INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

2 MAJOR DOMAINS

1. I / INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY side concerned with PERSONNEL matters

2. O / ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY including the topic of management styles, worker's

attitude & behavior & leadership

1. ORIGINS OF I/O PSYCHOLOGY

3 IMPORTANT INFLUENCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF I/O

1. The Advent of Scientific Management

2. Ergonomics
3. and Human Relation Approach to Management

1. THE ADVENT OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT:

Frederick Winslow Taylor, the mastermind of the idea of scientific management. Taylor (1911)
suggested the following guidelines, which have continuing influence today:
 Jobs should be carefully analyzed to identify the optimal way to perform them.
 Employees should be hired according to the characteristics associated with success at a task.
These characteristics should be identified by examining people who are already
successful at a job.
 Employees should be trained at the job they will perform.
 Employees should be rewarded for productivity to encourage high levels of performance.

2. ERGONOMICS (HUMAN FACTORS):

 Ergonomics was born during World War II, when the military became occupied with
designing jets with controls that were both efficient and safe.

 The field of ergonomics is the origin of the term applied psychology, as those who conducted
this work during the war were the first to apply the principles of psychological research to the
workplace setting.

 ergonomics specialists represent a range of expertise, from perception, attention, and cognition
(individuals who might have good ideas about the placement of buttons on a control panel or
the preferred coloring of those buttons), to learning (individuals who might design training
programs for the use of machines), to social and environmental psychologists (individuals who
might address issues such as living in a constrained environment like that of the space shuttle).

3. The Hawthorne Studies and the Human Relations Approach to Management:

Hawthorne Effect: The tendency of individuals to perform better simply because of being
out and made to feel important.
 Human Relations Approach: A management approach emphasizing the psychological
characteristics of workers and managers, stressing the importance of such factors as morale,
attitudes, values, and humane treatment of workers.

2 Industrial Psychology

Describe the perspectives and emphases of Industrial Psychology

Industrial psychology is the older of the two sides of I/O psychology. Industrial psychology takes a
company-oriented perspective and focuses on increasing efficiency and productivity through the
appropriate use of a firm’s personnel, or employees—its human resources (Koppes, 2007; Spector,
2006). The field of industrial psychology has a four-pronged emphasis:

1. Job analysis and job evaluation

2. Employee selection
3. Training
4. Performance appraisal

JOB ANALYSIS AND JOB EVALUATION

Job analysis is the process of generating a description of what a job involves, including the
knowledge and skills that are necessary to carry out the job’s functions (Wilson, 2007).

THREE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE JOB ANALYSIS

1. First, the analysis must follow a systematic procedure that is set up in advance
2. Second, it must break the job down into small units so that each aspect of the job can be easily
understood.
3. Third, the analysis should lead to an employee manual that accurately characterizes the job.

A job analysis can focus on the job itself or on the characteristics of the person who is suited for the job
(Peterson & Jeanneret, 2007). A job-oriented description outlines what the job entails (say, analyzing
scientific data) and what it requires (say, expertise with both basic computer programs and statistics
software). A person-oriented job analysis involves what are sometimes called

KSAOs (or KSAs) Common elements in a person-oriented job analysis;

K- NOWLEDGE
S- KILLS
A- BILITIES
O- THER CHARACTERISTICS

 Knowledge, of course, refers to what the person needs to know to function in the job.
 Skills are what the individual must be able to do.
 Abilities include the person’s capacity to learn the job and to gain new skills.
 Other characteristics may also be important. For the job of professional landscaper, enjoying
outside work may be an essential “O,” and for a child-care worker the ability to handle frequent diaper
changes and to chase energetic toddlers may be required.
Job analysis plays an integral role in all HR functions and activities. Job analysis is the foundation on
which all HR practices are built. Without a thorough understanding of how jobs are performed,
effective HR practices would be impossible.

