What is IOP, Historical Development of IOP

What is Industrial Psychology / Organisation Psychology ?

Industrial psychology, also known as industrial-organizational or I-O
psychology, is concerned with the study of human behavior in the workplace.
Industrial psychologists study and evaluate , a company's culture, employee
behavior, work processes, and create or recommend programs and practices
to improve employee productivity and organizational performance

• The specialty of industrial-organizational psychology (also called I/O

psychology) is characterized by the scientific study of human behavior in
organizations and the work place. 
• The specialty focuses on deriving principles of individual, group and
organizational behavior and applying this knowledge to the solution of
problems at work.

• Industrial and organizational psychology had its origins in the early 20th
century. Several influential early psychologists studied issues that today
would be categorized as industrial psychology:
• James Cattell (1860–1944), Hugo Münsterberg (1863–1916),
• Walter Dill Scott (1869–1955), Robert Yerkes (1876–1956),
• Walter Bingham (1880–1952), Lillian Gilbreth (1878–1972).
• And many others ……...
• Walter Scott was one of the first psychologists to apply psychology to
advertising, management, and personnel selection. In 1903, Scott
published two books: The Theory of Advertising and Psychology of
Advertising. They are the first books to describe the use of psychology in
the business world.
• By 1911 he published two more books, Influencing Men in
Business and Increasing Human Efficiency in Business.
From 1929 to 1932 Elton Mayo (1880–1949) and his colleagues began a series
of studies at a plant near Chicago, Western Electric’s Hawthorne Works . This
long-term project took industrial psychology beyond just employee selection
and placement to a study of more complex problems of interpersonal
relations, motivation, and organizational dynamics.
In the 1930s, Kurt Lewin conducted research on the effects of various
leadership styles, team structure, and team dynamics .Lewin was also
responsible for coining the term group dynamics, and he was involved in
studies of group interactions, cooperation, competition, and communication
that bear on organizational psychology.
Frederick Taylor was an engineer who saw that if one could redesign the
workplace there would be an increase in both output for the company and
wages for the workers. In 1911 his book  The Principles of Scientific
Management  examines management theories, personnel selection and
training, as well as the work itself, using time and motion studies.
Taylor believed that the best outcome for the employee and management
would be achieved through training and development He believed that by
conducting time and motion studies for both the organization and the
employee, the best interests of both were addressed.
Time-motion studies were methods aimed to improve work by dividing
different types of operations into sections that could be measured. These
analyses were used to standardize work and to check the efficiency of people
and equipment.

Lillian Gilbreth was another influential I-O psychologist who strove to find ways
to increase productivity (Figure 13.7). Using time and motion studies, Gilbreth
and her husband, Frank, worked to make workers more efficient by reducing
the number of motions required to perform a task.
She investigated employee fatigue and time management stress and found
many employees were motivated by money and job satisfaction. She is known
as the mother of modern management. She is credited with the idea of (b)
putting shelves on the inside of refrigerator doors and (c) foot-pedal-operated
garbage cans.

Hugo Münsterberg: Munsterberg was an applied psychologist who wrote

an early text on how psychology could be used for industrial, occupational, and
organizational purposes. His work had an important impact on the early
development of the field. In 1913, Hugo Münsterberg published Psychology
and Industrial Efficiency, which covered topics such as employee selection,
employee training, and effective advertising.
Countries, such as Canada , USA and United Kingdom, saw growth in
I-O psychology during World War II . The research and work of I-O
psychologists in the areas of employee selection, placement, and performance
appraisal became increasingly important in the 1960s.

Major Women Contributors in Past ( For better viewing pl refer to

separate file sent after lecture
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, over 65%
of both master’s degrees and doctorates in I-O psychology conferred
between 2015 and 2016 were awarded to women.
In spite of the substantial hardships (e.g., overt sexism, the pay gap)
the they have faced —women have made, and continue to make,
remarkable contributions to I-O psychology.
 Lillian M. Gilbreth
Some scholars consider psychologist, engineer, and
ergonomist Lillian M. Gilbreth, who is popularly
depicted in the book (1948) and movie
(1950) Cheaper by the Dozen, the first person to
have completed a doctoral dissertation in I-O
psychology (Ph.D., Brown University, 1915).

In her dissertation, she discussed the relevance of

applying human relations to the workplace and
studying workers’ individual differences. Gilbreth and
her husband ran the consultancy Frank B. Gilbreth,
Inc., Consulting Engineers, and they were among
the first management consultants to film workers in
order to learn how to improve the efficiency of work
tasks.
As a psychologist, Gilbreth emphasized the
importance of considering worker experiences, and
she studied psychological constructs that, to this
day, are examined by I-O psychologists
(e.g., fatigue, job satisfaction).
Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Moller_Gilbreth#/media/
File:Lillian_Moller_Gilbreth.jpg

Franziska Baumgarten
American women weren’t the only ones contributing to I-O
psychology during its early years. Polish-born applied
psychologist Franziska Baumgarten (Ph.D., University of
Berlin, 1917) researched gifted schoolchildren, individual
differences, war, refugees, and workers. 

