Organisational Psychology



Organisational Psychology

Answer # 1

This study adopted a self-report response in stressful situation as an index of performance in the relationship between psychological health and performance. However, every personality theory has different standard of psychological health. It is desirable to research relationships with performance in wider area of science. Though some people value individual's expressions that have some impacts to others or active relating to others, such estimations of performance need cautions (Abeysekera, 2007). Over-expression of oneself or personal relationship with no psychological distance to others are included in the diagnostic standards of some personality disorders (Borderline Personality Disorder, Histrionic Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, etc.) on DSM-IV(American Psychiatric Association,1994), that is one of the manuals for diagnostic criteria of psychiatric disease. Recent psychoanalytic theories, such as "Separation-Individuation theory" or "Neurotic Personality Organization, Borderline Personality Organization, and Psychotic Personality Organization"(Kernberg,1976), have strong effects to the diagnositic standards in DSM-IV. These theories are valuable to be focused as a part of further researches on performance (Bragger, 2005).

Answer # 2

Keeping psychological health under stressful situation is important for effective performance. Psychological hardiness (a personality trait consists of commitment, control and challenge) is one of the indicator of psychological health based on existential personality theory. Locus of control (LOC) refers to a personality trait reflecting the generalized belief that either events in life are controlled by one's own actions (an internal LOC) or by outside influences (an external LOC). Those with an internal LOC believe that they can exert control over life events and circumstances, including the associated reinforcements, that is, those outcomes which are perceived to reward one's behaviours and attitudes. In contrast, those with an external LOC believe they have little control over life events and circumstances, and attribute reinforcements to powerful others or to luck (Bruke, 2007).

Stress hardy people obviously have a natural advantage than those of us who do not have these personality traits; however research is suggesting that those of us who do not naturally have the stress hardy personality traits can actually learn them, with time and practice, and so increase our own levels of stress hardiness. Having a stress hardy personality doesn't mean that a person never ever suffers stress, it means that their ability to deal with it, without it causing a problem, is greater. It's about learning to control how we react to the challenges we face in a more flexible, confident and less destructive way (Cappelli, 2000).

Studies have shown that how much control we perceive we have over any stressor will influence how difficult the stressor will be for us to cope with. Researchers have found there are basically two types of control, Internal and External, and these can either exacerbate or reduce a stressful situation. 

Internal Locus of Control

With the internal locus of control people are aware that they cannot influence all the external events that go on in their lives, but they do have a deep sense that they have a choice in how they react to that stressor and believe that ...