Occupational psychology is a professional discipline, basically a science which relates to the understanding of the psychology of human behaviour at work and covers a range of areas among which Training and Development plays a major role.
If you are a training manager or planning to enter the field of Training and Development, then knowledge in Occupational Psychology will help you immensely as it can broaden your understanding and critical thinking and aid you in identifying effective conditions for learning and the way learning can be evaluated. It provides a comprehensive understanding of human and organizational behaviour. Knowledge in occupational psychology or applying theories of occupational psychology into a training program gives a new dimension to employee training as this helps to acquire an overall perspective of working life as well as gain insights into areas such as leadership, talent management, performance appraisal and organisational culture & development.
Occupational Psychology keeps you one step ahead of your peers
When you have a better and broader perspective of organizational work culture and the challenges faced by the employees, planning and conducting a training session becomes effective as you are better equipped to identify the root cause of the problem and offer a better diagnosis. A stronger understanding of behaviour in the workplace will always keep you one step ahead of your peers. It is not only the organization but the people working within it who get benefits from occupational psychology. This particular discipline is gaining strong grounds as there has been a considerable growth of interest in the psychological well-being of employees and the relationship between the psychological well-being and the performance. This definitely helps to pinpoint the problem and address issues which can bring immediate and effective results.
Occupational psychology smoothens the road to behaviour transformation
Many of the concepts and principles of occupational psychology, such as motivation theories and the benefits of psychometrics, have wide acceptance in the field of training and development. Enhancing your knowledge of psychology will broaden your thinking and provide your training with that much needed personal touch. Employee attitude and the factors impacting positive or negative behaviour at work lay the foundation for training and development. As a training specialist, you need to study your participants carefully before you take them on a learning journey. Occupational psychology smoothens the road to behaviour transformation of employees, while motivating them to walk that extra mile. Training employees, developing job performance standards, and measuring job performance take a whole new meaning if you, as a training specialist or an L&D practitioner, bank upon occupational psychology.
Individualized focus takes centre stage
Occupational psychology encourages training and development practitioners to focus on the individual during training and not apply one-size-fits-all training designs which may fail to meet the objectives and expectations because individual thoughts, emotions and subconscious habitual behaviours vary from person to person. Therefore, understanding human behaviour and recognizing the right approach are the main ingredients of training and development success a growth of interest in psychological well- being and increased interest in the relationships between well-being and performance.
Written By : Dr Sanjib Chakraborty