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What Is the Role of Psychology in Organizational Behavior?

Esther Ejim
Esther Ejim

The role of psychology in organizational behavior is related to its value in the determination of the relationship between the mental health and general wellbeing of individuals in relation to their behavior at work. It is actually a field of study where psychologists use several parameters to access how different work environments and trends affect the health and performance of employees. Organizations may use the outcome of the study of the role of psychology in organizational behavior in their hiring practices, in their assessment and relation with employees, and in their training of new and existing employees.

An application of the role of psychology in organizational behavior is in the recruitment of new employees. Usually, the results of conclusive assessments by psychologists, who may serve as consultants to the organization, may be made available to the human resource department for hiring purposes. These consultants will normally conduct a study that is specific to the organization in question, taking into consideration any unique environmental and organizational conditions in producing a plan that is tailored for that organization. Where this is the case, the result of the study will include recommendations as to the parameters to use in the recruitment of staff to fill certain positions, which may include the kind of questions and tests to use in their assessment.

The recruitment of new employees is an application of the role of psychology in organizational behavior.
The recruitment of new employees is an application of the role of psychology in organizational behavior.

Another role of psychology in organizational behavior is the development of methods for the ongoing appraisal of the performance of existing employees within the organization. This often includes an assessment of the mental and physical wellbeing of such employees in relation to the effect on their performance of their jobs. As such, the role of psychology are related to organizational behavior includes its use as a tool for the appraisal of performance for the purposes of promotion and redeployment or transfer to other departments where the particular mental and physical wellbeing of the individual is better suited.

Considerations of the role of psychology in organizational behavior are not limited to performance, training and recruitment. This is because they are also applied to the analysis of the social structure in the organization. It can also be used as a factor in the development of motivational practices in an organization. The main benefit of the study of the role of psychology in organizational behavior is that a clear understanding of the underlying psychology of various employees can be used to develop a framework that will benefit the organization in the long run in terms of increased productivity and larger profits.

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Discussion Comments

umbra21
@indigomoth - I think if it's used as to complement other methods (like an interview and checking references) that it's fine.

A friend told me once he took one of these to work at a store once and he failed it because he answered "never" to the question "have you ever told a lie?".

The point of the question was apparently to see how honest the person was, because everyone has told a lie at some point, but answering that you never have shows that you are willing to lie on the test itself which is a bad sign.

I actually thought that was pretty clever, and it shows you that it's not that easy to outsmart the tests. They have been designed to catch people out.

indigomoth

@browncoat - Honestly, I think it's a terrible idea. I mean, how can you be sure that the tests aren't somehow flawed? They might be saying that someone is a decent person and miss something. They might say someone is crazy when they are only eccentric, and eccentrics are often very smart.

I just don't think they should be putting human personality into a box like that and I think that it ends up with trouble.

Not to mention that the test may ensure that only certain kinds of people work at particular places, which is also a mistake. You need a wide variety of personality types to run a business, as they all fulfill different functions.

browncoat

It's a bit controversial to be using psychology (as in psychometric testing) when hiring people, but more and more companies are doing it these days. I've heard that quite a few professions do it as well, like schools hiring teachers and the police force and so on.

I can't decide if it's a good thing or not. It seems like most people would just test average but I can see why they would want to make sure that someone wasn't a hidden lunatic.

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    • The recruitment of new employees is an application of the role of psychology in organizational behavior.
      By: Rido
      The recruitment of new employees is an application of the role of psychology in organizational behavior.