Business Psychology, the Science of Understanding, Predicting and Influencing Human Behavior at Work
View(s):Business & Psychology in Sri Lanka
In Sri Lankan corporate sector, Psychology still does not enjoy the same degree of popularity, acceptance and attention that it receives in the other parts of the world, but the use of psychological theories, models and testing in business is slowly but steadily increasing in Sri Lanka. Similar to any other concept, this is also an example of the process of evolution seen in any field. Sri Lankan corporate sector has grown and developed to the level that it now should go beyond mere observation and imitation and come to the level of observation, understanding and application.
For example, most of the practices and strategies recommended at work palaces are based on the fact that these practices and strategies have found to be successful in other organisations. In other words, this is an observation of successful strategies and practices of others and replicating them at your workplace. Unfortunately this process has not achieved the success it anticipated and organisations have resorted to testing one strategy after the other on trial and error /success basis, resulting in significant loss of money, effort and time.
In analysing why such methods fail, the answer is obvious. No two organisations are alike. Even two branches of the same company could be very different in terms of the people who work, cultural and sub cultural norms, clientele and other various factors. Thus applying what works in one place to another is not better than resorting to probability or intuition.
Not “what works” but “Why it works”
What we should do is to understand the underlying mechanisms of a successful strategy or a practice to identify the reasons behind its success. Once we have identified the key underlying factors that lead to its success, we are able to come up with a strategy that is suitable for the setting that we need to have the same success. Thereby not focusing on “what worked for them’’ but “why it worked for them”. This would prevent blind imitation of practices that could lead to disastrous results, but application of proven mechanisms with the understanding of the core factors that lead to success.
Some of us are born with the ability to analyze and understand these processes and some of us would gain such skills and expertise over time as a result of working in the field and working with people for so many years. But what about the others? Majority of us would fall in to the category where our main strength is not analyzing and understanding human behaviour nor we have worked for so many years to gain such skill through experience.
Expertise and Experience
When you sit in an audience of a speech of a successful business leader what amazes you is either his or her natural skills or the skills gained through years of experience. If you are not born with a skill, or you can’t wait till you gain it through experience, the best option is to learn how to do it. This is where a professional and a credible source of learning could give you the advantage you need, still being young.
If one analyzes and summarizes what all of us do in business, it could be simplified to understand, predict and influence people. When we say we are providing leadership, motivating staff, improving job satisfaction, advertising, branding, forecasting or for that matter of anything is business, we simply try to predict and influence people. But we would know how to influence them, Only if we can predict their behaviours, We would be able to understand and analyze them.
This is where our knowledge of human behaviour could be, put to good use. Like I mentioned above some are naturally gifted with the ability to do so and some may learn these to a certain degree through experience. But the way to gain these expertise for others is to obtain these skills through learning.
Business Psychology
Business Psychology is a field of study in which such skills could be learnt. If someone’s interested in receiving a broad view and an understanding of human behaviour and thinking they may need to study psychology in depth, but the essential aspects of human behaviour needed for work setting could be covered to a certain degree through business psychology programs. But the important thing is these programs shall not be done with the aim of gathering paper qualifications or titles, unless you are enthusiastic and truly interested in psychology and therefore properly engage in the process of learning, your knowledge of human behaviour would not be much different at the end of the programme compared to the beginning of the programme.
Psychology is for everyone, for everyone who is observant, analytical and curious.
If you are interested in becoming a professional in Business & organisational psychology by studying the Master Practitioner in Business & Organisational Psychology offered by CIIHE School of Psychology, please contact one of the student advisors by calling 0112 50 70 71 or 72 for more information. If you think you need to talk to a lecturer for better understanding they will arrange an appointment for you.