1. Industrial Organizational is an
interdisciplinary field that draws not only from all of psychology, but also
from business, engineering, health science, education, design and other
behavioral sciences. What are the three
most relevant fields (outside of psychology) to the field of organizational
behavior?
Psychology as a discipline helps in
understanding the mental and behavioral functions of persons from a scientific
perspective. As such, understanding these traits helps in evaluating the needs
and developing a conceptual model for the organization. On the other hand,
industrial organization is a discipline that incorporates, a range of
disciplines. From my opinion and based on the research I carried out, I believe
that the disciplines involved include, and not limited to the following.
Economics and in particular the area of finance has a model that fits well in
the industrial organization. It is evident that any organization must have a
financial department in order to perform efficiently and effectively. In the
late 1960s and early 1970s, a conceptual model for the financial model was
developed known as the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). The model circulated
more widely through the field of economics profession. The model had an insight
that utilized a psychology aspect. For example, it is argued that in the
context where investors would hold a diversified portfolio of assets
rationally, the measure of the riskiness of the asset was a covariance of its
returns. Here the broad market returns would be used rather than just the own
variance of the returns of the asset.
Business and in particular the area of
marketing is another area where the principles of psychology come into play.
Marketing is more than just convincing the buyer on why they should buy a
certain product and forego another. Outlining and offering the benefits of the
products is not the only effective baseline of winning new clients. The need to
maintain a constant influx of returning customers is essential in promoting the
brand in the sale and the market of the product. Therefore, the principles of
psychology where playing with the mind of the consumer prove to be important. A
good example in this case is evaluating multinational brands such as Coca-Cola.
It is engraved in the minds of the consumers that the brand is superior as
compared to its competitors. The psychological influence that comes with a
superior brand is a major reason this brand has been performing extremely well
in the market as compared to its competitors. The effect of psychology in the
industry cannot be overlooked.
Organizational behavior is also affected to
a great extent by design principles and ergonomics. The production of goods and
service have to meet certain standards. It is this standards that in most cases
influence the decision of the buyers. The benefits that they will deduce from
buying the product are paramount to the process of decision making. Design as a
behavioral science applies the principles of physiology in incorporating the
needs of the consumer to the output of the final product. The above is achieved
through an evaluation of the needs of the client and incorporating these needs
to the expected performance of the designed product. A good example of this
incorporation is the design of products such as clothes, shoes and office
furniture.
2. Human factors are one of the fastest
growing areas of psychology and are one of the few areas where a master’s
degree is considered the standard for getting a senior level appointment in
industry. You are asked to describe the
field and its relationship to more traditional areas of psychology (e.g.
social, developmental, cognitive, clinical, physiological, etc.) to psychology
majors who do not want to go on to a doctorate and are considering other career
options.
As one of the fastest growing areas of
psychology, human factors are a discipline that any psychology major should
consider advancing. Compared to other areas of psychology, traditional forms in
the field have not been scrapped from the field. Areas of social, development,
clinical, cognitive and physiological among others have been incorporated in
the model of human factors. Areas of design and in particular comfort design,
user-friendly systems and functional design are also aspects in the human
factors consideration. As an area in psychology, the practice of designing
systems and products must be effective and provide an interaction between the
people that use them and the ergonomics of designs. As a multidisciplinary
discipline, human factors borrow largely from the field of psychology and as
such; the field marks a proper foundation for the development and advancement
in one’s career.
The understanding of the interaction
between humans and systems and proper effectiveness is studied in this field.
The discipline has a variety of application since it is evident that systems
are being developed in all fields. The student can engage in the development
process and curve their way in either studying the internal or external factors
that influence the development of the systems.
Human factors and ergonomics involves an evaluation of the fit between
the environment, the user, and the system. As such the discipline does not
compress the area of study of the student making it a good fit, study area and
undertaking. The ability of the field to
offer interaction of the users, systems, and the environment can be explicitly
compared with the traditional aspect of social and developmental studies in
psychology.
A reliable academic pursuit is determined
by the opportunities it offers the students after a successful completion of
the course. Human factors are an effective undertaking as they offer a variety
of applicable areas making it an effective undertaking. As compared to traditional
disciplines in the field of psychology, it is evident that the study
incorporates these studies making it an effective area of study.
