Contents

What is business psychology? ....................................................................................................................... 3 P1 .................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Cognitive ................................................................................................................................................... 3 Cognitive approach example .................................................................................................................... 4 Behaviorist ................................................................................................................................................ 4 Behaviorist approach example ................................................................................................................. 4 Humanistic ................................................................................................................................................ 4 Humanistic approach example ................................................................................................................. 5 P2 .................................................................................................................................................................. 5 History of social psychology .......................................................................................................................... 5 Early influence........................................................................................................................................... 5 Influence of social psychology .................................................................................................................. 5 Social psychology theories ........................................................................................................................ 5 Compliance ............................................................................................................................................... 6 Conformity ................................................................................................................................................ 6 Obedience ................................................................................................................................................. 6 Obedience occurs when you change your opinions, judgments, or actions because someone in a position of authority told you to. The key aspect to note about obedience is that just because you have changed in some way, it does not mean that you now agree with the change. For example, if you are a democratic senator, and the president came to you and demanded that you vote for a something that you were not in favor, and you did go ahead and vote the way the president said, you would be obeying (or displaying obedient behavior). However, this does not mean that you now agree with the way you voted or what you voted for, only that you did what you were told to do. ................ 6 P3 .................................................................................................................................................................. 6 Methods used in research ............................................................................................................................ 6 Interviews.................................................................................................................................................. 7 Types of interviews ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Telephone interviewing ............................................................................................................................ 7 Group interviewing ................................................................................................................................... 7 Structured interviewing ............................................................................................................................ 7 Semi structured......................................................................................................................................... 7 Un-structured interviewing....................................................................................................................... 7 Pros of an interview .................................................................................................................................. 7 Cons of an interview ................................................................................................................................. 8

Observation................................................................................................................................................... 8 Pros of an observation .............................................................................................................................. 8 Cons of an observation ............................................................................................................................. 8 Survey method .............................................................................................................................................. 8 Pros of survey............................................................................................................................................ 8 Cons of survey ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Questionnaires .......................................................................................................................................... 9 Pros of questionnaires .............................................................................................................................. 9 Cons of questionnaires ............................................................................................................................. 9 M1 ................................................................................................................................................................. 9 Psychological theories in maintain certain behavior in organization ....................................................... 9 Psychology Perspectives ......................................................................................................................... 10 Behaviors Perspective ......................................................................................................................... 10 Cognitive perspective.......................................................................................................................... 10 Humanistic perception ........................................................................................................................ 11 M2 ............................................................................................................................................................... 11 Technique used for social influence ........................................................................................................... 11 Conformity .............................................................................................................................................. 12 The factors that influence conformity .................................................................................................... 12 The factors that influence compliance ................................................................................................... 12 Ingratiation.............................................................................................................................................. 13 Foot-in-the-door tactic............................................................................................................................ 13 The door-in-the face tactic...................................................................................................................... 13 The low-ball tactic ................................................................................................................................... 13 Priming .................................................................................................................................................... 13 Reciprocity Principle ............................................................................................................................... 13 M3 ............................................................................................................................................................... 14 D1 ................................................................................................................................................................ 14 D2 ................................................................................................................................................................ 15 Corporate ................................................................................................................................................ 15 Management........................................................................................................................................... 15 Supervisors .............................................................................................................................................. 15

What is business psychology?

Business psychology is the application of clinical psychologys traditional knowledge and skill base to people working in business settings. Business psychology is about people who do the work for corporations of all sizes including one persons corporatio ns. Furthermore business psychology conducts tests on the employees of a particular company who hired them and then they will analyze the state of mind of each and every employee they have tested. They will tell you things that will determine the state of your mind by way of questions and giving you situation that will really test the mind work. The business psychology also teaches us the new approach to understanding organizations psychologically and their functions including leadership, marketing and communications and managing change. You will also focus on how change in organizations can be managed by enhancing psychological strategies for effective change management. This is vital when solving problems such as recruiting the best people for different organizational roles or managing employees.

