Does existing theory and research in work psychology help with the successful management of people at work? If so, in what ways? If not, why not?
Introduction
Theories and research on work psychology provides management teams with models for understanding the different factors influencing the work of workers such as attitude at work as well as provide guidelines for efficient supervisory programs and activities directed towards the improvement of work output and work relations. The extent of help that theories and research has contributed to the management of people at work is seen from the historical development of management theories and research reflecting the congruent changes in understanding of the characteristics of individuals making up business organizations.
Work Psychology
Work psychology traces its roots to the development of theories and psychological research focused on the management of the behaviour of people at work. Work psychology is the study of people’s behaviour in the workplace with the objective of deriving methods to assist workers and organizations ( 2002). The measure used in work psychology studies includes psychological testing to learn about the knowledge, skills and abilities of people relative to an employment-related purpose such as hiring, promotion, training and determination of employee satisfaction. Other characteristics of people affecting their work also form part the research such as the attitudes that people have in the workplace and the effect of these attitudes to the dynamics of the work environment and the accomplishment of the desired output. Personality at work is also another worker characteristic that influences other workers, the overall working environment and the accomplishment of target output.
The predecessor of psychological testing is job analysis that involves a thorough study of the qualifying characteristics for a particular position and looking for these characteristics in applicants. Methods of conducting job analysis include interviewing previous and incumbent supervisors, floating questionnaires to the organization or to the management team, observing the work practice and attitudes of previous and incumbent managers deemed as model employees, and researching on background information of the position based on industry standard classification specifications and duty statements. Job analyses result to a determination of the duties, tasks and responsibilities attached to the position as well as the discovery of working conditions ideal to the performance of these tasks. Job analyses focus more on the material or physical requirements for a position such as the training and skills in accomplishing the tasks related to a position based on interview and observation. The need to look into the psychosocial factors influencing the ability to perform a task led to the development of psychological testing applied in work psychology.
Work psychology evolved from the previous terms, industrial and organization psychology, to be differentiated as a field of study encompassing the individual and organizational level of analysis covering the areas of selection and assessment for different types of jobs, identification of training needs, job performance appraisal, change and development of the organization, analysis of work equipment and environmental design, career development and counselling, interpersonal skills, enhancing equal opportunities, reduction of occupational safety and health, motivational work design, attitude surveys and the investigation of well-being of workers. ( 2002)
According to (2005), work psychology developed from two principles. One principle promotes the cyclical process of fitting a man to a particular job and fitting a job to a particular man. This works by matching a job to a person focusing more on the person. This means that business organizations applying this principle designs a task, provides equipment and develops working conditions suitable to the physical and psychological attributes of the chosen person. Research on this management principle focuses on the demands of workers during the two world wars. The 1948 research of Vernon showed the concern of business organizations towards extended hours of work in the munitions factories because of its negative effect on workers. It was also during the world wars that aviation qualifications were imposed for the selection of pilots meeting the physical and psychological qualifications of the job. Psychologists were increasingly sought to develop qualifying tests. The practice of obtaining the services of psychologists to assist in the management of organizations and to conduct research persists until today. According to the research of in 1982, psychologists and consultants were increasingly involved in the studies on the relationship of people to their work.
Another principle, termed as human relations, focused on the relationship among individuals, individuals and the organization, and individuals, organization and work. This developed as a response to the limited scope of the previous principle that relates individuals to their work. Human relations incorporate social factors to research. In the Hawthorne studies made in the 1920s on the Western Electric Company to measure the influence of the level of illumination to productivity, results showed that factors other than illumination affects the productivity of employees. As a follow-up, the Relay Assembly Test Room Study resulted to the finding that productivity increased after every change in the work conditions. However, after the experiment productivity returned to normal because the increased productivity was attributed to the knowledge of the participants that they are a part of a work-related experiment motivating them to perform well. Subsequent studies served as critiques of these previous studies so that the research trend towards valuing human relations. The research conducted by in 1951 showed that introducing technology changing the structure of the social relations of employees negative affected productivity. ( 2005)
Work psychology evolved by integrating the principle of matching personnel qualifications with the requirements of position and vice versa as well as the importance of human relations in managing the organization. It was through the pioneering research on business organizations and the subsequent response to these researches that propelled the development of people management principles integrating the different theories that are effective, on the aggregate, in helping organizations manage the hiring, promotion, training of employees as well as work and environment design, motivation, employee relations and employee satisfaction. Attitude at work is one of the research and management areas covered by work psychology.
