The Successful Management of People in the Organisation - Term Paper Example

TABLE OF CONTENTS Work Psychology and the Successful Management of People at Work 1 Introduction 1 Organisational Development 1 Trait Theory 6 Management Theory 8 Attachment Theory 9 Work Fulfilment 10 Conclusion 13 References 14 Work Psychology and the Successful Management of People at Work Introduction This work deals with issues relating to the effectiveness of work psychology studies with a special focus on the successful management of people in the organisation. This work claims that the extant research and studies in work psychology are not effective in facilitating the successful management of people in organisations. In this regard, some important theories pertaining to psychology have been examined. This wok establishes that the extant research studies relating to work psychology are not effective in enabling successful management at work places. The following discussion substantiates this contention. In general, organisational behaviour incorporates certain basic themes, including: first, grasping how individuals influence each other at the workplace. Second, application of the knowledge of how people act at the workplace to work. Third, comprehending the manner in which individuals are affected by work. Fourth, analysing how individuals and groups act at work. Fifth, employing organisation behaviour principles to enhance the productivity and effectiveness of an organisation[Coo12]. Organisational Development During the 1950s and 1960s, organisational development came to the fore and it constituted a singular strategy for improving organisations. Subsequently, it developed into an integrated system of theories and practices that had the capacity to resolve the majority of the crucial problems that had to be envisaged by the human side of organisations. As such, organisational development pertains to individuals and organisations, people in organisations and their manner of functioning[Ran16]. This strategy deals with planned change or inducing individuals, teams and organisations to function in a better manner. As such, the emphasis of Organisational Psychology is upon individual disparities and diversity management, motivation, communication, leadership, group behaviour, health and well-being, organisational design, and organisation development. On the other hand, Work Psychology deals with human resource planning; job analysis, description and specifications; recruitment and selection; induction and training; career development; job evaluation and compensation; and performance appraisal[Coo131]. In addition, several theories and approaches contribute to organisational and work psychology. The initial contributions had focused upon efficiency on the basis of economic principles. Moreover, the classical organisation theory had concentrated upon the effective organisation of people. Moreover, the Hawthorne studies had emphasised upon the social nature of humans. Subsequently, the human relations movement came to the fore, which stressed upon human attitudes, needs, motivations and relationships. During the past few decades, there has been a transition from the previous practice of focusing upon either the structure or the human side of organisations. This has resulted in the integration of these two perceptions[Coo131]. As such, the contemporary developments in the organisation development and positive psychology movement have contributed significantly to work and organisational psychology. Thus, organisational development is based upon a group of assumptions, ethics and values that stress upon its humanistic-democratic focus, as well as its commitment towards organisational effectiveness. Several authors had expressed these values over the years. For instance, Hurley et al. determined certain values that the practitioners of organisational development promoted. These include: first, empowering employees to act. Second, engendering openness in communications. Third, facilitating ownership of the process of change and its results. Fourth, promoting a culture of collaboration. Fifth, promoting continuous learning[Alv15]. At present, organisational development has attained the status of a global movement. It has its own regulatory institutions, and its practitioners have to perforce be members of these institutions. In addition, organisational development has its own recognised qualifications, numerous approved procedures and tools, and an ethical code of practice. Consultancy services are provided by the members of this profession, regardless of whether they function in academic institutions, consultancy practices, or in public and private organisations. These professionals have to furnish their customers with what they require. Consequently, since the 1970s, organisational development initiatives have been accorded considerable significance by organisations[Ran16]. Moreover, its practitioners supplanted academics in developing novel approaches to transformation. The initial concentration of organisational development had been limited to work groups in an organisational milieu, instead of the entire organisation. Furthermore, organisational development had been basically seized with the human systems and processes in an organisation. All the same, from the 1970s, considerable change has been taking place[Ran16].Thus, there has been a tremendous transition in emphasis with regard to the field of organisational development. The business environment has changed into one of increasing globalisation and competition. This demands the bestowal of specific attention upon the effectiveness of organisations. As such, an organisation is its personnel. Thus, it is indispensable to identify the primary influences upon behaviour in work organisations, and the management of the people-organisation correlation, from the perspective of human resources and the nature of this relationship. Independent of the orientations of the individual towards work, and the work organisation’s nature or cultural influences; the efforts of the members of the organisation are co-ordinated, directed and guided towards realising the goals of the organisation, via the management process[Mul16]. Organisational effectiveness is vitally dependent upon management. Thus, it should always be borne in mind that individuals are managed, and that they have to be addressed as humans and not automatons. In marked contrast to physical resources, people are a resource that is not owned by the organisation. As such, individuals bring their own views, emotions and attitudes towards the