INDTRODUCTION TO INDUSTRIAL

PSYCHOLOGY AND ITS BASIC CONCEPTS

INDTRODUCTION TO INDTRODUCTION TO INDUSTRIAL INDUSTRIAL

PSYCHOLOGY AND ITS PSYCHOLOGY AND ITS BASIC CONCEPTSBASIC CONCEPTS

It began as a branch of psychology in December 1901, when Dr. Walter Dill Scott in

the U.S.A spoke on the possibilities of the application of psychological principles to

the field of advertising

Industrial Psychology is the third or fourth of the most popular branches of psychology in India.

Industrial Psychology is the third or fourth of the most popular branches of psychology in India.

It tries to understand the human problems that have arisen as a result of tremendous

expansion of industry in the last few decades

People are the essential ingredients in all organizations.

Industrial psychology has the potentiality to contribute to the productivity of industry and business on one hand and achieving greater

effectiveness and fulfillment of working on hand on the other

PsychologyPsychology’’s Rootss Roots

Prescientific PsychologyPrescientific PsychologyEmpiricismEmpiricism

knowledge comes from experience via knowledge comes from experience via the sensesthe sensesscience flourishes through observation science flourishes through observation and experimentand experiment

PsychologyPsychology’’s Rootss Roots

Wilhelm Wundt Wilhelm Wundt opened the first opened the first psychology psychology laboratory at the laboratory at the University of Leipzig University of Leipzig (c. 1879)(c. 1879)

PsychologyPsychology’’s Rootss Roots

Functionalism Functionalism focused on how focused on how behavioral behavioral processes processes functionfunction——how how they enable they enable organism to organism to adapt, survive, adapt, survive, and flourishand flourish

It is defined as the study of man and his behavior with the aid of scientific

methodology.

Definition and Nature of Industrial Psychology

Definition and Nature of Industrial Psychology

The science of behavior (what we do) and The science of behavior (what we do) and mental processes (sensations, mental processes (sensations,

perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, and feelings)and feelings)

Scope of Industrial PsychologyScope of Industrial PsychologyScope of Industrial Psychology

Psychology is an extremely broad field, encompassing many different approaches to the study of mental

processes and behavior.

The Personnel Selection, Personnel development, Human Engineering, Productivity Study,

Management, Accident prevention and safety measures and Labor Relations are the scope of the

Industrial Psychology.

The omnipresent tendency to resist changes of any ort and maintain a status quo has been a great hurdle in the acceptance of industrial psychology by employees and managements all

over the world because practice of industrial psychology often demands radical changes in the outlooks and attitudes of both

employees and the employers

Employers are also averse to changes because often they are not sure about the efficacy of the new ideas

and are least inclined to take risks.

Industrial Psychology is the application of psychological principles and facts to the behavior of the people at work in

industry and business.

One important thing of this psychological principle is that basically they govern the behavior of all the human beings in any situation in life whether in school, home

or in business and industry

Causation of Behavior

The first principle of psychology is that all the activities of human beings are not random but are always brought about by some stimulating factors or conditions that make a person to behave in a certain fashion. In industrial situations, many suchbehaviors like absenteeism among workers, low figures of production, or a poorly running sales department or industrial tensions which often erupt in strikes or lockouts; are investigated with a view to determining the underlying stimulating conditions or causes or antecedent conditions

Causation of Behavior

By understanding the causation of behavior we can predict, change or control their behavior or shape it in a desirable direction. Industrial Psychology aims at understanding the causation of events so that it may help us to have a better control over the situation.

Differences in Physical Characteristics

Individual differences both in physical and psychological characteristics of the individuals from the very basis of

industrial psychology

The basic aspects in which individuals may vary broadly are:

Differences in intelligence

The basic aspects in which individuals may vary broadly are:

Differences in Interest

The basic aspects in which individuals may vary broadly are:

Differences in Personality Characteristics

If all adults in the state of Colorado were given a general intelligence test, the frequency distribution of the scores would resemble the following bell-

shaped curve.

The normal distribution has an important characteristic. The mean, median and mode are the same score (a score of 100 in Example 6) because a normal

distribution, is symmetrical. The score with the highest frequency occurs in the middle of the distribution and exactly half of the scores occur above the middle and half of the scores occur below. Most of the scores occur around the middle

of the distribution or the mean. Very high and very low scores occur infrequently and are therefore considered rare.

