Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

• can improve the quality of life of everyone in society by increasing employee effectiveness, which reduces the cost of goods sold by improving product quality
• psychologists may have designed the application form that you will fill out to get the job, the salary, and the benefit package you will be offered, the training you will receive, and the structure of the tasks that will comprise your job

Industrial vs Organizational

• Industrial
  • original name
  • tends to make a management perspective of organizational efficiency through the appropriate use of human resources
  • It is concerned with issues of efficient job design, employee selection and training, and performance appraisal.
  • Efficiency: using minimum resource with good results
  • Practical or “Hard” side of I/O Psychology
• Organizational
  • developed from the human relations movement in organizations and focuses more on the individual employee
  • employee attitudes, employee behavior, job stress, and supervisory practices
  • existed because business people thought of it, not psychologists
  • There can be no organizations without people
  • “soft” side of I/O Psychology
• There is a movement to change I/O Psychology to Humanitarian Work Psychology
• Hard Skills: technical skills (reason you get hired)
• Soft Skills: people skills (reason you stay and get promoted)

I/O Psychology is…

• a branch of psychology that applies the principles of psychology to the workplace
• Purpose: to enhance the dignity and performance of human beings, and the organizations they work in, by advancing the science and knowledge of human behavior (Rucci, 2008)
• “What factors can motivate employees to perform well?”

Major I/O Fields

• Personnel Psychology (Industrial): includes such areas as analyzing jobs, recruiting applicants, selecting employees, determining salary levels, training employees, and evaluating employee performance
• Organizational Psychology: concerned with the issues of leadership, job satisfaction, employee motivation, organizational communication, conflict management, organizational change, and group processes within an organization
• Human Factors/Ergonomics: a field of study concentrating on the interaction between humans and machines
  • multidisciplinary
  • help make decision regarding design and equipment

Settings of I/O Psychologists (US, 2008)

• universities (39%)
• consulting firms (25%)
• government (9%)
• private companies (17%)
• others (10%)

Scientist-Practitioner Model

• Science: I/O psychologists pose questions to guide their investigations and then use the scientific method to obtain answers. In this respect, I/O psychology is an academic discipline.
• Practice: The professional side is concerned with the application of knowledge to real problems in the world of work. I/O psychologists can use research findings to hire better employees, reduce absenteeism, improve communication, increase job satisfaction, and solve countless other problems
• dual allegiance to science and practice because it is applied discipline

Additional Information

• Separation Pay: fir or layoff without a just cause
• Exit Interviewing: when an employee resigns, you interview the person about possible reason for resigning
  • research to know the common reason for resigning among employees
  • Possible Reasons: boss, enemies give higher pay
• Management Committee: managers
  • HR can present research findings
• HR: canvas HMO (health card) (health maintenance organization)
  • Health Card: can extend to family members
  • not a requirement from government
  • some hospitals don’t accept HMO because they pay late
  • Scope of Services
  • Usual: consultation, hospitalization
    • as long as you don’t exceed the budget
  • higher premium = higher coverage
  • DOLE: mental health should be included
  • so far, only Maxicare has included mental health
• Outplacement: help for people who are fired through counseling, reworking resume, coaching, etc.
  • not a hard requirement