Having been raised by a textile manufacturer in an industrial

city, she respected factory workers, and being sympathetic to
their plight (e.g., low wages, long hours), she decided to study
under German-American I-O psychology pioneer Hugo
Münsterberg; in a sense, Baumgarten was an early proponent
of prosocial I-O psychology.

As an I-O psychologist, she was interested in

the assessment of not only ability and interests, but also other
work-relevant characteristics, such as gratitude and
dishonesty. She experienced discrimination (e.g., little to no
research support) as a foreign, Jewish woman at the
University of Berne, where she was the third woman to
become a faculty member.
 Image Source: https://www.psychoanalytikerinnen.de/polencsr_biografien.

Marion A. Bills
In 1951, Marion A. Bills, an experimental psychologist by
training who conducted dissertation research on visual se
of light (Ph.D., Bryn Mawr College, 1917), was elected the
woman president of Division 14.

Before her presidency, she was part of an APA committee

with developing a board certification program for psychol
professionals. Bills was an expert at applying psychology
human resource management (e.g., employee selection,
compensation). 

Throughout her career, Bills had several academic appoint

(e.g., Carnegie Institute of Technology—a predecessor of
Carnegie Mellon University, University of Kansas), and she
worked as an I-O psychology practitioner at Aetna Life Ins
Company. Her applied research and consulting culminated
many publications in both prestigious scientific and practi
journals.
Image Source: http://unotes.hartford.edu/announcements/2013/01/2013-01
university-receives-23-million-from-estate-of-pioneering-businesswoman.a

Mary L. Tenopyrs
 Mary L. Tenopyr became Division 14’s second woman pres
1979—28 years after Marion A. Bills was elected. She recei
Ph.D., specializing in psychological measurement, from the
University of Southern California in 1966. 

Her decision to study I-O psychology was, in part, influence

her personal experiences with sex discrimination. In spite of
adversity she faced, she had an exceptionally successful car

For example, during her 25 years at AT&T, she worked to e

that the company’s employee selection system was eviden
based and guided by research.

Additionally, she was part of a team of I-O psychologists w

efforts benefited society by influencing the development o
1978 Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedure
Image Source: http://www.siop.org/foundation/awardsandgrants.aspx
APA – American Psychology Association has 54 divisions …

Famous Lady – I O Psychologist – Word file given

Article - Famous – O Psychologist of Recent Times – Given

Uses of I-OP in Workplace

• Example - Being an I/O psychologist at NASA. (Dr. Kathryn Keeton)
• NASA missions are of very large magnitude and ensuring their success is
difficult. In case of long term missions like the Mission to Mars, the
 crews are under immense psychological pressure. Dr Kathryn Keeton is
an I/O psychologist who considers the risks on ground that can
jeopardize any mission.
• Earlier Keeton had supported NASA’s human research program involving
research on various risks related to long duration space-flights and their
mitigation. During the long duration space-flights, crews live and work in
isolated, extreme and confined environments. Away from home and
with heavy workload, their day/night cycles are altered. Other
environmental factors like microgravity, carbon dioxide and radiation
can also cause serious psychological problems for astronauts.
• The job involved research with real impact on the design of long
duration missions. The job was a great mix of both the operational and
research environment.
•

• Uses of I-OP in Workplace

1) Employee Training and Career Development
• The job of an I/O psychologist is to assess each employee individually in
his or her role and how development in this role relates to the company.
• On top of this, professionals use their expertise to ascertain how best to
orient the company’s training based on industry or company goals,
strengths, weaknesses, and needs.( AC DC )
• Coaching , Counselling
2) Employee Satisfaction &Engagement
• In addition to managing the happiness and well-being of employees as
they perform their work, I/O psychologists might collect data on
employee job satisfaction.
• This includes the productivity of the workplace, motivation, rewards,
and general employee sentiments about job enjoyment. Within this
example, the I/O psychologist’s job is to collect and evaluate data given
by employees.
 • It’s up to the I/O psych to figure out solutions and changes (with the
help of other company professionals) that might benefit the workplace
and employees based on satisfaction temperature checks.
3) Ergonomics
• Ergonomics is the field of study that focuses on how individuals interact
with their workplaces, systems, and products.
• I/O psychology professionals may be in charge of evaluating how easily
employees can access their workplace and perform their duties given
the systems and products utilized by the company or organization.
In addition to this, I/O psychologists may be in charge of developing
procedures that not only help maximize employee performance but minimize
their risk of an on-the-job injury.

