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• One of the fastest-
growing fields of
Psychology involves the
application of
psychological principles
to the workplace. This
specialized field of
psychology is known as
industrial/organizationa
l (I/O) psychology. This
field is quite similar to
the human resource
management that is
often taught in schools
of business.
 WHAT IS
INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY?
Is a scientific study of employees,
workplaces, and organizations. Industrial
and organizational psychologists
contribute to an organization’s success by
improving the workplace and the
performance, satisfaction and well-being
of its people.
An I/O psychologist researches and
identifies how employee behaviors and
attitudes can be improved through hiring
practices, training programs, and feedback
management systems. I/O psychologists
also help organizations transition among
 WHAT IS
INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY?

Two major areas of I/O Psychology are

personnel psychology and organizational
psychology. Personnel psychology is the
study and practice of job analysis, job
recruitment, employment selection, and
the evaluation of employee performance.
Organizational psychology considers
leadership, job satisfaction, employee
motivation and variety of factors
surrounding the functioning of
organization.
 WHAT IS
INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY?
Subareas within I/O:

 Industrial or Personnel psychology

- HR Staff: recruitment, job analysis,
selection, training, performance appraisal,
compensation, employment law.
- KSAS  job performance
 Organizational psychology
- Micro: motivation, leadership, teams, worker
attitudes, safety & well-being, work family
- Macro: org theory, culture, org development
& change.
Job titles of I/O Psychologist:

I/O Psychologist
Consultant
Psychology Professor
HR Recruiter
Research psychologist/analyst/scientist
Staffing Manager
Trainer, Training Coordinator
VP- Human Resource
VP- Organizational Development
HR Director, Generalist, Representative,
Specialist, Supervisor, Manager
 History of I/O Psychology
(1990-1916)
I/O Psychology was nameless at first.
 W. L. Bryan
- Stressed importance of studying
“concrete activities and functions as
they appear in daily life.”

- But not really considered farther of I/O

Psychology because he was a precursor,
before the field was established.
 History of I/O Psychology
When was the nameless named?

 Frank and Lillian Gilbreth

- Interested in improving productivity and
efficiency of industrial engineers.
- Argued for the use of psychology in the
work lives of industrial engineers.
- Led to the merger of psychology with
applied interests.
- The nameless was crowned industrial
psychology in 1910.
- The “organizational” bit came in the 1970’s
 The 3 founding fathers
1. Walter Dill Scott (American Psychologist)

- He was the first to apply the principles

of psychology to motivation and
productivity in the workplace.
- Would later become instrumental in the
application of personnel procedures within
the army during World War I.
- Boosted Industrial Psychology
 The 3 founding fathers
2. Hugo Munsterberg (German)

- “Father of Industrial psychology”

A.) Applied psychological method to practical
industrial problems.
B.) Psychology and Industrial Efficiency (1913)
- View of I/O Psychology:
1.) People need to fit the organization training.
2.) Applied behavioral sciences should help
organizations to shape people to serve as
replacement parts for organizational machines.
Mechanistic.
 The 3 founding fathers
3. Frederick Taylor (American Engineer)

Principles of scientific management (1911)

• Science over intuition
• The best workers should be selected and trained
in the established “one best method”
• Management and workers should cooperatively
share responsibility for the design and conduct
of work.
- Motivation and monetary gain.
E.G.: Showed that workers who handle heavy iron
ingots were more productive when allowed work
rests.
• Training when work and when to rest raised
productivity from 12.5 to 47.0 tons moved per
day.
 World War 1 (1917-1918)
Robert Yerkes
- Was the psychologist most influential in getting
psychology into the war.
- Proposed ways of screening recruits for mental
deficiency and assigning selected recruits to
army jobs.
- Committees of psychologists also investigated
soldier motivation, morale, psychological
problems of physical incapacity (“shell shock”),
discipline.
- Army was skeptical and approved only a modest
number of proposals, primarily in the
assessment of recruits– which Yerkes and others
developed as a general intelligence test
 World War 1 (1917-1918)
- Meanwhile Walter Dill Scott was doing research on
best placement of soldiers in Army
- He classified and placed enlistees, conducted
performance evaluations of officers, and developed
and prepared job duties and qualifications for over
500 jobs.
- However, the final authorization for the testing
program came in August 1918, only three months
before the Armistice was signed– thus the
intelligence tests weren’t as utilized as much as
Yerkes had hoped.
- 1917: Journal of Applied Psychology began
publication
- Today is still perhaps the most respected,
representative journal in I/O field.
 Between the wars (1919-
1940)
 Psychological Corporation started by James
Cattell in 1912
 Main purpose was to advance psychology
and promote its usefulness to industry.
 Also to maintain quality reputation of field
by serving as a place for companies to get
reference checks on prospective
psychologists.
- Helped companies weed out quacks from
qualified professionals.
 Mission has shifted: Today serves as one of
largest publishers of psychological tests.
 Between the wars (1919-
1940)
1920’s: doctoral degrees specializing in industrial
psychology begin to be offered at U.S universities.

 Among the first: Ohio State, Carnegie Institute of

Technology, University of Minnesota, and Stanford
University

Greatest Influence on I/O psychology from this

time was the Hawthorne studies.
- Change in behavior following the onset of novel
treatment (new or increased attention, most
commonly)
- Effect eventually wears off (behavior returns to
original) as the “novelty” dissipates.
 Between the wars: During and
Shortly After the Hawthorne Studies
 In 1939, Kurt Lewin led the first publication of an empirical study
of the effects of leadership styles; this work initiated arguments
for the use of participative management technique.
By this time industrial psychologists had improved many of their
techniques for employee selection and placement, and were
sought after by the army of their help with these functions.
Successful I/O contributions included development of:
• Army General Classification Test
- Used to classify an estimated 12 million soldiers into military
jobs.
• Tests of performance under situational stress for U.S Office of
Strategic Services
- The OSS was the first U.S intelligence agency
- Tests highly successful for identifying best candidates to be
OSS agents
- Innovative assessment methods used
• Original basis for assessment center techniques of today.
 Between the wars: During and
Shortly After the Hawthorne Studies

1945 Kurt Lewin formed the Research Center

for Group Dynamics at MIT to perform
experiments in group behavior.
1948 the research center moved to the
University of Michigan and became a branch of
the Institute for Social Research.
1946: I/O psychologists form division 14 of the
American Psychological Association.
Incorporated as the Society for industrial and
organizational psychology in 1983.
By 1996, grown to approximately 2,500
members.
 Ethics of the I/O Field

Ethical Code
- Psychologists should do their best to avoid harming
other people through their professional work.
- Psychologists have a social responsibility to use their
talents to help other people.
- Helping to improve organizations so that they function
better and helping to improve the well-being of
employees.
6 PRINCIPLES:
- Competence, Integrity, Professional and scientific
responsibility, Respect for people’s rights and dignity,
Concerns for others welfare and social responsibility.
- Honesty, Integrity, Respect for others, and
Responsibility.
FINISH NA