Organizational Behavior (Psychology) Applied Comprehension

Organizational Behavior (Psychology)

Applied Comprehension

Organizational Psychologists continually seek the creation of relevant approaches for the application of organizational psychological principles. Central to the application of Industrial Organizational psychological principles, as an emergent approach, has been the elevation of consultation psychology as a primary approach for the application of organizational psychology. Theoretically, the tension between business, clinical psychology and Industrial or Organizational Psychology has occasionally thwarted the effective application of psychological principles that could otherwise guide the successful resolution of issues between people and systems.

This paper will review the role that consultation psychological services can play in organizations, particularly as it may apply to facilitating organizational movement towards increased strategic success. As a case example, this paper will use a mental health organization to demonstrate the role, or roles, that consultation psychology can play within the organization. Specifically, the case example holds that a director of mental health services for an organization makes a request for consultation psychology services to her organization. Specifically, she request consultation psychology services that focus on the issue of gender and ethnic factors that may influence or impede organizational movement towards strategic success. This paper will explore the aspects of consultation as it applies to issues of ethnicity and gender that may be critical for a mental health organization consultation.

It is believed that the implementation of consultation psychology into a business operations strategic plan will lead to more effective and efficient movement to the organization achieving its stated goals for success.

This paper will begin with providing thorough definitions of the relevant subject matter. First, the paper will take a general look at the field of clinical psychology. Next, the sub-fields of Industrial and Organizational psychology will be reviewed, followed by a defining and examination of consultation psychology. Next, there will be a brief discussion of how clinical psychology and industrial/organizational psychology creates an impeding tension and how consultation psychology can be used to overcome this success-stopping conflict. Finally, these principles will be applied to the case sample as a means of demonstrating the use of consultation psychology as a means of creating business success.

Clinical Psychology

Clinical psychology is the scientific study and application of psychology for the specific purpose of understanding, preventing and relieving psychologically-based distress and dysfunction.

Further, clinical psychology also works at promoting the general subject of mental and personal well-being and development.

Central procedures and tools in providing clinical psychological services include psychological assessments and psychotherapy. Other typical methods utilized by clinical psychologists include research, teaching, consulting, forensic examinations and program development. Clinical psychology is a professional practice developed around the time of World War One. A licensed clinical psychologist is able to provide such psychological services as psychotherapy and assessments, conduct psychological research, provide psychology-based consultations to schools and business and provide expert testimony on the area of forensic psychology.

The field of clinical psychology is made up of four general perspectives, or approaches to psychology: psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive behavioral and systems or family therapy. The approach of psychodynamic psychotherapy, developed largely by Sigmund Freud, focuses on making the unconscious conscious by assisting the client in becoming aware of their own primal drives. Humanistic psychology, on the other hand, was developed by Carl Rogers and went about providing therapeutic improvement by focusing on congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathetic understanding. Cognitive behavior therapy focuses on discovering the biased or irrational thinking that causes emotional problems and thus helps the client gain control over their own thinking process so as to crate increased levels of well-being. Finally, systems of family therapy focuses on group therapy and the interaction and relationships that occur within a group and the positive and negative effects these relationships may have on one's psychological health. The focus of such an approach is generally on interpersonal dynamics and how these dynamics can affect communication, roles, narratives and behaviors. Systems therapy is the general premise of organizational and industrial psychology.

Organizational and Industrial Psychology

Industrial and organizational psychology, also referred to as I/O or work psychology, focuses on the application of basic psychological theories, methods of research and strategies for intervention to various workplace and employment issues. The purpose of industrial and organizational psychology is to make an organization both more productive and ensure that organization members are able to live healthy lives both physically and mentally. Basic areas of interest to an individual practicing in industrial and organizational psychology include motivation and leadership, personal psychology, employee selection and training, organizational development and behavior, and the resolution of work and family issues.

According to the official definition of industrial and organizational psychology as provided by Guion (1965), it has a more restricted definition that psychology as a whole. According to Guion, "industrial and organizational psychology is the scientific study of the relationship between man and the world of work...in the process of making a living." (Guion: 1965, p. 817). Blum and Naylor, on the other hand, define the field as, "simply the application or extension of psychological facts and principles to the problems concerning human beings operating within the context of business and industry." (Blum and Naylor: 1068, p. 4).

To accomplish their job, industrial and organizational psychologist often utilize the tool known as job analysis. The purpose of job analysis is to identify essential characteristics associated with a particular position. In order to make this characteristic identification, the psychologist uses interviews, subject matter experts and reviews job descriptions. Another common tool used in the field is psychometric tests. Psychometric testing measures the abilities and personality traits of employees or potential employees. Recently, the technique of meta-analysis has been introduced into industrial and organizational psychology as a method of correcting the statistical errors typical of using a single study. Meta-analysis is a method that averages results across numerous studies in order to identify, and draw conclusions from, trends.

