China has rich thoughts of management psychology since ancient times. For example, Sun Wu, a strategist at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, wrote in Sun Tzu's Art of War: "A Taoist can make the people agree with him, so he can die with him and live with him without fear of danger." Sun Wu emphasized the importance of coordination between leaders and subordinates, which is also a very important principle of management psychology today.
China's ancient management philosophy is fully embodied in the debate about human nature. Xunzi believes that "the master's nature is today, hunger is full, cold is warm, fatigue is resting, and this person's temperament is also" ("Xunzi's evil nature"). Mencius believed that "human nature is good as water." China's thought of ancient management psychology has been widely valued by management psychologists, and China's ancient books have also become a must-read for training managers in some countries.
However, the emergence and development of management psychology is closely related to modern mass production. At the end of 19, capitalism was developed, production scale was expanding day by day, and enterprise management was more complicated. Labor organization and reasonable arrangement have also been put on the scientific research agenda. At this time, the School of Scientific Management appeared, represented by Taylor. Taylor focused on the rationalization of workers' operation, but he regarded people as economic men and ignored their sociality.
World War I promoted the development of management psychology, and all participating countries tried to use psychological principles to improve management, increase production and serve the war. For example, formulate methods for personnel selection and training, study the most effective organizational form, and adjust the relationship between workers and managers.
After the war, the development of industrial production raised some new problems, such as the role of social factors in production. A group of experts, led by social psychologist Mayo, conducted Hawthorne experiments and put forward the idea of "social man". In their view, material stimulation alone cannot guarantee to mobilize the enthusiasm of workers. Good interpersonal relationships and favorable social conditions are more closely related to work efficiency. In addition, they also put forward the role of informal organizations in groups.
The development of engineering psychology in World War II emphasized the study of man-machine relationship, and also put forward the problem of solving the relationship between people and organizations. After the war, many scholars summed up the wartime experience and thought it necessary to establish a comprehensive science to study human behavior, and thought that people and society, people and production can be considered in a unified way. Therefore, the name "behavioral science" was put forward at a seminar of the University of Chicago in the United States from 65438 to 0949. Later, the Ford Foundation of the United States gave financial support. Many universities have carried out research on behavioral science and published journals on behavioral science.
Because the name of behavioral science is too broad, some people include behavioral research and animal behavior research in medicine, which can't highlight the work related to production management. Therefore, many units and experts later adopted the name of organizational behavior or organizational psychology, especially the study of individual and group behavior in an organization. In China, the name of management psychology is often used.
Management psychology mainly studies the individual characteristics of people related to organizational behavior, such as motivation, ability and sexual orientation. Group characteristics of people, such as the classification of groups and the interaction between people and organizations; Characteristics of leadership behavior, such as leadership style, leadership evaluation and training. Organizational theory and organizational change, such as organizational model, organizational change and organizational development research; The research on the quality of working life focuses on improving the working environment, enriching and expanding the work, in order to mobilize the enthusiasm of employees and improve productivity; Cross-cultural management psychology compares the similarities and differences of management behaviors in different regions, countries, social systems and cultural backgrounds, and provides scientific basis for international economic exchanges and cooperative enterprises.
In terms of research methods, management psychology does not have a universal method to solve all problems. Mainly based on the research methods of psychology and sociology, such as observation, interview, questionnaire, case analysis, quasi-experimental research, social investigation, public opinion survey and so on. Combined with management practice, according to different situations and problems, appropriate methods are adopted to make the solution of problems have an objective and scientific basis.
Organizational behavior in western countries is mainly used in the study of human resources, such as selecting employees by test or evaluating leaders by evaluation center method; The expert group helps enterprises to improve their self-improvement ability and drives various organizations to carry out reforms; The application of decision theory, such as assisting large enterprises to approve major projects and business strategies. Adopting decision-making meeting mode, under the guidance of experts, using electronic computers and special decision-making software, the decision-making process can be greatly accelerated and the quality of decision-making can be improved; Research on the quality of work and life, such as formulating a more perfect working class system, preventing accidents and reducing work pressure.
Other branches of psychology
Overview of psychology, comparative psychology, instigation psychology, dynamic psychology, structural psychology, functional psychology, theoretical psychology, general psychology, cognitive psychology, behavioral psychology, conation psychology, psychological statistics, developmental psychology, lifelong development psychology, children's psychology, youth psychology, adult psychology, geriatric psychology, gestalt psychology (gestalt psychology), industrial psychology, management psychology, labor psychology, engineering psychology. Personnel psychology, consumer psychology, medical psychology, abnormal psychology, neuropsychology, physiological psychology, consulting psychology, health psychology, physiological psychology, educational psychology, social psychology, applied social psychology, mathematical psychology, topological psychology and sports psychology.