The organizational psychology Or psychology of organizations is the branch of psychology that is responsible for studying the behavior of people in the world of work and organizations.
In this sense, it is an applied science that examines human behavior both individually and at the group and organizational level.
More specifically, organizational psychology is nowadays a specialized area of psychology. It is considered as a scientific discipline and its antecedents are industrial psychology and social psychology.
Organizational psychology allows describing, explaining and predicting human behaviors developed in collective environments. It also allows the development of interventions and strategies to solve concrete or global problems of an organization.
Thus, the main objectives of organizational psychology can be summarized in two main aspects.
On the one hand, this applied science is used to improve performance and labor productivity, examining the functioning of the organization and detecting the areas to intervene.
On the other hand, organizational psychology is used to increase and enhance the personal development of workers and improve their quality of life in the workplace.
The main aspects that this branch of psychology studies about organizations are: structure, climate, culture, social systems and processes.
This article reviews the main characteristics of organizational psychology. Its theories and main areas of study are explained, and the specific interventions that are developed from this branch of psychology are discussed.
Definition
Psychology is a science that can be applied in different areas. Likewise, the study of human behavior can not only be applied to individuals in an individual way, but can also be applied in a group way.
In this sense, the organizational psychology studies precisely the habitual behaviors of the worker in the companies, the roles that can play and the usual conflicts in the environment.
However, delineating the concept of organizational psychology is a somewhat more complex task than it may seem. In general, there is no doubt that it is a science applied to the organizational sphere, but establishing a clear and unambiguous definition is somewhat more confusing.
In fact, many authors have proposed different definitions of the concept of organizational psychology. In order to review the particularities of this branch of psychology, the most important are discussed below.
1- Spector
In 2002, Spector defined the concept of organizational and / or industrial psychology as a small field of applied psychology that refers to the development and applications of scientific principles in the workplace.
2- Andy and Conte
Three years later, Andy and Conte reviewed the conceptualization carried out by Spector and reformulated the term organizational psychology as the application of the psychological, the theory and the research in the labor scenario.
These authors also postulated that industrial and / or organizational psychology went beyond the physical limits of the workplace, influencing many other factors in organizational behavior.
3- Blum and Neylor
These authors were among the pioneers in establishing the concept of organizational psychology and defined it as the application or extension of psychological facts and principles to problems that concern human beings working within the context of business and industry.
4- Saal and Knight
According to these authors, organizational psychology refers to two main concepts.
In the first place, it is the study of the behavior, the thoughts and the feelings of the human beings as they adapt to the companions, the objectives and the environment in which they develop professionally.
On the other hand, organizational psychology also refers to the use of the above information to maximize the economic and psychological well-being of employees.
5- Furnham
According to Furnham, organizational psychology is the study of how people are recruited, selected and socialized in organizations.
It also includes other aspects such as the type of reward workers receive, the degree of motivation they present, and the way organizations structure themselves both formally and informally in groups, sections, and teams.
Differences between organizational psychology and occupational psychology
At present, organizational psychology and occupational psychology are two terms that are used interchangeably since they refer to two highly similar concepts.
In fact, both organizational psychology and occupational psychology are sciences that study the same elements. That is, both are responsible for examining human behavior in the workplace.
However, it should be noted that occupational psychology and organizational psychology are not exactly the same, as they differ in the approach and scientific objectives pursued by each.
In this sense, it has now been established that the psychology of work is concerned with the concrete activity of each worker and is more interested in the type of tasks he has.
The work environment, schedules, workload, role conflicts, Work motivation or the Burnout syndrome Are the main study elements of occupational psychology.
In contrast, organizational psychology is characterized by presenting a broader approach, which studies beyond the worker. The main element of interest in organizational psychology is the organization itself in which the person is immersed.
In this way, both branches of psychology are dedicated to examine, evaluate and define the same concepts: the behavior of people in the workplace. However, the positions adopted by each discipline are different, and studies and interventions also often differ.
Theories
Throughout the history have been developed multiple theories that have as aim to define an ideological conception of the man and the organization.
These theories have given rise to the emergence of organizational psychology, have allowed to establish their bases and establish the lines of study to follow.
Specifically, organizational psychology has been undertaken and studied by three main theory, which propose three different axes of study. These are: classical rationalist theories, theories and human relations and theories of organization as an open system.