HR planning: It is critical to identify the skills needed to accomplish the work that will help achieve
organizational goals.

Staffing: Without a detailed job description and a list of required qualifications, it would be impossible
to recruit and select highly qualified employees.

Training: The tasks identified by job analysis pinpoint the knowledge, skills and abilities required to
perform the duties.

Performance management: Job analysis leads to identification of performance standards.

Safety and health: Job analysis helps identify work hazards inherent in the job, any required personal
protective equipment and training needs.

FUNCTION OF A JOB

Essential functions are the fundamental, necessary tasks and duties of a job as defined by the
employer, usually in writing.

Nonessential functions are aspects of the job that may not be necessary, although they are
desirable.

Rewards: Proper evaluation of a job’s value or worth relies on codifying tasks, duties and
qualifications for successful job performance.

JOB EVALUATION

Job evaluation Scientific determination of the monetary value of a particular occupation, which
relies on experts’ decisions as to the standing of an occupation in terms of compensable factors.

COMPENSABLE FACTORS These factors might include the consequences of error on the job, the
amount of education required, and the level of responsibility and skill required. Each occupation is
assigned a number of points depending on its compensable factors. Total points are then compared
with salaries.

Personnel Selection

Once a position is defined, the task for hiring managers is to select the best from among the pool of
recruits. That pool can be huge.

Industrial psychologists have played a significant role in developing techniques for selecting
individuals and placing them in positions that match their strengths (Bernardin, 2007; Guion &
Highhouse, 2006). Based on a job analysis, the KSAOs necessary for a particular job should be clear.
The next step is to measure the knowledge, skills, and abilities (as well as other characteristics) of the
recruits in order to evaluate their appropriateness for a position. These measures include testing and
interviews, as well as work samples and exercises.

A. Testing Managers or human resource personnel may administer tests to prospective

candidates to ascertain whether they are a good match for the position. Some organizations use
tests that assess such factors as personality traits and motivation. Other firms employ cognitive
ability tests, such as intelligence tests.

A1. integrity test A type of job-screening examination that is designed to assess

whether a candidate will likely be dishonest on the job.

A2. biographical inventory A type of job-screening test that involves asking the
candidate about life experiences that seem verifiable.

B. Interviews Perhaps the most common way that job candidates are evaluated is through an
interview (Huffcutt & Youngcourt, 2007). As soon as a candidate enters the room, the
interviewer probably has a sense of how outgoing, warm, and friendly the person is.

C. Work Samples and Exercises

In addition to testing and interviewing, I/O psychologists have developed various other techniques for
pinpointing the best-suited candidate for a particular job. One such technique is the requirement that a
job seeker must submit work sample
Training

You got the job! Now, what was that job again?

Three Key Phases of Training

1. ORIENTATION- A program by which an organization introduces newly hired employees to

the organization’s goals, familiarizes them with its rules and regulations, and lets them know
how to get things done.

2. FORMAL TRAINING – Training involves teaching the new employee the essential
requirements to do the job well. Training needs vary by occupation.
 Overlearning A key goal of training by which trainees practice after they have achieved
a level of acceptable skill at some task so that the skill has become automatic.
3. MENTORING - is a relationship between an experienced employee and a novice in which the
more experienced employee serves as an advisor, a sounding board, and a source of support for
the newer employee (Day & Allen, 2004).

Performance Appraisal
Performance appraisal is important for a variety of reasons. It allows employees to get feedback and
make appropriate changes in their work habits. It also helps guide decisions about promotions and
raises, as well as terminations and firing (Bennett, Lance, & Woehr, 2006).

Sources of Bias in Performance Rating

a. Leniency Error
Leniency error is when a raters’ tendency is to rate all employees at the positive end of the scale
(positive leniency) or at the low end of the scale (negative leniency).

b. Central Tendency Error

Central tendency error is the raters’ tendency to avoid making “extreme” judgments of employee
performance resulting in rating of all employees in the middle part of a scale.

c. Recency Error
Recency error is the rater’s tendency to allow more recent incidents (either effective or ineffective) of
employee behavior to carry too much weight in the evaluation of performance over an entire rating
period. This can be extreme on both ends of the spectrum.

