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Introduction to I/O Psychology

• Industrial/Organizational (I/O) psychology applies psychological principles in the workplace.
• The purpose is to enhance human dignity and performance in organizations by advancing the science and knowledge of human behavior.
• I/O psychology helps organizations succeed by improving employee motivation.

Differences Between I/O and Business Programs

• I/O psychology focuses on the factors affecting the well-being of employees within the organization, whereas business programs focus more on organizational performance.
• I/O psychology work is micro, focused on people.
• I/O psychology then uses data from action research, and then finds solutions
• I/O psychology relies heavily on research and statistical analysis.
• I/O psychologists do not conduct therapy.
• I/O psychologists act as scientists, applying research findings.
• Professionals in this field can positively impact people's lives by advocating for workers' well-being, which benefits society.
• From a societal perspective, I/O Psychologists can improve life by increasing employee effectiveness.

Major Fields in I/O Psychology

• I/O Psychology has two approaches: industrial and organizational.

Industrial Approach

• Focuses on determining the skills needed to perform a job, staffing the organization with employees who possess those skills, and enhancing those competencies through training.
• This approach helps the organization hire the right people.

Organizational Approach

• Organizational Approach creates an organizational structure and culture that motivates employees to do well
• It provides safe working conditions that help satisfaction
• It focuses on the larger organizational structure.

Personnel Psychology

• Personnel psychology concentrates on employee selection and evaluation.
• Activities include analyzing jobs, recruiting, selecting, determining salaries, training, and evaluating performance.
• Personnel psychologists analyze jobs to ensure workers match their positions.

Organizational Psychology

• Organizational psychology studies employee behavior within an organization.
• They are concerned with the issues within the organization
• Organizational psychologists conduct surveys and act as consultants to ensure efficient workflow.

Human Factors/Ergonomics

• Human factors/ergonomics concentrates on the interaction between humans and machines.
• Collaborates with engineers and other technical professionals to make the workspace more safe and efficient.

Brief History of I/O Psychology

• 1903: Walter Dill Scott wrote "The Theory of Advertising."
• 1910: Hugo Münsterberg wrote "Psychology and Industrial Efficiency."
• 1911: Walter Dill Scott wrote "Increasing Human Efficiency in Business."
• "Economic psychology," "business psychology," and "employment psychology" were all former names for I/O Psychology.
• I/O psychology had its first effect during World War I (with Army Alpha and Army Beta tests).
• Army Alpha was an intelligence test that was developed for and utilized by the army for literate soldiers during World War I.
• Army Beta was an intelligence test created and administered to illiterate soldiers by the army during World War I.
• Frank and Lillian Moller Gilbreth were among the first to work on methods of improving productivity and reducing fatigue through motion studies of workers.
• Hawthorne studies showed that behavior changes occurred when people reacted to changes in the environment.
• The Hawthorne effect occurs when employees change their behavior solely because they know they are being watched.

Four Major Changes in I/O Psych in the 1980s & 1990s

• More sophisticated statistical methods and analysis techniques
• Increased interest in applying cognitive psychology to the workplace
• More consideration of how job impacts family and leisure time
• Renewed interest in methods to select employees

Employment of I/O Psychologists

• I/O psychologists can be employed as industrial-organizational psychologists, managers, compensation analysts, consultants, directors, recruiters, research analysts/scientists/psychologists, senior partners, staffing managers, trainers, and vice presidents.

Educational Requirements (Philippines Context)

• Bachelor's Degree
• Optional BLE Psychometricians
• Master's Degree (I/O Psychology)
• BLE Psychologist
• Professional Membership
• Optional PsyD or PhD

Research: Why Conduct It?

• Research helps organizations make and save money.
• It aids analysis and criticism, even in everyday life.

Common Sense Isn't Always Correct

• Common sense is not common and is frequently incorrect.

Considerations in Conducting Research

• Key considerations include ideas, hypotheses, theories, literature reviews, study location, research method, subject samples, study execution, and statistical analysis.

Ideas, Hypotheses, and Theories

• Hypothesis: An educated prediction about the answer to a research question.
• Theory: A systematic set of assumptions about the causes and nature of behavior.

Literature Reviews

• Journals are a collection of articles describing the methods and results of new research; for example, Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Academy of Management Journal.
• Bridge Publications are written by professors on topics of interest to practitioners, less formal and statistically complex; for example Academy of Management Executive, Harvard Business Review.
• Trade magazines are articles for professionals, seldom directly reporting new research methods/results; for example HR Magazine and Training.

Location of Study

• Laboratory Research provides external validity (the extent to which research results can be expected to hold true outside the specific setting in which they were obtained).
• Generalizability is like external validity, or the extent to which research results hold true outside the specific setting in which they were obtained.
• Field Research is conducted in a natural setting as opposed to a laboratory.
• Field research presents ethical dilemmas, but psychologists require that participation be voluntary.

Research Methods

• Types include experiments, quasi-experiments, archival research, observations, surveys, and meta-analysis.
• Experiments can determine cause-and-effect relationships through manipulation of an independent variable.
• Cause-and-Effect Relationships are the result of a well-controlled experiment about which the researcher can confidently state that the independent variable caused the change in the dependent variable.
• Manipulation is the alteration of a variable by an experimenter in expectation that the alteration will result in a change in the dependent variable.
• Independent Variable is the manipulated variable in an experiment.
• Dependent Variable is the measure of behavior is expected to change as a result of changes in the independent variable.
• Experimental Group receives the experimental treatment.
• Control Group does not receive the experimental treatment.
• Quasi-Experiments are a research method in which the experimenter either does not manipulate the independent variable or in which subjects are not randomly assigned to conditions.
• It is often used to evaluate new programs.
• Archival Research involves using previously collected data.
• Surveys investigate opinions or experiences.
• Meta-Analysis is a statistical method of reaching conclusions based on previous research.
• Effect Size is a statistic that measures the amount of change from manipulation.
• Mean Effect Size averages the effect sizes of all studies analyzed.