1- Classical rationalist theories
The classical rationalist theories were developed by Taylor and are characterized by analyzing the productive processes in order to increase efficiency and productivity.
It was the first theory on organizational psychology and its main mode of operation was based on the development of techniques and methods to normalize production through the decomposition of complex tasks into a set of simple tasks.
According to classical theories, man is a cog in the machine of efficiency and productivity, and is motivated by fear of hunger and the need for money to survive.
For this reason, theories developed by Taylor postulated wage rewards as the only source of motivation for workers and, therefore, established pay as one of the most important elements of organizational psychology.
2- Theories of human relationships
Theories of human relationships were postulated by Mayo and Lewin. According to this study perspective, the main objective of organizational psychology is to achieve harmony within the company by linking productivity with the mood of the workers.
Human relations theories try to interpret the changes of the context and the companies, thus discovering the meaning of certain social processes and studying in depth the influence of the work environment on productivity and accidents at work.
In this sense, this second group of theories on organizational psychology increases the perspective and elements to be taken into account in the functioning of an organization, and postulate the importance of new variables.
According to Mayo and Lewin, man is a social being, thinking, whole and with feelings. Every person needs to be part of a group and be taken into account so that social recognition and belonging to the group are the main elements to develop their work motivation.
3 - Theories of the organization as an open system
According to the organization's theories as an open system and the complex and autonomous agent, the organization is a system that interacts constantly with the environment.
Likewise, it postulates the concept of organization as a system, so it is composed of different elements that maintain a minimum of cooperation among each other to achieve common goals and their own.
According to this third theory of organizational psychology, man is a complex and autonomous people who acts in the organization. In this way, the context variables that can influence the individual status of the worker can vary in each glass.
Likewise, the theory of organization as an open system postulates that every organization is made up of groups of interdependent and interacting individuals.
Workers interact with each other to achieve common goals, so that the interdependence between individuals of an organization makes any modification of an element may in some way alter all others.
Systems
One of the main findings that have been developed from organizational psychology is that organizations act as systems.
In this way, the interactions that occur within each organization, that is, within each system, can take multiple forms and modalities.
In general, organizations can be developed as open systems or as closed systems.
Open systems are organizations that have relations of exchange with the environment through inputs and outputs.
Scott defined a natural system as an organization whose participants have a common interest in the survival of the system and who are articulated with collective activities and informal structures.
Closed systems instead are systems that do not present an exchange with the environment that surrounds them, because they are hermetic to any environmental influence.
Scott defined rational systems as"systems in which the collectivity is oriented to a given purpose, by setting specific objectives that are explicit, clearly defined.
From these early conceptualizations of organizational psychology, organizations can be developed and interpreted through different perspectives. The main ones are: closed rational systems, as natural closed systems, as open rational systems or as open systems and social agents.
1- Organizations as closed rational systems
Organizations as closed rational systems are characterized by being"organizations without people". That is, one only takes into account the organizational aspects of the group of people, but not the individuals that compose it.
According to this perspective, organizations would have universal solutions, since solving a problem would not depend on the individual characteristics of its members.
Organizations as closed rational systems propose precise measures of times, methods and movements. They have a formal design, division of labor, a unit of command and a well-established hierarchy.
Also, organizations as closed rational systems propose a bureaucratic rationality, which is based on technical competence and legal authority.
2- Organizations as closed natural systems
These types of organizations are antagonistic to the previous one and can be defined as"groups of people without organization".
They are organizational models that start from a conception of the human being in permanent development. The worker is a social being who responds more to the social forces of groups than to economic incentives.
The focus of the studies according to this perspective is more group than individual and the work behavior is analyzed jointly.
The work performance of organizations as closed natural systems is not so linked to psychological or physiological capacities, but to the degree of satisfaction obtained which in turn will depend on the social treatment received.
3- Organizations as open rational systems
Organizations as open rational systems can be defined as"organizations as social systems".
In this case, the organization is an open and complex system, in which the people who integrate it make decisions analyzing their environment.
This organizational conception was developed from the technological approach, which emphasized the study of the characteristics of the task, the work environment and individual behavior.
Likewise, organizations as open rational systems establish the starting point through which the term of industrial psychology is abandoned and the concept of organizational psychology is developed.
4- Organizations such as open systems and social agents
Finally, this last conceptualization defines the organizations as coalitions of opposing groups of interests. It adopts new paradigms in the production of scientific knowledge and questions the assumptions of realism, objectivism and rationality.
