Welfare and the Efficiency of Staff - Literature review Example

Research paper, human resources (HR Welfare and the Efficiency of Staff due: Introduction Industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology is a division of psychology that implements the concepts of psychology in the workplace. The objective of I/O psychology is to enhance self-esteem and production of employees and the institutions that employ them by approaching the knowledge and science of conduct of people (Herbst & Houmanfar, 2009). The topic of discussion is welfare and the efficiency of staff. There are two major approaches of I/O psychology that are used to maximize the welfare and the efficiency of staff. The first approach is ‘I” in I/O psychology. This concentrates on deciding the capabilities required to execute a task, recruiting employees who have the competencies in an institution and training staff to develop the competencies. The second approach ‘O’ in I/O psychology designs an institution culture and framework. This encourages staff to discharge their duties well, provide them with the important details to perform and give conducive working environments that are secure and lead to fulfilling and engaging life or work conditions (Herbst & Houmanfar, 2009). The industrial psychology puts into consideration various variations of staff’s work attitude and conducts and then utilizes the information to foresee, preserve and maximize work satisfaction and performance. I/O is a science that is diverse and comprises of various specialties which are categorized in six common areas. In placement and selection area the I/O psychologists focus on the creation of examination techniques for the promotion, selection and placement of staff. In this field, research is carried out on works and direct the level at which the tests can foretell the fulfillment in the particular work. This also deals with the placement of staff and recognizing the area of work that is in line with the person’s interests and skills. The development and training field deals with the recognition of staff skill that requires to be promoted to enhance execution of work. The staff is trained in such areas like technical skill promotion. The employees are also trained in the development of managerial skills and on ways of collaborating with others to work efficiently. The I/O psychologists involved in this particular area create methods of deciding if development and training plans have been prosperous (Herbst & Houmanfar, 2009). Performance appraisal area deals with the procedure of recognizing the standard for establishing the performance of staff in their work. The I/O psychologists determine the value of work fulfillment to the institution. This may include evaluation of the production of teams, institution or units in the institution. In the development of the institution the procedures used examine the framework of the institution to increase the fulfillment and efficiency of people, customers and employee teams (Brief & Weiss, 2002). This field is geared towards easing the institutional development procedures because institutions mature and develop just as the employees do. The I/O psychologists dealing with this area look into the elements that affect organization behavior. In the field of quality of work life, the I/O psychologists look into the aspects that influence productivity and health of employees. This may include restructuring of work to enhance meaning and fulfillment to the employees who execute them. It is a fact that high-quality work-life result to more productivity in the institution and to the emotional health of staff (Brief & Weiss, 2002). In the ergonomics the I/O psychologists concentrate on creating machines, tools and equipment that are in line with employee skills. The psychologists in this area look into the knowledge that is derived from medicine, physiology, industrial and awareness to create work schedules that employees can utilize efficiently. The I/O psychology is a major field with three distinct subfields mainly human aspects, institution and personnel psychology (Brief & Weiss, 2002). This review provides detailed information of in the area of I/O psychology. The essay will begin with theory based information in specific on two social theories of ‘bottom-up theory’ and the ‘top-down theory’. The theory of bottom-up reveals that people have wants and are satisfied when they are met. On the other hand, top-down theories express that people have a want to be happy, and this feeling will affect their lives. Part two of the paper involves practical methods in companies that influence I/O psychology (Brief & Weiss, 2002). ‘Bottom-up theory’ and ‘Top-down theory’ The human resources manager is faced with the everyday challenge of managing employees who are or not satisfied with their jobs. The manager, therefore, needs to have the knowledge of being able to understand them. When the employees are not satisfied with their work may influence the performance of the company at large. To better understand their attitudes the manager can use ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ theory. In ‘bottom-up’ theory, it states that the amount of positive and negative results is utilized to determine contentment. For example, if the positive outcomes are higher than the negative results people will conclude that they are happy with their life (Cherniss, 2010). However, the ‘top-down’ theory suggests that there is a universal tendency of people to encounter things in a positive manner. Therefore, feelings in regard to work fulfillment are caused by either bottom up through adding positive results and deducting negative effects (Cherniss, 2010). However, work fulfillment could be achieved by employing top-down theory through the transmission of an individual’s want to be delighted. