The Impact Of Social Influences On Human Behavior In A Hospital Setting

The behavior of staff in relation to psychological research

Aim: To appreciate the impact of social influences on human behaviour

Scenario: You are an occupational psychologist who has been asked to improve staff productivity and compliance to legislation in a hospital setting. At this hospital staff do not follow the official code of conduct. Six months ago a very high status manager was employed to ‘fix the problem’. The manager was concerned about the length of time, for instance, it was taking staff to see patients and mindful of the fact that should this pattern continue, the Care Quality Commission may impose special measures against the hospital. To address this immediate concern, the manager stated that staff should not wait for a doctor to sign paperwork before attending to patients. Since then new members of staff have been recruited to ease the workload on staff. The new members of staff are following the actions of previous staff members rather than the code of conduct.

Task :

(1) Using your knowledge of social influence, critically explain the behaviour of staff members working at the hospital, making reference to research throughout.

(2) Critically suggest and reflect on guidance (recommendations) to the Hospital Board of Governors on how to improve the situation.

The aim of the essay is to appreciate the impact of the Social influences on the human behavior. As a psychologist, my first aim will be studying the behavior of staff. Once the evaluation is made, finding the solution will be easier. This is such a hospital where the staff members are disobedient. Unlike other hospitals, here the staffs are stubborn and do not follow the official code of conduct. But, let us take a look at what the staff members have to say. Even they have dissatisfaction regarding the hospital authority and the system is taking place within the hospital environment. (Bizfilings Team, 2012)

After speaking to some of the staff members, I found out that, there is a big issue related to documentation within the hospital environment. Paper signing before meeting doctor is an issue. Thus, staffs are blamed and they cannot reach the patients to the doctor on priority. The hospital authority has recruited the new staff members so that the previous employees can get some ease. But, the problem still continues after their deployment. Even the new staff members have started following the footsteps of the old ones by disobeying the code of conduct. (Asch, 1955)

Definitions of Key Psychological Concepts

Psychology is a study of human mind along with its complexity and function. The behavior of a human can affect the environment where he is staying. This is the study of understanding the mental state of an individual or a group with general principles and research. Psychologists have the ability of understanding the mental function and social behavior of individuals. With regards to cognitive functions and behaviors, they pass effect on both psychological and biological processes. With the study of psychology, it is a need to explore the concept of brain function, emotion, perception, intelligence, cognition, personality etc. (Integrated ociopsychology Team, 2013)

Social influence study of Solomon E. Asch

Social influence on an individual or a group can be found out through an experiment conducted by Asch. Here, you can assume yourself to be one of the candidates while running psychological experiments. You along with 7 more people are asked to sit in a small room for the experiment. This experiment will give the result of visual judgment of people.

Here, two cards are placed in front of your eyes. The one at the left hand side has a single vertical line. The card placed at the right is having three lines with different length named as A, B and C. Now, all of you sitting in the room have to find out the line in right side card which has the same length with vertical line in the left hand side. Some individuals would choose one line, whereas others would give a different answer. As per your perception, one group or an individual is wrong. But, if your thought does not match with the majority, what will you do? Will you trust your judgment or will go with the majority?

In many cases it has been found out that people go with the majority even if he/she is aware of right answers. According to the psychologists, Solomon Asch, this is the physiological pressure from people which affects the right perception. (Asch & Stanley Milgram, 1958)

In Milgram’s social influence experiment 40 males were chosen. They were between 20-50 years of age. They were assigned jobs that range from unskilled till professional. The amount paid to them was $ 4.50 in the year 1963. Milgram also included a learner and a teacher in an experiment. Two rooms were used, one for learner and the other one for the teacher. The learner was provided with the electric chair and the teacher was given electric shock. After the shock, he was asked to recall his partner with four choices. With every electric shock, the learner gave wrong answer. But the teacher refused to take electric shock. But, 65% of the teacher continues with the highest level of 450 volts. (McLeod, 2007)

Studies- Popular social influence studies include Asch, Milgram, Crutchfield, Sherif, Hofling, Zimbardo

Milgram concluded that lower level or lower level do follow the orders, even when they are in the extent of killing themselves. They are obedient. But the authority of higher level saves their skin.

