organizational psychologist

Examples of organizational psychologist in the following topics:

• Schein's Common Elements of an Organization

  • Organizational psychologist Edgar Schein proposes four common elements of an organization's structure:
  • The act of coordinating organizational effort is perhaps the most important responsibility of managers because it motivates and distributes human resources to capture value.
  • While there are a wide variety of organizational structures—some with more centralization of authority than others—hierarchy in decision making is a critical factor for success.
  • Describe the common elements that define an organizational structure, according to Edgar Schein

• Phases of Organizational Change: Lewin

  • Kurt Lewin was one of these academics and was known as one of the leaders of organizational psychology.
  • Lewin was an influential behavioral and organizational psychologist who proposed the Phases of Change Model.
  • Explain Kurt Lewin's Phases of Changes model, a three-stage process allowing for organizational change

• Monetary Employee Compensation

  • Skinner, a behavioral psychologist, studied behavioral reactions to extrinsic environmental consequences such as reinforcement or punishment.
  • Additionally, behavioral and organizational psychologists have considered salaries in comparison with skill level to determine how employees perform based on their wage level.

• Other Important Trait Theories

  • The "Big Five" describes five important personality traits, and the Myers-Briggs Test identifies a number of different personality types, but there are other important traits that have been studied by psychologists.
  • These three personality trait theories, among others, are used to describe and define personalities today in psychology and in organizational behavior.
  • American psychologist Gordon Allport wrote an influential work on prejudice, The Nature of Prejudice, published in 1979.
  • Examine various perspectives on personality and how to measure it in the context of organizational behavior

• Behaviorism: Follett, Munsterberg, and Mayo

  • Mary Parker Follett, Hugo Munsterberg, and Elton Mayo are all considered pioneers and founders of the industrial/organizational psychology and behaviorism movements in management theory.
  • Mary Parker Follett (September 3, 1868 – December 18, 1933) was an American social worker, management consultant, and pioneer in the fields of organizational theory and organizational behavior.
  • Hugo Munsterberg (June 1, 1863 – December 19, 1916) was a German-American psychologist.
  • George Elton Mayo (December 26, 1880 – September 7, 1949) was an Australian psychologist, sociologist, and organization theorist.
  • Compare and contrast the three most famous pioneers and founders of the behavioral perspective in organizational theory

• Key Behaviors of Transactional Leaders

  • Transactional leaders focus on performance, promote success with rewards and punishments, and maintain compliance with organizational norms.
  • Transactional leaders seek to maintain compliance within existing goals and expectations and the current organizational culture.
  • Set goals and provide explicit guidance regarding what they expect from organizational members and how they will be rewarded for their efforts and commitment
  • Psychologist Abraham Maslow characterized people's motivating factors in terms of needs.
  • The rules for a sports team allow for little flexibility, and adherence to organizational norms is key; even so, effective coaches can motivate their team members to play and win, even at risk to themselves.

• McClelland's Need Theory

  • Psychologist David McClelland developed Need Theory, a motivational model that attempts to explain how the needs for achievement, power (authority), and affiliation affect people's actions in a management context.
  • Need Theory is commonly often taught in management and organizational-behavior classes.

• Equity Theory

  • Adams, a workplace and behavioral psychologist, asserted that employees seek to maintain equity between what they put into a job and what they receive from it against the perceived inputs and outcomes of others.
  • Depending upon the organizational structure and its distribution of authority, the decision to provide monetary compensation for a strong work deliverable is not always in the hands of an employee's direct manager.

• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

  • Abraham Maslow was a social psychologist who focused on the entirety of human psychological needs rather than on individual psychological problems.
  • Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs relates to organizational theory and behavior because it explores a worker's motivation.
  • Diagram Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in the context of organizational motivation and employee behaviors

• What is Organizational Behavior?

  • Organizational behavior is the field of study that investigates how organizational structures affect behavior within organizations.
  • Organizational behavior complements organizational theory, which focuses on organizational and intra-organizational topics, and complements human-resource studies, which is more focused on everyday business practices.
  • Organizational studies seek to control, predict, and explain.
  • Organizational behavior can play a major role in organizational development, enhancing overall organizational performance, as well as also enhancing individual and group performance, satisfaction, and commitment.
  • Organizational behavior also deals heavily in culture.