Industrial and Organizational Psychology - Research Paper Example

? Industrial and Organizational Psychology and number submitted Industrial and Organizational Psychology The behaviors of employees and other stakeholders can be tied to predisposing factors including personal and organizational. For a firm to sustain productivity and outdo competition in service delivery, its internal stakeholders must be in the correct state of mind. Therefore, the firm must play its role in the positive psychology of employees, and create a working environment that enables employees to be at their best state of mind for optimal productivity. This essay analyses some I/O psychology-related negative instances in a firm, proposes theory-based solutions for these problems, and review the likely impact of implementing these strategies on the firm. Scenario Analysis The description of employees of the call center during one of their lunchtime breaks indicates the stressing situation for these employees. For instance, some employees are overweight but go on to consume fattening foods despite the obvious results for purposes of reducing their stress levels. Moreover, the description shows poor relationships among team members that have resulted in gossiping, rude behavior, and the unwillingness or inability to correct each other if one errs. Some underlying organizational psychology issues that may have resulted in the poor relationship between employees and lack of motivation include: Motivating employees: the management seems to have failed in motivating its employees since Susan and Molly are late for their afternoon responsibilities, but are not worried about the consequences. They would rather sit in the cafeteria and eat junk food while gossiping instead of going back to work, and relieving their colleagues to go for lunch. Reducing workplace conflict: Joy wants to intervene when she overhears colleagues saying negative things about a fellow worker; however, there seems to be no channels in place to express her opinion, maybe due to tensed relationship among them. Dan has a clear idea of his responsibilities at the workplace; however, his backup for lunchtime does not seem to care. Moreover, she is rude to him when he requests her to go back to her desk so that he could have his lunch. Employees in this call center have poor interpersonal relationship among them, and instead of discussing his conflict with molly, he goes ahead to report to the supervisor about this behavior. Reducing stress: employees work in an unfavorable working environment at the call center as most of them seem demotivated and hate their job. For instance, though Joy should have corrected her colleagues when she overheard their gossiping, she portrayed feelings of being hurt, which is most likely because she had underlying issues. Moreover, Dan should have been more accommodating to Molly, as Molly probably responded the way she did due to work-related stress. Motivating a team: the floor supervisor does a monthly performance appraisal for his team and comes up with ways of keeping them motivated. However, the supervisor does not realize how much he needs their input at all decision-making stages, nor does he realize that performance appraisal is sometimes detrimental to employee performance. Reducing barriers to communication: Joy lacks the words, courage and ability to confront her teammates when she overhears gossiping. This means that team members are not close enough to communicate freely; this is as detrimental to the team output at work as it is to their social lives. Moreover, Dan cannot tell Molly to stop her poor work ethics because she is rude, which limits the level of communication that can happen between her and other team members. Finally, employees cannot complain to their supervisor on pressing matters; however, from the given scenario, it is impossible to discern the real cause for this. However, there is no way employees can give their input to the management system since their manager does not consult them during decision-making (DuBrin, 2004). Strategies Motivating Employees The firm should adopt an employee motivation plan; however, negative motivation should be discouraged, as is results in resistant attitudes among employees as discussed above. Two of the main approaches that should be taken are the provision of challenging responsibilities to encourage employee growth, and adopting an incentive system to recognize and reward exemplary performance in employees. Challenging tasks enable employees to exploit fully their skills and talents, and enable them to develop new skills, which are necessary in developing their careers. Once an employee puts effort at the workplace, the firm should come up with an incentive system that may be monetary based or nonmonetary based. Monetary based incentive systems may be incorporated in an employee’s salary, or it may be in the form of gifts given during company meetings. Nonmonetary-based incentive system includes job enrichment, promotion opportunities, and security of service among others. Theoretical frameworks According to Frederick Herzberg (1959), two levels of factors must be satisfied in order for employees to be effectively motivated including hygiene factors and motivation factors. Therefore, the firm should not be satisfied with paying its employees a decent salary; an appropriate incentive system must be adopted to ensure employee motivation. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a person must have basic needs satisfied before thinking of higher needs. Therefore, the firm should provide opportunities for fulfillment of higher needs of employees including social, esteem, and self-actualization needs (Forbes, 2011). Reducing Workplace Conflict Communication is the key to solving all conflicts, whereby both the management and employees should have appropriate listening skills, impartiality, tolerance and patience to differences between individuals in the firm. Another important aspect of conflict resolution is compromise, whereby individuals should be flexible enough to allow others to have their way if there is no other way to solving a conflict. A key way to achieving compromise without jeopardizing one’s welfare is by analyzing what one stands to gain or lose in respect to the consequences of the conflict. Theoretical frameworks According to Scott-Ladd and Chan, (2004), Simel postulated that conflict is meant to bring people together with divergent views; hence considering conflict to be an essential precursor of development and peace. He stated that the results of every conflict are meant to be constructive regardless of whether the views of one or more of the opposing sides are invalidated. Therefore, the firm should strive to achieve peace among employees through communication. Lewin stated that the satisfaction or otherwise of needs of one party is the main contributing factors to conflicts at the workplace. The differences between employees are based on prior experience in their social context; therefore, employees who understand the plight of others should lead by understanding that some conflicts are baseless. Reducing Stress Stress is a personal problem for most employees especially with the rapid market changes that have