BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE IN BUSINESS: A syllabus for graduate

courses in Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Lawrence Zeitlin, Professor of Indistrial Psychology, Graduate Center, CUNY

1. THE EVOLUTION OF WORK IN THE WESTERN WORLD:

Pre-industrial technology: The craft method of production was used in Europe prior to
1600 and is still in use in many agrarian and underdeveloped countries. It is
characterized by: intensive use of labor, unit production, little division of function, and
is demand driven. There is high variability in products and procedures which are
dependent on the craftsman's skills.
Craft based production methods - a small number of workers perform all tasks
required to convert materials to a finished form. Little standardization of output.
Products are produced on an individual or small batch basis, largely to customer order.
Natural or slightly modified materials are used. There is little use of power in the
production process. Training of craftsmen is by apprenticeship. Young people
apprentice themselves to master craftsmen, exchanging their services for a period of
years to learn the trade.
Low productivity ratio - Low productivity per worker was tolerable because of low
labor cost. The agricultural productivity ratio, the total population divided by the
number of persons involved in food and raw matrials extraction, in pre-industrial
societies was approximately 2:1. The majority of the population was rural. Fewer than
10% lived in urban areas.
Control of product quality - Because products were not standardized, the craftsman
assured that each of his products would function as required by making adjustments to
the product before delivering it to the buyer. Individual modification or customization
was the rule and the process tolerated a wide range of individual difference in design
and production techniques. Indeed, it is just this product variation that make crafted
items collectibles today. Control of the product implies that all variances in production
are corrected at once by a final adjustment. Example: if a gunsmith makes a rifle that
shoots a little to the left, he bends the barrel a bit to the right until it shoots straight.
The decline of the craft system of production: The Black Death - The craft system
started its long, slow decline following the outbreak of bubonic plague in Europe in
1347. By the time the "Black Death" had run its course, nearly 50% of the population
of Europe had died, a total of over 25 million. In some areas the death toll reached
70%. As a result of the plague, the Church lost much of its influence (since priests died
just like sinners), intellectualism flourished, social unrest increased, and there were
widespread labor shortages. Wages tripled within three years and enterprises which
depended upon a ready supply of cheap labor suffered. The serf system of agriculture
disappeared within a century as farms were consolidated and serfs became "freemen".
The wealth of the dead was inherited by the living and the demand for goods increased.
The Proto-industrial factory: Power applied to production - The low productivity of
the craft system was unable to supply the demand for goods and the emerging merchant
class began to seek other forms of manufacture. The first approach was to reduce the
labor intensiveness of craftwork by the judicious application of power to the productive

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 process. Water wheels and windmills had been known since ancient times but their use
was uneconomical given a large and cheap labor supply. Powered workshops became
more common toward the end of the 16th century. Water wheels up to 30 ft. tall were
used by mills in Germany in 1500. In order to use the power of such a large wheel, a
number of workers had to be gathered in the same location. Further, only a limited
number of streams could provide sufficient water flow on a reliable basis.
Start of specialization - Craft work was disassembled into those portions which could
conveniently make use of power in the production process and those which could not.
Garment making, for example, divided into fabric making, which could use power in
the spinning and weaving process, and the tailoring of clothing, largely a manual craft.
Conditions necessary for the development of the factory system were:
1. Capital - ready access to capital was required for investment in facilities and
machines.
2. Markets - higher productivity required more efficient distribution and ready access
to markets, either domestic or foreign.
3. Raw materials - ample supplies of raw materials necessary for conversion. Early
industial countries sought colonies both for their materials and as markets for products.
4. Manpower - the factory system required concentrated manpower available only in
cities. Protofactories were established in centers of population with good access to
transportation and attracted more workers from the surrounding farmland by providing
stable employment. The factory system was a major contributor to the urbanization of
society.
Early factory systems - Early factories were characterized by:
1. Use of indivisible natural power sources, generally waterwheels.
2. Location near streams or rivers for both power and transport.
3. Collection of workers under one roof to make use of machines.
4. Simple, unsophisticated transformation of natural materials. (Flax to linen, wheat
to flour, ore to iron)
The 18th century factory - About the time of the American Revolution, the factory
concept had evolved to incorporate the steam engine and more sophisticated production
technology. Craftwork was fragmented into still smaller units which could be
adequately performed on the machines of the time. The labor component was high but
the skill level was reduced to the point that the apprenticeship system was no longer
necessary.
Standardized parts concept - The use of interchangeable parts in manufactured goods
originated in France in the late 1700's. It was observed by Thomas Jefferson while he
was Ambassador to France and was recommended for use in America. The basic
concept consists of making all related parts of a series of manufactured goods
compatible, i.e. all gun barrels of a given series of rifles, will fit all gun stocks of the
same series. In both the craft system and in the early factory system, each barrel was
fitted to its gun stock individually, by skilled workers. If the stock broke in the field, a
new one would have to be made to fit the specific barrel. In France, such
standardization was achieved by training highly skilled workers to fit largely handmade
parts to a standard pattern.
The "American system" - In 1810, Eli Whitney won the Springfield Arsenal contract
for 10,000 rifles by demonstrating and agreeing to supply weapons with fully
interchangeable parts. Any part selected at random would fit any rifle. In the U.S., a