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs in bottom-up theory In this scenario, Maslow’s hierarchical model of human wants is utilized to recognize the elements influencing job fulfillment. The model asserts that people have an order of wants ranking from lower to a higher rank of psychological wants. This model is used to create a feeling of fulfillment in their work when using a point of view of bottom-up on work fulfillment. A good example of a lower level want in an organization is safety that explains the influence of job security and its effect on work fulfillment. Moving up the rank of the model, it can be interpreted that employees have social wants for acceptance, affection, and belonging. The kind of wants influences the manner in which staffs connect with management and other employees. In Maslow’s hierarchy model in our case the biggest want is self-actualization. Self-esteem and self-actualization are associated to the feeling of intellectual reward that some employees encounter when executing their roles. Moreover, self-actualization is assumed to be the basic elements that encourage staff towards self-empowerment. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs Source: Herbst, S. A., & Houmanfar, R. (2009). Psychological approaches to values in organizations and organizational behavior management. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 29(1), 47-68. DOI: 10.1080/01608060802714210. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01608060802714210#.VG8a-dKUfZI A piece of research carried out by Alfonso, and Andres Sousa-Poza (2000) proved bottom-up theory to be true. In a study carried out the results showed that work fulfillment is determined by getting equilibrium between job-role inputs and outputs. An excellent example of job-role inputs consists of the profession of the employee, the staff level of education and the total amount of hours worked. Nevertheless, the job-role outputs are the quantity of all remuneration collected, the standard of connections the employees have with management and other staff, and the advantages of the job to society and persons. The job-role output also include the degree of recognized work security, the chances for promotion, the degree to which the work is interesting and the quantity of self-direction and self-determination in the job (Sousa-Poza, A., & Sousa-Poza, A. A., 2000). Factors influencing job satisfaction There are various factors that influence job fulfillment and the satisfaction of employees. These factors are different from one employee to another and from day to day. Work fulfillment depends on the participating employees and the particular work environment. The following are science-based concepts that explain the effects and causes of work fulfillment. The first concept suggests that work fulfillment is directed mainly by naturally satisfying job environment, for example, interesting job, autonomy, accomplishment, challenge, and growth. In addition, work fulfillment is also directed by the magnitude of rewards expected by the employees, for example, security and salary. The personal impact is minimal and comparable to employee recognition of equality (Brief & Weiss, 2002). Moreover, work fulfillment has no impact on the way the employees feel about their job performance but it influences the assessment carried out by supervisors. Furthermore, work fulfillment is not decided on total phrase but require comparison. Likewise, the connection of work and employee is two-way in a way that the individual performs to form the work that influences the individual. Besides, work fulfillment is split up in parts that can be applied into one or more factors of job condition and accredit to an attribute of a person. Lastly, for motivation to enhance work fulfillment efficiently, it must be created with particular understanding of contemporary work fulfillment, specific area of dissatisfaction and propose change as suggested by the intended persons (Tsai & Wu, 2010). How to improve job satisfaction Motivation Motivation is one aspect that can be used to determine employee behavior in an organization. Motivation is defined as the propelling force that begins and determines employee behavior. Motivation is an intellectual force that pushes an individual to perform a duty to attain an objective. It is a temporary condition inside individuals that are not related to their character. There are various kinds of motivation for example attitude, power, affiliation, achievement and competence motivation. Motivation is normally founded on three factors that are developing behavior that includes elements that initiate people conduct while determination of conduct focuses with what directs a behavior to achieve a particular objective. The persistence of behavior deals with how the conduct is maintained (Wu, Gerlach & Young, 2007). Research has been carried out to comprehend the various motives that push individuals to achieve goals. The motives are classified in three categories mainly social or learned motives, homeostatic and non-homeostatic motives. The homeostatic motives include hunger, excretion, thirst and respiration. In non-homeostatic motives factors such as curiosity about the setting and looking for shelter. The social motives consist of social affliction, power, approval, achievement, curiosity and a desire for novelty. Motivation plays a major function in work environment especially inefficient staff performance (Carsrud & Brännback, 2011). In an organization, the human resources manager may employ various methods of motivation to enhance productivity hence promote relationship between the management and the employees. Motivation result to employees becoming self-confident, competent and acquire problem-solving expertise (Berry et al., 2011). Information technology in the organization In a dynamic world employees who are satisfied with their jobs are exposed to innovation. According to Egan, Yang & Bartlett, (2004), it is clear that staff has a possibility of being productive, adaptable and cooperative are the ones who are happy with their work. The study carried out confirmed