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Summary work psychology chapter 1 - 15
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Comprehensive summary for the Work Psychology course of the book 'Industrial / organizational psychology' by Michael G. Aamodt. It contains chapters 1 through 15
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Summary Work PsychologyChapter 1: Introduction to I/O psychology
The field of I/O psychology:
Differences between I/O and business programs:
Industrial/organizational psychology: a branch of psychology that applies the principles of
psychology to the workplace. The purpose is to enhance the dignity and performance of
human beings, and the organizations they work in, by advancing the science and knowledge
of human behavior.
The main 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. I/O psychology relies extensively on research, quantitative
methods, and testing techniques.
A factor that helps differentiate I/O psychology from other branches of psychology is the
reliance on the scientist-practitioner model. That is I/O psychologist act as scientist when
they conduct research and as practitioners when they work with actual organizations.
Professional in the field can have a positive impact on the lives of other people.
I/O psychology can improve the quality of life.
Major fields of I/O psychology:
There are two approaches to increase the productivity and well-being of employees (goal of
I/O psychology).
Industrial approach: focuses on determining the competencies needed to perform a
job, staffing the organization with employees who have those competencies an
increasing those competencies through training.
Organizational approach: creates an organizational structure and culture in that will
motivate employees to perform well, give them the necessary information to do their
jobs and provide working conditions that are safe and result in an enjoyable and
satisfying work/life environment.
Personnel psychology:
The field of study that concentrates on the selection and evaluation of employees. They
analyze jobs, recruit applicants, select employees, determine salary levels, train employees
and evaluating employee performance.
Organizational psychology:
The field of study that investigates the behavior of employees within the context of an
organization. Are concerned with issues of leadership, job satisfaction, employee motivation,
organizational communication, conflict management, organizational change and group
processes within an organization.
Human factors/ergonomics:
A field of study concentrating on the interaction between humans and machines.
Brief History of I/O psychology:
Generally thought to have started at 1903. It made its first big impact during World War 1.
Army alpha: an intelligence test developed during World War 1 and used by the army for
soldiers who can read.
Army beta: an intelligence test developed during World War 1 and used by the army for
soldiers who cannot read.
,In the 1930s I/O psychologist greatly expanded its scope. The psychologist became more
involved in the quality of the work environment, as well as the attitudes of employees. This
was caused by the findings of the Hawthorne studies: a series of studies that have come to
represent any change in behavior when people react to a change in the environment.
Hawthorne effect: when employees change their behavior due solely to the fact that they are
receiving attention or are being observed.
In the 1960s several major pieces of civil rights legislation and the use of sensitivity training
and T-groups for managers were discussed.
1970s: satisfaction and motivation.
1980s and 1990s brought four major changes in I/O psychology:
Increased use of fairly sophisticated statistical techniques and methods of analysis.
A new interest in the application of cognitive psychology to industry.
Increased interest in the effects of work on family life and leisure activities
A renewed interest in developing methods to select employees.
2000s: rapid advances in technology and changing demographic makeup of the workforce.
Global economy also affect I/O psychology.
Currently: high unemployment rates, movements towards flexible work schedules, family-
friendly work policies, accommodation of an increasing number of employees with child-care
and elder-care responsibilities, flatter organization structures with fewer management levels,
population shifts from urban to suburban locations and increasing costs of health-care
benefits.
Employment of I/O psychologist:
They typically work in one of four settings: colleges and universities, consulting firms, the
private sector and the public sector.
Educational requirements and types of programs:
Graduate record exam (GRE): a standardized admission test required by most psychology
graduate schools.
Types of graduate programs:
Master’s degree programs come in two varieties: those that are part of a Ph.D. program and
those that terminate at the master’s degree.
Terminal master’s degree programs: graduate programs that offer a master’s degree but not
a PhD.
Internship: a situation in which a student works for an organization, either for pay of as a
volunteer, to receive practical work experience
Practicum: a paid or unpaid position with an organization that gives a student practical work
experience.
Doctoral programs obtaining Ph.D (five years)
Dissertation: a formal research paper required of most doctoral students in order to
graduate.
Research in I/O psychology:
Why conduct research?
It can save money
Research confronts us every day
, Common sense is often wrong
Considerations in conducting research:
Ideas, hypotheses and theories:
First step is to decide what to research. Next step is to form a hypothesis. This is usually
based on theory. Research is complex many theories may explain a particular behavior.
When idea is created, next step is to search the literature for similar research. When
reviewing literature, you can encounter four types of periodical:
Journals: a written collection of articles describing the methods and results of new
research.
Bridge publications: are designed to “bridge the gap” between academia and the
applied world. Are less formal and statistically complex
Trade magazines: a collection of articles for those “in the biz” about related
professional topics, seldom directly reporting the methods and results of new
research.
Magazines: an unscientific collection of articles about a wide range of topics.
Internet is also an increasingly popular source, but is not always reliable.
Once a research idea has been created and hypothesis is formed, you must decide whether
to conduct the study in the laboratory or in the field.
