Essay On Business Psychology

The primary goal of the discipline of psychology is to accurately predict as well as influence the behavior of the self along with others. The realm or dimension of organizational psychology is mainly concerned with improving the relationships between people and facilitating answers that help to address various life questions. The main aim of organizational psychology is to advance both profits as well as people through the relevant application of different psychological principles (O'Neil and Koekemoer 2016). The techniques of applying psychological principles to organizations are much too similar to how it is applied to individuals. There is a two-fold reason behind this which include: firstly, the organization is considered to be a person in several respects: and secondly, any organization is mostly comprised of as well as achieves goals through the people (Costantini, Sartori and Ceschi 2017). In this regard, several of the rules that are generally applicable to individuals must be considered for an en masse application to any firm. However, it is also safe to note that although there is a need for psychological perspectives within the workplace that can help to assess behavior and improve relationships and work processes, it also comes with its own competing factions and each of the factions can either assert the actual truth or only some parts of it (Troth and Guest 2020). In this sense, three perspectives that also figuratively represent the 3 equilateral triangle corners include cognitive, humanist, and behavioral (Pérez-Nebra et al. 2021). Each of the perspectives within its purest form offers distinct approaches to understanding behavior, at times the approaches are so strong that most other approaches are typically ignored. The perspectives make significant contributions to various actors and issues within the workplace (Roetzel 2019). For this reflective essay, I will firstly elaborate and evaluate the three psychological approaches to understanding self and others. Based on the knowledge gained I will reflect on my personal as well as professional development in terms of the use of emotional intelligence, leadership, and management. The end sections of the essay will include a critical reflection on my journey as well as hopes and focus for future studies and profession.

 

The three psychological approaches used to understand and improve organizational relationships, behavior, and function are the Cognitive Approach, the behavioral perspective, and the humanist paradigm.

 

The cognitive psychological approach to understanding behavior and attitudes is currently considered to be a clinically dominant perspective, it is rational and logical with several applications (Davidsson 2016). The Cognitive perspective is mainly grounded on the concept that man is an extremely clever creature who will seek to make some sense of the world that surrounds them. The world presents a vast and incalculable amount of information to people daily, however, the notion of bounded rationality constraints people to acknowledge the present situation along with the fact that we are not always successful in processing all of the information (Wolniak and Grebski 2018). Due to this, individuals often employ passive as well as active strategies to decrease the total amount of information that requires to be processed through the adoption of various action courses which may include assigning labels or stereotypes to actions or people, forming notions or concepts that are pre-conceived, as well as adopting certain patterns of reasoning that are more or less grounded on certain self-selected information (Arafat and Saleem 2017). These beliefs or constructs are typically employed as actions that can help to attain some relief from the burden of processing all the information.

 

The Cognitive Approach is very much relevant in contemporary business as current workplaces are highly characterized by information analysis and processing. The information that runs within the workplace can exceed the capacity of individual brains which is why the organization uses additional tools to complete the processing such as information management systems and computers (Van Rossem 2021). However, the complicated nature of work along with its scope and scale may compel people to experience difficulty and anxiety at the workplace and the primary reason for this is because the person could not implement or adapt to the strategies that help to successfully reduce the Cognitive information (Surbakti and Ta’a 2017).

 

Behaviorism states that every behavior is the consequence of some observable stimulus due to which organisms are conditioned to or predisposed to give a response (Islam and Mohd-Nor 2017). All the stimuli can be used to mold and shape human behavior and these include; 

 

 

1. Rewards: Applying what can be defined as a positive stimulus to increase the overall response rates (Sigurdsson, Hinriksson and Menon 2016). 

 

 

2. Punishment: Applying what can be defined as a negative stimulus to decrease the overall response rates (Tyler and Caner 2016). 

 

 

3. Time out: Removing any positive stimulus to decrease the overall response rates. 

 

 

4. Another reinforcer: Removing the negative stimulus to enhance the overall response rates

 

 

The behaviorism paradigm mainly asserts that individuals are just rational animals who seek pleasure and try to avoid any sort of pain. Behaviorism deploys more than one paradigm such as the common stimulus-response (SR) paradigm and the behaviorism scheme that is labeled “response – response” (R – R). In the R – R learning the anticipated response is predicted from the early response se to some other and different stimulus (Nair and Blomquist 2021).

