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7/27/2019 NATURE AND SCOPE OF INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY (IP)
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ABA 307:INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Topic 1:NATURE AND SCOPE OF INDUSTRIAL
PSYCHOLOGY (IP)
http://ecampus.maseno.ac.ke/
MASENO UNIVERSITY
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NATURE AND SCOPE OF INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY (IP)
Fig 1.1: Work of industrial psychologist Fig 1.2: Essence of Industrial Psychology
IP is also known as occupational psychology or work psychology.
Industrial and organizational psychology is the study of the behavior of people in the workplace. Industrial
and organizational psychology attempts to apply psychological results and methods to aid workers and
organizations.
Industrial and organizational psychologists use psychological testing to measure the knowledge, skills,
abilities, and other characteristics of people for a variety of employment-related purposes, such as selection
for hiring or promotion, training and development, or measuring employee satisfaction. Historically, the job
analysis has been the traditional means by which the essential characteristics associated with anyparticular position are identified.
It is a fairly diverse field incorporating aspects of fields such as clinical psychology, social psychology, and
psychometrics as well as broader social studies such as organizational theory, law, and gender issues.
http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Psychological_testinghttp://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Job_analysishttp://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Job_analysishttp://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Clinical_psychologyhttp://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Organizational_theoryhttp://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Lawhttp://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Lawhttp://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Organizational_theoryhttp://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Clinical_psychologyhttp://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Job_analysishttp://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Job_analysishttp://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Psychological_testing7/27/2019 NATURE AND SCOPE OF INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY (IP)
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Specialization Areas for Industrial Psychologists
Many industrial and organizational psychologists specialize in aspects (e.g., psychometrics; time and
motion studies; labor law; personnel selection; training) aspects (e.g., leadership selection, coaching and
development; organizational design and change). Some I/O psychologists are academic (working in bothbusiness and psychology departments) or non-academic researchers, while many others are engaged in
practice, holding positions such as:
executive coach diversity consultant legislative compliance officer labor relations specialist human resources specialist process improvement consultant manager: Selection and training.
Industrial psychology is the psychology of individuals in the workplace. It covers areas of workplace
behavior and attitudes such as job satisfaction, leadership and the selection and evaluation of employees.
An understanding of industrial psychology can help an individual to better understand and communicate
with co-workers and deal with conflict. People have studied psychology and the human mind for centuries,
but the specialty of industrial psychology did not appear until the early 1900s.
ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Industrial psychology is a relatively recent subfield of psychology. In fact it did not become fully
productive until about the late 1920's. The industrial side of industrial psychology has its historical
origins in research on individual differences, assessment, and the prediction of performance. This
branch of the field crystallized during World War I, in response to the need to rapidly assign new troops
to duty stations. After the War the growing industrial base in the U.S. added impetus to industrial
psychology. Walter Dill Scott, who was elected President of the American Psychological Association
(APA) in 1919, was arguably the most prominent I-O psychologist of his time, although James McKeen
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Cattell (elected APA President in 1895) and Hugo Mnsterberg (1898) was influential in the early
development of the field.
Organizational psychology gained prominence after World War II, influenced by the Hawthorne studies
and the work of researchers Industrial psychology in companies began in the 1920s as the companies
looked for ways to keep their employees happy and motivated. From 1927 to 1932, Elton Mayo of the
Western Electric Co. studied job satisfaction among employees and found that the social aspects of
work are just as important as the work itself. This research, known as the Hawthorne Studies,
concluded that employees need to be actively involved in what goes on at their jobs to be happy.
Chronology of Development of IP
1. Prior to World War IAccording to Dr. Patrick McCarthy's Brief Outline of the History of I/O Psychology, the father of
industrial psychology is considered to be Hugo Munsterberg. Munsterberg published a book
called "Psychology and Industrial Efficiency" in 1913 and addressed workplace issues such as
selecting personnel and equipment and the work satisfaction of employees. Frederick W.
