Work Psychology

study of people and their behaviour at work and of the organisations they work in

• Promote invidivdual, and group EFFECTIVNESS

• well-being and satisfaction of people working in it severed by an organisation

1. observe patterns / regularities in the word

2. develop possible explanation ( theory)

3. from the explanation, develop a specific prediction ( hypothesis )

4. test prediction

5. evaluate the explanation and refine if needed

focus on scientifically differentiating between people, identifying things that contribute to success

focus on employee turnover, succession planning , development i.e having the right people in the right place at the right time

how can we make the best decisions

what decisions need to be made

• identify pivotal positions

• develop talent pool ( internal & external)

• create a differentiated HR architecture

use a scientific approach to identify what needs to be measured , develop reliable and vaild measurements that can be used to distinguish between people fairly

defines and describes the job

i.e identifies knowledge , skills and behaviours to do with job preformance

Interview

relies on interviewer’s judgment, subject to bias and distortions

• create standardised/ structured interviews

• make assessment criteria clear

• written record and justification of decisions

• interview training ( main key to overcoming bias )

a test to measure ability or personality, is a standardised test. Test shows how much a particular person is similar or different to others

O : openness

C : conscientiousness

E : Extroversion

A: agreeableness

N: neurotism

• C + N are good predictions of overall work performance

It’s where certain behaviours are ranked on a scale to work out how someone is doing for example

1. late to start work and causes other delays

2. ….

3. slow to start work , but didn’t hold anyone else up

4. …

5. starts work on time and meets deadlines for others

It measures performance by rating the frequency of specific work behaviours , higher employee statisfation with these scales as it’s not subjective to mangers opinion

• countable / measurable , related to numbers

• fixed and universal

• data gathered by measuring / counting

• analysis through stats

• descriptive , relating to words and language

• dynamic and subjective

• gathered through obersvation , focus groups , and interviews

• analysis through grouping data through themes

• it makes analysing more straight forward i.e we know that 7 is a strong postive response

• it is self report and quick to collect data

• it doesn’t allow me he same in depth response as qualitative methods such as interviews

• neutral reponses ( i.e 4) can be hard to interpret

1. output criteria ( this is the one we want to take )

2. personal qualities

3. compendencies

It has the clearest relation to performance i.e quantity ( sales volumes ) and quality ( number of errors made )

This is often done through appraisals which are based on judgements on the person and not performance itself

They are based on observable behaviours that indicate certain levels of performance

can be used to select candidates for a role , access current employees performance and evaluate development needs

it’s open to interpretation of what “ poor” and “ meets expectations “ means

some activities are inherently rewarding i.e you feel rewarding just by doing / completing the task. For example they provide self reward like opportunities for personal growth , increased modivation

Gain recognition or external benefit for effort i.e bonuses , raises , promotions ect

1. cognitive - statement of evaluation or belief about an object

2. affective - how we feel about the object

3. behavioural - actions based that attitude

1. intensity ( how much effort put into task)

2. Direction ( what do we channel our efforts towards )

3. persistence ( how long do we keep going ? )