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 country with labor shortages and a weak craft tradition, standardization was achieved
through the design of specialized tools and jigs that enabled lower skilled workers to
repetitively produce identical parts. This approach was soon called the "American
System" of manufacture.

Main theme of standardization - Every unit of production is identical. The tolerance

for human and manufacturing errors is reduced to the point where the total
accumulation of error of all parts of a product is lower than the maximum allowable
error of the completed product. Minimization of manufacturing errors requires total
control of the manufacturing process. Because the final product is assembled of many
components, acceptable quality is achieved by:
1. Standardization of production processes for each component part.
2. High manufacturing precision requiring the use of jigs, fixtures and measuring
devices to insure each part is within error limits.
3. Reduction of human variability in the production process by the specialization of
work, selection of personnel minimize differences, training in standardized procedures,
and close supervision to insure low error performance.
Modern factory systems - The convergence of the two trends in manufacture,
application of power to the production process and the standardized parts concept,
resulted in the modern factory system. The system is highly efficient in multiplying
human labor by the use of power and minimizing handwork by the use of
interchangeable parts. It provides high quality, mass produced products at a reasonable
cost.
Characteristics of the modern factory system:
1. Capital and power intensive.
2. Aimed at mass or series production.
3. Involves great division of function.
4. Production driven.
5. Economic production quantities require
increasing demand.
6. Reduction of production variability through
standardization of production.
7. Quality through control of process.
Consequences of the factory system - Most of the concerns of industrial organizations
arise from the technology of the 19th century factory system. The power sources of the
time were large and indivisible. It is not practical to use individual steam engines or
water wheels at each machine. For greatest efficiency, hundreds of workers had to be
gathered under one roof to use the output of a large stationary steam engine. The
factory system required the coordination of the efforts of large numbers of workers
performing standardized tasks while keeping individual variation as small as possible.
In essence, the worker became an adjunct to a machine, a cog in the production process.
Efficiencies of production permitted lowering prices, and, in the 20th. century,
decreasing the length of the work day. Both factors served to increase demand and
hastened the conversion to the factory system.
Evolution of the factory system - The factory system is still evolving to accommodate
changes in production technology, legislation, and the physical and social environment.
These changes include:
Divisibility of power sources - the use of small electric motors and gasoline engines
have permitted power sources to be attached directly to machines located in remote

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areas. There is no longer a mechanical need to house large numbers of workers in the
same area. Workers may be placed where needed to enhance work flow or distribution.
This distribution of workers makes direct supervision more difficult.