IV. Consultation Psychology

Consultation psychology is an emerging sub-field of industrial and organizational psychology. In general, consultation psychology, as applied to industrial and organizational psychology, takes the basic elements of psychotherapy and brings them into the workplace setting. Thus, the goal of consultation psychology is to increase the workplace's sense of well-being while reducing subjective discomforting experiences. To do this, consultation psychology focuses on such things as experiential relationship building, dialog, communication and behavior change among the members of the organization.

The general purpose of consultation psychology is to work with a group of individuals, either as a group, as individuals, or a combination of the two, in order to improve the dynamics of the group as an organization and thus make the organization more productive. To do this, consultation psychology focuses on finding personal issues that may impede the organization's overall success by improving each individual's mental well-being as it applies to the organizational setting. In consultation psychology, the consulting psychologist will utilize a wide-range of techniques to influence the clients to adapt and change their personal ways so as to better relate to the ways of the organization.

Relationship Between the Fields and the Methods

As can be seen from the above cited definitions, clinical psychology, industrial and organizational psychology and consultation psychology are all interrelated. These three fields are interrelated in that they each are influenced by the philosophies and procedures of each other. More so, the three fields are interrelated in that they all have the similar goal of creating increased well-being to those they serve.

However, although all three of these fields are related to each other, they also create conflict when used together. For example, when clinical psychology is used as a primary tool in industrial and organizational psychology, often times the goal of the program, namely to improve the productivity of the organization, is impeded. In other words, when clinical psychology is utilized as the primary tool in providing industrial and organizational psychology, all too often the results are the opposite of what is intended in that the organization actually becomes less productive.

There are many possible reasons for explaining this impediment. Chief among these explanations is the belief that clinical psychology has a certain connotation that attaches to it and that this connotation does not match the needs of industrial and organizational psychology. For instance, clinical psychology has the connotation for being for those individual's who have mental or emotional issues. In the workplace, an organizational member will resent having this connotation forced on him or her. More so, this focus on the individual is not the purpose of industrial and organizational psychology. Thus, the result is that the use of clinical psychology as a tool for industrial and organizational psychology actually works against the group by focusing on the individual when all too often the individual does not want the attention.

To solve this impediment to progress in the organizational setting, a possible solution is to replace clinical psychology with consultation psychology as the primary tool used in providing industrial and organizational psychological services. Whereas clinical psychology focuses on the individual, consultation psychology concentrates on the individual as a member of a group and thus views the group as an individual. With this approach, consultation psychology focuses on the issues of the group as a whole and therefore typically uses group discussions, interviews and observations as opposed to singling out specific individuals. The result is that, by using consultation psychology in the field of industrial and organizational psychology, the focus is on the group and the roles the individuals who make up the group play. With this focus, industrial and organizational psychology is better able to meet its goals of increasing organizational productivity, well-being and success.

Case Example

In the case sample cited in the introduction of this paper, the issue was how consultation psychology could be utilized as a method for providing industrial and organizational psychological services to a mental health related organization. From the overview provided in the previous section, it can be seen that utilizing consultation psychology, as opposed to clinical psychology, will be the best method of obtaining the goals of making the organization more productive.

To accomplish this, it will be proposed that the organization in question implement a system of organizational psychology that allows for the regular meeting of the group for group sessions. Initially, the purpose of these groups will be to allow the organizational and industrial psychologist to observe and listen to the dynamics of the individuals of the organization. This will allow the psychologist to come to a conclusion on the diagnosis, or needs of the group. From here, the psychologist will treat the group as an individual, focusing on working out the areas that are preventing the organization as a whole from reaching its goals of production.

Specifically, in the case at hand, these obstacles are issues pertaining to race and gender. Once this problem is identified, the providing psychologist will be able to organize a treatment plan for improving these areas. To accomplish this, he or she will consult with the group, as if it were an individual, in order to work out the issues as they apply to the group (as opposed to the individual members' personal feelings). The result will be that the organization will take on a group attitude and thus allow them to leave behind any personal issues so as to better the success of the organization as a whole.

Conclusions

In conclusion, it can be said that the utilization of consultation psychology as a tool for providing industrial and organizational psychology in a work environment will lead to better success rates at increasing the organization's levels of productivity and well-being. Further, it can be concluded that consultation psychology is a better tool to accomplish these goals than clinical psychology is because consultation psychology focuses on the group as an individual in and of itself, as opposed to clinical psychology's focus on the group as being composed of individuals.

Theory Comprehension

Introduction

Organizational culture has emerged as one of the critical issues of emergent business, non-profit, government and other entrepreneurial efforts at achieving strategic targets in the world of work. Numerous theorists, especially psychologists, as being the central role of employment, further perceive organizational culture. As the central role of employment, organizational culture can advance the agenda of both the leaders and the followers, or the employers and employees, found in the workplace environment.

Organizational culture is able to play this central role in the working world because it provides an operational lens, built on the theoretical tenets of the field of organizational psychology, that can enhance one's understanding of the issues of culture and their effect on the organization.

