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Industrial Psychology

[PS1501]
Unit I
Introduction to Industrial Psychology
Content
Nature
Scope
Methods of study
Challenges faced by industrial psychologists
Problems faced by industrial psychologists
Human Engineering
Psychologists have helped:
AT & T (American multinational
Telecommunications Cooperation) develop
assessment centers to choose the best
managers.
GE (General Electric) develop systems to
provide job performance feedback to
employees.
The U.S. Army use psychological tests to place
recruits in appropriate jobs.
SCOPE of I/OP

Concerned with
Practice Concerned with
(use of psychological Scientific Research
principles to solve real- (it provide principles
world problems like that can be applied in
excessive job stress, practice)
poor job performance)
Scope Continues

9%

10%

39% Universities
Conculting Firms
Private Companies
17% Others
Government

25%

Percentage of I/O Psychologists who work in


various settings.
Scope Continues

Research settings include


Works at Colleges & universities where I/O psychologists are
professors.
Work-
- Teach course
- Do Research
- Write Research Papers & present them in meetings
- Publish articles in scientific journals
- Provide consulting services to organizations
- Write textbooks
- Mentor UG/PG students
- Provide information to public
- Develop courses
- Keep up with their field
- Help administer the teaching function of their university
Scope Continues

Practice settings include


Consulting firms, government, military, private cooperation.
Work:
- Job Analysis
- Conduct an analysis to determine the solution to an organizational
problem
- Conduct a survey of employee feelings & opinions
- Design an employee performance appraisal system
- Design an employee selection system
- Design a training program
- Develop psychological tests
- Evaluate the effectiveness of an activity or practice, such as a
training program
- Implement an organizational change, as a new reward system for
employees who perform well.
Scope Continues

McCollom (1959)- interviewed 75 psychologists in 20 different


cities, having each one describe his own activities and the
activities of other psychologists working in industry with
whom they were familiar.

He found that activities of these people can be grouped into


following categories:
1. Personnel Selection: Selection & Assessment of employees
& executives, criterion research
2. Personnel Development: Performance appraisal, attitude
measurement, management development, employee
counseling
3. Human Engineering: Equipment & product design
4. Productivity study: Activities concerned with worker fatigue,
lighting, general job environment
5. Management: activities involving administrative skills
6. Other: Accidents & safety, labor relations
Scope Continues

In 1959 report entitled The Psychologist in Industry


cited seven major area comprised the content area
of industrial psychology:
1. Selection & testing
2. Management development
3. Counseling
4. Employee motivation
5. Human engineering
6. Marketing research
7. Public relations research
Scope Continues

Taft (1946) listed:


1. Job analysis
2. Motion studies, salaries & wages selection of new
employees
3. Transfers, promotions & terminations
4. Training
5. Problem employees
6. Employee rating
7. Industrial hygiene
8. Moral
9. research
HISTORY
I/O psychology is a twentieth century invention,
with roots in late 1800s and early 1900s.
Early works in US focused upon job performance &
organizational efficiency
UK- employee fatigue & health.
2 psychologists are credited with being the main
founders of American field.
- Hugo Munsterberg & Walter Dill Scott (both
experimental psychologists & professors in university)
History Continues
A major influence on the I/O field was the work of Frederick
Winslow Taylor, an engineer who studied employee
productivity throughout his career.
Taylor developed Scientific Management as an approach to
handle production workers in factories.
Scientific Management includes several principles to guide
organizational practices. Some are:
- Each job should be carefully analyzed so that the optimal way
of doing tasks can be specified.
- Employees should be selected according to characteristics
that are related to job performance. Managers should study
existing employees to find out what personal characteristics
are important.
- Employees should be carefully trained to do their job tasks.
- Employees should be rewarded for their productivity to
encourage high levels of performance.
History Continues

Frank & Lillian Gilberth, a husband-wife team


combined the fields of engineering & psychology
(Frank was an engineer & Lillian was a psychologist).
Their best know contribution- time & motion
study- measuring & timing peoples motions in
doing tasks with the goal of developing more
efficient ways of working.
The Gilberths work served as the foundation of
what would later become the field of human
factors, which is the study of how best to design
technology for people.
History Continues

Later came, Hawthorne studies which quickly


discovered that it is difficult to separate employee
productivity from social aspects of organizational life.
The best known Hawthorne studies-
- objective: to determine the lighting level that would
produce optimal performance on a factory task.
- Procedure: group of employees was taken to special
room where lighting levels were changed. Lights were
made brighter or dimmer to see the effects on
productivity.
- Result: Hawthorne effect = performance increases.
Whatever the reason, it seems clear that social factors
can be more important than physical factors in peoples
job performance.
NATURE
I/O Psychology as a Science
- because, research is one of the major activities of
I/O psychologists.
- Research can develop new methods & procedures
for activities like selecting & training employees.
- Most of the researches are presented in
professional meetings and published in scientific
journals.
Nature continues..