In this sense, organizations are interpreted as a collectivity, it takes into account the complexity of the organization and develops, for the first time, the strategic management of human resources.
Organizational Communication
Communication is one of the most relevant elements within the fields of study of organizational psychology.
In fact, the organization is not understood without the development of communication between the different members, which is why the communicative elements are the most important for many organizational psychologists.
In this sense, organizational psychology postulates different relationships between communication and organization. The main ones are:
- The organization defines a communication context.
- Communication is an organizational variable.
- The symbiosis of communication defines the organization.
- The characteristics of the organization define the communicative characteristics.
Likewise, it is postulated that communication within an organization not only develop coordination, control or information gathering functions, but also plays a very important role in different psychosocial aspects.
Labor motivation, the involvement of workers or the climate of the organization are elements that are highly influenced by the communication that is developed in the organization.
Thus, organizational psychology establishes five basic points in the study of communication within the organization:
1- Characteristics of communication
According to organizational psychology, communication is a dynamic and reciprocal process that allows to transmit and exchange ideas and messages.
Communication always travels from an issuer to a receiver, and is an indispensable tool to obtain a response or a change within the organization.
2- Communicative Perspectives
Within organizational psychology three different communicative perspectives are distinguished: the traditional perspective, the constructionist perspective, the strategic perspective.
The traditional perspective interprets communication as any other organizational element. Communicative processes are unidirectional, serve to ensure implementation, and contain only formal communication.
The constructionist perspective places special emphasis on the role of language and symbols and establishes that communication is vital to address conflicts. It interprets organization as a system of shared meanings, and defines organization as a system of power and influence.
Finally, the strategic perspective interprets communication as a strategic element. The communicative processes allow to identify the needs of the clients, to inform and to implicate the workers and to transmit the messages, the identity and the image that is projected.
3- Formal communication vs informal communication
In organizations there is both formal communication and informal communication, and both communicative styles are of particular interest to organizational psychology.
Formal communication is characterized by the use of formal channels. It is a communicative process that can be executed vertically and horizontally. Its main function is to orient behaviors and presents disadvantages such as saturation or minimization.
Informal communication on its part constitutes those communicative processes that work outside the formal channels. It establishes personal relationships and everyday interactions. It is a communicative process that can not be eliminated and is characterized by confirming, replacing or modifying the formal communication.
Climate and Culture
Climate and culture are two main elements of organizational psychology. It defines the vast majority of the global characteristics of organizations and establishes their functioning.
Climate and culture are two terms that refer to very similar concepts. However, they differ by being examined through different perspectives.
- Climate is a concept that is rooted in Psychology, emphasizing the perception of individuals through questionnaires related to statistical variables and quantitative methods. It emphasizes the generalization of results in the population.
- Culture, on the other hand, is a conceptualization rooted in Anthropology, studied by hermeneutic methods, (Ethnography). The results are interpreted from the perspective of the subject, without referring to a population.
In this sense, both the climate and the culture is characterized by:
- They try to understand the ways in which members experience organizations.
- They comprise attitudes, values and practices that characterize the members of an organization.
- Explain the impact of the organization on individuals
- Climate is a measure of the superficial manifestations of culture and is not entirely different from it.
- Culture determines the climate and it accompanies it as one more component of it.
Interventions of organizational psychology
The psychosocial variables that influence the functioning of an organization are many and varied. For this reason, organizational psychology is an applied science that performs a large number of activities.
The most important tasks that are carried out from this branch of psychology are:
- Examine, define and modify the working environment.
- To examine the organizational culture and to develop communicative, normative and interpretative processes that adapt to all the members.
- Develop both the motivation group of the company and the individual motivation of each worker
- Define the professional profiles of each of the workers.
- Examine the positions and roles that best fit each professional profile.
- Develop personnel selection processes according to the specific demands.
- Develop training programs for workers.
References
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- Denison, D.R. (1996). What is the difference between Organizational Culture and Organizational Climate? A native's point of view on a decade of paradigm wars. Academy of Management Review, 21 (3), 619-654.
- Gray, C. (2005). A very short, fairly interesting and reasonably cheap book about studying organizations. London: Sage.
- Hatch, M. (2006). Organization theory: modern, symbolic, and postmodern perspectives (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.