P1
Psychologist uses a range of principles and theories, all of which view the person and the study of the person in very different ways. Theoretical Approaches in Psychology introduces and outlines the six main approaches and considers how each has helped psychologists understand human behavior, thought and feeling. But here well discuss just three major theoretically approaches in the study of human behavior. Which are given below: Behaviorist. Cognitive. Humanistic

Sometimes approaches are called perspectives, both describe a characteristic way of looking at the world. Each psychological theory grows out of a perspective or world view. Perspectives are a combination of similar theories put together. Theories are constructed to operationally define and explain something.

Cognitive
The word cognition literally means knowing. In psychological point of view the psychologist from this approach study cognition which is the mental act or process by which knowledge is acquired. However the cognitive approach in psychology is a relatively modern approach to human behavior that focuses on how we think with the belief that such thought processes affect the way in which we behave which include memory, language, and perception. Cognitive psychology focuses on the way humans process information, looking at how we treat information that comes in to the person and how this treatment leads to

responses. In other words, they are interested in the variables that mediate between stimulus/input and response/output By describing thinking as information processing, cognitive psychologists are making a comparison between minds and computers.

Cognitive approach example Imagine that a college student makes little effort to
achieve good grades in college courses. One possible cognitive explanation for this low achievement motivation is that the person has low self-efficacy. The person may believe that he or she does not have the ability to achieve good grades, and thus the person makes little effort.

Behaviorist
Behavior can be objectively and scientifically measured. Internal events, such as thinking should be explained through behavioral terms (or eliminated altogether). Behavioral psychology is a branch of psychology that focuses on observable behaviors. Conditioning, reinforcement and punishment are key concepts used by behaviorists. Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to internal events like thinking and emotion. The behavioral approach is based on the concept of explaining behavior through observation, and the belief that our environment is what causes us to behave differently or suffer illnesses. Behavioral approaches deal in the here and now, and aren't terribly concerned with the inner workings of the mind, or things that happened in the past to create the current behavior.

Behaviorist approach example

For a small business, finding the right manager can mean the difference between a productive workforce and slumping sales figures. Choosing a manager versed in behavioral approaches to leadership can help a small business handle the varied human resource problems that occur over a given workday. The more behavioral tools a manager has, the easier it is to keep workers motivated and on task.

Humanistic
Humanism is a psychological approach that emphasizes the study of the whole person. Humanistic psychologists look at human behavior not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving. Humanistic psychologists believe that an individual's behavior is connected to their inner feelings and self-concept. Emphasizes the personal worth of the individual, the centrality of human values, and the creative, active nature of human beings. The approach is optimistic and focuses on noble human capacity to overcome hardship, pain and despair.

Humanistic approach example

A person feels like his or her life is bland and boring. A humanistic perspective would encourage the person to do some soul-searching and determine what is missing a hobby? Friendships? A relationship? Whatever it takes for the person to feel fully self-actualized is what should be sought as treatment. In humanistic perspective it is generally regarded that all people have similar needs throughout the world, emphasizing the similarities between all members of the human race rather than the many differences. It is an approach that believes human relationships and interactions are of paramount importance.

P2 History of social psychology

Early influence
Aristotle believed that humans were naturally sociable, a necessity which allows us to live together (an individual centered approach) whilst Plato felt that the state controlled the individual and encouraged social responsibility through social context (a socio-centered approach). Hegel (17701831) introduced the concept that society has inevitable links with the development of the social mind. This led to the idea of a group mind, important in the study of social psychology.

Influence of social psychology

Social influence accurse when ones emotions, opinion, or behaviors are affected by others. Furthermore, social psychology is about understanding individual behavior in a social context. It is the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and cause of individual behavior in social situation. Psychologists have been characteristically unable or willing to deal with the facts of social organizations and social structure. Societies and organizations consist of patterned behaviors, and the behavior of each individual is determined to considerable extents by the requirements of the larger pattern. However some such theories, the Psychoanalytic, for Example it deals with the influence of the family on the individual. Even social psychology, however, has neglected the organizational and institutional level, and textbooks of social psychology typically conclude with some treatment of small face-to-face groups

Social psychology theories

Here are the some major types of social influence that are being researched in the field of social psychology which are given below.
Compliance. Conformity. Obedience.

