Industrial and Organizational Psychology - Coursework Example

Topic: Industrial/ Organizational Psychology Industrial/ Organizational psychology is the extension of psychology, which is observed within the work environment (Morris, 2000). The I/O psychology consists of the methods and principles to the solution that are provided to the organizational issues related to the workplace problems. Mostly, the problems are in concern of human performance and the factors that have the direct influence, positive or negative, on the human performances within the organizational contexts. I/O psychology is the multi-faceted discipline. It is mainly applied to critical issues of the organization in relevance to businesses. It covers many aspects within the organization including talent management, coaching, assessment, selection, training, performance, and work-life balance. Organizations or companies, nowadays, hiring the industrial psychologists to get to know how their company will succeed and be in better place to achieve the heights of success (Going Global, 2009). Today, thousands of competitive organizations are operating at an extraordinary level of complexity. In order to employ & assist these globalized organizations, I/O psychology has few major approaches in order to employ & assist organizations to achieve betterment in the human performances. These are organizational development, motivation, job satisfaction & leadership. The industrial or organizational psychology was first developed so as to understand the psyche of the employees for their best behavior which was the key factor in the success story of any organization. Not only the human behavioral study but many other factors were also included in the field of I/O psychology which needs the betterment for the success of the organization. The first and foremost task includes in the I/O psychology is the working out for the motivational theories of the employees so in return they would perform their best for the organization. These motivational theories are termed as the psychodynamic theories i.e. theories related to common human attributes, which the psychologists have to discover in particular organizational context. Motivation of employees leads to the job satisfaction. I/O psychologists discovered number of ways of improved job satisfaction which results in high productivity. Leadership behavior is another part of I/O psychology. Creating working conditions, following administrative and policy making are the tasks of top management or the supervisors. Discovering of what leaders do, what qualities make the good leaders, and how to embed these qualities in employees for leadership positions are such topics that are addressed by I/O psychologists (Aylsworth, 2010). Improving the work environment to enhance the motivation level is another perspective of I/O psychology. It helps the organizations to work properly and enhance their internal structure to get the highest productivity (Aylsworth, 2010). The main element which I/O psychologists brings under consideration are noise, light, human attention span, effects of shift work, ease with the sitting arrangement, and placement of machinery and furniture. These elements act as a comfort zone for the human assets of organization. I/O psychology also includes improvement in the efficiency of feedback systems, which the whole organization is based on. To compete in today’s world, organizations have to work hard for their best infrastructure. Many organizations chose one compatible aspect of I/O psychology as their competitive advantage e.g. either motivational strategies or the leadership power or any other aspect. Also, I/O psychology is the best practice that many organizations choose, to troubleshoot their failure and get success as a result. Lack of awareness, concern or recognition of its importance or lack of ethics is a clear predictor of failure. Many international organizations seek the I/O psychologists to work out for their increase in productivity. These include not only the most successful companies like Google, which have worked out hard in the field of the organizational psychology but also like Enron, which once faced a failure due to some case of fraud. Due to this, later Enron hired I/O psychologists; they gave the company a new direction, reestablished it, helped them to enhance their work environment and also assisted them in improving their employees’ motivation level. Google is a present-day No. 1 company to work for. Google is among the best companies which give enticing work perks. Google motivates its employees so much that there isn’t any turnover in last few years with least absenteeism of employees. Among many of its benefits, some are free gourmet means, gyms, free haircuts, child care, on-site doctors for free employee checkups, pet friendly facility, traveling library for book checkout, class to learn other languages, snack rooms and many others. They offer free shuttle bus transportation to work or if one drives free onsite car washes and oil changes. In case if one has a baby, Google provide up to a $500 reimbursement for takeout food to ease transition home. If one refers a friend to work at Google, and they hire the person, in return they give extra cash. They even provide washers and dryers so one can do laundry. In addition, Google also allows its employees to work on their independent projects. Hence, Google is an idle company, which reads the psyche of their employees, providing them every facility which can motivate them and in return provide with their best efforts to give high productivity results (Problems, 2010). Enron Corporation had the negative impact of I/O psychology, because it wasn’t implemented in the right way. Enron was once an admired energy trader, his business rose quickly and it also led to the subsequent downfall. His business serves as a kind of morality tale for other corporations, regulators and investors. Enron build up its carrier as the best leading company but it lasted in bankruptcy. Many people tried the reasoning and came up with the result that the culture of Enron led it to bankruptcy. There was a culture behind the Enron executives saying, “You’re worth nothing if you’re not a centi-millionaire” that resulted in highly demotivation among employees (Problems, 2010). Another factor was aggressive