Industrial / Organizational Psychology Review by Sir Adrian

I/O Psychology

• A branch of psychology that applies psychological principles to the workplace.

I/O Psychology

• Focuses on scientifically-based solutions to human issues in work and organizational settings; based on the scientist-practitioner model.

• Draws on principles from learning, social psychology or group dynamics, motivation, and emotion.

I/O Psychology

Goal: Enhance the performance and dignity of people and the organizations they work for.

Work Performance

The ability to efficiently and effectively complete tasks and responsibilities, with minimal difficulty or obstacles.

Workplace Dignity

The perception of being treated with respect, trust, fairness, autonomy, and self-worth in the workplace.

Personnel Psychology

Organizational Psychology

Human Factors / Ergonomics

Major Fields of I/O Psychology (POH)

personnel psychology

• Also known as the Industrial Approach (Individual-focused).

• Involves staffing the organization with qualified employees

• Focuses on identifying and enhancing the employee's competencies needed to perform a job

• How to best match individuals to specific job roles

personnel psychology

•Job analysis

• Recruitment

• Selection

• Job evaluation

• Training and development

• Performance appraisal / evaluation

Organizational Psychology

• Focuses on overall organizational structure and culture to understand what motivates employees

• Also includes social norms, management styles, and role expectations.

• How organizations affect employees' behavior

Organizational Psychology

• Leadership

• Job satisfaction

• Employee motivation

• Organizational communication

• Conflict management

• Organization development

• Team Dynamics

Human Factors/Ergonomics

• Is the process of designing or arranging workplaces, products and systems to fit the needs of the people who use them.

• Aims to optimize the interaction between people and systems (such as tools, machines) to improve safety, efficiency, comfort, and well-being.

• How to design systems, tools, & environments to fit human capabilities

Human Factors/Ergonomics

• Workplace design

• Human-machine interaction

• Physical fatigue

• Stress

B

The use of best distinguishes 1/0 psychology from related fields taught in business colleges.

A. statistics

B. psychological principles

C. consultants

D. intuition

A

I/0 psychology examines factors that affect the in an organization, whereas business fields examine the broader aspects of running an organization.

A. people

B. machines

C. stock performance

D. I/O psychology examines all three factors

D

The study of leadership is part of:

A. personnel psychology

B. human factors

C. training and development

D. organizational psychology

A

The study of performance appraisal or evaluation is part of:

A. personnel psychology

B. human factors

C. training and development

D. organizational psychology

D

Psychologists in the area of______concentrate on workplace design, man-machine interaction, and physical fatigue.

A. personnel psychology

B. training and development

C. organizational psychology

D. human factors

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

• Human behavior in the workplace

• Enhances individual and organizational performance, productivity, and well-being

• Degree in Psychology, with specialized training in areas such as:

> research methods,

> organizational behavior,

> psychometrics, and

> data analysis

Human Resource Management

• Management function - administrative aspects of managing people in the organization to achieve goals

• Focuses on hiring, labor relations, benefits administration, and compliance

• Diverse educational backgrounds:

> Business

> Management, or

> Industrial Relations

> Psychology is not a requirement

Management function

administrative aspects of managing people in the organization to achieve goals

Human Resource Management (HRM)

• organizes, directs, and manages the workforce to align with the organization's mission, vision, and strategic goals.

• Primary Goal: To manage human resources effectively by handling administrative tasks or functions that ensure the smooth day-to-day operations of the organization and compliance with legal regulations.

✅Recruitment & Staffing

✅Labor Relations

✅Compensation & Benefits

✅Compliance & Legal

✅Training & Development

✅Performance Management

Recruitment and Staffing

• HRM is responsible for attracting, selecting, and hiring employees to fill positions

• Posts job openings, conducts interviews, and selects the best candidates for various roles, such as a marketing manager or software developer.

Compensation and Benefits

• HRM designs and administers competitive salary structures, bonuses, and benefit programs to attract and retain employees.

• Sets up pay scales, offers health insurance plans, retirement savings options, and other benefits to ensure employees feel valued and compensated fairly.

Labor Relations

• HRM manages relationships between the company and employees, including union negotiations, conflict resolution, and maintaining workplace harmony.

• Mediates disputes between employees and management or handles labor union contract negotiations.

Compliance and Legal Issues

• HRM ensures that the organization is in compliance with labor laws, health and safety regulations.

• Secures the company follows minimum wage laws, ensures safe working conditions, and handles legal disputes.

Human Resource Development (HRD)

• is a sub-function / specialized function of HRM.

• Focuses on developing the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) of employees to enhance individual and organizational performance.

• Is forward-looking, with an emphasis on continuous learning and employee growth.

Human Resource Development (HRD)

Primary Goals:

• To foster employee growth and development to improve individual performance

• To prepare employees for higher responsibilities

• To ensure the long-term success of both the employee & organization.

Key Areas of HRD:

• Training & Development

• Career Development

• Leadership & Management Development

Training and Development

• HRD designs and implements training programs aimed at improving the skills of employees in their current roles or preparing them for new responsibilities.

• Runs a workshop on time management, interpersonal skills, or software training to help employees enhance their professional abilities and improve job performance.

Career Development

• HRD supports employees in planning and developing their careers by providing guidance, coaching, and opportunities for advancement.

• Provides a clear career path that includes mentorship and skill-building opportunities to prepare them for future promotions.

Leadership and Management Development

• HRD focuses on developing the skills of potential leaders within the organization; often involves training in decision-making, planning, and people management.

• Offers a leadership development program for high-potential employees to prepare them for management positions.

Human Resource Management

Focus:- managing the workforce and ensuring operational efficiency, and compliance.

Human Resource Development

Focus:- employee growth and development, improving skills, and preparing employees for future roles.

Human Resource Management

Scope: administrative and operational tasks like hiring, compensation, and legal compliance.

Human Resource Development

Scope: long-term development activities, including training, career planning, leadership development.

Human Resource Management

- short-term needs or immediate concerns like filling job vacancies, addressing labor disputes, and ensuring legal compliance.

Human Resource Development

- more strategic; long-term goals through employee training and leadership development.

Human Resource Planning

> is the continuous process of systematic planning to achieve optimum use of an organization's most valuable asset - quality employees

> ensuring the best fit between employees and jobs while avoiding manpower shortages or surpluses

> adapting workforce planning and recruitment strategies to ensure alignment with future organizational needs.

Human Resource Planning

> foreseeing and being prepared for cultural shifts and evolutions of the business environment

> anticipating and identifying job and skill changes to meet labor demands

> optimizing HR resource allocation to ensure cost-effective workforce management.

> "ensuring that an organization has the right number of PEOPLE, with the right SKILLS, at the right TIME"

Organizational Chart

> is a diagram that visually conveys a company's internal structure by detailing the:

> Roles

> Responsibilities

> Relationships between individuals within an entity.

C

What is a key characteristic of the approach taken by Human Resource Management (HRM)?

a. HRM uses evidence-based recommendations to improve productivity

b. HRM focuses on conducting in-depth research and analysis

c. HRM uses a practical, hands-on approach to address day-to-day operations

d. HRM primarily focuses on developing psychological assessments for employees

A

Which of the following best describes the connection between I/O Psychology and HRM?

a. I/O Psychology improves productivity and well-being, while HRM manages administrative tasks

b. I/O Psychology deals with customer relations, while HRM focuses on product development

c. Both I/O Psychology and HRM are focused only on employee recruitment

d. I/O Psychology and HRM are concerned exclusively with financial management.

B

Which of the following tasks is most likely to be handled by I/0 Psychology?

a. Managing employee payroll and benefits

b. Analyzing data and providing recommendations

c. Organizing team-building events for employees

d. Overseeing daily operational issues in the office

B

Which of the following is a key focus of Human Resource Planning?

a. Managing the financial budgets for marketing campaigns

b. Anticipating job and skill changes to meet labor demands

c. Creating company branding and advertising strategies

d. Planning team-building events and activities

D

Human Resource Planning helps ensure the optimum use of an organization's most valuable asset, which is:

a. technology and infrastructure

b. financial resources

c. brand reputation

d. quality employees

Job Analysis

• Is the process of gathering, analyzing, and structuring information about a job's:

• Components

• Characteristics

• Requirements

Job Analysis

• Is the process of obtaining information about jobs by determining what the duties, tasks, or activities of jobs are.

