Industrial and Personnel Psychology Essay

1. Personal biographical characteristics of subscriber line ar factor outs that describe an soul. Factors such(prenominal) as age, gender, marital status and kick upstairs. These characteristics ease up an involve on the attitudes that an individual whitethorn assume towards work and pendant variable such as productivity, absenteeism, and offer everyplace and employment gladness. The relationship surrounded by age and suppose carrying out is of enceinte importance beca implement it is believed that job per playance moderates as age increases. Though non all(prenominal) employers apply perceptual experiences of one clock(a) employees.From a positive perspective it is noted that former(a) employees lose more than experience, judgment, ethics and commitment. In addition, with aged(a) employees, labour turnover is reduced. Beca delectation of their longer advance deep down the organization they bunk to enjoy increased wages, pension and umpteen other benefit s and ar at that placefore less belike to leave. With regards to absenteeism and older employees, the certainty is however mixed. Although there are decreases in avoidable absenteeism rates compared to jr. employees, there is an increase in unavoidable rates due to scurvy health due to age, and longer recovery periods.However from a ban point it is noted that older employees lack flexibility, there is a decrease in their productivity due to decreased speed, agility, strength and co-ordination and resistance to turn in a changing environment. Consequently, organizations are reluctant to hire older employees. In addition, they tend to retrench them first when it comes to downsizing. Gender in job performance has no evidence that it affects job atonement. However there is a difference in work schedules because women mostly prefer part eon work or work flexibility due to family responsibilities.With regards to absenteeism women usually suck up a higher rate of absenteeism than men as women traditionally direction for the family. For example when children are sick, it is the mothers who tend to take off work in order to take care of such sick children. Married employees loosely have a decrease in absenteeism, turnover and an increase in job triumph. This whitethorn be due to increased responsibilities. With regards to province tenure, there is a positive relationship between seniority and job performance and a negative relationship between tenure and absenteeism.That is an increase in tenure and seniority tends to lead to better performance and an increase in tenure to lead to decrease in turnover. People are organizations most valuable and expensive resource, but they are the most hard-fought element of an organization to manage. Individuals are almost infinitely several(predicate), they act other than in different circumstances and are, in many ways, entirely unpredictable. This doer that, unlike machines, they are not interchangeable or able to be easily designed to do the jobs required of them.In terms of the organization, what we are interested in is the way in which people behave at work-that they perform effectively in pursuit of the organisations goals. The starting point for this is an commiserateing of what makes people behave in the way they do. Although psychologists do not agree on a single description of temper, there is some consensus that it is concerned with characteristics patterns of behavior and modes of ciphering that specify a persons adjustment to the environment (Hilgard et al 1979108). Two features of the above definition are noteworthy.In the first place, the word characteristic suggests a spot of performance in temperament. In the second place, environment suggests that face-to-faceity is displayed in a mixer and physical context. Beyond this consensus, there is a great deal disagreement over the development, structure and dynamics of ainity. The correct edition and use of the results o f disposition measures and tests depends a great deal on the possibleness or approach on which the instruments are based. Without this knowledge, the description of personality whitethorn well be miused. reputation can therefore be referred to a dynamic concept describing the growth and development of a persons whole psychological system. It looks at the whole person rather than at the sum of the individual parts. It is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his or her unique adjustments to his or her environment. An altogether different approach to personality concentrates on identifying and classifying those features that individuals may share. The different categories or types serve to emphasise the similarities within each group and the differences between the groups.These attempts to classify personality features are frequently referred to as the type or trait approach. There are a number of personality determinants, nam ely, Heredity, the surroundings, or the Situation. Heredity is the process of transmitting biologic traits from parent to exit through genes, the basic units of heredity. Heredity likewise refers to the genetic characteristics of an individual, including traits such as height, mettle color, and blood type. Heredity accounts for why offspring look like their parents when two dogs mate, for example, they have puppies, not kittens.If the parents are both Chihuahuas, the puppies result also be Chihuahuas, not great Danes or Labrador retrievers. The puppies may be a fiddling taller or shorter, a little igniter or a lot heavier