Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

• Serves as a bridge between psychology and the workplace, applying psychological principles to enhance human performance and organizational effectiveness.
• Aims to elevate the dignity and productivity of individuals within organizations by advancing our understanding of human behavior.

I/O Psychology Approaches

• Industrial Approach: focuses on identifying job competencies, staffing positions with qualified individuals, and enhancing these competencies through targeted training initiatives.
• Organizational Approach: centers on creating supportive organizational cultures and structures that foster employee motivation, provide necessary resources, and cultivate a safe and satisfying work environment.

I/O Psychology Subsets

Personnel Psychology

• Involves tasks like job analysis, recruitment, selection, compensation management, training, and performance evaluation.
• Focuses on grasping the specifics of job roles and aligning them with employees' skills and abilities.

Organizational Psychology

• Explores leadership, job satisfaction, motivation, communication, conflict resolution, organizational change, and group dynamics in workplaces.
• Uses surveys and assessments to uncover employee perceptions, strengths, weaknesses, and organizational culture.

Human Factors / Ergonomics

• Focuses on improving workplace design, human-machine interactions, ergonomic factors, and reducing physical fatigue and stress.
• Works closely with engineers and technical experts to develop safer, more efficient work environments that promote better performance and well-being.

History of I/O Psychology

Walter Dill Scott (1903)

• American psychologist and academic who wrote "The Theory of Advertising" in 1903.
• Explored psychological principles in advertising, emphasizing consumer psychology, motivation, and persuasion.
• Contributed to modern advertising theory development and laid the foundation for psychological principles in marketing.

Hugo Münsterberg (1910)

• German-American psychologist who published "Psychology and Industrial Efficiency" in 1913.
• Applied psychological principles in industrial settings, emphasizing human behavior and motivation at work.
• Advocated for scientific methods to optimize worker performance, shaping theories and practices for worker well-being and organizational productivity.

World War I

• I/O psychology made a significant impact, particularly in the context of military recruitment and placement.
• I/O psychologists developed and administered tests to assess recruits' mental abilities and aptitudes, ensuring they were placed in roles suited to their skills and capabilities.
• Developed the Army Alpha and Army Beta tests of mental ability.

Army Alpha Test

• Designed for literate recruits, assessing various cognitive abilities such as verbal comprehension, numerical reasoning, and spatial awareness.

Army Beta Test

• Tailored for illiterate or literate recruits with limited literacy skills.

John Watson (Behaviorism)

• A pioneer in behaviorism who served as a major in the U.S. Army during World War I.
• Demonstrated a commitment to ensuring that only the most competent and qualified individuals were hired for positions within his organization.

Gilbreths (Early 20th century)

• Were pioneering figures in the early years of Industrial-Organizational (I/O) psychology.
• Known for their groundbreaking work in improving productivity and reducing fatigue in the workplace.
• Developed the concept of motion study, analyzing and optimizing workplace processes to increase efficiency and reduce fatigue.

Hawthorne Studies (1930s)

• Revealed the complexity of employee behavior, highlighting the significant impact of interpersonal interactions between managers and employees.
• Initially aimed to investigate the effects of factors such as lighting levels, work schedules, wages, temperature, and rest breaks on employee performance.
• Showed that employees' behavior changed in response to being observed and receiving attention from their managers, known as the Hawthorne effect.