| dc.description.abstract | Industrial – Organizational psychology is the scientific study of the relationship
between man and the world of work in the process of making a living, that is, it is the
application or extension of psychological facts and principles to the problems
concerning human beings operating within the context of business and industry.
Incorporated into the strategy implementation phase of the strategic management
process, it is expected that Industrial and Organizational psychology can confer major
benefits to the phase, lending itself in a big way to impacting this phase. This project,
as a case study of the Commercial Bank of Africa, sought to establish the contribution
of Industrial – Organizational Psychology to strategy implementation. The
Commercial Bank of Africa, among the leading commercial banks in Kenya, at the
end of the year 2012, had seven hundred and twenty eight employees, spread across
twenty one branches throughout the Republic of Kenya. In the same year, it reported a
profit (before income tax expense) of 4.3 million Kenya Shillings. With the help of an
interview guide, face to face interviews were conducted with five senior managers
drawn from both the Human Resource and Finance and Strategy departments of the
bank. Responses were recorded and later analyzed by content. The study found, in line
with previous studies and with the theory in the field, that the main contribution of
Industrial – Organizational Psychology was the creation of resources (human
resources and those surrounding the human agenda such as culture, motivation etc.)
that are valuable, rare and difficult to imitate and that facilitate an ease in
implementation of chosen strategies. Among the key limitations of the study was the
fact that time was a key constraint during fieldwork and most of the manager
respondents were unavailable during the initial set up appointments. Moreover, as a
case study, it is impossible to make generalizations about the contribution of Industrial
– Organizational psychology to other banks, organizations and industries. The study
recommends a more in-depth look and appreciation of Industrial and Organizational
psychology for the Commercial Bank of Africa, such that it should recognize the field
as an important contributor to its human resource agenda and perhaps mete out a
fully-fledged department in the Bank. As such, it is important to consider the primary
psychological processes and link the broad categories of work design characteristics
(task-related, relational and contextual characteristics) to individual effectiveness
outcomes. Finally, it proposes other areas of study such as the entire financial industry
for trends and benefits of Industrial – Organizational psychology, other industries in
the country as well as other phases of the strategic management process both at the
Bank and the fore mentioned frontiers. | en |