Attitude at Work
Attitude at work is one of the important aspects of work psychology because this is recognized as an influential aspect at the workplace both with regard to work output and employee relationship dynamics. Similar to work psychology, the modern definition and importance of attitude traces its roots to the evolving theories and research findings in the past decades. The modern conception of attitude at work is its composition of subjective experiences. This means that attitudes in the workplace cover particular beliefs about an object or issue, evaluated experiences of an object or issue, and evaluation-based judgments regarding an object or issue. The subjective nature of attitude means that people may develop different and conflicting attitudes because of the difference in their beliefs about an object or issue and the manner that they evaluate the object or issue. Attitudes emerge in peoples’ interaction towards other at work implying that attitude inevitably relates to social behaviour. ( 2002)
Research on attitude at work started as a the study of attitudes to come up with generalizations such as stereotypes in order to predict the behaviour of different people having similar attitudes towards a single object or issue. Stereotype research targets groups of workers. By manipulating certain stereotypes labels, researchers measured the effect of these labels towards the self-esteem of the individual members of the group and the presence of exclusionary behaviour patterns or hostility towards other individuals or work. The core concepts studied by stereotype researches are self-esteem, prejudice, relevance of labels and group cohesion, and the cognitive impact of stereotyping to the memory and information processing of the participants of the study. ( 1989)
However, stereotype research draws generalizations about group attitudes without determining the specific attitudes of individuals, necessary in explaining the influence of attitude to work output and the dynamics of employee relations. Research shifted towards individual attitudes towards work, co-workers and the organization due to the recognition that understanding the individual is crucial to developing management strategies for the organization. Attitude was understood as a subjective belief and experience about an object or issue. The areas of research on attitude at work widened due to the possibility of studying attitude towards any object or issue without initially considering group attitude. Attitude research measured the beliefs, experiences and evaluations of individuals towards something. The core concepts of these researches focused on the strength of attitude towards an object or issue, the presence of personal prejudice, classification of evaluations into positive and negative, and change in attitude and the factors influencing the change.
The evolution of theories and research on attitudes focused on linking individual beliefs and experiences to overt action in order to establish that studying the actions or behaviour of an individual is equivalent to predicting the expression of the beliefs, experiences and evaluations of the individual about an object or issue. In this case, observations about the work behaviour of individuals become a viable measure for work attitude, which is an important consideration in the management plan of the organization.
(1934) conducted a study on attitudes and actions by gathering data on the hospitality extended towards Chinese workers. Results showed that there was no relationship between the reported attitudes of the participants and their corresponding documented behaviour. In the succeeding research by (1976) on the relationship of attitude and behaviour showed that there is a weak link between the two concepts. However, in the research of (1980) results showed that behaviour is linked to the inclination of individuals to act a particular behaviour or their behavioural intentions, which are in turn determined by the attitudes of the individual. The research allowed attitudes towards an object or issue to be studied based on the important beliefs that the individual has towards an object or issue. Moreover, the research also suggested that in order for attitude to become a predictor of behaviour, these factors must be studied in a given context or time.
The results of the research by became the basis of contemporary research on attitude since even if attitude and behaviour may vary, it is recognized that there is a relationship between the two concepts relative to context and time. This is important to business organizations because predicting behaviour based on an understanding of a person’s attitude is significant to management decision regarding the selection, training and task allocation, promotion and workplace dynamics.
The changes in theories and the areas of research also brought about the development of several models in understanding the relationship of attitude and behaviour. (1960) came up with the three-component view of attitude as a research design. Utilizing this research design shows that measurable independent variables comprise stimuli, such as individuals, situations or social groups, influencing attitudes. There are intervening variables, which are affect, cognition, and behaviour resulting to the measurable dependent variable that is the outcome.
However, (1980) criticized this model stating that the study of the different components does not provide an adequate explanation for the low relationship between attitude and behaviour because separating the different variables into different components will not improve behavioural prediction. As an alternative model, (1988) came up with the theory of planned behaviour. The model suggests that understanding the attitude-behaviour relationship requires the initial consideration of the individual’s evaluation of beliefs on the consequences of behaviour, beliefs about other people’s view of a particular behaviour and the compulsion to comply with these views, and the perception on behavioural control. These factors lead to the development of attitudes towards behaviour and subjective norms resulting to the intention to act. Intentions together with perceptions on control determine behaviour. This model provides a better explanation of the difference between attitude and behaviour because it considers the factors influencing a person’s attitudes and the resulting intention.
Conclusion
Theories and research helped in the contemporary management of people at work by providing workable definitions and models in understanding different work-related concepts as guides to the formation of sound and viable work-management policies. Theorizing and research continue to evolve, enhancing previous knowledge of managing people at work.
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