Work and Organizational Psychology
___________________________________________________________________
Q1 – 2023/2024
,Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
Industrial Engineering – Bachelor Year 1
Work & Organiza>onal Psychology
Literature- and lecture summary:
– Lectures Q1
– Book: Jeffrey M. Conte, Frank J. Landy, Work in the 21st century, an introduc>on to
industrial and organiza>onal psychology, 6th edi>on. Wiley, 2018.
1
, Week 1 - 5 September: Introduc>on and Course Informa>on
Psychology is the scien&fic discipline that seeks to understand human behavior by establishing
general principles.
Work & Organiza9onal psychology is the scien&fic discipline that seeks to understand human
behavior by establishing general principles in the work se,ng.
® Seeks how human behavior affects organiza9onal processes.
® Seeks how organiza9onal processes affect human behavior.
By improving organiza&onal processes, it is crucial to understand:
® The human factor that affects these processes and outcomes.
® What effect processes have on the human factor.
The roots of W&O psychology traces back to both world wars, were they focus more on individual
capabili9es.
– Tes9ng and selec9ng people to do a certain type of job (‘person-environment fit’).
Example 1: is the army recruitment test, became important, test was the basis for decision for
a job in the army.
Example 2: ‘pilot error’ vs ‘design error’. Planes crashed without a reason. The cause was that
pilots had to fly planes with different cockpits, the environment was always different. Now
cockpits are always the same.
– Produc9vity improvement and 9me studies (development of the ‘assembly line’).
Example: Firstly, Ford cars were produced by high knowledge people, but took a long 9me. An
assembly line was created with 50-100 workers to do small parts of the work. Makes
produc9on faster.
– A>en&on for the work circumstances in factories.
Example: Assembly line work is boring; it is con9nuous work.
Work in the 21st century is different because there are many changes in how we work. It is a global
economy, 24-hour economy. There is more technology, like AI. More diversity and teamwork. Also,
there is more mental workload and more ‘emo9onal labor’.
The present-day W&O psychology has a lot of themes. A few are human capabili9es / individual
differences or conflict / counterproduc9vity.
Science is an approach that involves the understanding, predic9on, and control of some phenomenon
of interest.
® Try to get an understanding of the rela9onships between all the factors.
Psychology is the understanding, predic9on, and control of human behavior.
® W&O-psychology is the understanding in work-related context.
Based on empirical evidence: a data-driven approach to test theories and rela9onships.
What are the characteris9cs of ‘good’ science:
– Logic approach, based on theories from which testable hypotheses can be derived.
– Knowledge based on data.
– Open, transparent, publicly available.
– The process of falsifiability: the inherent possibility that a hypothesis (a theory that you can
accept or decline) can be proved false.
– Researchers should be independent and objec&ve concerning their research results.
Hypothesis is a predic9on about rela9onships among variables of interest.
Disinterestedness is the characteris9c of scien9sts, who should be objec9ve and uninfluenced by
biases or prejudices when conduc9ng research.
Expert witness is a witness in a lawsuit who is permi[ed to voice opinions about organiza9onal
prac9ces.
Theory: Oversimplifica9on of reality. A set of interrelated concepts, defini9ons, and proposi9ons that
are advanced to explain or predict phenomena. Also describe and explain rela9onships that link the
variables.
® Are seen as important by the scien9fic community and peer reviewed.
® Empirically tested and are verifiable and replicable.
The Empirical cycle is a kind of theory development:
– Observa&on: a limited set of observa9ons
induce a more general rule.
– Theory/model: a general rule is deducted to
something specific.
– Predic&on: is based on the theory.
– Result: Test the predic9on, revise the theory because of the observa9on and evaluate.
Research design: Provides the overall structure or architecture for the research study. There are
different decisions you can make when designing research. All decisions have consequences. Some
examples are:
– Laboratory or field?
– Condi9ons and how to assign people to the different experimental condi9ons?
There are different research designs in W&O-psychology.
Experimental: random assignment to condi9ons. It is the ‘golden standard’.
– Variable x has an impact on variable y, giving profound insight in the rela9onships.
Experiments are studies in which the researchers manipulate a variable in order to observe how it
affects another variable that is being studied.
Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstra9ng what outcome occurs when a
par9cular factor is manipulated.
3
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller thijnv. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $9.66. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
