1.2. Milestones in the Development of Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Scientific Management

• Definition and origin:
  • An approach created by Frederick Winslow Taylor to improve efficiency in the workplace.
  • Also known as Taylorism.
  • Supported by Armstrong & Taylor (2014).
• Core idea:
  • Improve productivity by studying and streamlining workers’ movements and tasks.
  • Taylor was concerned with inefficiencies in manual tasks and believed work could be done more effectively through careful analysis.
• Key publication and goal:
  • In The Principles of Scientific Management (1911), Taylor clarified that the goal wasn’t to push workers to their limits but to determine the most efficient amount of work they could do regularly without harm.
• Subsequent development:
  • Frank Gilbreth and Lilian Gilbreth extended Taylorism by studying work movements to improve efficiency in engineering (McKenna, 2020).

Classic Bureaucracy

• Focus:
  • Organizing large groups of employees efficiently within a company.
• Proponent:
  • Max Weber.
• Claimed benefits:
  • Bureaucracy was viewed as the most efficient form of organization, offering precision, speed, and consistency, with clear responsibilities and lower costs.
• Supporting reference:
  • Weber (1921/1980).
• Contemporary relevance:
  • The idea that high efficiency can be achieved with structured, rule-based systems remains influential today (McKenna, 2020).

Principles of Organization (Fayol’s Principles)

• Context:
  • At the start of the 20th century, Henri Fayol proposed 14 management principles to help managers run organizations effectively (as described in the transcript).
• Principles mentioned in the transcript:
  • Promotion based on expertise: Employees are promoted for their skills, not personal relationships.
  • Clear hierarchy: There’s a structured chain of command, showing who reports to whom.
  • Rules and regulations: Standardized procedures guide how work is done.
  • Division of labor: Tasks are divided into specific roles for efficiency.
  • Written documentation: Everything is recorded for clarity and accountability.
  • Division of work: Split tasks to improve efficiency.
  • Authority: Managers have the right to give orders.
  • Discipline: Employees should follow rules and respect authority.
  • Unity of command: Employees should report to one boss.
  • Unity of direction: Teams should work toward common goals.
  • (The transcript also includes placeholders “1. 2. 3. 4. 5.”, which correspond to the later items in Fayol’s list.)
• Note on Fayol’s full set (traditional formulation):
  • Subordination of individual interest to general interest
  • Remuneration
  • Centralization
  • Scalar chain
  • Order
  • Equity
  • Stability of tenure of personnel
  • Initiative
  • Esprit de corps
• Significance:
  • These principles were intended to formalize how organizations should be structured to improve efficiency, clarity, and accountability.

Industrial Psychology

• Emergence and core idea:
  • Industrial psychology emerged when it was recognized that workers are individuals, not machines.
  • Focus on understanding personal differences and how work conditions affect employee performance.
• Source:
  • Ghiselli & Brown (1948).
• Historical adoption:
  • By the 1920s, industrial psychology became widely practiced, especially in the UK, where factory studies led to recommendations such as reducing work hours and addressing boredom and monotony (McKenna, 2020).

The Human Relations Movement

• Origins and key studies:
  • Influenced by the Hawthorne studies (1924-1932) at Western Electric’s plant in Chicago, conducted by Elton Mayo, Fritz Roethlisberger, and William Dickson.
• Research questions and findings:
  • Investigated how workplace conditions (e.g., lighting) impacted productivity.
  • Initial expectations about physical conditions driving productivity were challenged; social factors and interpersonal relations proved more influential.
  • Studies suggested that changes in social treatment and work conditions could affect productivity via motivation and social needs.
• Specific observations:
  • Early hints that social interaction in the workplace mattered for performance.
  • Rest breaks and work hours were explored, but no consistent link to productivity gains across all studies.
• Key concepts and terms associated with the Hawthorne studies:
  • The Hawthorne effect: People change their behavior when they know they are being observed.
  • Term attribution:
  • First used by Robert P. French in 1953.
  • Anecdotal study detail:
  • In one study, women wiring relays in a special room showed increased productivity due to the special social treatment they received.
• Outcome:
  • Marked the start of the human relations movement, emphasizing social factors, group dynamics, and employee welfare in organizations.

Neo-Human Relations

• Timeframe and focus:
  • Began in the 1950s as a more scientific and nuanced view of how organizations work.
• Key areas:
  • Leadership, group dynamics, and motivation within organizational settings.
• Notable contributors:
  • Argyris, Lewin, and Herzberg.
• Core belief:
  • Emphasized the positive potential of employees and treated them as capable individuals rather than mere cogs in a system.

Systems Approach

• Emergence and context:
  • Emerged in the late 1940s and early 1950s from research at the Tavistock Institute.
• Core idea:
  • Organizations are open socio-technical systems with interdependent parts and a dynamic relationship with their environment.
• Key study:
  • Trist and Bamforth (1951) in a coal mine demonstrated open socio-technical systems in practice.
• Four main characteristics of open socio-technical systems (as described in the transcript):
  • Interdependent subsystems: Organizations consist of parts (e.g., teams, departments) that rely on one another.
  • Open and dynamic: Organizations interact with their environment and change over time.
  • Striving for equilibrium: Organizations seek to maintain balance while adapting to changes.
  • Multiple, sometimes conflicting goals: Organizations pursue several objectives that may conflict.
• Contingency relation:
  • The systems approach recognizes that there are no universal one-size-fits-all solutions; effectiveness depends on matching the system to its context.

Contingency Approach

• Core idea:
  • There are no universal best practices; effectiveness depends on situational factors.
• Key principle:
  • Contingency approach focuses on matching an organization’s processes to the specific situation.
• Illustrative theory:
  • Fiedler’s (1967) contingency theory of leadership suggests leadership effectiveness depends on situational factors, such as the relationship between the leader and their team.

Connections and Implications (Summary)

• Historical trajectory:
  • Movement from mechanistic, efficiency-focused models toward human-centered, social, and contextual approaches.
• Practical implications:
  • Emphasis on worker welfare, leadership adaptability, group dynamics, and tailoring management styles to specific environments.
• Ethical and philosophical notes:
  • Recognition of workers as individuals with needs beyond productivity; consideration of social and organizational factors in decision-making.
• Notation of key sources:
  • McKenna (2020) as a recurring reference for milestones and interpretations.
• Mathematical/quantitative references (examples):
  • Years and ranges cited throughout the material include: 1911, 1921, 1980, 1924-1932, 1953, 1951, 1967, 1948.