Introduction
The scientific study of people working in a particular setting is referred to as industrial or organisational psychology (Kieffer, 2008).
Although different authors have come up with different definitions, the focus of this paper will be based on the interaction between an individual and the working environment in relation to job performance. In other words, the researcher will look at how the job environment affects performance on the part of the employee.
Problems arising at the work place should be addressed using the appropriate psychological point of view (Sundstrom et al., 2000). This exercise is meant to improve the working environment of every employee in any job setting.
The welfare of the workers should be taken into consideration when analyzing the working environment in a given organisation. Problems arising in the work place as a result of deviation from the norms affect performance.
Industrial psychologists have suggested various ways to improve performance in such cases. This includes offering feedback, training, imparting appropriate attitudes towards job among many others.
Industrial and organisational psychology as a discipline scrutinizes the environment within which the employee operates and how it affects job performance. This includes other relevant aspects such as job satisfaction, motivation, health and any other related behaviour.
This is to make sure that every employee in that environment is working towards achieving a common goal in the organisation. If suitable working conditions are not met, the employee will be hindered from attaining better results hence poor job performance (Kieffer, 2004).
Literature Review
Psychological Wellbeing and Job Performance
The author of this paper has introduced the reader to the concept of industrial and organisational psychology. Definition of the concept has been provided and also reasons as to why this concept is important in any working condition.
We have also seen the possibility of performance being affected negatively by problems experienced by the workforce. In an attempt to address this issue critically, there is need to examine what others have done in solving or improving the same.
Different studies have addressed this area. This is for instance studies on job satisfaction. This is what workers do while in the workplace and it is defined by the organizational goals (Vianen & Dreu, 2001). To improve performance, researchers have tried to come up with a common empirical approach.
All tasks therefore need to be defined through a common job analysis strategy which is effective in drawing conclusions across the continuum (Wageman & Baker, 2007). The performance strategy has been categorized into two broad areas. These are technical issues applied on the job and the issues applied on the worker.
This is for example communication skills and level of competence. Factors revolving around this phenomenon inform that the performance of a particular task is determined by both the employee and the management. This was a challenge addressed by Campbell who initiated a different model of performance which looked at the in-role as well as the extra role performance (Kanayama et al., 2008).
Performance at the workplace should be addressed using valid and adequate measures since a minor mistake may compromise the whole process.
When determining causes of poor performance the error must be spotted in advance. These are some of the areas that are not taken into considerations hence making the performance analysis invalid. For example behaviours that trigger poor performance must be adequately defined (Salgado, 1998).
Factors that determine performance at the workplace can be linked to Campbell’s model of job performance. The model emphasises the personal factors and the surrounding environment. It requires the use of knowledge when interacting with existing environment while performing a particular task.
Adequate performance will be determined by the kind of environment that existed prior to the work done as well the current state of the worker (Wageman & Baker, 2007). In other cases the employee may have little knowledge but if the persisting environment is adequate, the level of performance will be high.
On the contrary, if a particular worker has high calibre skills but the environment is not supportive, the level of performance will automatically be low (Vianen & Dreu, 2001). This is from a psychological point of view.
Psychological Wellbeing and Job Performance: Independent and Dependent Variables
Overview
The author is now going to discuss why psychological wellbeing is an important aspect in the work place. Here we will try to see the relationship between work and psychological wellbeing. The dependent variable in this case is job performance. The independent variable is psychological wellbeing which is itself affected by several other variables. These variables are analysed below:
Job Analysis
In the job analysis, adequate information is gathered in reference to the task to be performed. This is the main area that involves the employee as well as the management personnel. The strategies employed in job analysis include skills needed for the task and how successful a worker accomplishes the task.
From the job analysis important information is gathered which will help in the implementation of various strategies. For example we can find it important to train or retain the entire workforce, appraisals and many others (Sundstrom et al., 2000).
To this end, psychologists can be invited to perform job analysis for the organisation. In this case, special consideration will be given to individual personality and its effect on the job performance analysed.
Training
After employment, many workers are not quite familiar with all that is required to be done. This calls for training and also retraining especially after new innovations are introduced. Psychologists in this case will apply job analysis so as to create an effective training programme to meet the standards.
To make sure that this is achieved, formative as well as summative evaluations are carried out ((Salgado, 1998). In formative evaluation, psychologists tend to take employees through some specific state of challenges that they feel workers will be exposed to. Doing this in advance will help worker prepare earlier for any forces that will decline their effort in their work place.
Motivation
This is the major focus of industrial and organisational psychologists. In this case, the environment should be structured in such a way that it influences both unproductive and productive workers positively. Arousal, direction and intensity are the major drivers of motivation.
Direction for instance is what the workers follow after setting their own goals. Motivation is also effective in task performance, a strategy which encompasses the patterns emanating from certain behaviours to arrive at a required goal (Kanayama et al., 2008). Motivation in most cases prompts the workers to not only work but also produce better results in the tasks.
This is for example arousal which is one of the mechanisms that drives motivation. Arousal emphasises the motives that initiates action in the workplace. A motivated person will be triggered to perform appropriate actions in job performance.
More so, motivation caters for the needs of the individual. These are for example cognitive and behavioural aspects of the employees. These three aspects ensure that the worker needs are met accordingly and in the long term, job performance will be improved.
Job Performance
The behaviours that individuals engage in during work are referred to as job performance. In this case, employees should manage their efforts to make sure that they perform well. Various evaluation criteria are used to measure the level of a given task performance.
The criteria employed should be accurate so as to achieve reliable results that can be used to advice and implement future plans. For higher levels of performance, the individual should be of sound mind, experienced and most important, exhibit a splendid personality (Kieffer, 2004).
This area is the very sensitive and calls for psychological guidance. In this case, the behaviours of the individuals need to be modified to be in line with job performance.
A good example can be drawn from professional ethics which defines the boundaries of a given discipline. Deviation from this area will mean that we compromise job performance. As a result of this, we realise that psychology will be appropriate to guide and counsel employees for better performance (Wageman & Baker, 2007).
Hypotheses
The hypotheses for this study can be stated as:
Ho: There is no relationship between psychological wellbeing and performance in the workplace
H1: There is a relationship between psychological wellbeing and performance in the workplace
There is enough data and information available to test this hypothesis.
References
Kanayama, N., Sato, A., & Ohira, H. (2008). Dissociative experience and mood-dependent memory. Cognition and Emotion, 22(5): 881-896.
Kieffer, K. M. (2008). Person-environment congruence and personality domains in the prediction of job performance and work quality. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 51(2): 168-177.
Salgado, J. F. (1998). Big five personality dimensions and job performance in army and civil occupation: A European perspective. Human Performance, 6: 271-288.
Sundstrom, E., Meuse, K. P., & Futrell, D. (2000). Work teams: applications and effectiveness. American Psychologist, 45(2): 120–133.
Vianen, A. E & Dreu, C. K. (2001). Personality in teams: Its relationship to social cohesion, task cohesion and team performance. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 10(2): 97–120.
Wageman, R. & Baker, G. (2007). Incentives and cooperation: The joint effects of task and reward interdependence on group performance. Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 18, 139–58.