Ease of communication - telephone and data communications systems permit

information to be transmitted between units of an organization with ease. Face to face
contact, although desirable, is no longer necessary for business. Ease of communication
decreases the number of levels through which information and directives must pass,
reducing the number of personnel whose primary function was transfer of information.
Ease of transportation - personnel and goods can be moved worldwide in a matter of
hours. Combined with ease of communication, the large scale integrated factory, as a
physical entity, is no longer necessary. This has implications on the organization of
business, specialization, job design, and facilitates internationalization of manufacture.
Mechanization and automation - the availability of cheap computing and control
technology (electronic, mechanical, etc.) has made possible the automation of many
repetitive job functions. Tasks formerly performed by low skilled workers are now
performed by machine. Example: the mechanized cotton picker, introduced early this
century, did the work of 50 field hands. It could pick 1000 pounds an hour while a man
picked 20 - resulting in a cost of $5.26 a bale picking cotton by machine as against
$39.14 by hand. As worker replacement technology becomes more affordable and
sophisticated, automation will extend higher up the work hierarchy. Current levels of
automation have had dramatic effects on employment, advancement in organizations,
and the nature and distribution of skills required.
Product sophistication - because of their size or complexity, many manufactured
products can no longer be made by human labor. Examples: microchip electronics,
drugs. Automation is a manufacturing necessity rather than an economic convenience.
Changes in manufacturing technology required by product design has had significant
impact on the number and distribution of persons employed.

Increased worker expectations - have changed with regard to the role that work fills
in life. In the more affluent countries, quality of working life (QWL) has become an
important consideration. With the internationalization of business, cultural differences
in worker values and expectations have a considerable influence on personnel
management decisions.
Legislative environment - legal constraints have become a significant influence on
business. Employment policy, selection, training, occupational safety, pollution,
manufacturing processes, distribution practices, pricing, etc. are subject to legal control
or restriction. Management freedom of action has become limited.
Competition - there is enough productive capacity to supply any reasonable level of
demand in the developed countries. Except in selected areas, the manufacturing process
is no longer production limited. Demand must be increased by innovation, pricing,
utility increases, etc. and business success cannot be achieved merely by making the
production process more efficient.
Short product life cycles - forced innovation creates short product life cycles,
requiring rapid task reassignment and frequent technology changes. The estimated half
life of an industrial skill has dropped from 30 years in 1800 to 10 years in 1900 to about
3 years today, with obvious implications for frequent retraining, career development,

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 education, personnel selection.
Financial considerations - the primacy of finance as a forcing factor in business
decisions has increased in recent years. Conglomeration, takeovers, leveraged buy-outs,
tax law changes etc. have made production and/or personnel considerations irrelevant
in many cases.
Internationalization of business - Business has become truly international with
similar products being made in a number of countries and organizations functioning
worldwide. Local culture and politics play an important role in decisions.
Success of the factory system -The factory system survives because it is the most
efficient method of multiplying human production of goods and services yet devised. In
the United States, only 13% of the population provides all the raw materials and
manufactured goods required by the remainder of the population. Food production
requires 2% of the working population, an agricultural productivity ratio of 50:1.
Indeed, the productivity of the factory system is so high that underemployment is a
chronic problem of many developed countries, requiring socially approved means to
increase consumption (advertizing, built in obsolescence, fashion); decrease the
potential labor force (shortened work hours, lengthened vacations, elimination of child
labor, manditory educational requirements, social exclusion of women, etc.); and
underutilize productive capacity (govt. imposition of environmental and safety
considerations, restriction of competitive activities, etc.).
The factory as a model - Because of the success of the factory system, its basic tenets,
specialization of job function and the use of technology to multiply human labor,
spread to other areas of endeavor, including such diverse fields as agriculture,
education and medicine. The factory system can be considered a model for the
workplace in the Western world. Business offices are "paperwork" factories; schools,
"educational" factories; hospitals, "patient care" factories, etc.
Work in craft based production - Considered in the light of 20th century
organizational psychology, craft systems met many of current criteria for job
satisfaction.
1. The work itself was mentally challenging
providing satisfaction from successful task
completion.
2. The work permitted individual variation and
freedom of expression.
3. Craftsmen could work at their own pace,
financial rewards largely determined by
individual effort.
4. Success in craft provided a measure of self
esteem.
5. Associations of craftsmen (in some countries)
provided a degree of social and economic
support which modern labor unions have only
begun to approximate.
Work in the factory system - From the viewpoint of the worker, factory productive
efficiency has been gained by a sacrifice in human values.The factory system implies:
1. Restricted behavior (rules, standardized
procedures) approximating forced regression to
a childlike form of behavior.

