Organizational Psychology – Role of the Psychologist

“What is Organizational Psychology?”

“What is the role of the psychologist?”

Organizational psychology is the psychology that works in organizations: companies, NGOs, institutions, government. The psychologist’s role in organizations is that of a professional who develops strategies to improve the work environment in general.

If he works in a company, for example, he can contribute to the structuring or restructuring of the company as a whole: from the number of employees to the salary range of each one of them.

It is up to the organizational psychologist to understand the phenomena related to the subject’s life and its context. From the collaborator to the organization.

A simple example: in a certain supermarket, employees who work at the checkout stand all day. Bringing about a simple change like buying chairs suited to performance in the occupation can be one of the functions of psychology within organizations.

Another function, now more common, is the recruitment and selection of personnel. Let’s imagine the same supermarket, which is expanding. With the expansion one hundred new jobs will be offered.

How to hire people for each of the vacancies available?

The psychologist will recruit candidates. Recruiting or recruiting means calling, offering, publicizing vacancies that are open. Disclosure can be in newspapers, internet, radio, among other means.

From the recruitment, appear the candidates who want to work. Now we have another question: how to select, choose the best employee?

Learn more – Recruitment and Selection Course

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The role of personnel selection was one of the first forms of psychology in the early 20th century (1900).

With the growth of the industry, it was necessary to choose the best people for each of the vacancies. And that’s where the idea of ​​professional profile comes up.

Some people are “better” for certain activities. Better in the sense of being faster, more attentive, committed to that function.

In the case of the supermarket cashier: if the company hires a person who is inattentive, dispersed and slow, the function will not be carried out well. While at the cashier next door, 10 purchases passed, at the cashier of the inattentive person, not even two will pass.

To put it another way: each person has a certain talent, a certain personality that will be better performed in a certain job.

Many resumes that arrive at companies do not express in detail the professional, academic and social profile of the candidate, making it necessary to link the data presented in the resume with the verbal and non-verbal communication of the interviewee.

Therefore, the role of the psychologist is extremely important in relating the subject to the job vacancy.

And for that, there are several profile evaluation techniques such as group dynamics, psychological tests and individual interviews, which are important instruments to look for a success rate in hiring the candidate in relation to the expectations and needs of the contractor.

Text: Bruno Ricardo Pereira Almeida and Felipe de Souza

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