Compliance
It occurs when people appear to agree with others, but actually keep their dissenting opinions private. Compliance is the act of responding favorably to an explicit or implicit request offered by others. Technically, compliance is a change in behavior but not necessarily attitude one can comply due to mere obedience or by otherwise opting to withhold ones private thoughts due to social pressures. According to Kelmans 1958 paper, the satisfaction derived from compliance is due to the social effect of the accepting influence (i.e. people comply for an expected reward or punishment-aversion)

Conformity
In conformity people accept a belief or behavior and agree both publicly and personally. Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in behavior, belief or thinking to align with those of others or to align with normative standards. It is the most common and pervasive form of social influence.

Obedience
Obedience occurs when you change your opinions, judgments, or actions because someone in a position of authority told you to. The key aspect to note about obedience is that just because you have changed in some way, it does not mean that you now agree with the change. For example, if you are a democratic senator, and the president came to you and demanded that you vote for a something that you were not in favor, and you did go ahead and vote the way the president said, you would be obeying (or displaying obedient behavior). However, this does not mean that you now agree with the way you voted or what you voted for, only that you did what you were told to do.

P3 Methods used in research

Talking with people is a good way to get information during the initial stages of a research project. It can be used to gather information that is not publicly available, or that is too new to be found in the literature. Examples might include meetings with prospects, customers, suppliers, and other types of business conversations at trade shows, seminars, and association meetings. Although often valuable, the information has questionable validity because it is highly subjective and might not be representative of the population. However there are many ways to get information. But the most common research methods are; Interviews. Observation. Surveys.

Interviews
Interview is one of the major methods of data collecting. It may be defined as two way systematic conversations between an investigation and an informant, initiated for obtaining information relevant to as a specific study. Furthermore it is a technique that is primarily used to gain an understanding of the underlying reasons and motivation for people attitudes.

Types of interviews
Telephone interviewing
Telephone interviewing is a non-personal method of data collection.

Group interviewing
Group interviewing can be defined as a data in which a number of individuals with a common interest interact with each other.

Structured interviewing
It is based on a carefully worded interview schedule; frequently require short answer with the answers being ticked off. It is useful when there are lots of questions which are not particularly contentious or thought prevailing.

Semi structured
This method of interview is focused by asking certain question but with scope for the respondent to express him or herself at length.

Un-structured interviewing
This also called an in depth interview. The interviewer begins by asking general questions. The interviewers then encourage the respondent to talk freely and the interviewer uses an unstructured format.

Pros of an interview
People tend to share a lot more information when someone is asking the questions in person. Its much easier to ask a follow-up question and get examples to support what people are saying. It gives people an opportunity to participate in a more direct way, and they have a greater buy-in to the results of the assessment process. Are useful for untangling complex topics. If the respondent lacks reading skills to answer a questionnaire.

Cons of an interview
The interviewer can affect the data if he/she is not consistent. It is not used for a large number of people. The Interviewer may be biased and ask closed questions. Theyre time intensive, and trying to schedule the interview can be a full -time job in itself.

Observation
The observation method involve human or mechanical observation of what people actually do or what events takes place during a buying or consumption situation information is collected by observing process at work. Here observation involves recording the behaviour patterns of people, object and events in a systematic manner.

Pros of an observation
Data gathered can be highly reliable. The analyst is able to see what is being done. Observation is less expensive compared to other technique. People feel uncomfortable being watched, they may perform differently when being observed. Some activities may take place at odd times it might be inconvenience for the system analyst. Some task may not be in the manner in which they are observed. The work being observed may not involve the level of difficulty or volume normally experienced during that time period.

Cons of an observation

Survey method
This survey method is the technique of gathering data by asking questions to people who are thought to have desired information. A formal list of questionnaire is prepared. Generally a non-disguised approach is used.

Pros of survey
Questioning is usually faster and cheaper that observation. Questions are simple to administer. Data is reliable.

Cons of survey
Unwillingness of respondents to provide information. Human biases of the respondents are there e.g. ego. Symantec difficulties are there.