than their parents are. Their faces may look a little different, or they may have different talents and temperaments. In all the principal(prenominal) characteristics, howeverthe number of limbs, ar chemical chainment of organs, general size, fur typethey will share the traits of their parents. The principles of heredity hold true not only for a puppy but also for a virus, a roundworm, a pansy, or a human.Genetics is the take apart of how heredity works and, in item, of genes. A gene is a section of a long deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule, and it carries info for the construction of a protein or part of a protein. Through the novelty of proteins they code for, genes influence or determine such traits as eye color, the ability of a bacterium to eat a certain sugar, or the number of peas in a pod. A virus has as hardly a(prenominal) as a dozen genes. A simple roundworm has 5000 to 8000 genes, part a corn plant has 60,000.The construction of a human requires an estimated 50,000 genes. Personality characteristics are not completely dictated by heredity however, as otherwise they would remain the same throughout life despite the experiences we have. Environment is referred to all of the external factors affecting an organism. These factors may be other vivification organisms (biotic factors) or nonliving variables (abiotic fact ors), such as temperature, rainfall, day duration, wind, and ocean currents. The interactions of organisms with biotic and abiotic factors form an ecosystem.Even minute changes in any one factor in an ecosystem can influence whether or not a feature plant or animal species will be successful in its environment. Organisms and their environment constantly interact, and both are changed by this interaction. Like all other living creatures, humans have clearly changed their environment, but they have done so generally on a grander scale than have all other species. Some of these human-induced changessuch as the destruction of the demesnes tropical rain forests to create farms or grazing land for cattlehave led to adapted climate patterns.In turn, altered climate patterns have changed the way animals and plants are distributed in different ecosystems. Scientists study the long-term consequences of human actions on the environment, while environmentalistsprofessionals in various fields, as well as concerned citizensadvocate ways to lessen the impact of human activity on the natural world. Situation is one of the determinants of personality which influences the effect of heredity and environment on personality. Personality, which is generally stable, much changes in different situations.For example, we may behave very differently at a party with our friends as opposed to how we would do at a social gathering of work colleagues and our managers.2. pose refers to an opinion or general sprightliness nigh something. emplacements are, essentially looks towards people or things. How people feel, what they believe, what they intend to do, and whether and how they do it may all be connected, and may all be colligate to the process of perception. To try to reduce the confusion in this area over the use of words and concepts such as feelings and beliefs, Fishbein (19670 put forward the pursuance hierarchical model.Beliefs What we think about people, things, relations hips etc My work provides no altercate Attitudes affectional responses to those people, things, relationships etc. I see work only as a means to getting money Intentions Congnitive states I will look for my challenge in my leisure time Behavior or Action evident events I take up mountaineering Attitudes are learned. They derive from our personal reaction to development and events, which manifest themselves as beliefs and feelings about a particular subject.We learn many of our attitudes when we are very young. They are conditioned by those around us and the conditions or situations in which we find ourselves. Some-particularly feelings-are so squiffy that they stay with stay with us and affect us for the rest of our lives. The range of influences is complex, but it includes the following * The groups to which we belong-most notably, in early life, the family, but also association groups, work groups * Education * Life experiences- particularly the most profound personal ones suc h as bereavement, etc. but also those experiences which we observe e. g on Tv, or read about. We are aware, too, that our attitudes change over time as a result of the influence of the above factors. For example, it is very often the case that young people have more liberal attitudes than older people, but as they enter work and acquire family and financial commitments and responsibilities they tend to become more conservative. One of the key elements of management in organizations is how to modify or change peoples behaviour.This is central to such features as motivation, securing effective performance, introducing change, etc. whilst as noted above, attitudes do not necessarily condition behaviour, and they are a significant determinant. In organizations, managers use attitude survey to measure and thereby predict behaviour. Managers use information gathered in attitude surveys to guide them in decisions relative to employees. Attitude surveys elicit responses from employees throu gh questionnaires about how they feel about their jobs, work- groups, supervisors and or the organization.Attitude surveys provide managers with valuable feedback on how workers distinguish working