Psychology in Business 2600-BM-PIB
1. Why is psychological knowledge necessary for managers?
• How do we acquire scientific knowledge in social sciences (management, psychology, economics)? Types of scientific reports - which can we trust? Correlational and experimental studies.
• External validity (generalizing results obtained in studies to the population) and internal validity (reasoning about causal relationships).
• Methods for diagnosing employees (including personality, temperament diagnosis)
• What is the significance of psychological knowledge in human resource management, organizational behaviors, and consumer behavior in the market?
2. Cognitive functioning of humans - significance for decision-making in management
• How do our minds function? Cognitive categories. Associative networks: Activation of connections - the screen of consciousness and working memory. The effect of cognitive resource limitations and competition for free cognitive resources. The role of the content of working memory. Automatic and controlled processes. Activation of cognitive schemas/representations.
• Decision-making and cognitive errors in management. Effects of primacy, recency, anchoring, confirmation, inertia, premature activation. Asymmetry of activation and deactivation processes. Framing effect: assimilation vs contrast.
• Consequences of discussed issues for decision-making in management and in the market.
3. Emotional functioning, building emotional intelligence and workplace stress
• Types of emotional responses: sthenic and asthenic emotions; feelings, sensations, and moods; endo- and exocentric emotions; descriptive opinions, evaluations: evaluative vs emotional.
• Can I trust what I feel? Physiological arousal. The role of the interpretation of physiological arousal. The effect of misinterpretation of arousal. Emotional contagion. Arousal transfer effect. Affective attractors - positive-negative asymmetry: Positive inclination. Informational vs affective negativity effect.
• Dynamics of emotional responses: perseverance; effects: exposure, novelty, habituation/adaptation/saturation. Self-esteem as a fundamental endocentric emotion.
• Emotional intelligence and its significance for leading people
• The significance of emotions in consumer decision-making and management.
4. Personality and individual diffrences
• Personality assessment in organizational settings
• The impact of individual differences on work performance and team dynamics.
5. Behavioral functioning of humans – how to act more effectively?
• Planning one’s actions. Focusing on explaining one's own behavior (causes vs consequences).
• Processing information about self and others - fundamental attribution error.
• Motivation - basic issues; cognitive dissonance; reflective vs unreflective behaviors: habitual and impulsive.
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Term 2024Z:
1. Why is psychological knowledge necessary for managers? Total Hours - Student Workload (4 ECTS - 100 hours): |
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Upon completing the course, the student:
In terms of knowledge:
• characterizes different methods and types of variables in research related to the field of business psychology (K_W01)
• provides examples of the use of methods for diagnosing employees (personality, temperament) in the practice of human resource management (K_W02)
In terms of skills:
• identifies phenomena related to emotional arousal (e.g., the misattribution of arousal) and their impact on organizational relationships (K_U02).
• identifies automatic and controlled processes and the activation of cognitive schemas in the context of managing people (K_U02).
• classifies the role of emotions in consumer decision-making and organizational management, considering the dynamics of emotional responses (e.g., the exposure effect, habituation) (K_U02).
• analyzes human cognitive functioning, including the limitations of cognitive resources and their impact on decision-making in management (K_U05).
• collaborates in a team to propose solutions to selected business cases (K_K07).
In terms of social competencies:
• critically evaluates published scientific research, considering aspects such as internal and external validity and measurement related to the functioning of organizations in the market, sector, and the entire economy in relation to the psychological functioning of humans (K_K02)
Assessment criteria
Activities during exercises and discussions - 20% of the grade, preparation and presentation of projects - 20% of the grade, attendance in classes - 20% of the grade, final test - 40% of the grade.
Bibliography
• McKenna, E. (2020). Business psychology and organizational behaviour. Routledge.
• Myers, D. G., De Wal C. N., Gruber J. (2024). Psychology. Worth publishers.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: