Management 203

Business Psychology (Part 1)

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Fundamentals of Business Psychology Chapter 1

Learning Objectives:
1. 2. 3. 4. Define the term Business Psychology and explain what it means; Describe several branches of Psychology; Describe the different Schools of Thought within Psychology; Explain the importance of research in Psychology; Understand why it is helpful to study Business Psychology even if you have a high degree of common sense.

5.

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What is Business Psychology

Business Psychology - refers to the application of organized knowledge about human behavior to improve personal satisfaction and productivity on the job. Psychology deals with emotions of different characters of an organization or business society circle which includes producers, employers as well as customers

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 Business Psychology which is also known as Organizati onal or Industrial Psychology concerns theapplication of psychological theories, research methods, and intervention strategies to workplace issues. Business psychologists are interested in making organizations more productive while ensuring workers are able to lead physically and psychologically healthy lives.

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Different Branches of Psychology

1. CLINICAL AND COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY Work with individuals or small groups to help them overcome personal problems. Diagnose mental illness. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY Involved in developing effective methods of teaching, test construction and the use of educational technology. CHILD AND DEVELOPMENT PSYCHOLOGY Study the behavior and growth patterns of people from pre-natal period through maturity and old age.

2.

3.

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Different Branches of Psychology

4. EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Can be considered the most scientific of all psychology ERGONOMICS (OR HUMAN ENGINEERING/FACTORS) A combination of engineering and psychology Attempts to design machinery, equipment and the work environment to fit human characteristics, both physical and mental. INDUSTRIAL AND ORGANIZATIONL PSYCHOLOGY Designs employee selection method (such as test and interviews) Training and developing employees at all job levels Improving teamwork and cooperation in organizations.
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5.

6.

Different Branches of Psychology

7. POLICE PSYCHOLOGY

Provide counseling services, teaching, research

and management consultation in regard to crime situations. 8. SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY

Helps athletes achieve peak level performance

on the field.

Provides relaxation, game enhancement and

visual imagery techniques to players to build selfconfidence, control and concentration. It involves the study of how psychological factors affect performance and how participation in sport and exercise affect psychological and physical factors

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SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN PSYCHOLOGY

1. STRUCTURALISM AND FUNCTIONALISM

Structuralism (Wilheim M. Wundt). Aimed to

discover the structure of the mind by analyzing conscious experiences of the senses and reducing it to its basic elements.
Introspection - the method of looking into ones conscious experience .

Functionalism (William James). To understand

the functioning of the mind, he extended the narrow limits of structuralism to the study of many topics that are still of current interest, including learning, motivation and emotions. Your mind is like an iceberg, the part with the greater impact is the hidden part (the subconscious).
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SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN PSYCHOLOGY

2. BEHAVIORISM

Behaviorism (John B. Watson). The key to

understanding human beings is to study actual behavior, not inner states. Everything we do is determined by our past experiences, and not by an ability to control our own destiny. It studied the conditioning processes that produce behavior.

Modern Day Behaviorism (Burrhus F. Skinner).

Behavior is shaped by environmental influences, not internal ones. Law of effect rewarded behavior tends to be repeated, while behavior that is ignored or punished tends not to be repeated.
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SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN PSYCHOLOGY

3. PSYCHOANALYSIS (Sigmund Freud & Carl Jung) People are born with powerful biological appetites and passions that demand constant satisfaction despite the needs of others or themselves. We must learn to control our inborn desires and achieve their fulfillment in ways that are harmonious with others. According to Freud, the structure of the human personality was consisted of three major forces interacting with each other: 1. Id - unconscious instincts such as sex and aggression. 2. Ego the conscious, rational self, or intellect. 3. Superego the social rules and values of society that govern our behavior. The healthy personality has an ego that does an effective job or coping with the urges of the id and the restrictions of the superego.
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 Psychoanalysis was focused on understanding the unconscious motivations that drive behavior

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SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN PSYCHOLOGY

4. COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

The mind processes information by producing new thoughts, making comparisons and making decisions. Our perception of events influences our actions.
5. HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY (Abraham Maslow) Emphasizes the dignity and worth of people, along with their many other positive, but intangible or soft attributes. Humanistic psychology was instead focused
on each individual's potential and stressed the importance of growth and self-actualization. The fundamental belief of humanistic psychology is that people are innately good and that mental and social problems result from deviations from this natural tendency.
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THE HUMAN RELATIONS MOVEMENT

A concentrated effort by some managers and their advisors to become more sensitive to the needs of employees or treat them in a more humanistic manner. It is defined as a movement in management thinking and practice that emphasized satisfaction of employees basic needs as the key to increased worker productivity.

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THE HUMAN RELATIONS MOVEMENT

1. The Threat of Unionization The Wagner Act of 1935 legalized union-management collective bargaining, promoting the growth of unions and union avoidance by firms. Early human relations thinking presented this possibility: Satisfied employees would be less inclined to join labor unions. The Hawthorne Studies (1924) The studys results that productivity was strongly affected by workers attitudes turned management toward the humanistic and realistic viewpoint of the social man model.

2.

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THE HUMAN RELATIONS MOVEMENT

3. The Philosophy of Industrial Humanism

Elton Mayo - emotional factors (such as a desire

for recognition) were more important contributor to productivity than were physical and logical factors.

Mary Parker Follett - The key to increased

productivity was to motivate employees, rather than simply ordering better job performance.

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METHODS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

1. Case studies. Case information is usually collected by an observer recording impressions in his mind or on a notepad. Cases provide a wealth of informational that can be used to explain what is happening in a given situation. Laboratory experiments. The most rigorous research method. The essence of conducting an experiment is making sure that the variable being modified (the independent variable) is influencing the results. The independent variable (such as a motivational technique) is thought to influence the dependent variable (such as productivity).

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3.

Field experiments or studies. Attempts to apply the experimental method to real life situations. Information obtain in the field is often more relevant than the laboratory.
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