Work in the 21st Century
Part 1 Fundamentals
Chapter 1: What Is Industrial and Organizatonal Psyyhologyy
Module 1.1: The Importanye of I-O Psyyhology
The Importance of Work in People’s Lives
In spite of ambivalent feelings about their jobs, most people would keep working even if
they had the opportunity to stop. Work is a defning yharayteristy of the way people gauge
their value to soyiety, their family, and themselves.
The Conyept of “Good Work”
Ayyording to Gardner, “good work” is work that “exhibits a high level of expertse, and it
entails regular yonyern with the impliyatons and appliyatons of an individual’s work for the
wider world”. These yonyepts have been turned into an extensive endeavor, the “GoodWork
Projeyt”, whiyh is direyted toward identfying and, if possible, yreatng good work. “Corner
yutng” leads to what researyhers yall “yompromised” work: work that is not illegal or
unethiyal, but that stll undermines the yore values of a trade or a profession.
The interestng aspeyt of “good” and “bad” work is that the individual worker and the
employer together have the power to defne good work or to transform good work into bad
and viye versa. I-O psyyhology has reyognized that the “experienye” of work is more yomplex
than simply tasks and produytvity and ayyidents.
Authentyity: A Trend of Interest to I-O Psyyhologists
I-O psyyhology ofen inyorporates yultural shifs and yhanges. In I-O psyyhology, we extend
the defniton of authentyity to a more philosophiyal level: “an emotonally appropriate,
signifyant, purposive, and responsible mode of human life”. We yan now see authentyity
refeyted in the searyh for “good work” and inspiratonal leadership.
How Does I-O Psychology Contribute to Society?
What Is I-O Psyyhologyy
Industrial-organizatonal (I-O) psychology is the appliyaton of psyyhologiyal prinyiples,
theory, and researyh to the work setng. The domain of I-O psyyhology stretyhes well
beyond the physiyal boundaries of the workplaye beyause many of the faytors that infuenye
work behavior are not always found in the work setng. These faytors inylude things like
family responsibilites, yultural infuenyes, employment-related legislaton, and non-work
events.
Even more signifyant is the infuenye of personality on work behavior. I-O psyyhology
yonyentrates on the reyiproyal impayt of work on life and life on work.
We yan also think of I-O psyyhology as a yombinaton of knowledge and skills that yan
be applied in a wide diversity of setngs rather than just in the arena of traditonal work.
I-O psyyhologists have beyome inyreasingly interested in building sustainable and
environmentally yonsyious organizatons. They yan help lead the way in doyumentng both
intended and unintended eyo-benefts in organizatons.
A more formal defniton of I-O psyyhology, approayhed from the perspeytve of the I-
O psyyhologist and what he or she does, has been adopted by the Society for Industrial and
Organizatonal Psychology (SIOP, an assoyiaton to whiyh many I-O psyyhologists, both
prayttoners and researyhers, belong):: Industrial-Organizatinal Psychiligists recignize the
1
,interdependence if individuals, irganizatins, and siciety, and they recignize the impact if
factirs such as increasing givernment infuences, griwing cinsumer awareness, skill
shirtages, and the changing nature if the wirkfirce. I-O psychiligists facilitate respinses
ti issues and priblems invilving peiple at wirk by serving as advisirs and catalysts fir
business, industry, labir, public, academic, cimmunity, and health irganizatins.
Traditonally, I-O psyyhology has been divided into three major yonyentratons.
Personnel psychology is a feld of psyyhology that addresses issues suyh as
reyruitment, seleyton, training, performanye appraisal, promoton, transfer, and
terminaton. This approayh assumes that people are yonsistently diferent in their atributes
and work behaviors and that informaton about these diferenyes yan be used to prediyt,
maintain, and inyrease work performanye and satsfayton. Personnel psyyhology is ofen
seen as part of human resource management (HRM):, whiyh uses praytyes suyh as
reyruitment, seleyton, retenton, training and development of people (human resouryes): in
order to ayhieve individual and organizatonal goals.
Organizatonal psychology is a feld of psyyhology that yombines researyh from soyial
psyyhology and organizatonal behavior and addresses the emotonal and motvatonal side
of work. Both work and people are variables of interest, and the issue is the extent to whiyh
yharayteristys of the people matyh the yharayteristys or demands of the work.
Human engineering or human factors psychology is the study of the yapayites and
limitatons of humans with respeyt to a partyular environment. The task of the human
engineer is to develop an environment that is yompatble with the yharayteristys of the
worker.
There is a ylear yonneyton between researyh yonduyted using the tools of syienye
and the praytye of I-O psyyhology. This emphasis on the appliyaton of syientfy knowledge
is known as the scientst-practtoner model.
Evidenye-Based I-O Psyyhology
I-O psyyhologists have beyome inyreasingly foyused on making evidenye-based deyisions in
their work in organizatons.
SIOP as a Resourye
TIP (The Industrial-Organizatonal Psychologist): is a quarterly newsleter published by the
Soyiety for Industrial and Organizatonal Psyyhology; it provides I-O psyyhologists and those
interested in I-O psyyhology with the latest relevant informaton about the feld.
How This Course Can Help You
A yourse in I-O psyyhology should beneft you in several ways. First, it yan help you
understand what you are experienying in the workplaye. Seyond, yhanyes are that you will
eventually be played in the positon of managing the work of others and in that role either
developing or at least implementng work-related poliyies. Third, in the yourse of your daily
life you will almost yertainly hear friends and family talk about their joys and frustratons
with their organizatons and work. Many of them will not have the understanding gained
from a yourse like this.