Ethics of I/O field


Six Ethical Principles from the American Psychological
Association Code
1. Competence: A psychologist only does work that he/she is
competent to perform.
2. Integrity: Psychologists are fair & honest in their professional
dealings with others.
3. Professional & Scientific Responsibility: Psychologists
maintain high standards of professional behavior.
4. Respect for Peoples Rights & Dignity: Psychologists respect
eh rights of confidentiality and privacy of others.
5. Concern for Others Welfare: Psychologists attempt to help
others through their professional work.
6. Social Responsibility: Psychologists have a responsibility to
use their skills to benefit society.
Methods of Study
Research is the foundation of both the
practice & research of I/O.
I/O psychology is a science because the
methods used to expand knowledge of
organizational phenomena are scientific in
nature.
Scientific study= (i) Purpose, (ii) Design, (iii)
Data Collection, (iv) Analysis, (v) Conclusion
1. Research Questions
Every study begins with a research question.
Research questions can be general or specific.
- General: What causes people to like or dislike their jobs?
(here researcher is not sure which variable to study)
- Specific: Does the level of pay affect how much people like
their jobs? (here researcher is sure which variable to
study)
Many investigations go beyond research questions by
stating a hypothesis ie., probable solution to a problem.
Eg. People who are well paid will like their job more than
people who are not.
Important Research Design Concepts
Variables are attributes or characteristics of people
or things that can vary. Eg. Peoples abilities
(intelligence), attitudes (job satisfaction), behavior
(absence from work) & job performance (weekly
sales).
- 2 types: (i) Independent Variable [IV]- which are
manipulated
(ii) Dependent Variable [DV]- those that are assessed
in response to IV.
Research Setting- Field setting (natural environment) &
Laboratory setting (artificial environment).
Generalizability of results means that the conclusions
of a study can be extended to other groups of people,
organizations, settings or situations.
Control refers to procedures that allow researchers to
rule out certain explanations for results other that the
hypotheses they wish to test.
Random Assignment (assigning people to various
treatment conditions ie., every subject has equal
chance of getting selected) & Random Selection
(choosing the subject by nonsystematic method, ie.,
every subject has equal chance of getting selected)
Human Engineering/Anthropometry
Anthropometry = Anthro + metry
(human) (measurement)

Anthropometry is the scientific measurement and collection


of data about human physical characteristics and the
application (engineering anthropometry) of these data in the
design and evaluation of systems, equipment, manufactured
products, human environments, and facilities.

Work: Monitoring & Controlling


Must consider human-environment interactions as well as
physical and cognitive limitations.
How to Accomplish the Interface?
Make the Man Fit the Job
Selection
Training
Motivation
Make Job Fit the Man (or Woman)
-Adjustability
-Load Regulation
Some Common Errors
Using the Wrong Subject Population
Age
Gender
Race
Fitness
Challenges of Industrial Psychology
The Consultant & The Staff Psychologist
- Psychologist employed by company or govt. is staff
psychologist. The duties of consultant and staff
psychologist overlaps. There is no clear cut distinction
between the tasks given.
- Canter (1948) asked What do you think of consulting
firms as the best solution to industrial psychological
problem? one half of the staff psychologists group was
unfavorable toward such firms; the consulting group
was generally favorable.
- 80% of respondents reported that executives were
becoming more psychological minded.
Communication

- Problems with language and techniques sometimes


make an outsider feel left out.
- The ever-increasing complexity of industrial
psychology and the specialization of interest of the
psychologists working on different problems in
different settings has created many barriers to the
flow and dissemination of knowledge among
researchers and practitioners.
Resistance to Change

