CIE A Level Psychology Organisational Psychology Exam Questions

About CIE A Level Psychology Organisational Psychology

Organisational psychology is one of four specialist options at A Level on the Cambridge 9990 course. It has five topics: 4.1 Motivation to work, 4.2 Leadership and management, 4.3 Group behaviour in organisations, 4.4 Organisational work conditions and 4.5 Satisfaction at work. It applies psychology to the workplace, from what motivates employees to how shift patterns affect health. The five key studies are Landry et al. (2019), Cuadrado et al. (2008), Claypoole and Szalma (2019), Swat (1997) and Giacalone and Rosenfeld (1987). It is assessed in Paper 3 and Section A of Paper 4. Examiners expect accurate theory names and components and evaluation linked to real workplaces.

What you need to know

• 4.1 Motivation to work Need theories (Maslow's hierarchy, McClelland's achievement, affiliation and power needs), cognitive theories (Latham and Locke's goal-setting, Vroom's VIE theory) and intrinsic versus extrinsic motivators. Landry et al. (2019) found monetary rewards framed in an informational, autonomy-supportive way led to better anagram performance and more need satisfaction than rewards framed in a controlling way.
• 4.2 Leadership and management Universalist and behavioural theories, Heifetz's adaptive leadership, leadership styles and followership (Kelley). Cuadrado et al. (2008) investigated how leader gender and leadership style affect how leaders are evaluated.
• 4.3 Group behaviour in organisations Tuckman's stages of group development, Belbin's team roles, groupthink, social facilitation and social loafing, and workplace conflict including the Thomas-Kilmann modes. Claypoole and Szalma (2019) found that people told they were being electronically monitored by webcam detected more signals and made fewer false alarms in a vigilance task.
• 4.4 Organisational work conditions Physical conditions (the Hawthorne effect, open-plan offices), temporal conditions (shiftwork, on-call, flexitime) and health and safety, including token economies (Fox et al., 1987). Swat (1997) studied the monitoring and causes of accidents in companies.
• 4.5 Satisfaction at work Herzberg's two-factor theory (hygiene and motivating factors), Hackman and Oldham's job characteristics theory, job enrichment, rotation and enlargement, measures such as the Job Descriptive Index and Walton's quality of working life. Giacalone and Rosenfeld (1987) studied how justifiable employees considered different reasons for workplace sabotage.
• Evaluation of organisational topics Consider whether lab findings with students (e.g. Landry et al., Claypoole and Szalma) generalise to real employees, the usefulness of theories for managers, and cultural differences in motivation and leadership.

Common mistakes in Organisational Psychology

• Saying Herzberg's hygiene factors motivate workers. Hygiene factors such as pay and conditions only prevent dissatisfaction; motivators such as recognition and responsibility create satisfaction.
• Writing that money always reduces intrinsic motivation. Landry et al. showed the effect depends on how the reward is framed: informational framing supported motivation.
• Confusing social facilitation with social loafing. Social facilitation is improved performance when observed; social loafing is reduced individual effort in a group.
• Listing Tuckman's stages in the wrong order. They are forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.
• Describing the Hawthorne effect as the effect of lighting. It is the change in behaviour caused by being observed or given attention.

Try three Organisational Psychology exam-style questions