Chapter 11: IO Psychology

Industrial Psychology: Selecting and Evaluating Employees

Organizational Psychology: Social Dimension of Work

3 broad areas of IO Psychology

  • Industrial:
    • Describing job requirements
    • Assessing individuals’ ability to meet requirements
    • Hire, train, evaluate
    • Discrimination hiring
  • Organizational:
    • Relationship among employees
    • Worker satisfaction, motivation
  • Human Factors:
    • How workers interact with tools
    • Design tools to optimize worker safety and health

History of IO Pysch:

  • Industrial:
    • Early 20th century: Students of Wundt
    • WW1: Selection of men for officers
  • Organizational:
    • Effects of physical work environment and social factors (supervisor style, etc) on workers at western electric’s hawthorne works
    • Even if the effect made is negative, workers are still more productive
    • Hawthorne effect: increase in performance of people who are aware they are being observed by researchers or supervisors
    • Lewin: Leadership styles, group dynamics
    • Taylor: Productivitiy, management styles, selection and training
    • Gilbreth (mother of modern management): productivity and efficiency reducing # of motions required to perform task, employee fatigue, employee motivation

Industrial Psychology:

  • Job analysis: accurately describing task/job
    • task-oriented: lists tasks performed for a job
    • worker-oriented: KSAs (Knowledge, skills, abilities that the job requires)
    • O*Net - you can see the KSAs listed for positions
  • Employee selection
    • KSAs are compared with the job description
    • Testing (personality, IQ test, physical test)
    • Interview - questions are derived from job analysis
    • Social factors and body language can influence outcome of interview
    • Unstructured vs Structured interviews
      • Structured are more predictive of job performance
      • always for comparison across candidates
  • Job training
    • orientation: history, policies, admin protocols
    • job specific training: duties, use of software/tools
  • performance assessment
    • performance appraisal: Evaluation of an employee’s success or lack of success
    • 360-degree feedback appraisal:
    • get feedback from people around you, not just supervisors
    • downside: time and cost
    • upside: get a variety of perspectives for greater learning on employees

Organizational Psychology:

  • Job satisfaction: degree to which individuals enjoy their job (affective component)
    • Measured after a change in an organization, routinely collected
    • work content is the strongest predictor of overall job satisfaction
  • Job stress: result of employee’s perception that demands on them exceed their ability to meet them
    • Job stress affects job satisfaction
    • job security is greatest job stress
    • Threats to job security:
    • Downsizing: response to failure to achieve profit goals
      • Laying off significant % of employees
      • IO: How to deliver news, support
    • Merger or Acuiquisition:
      • Merger: joining of 2 orgs of equal power and status
      • Acquisition: one purchased by another
    • Work family balance
    • time devoted to family/work makes it difficult to fulfill requirements of family/work
    • decreasing work family conflict
      • support in the home including emotional (listening) and practical (helping with chores)
      • support at work
      • understanding supervisor, leave with pay
      • telecommuting: Work from home
  • Management and Org Structure
    • McGregor theory:
    • Theory X approach to management: assume most dislike work and are not innately self-directed (more traditional approach)
    • Theory Y: assume most seek inner satisfaction and fulfillment from work
      • supported by empirical research
      • employees function better
    • Clifton’s Management Styles:
    • Strengths-based assessment interviewed 8k managers, focus on strengths over weaknesses
    • Effective on organization performance is not well studied
    • Element of Management
    • Bass: transactional vs transformationsl
      • Transactional: rewards/punishments to meet org goals
      • Transformational: charismatic, inspirational, intellectually stimulating
      • More effective, most leaders exhibit both
  • Work Teams
    • organizational culture: encompasses the values, visions, hierarchies, norms, and interactions among its employees
    • 3 layers
      • observable artifacts - language, practices
      • values - beliefs the entire org endorses
      • assumptions - rules that allow employees to know which actions they should take in different situations
    • diversity training: educating about culture differences with the goal of improving teamwork
      • contact theory: equal status, common goal, cooperation, support

Human Factors Psychology:

  • Integrate human-machine
  • create checklists