What is work and organizational psychology? - Chapter 1

This chapter discusses what industrial and organizational psychology is on the basis of three modules.


What is the importance of industrial and organizational psychology?

This module examines the importance of industrial and organizational psychology.

What is good work?

Good work is work that exhibits a high level of expertise, and it implies regular concern about the implications and applications of one's work for the rest of the world, according to Gardner.

Work done by industrial and organizational psychologists and students is potentially good work, as it enables individuals to develop and use skills and deploy them for the benefit of someone other than themselves.

What is industrial and Organizational Psychology?

Industrial and organizational psychology is the application of psychological principles, theory and research to the work environment. The domain of industrial and organizational psychology extends well beyond the physical boundaries of the workplace, because many of the factors that influence work behavior do not always exist in the work environment.

A more formal definition is given by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP). This is an association to which many work and organizational psychologists belong.

Their definition from the psychologist's perspective is as follows:

Industrial and organizational psychologists recognize the interdependence of individuals, organizations and society and recognize the impact of other factors, including those outside the organization. These psychologists serve as advisers and catalysts for various places, such as business, industry and the labor market.

According to SIOP, work and organizational psychologists are:

  • Scientists.
  • Advisors.
  • Teachers.

Industrial and organizational psychology often focuses mainly on the following three aspects:

  • Personnel psychology: a field of psychology that deals with such things as recruitment, selection, training, promotion, performance appraisal, and discharge.
  • Organizational psychology: a field of psychology that combines research in social psychology and organizational behavior and deals with the emotional portion of work.
  • Human factors psychology: investigate people's capacities and limitations with regard to a particular environment.

Within this psychology there is a clear connection between the research that is done and what is used on a practical level. This emphasis on scientific application is known as the scientist-practitioner model. This is a model that uses scientific instruments and research in the practical field of industrial and organizational psychology.

Industrial and organizational psychologists are increasingly concerned with the following points:

  • Building sustainable and environmentally conscious organizations.
  • Making evidence-based decisions within organizations.

Why can this book be useful to the student?

For many people, work is an important part of life. Students also often work next to their studies. Taking this course can then be useful for the following reasons:

  • It can help to understand what you are experiencing at work.
  • Chances are, you will eventually be in a position to direct the work of others and develop or at least implement work-related policies in that role. The contents of this book can help you with that.
  • You will likely be exposed to concepts of work and organizational psychology through interaction with consultants and managers. Because of this you often understand what is happening.

Not much attention is paid to young adults when it comes to work. This is not good for the following reasons:

  • Young adults make up a large proportion of the part-time workers.
  • A person's first job is likely to have a significant impact on the filters through which later work experiences are viewed.

The little research that has been done among young workers suggests the following:

  • Jobs that provide an opportunity to use current skills or develop new ones are the most satisfying.
  • Young adults who do not have the opportunity to use current skills or develop new ones may develop cynicism and lack of interest in the work.

What is the history and future of work and organizational psychology?

In this module, the history, present and future of industrial and organizational psychology is discussed.

What is the history of industrial and organizational psychology?

The roots of psychology lie with Wilhelm Wundt, who founded one of the first psychological laboratories. This took place in Germany in 1876. Wundt trained two psychologists who would later be of great influence on the development of industrial and organizational psychology: Munsterberg and Cattell. Munsterberg was one of the first to measure employees' capabilities and this was linked to performance. Cattell is seen as one of the first to see the importance of using differences between individuals as a way to predict the behavior of those individuals.

Two other psychologists, Scott and Bingham, worked at the same time as Munsterberg and Cattell to develop methods for selecting and training sales personnel. Together with other well-known psychologists, she developed the Stanford-Binet test. That's a well-known intelligence test designed to test one person at a time. Originally developed by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon in 1905. The Binet-Simon test was updated from 1916 by Lewis Terman and colleagues at Stanford University, leading to the current name of the test.

Lillian Gilbreth is the first to receive a PhD in industrial and organizational psychology from Brown University in 1915. For research she used the Scientific Management Principles. That is a movement based on the principles developed by Frederick Taylor, who suggested that there was one best and most efficient way to perform in different jobs. Scientific management principles were again based on the principles of time and motion study. Those are studies that split each action into its component parts, timed movements with a stopwatch, and developed new and more efficient ones that would reduce fatigue and increase productivity.