This paper will focus on how organizational culture applies to the field of organizational psychology and the effect they can have on the success of the organization. It is this paper's position that when efforts of organizational psychology take into considerations the tenants of organizational culture, organizational psychology will have a higher rate of success in increasing both the well-being and the productivity of the organization.

To demonstrate this positive relationship between organizational culture and the practice of organizational psychology, this paper will begin by defining and providing examples of organizational culture, particularly as it applies to the work place. Next, the paper will define, with examples, the field of organizational psychology and the role of the organizational psychologist. The paper will then explore both the positives and negatives of applying the characteristics and concepts of organizational culture to the goals of organizational psychology. The paper will then conclude by addressing how organizational culture is central to the role of the organizational psychologist.

The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate to the reader the important role that organizational culture plays in providing successful organizational psychology services to an organization or place of employment. Further, the paper serves the purpose of outlining how an organizational psychologist can understand organizational culture and thus incorporate it into his or her organizational psychology methods and procedures.

Defining Organizational Culture

Organizational culture, sometimes referred to as corporate culture, can be summarized as being the net result of the combination of attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values found within a particular organization. More specifically, organizational culture can be defined as:

The specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization. Organizational values are beliefs and ideas about what kind of goals members of an organization should pursue and ideas about the appropriate kinds or standards of behavior organizational members would use to achieve these goals. From organizational values develop organizational norms, guidelines or expectations that prescribe appropriate kinds of behavior by employees in particular situations and control the behavior of organizational members towards one another." (Hill: 2001).

As can be surmised from the above stated definition, organizational culture is dynamic and therefore effected by and unique to various national and regional cultural influences. However, despite the ambiguous nature of organizational culture, it can be narrowed down to five general characteristics apparent in all forms of organizational culture. First, there is the power distance, or the expectation that society has for there to be a difference of levels of power within any organization. Second, all organizational cultures accepts the risk of uncertainty and thus works to avoid uncertainty. Third, there is a difference between individualism and collectivism and each organization takes upon a culture of either one or the other, but never both. Fourth, there is the difference between masculinity and femininity, which refers to the value society places on traditionally male and traditionally female values. Fifth and finally, all societies have an organizational culture that establishes a time system of long and short-term orientation. In a culture that is long-term orientated, such values as thrift and perseverance dominate. On the other hand, in short-term cultures, such values as tradition and favors are given more emphasis.

Such theorists as Deal and Kennedy have developed procedures for measuring organizations and determining organizational culture. For example, according to Deal and Kennedy, Feedback and Risk are two of the most effective means of measuring an organization. Feedback refers to the instant response, either monetary or an action, that an organization provides. Risk, on the other hand, represents the amount of uncertainty found within the organization's activities. The less uncertainty, typically the faster the feedback of the organization.

Using these two means of measurement, Deal and Kennedy established several classifications for organizational culture. For example, the Tough-Guy Macho culture is an organization where feedback is fast and the rewards are high. Such culture is typical of financial and brokerage firms, law enforcement agencies, and athletic teams. A Tough-Guy Macho organizational culture is characterized as being a high-stress workplace environment.

The Work Hard/Play Hard organizational culture is one where few risks are taken and rapid feedback occurs. Such a culture is typically found in large organizations with a focus on customer service. The third type of organizational culture is the Bet Your Company culture. In this type of organizational culture, high stake decisions are common and the results of these decisions are often not known for years to come. Organizations in development or exploration projects, such as military arms development or prospecting for natural resources, often exemplify this type of organizational culture. Finally, the Process culture is one when little to no feedback occurs and thus individuals involved get bogged down in the process of how things get done instead of what is being achieved by the process. Bureaucracies are the most common example of a process-based organizational culture.

A second way of examining organizational culture is to focus not on the way things occur within the organization, as Deal and Kennedy do, but instead on the actual structure of the organization itself. According to the work of Charles Handy, much can be learned about an organization's culture simply by looking at its organizational structure. Organizational structure is the way the company is organized, in terms of roles and positions.

According to Handy, there are four fundamental forms of organizational structures, each exhibiting their own unique form of organizational culture. First, in a power culture structure, power is concentrated among a few and trickles down to other individuals. This allows for little procedural rules and the ability to make quick decisions. Second, in a task culture, the organization is divided into teams each assigned a particular problem to solve. Third is a role culture, where various authorities are delegated to individuals which creates a hierarchical structure. Finally, in a person culture, all individuals are viewed as being personally superior to the organization itself. These types of structures are rare in the corporate world and are often limited to partnerships such as a legal partnership where each partner is in charge of bringing their own expertise and clientele to the firm.

Defining Organizational Psychology

Organizational psychology is a sub-discipline of psychology that focuses on the application of basic psychological theories, methods of research and strategies for intervention to various workplace and employment issues. The purpose of organizational psychology is to make an organization more productive. Basic areas of interest to an individual practicing in organizational psychology include motivation and leadership, personal psychology, employee selection and training, organizational development and behavior, and the resolution of work and family issues.