INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Instituation
Abstract
Industrial psychology evaluates the individual, group and organizational dynamics in the workplace. Industrial and organizational psychology assess the problems that hinder the operations of the organization and finds solutions that improve an organization’s performance ("Work Culture - Meaning, Importance & Characteristics of a Healthy Culture," 2016). It uses scientific methods to study and evaluate organizations internal processes and how they affect its performance or achievement of its goals. This branch of psychology evaluates how decisions are made within the organization, the mode, and effectiveness of communication within the organization, the interactions of team members and the gives the leadership an opportunity to assess changes, systems, and dynamics of the organizations and its employees. Most organizations assume that their success is dependent on their profitability, they fail to realize that the profitability relies upon having a good product, teamwork, employee motivation, proper training and committed as well as an agreement between employee personal goals and the organization's mission. When evaluating a workplace culture, the leadership should follow a process ("Industrial and Organizational Psychology," 2016). The process starts with the identification the training and development needs of the organization. This step also evaluates the optimization of the quality of work life. It also involves the formulation and implementation of training programs and for assessing the effectiveness of the programs. It also involves the development of criteria to evaluate the performance of individuals and organizations. It also requires the assessment of the consumer needs, preference, satisfaction as well as their feedback.
Introduction
Work culture plays a major role in extracting the best out of employees, according to the environment provided by the organization. It is an important aspect of any organization because it attracts job applicants to the company. A company a good work culture which entails having a clearly stated mission, positive, healthy well-communicated culture. This culture is likely to attract highly qualified and motivated individuals to work for the company. A good job culture allows the engagement and retention of the employees; it creates a work environment that encourages employee engagement. Research shows that a positive work culture fosters employee happiness and satisfaction which are attributed to high employee performance. A healthy work culture within the organization tends to outperform their competitors ("Work Culture - Meaning, Importance & Characteristics of a Healthy Culture", 2016).
Various factors affect the workplace culture, including the mission, the vision and values, policies workplace practices, philosophies, leadership, people, work environment and communications. The way leaders communicate and interact with the employees, or their committee members have a large impact on the member’s performance. The leaders work culture also shapes members work culture ("Industrial and Organizational Psychology", 2016). The systems and management or the organization affects the workplace culture of the Congress or any other organization. The workplace practices within any organization affect the formulation of a work culture. The remuneration, compensation, benefits and workplace traditions as well as the selection and recruitment of human resource contribute to the development of either a positive or a negative work culture. The policies and philosophies of the workplace form part of a work culture. The dress code, code of conduct, scheduling and organizational theories also contribute to the formation of the workplace culture. The clarity of the organization’s mission and vision ensure that executives and employees are aware of what they need to do to accomplish this task. The work environment that is the cooperation and collaboration of the employees is also a factor that affects the workplace culture. The items that employees use to decorate their offices and desks affect how their colleagues view them and as such it affects their professional standing. The frequency, type, and nature of communication within the workplace affect the performance of the organization.
Congress is the law making the body of the nation, it is responsible for the passage of legislation in the constitution. The evaluation of the Congress workplace culture is a complicated matter given that Congress is not a typical organization led by a need to make profits. As such, it requires a modified evaluation plan as opposed to using one that is applied in the assessment of a company (Istook, Frank, & Spalding, 2010). To start with rather than being employed members of Congress are elected through a democratic process while this may be seen as a form of recruitment process it is still a far cry from the hiring process conducted by organizations. To some extent Congress is similar to an organization whereby the members of Congress are state employees and the electioneering processes as the recruitment process. Using this comparison then it is possible to come up with an evaluation method (Istook, Frank, & Spalding, 2010).
The evaluating process will look at the performance of parliament regarding the number of bills passed over a specific amount of time for example on a year, six months or the duration of the congress term. It will look at the debate process of the Congress members and the processes involved in the passage of a new bill; it will look at how colleagues in Congress interact and communicate, and it will watch the performance of various committees formed in Congress (Istook, Frank, & Spalding, 2010). The evaluation will be carried out by examining the Gazette laws, thus far, interviewing Congress members on their views of the management of communication channels within the house. It will evaluate the interactions of the members of congress with each other and how their behavior affects their performance and the performance of their colleagues.
The study showed that there was a lot of time spent on debates on the pros and cons of each project. Although this is a healthy debate, it becomes malicious and time-consuming when the debates are caused by the political divide rather than the merits or demerits of the project. Congress also has a tendency to prolong the implementation of time sensitive plans or authorize updates of equipment that require urgent use. There is a breakdown in the communication of the members and the utilization of the member’s rights to oppose the proposed bills (Istook, Frank, & Spalding, 2010). The culture of voters against bills just to be on the opposite side of the government has led to squabbles and discontentment in members. This demonstrates the amount of influence other members have on the decisions that they make.
Solutions
The history and bureaucracy the supervisory committees sometimes act as a hindrance to good performance in the service of the people. There is a need to provide a work culture for members of the Congress to motivate them to perform their duties as required. It is also important to provide a fixed timeline for the passage of any bill into law. A fixed schedule allows the buyer to keep track of their progress and directs their actions accordingly. There should be a provision in the terms that people can serve as majority leaders or party chairs as well as house committees. There is also need to make the process of choosing committee leaders and members more democratic (Istook, Frank, & Spalding, 2010).
The Congress, which the main lawmaking organ of the government should realize that it is not in competition with the executive branch of the government. Instead, it is a branch of the government, and therefore, the two should work together despite the fact that the presidency of the day maybe from a different party. The members should learn to work together despite being from rivaling parties they should realize that they are representatives of the people, not themselves.
References
Industrial and Organizational Psychology. (2016). Siop.org. Retrieved 3 May 2016, from http://www.siop.org/history/crsppp.aspx
Istook, E., Frank, M., & Spalding, M. (2010). Four Immediate Reforms to Change the Culture of Congress. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 3 May 2016, from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/10/four-immediate-reforms-to-change-the-culture-of-congress
Work Culture - Meaning, Importance & Characterics of a Healthy Culture. (2016). Managementstudyguide.com. Retrieved 3 May 2016, from http://www.managementstudyguide.com/work-culture.htm
