Chapter 13: Industrial-Organizational Psychology

American with Disabilities Act

Employers cannot discriminate against any individual based on a disability

Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ)

Requirement of certain occupations for which denying an individual employment would otherwise violate the law, such as requirements concerning religion or sex

Checklist

Method used to reduce workplace accidents 

Diversity Training 

Training employees about cultural differences with the goal of improving teamwork

Downsizing

Process in which an organization tries to achieve greater overall efficiency by reducing the number of employees

Hawthorn Effect

Increase in performance of individuals who are noticed, watched, and paid attention to by researchers or supervisors

Human Factors Psychology 

Branch of psychology that studies how workers interact with the tools of work and how to design those tools to optimize workers’ productivity, safety, and health

Immutable Characteristics

Traits that employers cannot use to discriminate in hiring, benefits, promotions, or termination

These traits are fundamental to one’s personal identity (skin color, hair texture, etc,.)

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Field in psychology that applies scientific principles to the study of work and the workplace

Industrial Psychology 

Branch of psychology that studies job characteristics, applicant characteristics, and how to match them

Also studies employee training and performance appraisal 

Job Analysis

Determining and listing tasks associated with a particular job

Job Satisfaction

Degree of pleasure that employees derive from their jobs

Organizational Culture 

Values, visions, hierarchies, norms, and interactions between its employees

How an organization is run, how it operates, and how it makes decisions 

Organizational Psychology

Branch of psychology that studies the interactions between people working in organizations and the effects of those interactions on productivity

Performance Appraisal

Evaluation of an employee’s success or lack of success at performing the duties of the job

Procedural Justice 

Fairness by which means are used to achieve results in an organization 

Scientific Management

Theory of management that analyzed and synthesized workflows with the main objective of improving economic efficiency, especially labour productivity

Sexual Harassment

Sexually-based behavior that is knowingly unwanted and has an adverse effect of a person’s employment status, interferes with a person’s job performance, or creates a hostile or intimidating work environment

Telecommuting 

Employees’ ability to set their own hours allowing them to work from home at different parts of the day 

Theory X

Assumes workers are inherently lazy and unproductive

Managers must have control and use punishments

Theory Y

Assumes workers are people who seek to work hard and productively

Managers and workers can find creative solutions to problems

Workers do do not need to be controlled and punished

Transactional Leadership Styles 

Characteristic of leaders who focus on supervision and organizational goals achieved through a system of rewards and punishments 

Maintenance of the organizational status quo 

Transformational Leadership Style

Characteristic of leaders who are charismatic role models, inspirational, intellectually stimulating, and individually considerate and who seek to change the organization

US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information

Work Team

Group of people within an organization or company given a specific task to achieve together

Work-Family Balance

Occurs when people juggle the demands of work like with the demands of family life

Workplace Violence

Violence or the threat of violence against workers

Can occur inside or outside the workplace