Contributions from Organizational Psychology

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with what community psychologists can learn from organizational psychology about changing organizations to promote individual empowerment and well-being. As such, it focuses largely, but not exclusively, on that part of organizational psychology known as organizational development. We begin by discussing convergences and divergences between organizational and community psychology. We then selectively survey interventions undertaken by organizational psychologists at the individual, group, intergroup, and organizational levels, as well as at the boundaries between individuals and organizations, and speculate about which types of interventions are most useful to community psychology. Next, we examine limitations on the transfer of knowledge from organizational psychology to the types of organizations with which community psychologists typically deal. Finally, we discuss how value differences between organizational and community psychology may promote, rather than hinder, learning