Do Low Wages Affect Job Performance?

Job performance is typically defined as how an employer views the performance by an employee in a particular position of employment. Job performance usually considers such factors as whether or not an employee has—or even can—complete all of their work related responsibilities and duties each workday, the quality of the products or services they are providing, as well as other factors such as how well they interact with other employees or how their attitude improves, or doesn’t improve, the workplace.

There are many factors which have been proven to impact job performance. Personality, illness, abilities, problems at home such as relationship or family problems, as well as relationship problems with other workers in a workplace setting are all factors which are commonly brought up when the subject of an impacted job performance is discussed. However, one factor which is becoming increasingly noticed in the professional world as a factor which does have a noticeable impact on job performance is this: low wages. Although low wages have long been considered a possible factor for job approval—employees, as a rule of thumb, do not approve or enjoy jobs where they are given a low wage—it is only in the past decade that major studies on a low wage’s effect on job performance have been undertaken.

There are three major factors at work when it comes to how low wage can actually affect job performance. These three factors are: anger, stress, and a lowered morale. Stress is commonly experienced by employees with low wages because they are often struggling to make ends meet in their personal life, which means that they must rely on their work to keep them fed and in a house--much less living comfortably or enjoying relaxation or any sort of luxuries. Stress can easily affect an employee and affect their job performance because they often feel frustrated, irritated and depressed over how the low wage is affecting their life.

Anger is another factor of low wages which can impact job performance. If someone believes that they are being paid a low wage and that they deserve more money, they may feel resentful, bitter and angry towards their employer and their job. An angry employee tends to have much lower productivity and even a lower quality of work when compared to employees who are well-paid or employees who, at least, believe that they are being fairly compensated for their work.

Finally, a lower job wage can cause an overall sense of lowered morale in an employee who feels that they are expendable, worthless or otherwise not an asset to the company. Low morale causes a poorer job performance because employees do not feel motivated to produce quality of work and may even feel that their work is pointless.

The key for employers who are hoping to avoid the pitfalls of lower job wages and their impact on employee morale is to ensure that all employees are paid a fair compensation for the work they put into the company. If it is not always possible to give everyone significant raises, other benefits—such as vacation time, company support such as health care or other services—can also lower morale and improve job performance. 

Developmental psychology

During a human’s life there are many changes that take place. These changes are a part of development as a human goes from being a baby up until they are an older adult. During these changes there are different stages that one goes through in order to develop and more on to the next changes. Within psychology there is a branch that is concerned with the development of human life and that is called developmental psychology. Originally it began with the development of infants and then progressed on to include all of the changes that happen throughout a person’s entire life and can also be used for in house training.

Within psychology there are many different branches of psychology that look at different aspects of psychology, but developmental psychology is one of the largest branches of psychology as its importance is high. Because developmental psychology looks at the development of humans this is very interesting to people and it plays a big role in understanding the way in which we grow and mature as individuals. In general developmental psychology covers topics of human development that are based upon motor skill development and psychosocial progress and development along the lifespan of humans. These areas of developmental psychology were created because during life humans encounter many different situations and it is how each individual deals with these that contributes to their personal development along the lifespan and developmental psychology is a way to measure and monitor this.

When we are young we encounter many different and challenging situations which we need to deal with in order to move through life and develop in ourselves. This includes learning our native language and developing social attachments with others around us. These factors are all a part of developmental psychology, as well as our emotional reactions to situations and how we cope with our emotions and different situations. All of these factors also have a lot to do with our personality and how we develop through life.

When an individual encounters an issue or difficult situation it is their cognitive development that defines how they deal with such a problem and how well they cope with it. This is noticeable early on in life and it is the foundation of building one’s self esteem.Dealing with these issues correctly and building self esteem is important for an individual to develop at an appropriate rate throughout life and to be able to cope well with life’s stressors. There are many significant life stages throughout life and having knowledge of these and understanding the changes that occur can help with development as you are prepared for it.

Developmental psychology is not only a branch of its own but it can also be applied to other areas of psychology, such as educational and forensic psychology due to the nature of the knowledge gained within this specialized area of psychology and how relevant it is to one’s life. Change in life is something that happens no matter what, so having knowledge on developmental psychology is important.

Teams and teamwork

Teams and teamwork is one of the most highlighted parts of organizational life. One simply has to learn to be a part of a team and must possess good teamwork skills in order to move up the organizational success ladder. In this regard business psychologists are constantly studying teams and team behaviors in order to learn about this important organizational element.

Working in teams is much more difficult and challenging then working alone. When an employee is working in a team he needs to interact with other members of the group and his attitudes, behavior and opinions get affected as a result of that. Each individual has its own beliefs, knowledge, desires and level of understanding and this produce complexity when they don’t match with the team’s decisions and other team members’ beliefs. This is the reason why business psychologists are still figuring out ways to make the teams effective and functional.

Some of the major problems that arise while working in a team are lack of commitment to the team task and giving preference to one’s own personal goals rather than the team goals. Decision making is also a big problem and it’s hardly possible that all the members of the team are in agreement with any particular decision.Poor communication among the team members and lack of participation by not completing the assignments are also major issues and can cause decision making to consume a lot of time.

Organizationssupport team work because a well established team can give better outcomes and quality results then a number of individuals. A lot of the creative ideas can emerge when people work in groups.Therefore organizations when building teams must heir the individuals that are highly skilled and diverse in background and level of awareness and responsibility. Furthermore one individual can overcome the weakness of other and produce efficient and effective results for the organization.