> WHAT the employee does

> WHY the employee does it

> HOW the employee does it

• Goal: improve organizational performance and productivity

Person-Oriented Job Analysis

• Also known as worker-oriented job analysis.

Person-Oriented Job Analysis

• Provides a description of the KSAOs necessary for a person to successfully perform a particular job.

knowledge

- what a person needs to know to do a particular job; What a person needs to know to do the job; Ex: Safety procedures, regulations

skill

- what a person can do on the job; more trainable (learned or acquired); What a person can do on the job; trainable; Ex: Operating machinery, typing

ability

- a person's aptitude, potential, or capability to learn or to do job tasks (innate or natural capacity); Aptitude or innate capacity to learn or perform tasks; Ex: Physical strength, logical reasoning

other personal characteristics

- not covered by the other three characteristics, e.g., personality traits, values and work style; Traits like personality, values, work style; ex: Reliability, teamwork

Person-Oriented Job Analysis

Job Analysis ➡️Identification of KSAOs ➡️Development of Assessment Devices

Job Description

• Write a brief summary of the tasks and job requirements; describes the role itself - what the employee will do.

• Includes the job title, brief summary, work activities, tools and equipment, job context, and job competencies.

Employee Selection

Select tests or develop interview questions that will determine whether a particular applicant possesses the job requirements.

Training

Identify job activities that can be systematically used to create learning programs.

Workforce Planning

Analyze existing employees and planning for future staffing requirements.

Performance Management

Monitor and evaluate employees' work and align it with the company's goals.

Career Development / Succession Planning

Define KSAOs necessary for career advancement.

Job Classification

Arrange jobs into groups based on similarities in requirements and duties.

Job Evaluation

Determine the worth of a job.

Job Design

Determine the optimal way in which a job should be performed.

Compliance

Align jobs and workplace policies with labor laws or legal requirements (e.g., RPm, RPsy, CPA, RN, MD licenses).

Job Specification

• refers to the qualifications, skills, experience, education, and personal attributes required to perform a job successfully.

• outlines who is best suited for the role.

job description

• Lists the duties, tasks, and responsibilities of the role

• Usually includes both duties and qualifications in one document

Job Specification

• Lists the qualifications, skills, experience, and traits required

• Rarely created as a separate document unless for internal HR use

Interviews

Method to collect a variety of information by asking the incumbent or SMEs (usually job incumbents and their supervisors) to describe the tasks and duties performed.

Unstructured Interviews

- conversation with no prepared questions or predetermined line of investigation.

Structured Interview

- may assume a definite format involving charting a job-holder's sequence of tasks and interview questionnaire may be used:

• What is the job being performed

• Major duties of the position, education, experience, skills needed

• Activities participated by job holder

• Physical demands of the job

• Hazards

Questionnaires

• Administer questionnaires to employees who perform the job.

• Can contain hundreds of questions about the job and can be administered easily to thousands of employees.

• Is the most efficient means of collecting job analysis information.

• Is inexpensive and easy to quantify and analyze statistically.

Observation

• Enables the job analyst to obtain firsthand knowledge and information about the job being analyzed.

• Is suited for jobs in which the work behaviors are: a) observable involving some degree of movement on the part of the incumbent and b) job tasks are short in duration.

Diaries

• Asks employees to keep a diary/log or list of what they do during the day.

• For every activity they engage in, the employees record the activity (along with the time) in a log.

• Can produce a very complete picture of the job, especially when supplemented with subsequent interviews with the employee and his or her supervisor.

Task Inventory Method

• An example of a (partial) task inventory for the job of Clerk in a Pharmacy

• Gather, quantify, and evaluate tasks performed in a specific role based on time spent & difficulty (also importance & frequency).

• You're given a list of tasks and all they have to do it check the ones they perform and log in the time spent or difficulty, etc.

Functional Job Analysis

• Note: These are usually analyzed by breaking down into percentage of time the incumbent spends on three functions - to support decisions in hiring, training, compensation, and job design.

Job Evaluation

• It is the process of determining a job's worth.

• Is typically done in two stages:

1) determining internal pay equity

2) determining external pay equity

• Primary Goal: to compare jobs with each other in order to create a pay structure that is fair, equitable, and consistent for everyone.

