These notes provide a brief summary of behaviour in the workplace. Providing students with very important terminology that can also be useful for assignments and tests. Human Resource Management students might also find the notes useful.
This is an assignment that could be useful for Industrial Psychology and HRM students.
These are possible answers to the questions.
Please take note of the use of the word “Predictor” in the assignment. It refers to
“Predicator”.
Industrial Psychology and HRM:
1. Give an overview of the history of Industrial and Organisational Psychology.
Industrial psychology was founded in 1901 by Walter Dill Scott. He was the first
person to apply the concept of psychology to disciplines such as advertising,
personnel selection and management issues. In the year 1919, Walter Dill Scott
opened a consulting firm and its goal was to challenge personnel problems. In 1913
psychological tests were used for the first time to place employees in different
positions based on the skills that were required. It was a process utilised by Hugo
Munsterberg. The Journal of applied psychology was first published in 1917. From
the year 1914 until 1918 the United States Army needed the help of psychologists to
find suitable candidates who would join the army. Psychologists made use of
screening assessments to find these candidates. Furthermore, business schools and
other organisations also needed the help of psychologists with personnel selection
which included evaluation and placing them in their relevant positions.
In 1924 industrial and organisational psychology expanded and new concepts were
established. This included the nature of supervision, the formation of informal groups
among employees, the employees' attitudes towards their jobs and communication
patterns. Psychologists were starting to become common as they were expected to
help classify, select and train new members in the military service during the Second
World War from 1919-to 1945. In the 1950's human relation became more dominant
in industrial and organisational psychology and was focused on worker satisfaction
and the management of workers. Industrial and organisational psychology is a
discipline that expands as years go by and new aspects are being included in the
curriculum. In the 1960s aspects such as work motivation, satisfaction and
interpersonal relations were included in the curriculum. The American Psychological
1
, Association started developing the definition of industrial and organisational
psychology.
2. Each scientific field of study has a language that helps the professionals in that
field to communicate effectively amongst themselves. Name and describe the
terms that researchers usually use.
Variable: It refers to an aspect that can be measured and does not always remain the
same. For example job satisfaction and employee productivity.
Hypothesis: It refers to the relationship between two or more variables, which
remains unconfirmed until there is factual research. For example, taking breaks in
between work may lead to lower productivity.
Dependent variable: It refers to the variable that the researcher aims to focus on. In
the example above mentioned example productivity is the dependent variable.
Independent variable: It refers to the main cause of change in the dependent
variable. For example in the above-mentioned example, taking breaks in between
work is the independent variable.
Moderating variable: It refers to how the independent variable has some sort of
effect on the dependent variable. For example, the time that a person does other things
that are not related to work when taking breaks can be the moderating variable.
Causality: It refers to the main cause of change. The independent variable affects the
dependent variable, which causes change.
Correlation coefficient: It refers to the strength of the relationship between the
independent variable and the dependent variable.
Theory: It refers to data or information that is gathered to explain a certain concept
or phenomenon.
3. Define reliability and validity and explain how the reliability and validity of a
predictor can be determined.
Reliability: This is a measure of the consistency with which the measuring instrument
measures. The scores should be free from measurement errors. It is important to
evaluate the reliability of the instrument seeing that inaccuracy can occur with some
measurements. For example, one cannot measure anything accurately with a tape
measure that stretches and shrinks.
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