While Behaviorism and Self-Actualization represent the most often used psychological approaches that are applied to management technique, I don't want to lead you to believe that they are the only approaches that are available. There are other approaches to psychology like the new age "collective consciousness" and the more holistic Biblical approach.

Just to review, we have already discussed some of the issues with Behaviorism view, that states that behavior is a result of the reinforcers that happen to people. This is a naturalistic (denies the spiritual) view, and some of its biggest problems lay in its inability to deal with things like free will, intuition, and other abstract aspects of the human mind. Because people's actions are only a result of the stimuli that happen to them, then there is also no room for personal responsibility. Brain activity is merely a chemical reaction. On the positive side, it does observe how positive and negative reinforcements affect human behavior. I also agree that positive an negative reinforcement has its place in management, but not in a behaviorist "mind-control" sense.

Also in review, the psychology of Self-Actualization has its issues as well. The problem with this view is that it is also naturalistic (denies the spiritual) in nature. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs does a good job of finding a place for things like love, respect, and creativity (things that are difficult to explain in the behaviorist view), but I feel that it still falls short in that it really only observes these things, and tries to place them in a level of importance to people. I do not know that it accurately can explain where they comes from. This is like sitting on the beach watching the waves and tide roll in. You can make some great observations about the waves, and clearly describe the characteristics of the waves, but from that vantage point, you will be hard pressed to explain the nature of waves, and understand what drives them to the shore. I do agree that people have a need for personal fulfillment (self-actualization), but do not agree that this is something that comes from within the "self". This is an important distinction as we dig deeper into this topic.

One psychology that I have not discussed in detail yet is that of the new-age worldview, and it is the view of the "collective consciousness". This view is usually purely spiritual, and actually tends to deny the physical. It is basically the idea that everything is really spiritual, and that mentally we are all connected somehow. While there may be some concepts that could come out of this view that could be applied to management and leadership, it is unlikely that it would hold something of true lasting value. The reason for this is that what is right is very subjective. Basically everyone is right, which creates conflicts in ideologies that would never survive in a very practical business environment. One thing that I do feel that merits mentioning here is the idea of community that is suggested by this collectiveness. I do think that this approach is not stable enough to be of value to the average manager, but do not forget the importance of community.

The other psychological approach that will be discussed is the view that the Bible takes on the human mind. The Bible is more holistic in nature because it accounts for BOTH the physical and the spiritual. The Bible describes the nature of man as well as our purpose. There is no other selection of writings in history that so completely and clearly describes the human condition as well as the Bible does. As I discuss these views, I am not even asking the reader to believe in God, but only to objectively look at the principles that will be discussed here. Personally, I do believe in God, and through life experience can testify that His ways work. But this does require that people check their egos at the door, and be open to some different ways of looking at things.