Laboratory research:
Disadvantage: external validity or generalizability extent to which research results
can be expected to hold true outside the specific setting in which they were obtained
Field research: research conducted in natural setting as opposed to a laboratory. This
method gains external validity but it loses in control of extraneous variables that are
not of interest to the researcher (internal validity). It also provided researchers with
an ethical dilemma.
Informed consent: the formal process by which subjects give permission to be
included in a study this can change the way people behave.
Institutional review boards: a committee designated to ensure the ethical treatment
of research subjects. These boards pay close attention to confidentiality.
After deciding the location for the research, the researcher must determine which type of
research method to use. The choices include:
Experiments:
Type of research study in which the independent variable is manipulated by the
experimenter. Is the only one that can determine cause-and-effect relationships.
Two characteristics define an experiment:
1. Manipulation of one or more independent variables the alteration of a variable by
an experimenter in expectation that the alteration will result in a change in the
dependent variable.
2. Random assignment of subjects to experimental and control conditions.
The researcher intentionally manipulated one or more aspects of the question of interest,
called the independent variable and measures the changes that occur as a result of that
manipulation called the dependent variable.
Experimental group: the group of subjects that receives the experimental treatment of
interest to the experimenter
Control group: group who don’t receive a particular type of training so that their
performance can be compared with that of employees who do receive training.
, Quasi-experiments:
Research method in which the experimenter either does not manipulate the independent
variable or in which subjects are not randomly assigned to conditioners. Are often used to
evaluate the results of a new program implemented by an organization.
Archival research:
Research that involves the use of previously collected data. Advantages: not expensive or
obtrusive. Drawbacks: records in files are not always accurate and type of data needed may
not be in archives. However, the computerization of information has greatly increased the
potential for archival research.
Surveys:
Ask people their opinion on some topic. Can be conducted via a variety of methods such as
mail, personal interviews, phone, email and Internet. When selecting a survey method it is
important whether the population can access the medium of the survey, they will agree to
complete the survey and the extent to which the person will provide honest and accurate
answers.
Meta-analysis:
A statistical method of reaching conclusions based on previous research. A summary of all
the available studies on a topic.
Effect size: a statistic that indicates the amount of change caused by an experimental
manipulation.
Mean effect size: a statistic that is the average of the effect sizes for all studies included in
the analysis.
Correlation coefficients are used as the effect size when researchers are interested in the
relationship between two variables.
Difference score: indicates how many standard deviations separate the mean score for the
experimental group from the control group.
Practical significance: the extent to which the results of a study have actual impact on human
behavior.
Subject samples:
Large sample is nice but not necessary.
Random sample: a sample in which every member of the relevant population had an equal
chance of being chosen to participate in the study.
Convenience sample: a nonrandom research sample that is used because it is easily
available.
Random assignment: the random, unbiased assignment of subjects in a research sample to
the various experimental and control conditions.
Running the study:
When all these decisions are made, it is time to run the study and collect data.
Debriefed: informing the subject in an experiment about the purpose of the study in which
he/she was a participant and providing any other relevant information.
Statistical analysis:
Helps us to determine how confident we are that our results are real and did not occur by
chance alone.
Correlation: a statistical procedure used to measure the relationship between two variables.
(positive and negative)
, Intervening variable: a third variable that can often explain the relationship between two
other variables.
Ethics in I/O Psychology:
Ethical dilemmas are ambiguous situations that require a personal judgment of what is right
or wrong because there are no rule, policies or laws guiding such decisions. Individuals often
rely on their morals and personal values, which often leads to different decisions by different
people in similar situations. Because people have different back- grounds that impact their
personal values and how they define a particular situation, the decision that one person
makes may be very different than what another one makes.
Two types of ethical dilemmas:
Type A dilemma: 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.
Type B dilemma: difference between right and wrong is much clearer than in type A.
Usually, individuals know what is right but choose the solution that is most
advantageous for themselves. Are also called rationalizing dilemmas because
individuals ‘rationalize’ they are right because ‘everyone else does it’.
Chapter 2: Job analysis and evaluation:
Job analysis:
Importance of job analysis:
Also called work analysis. It is de foundation for almost all human resources activities. It is
the process of determining the work activities and requirements.
Writing job descriptions:
A brief, two- to five page summary of the tasks and job requirements found in the job
analysis. It is the written result of the job analysis.
Employee selection:
By identifying tasks and competencies it is possible to select tests or develop interview
questions that will determine whether a particular applicant possess the necessary
knowledge, skills and abilities to carry out the requirements of the job.
Training:
It is difficult to see how employees can be trained unless the requirements of the job are
known.
Personpower planning:
Using the job analysis to determine worker mobility within an organization. That is, if
individuals are hired for a particular job, to what other jobs can they expect to eventually be
promoted and become successful?
Peter Principle: the idea that organization tend to promote good employees until they reach
the level at which they are not competent – in other words, their highest level of
incompetence.
Performance appraisal:
As in employee selection, the evaluation of employee performance must be job related. The
use of specific, job-related categories leads to more accurate performance appraisal that are
better accepted not only by employees but also by the courts.
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