that an institution culture is related to information technology staff work satisfaction and are motivated to shift education (p. 279-301). This implies that the employees can be in charge of training fellow staff which can result to job satisfaction. Person-organization, person group, and person-job suitability The human resource manager should focus on recruiting employees who possess features if ‘fitting’ in the institution. This leads to minimized stress, enhanced job attitude that includes job fulfillment, job performance, and growing institution-membership behavior. Organizations where employees have similar characteristics look similar and connect to a specific work condition (Boon, Hartog, Boselie & Paauwe, 2011). According to Boon et al. (2011), the human resource manager can combine employees and the wok assigned to them (para 1). There are two methods of achieving compatible employee features to the institution that could be through complimentary or supplementary fit. From the aspect of supplementary fit it happens when the employee attitudes, goals, values and personality is similar to the institution’s goals, norms, values, and culture. In most cases, employees become dissatisfied when their individual values are not compatible with the institution’s values (Guan, Deng, Risavy, Bond & Li, 2011). This is an important aspect that should be considered in recruitment of employees that can be established during interview or questionnaires. In complementary fit, it happens when an employee or an institution’s features give what is lacking from the other or become complete. The complementary fit is associated with psychological need satisfaction. The procedure behind an employee psychological want satisfaction is the cognitive differentiation of the desired quantity with what the employee recognizes the institution gives. Job satisfaction will happen when the employee’s psychological wants are fulfilled by the institution. The complimentary fit is achieved when an employee possess the particular abilities, knowledge and skills required by the institution (Guan et al., 2011). There is a need to choose employees on the foundation of the capabilities to relate with other employees and also on the basis of their technical skills to promote team performance. The human resources manager ought to focus on the level of homogeneity of employees characteristic and values, or the level of heterogeneity in regard to abilities, knowledge and expertise to reach person-group fit. The other area of concern is the person-job fit that focuses with examining the harmony of the employee with a particular job. The procedure requires that the manager should ensure that the employee has the required capabilities, expertise and knowledge to execute the job. The process also ensures there is compatibility between wants of the employee and the elements of the work (Orton, 2011). Conclusion To sum this up, the I/O psychology is imperative in helping the human resources manager to understand the employee’s behavior. This can reduce the conflict between management and employees that results from misunderstanding. The I/O psychology helps the manager to have different methods to comprehend staff behavior. It is imperative for a human resources manager to comprehend the employee’s variations in attitudes, personality and values to perceive the behavior of staff in the company. This can also help in selecting employees with similar attitudes and values to form a team that will result to increased productivity and job satisfaction. The organizations will achieve more if the employees are satisfied with their work. This is possible if the employees have the necessary expertise required to perform the job as this would minimize stress that results from work pressure resulting from unfamiliar work environments. Moreover, it is the responsibility of the organization to create a conducive environment to promote work performance. With the changing world, the introduction of technology is important as this minimizes the workload of work performed by an individual employee. It also encourages sharing of information easily among the employees. In addition, it will eliminate the unproductive employees who are not interested in the job. This can reduce the rate of boredom amongst employees that results to staff missing to report to work and unpredicted resignation. When employees resign from their jobs it affects the organization performance, and a lot of costs is incurred in training of staff. It is vital for the company to lay a solid foundation of their values, norms and culture as this can help in identifying the employees with similar aspects. This can help in selecting staff with common values enabling the employees to enjoy their specific job because it is compatible with their personality. The I/O psychology is applicable in all types of organizations and can improve the outcomes in the individual institutions. References Brief, A. P., & Weiss, H. M. (2002). Organizational behavior: Affect in the workplace. Annual review of psychology, 53(1), 279-307. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135156. Retrieved from http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135156 Boon, C., Den Hartog, D. N., Boselie, P., & Paauwe, J. (2011). The relationship between perceptions of HR practices and employee outcomes: examining the role of person–organisation and person–job fit. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 22(01), 138-162. DOI:10.1080/09585192.2011.538978. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2011.538978#.VG8RUNKUfZI Berry, M. O. N., Reichman, W., Klobas, J., MacLachlan, M., Hui, H. C., & Carr, S. C. (2011). Humanitarian work psychology: The contributions of organizational psychology to poverty reduction. 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Information & Management, 44(3), 253-262.doi:10.1016/j.im.2006.12.006 Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378720607000067 Read More