resulted in an ever-demanding workplace. Employees like Susan and molly should learn to take responsibility in their actions; for instance, they should realize that their poor feeding habits may be cause for their foul mood at the workplace. In this case, they may benefit by taming their involuntary habits like feeding at the cafeteria on junk food while lamenting about their poor health. Moreover, the two and Joy should learn proper communication skills; and the former would stop gossiping while the latter would know how to approach people and tell them how she feels. Theoretical frameworks Palmer, cooper and Thomas (2004) recommended risk assessments in order to determine a person’s risk of developing stress and come up with intervention measures before stress has a negative effects on health and productivity of an employee. OSH (2003) recommends that effective communication among internal stakeholders in a firm is essential in enabling employees to have the capacity to handle stressful situations and work conditions. Motivating a Team The team supervisor should work on three most salient aspects of his team in order to achieve optimal performance; these include achieving team goals through careful planning, developing cohesion between team members and developing individuals since the team cannot exist without them. In order to motivate the team, the supervisor must also adopt employee motivation, which differs with each person due to the heterogeneous nature of employees. Theoretical frameworks John Adair (b. 1934) proposed a model that depended on the fact that the individual and team are interdependent on each other; therefore, the needs of each of them must be satisfied to ensure optimal productivity of both of them. Therefore, the team leader should not view the team and individuals as isolated entities, but as complementary components of one unit. In this case, these must be team goals and objectives, which must be in alignment with individual goals and objectives. McClelland's Human Motivation Theory requires that the team leader differentiate team members based on their personalities and characters; this enables the supervisor to motivate each employee in such a way that works best for him or her. For instance, the supervisor should know which employees are motivated by achievement, affiliation or power; this reduces the ineffectiveness and embarrassments that result from inappropriate motivation approaches (Adair, 2011). Reducing Barriers to Communication The first approach to reducing barriers of effective communication is by setting out clear channels of communication; these should be as many as employees could need since different messages are best communicated through certain media. For instance, Joy may have lacked the courage to report the gossiping of her colleagues so that the situation can find a remedy. Secondly, all internal stakeholders should endeavor to understand each other’s beliefs and frames of reference such that the information is understood with the underlying factors in mind. In this case, Susan and molly should have understood the factors underlying Dan and Karishima’s communication approaches; stress from work and different cultural background respectively. Theoretical frameworks Habermas (b. 1929) argued that communication must be all-encompassing; meaning that every message involves the receiver as much as it involves the sender. Consequently, firms should endeavor that messages are as easy to receive, as they are to send, mainly by committing resources to development of multiple communication channels, and employee education on effective communication strategies (Houston, 2009). Promoting group decision-making Decision-making in a team requires two main aspects including consultations and decisive leadership; in this case, the team should have a balance between autonomy of individual’s opinions and conformity with the objectives of the team as a structural and functional unit in the firm. For instance, the supervisor should have consulted his subordinates before and during the decision-making process about the best teambuilding exercise for the betterment of the team. On the other hand, there should be a final decision maker if the group fails to agree, who may be the supervisor or his delegate. Theoretical basis Kolbe and Boos (2009) suggest that the facilitator during group decision-making should assume that his or her subordinates have the capacity to make decisions on their own until they fail. Once they have failed, the facilitator can then make decisions for and on behalf of group members. Cultural Diversity Issues Language is the first cultural diversity issue involved in the conflict, whereby Karishima’s colleagues do not understand half of what she says due to her accent. Language is a fundamental communication factor and employees should have sympathized with Karishima, and request her for clarification on anything they did not understand. Secondly, there is clothing as a cultural factor, whereby Karishima wears clothes that are different from those of other employees. Clothing is a sign of cultural or religious identity and should not be a subject for ridicule as is the case in the conflict. Effects of Implementing Strategies Employees will interact more with each other once barriers to communication are lifted, which will result in cooperation with teammates, greater group output, and higher revenue for the firm. Employee development will result in higher job satisfaction, as will an elaborate motivation system; both of these will ensure that employees are motivated for the job despite hard economic times. Finally, these strategies will reduce stress levels, enhance communication, solve conflicts and improve the working environment for all employees. Conclusion Employee perceptions, misconceptions, behaviors and beliefs at the workplace depend on the psychological state of each person. Therefore, a manager should employ industrial and organizational psychology related concepts to solve conflicts and enhance relationships among employees for better performance. Once these strategies are applied, then the firm is likely to experience growth as each employee experiences personal growth. References Adair, J. (2011). Decision-making and problem solving strategies. Kogan Page Publishers. DuBrin, A. J. (2004). Applying psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Forbes, D. L. (2011). Toward a unified model of human motivation. Review of General Psychology, 15(2), 85-98. Houston, S. (2009). Communication, Recognition and Social Work: Aligning the Ethical Theories of Habermas and Honneth. British Journal of Social Work, 39(7), 1274-1290. Kolbe, M., & Boos, M. (2009). Facilitating group decision-making: facilitator's subjective theories on group coordination. Qualitative Social Research, 10(1), article 28. OSH (2003). Healthy work: Managing stress in the workplace health and safety is good business. Department of Labor. Palmer, P., Cooper, C., & Thomas, K. (2004). Counseling at work. London: Centre for Stress Management. Scott-Ladd, B., & Chan, C.C.A. (2004). Emotional intelligence and participation in decision-making: strategies for promoting organizational learning and change. Strategic Change, 13, 95–105. Read More