Questionnaires
Questionnaires are a popular means of collecting data, but are different to design and after require many rewrites before an acceptable questionnaire is produced.

Pros of questionnaires
It can cover a large number of people or organizations. Wide geographic coverage. Relatively cheap. Can be posted email or faxed. No prior arrangements are needed.

Cons of questionnaires
It can cover a large number of people or organizations. Wide geographic coverage. Relatively cheap. Can be posted email or faxed. No prior arrangements are needed.

M1 Psychological theories in maintain certain behavior in organization

We interviewed Mr. Habib shah (manager at Peshawar Pipe mills), he told us about the behavioral issues that he had dealt with over his years on duty managing the production unit and work force. The issues were usually raised either between the super visors and labor-force personnel, or between the work force themselves, he gave us an example, in which the laborforce would resort to violence over small arguments, this influenced the performance of the production unit, as resolving these issues would mean losing precious time of the management team, the manufacturing process would also stop for a while which would mean a smaller turnover of processed pipes for that day. Issues like these were also affecting the rest of the labor-force as well as they would feel insecure and highly demotivated, and this went on regularly for some time, till Mr. Habib took drastic measures and made a policy, Any employee that resorts to violence will be fired immediately with no questions asked. We asked Mr. Habib, werent the employees demotivated after this policy was announced, he said that he had to look for the companies best interests, it did bring a sense of insecurity for a while but after every one accepted the policy the frequency of these issues dropped from almost every day to rarely once a year or two, and he also told us that some of the employees felt much secure with the new policy.

Psychology Perspectives
An approach is a perspective that involves certain assumptions (beliefs) about human behavior: the way they function, which aspects of them are worthy of study and what research methods are appropriate for undertaking this study. There may be several different theories within an approach, but they all share these common assumptions. For an organization to be running successfully the managers need to fully understand these perspectives and deal with every individual according to these approaches.

Behaviors Perspective
Behaviorism is different from most other approaches because they view people as controlled by their environment and specifically that we are the result of what we have learned from our environment. Behaviorism is concerned with how environmental factors (called stimuli) affect observable behavior (response). The behaviorist approach proposes two main processes whereby people learn from their environment: namely classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning involves learning by association, and operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of behavior. Behaviorism also believes in scientific methodology (e.g. controlled experiments), and that only observable behavior should be studies because this can be objectively measured. Behaviorism rejects the idea that people have free will, and believes that the environment determines all behavior. Behaviorism is the scientific study of observable behavior working on the basis that behavior can be reduced to learn S-R (Stimulus-Response). Classical Conditioning (CC) was studied by the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov. Though looking into natural reflexes and neutral stimuli he managed to condition dogs to salivate to the sound of a bell through repeated associated of the sound of the bell and food. The principles of CC have been applied in many therapies. B.F. Skinner investigated operant conditioning of voluntary and involuntary behavior. Skinner felt that some behavior could be explained by the person's motive. Therefore behavior occurs for a reason, and the three main behavior shaping techniques are positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment.

Cognitive perspective
This perspective revolves around the notion that if we want to know what makes people think then the way to do it is to figure out what processes are actually going on in their minds. In other words, psychologists from this perspective study cognition which is the mental act or process by which knowledge is acquired.

The cognitive perspective is concerned with mental functions such as memory, perception, attention etc. It views people as being similar to computers in the way we process information. For example, both human brains and computers process information, store data and have input and output procedures. This had led cognitive psychologists to explain that memory comprises of three stages: encoding (where information is received and attended to), storage (where the information is retained) and retrieval (where the information is recollected). It is an extremely scientific approach and typically uses lab experiments to study human behavior. The cognitive approach has many applications including cognitive therapy and eyewitness testimony. The early laboratories, through experiments, explored areas such as memory and sensory perception, both of which Wundt believed to be closely related to physiological processes in the brain. The whole movement had evolved from the early philosophers, such as Aristotle and Plato. Today this approach is known as cognitive psychology.

