lecture 1 material Flashcards
introduction to organisational psychology
What is organisational psychology
The study of human behaviour in workplace settings and application of psychological principles, theory and research of the work setting
Why is organisational psychology important
Jobs are often critical parts of our identity and therefore it helps define who we are and gauge our value in society, family and ourselves and provides opportunity for autonomy and independence. However there is also a large association between work and ill health due to mental disorders such as depression, anxiety and exhaustion/burnout
What are 5 factors in the workplace that can increase risk of future depression, anxiety, and exhaustion
- High cognitive and emotional demands
- Low control or decision latitude at work
- Poor social support
- Unfair rewards
- Insecurity and injustice
What type of issues do organisational
psychologists study and provide solutions for
- Selection: help picking the right person for the job - well suited to the demands of the position
- Training: ensuring adequate training for employees
- Performance management: providing employees with feedback - what are the doing well and what can they improve on
- Promotion: fair promotions across employees based on performance (lack of fairness can cause injustices)
- Human error: when and why are people making mistakes
- Occupational stress: if employees are experiencing high levels of occupational stress, figuring out why and what is causing it
- Procrastination or absenteeism among employees
What are the 3 aims of organisational psychology
- increase productivity
- improve performance
- improve quality of working life
What was the problem, IV, DV and result of Greenberg (1990): pay cut study
- Problem: organisation perceives need to cut staff pay
- Control group: no change
- Independent variable: pay cut or no pay cut
- Dependent variable: theft or no theft
- Result: high theft in pay cut group
What is classic management theory
A style of management emphasising hierarchy, specialised roles, and single leadership to optimise efficiency
What is Scientific Management theory
Using scientific methods to develop efficient production processes to increase productivity
Explain the key features of Taylor (1911): Principles of scientific management
- Time and motion studies: measuring how long it took to perform a task in order to increase specialisation
- Documentation of optimum performance: standardised procedures (e.g. methods for accomplishing job
tasks, time for breaks), job simplification - Skills training: optimising task knowledge to find the best person suitable for a task
- Incentive schemes: rewarding efficient work processes
What was the importance of psychology and war in the history of organisational psychology
World wars were involved in the development of tests to classify military personnel including:
o Standford Binet Intelligence Test to test military personnel in large masses to measure people’s aptitude
o Aptitude (e.g. John Watson: perceptual motor skills)
Opportunity to see impact of testing:
o Improved processes for applied psychology
Selection:
o criteria opens path for individuals who thought they were not legible
Human factors:
o Creating equipment considering the human and their experience
o Specialising to the human
Hawthorne Studies (1924-1936): What is the Hawthorne Effect and why does it occur
This effect refers to Changes to behaviour and performance may result from short-term psychological factors, such as awareness of being observed.
- e.g. when workers productivity increases as a result of change in the workplace (increasing/decreasing breaks, increasing/decreasing lighting etc.)
Therefore when managers pay attention to employees, better morale and productivity ensue due to these psychological factors
What was the focus in organisational psychology during the human relations era
- How attitudes/emotions/beliefs affect
behaviour - Emphasis on job satisfaction
- Recognition of workers as individuals
What was introduced to protect workers from discrimination regarding selection tests
Title VII of civil rights act (1964) protects workers from discrimination
- It was illegal to use selection tests that weren’t directly related to job performance –> protected against selection tests being used to disadvantage “protected” groups such as women and minority groups
- If a requirement was made (e.g. all employees must be 6ft) employers needed to explain why it was necessary to enforce this requirement and must have valid reasoning
What is the Scientist-Practitioner Model
Educational model used to train psychologists
What is the key premise of the Scientist-Practitioner Model
Trained professional psychologists should be knowledgeable in research and practice
- practice should be evidence-based (empirical research should always be basis of applied work)
- applied experience (practice) should be used to guide science and advanced scientific thinking
Which of the following best describes one of the primary functions of the scientific method?
A) Provides a set of rigid rules for conducting experiments
B) Guarantees the discovery of groundbreaking scientific theories
C) Helps overcome biases and errors of judgment
D) Offers a definitive answer to all scientific inquiries
C) The scientific method helps us to overcome biases and errors of judgement
What are the 6 stages of the scientific method
- Problem Identification
- Hypothesis Formulation
- Data Gathering
- Hypothesis Testing
- Interpretation and Theory Formulation
- Solution Implementation
What is Problem Identification
Involves identifying gaps in the literature –> incremental gap analysis
What is Hypothesis Formulation
Involves directly relevant theory and evidence guiding specific, well-justified predictions –> distantly related theory and evidence guiding specific, somewhat justified prediction
What are some types of Data Gathering
Survey: most commonly used method to gather data for workplace research
Interviews, focus groups, observations, peer/supervisor ratings, performance records, electronic measurements, absenteeism data
Experiments: field and controlled/laboratory
Quasi-experiments
What are the 3 challenges when conducting applied research
- design problems:
- ethical problems:
- practical problems:
Examples of design problems when conducting applied research
o Incomplete or biased sample (e.g. hiding important subgroups)
o Wrong methods chosen (e.g. inferring causality from cross-sectional survey)
o Asking the wrong question (e.g. measuring attitudes to goals, not understanding)
o Inappropriate measure used (e.g. unreliable or invalid measure used)
Examples of ethical problems when conducting applied research
o recruitment involves coercion
o researcher fails to get informed consent form participants
o researcher fails to protect anonymity or privacy of participants
o researcher uses copyrighted methodologies without permission/payment
o researcher overpromises regarding potential results/implications of research
Examples of practical problems when conducting applied research
o some stakeholders oppose research project
o organisation pulls plug on project
o findings not useful to organisation
o ensuring participants have sufficient time in their schedule to participate
o difficulty recruiting specialist populations
o world-wide pandemic happens and halts face-to-face research
