Nature & Scope of Organizational Psychology

Introduction

            Organizational Psychology is an interdisciplinary approach to study human behaviour at work. It integrates the relevant knowledge drawn from other disciplines like psychology, sociology and anthropology to make them applicable for studying and analysing organizational behaviour.

Meaning

            The application of theories, principles and laws of basic psychological science in the work settings in industry and organizations to improve their productivity without putting excessive strain on human workforce.

Definition

            According to Furnham, 2005, “OP is the study of the individual in the organization, it is also concerned with small and large groups and the organisation as a whole as it impacts on the individual”.

            “Industrial/organization psychology (I/O Psychology) is a field of psychology that applies the fundamental scientific principles of psychology to the workplace environment to make work more enjoyable and more productive” (study.com)

Nature

            It covers diverse range of topics as the nature of work and organizations continue to develop, grow and evolve. It is focused on psychological functioning in the workplace that has certain aspects related to human behaviour such as status, affiliation, achievement, power, and money. The basic idea of OP is grounded on fundamental understanding that has implications for solving applied problems in industrial and organizational context. The need of OP arise due to prevalence of individual differences in human behaviour. The setting up of coordination among human beings of different temperament is the area of study of Industrial and organizational psychology.  It is directly related with organizations and their structure which means that it is a dynamic field of study that moves with organizations. The individual is ‘Micro’ work is ‘Meso’ and Organization is ‘Macro’ (Kozlowski, 2012).

            OP is not an isolated field rather an interdisciplinary field centered on the organizational set up. Organizations are important source of socialization and social influence. These two aspects impact the social learning that have bearings on the work place environment. The central idea of OP is to improve the productivity while keeping the work force happy and satisfied.

Scope

1.         Industry and Organizations.

2.         Institutions where a group of people work.

3.         Commercial and business settings.

4.         Teams and Leadership building programs.

5.          Development of modules for hiring right people.

6.        Developing a work environment where people of different temperament can converse and work to their satisfaction.

7.       Development of professional code of ethics where individual can make decisions in accordance with professional requirements.

References:

1.         Kozlowski, W. J. S (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Psychology,

2.         NCERT, XI Psychology Text book.

3. https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-industrial-organizational-psychology-definition-history-topics.html.