Humanistic perception
This is a psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole person. Humanistic psychologists look at human behavior not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving. Humanistic psychologists believe that an individual's behavior is connected to his inner feelings and self-image. The humanistic perspective is centered on Carl Rogers view that each person is unique and individual and has t he free will to change at any time in his or her lives. The humanistic perspective suggests that we are each responsible for our own happiness and well-being as humans. We have the inborn (i.e. inborn) capacity for self-actualization which is our unique desire to achieve our highest potential as people. Because of this focus on the person and his or her personal experiences and subjective perception of the world the humanists regarded scientific methods as inappropriate for studying behavior. Two of the most influential and enduring theories in humanistic psychology that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s are those of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

M2 Technique used for social influence

Social influence is the change in behavior that one person causes in another, intentionally or unintentionally, as a result of the way the changed person perceives themselves in relationship to the influencer, other people and society in general. Its a change in an individuals thoughts, feeling, attitudes, or behaviors. Here well discuss two types of social change;

Conformity Compliance

Conformity
Is a change in behavior due to the real or imagined influence of others. It is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. Furthermore, conformity changing how you behave to be more likes others. This plays to belonging and esteem needs as we seek the approval and friendship of others. Conformity can run very deep, as we will even change our beliefs and values to be like those of our peers and admired superiors.

The factors that influence conformity

Situational factors tend to look at how the specific environment one is in influences how one behaves. This does not take into consideration the personality of one individual's being, nor the culture of that the individual has been raised in and participates in. Situational factors are a matter of observation and the repetition of what is observed. For example, one who walks into a dance floor where no one has yet started dancing, situational factors would suggest to an individual walking into the dance floor not to dance because that would be considered nonconforming. Regardless of the purpose of having a dance it is not uncommon to walk in early to a high school dance and see no one dancing. This is because no one has seen it to be a conforming behavior to dance. Other applications may include imitating the posture of others in a room or imitating the dress style of others in a town. Another common illustration of situational conformity is that of eating food at a potluck or family get together. Seeing other people eat makes you want to eat due to conformity. Also applicable, is watching babies in social situations conforming by laughing when everyone else laughs at a joke. Perhaps the baby will not recall or understand the humor; however, the baby will laugh. This is all due to situational social conformity. Individual factors that influence social conformity are much different. They focus more on the likely hood of certain personality types to conform to what others in the room are doing. For example, an introverted type is likely to conform when faced to, again the dance example. If there is no one dancing the introverted type is likely not to dance. It is surprising that an introverted type would even enjoy a dance at all seen there is much external stimulation. However an extraverted personality is much more likely to seek attention. They are likely to start dancing as a way to draw attention to them. From this point, introverted types may start joining in seeing that it is acceptable to dance.

The factors that influence compliance

Compliance is defined as responding favorably to the request asked by others.

Ingratiation
One common tactic is ingratiation. A person attempts to influence others by first agreeing with them and getting them to like him/her. Next, various requests are made. You would be using ingratiation if you agreed with target people to appear similar or to make them feel good, made yourself look attractive, paid compliments, dropped names of those held in high esteem or physically touched target people.

Foot-in-the-door tactic
The food-in-the-door tactic is based on the notion that if you get someone to agree to a small request, the person will later be more willing to comply with a large request. Some telephone salespeople use this approach. At first they might ask you to answer just a few questions for a small survey that we are doing and then entice you to join the hundreds of others in you r area who subscribe to their product.

The door-in-the face tactic

What happens if an attempt to get a foot in the door fails? Common sense suggests that this should reduce the likelihood of future compliance. Surprisingly, the opposite strategy, the doorin-the-face tactic, can prove successful. Here a person is asked a large favor first and a small request second. Politicians especially are masters of this art. To illustrate, say that the government warns you that student fees will go up 300 per cent. Are you angry? Later, however, it announces officially that the increase will only be 75 per cent the actual figure planned. You probably feel relieved and think thats not so bad. And consequently are more accepting.

