Introduction
The purpose for this paper is to examine the efficacy of one theory of work psychology, examining its conceptual and empirical value. Any theory of work psychology must have the following elements: it must identify the specific behaviors/emotions required, how this behaviors/emotions should be exhibited, affecting situational factors, consequences of behaviors/emotions, relevant feedback reinforcing the behaviors/emotions (Arnold et al., 1995, p. 5). Systems psychology is the chosen theory. Systems psychology has roots in physiological, experimental, general, individual, and social psychology, as well as in physiology, the other social sciences, engineering, the computer and information sciences, and mathematics (De Green, 1982, p. 31). It lends itself well to the work environment because it studies the effects of human behavior in complex systems.
Background
Systems Theory
Conceptual analysis
Empirical analysis
Conclusion
References
Abbott, K 1996, The Interfaces between Flightcrews and Modern Flight Deck Systems, Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, DC.
Arnold, J, Cooper, CL, and Robertson, IT 1995, Work Psychology: Understanding Human Behaviour in the Workplace, 2nd Ed., Pitman Publishing, London.
Ash, MG 1992, ‘Cultural Contexts and Scientific Change in Psychology: Kurt Lewin in Iowa’, American Psychologist, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 198-207.
Beer, M and Huse, EF 1972, ‘A Systems Approach to Organization Development’, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 79-101.
Billings, RS and Wroten, SP 1978, ‘Use of Path Analysis in Industrial/Organizational Psychology: Criticisms and Suggestions’, Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 677-688.
Brann, DMT and Mitchell, CM 1995, ‘Case-Based Reasoning as a Methodology for Accumulating Human Expertise for Discrete System Control, Proceedings of the 1995 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, pp. 4219-4223, Vancouver, BC.
Brown, MY 2011, Psychosynthesis – A “Systems” Psychology? Viewed 4 May 2011
Campbell, G 1998, When Opportunity Knocks, Cognitive Times, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 2-3.
Campion, MA and Lord, RG 1982, ‘A Control Systems Conceptualization of the Goal-Setting and Changing Process’, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 265-287.
Cardosi, KM and Murphy, ED (eds.) 1995, Human Factors in the Design and Evaluation of Air Traffic Control Systems, National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA.
Carroll, JM 1997, ‘Human-Computer Interaction: Psychology as a Science of Design’, Annual Review of Psychology, vol. 48.
Chapanis, A. 1967, Applied Experimental Psychology: Human Factors in Engineering Design, New York, Wiley.
Christensen, JM 1964, The Emerging Role of Engineering Psychology, Technical Report AMRL TR-64-88, Aerospace Medical Research Laboratories, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH.
Coan, RW 1968, ‘Dimensions of Psychological Theory’, American Psychologist, vol. 23, no. 10, pp. 715-722.
Crow, J, Javaux, D and Rusby, J 2000, ‘Models and Mechanized Methods that Integrate Human Factors into Automation Design’, Paper presented at International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction in Aeronautics, Toulouse, France.
Cuevas, HM, Fiore, SM, Salas, E and Bowers, CA 2004, ‘Virtual Teams as Sociotechnical Systems’, Idea Group, pp. 1-19.
De Green, KB 1982, The Adaptive Organization: Anticipation and Management of Crisis, John Wiley, New York.
El Emam, K, Quintin, S, and Madhavji, NH 1996, ‘User Participation in the Requirements Engineering Process: An Empirical Study’, Requirements Engineering, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 4-26.
Forrester, JW 1961, Industrial Dynamics, Pegasus Communications, Riverside, CA.
Herrmann, T 2009, ‘Design Heuristics for Computer Supported Collaborative Creativity’, Paper presented to the 42nd Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences, Waikoloa, HI.
Hunt, JG and Ropo, A 2003, ‘Longitudinal Organizational Research and the Third Scientific Discipline’, Group O
