Psychology is a fundamental science of human consciousness and various societal relationships, which analyzes and evaluates behavior in different conditions. As well as individuality, organizations require a psychological assessment that will determine the strengths and weaknesses, which will subsequently lead to practical work to improve the overall situation. Industrial and organizational psychology is considered a set of methodologies that aim to examine internal and external interactions and communications related to the organization’s performance. I/O practitioners can utilize the theory in practice by generating special events that will improve the organizational culture, which directly influences organizational design, development, and how the company approaches to change.
The scientific analysis of human interactions in organizations and industry characterizes the specialization of industrial-organizational psychology, commonly referred to as I/O psychology. Industrial psychology, developmental behavior, and labor psychology are terms used to describe I/O psychology. The concept is concerned with extracting fundamentals of individual, societal, and organizational behavior and utilizing this knowledge in workplace difficulties. Employment, selection and placement, education and training, performance evaluations, workplace appraisal, and reward mechanisms, work schedule and personnel management, organizational growth, and consumption patterns are topics covered by I/O psychology. Since many of the elements that impact behavior in the workplace are not necessarily present in the workspace, the scope of I/O psychology extends far beyond the physical borders of the work setting (Conte & Landy, 2019). Family duties, societal influences, work-related regulations, and nonwork activities are examples of these elements. Even though an individual’s personality might impact behavior in the workplace, it is frequently influenced by experiences that happened before he or she started working (Conte & Landy, 2019). Industrial and organizational psychologists are professional researchers who use their studies to resolve human and organizational issues in the workplace.
Considering a leadership theory that has to be connected to the scope of I/O psychology, it is feasible to identify transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is a concept in which a leader operates with groups or supporters to determine necessary changes and then creates a vision to steer the transformation via engagement. What concerns the connection to I/O psychology is, transformational leadership is relevant to the lean startup technique, and it has the potential to improve this system’s theoretical grounding (Miao et al., 2019). In general, transformational leadership represents a range of elements based on the fundamental notions of provoking change.
Industrial and organizational psychology can be useful in practical application; however, for the successful completion of such cases, the direct intervention of people who understand the processes and the theoretical basis is necessary. Considering studies on industrial and organizational practitioners, I/O experts and psychologists, according to scholars, can help improve lean management and increase its effect (Miao et al., 2019). The basic objective of lean management is to provide value to customers by optimizing resources and establishing a consistent process based on actual client needs. According to academics, I/O psychologists could aid in closing the gap between lean management research, entrepreneurial studies, and I/O behavioral psychology as well as between theoretical and practical approaches (Miao et al., 2019). Official meetings, such as the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), can be used by I/O psychologists to conduct seminars, lectures, career development workshops, and roundtable conversations to gather researchers and practitioners (Miao et al., 2019). It can be concluded that, despite the presence of theoretical concepts, the specific practical intervention of specialists in the field of industrial and organizational psychology is needed to improve operational processes.
The fundamental ideas, perceptions, values, and communication methods that contribute to an organization’s distinctive psychological and emotional context are referred to as organizational culture. According to researchers, common values inside the organization depict individuals’ general dispositions to favor some things, or conditions of affairs, above others, hence constituting an essential degree of culture (Jex & Britt, 2014). Organizational design is a stage process approach for identifying dysfunctional components of the workflow, procedures, hierarchies, and technologies, realigning them to meet contemporary business circumstances, and then developing strategies to implement the elaborated modifications. The specific plans that arise while conceptualizing organizations and their activities are known as organizational design, where its structure is the product of study and assessment (Jex & Britt, 2014). The study and application of strategies, processes, and procedures that affect organizational transformation and change are referred to as organization development.
Considering the probable influence of organizational culture on organizational design, it is possible to state that this aspect of the activity is related to the level of culture and its interpretation. As noted earlier, organizational culture is directly related to the values of the company and the order of their priority. The way that internal communications are conducted and how tasks and goals are formed are determined by personal and organizational values, which have a direct impact on the functional structure of the business (Jex & Britt, 2014). Given the pervasiveness of the system of common values, it may be said that organizational culture inevitably influences organizational development and the company’s attitude to change. Therefore, it encompasses all organization areas related to operational activities and product creation, which are organizational development and changes.
To summarize, the scientific analysis of human interactions in organizations and the industry characterizes the specialization of industrial-organizational psychology, commonly referred to as I/O psychology. I/O psychologists may help reduce the gap between practical and theoretical methodologies and between I/O behavioral psychology, lean management studies, and entrepreneurship investigations. Personal and organizational values determine the manner of internal communications and assist in forming goals, which affect the organization’s functional structure. What concerns organizational development and how the company approaches change, it can be stated that these elements cannot but be impacted by the organizational culture since the system of common values is ubiquitous.
References
Conte, J. M. & Landy, F. J. (2019). Work in the 21st century: An introduction to industrial and organizational psychology. Wiley.
Jex, S.M. & Britt, T. W. (2014). Organizational psychology: A scientist-practitioner approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Miao, C., Qian, S., & Humphrey, R. H. (2019). The challenges of Lean management research and practice in the field of entrepreneurship: The roles of I-O psychology theories and I-O psychologists. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 12(3), 260–263. Web.