management, i.e. the result of terrific impact of arrogant behavior which in other terms better be called as arrogant behavior towards management. CEO of Enron used to pit them against each other. Moreover, he believed that till he had more control on them, they would work more competitively. While on the other hand, I/O psychologists stated it Enron attitude as negative psychology, because it resulted in economic failure of company (Santa Clara University, 2002). Apple Inc. is another multinational corporation that designs & manufactures consumer electronics, computer software and personal computers, where Macintosh computers are the company’s best known hardware. The company operates 284 retail stores in ten countries. Moreover, in 2010, it is ranked as one of the largest technological corporations in the world by revenue. a. Apple is also categorized as one of the successful companies of 2010. Marketing experts argue that the success of company isn’t because of the product line, but the brand name (Apple) itself is the key of success to the company. Apple Inc. collaborates with many managerial and psychological issues together within their company, so as to build up some standard. The main theme of the company is: imagine, design, and innovate. The company maintains its brand so well that Marketer Marc Gobe, an author of Emotional Branding and principal, said, “Without the brand, Apple would be dead. Absolutely, completely! The brand is all they’ve got. The power of their branding is all keeps them alive. It’s got nothing to do with products.” According to him, psychology behind this branding is the strong bonding with the customers. Apple takes good care of its customers’ emotions. Apple Inc. follows a humanistic corporate culture and strong corporate ethics. The company takes great part in the community work, characterized by volunteerism. Others competitive brands like Nike, blundered here. But Apple comes across as profoundly humanist. The company followed traditional cultural perspective with some innovation in it. According to them, corporate culture should prevail in organizational hierarchy (flat versus tall, casual versus formal attire, etc.). b. Apple is the first company which introduced the fostering of individuality and excellence; their approach reliably drew talented people into their employ. 3 critical factors that Apple used to maintain their brand image are: motivation of its employees, personnel & professional grooming and job satisfaction. For employee motivation, Apple created the Apple Fellows program in order to award the Apple fellows who have made extraordinary contributions to personal computing while at the company. The company differentiates itself by uniqueness in product designing and advertising. People recognize Apple’s products as undoubtedly clear. According to Gobe, “It’s like having a good friend. That’s what’s interesting about this brand. Somewhere they have created this really humanistic, beyond business relationship with users and created a cult-like relationship with their brand. It’s a big tribe, everyone is one of them. You’re part of the brand.” For employee job satisfaction, Apple has designed ways to make the full use of its employee experience. This is how Apple is made to be known for its ability to come out with path-breaking products. Experts believe that the success of the company has been due to its corporate culture, relaxed and casual working environment, i.e. its ethical perspective. Apple is renowned due to these psychological factors which the company follows strictly. The corporate culture was exemplified by its intense work ethics. Work Hard, Play Hard is the rule of the company. Apple, for its success, adopted a non-formal style of working environment. The company prefers more results-driven approach that worked best for them. It also increases the motivational level of its employees by focusing on the career opportunities and employability security, compensation, benefits offered to employees by the company. Apple Inc. not only also takes good care of its customers, but also its employees in context to promotions, appraisals, employee family recreational activity and international market experience. It is an outstanding company, due to its loyalty to it employees, customers as well as its products. c. Disciplined tactics used by Apple Inc. have worked for it now and forever. The Leadership gives some rights to the employees and on the basis of the decisions made by the employees, leadership makes the final decisions. That is why Apple has been able to make top positions in the list of successful companies of 2010. The humanistic corporate culture followed by Apple Inc and its strong corporate ethics makes it a very community sensitive and had been able to show volunteerism for long. Apple Inc, maintains a healthy, controlled and effective employee environment as its major focus is on employee job satisfaction, motivation and employee learning (One Infinite Loop, 2010). References: Aylsworth, J. “How organizational psychology can be used at work?” August 22, Accessed on May 11, 2010 http://www.examiner.com/x-16259-Organizational-Psychology-Examiner~y2009m8d22-How-organizational-psychology-can-be-used-at-work “Going Global” Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology, Inc. March 2009. Accessed on May 11 2010 from Lichtman, C. M. “Industrial or organizational Psychology” Encyclopedia of business May 11, 2010. < http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Inc-Int/Industrial-Organizational-Psychology.html> Morris, L. P. “Industrial Organizational Psychology” Carriers in Industrial Organizational Psychology, Spring 2000, Accessed on May 11, 2010 from “One Infinite Loop” Apple Inc Case Study April, 2010, Accessed on May 11, 2010 from http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-04/bz_apple?currentPage=5#ixzz0nXpf0U7w “Problems” Organizational Behavioral Study Cases May 11, 2010 http://www.brainmass.com/homework-help/business/management/147576 Santa Clara University, “What really went wrong with Enron- A culture of evil?” 2002 May 11, 2010. “What is organizational psychology?” Helping Psychology June 13th, 2009 Accessed on 11 May 2010 “What is I/O” Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology, Inc. March 2009. Accessed on May11, 2010 from Read More