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 2. Restricted opportunity for individual expression. Reduction of individual
variability requires performance within narrow
range of tolerance.
3. Boredom caused by machine paced work of
unvarying nature.
4. Substantial dissociation of reward from
effort.
5. Little sense of accomplishment or whole
task completion.
6. Success achieved by rising in hierarchy, since
skill improvements are limited by job structure.
7. Social relationships not facilitated by work activity.
I/O Psychology and the factory system - Many of the efforts of psychologists have
been directed to facilitating worker adjustment to the demands of a factory system
shaped by 19th century technology. Most textbooks published prior to 1990 reflect
these concerns.
1. Jobs are studied through work analysis procedures to design optimum procedures
which minimize human variation.
2. Selection techniques are refined so workers
can be chosen who provide maximum output
with minimum supervision.
3. Human motivation is studied to facilitate the
control of behavior or to provide job satisfaction in an inherently frustrating
environment.
4. Leadership is studied to specify individuals
who can control workers in diverse situations.
5. Organizations are designed to maximize
communication and control.
6. Workers are evaluated to see if they meet
the criteria imposed by the system.
7. Equipment and work procedures are engineered to facilitate productivity with
minimum involvement of human capabilities.
8. Finally clinical psychologists in the industrial
setting, deal with workers unable to make an
adjustment to job stress.

2. PERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY - LOGIC AND RATIONALE

Personnel Psychology uses the techniques of the behavioral sciences to staff an
organization with trained, qualified workers.
Benefits to the organization are based on the recognition that, for most jobs, the
variation in individual work related performance is likely to be greater than the range in
compensation, thus it is possible to increase productivity or work quality without
incurring corresponding increases in cost. Since labor costs are the dominant cost of
doing business in all but a few endeavors, suitably staffing an organization may be the
single most beneficial step taken by management in increasing profitability or
organizational effectiveness. This situation is most likely to occur where worker output
can vary (sales, management, non-production line factory work, skilled labor,
professions, etc.) but employment costs (benefits, overhead, investment, etc.) are
relatively fixed.

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 Benefits to the individual worker are based on the assumption that the quality of both
personal and work life are likely to be better if the physical, intellectual and emotional
demands of work are suited to the capabilities and aspirations of the worker.
Staffing the personnel system is a step by step process of identifying organizational
needs for personnel in specific jobs, analyzing characteristics of those jobs that lend
themselves to the development of predictors, specification of charactistics of suitable
job applicants, assessment of job relevant characteristics of candidates, selection of
candidates who meet criteria and subsequent training of successful candidates (where
necessary) in organizationally specific tasks.
Performance differences between workers are caused by the interaction of three sets of
variables:
1. Individual variables - dependent on worker:
a. Intrinsic characteristics - physical abilities,
intelligence, personality, age, sex.
b. Background - specific training, prior work
experience, education.
c. Motivation - willingness to perform for
job relevant incentives.
2. Situational variables - dependent on pecific work situation:
a. Physical work conditions - environment, lighting, temperature, hours,
shift work.
b. Equipment - age, speed, compatibility with
worker skills, automaticity, etc.
c. Procedures - specific work procedures,
scope of assignment, suitability for
equipment, etc.

3. Organizational and social variables - dependent on organization and society:

a. Supervisory style - authoritarian to
participative, span of control, worker or task
oriented.
b. Incentives - form of "implicit" bargain;
economic, social, status incentives.
c. Social environment - company "culture",
unionization, work grouping.
d. Culture - work values, acceptance of
authority, individual vs. group, work vs.
family, etc.
Measurement criteria. Quantification of performance differences is desirable to match
individual workers with jobs requiring various patterns of skills and personal attributes.
Measurement requires comparison of performance with a standard or criterion. Several
categories of job related behavior are used as criteria. These include:
1. Performance criteria - where job related behavior can be directly measured. (sales,
units produced, speed of performance, quality of output, etc.).
2. Cost criteria - these criteria refer to the expense incurred in providing a worker at a
given position and are used when performance can not be directly measured. They
include:

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 a. Tenure - turnover, time in grade, training
and replacement cost, etc.
b. Attendance - absences, lateness, cost of
substitutes, etc.
c. Accidents and health costs - number
and cost of accidents, illnesses, insurance.
d. Disciplinary costs - altercations, fights,
worker-mgt. conflict, grievances.
3. Physiological criteria - used in situations where considerable work stress occurs
such as police, air traffic control, emergency medical, etc. Include: stress level, heart
rate, anxiety tests.
4. Status criteria - prior work related accomplishments such as degrees, promotions,
salary, "credentials", etc.
5. Subjective criteria - ratings of performance and other attributes by knowledgeable
persons.
Qualification of criteria. While almost anything can be used as a standard against
which to measure performance, useful (and legal) criteria share three characteristics.
These are:
1. Relevance. The criterion must be relevant to the particular job for which a potential
worker is being evaluated. Thus a measure of typing skill is suitable for a position as
typist. Beauty, sex, and age are not relevant criteria.
2. Freedom from contamination. Differences in measured performance must be due
only to variation in the attribute being evaluated. If typing speed is used as a criterion of
typing performance, differences in test score should be due only to the skill of the
typist, not to differences in typewriters, lighting levels, or complexity of test materials.
3. Reliability. The criterion should be stable. Yardsticks should not be made of rubber.
Identical performance on successive administrations should result in (nearly) identical
scores.

Identification of Predictors - A rational approach to personnel selection involves the

identification of predictors, measures of individual difference of job candidates, which
correlate highly with eventual performance on the job. Predictors may be any legal,
job relevant measure of individual difference, including test scores, recommendations,
work samples, academic records, and job histories. Much of the effort in Personnel
Psychology is devoted to the identification of predictors which provide an early,
reliable, low cost estimate of job performance prior to hiring.

3. THE DIVISION OF WORK IN ORGANIZATIONS

Definitions: Any action performed by a worker in the course of his/her work is a task.
All of the tasks performed by a single worker define the worker's position. There are as
many positions in an organization as there are workers. All similar positions constitute a
job, which is usually described by a single job title. A group of related jobs progressing
from entry level through senior level and occupied by individuals during the course of
their employment is a career.

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Division of work into JOBS - An individual entrepreneur performs all of the tasks
necessary to carry out the functions of a business. As the business grows and others are
hired, the work must be divided into specific jobs. Several approaches to job design are
used. Real organizations employ a mix of strategies.
Job design by TOP DOWN satisfaction - Bases work allocation on the premise that
organizations are run to suit the needs of their dominant members. Top members keep
work functions which give them maximum satisfaction, pass down less satisfying tasks
to lower members. The result is that lowest members have the least satisfying jobs. This
approach is usually followed during the formative years of most organizations when
activities overlap and work is ill defined, and at the upper levels of mature organizations.
Job design by TASK SPECIALIZATION - Work is structured by grouping similar
tasks and functions into units which can be performed by an individual during the
course of a working day. Tasks may be grouped by skill level, physical capability,
training, intelligence, sex, social class, etc. It is the predominant method used for middle
and lower levels of mature organizations. Job specialization facilitates worker training
and mobility. Since the functions to be performed in organizations in the same business
sector are similar, specialization permits off the job training and personnel transfer
between like areas of specialty.
Efficiency as a criterion of job design - Modern industrial practice uses efficiency as the
primary criterion of job design. Productivity or man hours of input for each unit of
output is used as the yardstick. There are several objections to using efficiency
(productivity) as the sole job design adequacy criterion. These include:
1. Productivity is a contaminated criterion - it may well depend as much on
capital investment per position or on work procedures as on worker performance.
2. Workers protest dehumanizing job designs passively by lowering output or
actively by labor unrest or sabotage. Turnover is
higher. Dissatisfied workers increase overall
costs to the organization, either to cope with
lower productivity or to increase hiring and
replacement costs.

Job satisfaction criterion of job design -The HUMAN RELATIONS movement offered
job satisfaction as an alternate criterion, operating under the assumption that satisfaction
correlates with productivity. Unfortunately research has failed to demonstrate a
significant correlation between the two, other than in the reduction of turnover.
Combined efficiency-satisfaction criteria - The optimal job design would permit
employees to gain important personal satisfactions in direct proportion to the degree of
productive, efficient work. (This is, in effect, a return to the craftwork approach.) Most
modern theorists have adopted this conjoint criterion. The consensus of current theory is
that a job must be structured to:
1. Allow a worker to feel personally responsible for a meaningful portion of
his/her work.
2. Provide outcomes which are intrinsically meaningful or otherwise experienced as
worthwhile to the individual.
3. Provide feedback about what is accomplished.