 

 

This perspective is considered to be the opposite of behaviorism as it mostly focuses on subjective experiences. It also greatly resembles the Cognitive theory, as it is similar to the cognitive perspective in the way that it accepts any individual differences (Caton 2016). Humanist approaches are similar to the various perspectives advocated by Freud, Adler, Erikson, Maslow, and others. The majority of the theorists stated above mostly focus on either conflict resolution or the achievement of some meaning. These perspectives were applied to the workplace environment as these perspectives or theories want to understand how an individual perceives themselves in various situations that their work or workplace presents to them (Günbayi and Sorm 2018). The conflicts center on the values of meaning and self-actualization. The Humanist approach is extremely broad as there are various distinct approaches but it is important to review a few. Erikson postulated that all individuals progress and develop through different life stages and each one is ideally characterized by the successful resolution of any inner conflict present at that age. For example, middle-age conflict such as growth vs. stagnation as well as a major childhood stage is trust vs. mistrust. The link can be found between the parents and the ‘corporation’ and whoever represents it.

 

Another major humanist theorist is Adler and the primary emphasis of their work was understanding the social context of the human condition (Dierksmeier 2016). In this sense, Adler had proposed eight social interest levels that are completely analogous to the life stages of Erikson and include or range from the “mother-child relationship to God with various levels of one’s society and the community at the middle”. Adler used this methodology to highlight that nobody can emphasize their self at the world’s expense and vice versa, it also points to the fact that success and acceptance in life are mainly achieved through a balance of society and ego as well as the reconciliation of an individual’s weaknesses and their strengths. Similarly, other theorists have also worked with various elements of the humanist perspective such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs positions self-actualization as being the highest need type that requires to be satisfied and receives attention only after other lower needs like security and food have been considered (Laszlo 2019). The theory of motivation by Herzberg postulates several choices are made up of two factors. The first category factor is known as “satisfiers” and helps to drive positive beliefs and feelings while the more negative category is known as the “hygiene” factor and these are necessary but are not sufficient.

 

The psychological perspectives that I have illustrated above have been considered and used in several areas concerning the organization or the corporate. An organization is believed to be a person and is typically comprised of people and this is why psychology is necessary to understand, make sense of, and improve several things or various business areas. Businesses employ psychological approaches to areas of hiring and selection practices as well as performance consulting and management where all approaches are unique and distinct but are still very much appropriate. It is also sometimes used to assess and reflect on self-growth and development in areas of personal and professional development. In the following sections, I will reflect on my personal as well as professional development.

 

To reflect on my personal as well as professional development along with an examination of my behavior and responses in corporate relationships, I will employ Gibb’s Reflective Model. The model was developed in 1988 by Graham Gibbs to provide structure to learning from various experiences. The model helps to examine experiences and lends itself well to making sense of repeated experiences. The model has six key stages in which the reflection will be grounded.

 

Over the years, my experiences and learning, as well as preparation for corporate life, have compelled me to go through complicated situations into necessary life skills as well as go through personal development. Personal development as understood by me is a lifelong process that includes the evaluation of current talents and skills as well as the enhancement of self-based on the evaluation and this process ultimately leads to goal realization as well as improved quality of life. It is necessary to reflect on the past and present to understand the attitudes and behaviors that have been developed along with the foundation upon which I will build my life. Reflecting on the present can help me to assess any room for further improvements as well as hopes for the future so that I can achieve them later on.

 

It is also necessary to reflect on any professional developments I have observed because I will soon need to prioritize them when I enter corporate life. As understood from this model, understanding psychological perspectives and approaches can be beneficial for both personal as well as professional development because it provides us with guidelines and ways through which we can be our best selves and contribute the most to society. Skill and talent development has been a constant part of my journey towards attaining professional as well as personal skills to develop myself further in life and achieve the goals that I want to achieve.

 

My family and a few of my close friends have played a major role in my life and have great contributions to developing my outlook on career and self-development. I believe we can develop only when we push ourselves to our extended abilities by trying out new things, and facing new challenges that can teach us more about life. I used to be a socially awkward individual before my college days which is why I think my personal development is predominantly dependent upon how I have built my social skills as well as expanded my comfort zone at a steady pace. I also believe that no two people can have the same personal development goals or outcomes as results will vary based on the differing efforts. Coming back to my social awkwardness, it made me fear coming out of my comfort zone to an environment that is not only unknown but has various challenges for me. However, looking back now I can feel that living on my own and doing things for myself has helped me to become an independent person. The changes that I have gone through have helped to shape a great college experience.

