Introduction to Work and
Organizational Psychology
Chapter 1
What is W/O Psychology?
• Formal Definition:
• Application of psychological principles and theories to the workplace
• Defined for your Grandmother:
• The study of how people get along with each other at work and are able to do
their jobs effectively
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Work (Industrial) vs. Organizational
• Work Psychology – Associated with job analysis, training, selection,
and performance measurement
• Organizational Psychology – Deals with motivation, work attitudes,
leadership, and organizational development
• Different from Business Degrees:
• Research, Quant Methods, Testing
• Factors affecting People in Orgs
• The Psychological Perspective
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The History of W/O
• Pre WWI
• Walter Dill Scott
• Wundt student – talk in Chicago, 1901
• Theory & Practice of Advertising, 1903
• 1915 Carnegie Tech Division of Applied Psychology established by Walter
VanDyke Bingham
• Scott is its first professor
• Hugo Munsterberg – Harvard; Psychology and Industrial Efficiency, 1913
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The History of W/O (cont’d)
• WWI through 1920s
• Yerkes (President of APA) – Development of the Army Alpha and Beta mental
ability tests
• Military uses I/O Psychologists extensively – Bingham and Scott
• Bruce V. Moore – First I/O Ph.D. from Carnegie Tech, 1921
• 10 I/O Psychologists in 1917; 50 in 1929
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The History of W/O (cont’d)
• 1930s to WWII
• Hawthorne Studies
• The O-side emerges as research and work focuses on group processes, worker
motivation, and other organizational phenomena
• WWII to mid-1960s
• The war again – Bingham and Scott
• Centers of research emerge like ARI and Lewin’s Center for Group Dynamics at
MIT
• Rapid growth in number and diversity of universities offering I/O graduate
work
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Organizational Theory
• Explain and predict how groups and individuals behave given different
organizational structures and circumstances
• Classical Organizational Theory
• Humanistic Theory
• Open System Theory
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Classical Organizational Theory
• 1st Type of theory to develop – 1700s
• Four Basic Tenets:
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Organizations exist for economic reasons and to accomplish productivity goals
Scientific analysis will identify the one best way to organize for production
Specialization and the division of labor maximize production
Both people and organizations act in accordance with rational economic
principles
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Classical Organizational Theory
• Two important 19th-20th Century developments
• Taylor’s Scientific Management – Make organizations more efficient by
finding the “one best way” to get the job done
• Weber’s Bureaucracy – Focus on the most efficient way to structure,
organize, and operate firms
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Scientific Management
• Approach – Gather data indicating the fastest, most efficient way to
get things done, then implement that method
• Four Principles:
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Management gathers data from best workers
Carefully select then train workers
Use scientific perspective to increase worker efficiency
Redistribute work such that management takes on a great deal of work
previously left to workers
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Bureaucracy
• Elements of the Bureaucratic Organization:
• Division of Labor – distribute and coordinate
• Top-Down Structure – hierarchical structure
• Delegation of Authority – goes along with Division of
Labor
• Span of Control – need optimal # of subordinates per
supervisor
• Standardization of Tasks & Centralization of DecisionMaking – like the military
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Humanistic Theory
• Mid 1900s, in response to classical theory, which resulted in boring,
unchallenging jobs
• Address employee motivation, goals, and aspirations
• Organizational success is explained in terms of interpersonal
relationships and employee motivation
• McGregor’s Theory X & Y (1960s)
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McGregor’s Theory X & Y
• How management treats employees affects
subsequent behavior
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy – Employees learn to behave
according to managerial expectations over time
• Theory X – Employees viewed as lazy, self-serving,
uninterested in working, lacking in ambition and
intelligence
• Theory Y – Emphasizes the inherent goodness,
capacities, and potential of employees and that
management must provide opportunities for growth
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Open-System Theory
• Organizations develop and change over time as a result of internal
and external forces
• Inputs
• Throughputs
• Outputs
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The Cycle of Open System Theory
Inputs
Throughputs
Outputs
Raw Materials
Human Resources
Energy
Machinery
Production Processes
Service Processes
Training Processes
Products
Services
Knowledge
Feedback
Cycle
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Open-System Theory
• Important Characteristics of Open Systems
• Negative Entropy – Continuing to import energy to maintain life rather than
the death of the organization or what is called Entropy.