Internal Pay Equity

• Involves comparing jobs WITHIN an organization to ensure that the people in jobs worth the most money are paid accordingly.

• Employees with similar positions or skillsets are compensated in a similar way, whether that be in their salary or any additional benefits that come with the position.

Point Method

- most popular job evaluation procedure - composed of a panel, usually managers.

Compensable Job Factors

how much a job is worth by identifying the most valuable elements of each position, usually based on the nature and objectives of the organization:

• Level of responsibility

• Physical and mental demands

• Education requirements

• Training and experience requirements

• Working conditions

External Pay Equity

• The worth of a job is determined by comparing the job to the external market (other organizations) or competitors in the same industry or market.

• Salary surveys - to determine how much an organization pays its employees in various positions.

• Purpose: To attract and retain employees.

Salary surveys

- to determine how much an organization pays its employees in various positions.

C

Job analysis interviews are conducted to determine:

a. who should conduct the job analysis

b. who should participate in the job analysis

c. information about the job itself

d. if a job analysis is even necessary

A

A company is redesigning a role to improve efficiency. They begin by reviewing a 4-page document that summarizes the major duties, responsibilities, reporting relationships, and working conditions of the position.

What is this document called?

a. Job description

b. Job specification

c. Organizational chart

d. Job offer

B

Which of the following is a limitation of using interviews for job analysis?

a. It may provide limited perspectives on the job

b. It can be time-consuming compared to questionnaires

c. It is usually less accurate than surveys

d. It doesn't offer enough insight into job performance

B

What is the primary purpose of Job Classification?

a. To group employees based on their personality traits.

b. To arrange jobs into groups based on similarities in requirements.

c. To assess how well employees perform their current tasks.

d. To evaluate the educational background required for each job position.

A

In job evaluation, compensable factors would be associated with determining whereas salary surveys would be associated with determining

a. internal equity / external equity

b. internal equity/ wage trend lines

c. external equity / internal equity

d. external equity/wage trend lines

Recruitment

• Refers to the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization.

• Recruiter relies on the products of job analysis: job descriptions and job specifications.

• GOAL: To attract a large pool of applicants with the right qualifications for the job.

Internal Recruitment

• Recruiting employees already employed by the organization.

• Transferring or promoting someone from within the organization.

Lateral Transfer

• An employee remains at the same level of pay or authority

• Desirable for those seeking to enrich their career or improve their future opportunities

• Example: Change of teams, departments, or duties

Vertical Transfer

• An employee is promoted upward in their current track

• Desirable for those seeking a higher salary or a greater leadership position

• Example: Promotion from team member to a lead or from lead to a manager

• Reduce time to hire

• Shorten onboarding times

• Cost less

• Strengthen employee motivation, morale, and engagement

Advantages of Internal Recruitment

• Limit your pool of applicants

• Create resentment among employees and managers

• Result in stale workforce and inflexible culture

Disadvantages of Internal Recruitment

External Recruitment

• Recruiting employees from outside the organization.

• Happens when the organization looks to fill the vacancy from any suitable applicant outside the business, usually when skills and talents in the existing teams are lacking.

• Access to better quality candidates

• Expanded talent pool

• Introduce new ideas or fresh perspectives

• Enhances company diversity

Advantages of External Recruitment

• Increased hiring costs

• Longer onboarding process and time-consuming

• Additional training is needed

• Issue on cultural fit

Disadvantages of External Recruitment

MEDIA ADVERTISEMENTS

Advertising through ads on publications/newspapers in print or digital form.

Respond by calling

- quickly screen or hear an applicant's phone voice

Apply-in-person ads

- applicants to fill out a specific job application or to get a physical look at the applicant (common for immediate hiring)

Send-resume ads

- applicants are asked to send a resume directly to the company, esp. when organization expects a large response

Blind box

- no details about the organization; usually includes only the anonymous contact number or email address for reference (commonly used for confidential replacements or to maintain privacy in hiring for executive or sensitive roles).

Recruitment Ads

• Research indicates that advertisements displaying the company emblem and using creative illustrations attract the greatest number of applicants.

• Ads that include the salary range and a company phone number attract the highest-quality applicants.

• Candidates are likely to put effort when applying for a job when they know the compensation aligns with their expectations, and providing contact info increases their trust and transparency.