Chapter 2
FIELDS OF STUDY AND PRACTICE
AREAS IN INDUSTRIAL AND
ORGANISATIONAL (I-O)
PSYCHOLOGY
Learning outcomes to keep in mind whilst studying this chapter
What are the main themes and focus areas of industrial
and Organisational Psychology (I–O) and why are they
important?
•
Describe the nature and identity of I-O psychology
•
Name and discuss various subfields of I-O psychology
•
Describe application fields in I-O psychology
•
Discuss the history of I-O psychology
•
Discuss professional training and practice in I-O psychology
•
Discuss future challenges in I-O psychology.
Sub-fields in psychology
• Clinical psychology – aims to alleviate emotional distress
caused by psychological disorders and problems of life
• Counselling psychology – management of pain caused by life,
facilitating improved understanding of issues, fostering use of effective
coping skills
• Career psychology – involves studying and facilitating
occupational development across the life-span
• Educational and school psychology – focuses on studying
factors, behaviour, processes & problems of learning
• Developmental psychology – focuses on age related changes
across a person’s life span
• Social psychology – studying human social interaction by
understanding the influence of behaviour, beliefs and feelings
amongst people.
Sub-fields in psychology (continued)
• Cognitive psychology – revolves around the theory and
research regarding higher mental processes
• Personality psychology – the study of the more or less
consistent patterns of behaviour in people across time and situations
• Physiological/Neurological psychology – Study of
relationship between human behaviour and neurological and
physiological systems
• Psychometrics – entails the development of psychological
measuring instruments
• Experimental psychology – used in many psychological
disciplines to establish patterns of human behaviour in controlled
situations
• Health psychology – utilises psychological knowledge to identify
causes and symptoms of physical health and illness and related
dysfunctions.
Sub-fields in psychology (continued)
• Positive psychology – emphasis on enhancement of optimum
human functioning
• Forensic psychology – studying context of criminal behaviour
(e.g. causes) and obtaining and giving evidence in legal procedures
• Community psychology – using, developing and adapting
psychological knowledge and practices to improve quality of life in
human communities
• Cross-cultural psychology – focuses on diversity
management or the consideration of differences in and between
groups of people
• Consulting psychology – professional involvement of
psychologists with individuals, groups & organisations
• Industrial and Organisational (I-O) psychology – utilises
principles and assumptions of psychology to study and influence
human behaviour at work.
Nature and identity of I-O psychology:
I–O Psychology: A scientific discipline?
•
I-O Psychology is branch of psychology
•
Utilises psychological knowledge and in the work context to assess,
utilise, develop and influence individual employees
•
While inextricably linked to psychology, I-O psychology has adapted
and developed it own identity
•
It utilises, develops and teaches foundational knowledge, e.g.
psychological theory/research on human behaviour in work context
•
Foundational knowledge is supported through work-related research
to further its knowledge base
•
Is an applied science utilising many types of practical applications and
methods to achieve best fit between employee and workplace.
Sub-fields and practice areas in I-O
psychology
Organisational psychology
•
Concerned with work organisations as systems involving individual
employees and work groups, as well as structure and dynamics of
organisations
Personnel psychology
•
Focus on utilising individual differences in and between employees
and predicting the optimal employee-organisation fit
Research methodology
•
Entails psychological methods of inquiry to solve research problems
Occupational psychological assessment
•
Entails the development and utilisation of assessment instruments to
obtain measures of attributes and behaviour of employees.
Sub-fields and practice areas in I-O
psychology (continued)
Career or vocational psychology/counselling
•
Studies career development issues with regard to individuals,
employment, unemployment, career-related issues in organisations
and also non-work influencing factors
Employment relations
•
Deals with behavioural dynamics, communication and conflict
management between individuals and groups of employees,
employers and other parties
Employee and organisational well-being
•
Aims to facilitate positive psychological capital or resources in
organisations and employees
Ergonomics
•
Concerned with understanding of human interaction between
employees and their technical environment.
Sub-fields and practice areas in I-O
psychology (continued)
Consumer psychology
•
Also referred to as Economic and Market Psychology concerned with
studying psychological aspects of consumer behaviour
Other applied fields
•
Cross-cultural Industrial Psychology
•
Management and leadership
•
Entrepreneurship and diversity management.
History of I-O psychology
Taylorism
•
Man is a rational-economic being
•
Humans are inherently
−
Lazy, inefficient and unreliable
−
Only motivated by financial incentives
Criticism of taylorism
•
Heavily criticised as a result of findings in Hawthorne experiments
•
Perceived as an exploitation of workers
•
Neglect of individual differences
Hawthorne experiments
•
Employee work performance may vary if employees follow specific
procedures and standards under strict supervision.
Professional training and practice
issues
Contributing institutions
•
HPCSA
•
Professional Board for Psychology, etc.
Contributing peoples, associations and events
Professional training and practice
•
Governing bodies
•
Qualifications
•
Practice
•
Universities and other training institutions
•
Proximity with human resources management.
Future challenges in I-O psychology
•
How to use existing knowledge and practice
•
How to develop and adapt this knowledge and practice
•
I-O psychologist must be able to speak the language of business
•
Future psychologists successes in making employees and
organisation more adaptive to change
•
The management of the increase in work stress
•
Creating meaningful employment amidst growing sophisticated
technology, business mergers and downsizing, decreasing job
opportunities
•
Changing nature of work requires ongoing revision of validity theory in
the assessment of employees
•
More incorporation of technology driven interventions in organisations.
Thank you.