• Information Input – Feedback loop is important for monitoring performance
• Equifinality – More than one way to meet a desired end state
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Contingency Theories (1960s-1970s)
• Take into account situational and contextual variables
• There is no best way to manage people or situations
• The best way to manage depends on the situation the organizations
finds itself in
• Fit between the organization’s structure and its environment
• 2 Theories to talk about:
• Fiedler’s Contingency Theory: Effective leadership is a joint function of leader
characteristics and situational features
• Path-Goal Theory: Leaders are effective to the extent that they use their
resources to complement the environment in which their subordinates work
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Fiedler’s Contingency Theory
• Effectiveness depends on the extent to which leader orientation
complements situational favorability
• First leadership approach to specify how leader characteristics and
the situation might interact
• Situational Favorability – 3 Dimensions
• Leader-Member Relations
• Task Structure
• Position Power
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Organizational Development
• Planned, organization-wide effort to increase organizational
effectiveness through behavioral science knowledge and technology
• It’s about helping the employees in organization as much as the
organization itself!
• Important Characteristics of OD Programs:
• Total organizational involvement
• Support of top management
• Diagnosis of organization and implementation plan
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Why Organizations Need OD
• Rapid rate of technological change and knowledge explosion
• Product Obsolescence
• Globalization of marketplace
• Increasing diversity of workforce
• What happens if orgs don’t keep up?
• Levi’s; IBM and Apple; Xerox
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Positive Psychology
• Initial approaches stressed utilitarian, cost-benefit approach (to
organizations of distressed, dissatisfied, and unhappy employees –
unhappiness was due to emotional maladjustment of employees
rather than aspects of the job itself)
• Positive psychology – scientific study of what enables individuals and
institutions to flourish by focusing on the optimal expression of
potential through positive well-being, positive traits, and positive
institutions
• Emphasizes what is right with people rather than what is wrong with
them
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The Training of W/O Psychologists
• Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) is the
professional association with which W/O Psychologists affiliate
• www.siop.org
• Training approach uses the Scientist-Practitioner Model – W/O
psychologists are both generators and consumers of knowledge
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Training (cont’d)
• Training focuses on developing diverse competencies
• Competency – skills, abilities, and capabilities that allow people to effectively
perform functions
• Most W/O Psychologists have M.A.’s or Ph.D.’s
• 2-5 years of graduate training
• Culminating in piece of scholarly research
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Competencies of W/O Psychologists
• Consulting and Business Skills
• Ethical, Legal, and Professional
Contexts of I/O Psychology
• Fields of Psychology
• History and Systems of Psychology
• Research Methods
• Statistical Methods/Data-Analysis
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• Attitude Theory, Measurement, and
Change
• Career Development
• Consumer Behavior
• Criterion Theory and Development
• Health Stress in Organizations
• Human Performance/Human Factors
• Individual Assessment
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Competencies (cont’d)
• Individual Differences
• Performance Appraisal and Feedback
• Job Evaluation and Compensation
• Job/Task Analysis
• Judgment and Decision Making
• Personnel Recruitment, Selection,
Placement and Classification
• Small Group Theory and Team
Processes
• Training: Theory, Program Design, and
Evaluation
• Work Motivation
• Leadership and Management
• Organizational Development
• Organizational Theory
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What W/O Psychologists Do
• Careers emphasize science and research or practice
• 39% are professors employed by universities
• 20% work in private organizations
• 6% work in public organizations
• 35% work in consulting firms
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The Science and Practice of W/O Psychology
• Primary areas for W/O work:
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Selection
Training
Organizational Development
Performance Appraisal
Quality of Work-life (Employee Attitudes)
Human Factors
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