Industrial and Organizational Psychology
According to Edgar Schein, three sets of factors effect the integration of organizational goals and personal needs in groups: environmental factors, membership factors and dynamic factors. What Mr. Schein means by the integration of organizational goals and personal needs in groups is that within every organizational group there are two competing forces: that of the organizations needs and that of each individual's personal needs. In order for the organization to meet their needs, it must take into account the individual members' needs. Likewise, in order for the individual members to get their needs met, they must take into account the organization's needs. Thus, an integration of needs occurs in order to compromise and let "everybody win."
This process of integration is affected by the aforementioned three factors. Environmental factors are those of the surrounding circumstances: people's backgrounds, what kind of organization the group is and the groups history, to name a few. Membership factors are those that effect who become members in the organization. Is it open to the public or limited to only a certain gender? Finally, dynamic factors are those that relate to how the members interact and relate to both each other and the organization as a whole.
On a university campus, one of the most active niches is that of student organizations. Perhaps nowhere else do more organizations exist than on a college campus. These student organizations exist because there is a need for students to get involved, interact and stay active. Because every student has their own needs for joining an organization, there are a diverse array of organizations to meet these needs. For example, there are social organizations for students needing to meet people, there are political organizations for students who want to create change in their community and there are interest organizations for those who want to share their knowledge and enjoyment of a particular hobby with others. If an organization matches the particular students needs, then the organization fulfills the student's needs. This determination is made by the combination of the three above mentioned factors and their application to the integration of the organization and the individual's respective needs. Thus, in order to increase personal fulfillment, organizations should concentrate on revaluating their purpose and to ensure that their membership and environment allows for this dynamic to exist.
Bibliography
Schein, Edgar. Organizational Psychology. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1980.
