Industrial/ Organizational Psychology

Fredrick Taylor

  • Father of Modern Industrial Engineering

  • Scientific Management

    • Worker and management needed to work with each other

  • Believed that all workers are motivated by money

  • Promoted the idea of “fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work”

    • Didn’t work enough for the day = not similar pay compared to highly productive workers

PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT (TAYLORISM)

  1. Replace “rule of thumb” and instead use the scientific method to study work and determine the most efficient way to perform specific tasks.

  2. Match workers to their jobs based on their capabilities and motivation and train them to work at maximum efficiency

  3. Monitor workers performance, and provide instructions and supervision to ensure that they’re using the most efficient way of working

  4. Allocate the work between managers and workers so that the managers spend their time planning and training, allowing the workers to perform their tasks efficiently

Elton Mayo

  • Group dynamics in productivity and how job satisfaction is related to workers ability to contribute to decisions making

  • Mill Study (Philadelphia Spinning Mill Study)

    • Early research that focused on how to improve morale and productivity at a textile mill

    • Includes bonus system and rest days (resulted to decrease of worker turnover and increased production)

  • He is considered the father of HR theory (human relations theory)

  • Joined the Hawthorne studies in 1928

    • how the workplace lighting affected the productivity of the workers

      • lighting was not a factor, rather the incentives, breaks and higher wages resulted in higher productivity

  • He was also involved in the Bank Wiring Room study, which explored the impact of social dynamics on employees productivity

    • It initially aimed to measure the effect of payment incentives on output, but unexpectedly found that increased incentives led to increased productivity

  • Believed that supervisors needed to be trained to oversee workers

Lillian Gilbreth

  • Wife of Frank Bunker Gilbreth

  • They both pioneered in the field of industrial engineering and management

  • They contributed to the advancement of scientific management

  • Her contribution to scientific management was the application of educational psychology where in her study of fatigue in the workplace; now called ergonomic

    • Architecture = workplace design = workplace friendly design/ structures = less fatigue

MANAGEMENT THEORY BY FRANK AND LILLIAN GILBRETH

  1. Reduce the number of motion in a task.

    • Aiming to find “one best way’ to perform tasks

      • contrasting idea to Fred Fiedler’s contingency theory (no one best way)

  2. Focus on the step by step study of motion and time

    • Measuring time and motion. They referenced their children’s movements. Using photography to capture 1/2,000th of second to understand what works best.

  3. Increase efficiency to increase profit and worker satisfaction

    • A leader’s goal should be to increase efficiency

  • They prioritized finding method that would boost profits without sacrificing, the health, well-being or safety of workers

APPLICATION OF MANAGEMENT THEORY

  • Rearrange workplace based on efficiency.

    • Reducing movement is the goal without reducing productivity.

  • Establishing standard operating procedures.

    • Creating an easy-to-access resource devised as a “one best way” to do something, making it your standard procedure for doing it.

    • Once you find a system that works for you, make it your standard procedure

  • Ask employees for their input.

    • Check in with your employees what system works best for them before creating a new system. Use an anonymous employee feedback system.

  • Observe first, change second.

    • Observing your employees on what works for them and what needs to be improved

Gary Dessler

  • Author of the textbook “Human Resource Management”

Kurt Lewin

  • Father of Modern Social Psychology

  • He is contributed and his works utilized scientific method and experimentation to research and look at how relations between individual and the influences in their environment help shape their social behavior and vice versa

Paul Levy

  • Lead author of “Industrial Psychology: Understanding the Workplace”, research based approach and personable writing style

Michael Aamodt

  • Author of '“Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Co-authored “Transformational Leadership with Bernard Bass

Steven McShane

  • Primary author on a textbook “Organizational Behaviour” and “Canadian Organizational Behaviour”

Paul Muchinsky

  • Author “Psychology Applied to Work”. Best know as the author of “Psychology Applied to Work: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology”

According to Gary Dessler; management process involve:

  • Planning

  • Organizing

  • Staffing

  • Leading

  • Controlling

While HRM handles:

  • Recruiting

  • Screening

  • Rewarding

  • Appraising

Line and Staff (Line-Staff)

  • Line management

    • Authorized to direct the work of subordinate. They are responsible to carry out the organizations goal.

    • Examples. Production Manager, Sales Manager, Team Leader, Department Head, Restaurant Manager, Assembly Line Supervisor

  • Staff (Staff function/manager)

    • No direct authority over line personnel in their operations

    • They are advisory or supportive

    • They develop policies and lead the implementation

    • Strategy planning and long-term goals

    • Analysis and research

    • They provide specialized knowledge and support

    • Examples. Human Resource Management, Legal Counsel, Finance Manger, IT Specialist, Public Relations Manager, Research and Development (R and D) Personnel

Human Resources Development

  • Focuses on the growth and future needs (professional growth) of the employees.

  • It is a subset of Human Resources Management

Human Resources Management

  • Focuses on the stability and management of people. They are involved with the recruitment and selection of employees.

  • Operational and administrative role

  • They are also responsible for the compensation and benefits of the employees.

Analogical comparison of the two:

HRM manages the restaurant and ensures that the employees are following policies and adheres to the rules. HRD provides training and development programs for the employees to enhance their skills.

In a nutshell: HRM provides the foundation and structure while HRD builds upon the foundation to advance growth and adaptation of the employees.

Organizational Development

  • Beneficial to the group

  • It is a planned change

  • It builds the capacity to manage change on a continuous basis

  • It is both systemic and long-term process

  • OD focuses on the overall effectiveness of the organization. It has a certain target

  • Employees formulate and implement the change required

    NOTE: RESEARCH is the arm of Organization Development (Surveys, Action Research etc.,)

Organizational Change, on the other hand

  • Are natural changes that occur within the organization

    (Organizational Development is the special approach to Organizational change)

    Organizational change is the event whilst Organizational development is the discipline. OD provides the strategic framework for managing the transition that constitute organizational change

There are 2 types of recruitment:

  • External recruitment - hiring from outside the company (which can result to demotivation of employees)

  • Internal recruitment - hiring from within the company through promotion

Organizational Theories

Classical

  • Focuses on the work

  • Formal organizational structure

  • Fayol, Weber and Taylor

Neoclassical

  • Focuses on the worker

  • Informal organizational structure

  • Hawthorne

Classical organizational theory: Based on 3 approaches

Scientific Management (Taylor, 1947)

  • Planning of work to achieve efficiency, standardization, specification and simplification

Principles of Scientific Management

  • Science, not rule of thumb

  • Scientific selection of workers

  • Management and labour cooperation rather than conflict

  • Scientific training of workers

Bureaucratic Approach (Weber, 1947)

  • Organizational structure characterized by rules, standardized processes, procedures and requirements, number of desks, division of labour, hierarchy and impersonal/professional interactions with employees

Principles of Bureaucratic Approach

  • Structure → Specialization → Predictability and Stability → Rationality → Democracy

Administrative Approach (Fayol, 1949)

  • Accomplishments of tasks and include principles of management, the concept line and staff, committees and function of management