4) Recruitment & Selection

• Employee turnover costs businesses more money than one might
expect, and one of the ways to prevent a high rate of turnover is to
recruit the right people in the first place.
• It is essential to have a firm understanding of the organization's culture
to use it as a recruiting tool.
• Organizational psychology can help shape the questions asked to
applicants and the methods used for recruiting the right people.
• It enables one to determine whether a candidate is a good fit.
• ( screening and recruitment tools, tests , in-basket, case studies etc )

5) Improve Productivity
• Industrial psychologists understand what motivates, or in some cases
burns out, employees.
• By studying your organization, these professionals can suggest changes
(some simple, some sweeping) that will positively impact the
productivity of each individual.
 • They may encourage this in various ways, including ensuring that the
right people are in the right roles, introducing variety into mundane
tasks, fostering cohesion and a sense of community, boosting morale
and inspiring people to work harder.
6) Performance management.
• Industrial psychologists help organizations with the measurement and
management of employee performance by:
• developing and conducting performance assessments,
• identifying skills gaps, and providing feedback and recommendations.
• The information gained from these assessments is often used to inform
decisions regarding compensation and promotions.

7) Organizational development and management.

• This area of industrial psychology is concerned with organizational
structure and performance.
• An organization would engage an industrial psychologist to assist with
matters pertaining to corporate culture and structural changes within
the organization to make the organization efficient, productive, and
profitable.

RESEARCH
• There are important reasons for conducting research in I/O Psychology:
• To understand and solve practical problems at the workplace,
• for e.g. causes of absenteeism that might help devise a program to
reduce absenteeism and save costs for the organisation.
• To enhance the organisation’s efficiency.
• In order to test a theory. Once a theory has been formulated,
predictions derived from it are generally tested through research. If they
turn out to be correct, our confidence in the theory is strengthened. If
not, the theory may undergo modifications and retested, or completely
rejected.
• Research Process - summarized as 5–step sequence
• Statement of the problem
• Design of research study
• Measurement of variables
• Analysis of data
• Conclusions from research
•

• The Research Process follows five basic steps

• 1) Statement of the Problem The first step in conducting research is
deciding what to research.
• Questions that initiate research may come from experience, previous
research, personal hunch (‘I think my employees who generally don’t
come to work on time lack commitment’), or some formal theory.
• Once a research idea has been created, the next step is to search the
literature for similar research. Important sources are journals ,
magazines (like Harvard Business Review) and increasingly the Internet.
• An extensive review of literature gives valuable pointers for design of
your own research study.
• 2) Design of the Research Study -
• Research design is a plan for conducting the study to answer the
question raised in the previous step.
• It includes deciding the location of the research, the sample that will be
used, which type of research method to use, etc.
• 3) Measurement of Variables -
• A variable is anything that can vary.
• For e.g. employees can be ‘high’, ‘low’ or ‘moderate’ on job satisfaction
and hence job satisfaction may become a variable of interest to the
researcher.
 • Broadly speaking, researchers are interested in examining the effect of
one variable (the independent variable) on the other (dependent
variable).
• As a norm, dependent variables are the focal point of the study.
++++++++++
• (((For E.g. : ( need not to be mentioned in exam )
• Gender & Job Satisfaction (Independent variable) (Dependent Variable)
Job Satisfaction & Performance (Independent variable) (Dependent
Variable) .. Note that the same variable may be selected as either a
dependent or an independent variable, depending upon the researcher’s
discretion.
• In the first case, the researcher wants to study the effect of gender
(being male versus female) on job satisfaction. He might select two
groups of male and female employees and then assess their job
satisfaction.
• In the 2nd case, the researcher may assess the effect of job satisfaction
on performance. He might divide employees into ‘high job satisfaction’
and ‘low job satisfaction’ groups and compare their performance to see
if they are significantly different.)))
+++++++++++++++++++=
• 4) Analysis of Data -
• After data has been collected, the researcher has to make sense out of it
using some statistical techniques. (like mean, standard deviation,
correlation, etc.)
• A sound knowledge of statistics is required to analyse and interpret
data.
• 5) Conclusions from Research - After the data have been analysed, the
researcher draws conclusions. A conclusion may be that ‘females are
higher on job satisfaction than their male counterparts’. It is not just
enough to state a conclusion, but the researcher also attempts to
explain why.
 • Whether the conclusions drawn from research can be generalised to a
broader population or setting depends upon a number of factors,
including the size of sample, whether the sample is representative of the
population, and the degree of control in the research method used.
• Conclusions from research may lead to further statement of problem.
The findings from one study influence research problems in future
studies