***360-degree feedback A method of performance appraisal whereby an employee’s performance is

rated by a variety of individuals, including himself or herself, a peer, a supervisor, a subordinate, and
perhaps a customer or client.

Organizational Psychology

Organizational psychology emphasizes the psychological experience of the worker, examining how the
relationships among people at work influence their job satisfaction and commitment, as well as their
efficiency and productivity.
IMPORTANT FACTORS IN ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

A manager’s approach to this role can have a widespread impact on organizational success as well as
employees’ lives (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2008; McShane & von Glinow, 2007). So it is
appropriate that we examine how and why management styles matter to organizations and employees.

DIFFERENT MANAGEMENT STYLE

A.1 Theory X managers- Managers who assume that work is innately unpleasant and that people have
a strong desire to avoid it; such managers believe that employees need direction, dislike responsibility,
and must be “kept in line.”
A.2 Theory Y managers- Managers who assume that engaging in effortful behavior is natural to
human beings, and who recognize that people seek out responsibility and that motivation can come
from allowing them to suggest creative and meaningful solutions.
A.3 Waigawa system- A management system dedicated to the idea that when the corporation faces a
difficult problem, all rank-related concerns are temporarily set aside so that anyone from any level of
the organization can have input.
A.4 Strengths-based management- A management style emphasizing that maximizing an employee’s
existing strengths is much easier than trying to build such attributes from the ground up.

Job Satisfaction

 Job satisfaction is the extent to which a person is content in his or her job.
 Job satisfaction is a relatively recent term, because in the past, the choice of occupation
was not so much up to the individual. The most common way to measure job satisfaction is to ask
employees to report their reactions to their jobs using rating scales.

Employee Commitment

Understanding the factors that might maintain employee commitment has become important to industry
and psychologists (Amiot & others, 2006). I/O psychologists have examined work commitment as an
important determinant of work-related outcomes (Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005)
THREE TYPES OF COMMITMENT
>>>Affective commitment - refers to the person’s emotional attachment to the workplace. A person
with a strong affective commitment identifies closely with the goals of the organization and wants to be
a part of it.

>>>Continuance commitment - derives from the employee’s perception that leaving the organization
would be too costly, both economically and socially. The person may dread the notion of relocation or
the thought of the effort that a new job search would require. Such an individual might remain with an
organization because of the feeling that he or she “has to.”

>>>Normative commitment - is the sense of obligation an employee feels toward the organization
because of the investment the organization has made in the person’s personal and professional
development. If an organization has subsidized a person’s education, for example, the employee might
feel that she owes it to her boss to stick around.

The Meaning of Work

Occupations define people in fundamental ways. Work is an important influence on their

financial standing, leisure activities, home location, friendships, and health.

a. Some described the occupation as a “job,” one that involved no training and allowed no
personal control and little freedom.

b. Some identified their occupation as a “career.” They saw their occupation as a steppingstone to
greater advancement and accordingly focused on the attainment of better pay, promotions, and
moving up the organizational ladder

c. Some viewed their occupation in terms of a “calling.” They perceived the occupation as
requiring a great deal of training and as involving personal control and freedom.

Job crafting
The physical and cognitive changes individuals can make within the constraints of a task to make the
work “their own.”

Leadership

I/O psychologists are especially interested in understanding what makes an effective leader and what
effect leadership characteristics have on organizations
- Leaders are not necessarily the same as managers. Not all managers are effective leaders.

TWO MAJOR TYPES OF LEADERSHIP

a. TRANSACTIONAL LEADER
An individual in a leadership capacity who emphasizes the exchange relationship between the
worker and the leader and who applies the principle that a good job should be rewarded.