Subject Samples

• Random Sample: A sample in which every member of the relevant population had an equal chance of being chosen to participate in the study.
• Convenience Sample: A nonrandom and easily accessible research sample.
• Random Assignment: The random and unbiased assignment of subjects in a research sample to the various experimental and control conditions.

Running the Study

• Debriefed involves informing the subject in an experiment about the purpose of the study in which he or she was a participant and providing any other relevant information

Statistical Analysis

• Correlation: A statistical procedure used to measure the relationship between two variables

Considerations in ethics

• Informed Consent: The formal process by which subjects give permission to be included in a study
• Institutional Review Boards: ensure the ethical treatment of research subjects
• Intervening Variable: A third variable that can often explain the relationship between two other variables.
• Type A Dilemma involves uncertainty about what is ethically correct and both positive and negative consequences to a decision.
• Type B (Rationalizing) Dilemma: The difference between right and wrong is much clearer; individuals know what is right but choose the solution that is most advantageous to themselves

Job Analysis and Evaluation

• Job Analysis is the foundation for HR activities, involving collecting and analyzing data about the work, conditions, and required worker traits.
• Not having this process makes hiring and following legal requirements difficult.
• Job analysis is needed for writing job descriptions, employee selection, training, personpower planning, performance appraisal, job classification, job evaluation, job design, compliance with legal guidelines, and organizational analysis.
• Job analysis is the process of determining the work activities and requirements.
• Job description is the written result of job analysis.
• Employee Selection is the process of selecting an individual for employment based on qualifications, skills, and experience.
• Training is the process of providing ee's with the knowledge/skills needed for correct roles.
• Job analyses yield lists of job activities that can be systematically used to create training programs.
• Personpower Planning can determine mobility in an organization.
• Work Mobility is the degree to which people are able and willing to move from one job to another.
• Peter Principle: The idea that organizations tend to promote good employees until they reach the level at which they are not competent—in other words, their highest level of incompetence.
• Performance Appraisal is the assessment of an employee's job performance and overall contribution to a company.
• Job Classification is useful for determining pay levels, transfers, and promotions.
• Job analysts enable human resources professionals to classify jobs into groups based on similarities.
• Job Evaluation information can also be used to determine the worth of a job.
• Job Design gives a definition of the content and method of how work is to be performed.
• Job analysis information can determine the optimal way in which a job should be performed.
• Job analysis interview involves information about work by talking to a person performing it.
• Analysis can often find problems in an organization.

Writing a Good Job Description

• Description is a relatively short summary of a job, about two to five pages in length.
• Needs to be detailed.
• Must describe a job in enough detail that decisions would be made on selection and training.
• Listing each activity limits ability to direct employees to tasks not listed.
• Duties can be added.
• There are eight sections contained in a good job description:job title, brief summary, work activities, tools and equipment used, work context, performance standards, compensation information, and personal requirements

Sections of a Good Job Description

• Job Title: Accurate title, reflecting job's power, status, and needed traits.
• Brief Summary: Summary that describes the nature and purpose of the job; can be used in advertisements/postings.
• Work Activities: Lists and categorizes tasks in which the worker is involved.
• Tools and Equipment Used: Lists the tools and equipment required for the job's activities.
• Job Context: Describes the work environment, stress, schedule, demands, etc.
• Work Performance describes standard expectations.
• 7. Compensation Information: Includes the salary grade, exempt status, and compensable factors, rather than specific salary details.
• Grade is the cluster of jobs of similar worth.
• 8. Job Competencies: KSAO's must be had at time of hire.
• KSAOs stands for knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics
• Job Specifications is an older term for the traits needed.

Preparing for Job Analysis

• Prior to conducting a job analysis, decisions must be made that affect how it is conducted.
• Typical job analysis is done by HR but can be done by incumbents.
• It is essential that they be thoroughly trained in job analysis procedures.
• Consultants have good training, with a good amount of experience.
• College Interns from I/O psychology programs have the experience.
• Job descriptions should be updated often if changed.
• Job Crafting refers to informal changes employees make in jobs.
• Committee job analysis: Group of subject matter experts who generate the tasks, who would know a job and include job incumbents, supervisors, customers, and upper-level management
• Field job analysis: Interviewing and Observing incumbents.
• Determine the specificity.

Conducting a Job Analysis

The goal of any type of job analyses is to identify tasks, conditions, and KSAOs.

• STEP 1: Identify tasks performed: Existing info, subject matter experts, observation.
• STEP 2: Writing tasks statements: Task inventories and writing task statements
• STEP 3: Rate tasks statement: Task or functional analysis.
• STEP 4: Determine essential KSAOs
• STEP 5: Selecting that TAP KSAOs
• A job participations is a job analysis method in which the job analyst performs the job being analyzed

Step 3 Task Analysis

• The process of identifying the tasks for which employees need to be trained; using a group of SMEs to rate each task statement on the frequency and the importance or criticality of the task being performed.
• Knowledge is a body of information needed to perform a task.
• Skill is the proficiency to perform a learned task.
• Ability is the basic capacity for performing a wide range of tasks, acquiring knowledge, or developing a skill.
• Other Characteristics are factors that are not KSA's such as licenses degrees, and years of experience.