Charmaene Marie C.

Miranda Psych 195: Industrial/Organizational Psychology

2012-20094

Chapter 1
Introduction:
Definitions and History
What is Industrial/Organizational Psychology?
Psychology is the study of behavior and mental processes.
Industrial/Organizational Psychology is the branch of psychology that is concerned with the study of
behavior in work settings and the application of psychology principles to change work behavior.

•Recruitment and
selection
Basic
•Training and
personnel
development
functions
•Measurement of
employee performance

Psychologic •Motivation
al processes •Job satisfaction
[in work] •Stress

I/O
PSYCHOLOGY
•Relationships between
Group subordinates and
processes supervisors
•Coordination of groups

•Systems used for work

Conditions •Physical and
of work psychological
environment

Figure 1. I/O Psychology in the Workplace.

Charmaene Marie C. Miranda Psych 195: Industrial/Organizational Psychology
2012-20094

The Science and Practice of I/O Psychology

I/O Psychologists are trained to be both scientists and practitioners, in what is referred to as the scientist-
practitioner model.

 Scientific objective of I/O Psychology:

o Involves the study and understanding of all aspects of behavior at work.
o Conducting research and publishing results in professional journals.
o Studying work behavior is a multidisciplinary, cooperative venture.

 Applied objective of I/O Psychology:

o Involves the application of psychological principles, and of knowledge gleaned from
psychological research, to work behavior.
o Dealing with specific work-related problems or issues.

The Roots and Early History of I/O Psychology

20th Century
•Hugo Munsterberg
• an experimental psychologist who became interested in the design of work and personnel
selections for jobs.
•Walter Dill Scott
• interested in salespersons and the psychology of advertising.
• first professor in I/O Psych and started a consulting company to practice what was being
learned from research.
•Frederick W. Taylor
• Scientific management - application of scientific principles to the study of work behavior to
increase worker efficiency and productivity.
• Time-and-motion studies - procedures in which work tasks are broken down into simple
component movements and the movements timed to develop a more efficient method for
performing the tasks.

World War I and the 1920s

•Robert Yerkes
• head of the APA that worked with the US Army to create intelligence tests.
• Army Alpha and Beta tests - represented the first mass testing efforts and set the stage for future
testing efforts.
• Psychologists began to be involved in the screening and placement of personnel in industry.
• 1921: Psychologists directly worked with industries as consultants and researchers.

Figure 2a. Early History of I/O Psychology.

Charmaene Marie C. Miranda Psych 195: Industrial/Organizational Psychology
2012-20094

The Great Depression Years and World War II

1930's
• Elton Mayo (Western Electric Company in Hawthorne, Illinois)
• Studied the effect of physical work environment on worker productivity.
• To determine the optimal level of lighting for performing the task.
• When lighting increases, worker output went up.
• Hawthorne Effect - changes in behavior occurring as a function of participants' knowledge
that they are being observed and their expectations concerning their role as research
participants.
• Human relations movement - recognized the importance of social factors in influencing work
performance.
• A harmonious work environment, with good interpersonal relationships among co-workers will
be a productive work environment, particularly when the work itself is boring or monotonous.
•World War II
• Tremendous need for state-of-the-art machinery, and the increasing complexity of that
machinery
• I/O Psychologists were called on to improve selection and placement of military personnel.

The Postwar Years and the Modern Era

•I/O Psychology truly blossomed.
•1950s to 1960s (Cold War)
•Engineering Psychology - help in designing control systems that were both sensible and easy to
operate.
• 1960s to Early 1990s
• Research and practice in I/O Psychology flourished.
• Civil Rights Legislation - banned discrimination in emloyment practices.
• I/O Psychologists have played an important part in helping to establish and implement fair
emloyment standards/

Figure 2b. I/O Psychology during and after World War II.

I/O Psychology Today and in The Future

First Trend: The Changing Nature of Work

 Organizations are becoming flatter, with fewer levels in the hierarchy, and they are being
broken up into smaller subunits with greater emphasis on work teams.
 I/O Psychologists will assist organizations in redesigning jobs for greater efficiency, in creating
new and more flexible organizational structures and work teams.
Charmaene Marie C. Miranda Psych 195: Industrial/Organizational Psychology
2012-20094

 Organizational Downsizing – strategy of reducing an organization’s workforce to improve

organizational efficiency and/or competitiveness.
o Technological advancements
o “Do more with less” – fewer workers are doing more work

Second Trend: Expanding focus on human resources

 Increasing concern with the management and maintenance of an organization’s human

resources.
 More companies are offering benefit programs to attract and retain the best workers.
 Because of technological advancements, older workers will have to be retrained often to
remain contributing members of the workforce.
 Challenge for HR in the future is to help provide meaningful and regarding work experiences
and to help transition workers from the unskilled to the skilled labor force.
 Seeing the worker as a “whole person” rather than just a working being.
o Helping them to cope with stress and adapt to changes, and understanding the role of
emotions in the workplace.
 Recognized the “overlap” between employees’ work life and home life.

Third Trend: Increasing diversity of the workforce

 The increasing number of women and ethnic minorities

 Advantages:
o Organizational creativity and innovation
o Understanding and reaching new markets for products and services
o Committing to diversity can help in recruiting and retaining the best workers
o Reduce in organizational conflict, greater cooperation among workers, and increased
flexibility and innovation.
 Disadvantages:
o If not carefully managed, it could create great difficulties in the functioning of work
teams—increasing destructive conflict, inhibiting team cooperation, and impeding
performance.

Fourth Trend: Increasing globalization of business

 The successful executive or manager of the future must be globally aware, knowledgeable and
respectful of other cultures, and capable of working with people from a wide variety of
backgrounds (Teagarden, 2007).