***applying the principle “You do a good job and I will reward you.”
 b. TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER
An individual in a leadership capacity who is concerned not with enforcing the rules but with
changing them.

FOUR ELEMENTS OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

2.1 First, transformational leaders exert what has been referred to as idealized influence. This
quality means that transformational leaders act as they do because they believe it is the right
thing to do

2.2 Second, transformational leaders motivate by inspiring others to do their very best.

2.3 Third, transformational leaders are devoted to intellectually stimulating their employees.
They make it clear that they need input from employees because they themselves do not
have all the answers.

2.4 Fourth, transformational leaders provide individualized consideration to their employees,

showing a concern for each person’s well-being.

Organizational Culture
-refers to an organization’s shared values, beliefs, norms, and customs. How do people dress? Do they
socialize? Are decorated cubicles acceptable? Can the employees talk to the CEO? These are the kinds
of questions a new employee might ask, and the answers can reveal how formal, warm, and status
conscious the workplace culture is. Organizational culture describes the flavor” of an organization—the
“way we get things done around here” (Deal & Kennedy, 1982).

Types of Organizational Culture

Researchers have proposed a variety of theoretical approaches to organizational culture (Schein, 2005).
One approach describes four types of organizational culture (Handy, 1985):

A. Power culture:
Power is centralized to only a few people. Control is enforced from the center of the organization
outward. A power culture typically has few rules and little bureaucracy and is characterized by quick
decision making.
B. Role culture:
Structure is clearly defined and authority is delegated. Typically, such a culture is hierarchical in
structure, with authority flowing from the top down.
C. Task culture:
Teams are used to solve particular problems, with expertise driving the status of embers. The person
who knows the most about the problem at hand takes charge until some other problem comes along.
D. Person culture:
Everyone believes that he or she is above the organization itself. An organization with this type of
culture has difficulty surviving because the members have not “bought into” a shared mission.

Factors Contributing to Positive Organizational Culture

1. Compassion means empathizing with the suffering of another and doing something to
alleviate that suffering.
 2. Downsizing A dramatic cutting of the workforce that is an increasingly popular business
strategy to enhance profitability
3. Virtuousness, or moral goodness Doing the right thing can have a broad array of benefits.
4. Active leadership, explicit policies, and less tangible aspects such as the “feel” of an
organization
5. A positive climate can be nurtured by leaders who incorporate fairness and safety into the
cultural climate as part of a well-functioning workplace, rather than treating these concerns as hassles
that must be endured

Toxic Factors in the Workplace

Workplace incivility
A. Sexual Harassment - Sexual harassment is unwelcome behavior or conduct of a
sexual nature that offends, humiliates, or intimidates another person. In the workplace, sexual
harassment includes unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical
conduct of a sexual nature against an employee’s wishes.

B. Workplace Violence - Another severe negative aspect of the work environment is

workplace violence. Violence in the workplace may range from verbal abusiveness to intimidating
behavior to physical aggression and even homicide.

I/O Psychology and Health and Wellness

Given the significant place of work in human life, it is no surprise that work is important to health and
wellness (Hahn, Payne, & Lucas, 2007; Insel & Roth, 2008). Indeed, job satisfaction is strongly related
to life satisfaction overall, and work can be a source of fulfillment and meaning. Work can also be a
source of considerable stress and conflict, however, as we now consider.

Stress at Work

 JOB STRESS The experience of stress on the job and in the workplace setting.

 ROLE CONFLICT The kind of stress that arises when a person tries to meet the demands
of more than one important life role, such as worker and mother

 BURN OUT An extremely distressed psychological state in which a person experiences

emotional exhaustion and little motivation for work.

Managing Job Stress

LEISURE - The pleasant times before or after work when individuals are free to pursue
activities and interests of their own choosing, such as hobbies, sports, and reading.

FLOW - The optimal experience of a match between our skills and the challenge of a task.