The popular economist conducted an experiment on prison.  Here the subjects were asked to play roles of prisoners and guard. The guards so formed were given glasses and sticks. But the individuals playing the role of prisoners were arrested by the police department. They were forced to wear prisoners garment and chains. They were then transferred to the basement of the Standford psychology department that resembles jail. This gave rise to the progressiveness of the guard with sadistic nature.  There were riots and many of the subjects were hurt.

This experiment proved human response to captivity with social influence. Along with the captivity, the experiment also proved obedience and impressionability of people with the support of social institution and legitimate ideology.

As it is defined above that there are three theories which are propounded for the solving the psychological aspects and the perspectives. All the three theories directly and indirectly support the fact that to manage the social aspects, it is essential to follow the rules related to the obedience. To follow the aspects related to the obedience, it is essential to follow the suitable rules and the policies. This is considered in the favor of the theory. But there are some negative aspects too which works against the theory. The theory of Zimbardo suggests that there are chances of the riots and conflicts are becoming very common. Whereas, in Milgram it is defined that though they follow the junior staff is following the rules, but the seniors are misusing the position they hold. This negative aspect also creates the negative influence on the processing of the process in the hospital.

Since the disobedient staff members in hospital are creating complexity in the environment, there must be someone or a group that handles’ staff problem and their well-being. The Human Resource department should be established by a qualified HR manager and specialists to handle the staff members one by one. If their wants are legitimate, hospital management must support them. But if staffs make trouble purposely, disciplinary action must be taken against them.

The hospital authority must start with the termination of the old staff. After viewing this, the new staff members may change their attitude and cooperate with the administration. But, even if the other staffs behave in the similar way, it’s better to terminate entire bunch with the show cause and disciplinary norm. The new recruited staff bunch will be much more cooperative and will abide with the rules and regulation of the organization. After observing the complete scenario thoroughly it is also recommended that the appropriate paperwork is essential to carry. By this paperwork, the actual condition of the patients will be determined and no space for the arguments will be left. The use of the different types of the theories in the analysis also helps a lot in determining the aspect related to the scenario. It is also recommended that to identify the psychological and biological aspects, it is essential to treat the patients on the emotional level, so that it becomes easier to identify these issues and to console them may also become easy.

Social influence study of Solomon E. Asch

Conclusion

Succinct policy is always important to assist employers who deal with the insubordination issues. Insubordination is an issue faced in most of the organizations. Here, the employees purposely disobey with the legitimate directives of superiors. They have a mentality of developing right to fight.

It has been found that, the staff members are not providing proper service to the patients. They are not only patients, but also customers of the hospital. They have critical health issues which need immediate care within the hospital environment. This is not a sign of humanity. Every staff working in a hospital should not think about monetary benefit. They are bound to help patients as this is a noble profession. But, the staffs are not at all abiding with this concept. Even the new staff members who are recruited have been violated by the old ones. But since there is a problem related to sign and documentation of papers, they must be provided with a personal document. This information will be a key to pass from the patient till it reaches the treatment procedure. This is the way the staff members will be saved from getting blamed about negligence to the patients.

The lack of leadership and the weak managerial skills related to the managers are reducing the efficiency of the staff and the other people related to the noble cause. The business is mainly related to the hospital and the patients should be considered as more than the customers. But the internal conflicts and the inappropriate aspects related to the managers is impacting the well-defined image of the organization. To abolish this condition, the appropriate rules should be made.

The Hospital management should not tolerate this attitude of the staff members. This creates a negative environment within the organization. Since it is a hospital, patients do not get proper treatment due to the conflict. The whole working process within the hospital gets disrupted. Issue an order of termination in writing is given to the employee by mentioning or specifying the reasons.

Asch, S. E., 1955. Opinions and Social Pressure, s.l.: W.H. Freeman and company.

Asch, S. & Stanley Milgram, 1958. Solomon Asch conformity experiments. [Online]
Available at: https://www.age-of-the-sage.org/psychology/social/asch_conformity.html

Bizfilings Team, 2012. Properly Handling Employee Insubordination Requires Having a Policy in place. Properly Handling Employee Insubordination , 24 May.

Dewey, R., 2007. Sherif (1936): Group Norms and Conformity. Group Norms and Conformity.

Integrated ociopsychology Team, 2013. Conformity – Majority Influence. Richard Crutchfield (1955): replace people with lights, 19 September.

McLeod, S., 2007. The Milgram Experiment. The Milgram Experiment .

McLeod, S., 2008. Hofling Hospital Experiment. Hofling Hospital Experiment.