In this age of high competition, employers are trying to improve productivity in all available ways. One of them is to study all the features of mental activity and people's behavior in the work process. For the general designation of a complex of similar events, the concept of organizational psychology is used.
Despite the fact that this branch of psychological science is young enough, it is based on fundamental research. It is possible to single out such sources of organizational psychology:
- research on the rationalization of individual labor in the framework of scientific management F.U. Taylor;
- the study of individual differences by differential psychology;
- Search for objective laws that explain the characteristics of human behavior.
The subject of organizational psychology is the relationship between psychological reactions and the characteristics of the behavior of personnel with the peculiarities of the organization of the production process.
Tasks of organizational psychology
In its work, organizational social psychology tries to solve such problems:
- conduct applied research on the patterns of the production process and the behavioral characteristics of employees of enterprises;
- formulate specific recommendations based on the information received;
- To maintain a close interconnection of measures implemented in practice with scientific research.
It may seem that the psychology of labor and organizational psychology have much in common, but in fact, the field of research in the psychology of labor is a little broader, since it is not limited to specific industries, but organizational psychology solves a wider range of issues, up to romantic relations between colleagues.
Organizational Methods of Psychology
Organizational methods of psychology include different types of observation, interviewing and experiments, as well as special methods, the specifics of which determine the characteristics of the organization. It is important to understand that these methods should be used all together, in the aggregate. With the help of observation and interviews, the organizational psychologist can accumulate the data necessary for the work. On their basis, it is possible to construct proposals on the optimization of labor, the effectiveness of which can be verified experimentally. And as special methods can act, for example, a variety of trainings.
Like any branch of psychological science, organizational psychology faces a number of difficulties in researching, planning and implementing new solutions. The following problems of organizational psychology can be singled out:
- frequent disagreements between the goals of a particular individual and the entire collective;
- contradictions between the stable functioning of the organization and the need for continuous development;
- an organizational psychologist often encounters a wary attitude on the part of the collective, so the results of the research are not always reliable;
- importance of correct interaction with employees and bosses;
- not always managers can soberly assess the situation and the need for
certain changes offered by the psychologist, often try to do without innovations and avoid additional costs; - the difficulty in identifying regularities between psychological responses and specific behavioral manifestations within the framework of interaction within the organization, and so on.
Despite the listed difficulties, the involvement of a psychologist in the work of the organization has a favorable effect on labor productivity, is a good way of diagnosing problem areas and establishing relations within the collective.