Question

How can the following social psychological concepts can be applied to understand a company's issues (employee issues mainly) and to enhance performance and productivity?

a) Persuasion and changing attitudes

b) Social cognition or "understanding others"

c) Social influence and its various types (conformity, compliance, obedience)

Note: this question is about attitudes and social influence. Also please provide examples. please note the employees in the company have lot of behavioural problems, work related attitude, low motivation and job satisfaction increased absenteeism and tardiness, poor work performance, elevated stress and conflict. I would appreciated if you could answer this question by highlighting these.

would also be much appreciated if you could add one reference (with intext citation) from a reliable source (please provide the link too)

Answer 1

Persuasion and changing attitudes:

Social psychologists have documented how the power of the situation can influence our behaviours. Now, attitude is our evaluation of a person, an idea, or an object and can be classified as favourable or unfavourable. For example, you may hold a positive attitude towards recycling which results in positive feelings through self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement. Certainly, this attitude is reflected in our behaviour, and we try and recycle as often as possible. Thus, our attitudes are not only controlled by external forces but internal as well. A similar approach can be used in a company in order to change the unfavourable attitudes of its employees to a favourable one by understanding their viewpoints and taking collective steps to solve their problems and apprehensions.

Social cognition:

This process deals with how people process, store and apply information about other people. The way we think about others plays a major role in how we think, feel, and interact with the world around us. It also involves the study of these mental processes that are involved in perceiving, remembering and attending to other people in our social world. For example, when we are getting ready to sit for an interview, not only do we worry about the signals we are sending out to the panel, but are also concerned with interpreting the signals given by the questioner. Similarly, in a corporate scenario we need be wise and considerate towards the signals we are emanating and more importantly, we must be able to comprehend the feelings and vibes portrayed by our colleagues in order to develop an amicable and efficient environment.

Social influence:

Social influence refers to the way in which individuals change their behaviour to meet the demands of a social environment.

Conformity- This type of social influence involves a change in belief or behaviour in order to fit within a group. Peer and group pressure may take different forms like persuasion and constructive criticism, which when interpreted correctly often leads to maturity and growth in office scenarios.

Compliance- This type involves an individual to do what someone else wants them to do, following his or her request, suggestion or order. When the authoritative figure is knowledgeable, just and a visionary it serves in our best interest to comply with their wishes.

Obedience- Similar to compliance, an individual acts in response to a direct order from another individual, who is usually an authority figure. Generally, the individual would not have acted in a particular fashion if he/she had not been instructed to do so. The instructions serve as a guided path by the chief, and once obeyed, only help us advance in our careers.