Taylor was also considering similar ideas during this time period. He published "The Principles
of Scientific Management" in 1911 that discussed how to increase productivity using training
and motivation such as rest periods.
2. World War I to 1940During World War I, according to "A Brief History of Industrial Psychology in the U.S. Air
Force," Robert Yerkes developed a testing and screening process for U.S. soldiers.
Meanwhile, Walter Scott was developing a system to assign recruits into certain jobs and then
evaluating the performance of the soldiers. In 1917, near the end of World War I, Journal of
Applied Psychology was first published. According to Dr. Patrick McCarthy's Brief Outline of
the History of I/O Psychology, after the war, in 1924, the Hawthorn studies were conducted.
These studies were conducted by psychologists from Harvard University at the Hawthorne
Works of the Western Electric Company. The study was looking at how lighting affects worker
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new areas of research in the field. According to Dr. Patrick McCarthy's Brief Outline of the
History of I/O Psychology, several US Supreme Court rulings on sexual harassment in the
early 1990s brought attention psychology and law in the workplace. In the late 1990s, industrial
psychology place further attention on violence in the workplace.
APPLICATION OF INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY AT THE WORK PLACE
The field of industrial psychology is concerned with the following areas: performance appraisals,organizational development, assessments and leadership.
Performance Appraisals
Industrial psychology addresses how organizations appraise employee performance when decidingon raises.
Organizational Development
Organizational development is concerned with how organizations handle transitions.
Assessments
This area of industrial psychology focuses on how job applicants are evaluated for employment, aswell as how current employees are evaluated for advancement opportunities.
Leadership
Industrial psychology defines leadership styles and is concerned with what makes a good leader inan organization
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Within the workplace, it is easy to see the roles of Child, Parent and Adult at work. Many workplace
conflicts can be seen as unsuccessful transactions between the three ego roles. In an ideal world we would
hope that most interactions in the workplace would be Adult to Adult but as you can guess this is frequently
not so.
For example, if an employee has not carried out a task properly and his or her supervisor provides
feedback in the Parent ego state, it is likely that this may trigger a child like response from the employee.
This can easily become a typical parent child interaction and the conflict is not only not resolved but often
these roles will persist in all future communications. This will often become a blame game and the child ego
will not only not learn anything new but will also be unresponsive to further well intentioned but unwanted
advice.
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Fig 1.4 Individual Differences
Individual Differences
According to the dictionary of education
1. Individual differences stand for the variation or deviations among individuals in regard to a singcharacteristic or number of characteristics.
2. Individual differences stand for those differences which in their totality distinguish one individualfrom another.
So we can say that individual differences is the differences among humans that distinguish or separate
them from one another and makes one as a single unique individual.
Types of Individual Differences
There are a lot of individual differences but the most important are as follows:
Differences in Interest
Interest may refer as a motivating force that impels us to attend to a person, a thing, or an activity. So in
educational field differences in interest means you observe some students like a particular subject, teacher,
hobby or profession than other.
Difference in Attitude
Difference in attitude is psyche related to some thing. Few learners have positive attitude towards a specific
topic, subject, and profession than other. The role of education in society is to develop positive attitude.
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Difference in Values
Values are the things that are given importance by an individual. Some learners value materialist life style
other moral or religious life style etc. So education must mould the mind of young generation to have a
balance values between materialism and spiritualism.
Habits
It is clearly observable that some students markedly differ from other students in study habits. Some
students are studious and study all the subjects with interest but other may not. Some study in isolation and
some in group.
Difference in Psychomotor Skills
Psychomotor Skill is related to some skill acquisition. Some students differ in this area also. Some students
like football, other cricket, etc. Some students easily learn operating a machine and some may not. A wise
teacher should diagnose students psychomotor skills abilities and encourage them in that direction.
Difference in Self Concept
Difference in Self Concept is the totality of attitudes, judgment, and values of an individual relating to his
behavior, abilities, and qualities. So some students have positive self concept than boost their confidence
level and perform better against those who have negative self image.