Learning has been defined in psychology a relatively permanent change in behavior which occurs as a result

of experience or practiceThe characteristic of learning are:

1.It is a change in behavior for better or worse. If there is no change in behavior there is no learning.

2.Learning is the effect of experience or practice.

3.The change brought about by learning maylast for sometime and may not be transitory as in the case of changes brought about by fatigue or drugs

•Classical conditional learning•Operant learning•Discrimination learning•Motor or skill learning•Verbal learning

Learning is a key concept in psychology because humans are constantly learning.

Perception plays an important role in our daily life and is a complex phenomenon

What we see also depends on the frame of reference in which we see it. People may again differ in the

rapidity with which they perceive

In many industries tasks the larger size of visual field is a very crucial factor and obviously persons with a

narrow visual field are ill equipped for such jobs. What you perceive or how you perceive is largely a

matter of learning or training, but often such differences are inherent and difficult to improve by

training, beyond a certain limit

Attitudeis a very important concept in psychology and must be clearly understood by industrial psychologists and students. Attitude may be best defined as learned

orientation or disposition towards favorable or unfavorable manner.

It is often used to explain various form of industrial behavior

Opinion can be distinguished from attitude in two ways- first, an opinion is verbalized or expressed in language or in some other way while an attitude may not be. Opinions are a public affair, while attitudes are private affairs. Opinion is there for everyone to see and infer

Prejudice is used to imply negative or unfavorable attitude towards a person or group of persons. Even production of company is influenced by unfavorable attitude of the workers. Changing and improving the attitude is the part of an industrial psychologist’s function in industry

It is a basic psychological concept . It may be defined as a behavior arising out of various human needs and which is directed towards certain goals that may bring satisfaction of the need. There are primary, general and acquired or learned motives or social motives.

An individual whose primary motives are not fully satisfied will strive hard to satisfy them. Frustration may be defined as state resulting from the thwarting of the behavior that is directed towards some goals. It is almost an inevitable experience of every living human being. An industrial psychologist must be able to pinpoint the sources of frustration in his organization and suggest remedies to eliminate or reduce them. It may bring down production, create situations that may lead to strikes, tensions.

Obstacle

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Personality is the some total of all the physical and mental characteristics, capacities and abilities of a person. It describes “what a person is”. Behavior on the other hand, is what a person does. It is fairly flexible in individual. It is based on personality, but depends generally on environment. The phenomenon can be described with a simple equation:

B = f (P,E) where B= behavior, f= function, P= personality and E=Environment.

Behavior

We generally start off our lives with roles which are determined by providence and not by any choice of ours. These roles are imposed on us by our fate or providence

or what we call circumstances. Roles, thus patterns behavior

A human group has been defined by Hegrath as a system of roles and social organization as a system of human groups. The organizational roles are primarily based on the tasks to be performed at various levels and functions within the organization and form the formal organizational structure.

Role performance is a continuous, dynamic process which necessarily takes place in conjunction with performance of people in the roles, and role relationship is vital for the work to be done.

In industries several small and large groups are often at work in terms or department. Three such

group phenomena are:

An organization is a dynamic entity and the organizational structure and environment develops through the interaction of individuals

performing various operating roles in work groups. It rests on three elements namely the structure, process and attitude of people

Managerial ApproachesEffectiveness of an organization depends on the environment it has developed and the quality of its people and the opportunity they get to utilize their talents.

The different approaches used are the Benevolent approach( It makes the employer, or the boss to look after his employees and decide what is good or

bad for them and it is often described as authoritarian, autocratic and paternalistic or coercive), the Human Relations approach( It aims at producing

maximum employee satisfaction and is based on a series of studies by industrial psychologists) and The Human Resources approach( In this the subordinate is

all important).

One offshoot of concern for human factor in industry is the concept of industrial morale. Both personal or social features involved in mental condition which we call group morale or team spirit or esprit de corps. It is a complex phenomenon resulting from working of several factors

It is of utmost importance in industry because at every level it has tremendous impact on the working of an organization. Industrial psychologists are well-versed in the various styles and aspects of leadership

India has a long tradition in industrial psychological training and research. A section of Applied

Psychology within the department of Psychology in Calcutta University was first established in 1993 and some first papers on industrial psychology were read

at the Indian Science Congress held in Bombay in 1934. Nearly 380 papers have been published on the

subject between 19502 and 1970. Industry psychology seems to be of the few sub-fields of

psychology managing the industries are increasing felt with the terrific tempo of industrial growth in our

country in the last 2 or 3 decades.

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