organisation, systems and styles of management, their responsibilities and duties, and their working conditions. In addition, human behaviour is fickle and principles of behaviour or scientific methods cannot be applied with any degree of reliability. Moreover, it has been widely noted that one cannot study the behaviour of individuals, without altering it. Furthermore, central to successful management is the issue of integrating the organisation and the individual[Mul16]. This demands comprehension of the human personality and work organisations. Trait Theory The trait theories of leadership presume that leaders have common traits. These can be regarded as the characteristics that underpin emotions, thoughts, and the actions of leaders. Furthermore, specific traits distinguish leaders from their followers. For instance, a platform had been developed in the 1930s, in order to facilitate research in leadership. Thereafter, Bird, Jenkins, Stogdill, and other post-World War II pioneers, made contributions that transformed the study of trait leadership. For instance, Bird had identified 79 traits from his 27 studies. These traits could differentiate between leaders and their followers. Subsequently, he combined these traits and reduced them to four[Gau15]. The findings of Jenkins had been chiefly derived from the military. The traits identified by him, including intelligence, social background, technical competence and physique, could be atypical and relevant to a specific context. On the other hand, Stogdill studied a non-military sample, and his studies generated five clusters. He surveyed 163 studies and identified six classes. These determinations served to segregate leaders from non-leaders, as well as effective and ineffective leaders. This has been illustrated in the table appended below[Gau15]. Trait Studies[Gau15]. Under Trait theory studies, different researches have attributed different traits to leaders and these traits were dynamic and changed with the passage of time. As such, this theory was not consistent with defining leaders and their leadership qualities, which are the most important themes to be relied upon by the management for transforming the organisational environment. Nevertheless, the performance of employees can be expected to be influenced by trust in leaders. This is due to the fact that such trust inspires employees to reciprocate and concentrate on their allotted tasks. It has been pointed out by social exchange theories that individuals reciprocate the relational benefits they derive by focusing their efforts toward their benefactor. In instances, wherein employees solely trust their direct leader, the tendency is to focus reciprocation upon the direct leader. This is done by consenting to and adhering to the instructions and decisions of the direct leader. On the other hand, where employees trust the top leader, they exhibit a greater possibility of internalising the objectives and strategies of the organisation[Zie12]. In addition, they could exhibit a wide range of performance behaviours, in order to reciprocate such general organisational support. Management Theory Management theory literature discloses an array of opinions regarding the strategies that have the greatest likelihood of promoting high productivity and a work environment that is devoid of conflict. However, there is considerable disagreement among writers whether conflict can be eradicated completely. A central feature of management literature is its emphasis upon maximising the long-term capacity of the enterprise to make profits[Gil991]. As such, the psychological well-being of workers appears as nothing more than an impediment to the enterprise’s objective of maximising profits. As a result, the recommendation of management theorists regarding the individual psychological requirements of workers varies solely with the disparities in the opinion regarding the manner, in which human nature can impede the achievement of business goals by the organisation. The individuals who subscribe to the belief that an enterprise benefits by acquiring the cooperation of its workers, tend to suggest that jobs should grant workers with substantial control over their jobs [Gil991]. However, those who subscribe to the Frederick Taylor school of thought, believe in tiered management structures, minimisation of job dependence upon specific skills, and unwillingness to permit workers to participate in management. In addition, Carr had regarded the psychology of work as entailing processes that were deeply engrossed with poverty-related activities. These included selection of aid; development of workers; design of more equitable remuneration; integration across cross-cultural training, with skills at managing socio-economic disparity; assessment and selection of the best organisational channel for delivering aid; selection, and the provision of funds and training to potential entrepreneurs; and comprehension of what brings about decision to integrate and emigrate. With regard to these considerations, industrial and organisational (I-O) psychology eithers helps to make a difference or has the capacity to do so. I-O psychology should widen its self-definition, enhance its profile via greater exposure and involvement with poverty alleviating organisations[Car122]. In addition, I-O psychology has to generate additional capacity by means of imparting better training and encouragement to its successors who undertake poverty-reduction initiatives. Attachment Theory The attachment theory emerged from the work of John Bowlby. It postulates that individuals possess innate behaviours. These inborn behaviours function to create a centre of attention and preserve closeness to attachment figures, so as to provide protection against psychological or physical threats when these individuals are in a state of distress. The availability and responsiveness of such supportive others produces a sense of security. On the other hand, the absence of others and their unresponsiveness culminates in insecurity[Ric11]. It has been suggested by Bowlby that individual disparities in attachment emerge from early experiences, vis-à-vis the accessibility and receptiveness of attachment figures. Work Fulfilment In addition, the correlation between addressing survival needs at work and being fulfilled with work has been unswervingly demonstrated by research. At a rudimentary level, people working in jobs with low remuneration tend to have the highest degree of dissatisfaction with their jobs. Allan et al. discerned that people from the higher social classes had a greater likelihood