Organizational Psychology
PSY 423
December 13, 2010
Organizational Psychology According to Rutgers University, they are preparing their students to become professionals in the field of organizational psychology by teaching them to intervene with organizations to achieve particular goals. An organizational psychologist should provide three services for the company. They should be able to increase performance, “enhance fairness and equity, and increase subjective well-being” (Rutgers, 2007, para 1).
Definition of Organizational Psychology Jex and Britt (2008) define “organizational psychology as a field that utilizes scientific methodology to better understand the behavior of individuals working in organizational settings” (p. 1). Organizational settings can take different forms however. They can be formal, such as in a company or place of employment. They exist for a stated purpose such as selling or serving. The structure comes from the way the purpose is imposed on the behavior of the people in the organization. Rules and regulations are essential in keeping a company functioning. Organizations also can be informal. Any group that meets regularly for a regular reason can be called an organization. They may not have anything written explicitly about their meetings or what will transpire even though there may be specific rules and traditions. This distinction must be made to define organizational psychology as the study in which, in the “context of organizations, interventions may focus on individuals, pairs of individuals, groups, combinations of groups or whole organizations” (Rutgers, 2007, para1). The interventions when used properly will use research and data collection to assess issues within the organization, plan for implementation of change and also offer through evaluations of the effort to bring about change, ideas for final solutions. “Organizational psychology is practiced with service delivering and product generating organizations from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors of society” (Rutgers, 2007, para 1).
Role of Research and Statistics in Organizational Psychology The survey or interview approach is mostly used when trying to ascertain human behavior habits and trends in opinions throughout an organization. A survey is what is most commonly used. A survey is the gathering of information by asking several people questions for the purposes of collecting data for the analysis of some aspect of a group or area. An observational study is one in which the researcher chooses the setting and the design as well as the content, data collection, participants, sampling and strategy, of the study (Cooper, & Schindler, 2006). A focus group, however, is a group (usually small) of people who may be considered similar to the larger population focused on for a new product or a politician's image (for example). Their response is studied to determine the response that can be expected.
Scientific experiments may be necessary at times in order to achieve more accurate measures of data concerning behavior in an organizational setting. “An experiment is a highly controlled situation that provides a researcher the best opportunity to assess cause-and-effect relationships. This is important because the hallmark of any science is to detect and explain causal relationships” (Jex, & Britt, 2008, p. 21).
Statistics
Archival data is the choice to make when attempting to gather more accurate statistical information. It is more commonly used in organizational psychology even though the survey is more familiar to most. One of the benefits of archival data or statistical data is its sheer amount available. Without needing to do a single experiment or survey, one can take the records kept in any company and compile extensive information on every employee, groups of employees and draw conclusions as to trends in certain behaviors among certain groups. This can help companies to deal with turnover, calling in sick, and even job performance (Jex, & Britt, 2008).
Public records are also very useful as they are readily available with virtually endless information. It is also helpful to note that statistics and archival data do not react with emotions or bias. Jex and Britt (2008) state: The purpose of statistical methodology is to help researchers answer questions (i.e., it is a means to an end), but it has also become a vibrant field of inquiry in and of itself. In fact, within organizational psychology, many researchers focus on statistical and methodology issues (p. 48).
Two types of errors that can be committed with statistical research are type one and type two. Type one – wrongly concluding one has discovered a scientific answer. Type two – failing to detect a legitimate problem. “Statistical power” has to do with the validity of statistical tests to find effective solutions to issues. For instance, in a survey, larger sample size makes for a higher statistical power. The more people involved, the more accurate the findings. Also if the error in measurement of the data is high this makes for a lower statistical power.
How Organizational Psychology Can be Used in Organizations “Effective organizations are typically more productive, often provide higher-quality services to customers, and are usually more financially successful than less effective organizations” (Jex, & Britt, 2008, p. 1). As an organizational psychologist on-staff, one could highlight that not only is the company benefitting from the enhanced and efficient organizational effectiveness that the research and studies have brought to the table, but also that consumers also benefit. Consumers are getting goods and services at a lower costs than the competition is able to provide without the benefit of organizational insight. The increased employee satisfaction is also something that can be reflected in revenue with a study of sick days being used, the decreased rate in turnover, which has a direct decrease in cost of training. The costs incurred with employee complaints and investigations also can be studied. Present them along with any findings on overall increases in productivity since the time of implementing suggested procedures over a six-month period and a monetary correlation can be made to the role of the organizational psychologist. Organizational psychologists can provide help with “group effectiveness, socialization of new employees, and goal-setting processes” (Jex, & Britt, 2008, p. 3). All of this can be measured monetarily. Other measurements one could show are the increases in customer satisfaction and the rate of increase on profit because of customers returning upon satisfaction and word-of-mouth advertisement.
Conclusion
The role of the organizational psychologist may be tough to justify at times. They must use various forms of research and statistics to back up their findings and suggestions. Should they do so appropriately, they will have the opportunity to fill many roles within a company.
The kind of information the psychologist is trying to recover largely determines which type of research he or she will choose. Organizational psychologists have to use a variety of data-gathering forms. They may use the most common form, being survey responses, interviews, observations, or they may use archival data for more accurate records and information. Organizational psychologists may often need to experiments to retrieve the data they need. A company may want to know, for example, whether a re-structuring of their workforce will be beneficial to productivity. With the right amount of research and insight, this can be answered using in organizational psychology

Reference
Cooper, D. R., & Schindler, P. S. (2006). Business Research Methods (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Jex, S. M. & Britt, T. W. (2008). Organizational psychology: A scientist- practitioner approach. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
Rutgers, (2007). Organizational Psychology Program Overview. Rutgers: Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology. Retrieved from http://gsappweb.rutgers.edu/programs/org/definition.php