How organizational psychology can help your business thrive

In an increasingly competitive market, finding ways of developing practical business strategies is one of the greatest challenges for entrepreneurs.

One of the best ways of doing this is by using organizational psychology. As a lot of entrepreneurs would agree, reconciling profits with employee well-being is key to achieving healthier relationships and making the workplace a place where employees can perform at their best.

In this sense, organizational psychology helps improve the quality of life of professionals and explore business opportunities more easily. Would you like to learn more about this process and how it can help your business? If so, keep reading this article.

What is organizational psychology?

Organizational psychology is an area of Psychology that deals with work. It focuses mainly on aligning the company’s interests with employee needs. It seeks to promote quality of life and better conditions so professionals can be more productive and efficient.

The logic is quite simple. When employees feel good in the workplace, they produce more with more quality.

Several factors influence this, such as respecting break times, workplace safety, good relationships between employees and management, professional ethics, among others.

All of these elements, when properly respected, increase employee well-being and create perfect conditions so that they can perform better.

And this is where organizational psychology comes in, represented in companies by the HR department. Its role is to create the necessary conditions to improve the organizational environment and stimulate productivity. It also acts as a mediator between the interests of the organization and employees.

In which areas does organizational psychology operate?

The work of organizational psychology goes way beyond simply settling the company’s internal conflicts. In fact, it acts in several distinct areas.

Recruitment and selection

When we think about the role of a psychologist within an organizational context, we immediately think of the recruitment and selection of employees.

After all, this professional has the necessary knowledge to identify candidates’ characteristics and potential, and evaluate if they are suitable for the available positions.

During the recruiting and selection processes, psychologists put into practice everything they learned during their training in Psychology by means of interviews, group dynamics, and psychological tests.

These methods allow them to gather enough information in order to pick the candidate that is best suited for the position’s requirements and for the organization’s culture.

Organizational environment survey

One of the most important strategic tools to improve a company’s management is to identify the organizational environment. This process allows points of difficulty or team dissatisfaction to be revealed, in addition to the alignment between the culture defined by the company and the actions developed daily.

Understanding how employees feel about the company’s situations is critical to improving negative points and strengthening positive ones. And the greater the employee satisfaction, motivation and engagement, the more productive the work environment will be.

Behavioral tests

Another field in which organizational psychology can act is in the application of behavioral tests.

They serve to identify each employee’s main skills and personality. Thus, it’s possible to ensure the assignment of professionals to positions that are better aligned with their characteristics.

Performance evaluation

So that employees and the company can achieve the expected results, it’s very important that their strong points, and those that require improvement, be identified. And this is precisely what performance evaluations are for.

Performed individually or in teams, the evaluation can be used both for the selection of new professionals as well as for internal promotion.

Staff training and development

Another area of organizational psychology is the training and development of the staff, something that directly impacts the company’s success and performance and projects it in the market.

With an increasingly competitive market, it is crucial that organizations invest in the training of their employees by means of face-to-face and online courses, lectures, meetings, among other tools.

Analysis of positions and tasks

Defining the procedures, instruments, duties and requirements of each position or task developed within the company is another field in which organizational psychology operates.

Psychologists also create instruments that facilitate the monitoring and analysis of objective results in each position.

Why is organizational psychology important for your company?

There are many benefits to investing in organizational psychology.

First and foremost, it helps solve workplace problems and obstacles more efficiently. And these solutions are built collectively, with the help of the employees themselves.

Besides, organizational psychology also promotes several measures that improve employee quality of life, such as ergonomics, conflict resolution, and the improvement of working conditions.

Another important factor is that organizational psychology helps map the organization’s culture and outline strategies to strengthen it. This contributes to the maintenance of a healthy environment.

All of these factors help reduce company turnover, increasing employee productivity, and reducing costs with new admissions and dismissals.

How to implement organizational psychology in your company

In order to make organizational psychology a habit within the organization, you need to form a team with organizational psychologists and Human Resources professionals.

Another option is hiring an outside consultant and carrying out the processes suggested by this group. But it’s important to remember that consulting services only suggest changes, and it’s up to the organization to promote the continuity of these measures.

And it doesn’t matter if the company chooses to set up an internal team or use an outside consulting service. Some costs are inevitable when it comes to putting into practice the measures in guidelines provided by organizational psychologists. Details such as surveys and tests need to be taken into consideration.

However, improvements to the quality of life in the workplace and an increase in productivity make the initial investment worthwhile.

As you can see, organizational psychology isn’t a luxury, but a strategic process that can help you improve internal processes and your team’s well-being.

With so many advantages and benefits for organizations and employees, it is very clear that organizational psychology is critical in helping entrepreneurs achieve their goals and objectives.

And by the way, do you know how to set goals and define viable objectives for your business? Make sure you check out 10 practical tips on how to set realistic goals.