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Psych 306

Industrial/Organizational (I/O)
Psychology
Rainer Seitz, MS Adjunct Professor
Doctoral training in I/O at PSU
Work experience
Psychological testing & assessment in
Milwaukee Public Schools
Employee selection system development @
Manpower
Human factors engineering @ Intel
Organizational management consulting 1
Industrial/Organizational
Psychology
Branch of psychology that applies the
principles of psychology to the workplace
The scientific study of the relation between
man and the world of work
The application of psychological facts to
problems of humans operating in industry
The area of psychology concerned with
individual behavior in work situations
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True or False?
1. If you pay someone for doing something they
already enjoy, they will come to like this task
even more.
2. Unpleasant environmental conditions (e.g. loud
noise, crowding) produce immediate reductions
in performance on many tasks.
3. It is not possible to measure soft skills such as
work ethic or creativity
4. Most people are much more concerned with the
size of their own salary than with the size of
others salaries.
5. Most people prefer challenging jobs with a great 3
deal of freedom and autonomy.
Training for I/O Psychologists
Psychology dept. (both MA & PhD level)
Reliance on
Research
Quantitative methods
Testing techniques

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Employment Settings
Government EEOC, military
Industry develop & implement programs
Evaluate training programs
Develop selection systems
Develop motivation programs for mgrs.
Conduct leadership seminars for executives
Consulting
Academia primarily teaching & research,
but also consulting
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Major Areas of I/O Psychology
Personnel Psychology
Selection & testing
Performance evaluation
Job analysis and evaluation
training

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Organizational Psychology
Leadership
Motivation
Job satisfaction
Conflict management
Group processes

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Organization Development
Newest area, & least scientific
Diagnose & develop remedies for
organizations
Restructuring
Downsizing
Organizational culture change

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Human Factors or
Engineering Psychology
Focus is on people in the man-machine
environment
Creation of work environments compatible
with human skills, talents, & limitations

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Related Areas
Vocational/Career counseling
Assist individuals in identifying suitable
careers based on abilities and interests
E.g. Strong Interest Inventory asks
about likes and dislikes

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Related Areas (cont.)
Industrial Relations
Focus is on employee-management relations
Collective bargaining, negotiation, dispute
resolution, grievance systems
Requires an in-depth knowledge of
employment law

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History of I/O Psychology:
Some major milestones
Origins date back to early 1900s first
application of psychology to business
WWI (1917-1918) assessment &
selection of recruits
Hawthorne Studies (1930s) impact of
work environment & interpersonal
interactions on work behavior
Emergence of employment legislation
(1960s) Civil Rights Act of 1964
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Hawthorne Studies
Conducted at Hawthorne plant of Western
Electric
Purpose was to determine effect of changes
in lighting on productivity
Hawthorne Effect tendency for people to
to behave differently when they receive
attention because they respond to the
demands of the situation

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Key Findings
Economic incentives less important than generally
believed for high productivity
No simple cause-effect relationship for individual
work behavior
Management communication and employee
participation are critical to managerial success
Workplace behavior is embedded in a social
system

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Limitations of Hawthorne
Studies
Lacking in scientific rigor
No random assignment of participants to
conditions
Lack of standardization between experimental
conditions
Other factors may have affected
productivity
Increased supervisory discipline
Increased pay with increases in performance
Concerns about being laid off
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Current Trends in
I/O Psychology

Cognitive Revolution
concern with how people perceive, interpret,
store, retrieve, evaluate, and act upon
information

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Trends (cont.)
Multiple levels of analysis & Systems
Perspective
Early emphasis on individual in I/O field
Shift to emphasis on interrelationships and
multiple levels

- Dyad - Organization
- Group - Social/ economic
environment
- Department
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Trends (cont.)
Shift in Outcome Focus

Traditional outcome Bottom line


Non-traditional Outcomes

Stress, strain, & burnout


Physical & psychological health
Interface between work & family
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Research Methods & Statistics
in I/O Psychology

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The Empirical
Research Process
Statement of Problem
Design of Research Study
Measurement of Variables
Analysis of Data
Draw Conclusions