of experiencing meaning at work. Moreover, Duffy et al. conducted research on the construct of a calling and found that people with higher remuneration and educational qualifications were likely to lead a life that fulfilled their professional ambition[Duf16]. Nevertheless, those who study human behaviour relating to work and organisations envisage several methodological challenges. This is especially true of situations, wherein studied variables demand comprehension and explanation for their proper description, in addition to two or more observations over a specific time period. Time, per se, enacts a vital role in organisational reality. Furthermore, organisations compete to function in the market, impose pressure upon teams and workers via tight deadlines and schedules[Abb16]. In the contemporary epoch, people live and work with the notion of simultaneous time that includes other senses, in addition to linear time. This includes increased number of activities in the same unit of time. Time has become central to work activities and organisations. However, its connotation has not been fully considered in the formulation of empirical theories and studies. Cross-sectional studies, which can be described as research designs that incorporate one or several population samples and collect information at a single moment, are vitally important to work and organisational psychology (WOP). Longitudinal research designs observe a single sample during several moments. It has been claimed by Ployart and Vanderberg that most of the theories examined in applied organisational and social sciences are based upon cross-sectional research designs[Abb16]. In such designs, deductions regarding the relationships between two or more variables are arrived at by presuming them to be static with regard to time. Thus, organisational theories are longitudinal as the processes that they refer to, understand relationships between variables pertaining to several levels of analysis that change with time. All the same, researchers exhibit a tendency to overlook the dynamic character of phenomena and associations of interest, at the time of planning and conducting research in WOP. As such, several features of organisational behaviour change with time[Abb16]. Some of the features, such as culture and values, fluctuate slowly; whereas, others undergo frequent change. These frequently changing features include, absenteeism, productive performance, stress, and people’s opinions regarding events and situations. These changes are significant for researchers in the field of behaviour at the macro or organisational and societal level; meso or groups, teams and work process levels; and micro or individual level[Abb16]. Thus, the construct of time has been employed in organisational studies to undertake the following: first, investigate time-related psychological constructs. Second, analyse time-sensitive organisational processes. Third, stipulate time intervals that are sufficient for the detection and measurement of a result or process. Fourth, study processes in different contexts for from different perspectives that permit investigation of processes and events that had transpired in the past or present[Abb16]. Such analysis should permit investigation at various levels of analysis, so as to promote processes or investigations that had occurred or transpire in the organisation. In addition, some of the time related constructs are: time urgency, time pressure, time-family conflict or polychronicity, temporal focus, and temporal leadership of the team. The latter denotes the extent to which team leaders set deadlines, synchronise the behaviours of the team and the temporal resources that had been apportioned. In these cases, time constitutes a psychological construct where time is of the essence. Time, in these contexts, is not utilised as an occasion or measure upon which something is observed or measured. Some of the time-sensitive processes are: occupational stress, learning at work, performance and individual teams, affective commitment, burnout, and turnover[Abb16]. Furthermore, placement in some organisation has emerged as a contingent condition that a large number of workers circumvent. In this regard, the horizon of WOP is to develop in conjunction with society, expose the human condition and envisage the challenges inherent in comprehending the man-work association, as well as the outcomes of novel spatial and temporal conditions in it. Its development will be ongoing as the direction of specialisation in Psychology that concentrates upon the phenomena and issues associated with the associations between individuals, work and society. However, there will be an expansion in its interfaces and there will be differentiating of phenomena with respect to the dynamics of the relevant context[Mal16]. It is indeed an onerous task to determine which phenomena will remain after 20 years, which novel phenomena will come to the fore, and which phenomena will become irrelevant. Conclusion The conditions of time and space, in the contemporary period, have been experiencing change. This has generated the co-existence of the worker with unclear identities, with several links and pragmatic contracts that exemplify risky work. The contemporary high technological society has witnessed increasing unemployment. Organisations are undergoing debilitation due to the impact of context of work and their substitution upon the relationship between the individual, work and society. The replacement is by networks of freelance workers. Theories examined with respect to work psychology reveal that these theorists have not taken cognisance of the time factor, which is an important element in describing the psychology aspect of changing times. Workers and work psychology are dynamic. Many changes accrue with the changing times. All the theories or studies have concentrated on other parameters, such as leadership traits, attachment, high productivity and work environment. These theories lack the connotation regarding the time element. Without explaining this psychology at a specific point of time, no theory can fully explain the effectiveness of work psychology in transforming the organisation. Thus, it can be surmised that the extant studies on work psychology are not effective, as long as they do not include or explain the time variable, along with the other variables. This work established the contention that the extant studies on work psychology are not sufficient to help the successful management of people in organisations. 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