Introduction to

Industrial/Organizational
Psychology

Bs Psychology,
Week 1

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 COURSE BOOK

“Industrial and Organizational Psychology : Research

and Practice”
by Paul E. Spector

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“Organization is a group of people who work
interdependently towards some purpose”
(S. McShnane, Organizational Behavior on the Pacific Rim)

“Industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology is the

scientific study of the workplace. methods of psychology
are applied to issues of critical relevance to business
including talent management, coaching, assessment,
selection, training, organizational development,
performance, and work-life balance”.
(Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology (SIOP) 2009)

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 Industrial and Organizational Psychology

• The specialty of industrial-organizational

psychology (also called I/O psychology) is
characterized by the scientific study of human
behavior in organizations and the work place.
The specialty focuses on deriving principles of
individual, group and organizational behavior
and applying this knowledge to the solution of
problems at work.

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 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
INDUSTRIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY

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 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INDUSTRIAL AND
ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Branches Timeline Focus Study Topics

Industrial 1900’s Management •Job design

•Employee Selection
•Employee Training
•Performance
Appraisal

Organizational 1970’s Individual •Employee Attitude

(Developed •Employee Well
from
Human being
Relations •Job Stress
Movement) •Supervisory
practices

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 Industrial psychology
• Industrial psychology is concerned with describing job
requirements and assessing individuals for their ability to meet
those requirements. In addition, once employees are hired,
industrial psychology studies and develops ways to train,
evaluate, and respond to those evaluations. As a consequence
of its concern for candidate characteristics, industrial
psychology must also consider issues of legality regarding
discrimination in hiring.

(a) Industrial psychology focuses on

hiring and maintaining employees

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 Organizational psychology
• Organizational psychology is a discipline interested in how the
relationships among employees affect those employees and the
performance of a business. This includes studying worker satisfaction,
motivation, and commitment. This field also studies management,
leadership, and organizational culture, as well as how an organization’s
structures, management and leadership styles, social norms, and role
expectations affect individual behavior. As a result of its interest in worker
wellbeing and relationships, organizational psychology also considers the
subjects of harassment, including sexual harassment, and workplace
violence.

(b) Organizational psychology is

interested in employee relationships
and organizational culture.

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 INFLUENCES ON I/O PSYCHOLOGY

Social
Psychology

Management I/O Psychology Sociology

Experimental Industrial
Psychology Engineering

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SO WHAT DOES AN I/O PSYCHOLOGIST DO?

Work in RESEARCH SETTING e.g. in universities and colleges.

Major activities of those in research are;
Teaching, conducting research, writing research papers, develop
courses, supervise students, provide consulting services to
organizations.

Work in PRACTICE SETTING e.g. for consulting firms,

government and military.
Major activities of those in practice are;
Job analysis, determine solutions for organizational problems,
conduct employee surveys, design performance appraisal system,
design training programs, develop psychological tests, develop
organizational change.
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The following list of activities shows what
practicing I/O psychologist do:
● Analyze the nature of a job (job analysis)
● conduct an analysis to determine the solution o an
organizational problem
● conduct a survey of employee feeling and opinion
● design an employee performance appraisal system
● design an employee selection system
● design a training program,
● develop psychological tests
● evaluate the effectiveness of an activityor practice,
such as a training program
● implement an organizational change, such as a new
reward system for employees who perform well
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 PERCENTAGE OF I/O PSYCHOLOGISTS IN MAJOR
WORK SETTINGS

Multiple Facets of I/O Psychology by A. Howard, 1990: SIOP

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 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR,
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

• Employment growth will vary by specialty; for example,

clinical, counseling, and school psychologists will have 11
percent growth; industrial-organizational psychologists, 26
percent growth; and 14 percent growth is expected for all
other psychologists.

