2.4 The contributions of psychology
Psychology is concerned with the study of the human mind. Psychologists
engage in scientific research to understand the nature of the human mind
and how it works. The processes that are studied include those seen to be
determined by the inner mechanisms of the mind and include the processes
of perception, memory and learning. Individual differences are a major focus
of psychological studies, to try to identify what is normal and abnormal.
The approach of psychology is most useful for issues that are determined
by the processes of the mind. These include how individuals make
decisions internally, their performance capabilities, how they can learn,
and how they respond to changing conditions. When exploring individual
differences in relation to organisations, the personality is important. This
refers to the characteristics or traits that together make a person unique
and that are stable, so resulting in consistent patterns of behaviour.
Theories of how we develop personalities cite a range of possible sources,
some hereditary, and so biologically gained, and others social, such as from
interactions with family, other groups to which we belong, and culture.
Why might a manager want to assess the personality of an employee?
Some examples of how an employee’s personality could be important are:
• the likelihood that the employee will be suited to a particular type of job
• how successful an employee would be in a management role
• the method of training that would be most effective
• the way that they interact and work with other employees.
The research methods employed by psychologists have helped business a
great deal. They are used in several ways:
First, psychological tests have been adopted to assess the personality and
intelligence of potential employees or for decisions about promotions. Tests
are also useful to assess the attitudes of employees, and so to try to identify
conflicts with group or organisational goals. They are also used by the
marketing departments of organisations to understand consumer attitudes
for the purposes of promoting the products that will best satisfy the customer.
Secondly, the experimental methods of psychology have been used to observe
the effect of changes in the workplace, such as in working conditions, or
changes to the benefits received by employees. A good example of this was
introduced in Chapter 1, that of the Hawthorne experiments.
Chapter 3 of this guide will introduce one of the most important
contributions that psychological approaches have made to the
understanding of organisational behaviour. This is the area of motivation.
Psychologists have done many studies of what motivates employees to
work or to work well. This is because motivation can be related to the
internal decision making processes of an employee, and so the studies are
interested in identifying the factors that influence whether an employee
decides to work to the best of their ability or not.