Essay on Applying Social Psychology in the Workplace

How people relate in a given environment is very important; how they think about others and how considerate they are to each other in their actions and behavior. That is basically what social psychology is about. In other words, this branch of psychology tries to bring forth a better understanding of how to be able to live with each other despite being in a dynamic society. In our day to day routine, we engage in a number of activities and at the same time we interact with so many people. Teachers interact with students, doctors interact with patients, people in business interact with their clients. The list is virtually endless.

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Social psychology is a matter of common sense. It directly involves a persons attitudes and behavior towards people and social changes (Galen, 2014).When one applies for a job, the only thing that comes to mind at that time is the professional aspect. Most people tend to forget the social aspect, this is the part where you are required to interact with your workmates, bosses and subordinates as well. (Derek, 2011) When the social environment is suitable, at the workplace then good work results come automatically. Social psychology can be explained in detail at the workplace by use of some of the theories it is based on.

Work can at times become monotonous and eventually end up being boring, this because of a number of factors such as too much workload, unfavorable salaries and wages, rigid communication systems from top management to the other employees and lack of a suitable working environment as well (Derek, 2011) These factors put together can greatly shift the employees attitude towards work to a very low key. Once this happens the output required from the employees decreases both in quality and quantity. In such a situation it is important for the top management to have a sit and look for ways where they can improve the situation. In this case the motivational theory would solve the problem at hand. Motivation theory involves being in a position to fulfill someone's needs, if what the employee needs is better pay than by giving them that they will be happy and this will prompt them to work harder at the end of the day.

Decision making is another important theory that helps shape the work place (Galen, 2014) Decision making involves the aspect of being rational in thinking about important issues. Before taking the step to do something, one should be able to sit down and look at the merits and demerits that come with the action in question. A case study carried out at the Franklin law firm, revealed that a number of decisions that were made by the top executives directly affected the other employees and as such it resulted to bad business for the firm. As people interact in their workplaces it is easy to learn the characteristics and attitudes of other workmates. It is therefore important to be considerate of how certain decisions influence the attitude of employees towards work. At the workplace, a number of decisions are made, all decisions are made with an aim of making the organization or company better. Therefore, before a decision is made those who have been given the obligations to decide on it should exercise rationally and patience in order to come up with the best decision. In the event that a decision is made to increase working hours and wages are not increased as well, then this might come with heavy consequences from the employees who might find this unsuitable for them. These will automatically change their attitude towards work.

Interdependence theory of social psychology can also be used to explain the attitude of people towards their workplaces.(Galen, 2014) The interdependence theory was first proposed by Harold H. Kelley in the 1950s, he emphasized on the importance of having good interpersonal interaction systems in order to improve the relationship between individuals.(Richard, 1948) From the surveys carried out in the recent past it shows that companies that exercise good interrelationships among them are likely to have better work output. (Derek, 2011) It is important to realize that one can never live alone or in the case of a workplace, it is impossible to work without interacting with others. When a group of people comes together and builds on an interaction that has a good foundation then the likelihood of them being successful in what they do is very high. Implementation of the interdependence theory at the workplace is therefore important in improving the attitudes of the people at work. (Richard S,1948) Through implementation of this theory, interpersonal relationships are created which also help workmates to understand each other better, identifying key strength and weakness in each other. This automatically translates to a good working environment which increase the quality of output by the organization.

It is very clear that negative work attitude translates to decreased quality of job performances. If the employees are not satisfied, then that means that their needs are not being meet and as such their attitudes towards work will automatically lead to poor job performance. Decision making process is also a great determinant of the attitudes that are shown by employees in workplaces. The theories of social psychology directly affect the relationship between the attitudes and job performances of employees in any organization or company.

References

Derek, C. (2011). Theories in Social Psychology. Wiley-Blackwell. Michigan

Galen, V. (2014). Theory and Explanation in Social Psychology. Guilford Publications. Ohio

Richard, S. (1948). Theory and problems of social psychology. McGraw-Hill. New York, NY.