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Two Research Approaches
Inductive
data culminates in theory
Deductive
theory leads to development of experiments
theory then supported or rejected

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I/O Psychology and Theory
Personnel Psychology
lots of data; little theory
Bastion of dustbowl empiricism
Organizational Psychology
lot of theory; little data
Engineering Psychology
almost no theory
Organizational development
lots of theory; little hard data
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Conflicting Research Goals
Generalizability with respect to populations
Control of Variables
Realism of Research Setting

Cannot completely achieve all three in one


study

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Validity Concerns
Internal Validity
the degree to which causal relationships
between variables can be inferred from a study
control groups and randomization are usually
necessary for internal validity
External Validity
the degree to which results can be generalized
to and across persons, settings, and times
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Major Research Methods

Laboratory Experiment
Field Experiment
Field Study
Survey/Questionnaire

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Laboratory Experiment
Advantages Disadvantages
inference of Lacks realism
causation Some phenomena
precision of cant be studied in
measurement and the lab
control of Some variables have
extraneous variable weaker impact in
can be easily lab
replicated

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Field Experiment
Advantages Disadvantages
manipulate IV in less control over
natural setting extraneous variables
realistic resistance by
results are more employees
generalizable
lack of access
can suggest
causality some phenomena
cant ethically be
real workers; real
setting manipulated in real
settings
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Field Study (Correlational)
Advantages Disadvantages
very realistic no manipulation of
setting variables, so no
can get lot of data inference of
in short time causality
good for raising little control over
questions/ extraneous variables
hypotheses/ideas
for new research

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Survey
Advantages Disadvantages
lots of info in self-report data
natural setting difficult to measure
unobtrusive all variables that
experimenter might be influencing
responses

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Conclusions
No one research strategy is best
Cannot conduct flawless research
I/O psychology will only progress if
multiple methods are used to examine
phenomena
compensates for shortcomings in any given
strategy

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Measurement of Variables
Independent Variable
variable that experimenter controls for or
manipulates in order to assess differences
between groups
examples
male-female differences
training programs
cultures
personnel selection methods
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Variables (cont.)
Dependent Variable
usually focus of researchers interest
that which is measured
examples
productivity
stress
motivation
job satisfaction
turnover
absenteeism
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Other Variables of Interest
in I/O Psychology
Predictor Variables
Similar to independent variables (but measured
not manipulated)
Criterion Variables
similar to dependent variables
what is being predicted by the predictors

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Examples
Predictors Criterion
Job Tenure Satisfaction
Job Stress Satisfaction
Satisfaction Turnover
IQ Training performance
IQ Job performance
Actual Supervisor ratings
Performance
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What does one do with data?
Describe it
Find tendencies
Measure variability
Look for relatedness
Infer causality

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Finding tendencies
Mean
simple average
Median
the midpoint of all scores
Mode
most frequently occurring score

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Measuring variability
Standard deviation SD
measure of dispersion of numbers in a
distribution
how variable are the scores?
average of variability around the mean

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Looking for relatedness: r
How useful is one score in predicting another?
Correlation: the degree and direction of
association between two variables
Range: -1.00 to +1.00
Magnitude: large correlations mean there is a
stronger association between the two variables
-.96 > .80 > .40 > -.20 > 0.0

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Inferring causality
Correlation does NOT imply causation
just because two variables are correlated
doesnt mean one causes the other
Direction -- which causes which?
IQ and income
job satisfaction and productivity
productivity and stress

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Inferential Statistics
Def.: means by which one gains confidence
that different means are significantly
different from each other

t-test; F-test; provide output that tells


researcher the probability that two means
are different by chance alone

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Example
Do two training programs result in
significantly different performance ratings?
Training I: Goal Setting
M = 70 SD = 5 N = 25
Training II: Control Group
M = 75 SD = 5 N = 25
p < .001
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Meaning of
Statistical Significance
Beware : Statistical Significance
Practical Significance
can get significant results that arent very
informative practically-speaking
example: N = 200,000 students
r = .03 between GPA and # miles walked
p < .01

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