CAUSES OR BASIS OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
The followings are the main bases which play vital role in individual differences:
1. Hereditary (Nature)
Individuals have various endowments, abilities, and capacities provided by hereditary. Which decide the
path of progress and development of an individual.
Hereditary also put limits upon individuals growth and development in various d imensions.
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Hereditary also contributes to sex, intelligence, and other specific abilities.
2. Environment (Nurture)
Environment also plays key role in individual differences. No person from birth to death gets the sameenvironment. Individual differences occur on the basis of simulation received by individual from his or her
internal and external environment. This may include family set up, peer group, economic statues, education
etc.
It is debatable that whether nature or nurture play vital or stronger role in development of an individual in
specific direction. Both are strong contenders in order to distinguish one individual from other.
Application of the Knowledge on Individual Differences
The study and understanding of Individual differences help in the understanding of :
Why some people embrace change and others are fearful of it
Why some employees will be productive only if they are closely supervised, while others will be productive
if they are not Why some workers learn
new tasks more effectively than others
Understanding of Individual differences also helps the organization or the HR Manager to manage the ASA
Cycle.
Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Cycle Each phase of the ASA cycle is significantly influencedby the individual differences of each person
Different people are ATTRACTED to different careers and organizations as a function of their own:abilities interests personalities
Organizations SELECT employees on the basis of the organizations needs (skills and abilities)individual attributes such as values and personality
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ATTRITION occurs when: individuals discover they do not like being part of the organization andelect to resign, or the organization determines an individual is not succeeding and elects to
terminate
Effective managerial practice requires that individual behavior differences be recognized, andwhen feasible, taken into consideration while carrying out the job of managing organizational
behavior, the basis for understanding work behavior.
To understand individual differences a manager must: Observe and recognize the differences andstudy relationships between variables that influence behavior
Individual Differences Influencing Work Behavior:
Ability and Skills, Perception ,Attitudes, Hereditary and Diversity Factors, Personality
Diversity Factors
Primary Dimensions (stable)
Ethnicity Gender Physical attributes Race Sexual / affectional orientationSecondary Dimensions (changeable)
Educational background Marital status Religious beliefs Health
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They provide the emotional basis of ones interpersonal relations and identification with others. They
are organized and are close to the core of personality
Work environment factors affecting behavior
Manager style Technology Noise Peers Reward system Compensation plan Career opportunities
The Three Components of Attitudes:
Cognition: What individuals know about themselves and their environment Implies a consciousprocess of acquiring knowledge Evaluative beliefs favorable or unfavorable impressions that a
person holds toward an object or person. Cognitive Dissonance A discrepancy between attitudes
and behaviors or a mental state of anxiety occurring when there is a conflict among an individuals
various cognitions after a decision has been made is called Cognitive Dissonance
Affect: The emotional component of an attitude often learned from parents, teachers, peer groupmembers etc. The part of an attitude that is associated with feeling a certain way about a person,
group, or situation
Behaviour-
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Fig 1.5 Positive attitude at work
Positive Attitude Leads to
esilience Bouncing back from adversities is uicker and easier if you view failure as a learning
experience and look for new approaches, rather than blaming yourself or others and thinking that the task
is too hard or the world is unfair.
Optimism Success, longevity and happiness are all by-products of optimism. With an optimistic attitude,
you will see yourself as being able to influence the world and will carry a flame of hope that enables you
to take risks and accept failure.
Confidence Confidence stems from optimism. If you are confident, you believe in your own abilities and
think you have the ability to impact your environment. Your confidence remains steady during setbacks,
because you see them merely as challenges, and are ready to take new risks.
Focus If you are focussed, you are committed to tasks, take responsibility for them and are able to alignyour goals with the companys goals.
Creativity Positive attitudes are at the heart of innovation, because it takes a risk to try something
different. Without confidence and hope, you would not attempt a new idea
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Conflict resolution - If you pause and think, you can probably think of dozens of examples of where
differing attitudes have caused problems or conflict in your personal and professional relationships.
