Psychology & Work Today - Chapter 1 PDF

Psychology & Work Today Principles, Practices, and Problems Chapter 1 What is I-O Psychology? The application of the methods, facts, and principles of psychology to people at work. It is a SCIENCE Deals with observable behavior Empirical in its approach to researc...

Psychology & Work Today Principles, Practices, and Problems Chapter 1 What is I-O Psychology? The application of the methods, facts, and principles of psychology to people at work. It is a SCIENCE Deals with observable behavior Empirical in its approach to research (experimental) Objective in its methods and results Is Work a Four-Letter Word? What else is there? Personal Is it just about satisfaction, the money? fulfillment, and pride NO of accomplishment Emotional security, self-esteem, and contentment Identity and status, friendships and belonging Topics of Interest for I-O Psychologists I-O Psychology Human Organizational Workplace Engineering Consumer Resources Psychology Characteristics Psychology Psychology Development Working Selection Leadership conditions Motivation, Safety, violence, Testing satisfaction, & involvement health Performance Organization Stress appraisal Training & development  Research Methods used by I-O Psychologists Observe the behavior of employees on the job under well- controlled and systematic conditions Look, listen, Record behavioral responses Vary (contrast) the conditions and measure resulting changes Measure, summarize and record according to scientific method The Pioneers of I/O WWII and The Engineerin Hawthorne g Studies Psychology Psychologic al Testing in WWI Hugo Munsterbe rg Walter Dill Scott  The Pioneers of I/O: Walter Dill Scott Walter Dill Scott (1869- 1955) First to apply psychology to advertising, employee selection, & management Theory and  The Pioneers of I/O: Hugo Munsterberg Hugo Munsterberg (1863-1916) The Psychology of Industrial Efficiency (1913) Goal of improving worker efficiency Used tests to measure skills and match workers to jobs Conducted research in the workplace  The Pioneers of I/O: Psychological Testing in WWI WWI marked the emergence of I-O psychology as an important discipline Testing Army Alpha for recruits who could read & write Army Beta for recruits who couldn’t read or speak English Personal Data Sheet to detect neurotic tendencies (e.g.: fearful) Neuroticism is defined by a propensity toward anxiety, negativity, and self-doubt. Officer & pilot selection tests  The Pioneers of I/O: The Hawthorne Studies Western Electric Co. Hawthorne Works Long-term study begun in 1924 Studied effects of work environment on employee efficiency Findings: Social & psychological factors in the work environment had the potential to effect organizational outcomes as much or more than physical factors  The Pioneers of I/O: WWII and Engineering Psychology  More than 2000 psychologists contributed to the war effort  Focused on testing, classifying and training millions of recruits  Complex weapons sparked engineering psychology  human abilities and limitations  Challenges for I-O Psychology Rapidly changing nature of work E.g.: Designing virtual workplace and virtual workers Contingent or temporary workers E.g.: Designing rewards and compensations Worker involvement E.g.: Empowerment, delegation Increasing demographic diversity/ Globalization E.g.: Understanding employees from different nationality, age, gender Technological advances E.g.: Find right match between machines and people Worker literacy E.g.: Different language, culture, norms  What Are Marketable Skills of I-O Psychologists? Employee training Fair employme Performan nt ce practices Human appraisal resources Psychologic selection al testing, and and placement survey constructio n and validation