Major Research Methods used in I/O psychology

• 1) Experimental - In the experimental method, the researcher

manipulates or systematically changes one or more factors (the
independent variable) to study its effect on one or more other factors
(dependent variable), in controlled conditions.
• Such experiments may be conducted in the laboratory or in the
naturally occurring organisational settings (field experiments). In a
laboratory, the researcher has a high degree of control but less realism,
whereas field offers less control but more realism.
• ( If answer is getting too long skip the eg ) For e.g the effect of
temperature on productivity. We could have two groups of subjects
work on an assembly line (task being identical) while being subjected to
low (eg 15 degree Celsius ) and high temperature (35 degree Celsius).
• Two weeks later we compare the productivity of the two groups. All
conditions other than temperature must be held constant, for instance,
the initial performance of the group, the equipment used, nature of
work, etc.
• Statistically speaking, if there is a significant difference between the
productivity of the two groups, it may be concluded that temperature
effects productivity. This experiment may be conducted in a laboratory
on any subjects or in the actual work setting with real employees. )))
• The major advantages of the experimental method are the ability of the
experimenter to manipulate the independent variables and to randomly
assign subjects to experimental conditions.
• However random assignment of subjects or actual employees is not
practical at the workplace, hence this method is not very poplar in I/O
psychology.
• 2) Survey Method - The survey method makes use of questionnaires
designed to measure how people feel about various aspects of
themselves, their jobs, and organisations.
• This is the most popular approach of conducting research in I/O
psychology as it is applicable to studying a wide variety of topics
reaching a large group of people.
• Questionnaires are fairly easy to administer (personal interviews, group
setting, on phone, email, etc.), readily quantifiable, and statistically
analysable.
• Questionnaires rely on self-report given by individuals as the basis for
obtaining information. This is both strength and a limitation: when
people are honest, self-report measures are likely to be accurate. When
not (particularly when studying sensitive topics like an employee’s
intention to quit his job), it may lead to misleading results.
• Other practical limitations include a low response rate (generally lower
than 50%) and difficulty in tapping precisely people’s feelings about
issues that they are themselves unsure about.
• 3) Qualitative Research Methods - I/O psychologists also qualitative
research for retaining the natural quality of the situation: naturalness of
the behaviour, the setting and the treatment. Three Qualitative
Research method’s used are observation, case method, and the
archival method.
• 3a) Observation - It is used in I/O psychology when research is directed
to overt behaviours, for e.g. nonverbal communication in interview
settings.
• Behaviour is generally observed in natural field settings over prolonged
periods of time and the researcher must devise specific methods of
recording the desired information carefully and accurately.
• For example, if you wanted to find out what effective managers really
do, one way of doing this could be to observe effective and ineffective
managers (as identified by, their performance appraisal ratings) and
come up with categories of behaviours on which differences are found.
• One potential drawback of this method is that observers can evoke
reactive behaviour on the part of those being observed, and the
behaviour that is observed may reflect the influence of the observer
being in the study. Thus, acceptance and trust of the observer by the
study participants is critical to the success of this research method. As a
research method, observation is not used very frequently in I/O
psychology due to considerable investment of time, energy, and cost.
• 3b ) Case Method - This is a “qualitative research method in which a
particular organisation is studied in detail, usually in the hopes of being
able to learn about organisational functioning in general” (Greenberg &
Baron, 1995, p.38).
• For instance, a researcher might be interested in studying employee
reactions to the bankruptcy of Lehmann Brothers. He might study the
organisation’s history leading up to the event and some statistics
summarising its aftermath (e.g., number of people who found jobs one
month later, etc.).
• It is easy to see how helpful such detailed accounts of events in
organisations summarised in the form of written cases would be to other
researchers and lay people attempting to understand such a
phenomenon.
• 3c ) Archival Research - Let us assume we want to assess the leadership
style of CEOs’ of several companies. Getting them fill up questionnaires.
can be a daunting task both in terms of permissions and trying to catch
them .
• In such cases we can use the archival research method which involves
using previously collected data or records to answer a research question.
• This would involve analysing already published interviews of CEOs , the
vision/mission statements of the companies, CEO’s speech from the
annual reports, etc. to understand their leadership styles.
• The advantage of using such an approach is that it is unobtrusive and
relatively inexpensive.
• On the other hand, however, the researcher is at the mercy of the
original collectors of the material – if they’ve done a poor job, the results
of further research will be inconclusive or even misleading.
To Conclude Each method has its strengths and limitations. The choice
of the method chosen usually depends upon the variables under
investigation, the expertise of the researcher, a cost-benefit analysis,
and other practical considerations.
•