The solution that suggests itself from hours of data collection, analysis and interpretation will depend heavily upon which theory or approach that  has been chosen.  Using the ‘cutting of the cake’ analogy, and selecting a ‘Swiss-roll’, if we slice across the roll, the result that we see is a spiral of filling. However, if we cut the roll lengthwise, we see parallel straight lines of jam! The results we see depend on the direction taken with the knife for the slicing.

Thus, it is not particularly helpful if we are advocating that Business Psychology is a discipline that employs a ‘new approach’ towards the analysis of organisations. Probably, the last thing we need in the area is a (yawn!) new approach.

However, to distinguish Business Psychology from other disciplines concerned with organisational analysis, we need only consider the organisation from a more human (or humanistic) point of view. All organisations are inherently bound-up with people, or humans, taking-up their roles as employees, investors, suppliers or customers etc. The endless list of stakeholders!

Now let us briefly consider what will persuade the people populating this list to maintain a positive relationship with any one particular organisation rather than another. What sort of characteristics in an organisation are people looking for?

At a basic level, the organisation must demonstrate functionality. That is, the organisation must be able to perform its intended tasks in the current environment. If the organisation lacks functionality, if it cannot do what it says it will do, then dissatisfaction will spread throughout the stakeholders, and lead to the associated negative consequences.

Allied to functionality is the concept of usability. This refers to the ‘smoothness’  of accessing the functions offered by the organisation. Does dealing with this particular organisation involve ’hassle’ and ’hold-ups’? How easy is it to interact with the organisation? How much ’friction’ is there in dealing with its functional systems?

These two concepts of functionality and usability when applied to business organisations are really aspects of the highly sort after, effectiveness and efficiency.

Effectiveness and efficiency, (particularly the latter), are usually seen as the core of organisational success. It is one of the primary aims of management, (and any external consultancy), to implement structural and process solutions in order to refresh and invigorate this core. The various approaches for doing this, range from the financial, (e.g. budgeting and cutting costs), through to marketing solutions, (e.g. increasing revenue or market share), and will often include psychological procedures (e.g. selection and development).  Each of these approaches, implies a different definition of the problem and a different way of ‘slicing the cake‘. Within each of these main perspectives, there exists an extensive, and even exotic, variation of possible solutions.  For example, there are several different systems of accounting and the possibility of targeting different parts of the marketing mix for improvements.

It covers the application of applied and social psychology to accident proneness, fatigue, mental health, safety; appraisal, selection and training of employees, personal relations and conflicts, management control systems, and interactions among humans, machines, and the environment.  A long list.

However, none of the above approaches deal with the real human content of the organisational mix, that is, they do not deal with humans as we know them to be, ourselves.

We know ourselves, perhaps without perfect insight, but sufficiently well enough to realise that we do not think like a computer, that we are not always logical and that sometimes, we don’t really feel like work today! Humans are emotional beings, and humans in organisational contexts are emotional too! In particular we are pleasure seeking beings, and conversely we try to avoid unpleasantness.

We thus arrive at a third characteristic of organisations that must be considered alongside functionality and usability, and that is its emotional ‘signature‘. What does it feel like to work that organisation, how is the experience of buying something from that business? Are the answers pleasant or unpleasant?

If we take this idea on board for a moment, we can see that the questions surrounding an organisation  become transformed from the rather ’cold’ evaluations of  effectiveness and efficiency.  The important questions are not “What percentage or which ratio”? The crucial enquiries for any organisation are more to do with the likely emotional responses to questions such as: “Is it pleasant to work there?”, “Is it pleasant to buy from them?” or “Is it a pleasure to do business with them?”.

These are not ‘soft’ psychological questions. These are not ’pink and fluffy’ enquiries into the psychological well-being of employees or customers. People concerned with the success of organisations should be able to recognise these ‘pleasure’ questions as being of equal importance as those concerning functionality and usability. These questions concern the emotional benefits (handicaps) experienced by the stakeholders involved with a particular organisation and the answers directly influence the nature of the various relationships that evolve.

Business Psychology is about this type and range of questions, Business Psychology is about pleasure!