-based arguments on how organisations can contribute to work performance and well-being, by using psychological interventions (Chimiel, 2009).
With the challenges that organizations face in terms of employee performance, there was need to find a long lasting solution that will enhance productivity, which is the main goal of any organization. However, the only challenge is that for any organization to attain its goals, it is important that the employees in the organization are also willing to contribute positively in terms of performance. The workers productivity determines the performance of the employees. As a result, many organizations were concerned on what they can do to improve the employee performance and this is the reason organizational psychology was implemented (Anon, 2013). This was with the objective of helping the organizations understand on the ways that they can use to motivate the employees; enhance their behaviors for the positive performance by the organization. This was by providing the work related solutions through increasing the productivity and enhancing the process of employee recruitment.
Organizational psychology concentrates on two distinct areas of study. The first area is the personnel psychology that involves evaluating how people can be matched with their jobs. This includes the assessment of the characteristics of different employees and allocating them the roles they can perform best. Additionally, it also involves training the employees, developing the job standards and determining their performance (Weiner & Schimit, 2013). The other area of study emphasizes on how the organization may have an impact on the behaviors of individuals. It also includes the organizational structures, the management styles, the social norms, and other factors that have an impact on the behavior of an individual within the organization. This is because by knowing the above factors, it is easy and possible to enhance personal performance of the employees that is important to the entire organization (Koppes, 2014). These aspects have contributed to the understanding of the how people operate in a working environment.
According to the leadership theories, leaders have a profound impact to the performance of an organization. This is due to the fact that it is the leader who shares the objectives and the goals of an organization, which gives the workers an effective direction. It is believed that an effective leader should possess self motivation, high intelligence level and social perceptive (Winkler, 2010). These are important when it comes to providing an effective guidance to the employees in the organization. There are also the contingency focused approaches those bases on the ability of the leaders to provide an assessment of a situation and thereafter adapting to the situation. According to the theory, the leader must have the capacity to read and analyze any incident that may impact the organization (Wofd, 2013). Thus, an effective leader is determined by the social skills and the ability to help the staff which is the path goal theory (Northouse, 2010).
From the theories, it is evident that leadership plays a significant role in the productivity of an organization. This is because with effective leadership, workers are able to receive correct direction in their roles. Additionally, effective leadership ensures that employees in the organization have an effective working conditions such as reliable salaries, motivation schemes and good working conditions (Bischoff, 2010). These are the important aspects in predicting the behavior of employees in the organization. For instance, when the employees in an organization are not treated as they expect, chances of having positive performance among the employees are limited unlike in organization where the employees are handled appropriately (Jec, 2014). This is the reason leaders are advised to handle employees appropriately so that they can enhance the performance of the organization at large.
The other theory used by the organizational psychologists in discussing how employees can be motivated is the use of Maslows theory of motivation (Maslow, 2013). According to their argument, the employees who are motivated at a work place tend to have positive output compared to the employees who are not motivated (McGuire, 2012). Motivation can be attained using the Maslows theory of needs where the employee starts from the beginning to the end level which is self actualization (Koppes, 2014).
Organizational performance deals with studying the conditions and the behavior of workers in a working place. It has managed to provide a critical analysis on how the employees can be motivated to give outstanding performance. This is through providing the ways that the employees can be motivated and the kind of leadership required in different organization. The ability of the organizational psychologists to provide this analysis has enhanced the productivity of several organizations that have managed to improve their employee management abilities hence improving the productivity of the organization. In addition, the managers have also learned how they should treat the employees, and this has forced most of them to adopt the lessons given by the organizational psychologists (Anon, 2013). These organizations ensure that the employees are motivated, they are paid good salaries, and that the working conditions are friendly. It is from this perspective that it can be contended the organizational psychology has contributed to the work performance and also the well being of the workers (Anderson, 2014).
Organizational psychologists have all the tips that organizations could use in making sure they have good working conditions and positive employee performance. This is because they have reliable information that the leaders in an organization must focus on to have positive productivity. They also have knowledge on how the workers should be handled in an organization and this is the reason there is the need of organisations to collaborate with organisational psychologists (Bauer, 2010). Once the organizations have a close collaboration with the organizational psychologists, they will be able to learn different ways that will improve the performance of the workers and the organization at large. In analyzing the performance of workers at the work place, the organizational psychologists focus on making comparison of the performance of the company over the years and this is compared to the motivating strategies that have been used by the organization (Anderson, 2014).
Conclusion
Organizational psychology is the branch of psychology that deals with training people with the aim of improving the performance at work, the motivation among the employees, job satisfaction and the general conditions at work place. It is the field of study that spans over a century and deals with a wide range of topics that involve working in an organization. Organizational Psychology has enhanced the understanding of people about the behaviors of workers. It also enables the organizations to understand important aspects that may enhance workers performance and the positive productivity of the organization. Thus, organizational psychologist have played an important role in enhancing working conditions and the work place outputs that is important to organizations.
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