Organizational Psychology

In the current millennium when the organisational and the overall global system is under pressure from unprecedented change and more importantly pace of change, organisations have to develop new ways of realising their assets and performing against lower costs. They must be able to compete on the international stage, where the overall costs of labour and operations have changed dramatically with the advent of new emerging economies that are impacting the traditional hierarchies of economic status. The stability of organisational structures, the world economy and geopolitics are today more volatile, globalised and uncertain. In this wider context some elements that make up a successful organisation have come under scrutiny and there is a preoccupation to finds the best way to realise the best out of what can be considered organisational assets. So practice and motivate their employees to contribute back to organisational goals, against the salaries and benefit that they receive is a very important item on the agenda of high organisational effectiveness. One of the motivational tools that organisations have available is the use of coaching at individual level as well as for high preforming teams. This article presents an overview of the topic seen as a “system” and identifies many of the specific aspects that play a significant part, not in depth but as a starting point and opportunity for subsequent focus and scrutiny. It also aims to provide a brief but useful introduction to complexity thinking and the way it may apply to organisations. Coaching is positioned within the organisational system, alongside leadership and strategy, as a key factor in organisational effectiveness. The perspective taken in the writing of this paper, is that of a practicing Business Psychologist, who utilises a pragmatic digest of the latest thinking and models based in research, but with the applied knowledge of a Business Practitioner who has accumulated extensive business experience of over 15 years, in an international context, having worked with leaders of business methodology and people management methodology in the world such as IBM, Alcatel, Johnson&Johnson, and Bristol Myers-Squibb. By specifically using the complexity paradigm, the author promotes the understanding of coaching and organisational effectiveness as a composite concept – which is owned by multiple stakeholders and therefore requires a collaborative approach in definition and successful delivery – necessary to achieve high organisational effectiveness.