Organisational Psych Flashcards
What is organisational psych?
It involved the scientific evidence-based study of organisations and particularly the work performance and job satisfaction of their members.
It considers factor that affect work performance and job satisfaction at three levels; the individual, the group or team and the organisation.
Organisational Psychologists use an understanding of these factors to enhance the work performance and job satisfaction of the members of the organisation and enhance the performance of the organisation itself.
What is definition of Organisational Psychology?
It is the scientific study of behaviour in the work place. It uses scientific knowledge to facilitate the organisations performance and the work performance and job satisfaction of its members.
The emotional and motivational side of work including attitudes, fairness, motivation, stress, leadership teams.
What are the three areas of organisational behaviour?
Individual level - personality, attitudes and motivation.
Group level - group composition, inter and intra group behaviour, conflict and leadership.
Organisational level - climate and culture structure, change and development.
What is the aim of organisational psych?
The aim of organisational psychology is to enhance the organisations performance alongside employee satisfaction.
What theories do organisational psychologists use?
They us theories that are both reliable and valid.
What makes a theory reliable?
It produces reliable or very similar results that would be obtained on a second occasion.
A reliable personality test would give the same or very similar results if a person completed it a second time.
What makes a theory valid?
A valid theory is a theory or measure which does what it is assumed to do.
Personality is important for success in particular jobs, therefore there should be a close association between a measure of personality and performance on the job.
What is the role of organisational psychologists for organisations?
There are a range of roles that organisational psychologists provide support in terms of employee and organisation management including;
- Recruitment and selection
- learning and development
- leadership and talent management
- coaching, mentoring and career development
- measuring employee opinions and other work-place research
- change management
- occupational health and safety
- performance management
- wellbeing, stress and work-life balance
What are the different organisations?
Not for profit - provides services to the community and do no operate to make a profit for its members.
Government - a government appointed group, it can be permanent or semi-permanent organisation and is funded by the government.
Commercial - a business that sells good or services for the purpose of making a profit.
What are the different types of assessments used to determine performance?
Organisational psychologists use evidence to make decisions about how to improve both employee satisfaction and the performance of the organisation.
This evidence can be used to;
- analyse success and failure
- maintain success
- make improvements
- make future plans
- set performance targets to match individual, team and organisational goals.
What are the different types of measures that can be used to assess performance?
There are different elements within the workplace to collect data against to asses the performance/satisfaction of employees and the organisation performance.
The data collection of work performance must be appropriate, stable and practical.
These include;
- Theft
- Accidents
- productivity
- sales
- counterproductive work behaviour
- absenteeism
- customer service
- staff turnover
What are the measures that can be used to assess performance?
Objective data - can be verified by other researchers, increasing the reliability and validity of the data.
Subjective data - collected or obtained via personal observations.
Qualitative data - Often expressed in works, or sentences and describe the quality of behaviour.
Quantitative data - represented by numbers and can be statistically analysed and presented in table, or graph format making interpretation of the results simpler for the end reader of the research.
Why must performance be assessed?
Organisational psychology is a science therefore the measures used to measure employee performance/satisfaction and performance of the organisation must be considered and analysed.
What tools can be used to assess employee performance and or satisfaction?
- Measuring individual employee and team performance and or satisfaction.
- Performance appraisals and ratings.
- 360 degree and upward appraisal.
- Critical Incident Method of Analysing Performance (CIT).
These measures are used to assess organisational performance are embedded within the 8 major criteria used to assess work performance in modern society.
ON FLASH CARD ABOVE
What is vocational guidance?
The process of helping an individual to choose an appropriate vocation through such means as:
- in-depth interviews
- administration of aptitude, interest and personality tests
- discussion of the nature and requirements of specific types of work in which in the individual expresses an interest.
What influences vocational guidance?
Personality traits, abilities and interests may all influence individuals lives people play explicit attention to their interests when making decisions in regard to their careers.
This involves assessing a persons vocational interest and their personality and matching them to available jobs, working conditions remuneration and future prospects.
What different characteristics influence job choice?
Investigative - scientific inquiry, research, computers
Realistic - building, practical, hands on
Conventional - Organisational, data and numbers
Enterprising - business, sales and marketing, politics, leadership
Social - homework, helping, communication, helping others
Artistic - creating, writing, expression, performance
What are the advantages of hollands theory?
Individuals and counsellors easily understand them
Widely used for organising career interest assessments.
What are the disadvantages of hollands theory?
- Self directed search does not assess the skills and knowledge needed for the particular job.
- Availability of the jobs (future)
- Subjective
What does Jurgensen’s job preferences study involve?
The list considers what working conditions are most important to an individual.
- What one person values might be different to another person.
- This study also explores what people believe others value as well.
What are the 8 factors to consider when you want a job?
- Advancement
- Benefits
- Company
- Co-workers
- Hours
- Pay
- Security
- Supervisor
- Type of work
- Working conditions
What factors influence an individual to identify which career is best for them?
Personality traits (holland)
Factors/work conditions (Jurgensen)
What is the assistance with finding a person for a job called?
Personnel selection
What characteristics do organisations look out for in an individual?
- work qualifications
- work experience
- personality
- interest
- motivation
- age
- gender
- ethnicity
- language
What biases can exist in job descriptions?
- Bias in job titles
- unconscious gender bias
- gender bias in everyday words
- assuming partners are ‘wives’
- unconscious racial bias
- LGBTQIA+ pronouns
- maternity
- disability and age bias
- elitism
What ethics are considered with personnel selection?
Right to informed consent
Right to privacy
Right to confidentially
Right to protection from deception
Right to debriefing
What is motivation?
A force determining the direction, intensity and persistence of behaviour.
It is what causes you to act.
It is a critical factor influencing decision making, behaviour and performance in the workplace.
There are multiple theories that can be used to describe what motivation is, how it can be cultivated within and individual and more broadly a workplace.
Each theory carries its own limitations, however, helps to build a collective picture of how managers and leaders should lead.
