Summary A-Levels Psychology (A2) notes- Organisations, 4. Organisational Work Conditions
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Psychology (9990)
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Cambridge International AS and A Level Psychology Coursebook
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A2 Psychology: Organisations
Organisational Work Conditions: Physical & Psychological work
conditions (Pt 1)
There are 2 ways of viewing the effect of work condition on workers:
1. Conditions are a given (can’t be changed)
o The individual worker is expected to adapt or put up with these conditions
o Will select those few individuals who are most compatible with the environment
2. Workers are constant
o The environment needs to adapt to the worker
o In the past, mechanical engineers had little concern for the welfare of workers. Now,
human capacities and limitations are catalogued- physical and psychological
environments are shaped to suit their needs
1. Physical work conditions
Aspects of physical work conditions include:
Illumination Temperature
o Lighting levels need to be appropriate o Some jobs require workers to work in
depending on the nature of the task extreme temperatures, but in offices it
o Lighting also involves glare from devices should be moderate
which could cause eyesight problems o This is not so straightforward though-
▪ To reduce glare, indirect lighting or different individuals could have
protective glasses could be worn different preferences, humidity,
airflow and area size could also affect
o It was found that raising room
humidity significantly decreases
worker performance
Noise Motion
o Loud noise may be unavoidable (like o Some workers experience extreme
construction sites), but ear protectors motion (like vibration from machinery)
can and need to be worn ▪ This can have long term effects on
o Prolonged exposure to high levels of their ability to hold things
noise can have physical and psychological
effects (hearing loss, detrimental to
cognitive tasks)
1
Notes compiled by: Chew Wen Min
,The Hawthorne Studies (Wikstrom & Bendix, 2000)
Hawthorne Effect- When people know they are taking part in a study and change their behaviour as
a result of being observed
▪ Unlike demand characteristics, where pp are aware that they are changing their behaviour,
pp affected by the Hawthorn effect may not even be aware that their behaviour is changing
due to the observation
▪ Any behavioural change then is due to this effect, not the IV
Aim: To test the effects of lighting on staff productivity
Sample: Workers from The Hawthorne Plant, Chicago, USA in the 1920’s
▪ Both groups increased in productivity (inspecting parts, assembling relays or winding coils)
o Productivity in the exp group only started to decline when their illumination was so
dim it resembled moonlight
Conclusion:
▪ It was assumed that workers worked better because they knew they were in a study
Criticisms of the original study:
1. There could have been other factors that affected productivity during the study:
2. Relief from harsh supervisor
3. (+) attention for their work
4. Rest pauses
5. Higher income- Paid based on the outcome of the experiment
6. Thinking they may be influencing work procedures- they were consulted at each stage of the
experiment
Thus, the studies contained so many uncontrolled variables in became impossible to determine a
causal relationship
Evaluations (Hawthorne):
• Field experiment
o High ecological validity
o Low controls- too many extraneous variables, can’t form a causal relationship
• Reliable results
o Repeated the study with other possible environmental variables (eg. Break time) but
obtained similar results
• Low generalisability
o Conducted during the Great Depression- threat of losing one’s job may have made them
work harder
2
Notes compiled by: Chew Wen Min
, 2. Psychological work conditions
Bullying- When someone is systematically subjected to aggressive behaviour from 1 or more
colleagues/superiors over a long period of time. The target finds it difficult to defend
themselves/escape the situation
2 main features:
• Repeated- more than once over a period of time
• Bully intends and victim perceives acts to be hostile
s
Bullying at Work (Einarsen, 1999)
-Einarsen’s paper examined 4 things:
1) 5 types of bullying behaviour
1. Work-related bullying
2. Social isolation
3. Personal attacks
4. Physical violence
5. Verbal threats
• Some of these behaviours (like joking, choosing certain employees to form a new project
group), are fairly common in everyday life, so what is considered bullying then?
- Frequency of the actions
- Power differences- can be real/perceived, superiors are bullies in many cases
- Inescapable interactions/situations where one cannot defend themselves
- Victim perceives actions to be hostile
2) 4 phases of bullying
These phases tend to develop gradually:
1. Aggressive behaviour
a. Begins rather subtly
2. Bullying
a. Aggression becomes more often, direct & frequent
b. Victims struggle to defend themselves
3. Stigmatisation
a. Preying on the inadequacies of the victim’s personality
b. Prejudice forms, tend to treat victim as a problem
4. Severe trauma
a. Likened to PTSD
3
Notes compiled by: Chew Wen Min
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