What is Business Psychology?

This video provides an introduction to Business Psychology and provides an overview of the course that will be presented on the BusinessPsychologyHub channel. MUSIC CREDITS Title: Aint No Thing Artist: BOPD Album: 2005 Stayin Alive InstruMentals This track has been played on loop settings, with minor alternations made to loop the track. http://freemusicarchive.org/music/BOPD Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/ns# http://purl.org/dc/terms/ http://freemusicarchive.org/music/BOPD/2005_Stayin_Alive_InstruMentals/ http://jasonsigal.cc http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ MATERIAL Welcome to the business psychology channel. You have clicked on the first of a series of videos in this business psychology course. So what is the scope of Business Psychology? Firstly, business psychology examines how people exchange resources, such as when we sell an old car or purchase our lunch. Economists are the most influential experts on resource exchange topics. A body of behavioural research is emerging, however, that is offering new and exciting insights. Secondly business psychology provides insights into how business entities can strategically achieve better outcomes. In business organisations, managers are tasked with the responsibility of making key strategic and operational decisions. The most successful organisations are usually led by managers who understand employees, customers and other key stakeholders. Thirdly, business psychology provides insights at an individual level. The key individual in the context of this video is YOU. Business Psychology knowledge can help you in your work life achieve self-improvement and job satisfaction, while also becoming more effective and efficient. In modern times most resources are exchanged in a market environment. A market environment is a forum that brings the together the buyers and the sellers. Neoclassical economists have outlined 3 key assumptions about how people make resource exchange decisions. 1. It is assumed that people have stable and rational preferences. That is we know what we want and we don’t regularly change our minds 2. That people maximise utility. That is we seek out what is best for us 3. People act independently with full information. That is we know everything there is to know when selling or making a purchase. In the 1970s behaviourally orientated researchers including psychologists, decision-making theorist and behavioural economists began reviewing neoclassical behavioural assumptions. It has been established that neoclassical assumptions do not accurately describe how individual’s make resource exchange decisions. Behavioural researchers are now focusing on learning more about how people do make resource exchange decisions. A broad array of topics are currently being explored including: 1. The decision rules that people use in resource exchange and the contexts when such rules bring about good outco