I caught a program on the radio this morning, which referred to something called "impostor syndrome" it's where an individual does not feel they are fully capable of doing their own job. So they may do their job more diligently than someone else. Barrack Obama was given as an example. I then checked the Internet about this phenomenon and it sound there has been very little research on it. It's not like it is new, just something not really studied much. To an extent it it could be advantageous to have someone suffer from it. Where they take into account other persons opinions and actually study up on a subject before making a decision or comment. However, I'm sure it could go the other way. Where someone believed they are not capable of doing a job and therefore never fully accepts they have to make decisions and become weak decision makers. When thinking about it, the whole phenomenon has a lot more to it than meets the eye.

I'm sure we all know of instances where persons in high ranking positions have believed they are good at a job and in reality have been a nightmare. But for Occupational Psychologists there doesn't seem to be much in the way of how they would change these people. Perhaps because the nature of personality is static and if we take into account a person's actions are their personality as well then there is no real hope of change. If an organization is at fault top down what research is there to improve the organization by sacking from the top downwards or changing their behaviour? Very little I expect. Which means, yes, psychology has sold itself out.

If there is the right person which fits the right job then what happens when the job changes so much the person needed to fit it is no longer the one doing the job? Is this an argument for the abandonment of hierarchical organizations, perhaps into something more fluid. Now if positions in an organization were not fixed and salaries were not fixed then it might combat incompetencies and create patterns of competencies instead. Lets not forget there would be a need for some kind of stability in a structure. And there may in some cases be many equally capable candidates for a position so selection choice would matter. However, they would be not be static. Maybe such an notion is fantasy. Hypothetically though, it is food for thought.