Jonathan Cottrell, Instructor Angela Lee, Teaching Assistant

Syllabus Start Chapter 1 Overview of I/O Psychology

And Why is it important to you and to the society?

Discussion: Which aspects of your (future) life do you think are the most important to you?

Imagine a workplace in your mind.

What does it look like?

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Work is important in our lives

Work, whether pleasant or painful helps define individual identity. Strangers ask, What do you do? We replyby naming skills or places of employment. We relate occupation to race, ethnicity, gender, region, and religionOur daily tasks give [our] lives coherence; by contrast, the lack of work denies our basic humanity Philosophers may translate such vernacular lines into I work, therefore I am. -A. Green, 1993

The Meaning of Work

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all heaven and earth will pause to say, Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well -- Martin Luther King, Jr., 1956

Work Gives Us Meaning

If you were to get enough money to live as comfortably as you like for the rest of your life, would you: a) continue to work? b) stop working? Since 1973, over 70% chose working!
- National Research Council, 1999

What Work Provides

1.
2. 3.

4.
5. 6.

Source of Identity Source of relationships outside of family Source of autonomy Source of income and security Provides opportunities to develop skills and creativity Gives other activities (e.g., leisure time) meaning

Effects of Unemployment
Unemployment has been linked to idleness and

despair (Jahoda, 1933). Mental health suffers (Paul & Moser, 2009). May often be linked to suicide (Boor, 1980; Japanese Ministry of Workforce and Labor, 2007).

Work takes up a large part of our day

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Work Commute TV Sleep Eat Other

Hours

Life of the average person

Work is Pervasive
Work is a huge part of our lives Greater devotion of time and energy given to work than to any other waking activity Work is a defining characteristic of the way people gauge their value to society, their family, and themselves

To study people at work, tells us a great deal about human behavior in general

Defining I/O Psychology

Psychology: the scientific study of thinking,

feeling, and behavior I/O Psychology: The application of psychological principles, theory, and research to the workplace

What are I and O?

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Industrial
Recruitment Selection Performance Appraisal Training Employment Law

Organizational
Motivation Stress Leadership Diversity Group Performance Justice

Human Resources

I/O is a False Dichotomy

Disagreement on the classification of topics; some can

fall on either side depending on the research question

Attitudes Selection

Interdependence of topics We all care about a lot of the same outcomes Research necessarily increasingly complex More and more integrative

The Organizational Sciences

Macro organizational behavior Micro organizational behavior Organizational change and development Social psychology Personality/vocational psychology Psychometrics/measurement/statistics Employment law Micro human resource management Macro human resources management Labor & industrial relations
Organizational psychology

Where things get fuzzy

Industrial psychology

Scientist-Practitioner Model
A call center has a three week training program for new employees. The average employee quits after three months.

Science: Job Turnover Theories Past Empirical Studies

Apply existing science to new problems Use current problems to direct new science

Practitioner: Create Plan

What is an I/O Psychologist?

Academic Professor Requires PhD
Applied Internal Consultant External Consultant Requires MS/PhD

SIOP
www.siop.org

Includes information about graduate

programs, jobs, and what I/O psychology is Also includes a number of publications on salary, employment outlook, etc.