- Attempts at change, no matter how well-


intentioned, produce threats and will be resisted.
This resistance may take the form of hostility and
aggression against the change itself or against the
administrator of the projected change.
- Resistance comes not only from the employee but
all levels of management and the employer. The
naive employer often wants research to prove his
point or position. Such guarantee is not possible.
Problems faced by I/O Psychologists
I/O psychologists deal with problems or issues that can be classified as both applied and basic in nature.
Basic problems are quite variable, following the investigator's interests. Examples include research on
methods of behavioral measurement, communication, motivation, social interaction, and leadership.
Applied problems and activities are oriented around scientific solutions to human problems at work.
These latter problems and activities include but are not limited to:
1. Recruitment, Selection and Placement: Analyzing jobs and work, developing recruitment procedures,
developing selection procedures, validating tests, optimizing placement of personnel, and identifying
management potential
2. Training and Development: Identifying training and development needs, formulating and implementing
training programs, coaching employees, evaluating the effectiveness of training and development programs,
and planning careers.
3. Performance Measurement: Developing criteria, determining the economic utility of performance, and
evaluating organizational effectiveness.
4. Motivation and Reward Systems: Developing, implementing, and evaluating motivation and reward
programs such as goal setting programs or pay-for-performance plans.
5. Organizational Development: Analyzing organizational structures and climates, maximizing the satisfaction
and effectiveness of individuals and work groups, and facilitating organizational change.
6. Quality of Work Life: Identifying factors associated with job attitudes, designing and implementing
programs to reduce work stress and strain, developing programs that promote safe work behavior and the
prevention of accidents, illnesses, and injuries, and designing programs that enhance work/family life.
7. Consumer Behavior: Assessing consumer preferences, evaluating customer satisfaction with products and
services, and developing market segmentation strategies.
8. The Structure of Work and Human Factors: Designing jobs and work, optimizing person-machine
effectiveness, and developing systems technologies.
2. Research Designs
Experiment there are 2 or more IV & DV in
experiments.
- The IV is the creation of researcher. (eg. researcher
might design training program)
- Field experiment: ie. Conducted in an organization
and not in lab.
- Advantages (ability to draw causal conclusions,
generalization)
- Limitations (time consuming, expensive, need
experts)
Survey Design uses series of questions chosen to study
one or more variable of interest.
- Can be done through questionnaires- paper-pencil,
online etc.
- Advantages: quick, relatively inexpensive,
generalization.
- Limitations: good source of information is not always
possible, cross-sectional nature makes it difficult to
conclude.
Observational Design (i) obtrusive/participant method
(researcher might watch employees conducting their
jobs for a period of time. Employees would know about
it.)
(ii) unobtrusive/nonparticipant method (subjects might
know that the researcher was present but they would not
know that they were being studied.)
Advantages & Limitations of
Observation Method
Advantages
1. This method studies behavior in detail and is very useful in
describing the behavior.
2. As observation is carried out without disturbing natural setting;
there is little or no artificiality. Natural setting is one of the most
important features of observation method.
3. To some extent with careful observation we can find cause And
effect of behavior through observation.
4. In observation method spontaneous behavior are more likely to
happen. Participants are not aware that they are being observed. So,
they will show natural behavior.
5. It is often only suitable method to study children and animals.
Many behaviors or children and animals like their interests, eating
pattern can not be studied through other methods. In such cases it
becomes only suitable method for studying behavior.
Limitations
1. Problems of the past cannot be studied by means of
observation.
2. Having no other option one has to depend on the
documents available.
3. Observations like the controlled observations require
some especial instruments or tools for effective working,
which are very much costly.
4. Attitudes cannot be studied with the help of
observations.
5. Observation involves a lot of time as one has to wait
for an event to happen to study that particular event.
6. The actual presence of the observer himself Vis a Vis
the event to occur is almost unknown, which acts as a
major disadvantage of observation.
7. Complete answer to any problem or any issue cannot
be obtained by observation alone.
Measurement
A process of assigning numbers to
characteristics of people or things.
Reliability: consistency of measurement across
repeated observations of a variable for the
same subject.
Validity: inferences that are made about what
as observed score measures or represents.
Statistics
1. Descriptive statistics provide ways of reducing
large amounts of data to summary statistics, eg.,
means or variances or correlation.
- Correlation: relationship between 2 variables.
(Positive, Negative, Zero)

2. Inferential statistics help interpret the results using


a variety of statistical tests.
5 commonly used inferential statistics:
(i) Independent Group t-test: used to determine if two
groups of subjects differ significantly on dependent
variable.
(ii) Analysis of Variance (ANOVA): Used to determine if 2
or more groups of subjects differ significantly on a
dependent variable.
(iii) Factorial ANOVA: Used to determine the significance
of effects of 2 or more independent variables on
dependent variable.
(iv) t-test for correlation: Used to determine if the
correlation between 2 variables is significantly greater
than 0.
(v) Multiple Regression: Used to determine if 2 or more
predictor variables can significantly predict a criterion
variable.
Reference Book
Industrial and Organizational Psychology by
Paul E. Spector.

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