2. Definition:
Industrial-organizational psychology is the branch of
psychology that applies psychological theories and
principles to organizations. This field focuses on
increasing workplace productivity and related issues
such as the physical and mental well-being of
employees.
3. What does an I/O
psychologist do?
1- use psychological principals and research methods
to solve the problems in a workplace and improve the
quality of life.
2- They study workplace productivity and management
and employee working styles.
4.
5. What makes I/O
psychology different than
other business programs?
The application of psychological principles is what best
distinguishes I/O psychology from related fields typically
taught in business colleges.
A second difference between I/O psychology and
business fields is that I/O psychology examines factors
that affect the people in an organization as opposed to
the broader aspects of running an organization such as
marketing channels, transportation networks, and cost
accounting.
6. I/O psychology relies extensively on research,
quantitative methods, and testing techniques. I/O
psychologists are trained to use empirical data and
statistics rather than clinical judgment to make
decisions.
7. I/O psychologists are not clinical psychologists who
happen to be in industry,and they do not conduct
therapy for workers.
There are psychologists who work for organizations and
help employees with problems such as drug and alcohol
abuse, but these are counselors rather than I/O
psychologists.
8. A factor that helps differentiate I/O psychology from
other fields of psychology is the reliance on the
scientist-practitioner model. That is, I/O psychologists
act as scientists when they conduct research and as
practitioners when they work with actual organizations.
9. Major Fields of I/O Psychology
There are 4 major fields of I/O psychology:
1- Personal psychology.
2- Organizational psychology.
3- Industrial psychology.
4- Human factor/ ergonomics.
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13. I/O psychology made its first big impact during World War
I. Because of the large number of soldiers who had to be
assigned to various units within the armed forces, I/O
psychologists were employed to test recruits and then
place them in appropriate positions. The testing was
accomplished mainly through the Army Alpha and Army
Beta tests of mental ability. The Alpha test was used for
recruits who could read and the Beta test for recruits who
could not read. The more intelligent recruits were assigned
to officer training, and the less intelligent to the infantry.
Interestingly, John Watson, who is better known as a
pioneer in behaviorism, served as a major in the U.S. Army
in World War I and developed perceptual and motor tests
for potential pilots.
14. In the 1930s, I/O psychology greatly expanded its
scope. Until then, it had been involved primarily in
personnel issues such as the selection and placement
of employees. However, in the 1930s, when the
findings from the famous Hawthorne studies were
published, psychologists became more involved in the
quality of the work environment, as well as the attitudes
of employees.
15. The 1980s and 1990s brought four major changes to I/O
psychology:
The first involved an increased use of fairly sophisticated
statistical techniques and methods of analysis.
A second change concerned a new interest in the
application of cognitive psychology to industry. For
example, articles written about performance appraisal in
the 1970s primarily described and tested new methods for
evaluating employee performance.
16. The third change was the increased interest in the effects
of work on family life and leisure activities.
The final major change in the 1980s and 1990s came
about when I/O psychologists took a renewed interest in
developing methods to select employees.
17.
18. Research in I/O Psychology
Why Conduct Research?
Why does I/O psychologists need to conduct
researches.
19. Answering Questions and Making Decisions
Answering questions like, how research can save
organizations money involves the employment
interview, i-e,would structured interviews prove to be
better predictors of job efficiency as compared to
unstructured interviews.
20. Research and Everyday Life
Research confronts us on an almost daily basis, both at
home and on the job. As a professional, you will receive
advertisements and sales pitches containing references
to research supporting a particular product. At home,
you read the results of political polls in the newspaper
and are bombarded with TV commercials trumpeting
the fat-burning wonders of the AbMaster or claiming
that “nine out of ten dentists” recommend a product.
21. Common Sense Is Often Wrong
Often, there is a temptation not to conduct research
because the answer to a question is “common sense.”
Unfortunately, common sense is not so common and is
often wrong.
E-g: women are not capable of performing as same as
men.
the world was flat.
24. Literature Reviews
Once a research idea has been created, the next step
is to search the literature for similar research. This
search is important because if the question you are
interested in answering has already been researched in
studies, it is probably not necessary for you to conduct
a new study.
Types of literature periodicals:
1- journals, 2- bridge publications, 3- trade magazines
and 4- Magazines.
25. The Location of the Study
Once a research idea has been created and a
hypothesis formed, you must decide whether to choose
one of the two research locations, i-e,
1- Laboratory research.
2- Field research.
26. Laboratory research:
Research conducted in a controlled environment of a
laboratory, i-e, mostly universities or psychological labs.
Disadvantage of lab researches:
Disadvantage of laboratory research is external validity,
or generalizability of results to organizations in the “real
world.”
27. Field research:
Location for research away from the laboratory and out
in the “field,” which could be the assembly line of an
automotive plant or the interviewing room at a
personnel agency, etc.
Disadvantage of Field researches:
What field research obviously gains in external validity it
loses in internal validity.
28. The Research Method to Be Used
After deciding the location for the research, the
researcher must determine which type of research
method to use.
1- Experiment.
2- Quasi-experiment.
3- Archival research.
4- Survey.
5- Meta analysis.
29. Subject sample:
The size, composition, and method of selecting the
subjects who will serve as the sample in a study, is also
a very important step in conducting a research.
The method of selecting the sample is certainly
dependent on the nature of the organization.
30. Methods of sampling from a population
● Simple random sampling. In this case each individual is
chosen entirely by chance and each member of the
population has an equal chance, or probability, of being
selected. ...
● Systematic sampling. ...
● Stratified sampling. ...
● Clustered sampling. ...
● Convenience sampling. ...
● Quota sampling. ...
● Judgement (or Purposive) Sampling. ...
● Snowball sampling.
31. Running the study:
When all of these decisions have been made, it is finally
time to run the study and collect data. To ensure that
data are collected in an unbiased fashion, it is important
that all instructions to the subjects be stated in a
standardized fashion and at a level that is
understandable.
33. Correlation.
It is necessary to discuss one particular statistic
correlation because it is so widely used in I/O
psychology. Correlation is a statistical procedure that
enables a researcher to determine the relationship
between two variables.
34. Ethics in Industrial/Organizational
Psychology
Organizations and employees are faced with ethical
dilemmas every day. Ethical dilemmas are ambiguous
situations that require a personal judgment of what is
right or wrong because there are no rules, policies, or
laws guiding such decisions.
There are two types of ethical dilemmas:
1- Type A dilemma.
2- Type B dilemma.
35. Type A dilemma
In a Type A dilemma, there is a high level of uncertainty
as to what is right or wrong, there appears to be no best
solution, and there are both positive and negative
consequences to a decision.
36. Type B dilemma
In a Type B dilemma, also called rationalizing
dilemmas, the difference between right and wrong is
much clearer than in a Type A dilemma. Usually,
individuals know what is right but choose the solution
that is most advantageous to themselves.