 

I have faced various new encounters that have steadily helped me to boost my social skills and also helped me to overcome awkwardness. It has helped me to adapt to diverse situations by expanding my comfort zones. I have also been able to learn new skills because of these as new experiences often lead to new learnings such as language and diverse cultures and so on. I have also become much better at communicating with others as opposed to before when I was very awkward. I have also learned the value of active listening as it can help people to understand how attentive I am to the conversation as well as it will help me to concentrate better on what the other person is saying by blurring out all other things. All these experiences have also helped me to further my interpersonal skills which is also a necessary part of my professional development. Interpersonal skills can be defined as nonverbal and verbal behaviors as well as reactions to conversations or interactions with different people. The psychological perspectives can be helpful in this regard as they can help me to assess the behaviors of others and according to which I can read my reaction.

 

Other skills that I have learned that can be counted as both personal, as well as professional development, include skills of organization and problem-solving. My learned organization skills have helped me thus far to prioritize, plan, and schedule and this helps me to prevent miscommunication, save time, and improve my overall efficiency. My problem-solving skills have also helped me to come out of various surprising and challenging situations by maintaining a calm demeanor throughout. All these have also contributed to the development of adaptability which is to adjust to any type of situation to enhance flexibility. This has in turn increased my self-confidence in my skills and abilities. I have steadily enhanced my self-confidence along with other positive skills such as integrity and good work ethic, and these have helped me to take up a position of leadership within my college studying group. I feel like standing by my pre-determined values and honesty in front of others to enhance their trust in me and my services. I have also developed myself professionally side by side to work on various of my organizational skills such as work ethic. Work ethic is the ability to work very hard but also has other principles associated with it such as reliability, quality, discipline, responsibility, and determination. Maintaining a good work ethic has helped me to remain with a positive attitude as it has helped me to become more productive indefinitely. Lastly, it has also helped me to develop my leadership and managerial skills. My emotional intelligence skills have helped me to understand the value and necessity of motivation and encouragement as well as the significance of proper constructive feedback.

 

As can be evaluated above, my college and educational life has provided me with a lot of opportunities to advance and better myself over the years, so that when I go off to work as a corporate person, I can handle myself around others as well as others at difficult times. I have always wanted to become a leader of a big team and two leadership styles I want to merge to get a positive style of leadership are transformational and democratic or participative. It is also imperative to note that I have also developed many skills that both fall under the scope of professional as well as personal development. Although, I believe that I have much to learn as no one ever stops developing personally or even professionally. In this sense, self-development is truly a never-ending process.

 

Thus, to make some sense of the situation my development plan includes enveloping myself in a positive environment, surroundings, and people so that I can grow and mature in a positive setting with values and skills that will take me a long way professionally as well. In this sense, understanding the different psychological approaches to work processes and decoding behavior is also essential as discussed in the initial sections of the paper. As my future career or professional goal is to become a leader or manager in a multinational company like Google or Amazon, I need to have a good understanding of significant work processes such as performance consulting and management as well as selection and hiring processes where the three psychological perspectives (cognitive, behavioral, and humanistic) are used frequently. Instead of this, other areas where I can leverage the learned theories of psychology are advancing in interpersonal skills management. The psychological perspectives have helped me extensively to understand and recognize various behaviors and reactions from and towards others which has in turn assisted my emotional intelligence growth.

 

As mentioned before, I want to work in large multi-national companies like Amazon or Google and I want to lead a large team there. I have a long way to go as self-development never stopped after achieving a few goals or skills. It is a lifelong process that will take place either consciously or unconsciously depending upon the situation. I want to become an organizational leader well versed in psychological perspectives so that I can leverage my emotional intelligence to better myself, my team members, and ultimately the entire organization.

 

Therefore, a major conclusion can be drawn from the above stating the significance of the psychological perspectives in organizational working as well as understanding the behaviors and responses of others. It is also necessary to understand self needs and desires and can be extremely helpful in planning and practicing personal as well as professional development. Apart from these, the theories can be seen across various organizations and workplaces as it has been proved to be better able to manage and consult in various areas such as selection as well as hiring, and performance management of employees through intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors.

 

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