Industrial and Organizational

PsychologyMichael B. Gladson, MD

What is I/O Psychology?

The branch of psychology concerned with the application of psychological principles in the workplace

Second only to clinical psychology in the number of practitioners

Found in four sectors of the economy: industry, universities, government, and consulting firms

Differences in I/O and other psychology fields

Differs in the settings where it is practiced

Differs in content

Differs in approach

Does not differ in its reliance on the scientific method for its theories and research

Settings

Practiced in work settings

Makes use of findings of other branches of psychology:

Human motivation

Attitude formation

Psychology of groups (team performance, leadership dynamics)

Psychophysiology (job stress)

Theories of adjustment (job loss)

Intelligence testing applied to develop tests that might assist in hiring decisions

Content

Three primary areas of interest:

Personnel psychology

Organizational psychology

Human factors (or human engineering) psychology

A Systems Approach

Changes in one facet of I/O psychology usually affects the other facets

Example – changes in the design of a task so that it is more complex (human factors activity) may have substantial impact on worker satisfaction (organizational topic) or who might do best at that task (personnel topic)

A Brief History

Personnel Psychology was the first of the three I/O subfields to appear

Intelligence testing used in WW I to identify recruits with greatest likelihood to become successful officers

Adapted by industry following the war

Organizational Psychology History

Money was thought to be the only motivator in the early 20th century

Job satisfaction was of little interest to employers

Intelligence was something to be avoided in workers

Organizational Psychology History

Research team led by Mayo (1930) discovered that employees’ attitudes toward supervisors and company had substantial effects on productivity regardless of pay level

This launched the human relations movement, which gave birth to interest in job satisfaction, work motivation, and leadership

Human Factors Psychology History

Began with WW II when aircraft had become much more complex and there were more accidents than ever before (cockpit instrument array not standardized)

Airplane cockpits thus began to be designed with standardization of location of controls & instruments in the cockpit to decrease human error

Human factors psychology was born out of this need to design the best & safest combination of human & machine

In the next slides we will consider

each of the three facets of I/O

psychology in greater detail

Personnel Psychology

Selecting correct persons for the job

I/O psychologist would go about the selection process for any job in the same way

First step – determining the most important duties of the job in question

Second step – list human attributes (skills, abilities, knowledge, experience, and personality characteristics) that will be necessary for success

Third step – develop a way to measure those attributes in applicants

Final step – deciding who will get the job based on results of those assessments

First Step - Job Analysis

A method for breaking a job into its constituent parts – which parts are the most important?

Then determine the knowledge, skills, abilities, or other personal characteristics necessary for successful completion of the job’s central tasks

When these key attributes have been identified, then an appropriate test can be selected or developed.

Second Step – Test Administration and Interviewing Standardized tests used extensively

In recent years, personality testing has attracted increased interest as a means to enhance the hiring process – a result of the appearance of standardized tests to measure the Big Five personality traits

Integrity tests – measure trustworthiness but may not be as valid

Credit checks – may be considered intrusive by some employers

Test Administration and Interviewing

Personnel psychologist must verify that the tests used to select the best job candidates are successful in doing so

Involves statistical correlation of test scores with performance measures if the latter are available

This process is known as validation

Interviewing

Two types – structured and unstructured

Structured interviews more like standardized tests

same questions asked of all candidates and are based on attributes necessary for success on the job in question

Have clear guidelines for evaluation of answers

Can give information not otherwise tested, such as oral comprehension, listening skills, and motivation

Interviewing

Unstructured interviews

Nonstandard questions with no clear right or wrong answers

No method of assigning a score to an applicant

Many employers rely heavily on this type of interview but research suggests it is highly suggestive and far from optimal

Equal Opportunity Employment and Testing

Mental ability tests have been portrayed as instruments of discrimination as minorities often score lower

Physical ability tests may discriminate against women, older persons, and persons with disabilities

The EEOC in the US wants to ensure that all testing is fair to all applicants, regardless of race, religion, gender, disability, or age.

Equal Opportunity Employment

This simple goal has led to a complex tangle of legal, administrative, and philosophical disputes

Hiring quotas were in effect until 1991; since then many companies have continued to try to diversify their workforce

Much of the debate is about whether tests used in hiring are valid

When tests focus on several important attributes it is likely that ethnic minority applicants do better

New Trends and Challenges

Training and education

Performance assessment of current employees

Hiring airport screeners by DHS an important part of work of DHS I/O psychologist that has implications on national security

Organizational Psychology

Interest is in how organizational factors influence workers’ social and emotional functioning

Also interested in work motivation, job satisfaction, teams, leadership, and organizational culture

Work Motivation

Why do some workers work hard and others appear lazy and uncooperative?

Herzberg’s job enrichment theory – increasing motivation can be accomplished by enriching the job and giving worker more responsibilities and challenges

Skinner’s reinforcement theory – jobs acquire interest only through their association with extrinsic or external rewards

Work Motivation

Each theory has some value, but neither applies all the time

Expectancy theory – proposes people act on a prediction of what rewards they will receive

Self-efficacy theory – individuals gradually develop confidence (or lack of it) about abilities to overcome obstacles and successfully complete difficult tasks. Confidence can be enhanced or diminished by actual work experiences

Work Motivation

Self-regulation theory

Involves making and executing plans, initiating and inhibiting behaviors, taking responsibility, and exhibiting self-discipline

Important in “fitting in” with colleagues

Work Motivation

Goal-setting theory

Proposes best way to increase effort is to set specific, challenging goals for a worker

Same principle as in athletic training

Even if goal not met, performance better than if you had not set specific goals

Job Satisfaction

More research on this than almost any subject in I/O psychology and have led to basic findings about job satisfaction are:

Interesting and challenging work

Pleasant co-workers

Adequate pay and other financial benefits

Opportunities for advancement

Effective and supportive supervisors

Acceptable company policies

Job Satisfaction

The absence of factors previously listed leads to job dissatisfaction

Job dissatisfaction related to increased absenteeism, sick leave, and employee turnover

Job dissatisfaction can cause physical and psychological damage

Employers job is to remove obstacles to success

Work Teams

A result of downsizing in 1980s – unusual in US before that

Teams have effect of increasing accountability and ownership at lower levels of organization

Virtual teams – came about with advent of internet

Can have problems with time zones, inadequate face-to-face contact, and excessive reliance on technology

Leadership

Transformational leadership

Charismatic leadership

Emancipatory leadership

Emotional intelligence in leaders is important – the ability to understand and manage moods in oneself and others

Organizational Culture and Climate

Every organization has a personality, or “culture”

Climate consists of shared perceptions among workers about specific aspects of the workplace environment

I/O psychologists are primarily interested in how employees experience organizational culture and climate

Balancing Work and Other Spheres of Life

Research in this area focuses on the design and evaluation of programs intended to reduce stress at work

Time off from work, extent of non-work related hassles, and level of non-work stress found to be significant correlates of subsequent work-week performance as well as of employee health

Human Factors Psychology

Human factors specialists seek to understand the human-machine relationship in various environments

Design work environments and control panels for equipment in ways to reduce mistakes and decrease work stress

Robotics in the worksite is one newer challenge for human factors specialists; also distance education

Systems Approach to Work Safety

Workplace safety can serve as an example of the interrelation among personnel psychology, organizational psychology, and human factors psychology

Consider the problem of pizza delivery drivers who have excessive accidents when trying to deliver pizzas in under 30 minutes