conditions, and alert them to problems or employee intentions early so that action can be taken in time. Increasingly, attitudinal surveys are being used within organizations to find out about the potential reactions of staff to particular courses of action (for example, organizational change) or to form judgments about their suitability for particular posts (in a similar way to how personality tests are used).Operational methods for attitude surveys generally seek to measure drop components for each belief. Thus, attitudes to work could be measured as follows * Strength of feeling about the job itself. The strength with which various attitudes are held about different aspects of the job which are listed, measured on perhaps a sevener point scale, from agree on the whole through neutr al to disagree totally. * Value of job to self. Evaluating various aspects of the job, again, but in relation to its marrow to the individual. * Social factors.Attitudes and behaviour do not depend on knowledgeable perceptions alone, but also upon surrounding social pressures-the persons perceptions of what others think he/she should do. The social factors must be investigated in order to understand all the factors determining behaviour. * Overall attitude An overall assessment of the answerings attitudes to the contex of the job and to work itself, for example, the value and meaning it has in his/ her life. This is a useful measure as it allows more generalized attitudes to the job to be explored. * Intended behaviourPotential reactions to different scenarios about the job or its context. Although hypothetical, this prediction makes an interesting correlation with actual behaviour. Surveys must have a very clear specification of what they are seeking to measure. Just as with per sonality tests, there is the ever present danger that the way in which questions are phrased, or the underlying assumptions made, will influence the outcome. Job satisfaction and its opposite, job dissatisfaction, refer to the attitudes and feelings job holders have towards their work.Morale can be viewed as a state of mind subject on the dependent on the degree of job satisfaction experienced by an individual or group. There is general agreement that job dissatisfaction can have harmful effects on both job holders and the organization. Research has associated job dissatisfaction with all the indicators of low morale-high labour turnover, skills wastage, absenteeism, high accident rates, poor timekeeping and a lack of commitment to quality. An individual with low job satisfaction may suffer frustration and stress.Although stress may arise from many quarters, it is the softness to deal with and manage stress that afflicts the individual who suffers job dissatisfaction. Job satisfac tion is determined by a number of factors namely, mentally challenging work, honest rewards, corroborative working conditions, and supportive colleagues. Research has shown that employees prefer jobs that give them opportunities to use their abilities and skills. Characteristics such as freedom, feedback and a variety of tasks make work mentally challenging and allow employees to feel pleasure and satisfaction.On other hand, jobs that are not mentally challenging create boredom, frustration and feelings of failure. Employees want rewards (e. g. pay, promotions) that they perceive as just and in line with their expectations. Satisfaction will get if pay is seen as based on job demands, skill and fellowship standards. It is not the actual amount of pay that counts, but rather the perception of fairness. Individuals that also perceive promotional decisions as fair will be job agreeable. Employees are concerned with working conditions that are comfortable and that alter one to do an optimal job.Environmental factors such as temperature, light, ruffle should not be too extreme. Factors such as proximity to home, cleanliness, technology and adequate tools, help increase job satisfaction. As well as tangible achievements, employees also work for social interaction. Therefore having friendly and supportive co-workers and tiptops also lead to increased job satisfaction. On many cause managers interest in job satisfaction centers on its effect on employee performance. Therefore studies have been made to identify the relationships between satisfaction and performance. create studies in particular have focused on the effect of satisfaction on the dependent variables such as Productivity, Absenteeism and Turnover. There is no truly proof that satisfaction leads to productivity. The saying a happy worker is a productive worker is wishful thinking. Often productivity leads to satisfaction and not the other way around. Productivity leads to increase in rewards, rec ognition, which in turn increases satisfaction. Satisfaction may lead to productivity on an organization train rather than on an individual level. Dissatisfied workers are more likely to be absent.This relationship can be affected however by sick leave benefits which might encourage workers to be absent. While satisfied employees are less likely to leave work. This can however be affected by, labour market conditions, expectations about alternative job offers and length of tenure. Level of satisfaction is less important in predicting turnover for superior employees as more effort is made to keep these individuals. Satisfaction-turnover relationship is also affected by the individuals disposition towards life. If two people are dissatisfied the positive one is more likely to leave.