CHAPTER 1

• Industrial psychology


  The ultimate goal is to have a happy and productive workforce
• Industrial-organizational psychology


  A branch of psychology that applies the principles of psychology to the workplace to enhance the dignity and performance of human beings and the organizations they work in
• Focus of IO psychology vs business fields


  Examining factors that affect the people in an organization rather than broader aspects of running an organization
• Primary issues IO psychologists focus on


  Issues involving the people in an organization
• Methods IO psychologists rely on


  Research, quantitative methods, and testing techniques
• How IO psychologists are trained to make decisions


  They are trained to use empirical data and statistics rather than intuition
• What IO psychologists do not do
• IO scientist-practitioner model


  It involves acting as scientists when conducting research and as practitioners when working with organizations
• How IO psychologists can improve quality of life

  By increasing employee effectiveness, improving organizational efficiency, and reducing the cost of goods sold by improving product quality
• Two approaches in IO psychology


  • The industrial approach
  • The organizational approach
• Focus of personnel psychology


  The selection and evaluation of employees
• Focus of organizational psychology


  Investigating the behavior of employees within the context of an organization
• Issues organizational psychology is concerned with


  • Leadership
  • Job satisfaction
  • Employee motivation
  • Organizational communication
  • Conflict management
  • Organizational change
  • Group processes within an organization
• Programs organizational psychology implements to improve employee performance


  Organization-wide programs such as team building, restructuring, and employee empowerment
• Focus of human factors


  Concentrating on the interaction between humans and machines, physical fatigue and stress
• Who human factors professionals frequently work with


  Engineers and other technical professionals to make the workplace safer and more efficient
• Tasks in the field of human factors


  • Designing the most comfortable chair
  • Investigating the optimal work schedule
  • Drawing a map in the optimal way
• IO psychology has been a field of study since

  1879
• Walter Dill Scott


  Wrote The Theory of Advertising in 1903, applying psychology to business
• IO psychology's previous names


  "Economic psychology," "business psychology," and "employment psychology"
• When IO psychology made its first big impact

  World War I
• Army Alpha and Army Beta tests


  Used for recruits who could and could not read during World War I
• John Watson


  Developed perceptual and motor tests for potential pilots in IO history
• Thomas Edison


  Created a 163-item knowledge test in 1920 related to IO psychology
• Frank Gilbreth and Lillian Moller Gilbreth


  Improved productivity and reduced fatigue by studying the motions used by workers
• What focused the attention of HR according to IO history

  1960s
• Hawthorne effect


  When employees change their behavior due solely to the fact that they are receiving attention or are being observed
• Hawthorne studies


  Representing any change in behavior when people react to a change in the environment
• Major changes to I/O psychology in the 1980s & 1990s


  • Increased use of statistical techniques
  • Application of cognitive psychology
  • Interest on effects of work to family life and leisure
• Behavior modification techniques in organizations in the 1970s


  Resulted from B. F. Skinner's Beyond Freedom and Dignity
• Hawthorne studies


  Investigated effects of lighting levels, work schedules, wages, temperature, and rest breaks on employee performance
• The increased use of statistical techniques and application of cognitive psychology brought major changes to I/O psychology in the 1980s & 1990s
• Methods for selecting employees


  • Technology
  • Online recruitments
• Factors impacting IO psychology


  • High unemployment rates
  • Movements for flexible work schedules
  • Family-friendly work policies
  • Accommodation of employees with child-care and elder-care responsibilities
  • Population shifts
  • Increasing costs of health-care benefits
• GRE


  A standardized admission test required by most psychology graduate schools
• Terminal master's degree programs


  Graduate programs that offer a master's degree but not a Ph.D.
• Internship


  A situation in which a student works for an organization, either for pay or as a volunteer, to receive practical work experience
• Practicum


  A paid or unpaid work experience that provides practical skills in a particular field
• Internship


  A position with an organization that gives a student practical work experience
• Dissertation


  A formal research paper required of most doctoral students in order to graduate