4. JOB ANALYSIS AND THE JOB DESCRIPTION

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Job analysis is the collective name for the techniques by which existing jobs are studied
to derive a job description. Techniques include:
1. Observation techniques - ranging from unstructured observation, through checklist
aided observation, to formalized time and motion analysis. Observation is essentially
looking at work being performed.
2. Interrogation techniques - ranging from unstructured interviews, through structured
interview, to position analysis questionnaires. Interrogation involves asking how the job
is performed.
3. Documentation techniques - study of old job descriptions, archival material,
personnel records, equipment manuals, Dictionary of Occupational Titles, job
descriptions of other companies, etc. Documentation techniques involve reading
information about the job.
Job descriptions are documents that contain information about the job sufficient to
specify the requirements for personnel to fill that job. The most important types of
information are tasks, duties, skills, knowledge and abilities. Job descriptions are used
for organizational decision making, personnel actions including hiring and promotion,
wage and salary determination, equipment and work design, and training. Most job
descriptions include:
1. The job title and location within the organizational hierarchal structure, including
relationships to other jobs.
2. An exact description of the work. Scope of duties and responsibilities. Explicit and
implicit requirements.
3. Specific knowledge, skills, and experience required of the job holder.
4. Personal characteristics required (initiative, alertness, perceptual abilities, physical
abilities, etc.)
5. Standards of productivity and performance required. Methods of evaluation.
6. Working conditions, including, equipment, techniques, environment, etc.
7. How the position is attained, including selection and training procedures, prior job
requirements, etc.

5. EMPLOYMENT AND THE LAW

Assumptions: The U.S. government has always operated under two, often conflicting,
philosophies in the regulation of employment. The first of these, equality under the
law, attempts to assure equal opportunity for all citizens in hiring, promotion and pay.
Examples are: civil rights and fair employment laws, equal pay laws. The second,
preferential treatment, attempts to satisfy social objectives by treating selected groups
differentially. Examples are: veteran's priorities in employment and education,
affirmative action programs. Conflict occurs when preferential treatment and
employment equality concerns converge in a personnel action. The issue is generally
resolved in the courts. Example: U. Calif. Regents vs. Bakke (1978)
Federal Legislation: Laws and regulations influencing employment are:
1. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) - race, color, religion, sex and national
origin illegal as hiring criteria.
2. The Equal Employment Act of 1972 - forms Equal Employment Opportunities

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 Comm. (EEOC) to enforce Title VII.
3. Equal Pay Act of 1963 - equal pay for equal work (same job title and
responsibilities).
4. Age Discrimination Act of 1967 - increases scope of Title VII to cover age.
Federal Executive Orders: Executive agencies which influence employment:
1. Office of Federal Contract Compliance, 1965 (OFCCP) - forbids discrimination on
Federal contracts.
2. Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) - reviews practices of Gvt.
agencies concerning discrimination.
3. U.S. Office of Personnel Management - issues Uniform Guidelines on Employee
Selection.
State and Local Agencies: State and Local legislation and agencies can impose stricter
rules that the U.S. Govt. Examples: Sexual preference is not considered under Federal
law but cannot be used as a criterion for employment in NYS. Similarly HIV positive
status is considered a handicap, not a disease, in NYS and is protected in hiring.
Adverse impact: Employment discrimination is assumed if an employer has a hiring rate
less than 80% of a group's representation in the potential work force. Example: if only
20% Blacks are hired for a company located in Harlem, unfair discrimination is
indicated. Several groups are specifically "protected" under current regulations. These
are: African-American, Native American, Hispanic, Native Alaskan, Native Pacific
Islander. The remedy for discrimination is usually fines or penalties, mandated hiring of
impacted worker(s), and preferential hiring of the impacted group to increase its
representation to the 80% or higher level.
Affirmative action: Preferential treatment in hiring or selection is given to protected
classes to remove the past effects of adverse impact. This may take the form of hiring
quotas, setting aside "minority" places, dual hiring procedures, bonus scores on tests.
etc. How much preference given and how long programs should last are questions yet
unanswered.
Selection and discrimination: Selection always involves discrimination. Federal and
State courts have held that employers have the right to use selection criteria which are
job relevant. These include work experience, education, skills related to the work, and
physical characteristics related to the work. It is illegal to use selection criteria
prohibited by law (age, sex, race, religion, etc.) or those of a personal nature (marital
state, economics, military discharge, arrest record, etc.) which are not job related. There
are exceptions (age of airplane pilot, police record of bank teller, etc.) but they are not
common and must be supported by evidence. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the right
of the employer to use job relevant selection methods in Griggs vs. Duke Power Co.
(1971) and Albermarle Paper vs. Moody (1975). NYS courts have held that employees
have a property interest in jobs, hence employers must show cause before firing.