Organizations should focus on building teams that are not big in volume but big in team work and creative approach. The organizations should also try to make a team of people who share similar beliefs and values. The task which is assigned to the team 

must be clear and defined and a time should be assigned for its completion. Effective teams must encourage the participation of its every member.Organizations should also provide team rewards to help them keep motivated. For example if one team completes its target on time or in less time than the other team, they should be rewarded. This team reward system will encourage the group members to work in teams effectively.

An individual, as part of a team, should keep his personal interests aside and focus on team goals and objectives to be accomplished. An individual should effectively participate in a team task and complete hispart of the team assignments on time. Furthermore the team members must respect each other’s values, beliefs and feelings. A team member should first understand what value he can provide to the group and how he can enhance the team’s effectiveness. Individuals must also be trained by the organization in how to deal with the conflict in a team and how to raise their point of view. Negotiation skills can be enhanced continuously. Individuals must also understand their power of influence over other members for making an effective decision. The most important thing which must be understood by all the members of the team is how they can help to innovate and bring creativity to the team’s work from their distinctiveness and differences.

Thus an understanding of teams and team work can help organizations to solve various conflicts that can arise in certain labor unions and how to make them more efficient.

Business Psychology

Psychology is the study of human psyche. It brings to light human behaviors, their mental processes, their social approach and how each of them is affected and affect others of their kind. So, basically psychology deals with all the behavioral norms and patterns, individuals show in society. The study of human psyche can be dated back to the time of Hippocrates in 400BC, or even before.

Business psychology:

As mentioned, psychology is the study of human behavior and the thinking pattern they exhibit. When this science is applied to the field of business and corporate world, what we come up with is Business psychology.

Business psychology, as its name implies, refers to the emotional and behavioral patterns of humans in a corporate environment. In addition to the basic observation of human behavior, this science also involves the influence these elements have on the over all outlook of business as well as on the non human components of the system.

“In a nutshell, it would be sufficient to render ‘business psychology’ as the study that understands, describes and modifies the social interaction of producers, employers and consumers in a corporate environment.”

Concerns of Business psychology:

Business psychology, also termed as ‘Organization or Industrial psychology’, is majorly concerned with the steps and measures that are required to make a workplace comfortable for the employee, raise the productivity graph of the business and at the same time maintain proper physical and mental health of the employees. In a more in-depth perspective, business psychology is further concerned with:

• Incorporation of general psychological theories in business well being tactics.
• Devising already - established and new research methods to come up with fine outcomes regarding employee behavior.
• Employment of insightful tactics in solving work place issues.
• Wise employee selection for better productivity in future.
• Devising motivational measure to keep employees from demotivation.
• Strategies to strengthen the communication links between the organization and clientage.

The Career aspects of business Psychology:

Business psychologists usually work in an organization in the Human resource department. They generally play their role in the recruitment of able candidates, training the new employees and preparing them for future projects and job requirements. In addition to human resource department, many business psychologists also work independently as career consultants and academic business psychology trainers/teachers. According to Bureau of Labor statistics, the career scope of a business psychologist is quite vast and promising. According to a survey conducted in 2006, the average salary of a business psychologist was no less than US$86,420 per year.

Study of Psychology

Psychology is a discipline with an extremely broad scope. It concerns the understanding and scientific study of mental operations and behaviour. There are also many subsets of psychology which attempt to understand and scientifically examine behaviour with relation to education, events, people, employment, relationships, associations, mental conditions and more. There are many other branches that get even more specific with regards to examining the behaviour of humans and animals and attempting to draw scientific conclusions from behaviour.

Psychology is important to understanding our world. Everything that we do somehow relates to psychology. If we can better understand our behaviours we can better understand who we are and why we are that way.

Psychology can also help us to identify mental illnesses. In the past, many mental illnesses were chalked up to spiritual reasons, while today we have a much better understanding of the mind and the processes that cause us to think and feel. Identifying various mental illnesses and with longstanding research in mental illness we have been able to uncover new cures, medications and treatments which can be used to help treat people with mental illness so that they can enjoy a better quality of life.

Psychology can also help us to understand our emotions and help us to avoid harm. Making good decisions in life is important and it is very important to be perceptive to your emotions so that you can understand them and make your life decisions accordingly. If we can understand things such as stress, we can learn to identify the symptoms as well as work to eliminate and avoid stress in our lives by making better decisions. Learning to identify basic human needs for good emotional health is also a way that you can understand how to be healthy and how you can prepare yourself to be happy and healthy with relation to your mental health.

Psychology also helps us to relate to others and communicate with one another. Learning how people relate to one another as well as what is appropriate in communication can help us to keep others happy as well as ourselves. As we study psychology we can work at better predicting behaviour and understanding the biological processes that cause these behaviours. With a better understanding of interpersonal communication you can work to relate to more people and predict responses in communication and behaviour from people.

In every aspect of our daily decision making process there is an underlying understand of psychology or an unconscious, biological or emotional trigger that is dictating our behaviour. If you can arm yourself with the knowledge by reading about psychology, completing a psychological study or even observing people around you, you will begin to learn more about human behaviour and about your own behaviour.

Psychologywill continue to grow as a discipline and psychological research will only continue to provide us with the answers that we need to better understand behaviours and emotions. With this understanding we can develop new forms of therapy, new medications and new advancements that can improve our quality of life forever like NLP Sales.