Conflict arises because we expect everyone to have the same attitude as ourselves. But, with a positive
attitude you can build your empathy and can more readily see how other people think and feel.
MotivationSurveys show that most peoples motivation in their job comes from stimulation and
challenge the chance to learn. Bringing an optimistic attitude to the workplace will create a culture ofinnovation. The creativity and stimulation of ideas will keep you and your workforce motivated and keen
to learn.
Emotional intelligence Once you have the attitude, you will find your emotional intelligence moving
into overdrive. This will enable you to better manage and express your emotions and understand
others.
Achievement drives The attitude of achievement, i.e. the will to get results, enables you to set
challenging goals, take calculated risks and learn how to improve performance.
Fig 1.6 character of an Ideal Employee
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People Perception
In social psychology, the term person perception refers to the different mental processes that we use toform impressions of other people. This includes not just how we form these impressions, but the different
conclusions we make about other people based upon our impressions.
Consider how often you make these kind of judgments everyday. When you meet with a new co-worker,
you immediately begin to develop an initial impression of this person. When you visit the grocery store after
work, you might draw conclusions about the cashier who checks you out, even though you know very little
about this person.
Information Used to Form Impressions of Others
Obviously, person perception can be a very subjective process that can be impacted by a number of
variables. Factors that can influence the impressions you form of other people include the characteristics of
the person you are observing, the context of the situation and your own personal characteristics.
People often form impressions of others very quickly with only minimal information. We frequently base our
impressions on the roles and social norms we expect from people. For example, you might form animpression of a city bus driver based on how you would anticipate that a person in that role to behave,
considering individual personality characteristics only after you have formed this initial impression.
Physical cues can also play an important role. If you see a woman dressed in a professional-looking suit,
you might immediately assume that she works in a formal setting, perhaps at a law firm or bank. Salience
of the information we perceive is also important. Generally, we tend to focus on the most obvious points
rather than noting background information. The more novel or obvious a factor is, the more likely we are to
focus on it.
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Social Categorization
One of the mental shortcuts that we use in person perception is known as social categorization. In the
social categorization process, we mentally categorize people into different groups based on common
characteristics. Sometimes this process occurs consciously, but for the most part social categorizations
happens automatically and unconsciously. Some of the most common grouping people use include age,
gender, occupation and race.
As with many mental shortcuts, social categorization has both positive and negative aspects. One of the
strengths of social categorization is that it allows people to make judgments very quickly. Realistically, you
simply do not have time to get to know each and every person you come into contact with on an individual,
personal basis. Using social categorization allows you to make decisions and establish expectations of how
people will behave in certain situations very quickly, which allows you to focus on other things.
The problems with this technique include the fact that it can lead to errors and as well as stereotyping.
Consider this example:
Imagine that you are getting on a bus, but there are only two seats available. One seat is next to a petite,
silver-haired, elderly woman, the other seat is next to a burly, grim-faced man. Based on your immediate
impression, you sit next to the elderly woman, who unfortunately turns out to be quite skilled at picking
pockets. Because of social categorization, you immediately judged the woman as harmless and the man as
threatening, leading to the loss of your wallet. While social categorization can be useful at times, it can also
lead to these kinds of misjudgments.
Implicit Personality Theories
An implicit personality theory is a collection of beliefs and assumptions that we have about how certain
traits are linked to other characteristics and behaviors. Once we know something about acardinal trait, we
assume that the person also exhibits other traits that are commonly linked to that key characteristic.
For example, if you learn that a new co-worker is very happy, you might immediately assume that she is
also friendly, kind and generous. As with social categorization, implicit personality theories help people
make judgments quickly, but they can also contribute to stereotyping and errors.
http://psychology.about.com/od/cindex/g/cardinaltraits.htmhttp://psychology.about.com/od/cindex/g/cardinaltraits.htmhttp://psychology.about.com/od/cindex/g/cardinaltraits.htmhttp://psychology.about.com/od/cindex/g/cardinaltraits.htm