Mayo came up with the idea that there was a mental state called revery obsession. According to him, this condition arose from the mind-numbing, repetitive, and difficult work that characterized American factories in the early 20th century, causing factory workers to be unhappy, more likely to resist management's efforts to increase productivity, and develop sympathy for trade unions. Such a response to boring work would today be seen as normal rather than pathological.

Meanwhile, research was also being done on Hawthorne. These studies are now called the Hawthorne studies. This company tried to increase productivity by manipulating light, breaks and working hours. This research showed the important role that employee attitudes played in productivity.

These research results resulted in the Human Relations Movement, which focuses on work attitudes and the newly discovered emotional world of the employee.

History up to the 1960s shows the following important points:

  • Mental ability tests have always played an important role in the performance of industrial psychology.
  • Most psychologists focused on improving productivity and reducing counterproductive behavior.
  • There was a tendency to view the three different branches of work and organizational psychology as unrelated to and possibly competing with each other to explain industrial behavior.
  • It was accepted that the analysis focused on the individual worker rather than the work group, organization or culture.

What is work and organizational psychology like in the present?

Today, the American Psychological Association (APA) is an important organization for psychology, as well as for industrial and organizational psychology. APA is the major professional organization for all types of psychologists in the United States.

There are many opportunities for psychologists to be useful to employers, employees and the wider society. To make these contributions, industrial and organizational psychology must face four challenges:

  • Psychology must be relevant.
  • It must be usable.
  • Psychology needs to think bigger.
  • It must be grounded in the scientific method.

What multicultural problems are there in industrial and organizational psychology?

In this module, the possible multicultural problems within work and organizational psychology are discussed.

What is culture?

Culture is a system in which individuals share meaning and common ways of viewing events and objects. Within work and organizational psychology, the main cultural differences that should be addressed are related to nationality. Individuals often embrace different cultures and subcultures. This makes things even more complex..

Today there is a global economy. It is no longer possible for a long time to exist without economic connections with other countries. Such connections can be both a positive and negative force. Many cultures are in contact with each other. The challenge then becomes to develop systems that are applicable to so many different cultures. The key is to understand cultures.

What is the West versus the Rest mindset?

The West versus the Rest mentality is the tendency for researchers to develop theories that are relevant to situations in the United States without really considering whether the theories are applicable in other countries.

It is good to value multicultural psychology in general for the following reason:

  • Psychology researches human behavior. This is about the behavior of all people, not just the behavior of people in the West.
  • Psychology tried to be strongly color-blind, but this failed to recognize authentic differences that are definable features of identity.

What are Collectivist and Individualist Cultures?

A distinction is made between collectivist and individualist cultures. A collectivist culture is one that values ​​the group more than the individual. In contrast, an individualistic culture values ​​the individual more than the group. By understanding this underlying cultural principle and developing the ability to place other cultures on the collectivist-individual continuum, the manager might be able to design effective reward schemes for projects in other countries.

What is Hofstede's theory?

Geert Hofstede did a lot of research into cultures and developed a theory that proposes five basic elements by which cultures can be distinguished:

  • Individualism - collectivism: is the degree to which individuals are expected to look after themselves versus remain integrated in the group.
  • Power distance: is the degree to which less powerful members of an organization accept and expect an unequal distribution of power.
  • Uncertainty avoidance: is the degree to which members of a culture feel comfortable in unstructured situations.
  • Masculinity - femininity: is the division of emotional roles between genders, where the male role is seen as heavy and the female role as gentle.
  • Long-term orientation - short-term orientation: is the degree to which members of a culture expect immediate versus delayed satisfaction of their material, social and emotional needs.

Each point above is a continuum. These five elements can also be seen as a personality of a nationality.

Hofstede's theory is not the only theory of cultural influence. Triandis came up with a variation on Hofstede's individualism / collectivism dimension, namely a horizontal / vertical dimension that interacts with the individualism / collectivism dimension. A horizontal culture is one that minimizes distances between individuals, while a vertical culture accepts and depends on distances between individuals.

Most theories contain to some extent Hofstede's individualism / collectivism dimension. It is important to realize and remember that Hofstede's theory is about countries (obtained by averaging the responses of individuals from that country) and not individuals. Not all individuals within a country share the same culture.

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