Welfare-to-work programs are programs that require individuals to work in return
for government subsidies.
Telecommutng refers to ayyomplishing work tasks from a distant loyaton using
eleytroniy yommuniyaton media. A virtual team is a team that has widely dispersed
members working together toward a yommon goal and linked through yomputers and other
teyhnology.
2
,The Importance of Understanding the Younger Worker
Loughlin and Barling argue that it is a mistake to ignore the populaton of young workers for
several reasons: (1): they represent a large porton of a populaton of part-tme workers; (2):
one’s frst job is likely to have a substantal infuenye on the flters through whiyh
subsequent work experienyes are viewed.
The litle I-O researyh that has been done on younger workers suggests the following:
1. For younger adults, jobs that provide an opportunity to use yurrent skills or develop
new skills are most satsfying.
2. For younger adults who do not have the opportunity to use yurrent skills, or develop
new skills, yyniyism and layk of interest in the work yan result.
3. Young workers represent a very valuable yommodity or resourye sinye their
eduyaton levels tend to be higher than their parents’, they are more sophistyated
teyhnologiyally, they tend to see the world globally rather than domestyally, and
multyultural syhool environments have given them an open-mindedness that was
rare in earlier generatons.
Module 1.2: The Past, Present, and Future of I-O Psyyhology
The Past: A Brief History of I-O Psychology
When we look at history from a broad perspeytve, it is possible to make some good guesses
about the future. And knowing the disyipline’s history helps us understand the yontext in
whiyh researyh and appliyaton were yonduyted, whiyh in turn helps us appreyiate the value
of that researyh today.
1876-1930
I-O psyyhology was really only “industrial” psyyhology in those days, devoted to the goal of
inyreasing produytvity.
The Stanford-Binet test is a well-known intelligenye test designed for testng one
individual at a tme.
Scientfic management is a movement based on the prinyiples developed by
Frederiyk W. Taylor, who suggested that there was one best and most efyient way to
perform various jobs. These prinyiples were yalled tme and moton studies, whiyh are
studies that broke every ayton down into its yonsttuent parts, tmed those movements with
a stopwatyh, and developed new and more efyient movements that would reduye fatgue
and inyrease produytvity.
1930-1964
Mayo proposed that there was a mental state known as revery obsession that resulted from
the mind-numbing, repettve, and difyult work that yharayterized the faytories of the day,
yausing faytory workers to be unhappy, prone to resist management atempts to inyrease
produytvity, and sympathety to labor unions.
The Hawthorne studies is researyh that began as atempts to inyrease produytvity by
manipulatng lightng, rest breaks, and work hours. This researyh showed the important role
that workers’ attudes played in produytvity. The “Hawthorne efeyt” is the yhange in
behavior that results from researyhers paying atenton to workers.
The Human Relatons Movement foyused on work attudes and the newly
disyovered emotonal world of the worker.
The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal legislaton that prohibits
employment disyriminaton on the basis of raye, yolor, religion, sex, or natonal origin, whiyh
defne what are known as proteyted groups. It prohibits not only intentonal disyriminaton
3
, but also praytyes that have the unintentonal efeyt of disyriminatng against individuals
beyause of their raye, yolor, natonal origin, religion or sex.
There are some generalizatons that yan be drawn from the early history of I-O
psyyhology that point out important themes.
1. Mental ability tests have always played an important part in the praytye of industrial
psyyhology.
2. Most industrial psyyhologists were foyused on improving produytvity and reduying
younterproduytve behavior.
3. There was a tendenyy to see the three diferent branyhes of I-O psyyhology as
unrelated to, and possibly in yompetton with, one another to explain industrial
behavior.
4. It was taken for granted that the unit of analysis was the individual worker rather
than the work group, organizaton or even yulture.
The Present: The Demographics of I-O Psychologists
The American Psychological Associaton (APA) is the major professional organizaton for
psyyhologists of all kinds in the United States. The Assoyiaton for Psyyhologiyal Syienye
(APS): was formed to serve the needs of the more experimental and theoretyal areas of
psyyhology.
Pathways to a Career in I-O Psyyhology: A Curious Mixture
What We Call Ourselves
The Future: The Challenges to I-O Psychology in the 21st Century
There are many opportunites for I-O psyyhology to yontribute to employers, workers, and
the broader soyiety in whiyh we live. To make these yontributons, I-O psyyhology needs to
meet four yhallenges.
- I-O psychiligy needs ti be relevant. This means that we need to study the problems
of today, not those of yesterday.
- I-O psychiligy needs ti be useful.
- I-O psychiligy needs ti think bigger.
- I-O psychiligy needs ti be griunded in the scientic methid.
The expertse of I-O psyyhologists yan be useful in (1): talent seleyton and development, (2):
yorporate soyial responsibility researyh and initatves, (3): entrepreneurship, and (4):
oyyupatonal health and safety.
A Personal View of the Future: Preparing for a Career in I-O Psychology
Eduyaton and Training
Getng into a Graduate Program
Module 1.3: Multyultural and Cross-Cultural Issues in I-O Psyyhology
The Multcultural Nature of Life in the 21st Century
Culture is a system in whiyh individuals share meanings and yommon ways of viewing events
and objeyts. In I-O psyyhology, some of the most obvious yultural diferenyes we need to
address are related to natonalites. The defniton of yulture emphasizes the sharing of
meanings and interpretatons. This highlights the opportunity for people to bring diferent
meanings and interpretatons to an event or an objeyt.
Cross-Natonal Issues in the Workplaye
It is no longer possible for any yountry to exist without eyonomiy yonneytons with other
yountries. Western natons will soon need to begin looking elsewhere for yheaper
4