• Job opportunities should be the best for those with a

doctoral degree in a subfield, such as health; those with a
master’s degree will have good prospects in industrial-
organization; bachelor’s degree holders will have limited
prospects.

http://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/psychologists.htm 18
I/O PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

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 SIX ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF APA CODE
Competence: A psychologist only does work that he/she is
competent to perform.
Integrity: Psychologists are fair and honest in their professional
dealing with others.
Professional and Scientific Responsibility: Psychologists maintain
high standards of professional behavior.
Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity: Psychologists respect the
rights of confidentiality and privacy of others.
Concern for Other’s Welfare: Psychologists attempt to help others
through their professional work.
Social Responsibility: Psychologists have a responsibility to use
their skills to benefit society.
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 HISTORY OF I/O PSYCHOLOGY
Pioneers
1. Walter Dill Scott (Experimental Psychologist)
• Author of “The theory of Advertising” (1903)
• First to apply psychology principles to employee
selection, motivation and productivity

2. Hugo Munsterberg (Experimental Psychologist)

• Author of the “Psychology of Industrial Efficacy”
1913
• Introduced issues of fatigue, monotony, interest,
learning, work satisfaction and reward
• Focused on personnel selection, accidents and
employee rating process. 22
3. Frederick Winslow Taylor (Engineer; studied employees productivity)
Introduced “Scientific Management” in 1911, a list of guiding
principles for handling factory workers. Taylor suggested the
following;
• Each job should be carefully analyzed so that the optimal way of
doing tasks can be specified.
• Employees should be selected (hired) according to characteristics
that are related to job performance. Managers should study
existing employees to find out what personal characteristics are

important.
• Employee should be carefully trained to do their job tasks.
• Employees should be rewarded for their productivity to
encourage high levels of performance.
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4. Robert Yerkes (Psychologist) created the WWI Army Alpha
and Beta intelligence tests of mental ability for the war
recruits.
Army Alpha: five alternate forms of the verbal test,
Army Beta: a nonverbal test for illiterate and non-English
speaking recruits
Individual Examination: An individual verbal examination for
those who failed Beta
Administered on approximately two million men
The test was criticized by Gould, S. J. as being culturally unfair;
• Many of alpha test participants were not familiar with
language
• Many were not familiar with the use of pencil
• Insufficient times
• Questions inappropriate for recent immigrants (e.g.
question about TV star, Tennis Player etc). 24
Picture
Completion
Task
Army Beta

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5. Elton Mayo (Psychologist, industrial researcher and organizational theorist)
Hawthorne Study
Began in 1920 for more than 10 years at the Hawthorne plant of
Western Electric Company.

Initially designed to study the effect of working conditions on

performance such as lighting, and room temperature.

Later studied the impact of supervisory styles, arrangement of

work groups, length of work breaks, and the length of work day.

Established the “Hawthorne Effect”: An effect on behavior that is

due to getting any treatment and not necessarily to the nature
of the treatment per se.

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 HUMAN RELATION MOVEMENT 1920’S
(the “O” of the I/O Psychology)

“A concentrated effort by managers and their advisors

to become more sensitive to the needs of employees or
to treat them in a more humanistic manner”

Andrew J. Dubrin, Applying Psychology: Individual and Organizational

Effectiveness 4th Edition; Prentice Hall International Editions.

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 TIMELINE OF MAJOR EVENTS IN HISTORY OF I/O PSYCHOLOGY
1904 The term “Industrial Psychology” first appeared in an article by William
Lowe Bryan

1913 First I/O text book was published

1917 Mental tests for job placements were used
1921 •First I/O PhD is awarded to Bruce V. Moore at Penn State University.

•Psychological Corporation was founded by James McKeen Cattell.

1964 Civil Rights Act passes (Title VII, section 703a states “It is unlawful to
discriminate in any employment practice on the basis of race, color,
religion, sex or national origin”

1970 APA changes the name from “Industrial Psychology Division” to

“Division of Industrial and Organizational Psychology” (again changed in
1983 to SIOP)
1991 American’s with disabilities Act passes
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 ETHICS IN I/O FIELD

It is essential for the psychologists in the profession to follow the

Ethical Code developed by American Psychological Association
(APA), in order prevent any harm to the client.
The code includes both ethical principles and statements of
appropriate professional conduct.

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 NEXT CLASS

Research Methodology

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