The low-ball tactic

The other technique used in similar situations is the low-ball tactic. Here the influencer changes the rules halfway and manages to get away with it. Its effectiveness depends on inducing the customer to agree to a request before revealing certain hidden costs. It is based on the principle that once people are committed to an action, they are more likely to accept a slight increase in the cost of that action. A common example of low-balling is when someone asks Could you do me a favor? and you agree before actually knowing what will be expected of you.

Priming
Priming is when various stimuli (sights, tastes, smells) automatically trigger thoughts of similar stimuli. The key is to find some kind of neutral stimulus that is clearly related to your product.

Reciprocity Principle
Use of the reciprocity principle is another tactic, based on the social norm that we should treat others the way they treat us. If we do others a favor, they feel obliged to reciprocate. Regan

(1971) showed that greater compliance was obtained from people who had previously received a favor than from those who had received none.

M3
Keeping in mind the organization under study both quantitative and qualitative methodologies have their advantages and disadvantages. If we use the quantitative methodology in conducting research on Peshawar pipe mills it will include methods such as close ended questionnaires which can be very useful as it doesnt require much time or money and will produce an exact reflection of what the workforce keep or think about certain situation. The downfall however rises when we have to select the questions that will be asked and might miss a few key points that dint cross their mind while making the questionnaire. We must also take it into account that over 80% of the workforce as labor intensive, out of which most of them are illiterate and will not be able to answer the questionnaire that will jeopardize the research that we conducted. If we conduct our research using the qualitative methodology we might overcome some of the issues that would be raised if we had used the quantitative methodology. Considering the low literacy rate of the work force at Peshawar pipe mills we should use the sampling method and choose a few people from corporate, management, supervisors and labor force that should be unbiased and have the ability to speak for their respective batches for example for the labor force we can choose the head of the labor union who knows and understands each and every individual and his trusted by all as he had been selected unanimously by the labor force. We can then have structured and unstructured interviews with the sample which will give us valid and useful data. But the downfall to these methods would be that the data might not be reliable enough as judging the samples to be biased or not might not be possible. The other key factor would be that with this method the samples conversation might be influenced by the fact they were no longer anonymous and might not be able to speak up on certain sensitive issues in fear of losing their jobs. On another note such methods are too much time consuming and costly.

D1
Judging by the situation that Mr. Habib Shah had explained to us, we concluded that the organization does not have the much needed expertise in business psychology nor do they consult the respective firms for the help, but judging the actions that Mr. Habib took, when faced with behavioral issues with the workforce we can say that he used the behavioristic approach with the operant conditioning using positive punishment which proved to highly effective. This theory was given by B.F Skinner in 1938 which coins the term operant

conditioning which means roughly changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response.

D2
Some of the various research methods and different workgroups were briefly explained above. The advantages and disadvantages of the different research methodologies in contrast to the labor force were also discussed above. We are now left with the following workgroups; Corporate management supervisors

Corporate
To conduct research on the corporate personnel of any organization a researcher needs to use the qualitative methodology as they are not in high numbers and hold the key information of the organization its weaknesses, strengths, secrets etc. which will be very usefull for any researcher but has to be retrieved very carefully. The researcher needs to start off with the subjects so that they may feel secure and disclose the actual information rather than a cover up data. They should use unstructured interviews to gather as much information as they can.

Management
We need to keep in mind that the management team are usually very busy people and do not like to speak up about any problems within the organization, in fear of losing their jobs if any senior member is offended or unpleased with his remarks. For them, quantitave research methodology is much suitable as they do not hold much information but mostly deal with the day to day running of the business so, close ended questionnaires would be a great choice for them as they do not take much time and are a cheap source of extracting data. It should be conducted anonymously which wouldnt be a problem with the questionnaires.

Supervisors
The supervisors mostly deal with the labor force and most of the issues that are raised with the work group are unexpected behavioral issues. We recommend using the qualitative methodology in this case with covert participant observation which is much time consuming and costly but this method would unveil and allocate the exact people and their problems that start the conflicts in the first place. The research would also identify any problems with the labor force. Once resolved the production line in the given organization would run much smoothly and a well-motivated workforce is shown to increase turnover which will more than make up for the time and money spent on the research.