6. PERSONNEL RATING SYSTEMS

Personnel ratings: Ratings are (subjective) assessments of job relevant characteristics
made for ranking individuals prior to taking some personnel action. They are judgments
of how much of a particular characteristic or trait the person being rated possesses. To be
effective, ratings must be reliable and valid. Reliability implies that the rating must be
repeatable. Successive ratings of the same individual should give similar scores.

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 Independent ratings of a given individual by several raters should also agree. Validity
implies that the ratings reflect the "true" variable being rated. The rating and an
independent assessment of the actual job relevant characteristic or performance should
agree.
Rating systems: Several types of rating systems are used to facilitate making judgments
and increase reliability. These include:
1. Rating scales - require assessment of characteristic or trait on a numerical or
multiple step scale. Example: female beauty on a 10 point
scale; ice skating skill on a 6 point scale, etc.
Best when there are accepted standards.
2. Personnel comparison systems - one individual is compared with another
individual or group of individuals.
a. Rank order - group of individuals are ranked in terms of rated trait or
characteristic. This is a good, quick system for groups of 10 or
fewer, but rankings are reliable only for first and
last few ratees.
b. Paired comparison - each individual is compared with one other, the best is
selected, the bests of adjacent pairs are compared, and so
on. In this way a ranking can be derived. The
paired comparison approach is extremely reliable
but is very time consuming for large numbers of
personnel since the number of comparisons
grows exponentially. Comparisons = N(N-1)/2.
i.e. 45 comparisons for 10 ratees, 190 comparisons for 20 ratees.
c. Forced distribution - ratees are allocated
into fixed groups according to a predetermined
system. In college this is called "grading on a
curve". In a large class, for example, 10% are
given a grade of A, 20% are given B, 40% get
C, 20% receive D, and 10% get F. Judgments
are grouped in broad categories.
3. Critical incident techniques - some behaviors are so critical to job performance
(coolness under stress, excessive drinking, etc.)
that the presence or absence of the behavior is all
that is necessary to determine acceptability or
unacceptability. A rating is based on the observation of the presence or absence of the
critical behavior.
4. Behavioral checklists and scales - for well
studied jobs, checklists of relevant behaviors
can be developed which ask the rater to make
judgments only of specific ratee actions. The
checklist technique increases reliability because
it merely asks the rater how much of a behavior
is present, removing from the rater the requirement to judge if a behavior is job
relevant. Student ratings of instructor performance, as used at CUNY, are
behavioral checklists. The overall rating is derived from the
numerical score given on the various items in the
checklist.

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Distortion and error in ratings: All personnel judgments are subject to error resulting
from the rater's inability to be perfectly objective.
The halo effect results from a rater's tendency to be overly influenced by one
characteristic of a ratee, and letting the judgment on that characteristic sway the
judgment on all other characteristics. Example: a pretty candidate for a job as secretary,
is judged less critically on job relevant characteristics than less pretty candidates.
Stereotyping is exhibited when the rater lets one characteristic of an entire group
influence judgments of job relevant behaviors of any member of that group. Example: if
a rater feels that women (as a group) make poor executives, then any female candidate
for an executive position will be rated poorer than a man of equal qualifications.
Stereotyping is illegal if the judgment is based on any prohibited criterion, but pervasive
nevertheless.
The Contrast effect is the tendency of the rater to compare each individual with the one
who came before. If the first candidate is good, the present candidate will seem poorer
by comparison, and viceversa.
Constant error is the tendency of the rater to concentrate ratings on one end or the other
of a scale, i.e. lenient or strict.
Range restriction is the tendency to use only the central part of a scale, excluding high
or low ratings. Both of these numerical errors can be nullified by normalizing rater's
scores. Control of rater bias is best handled by careful construction of rating scales and
training of raters.

7. PERSONNEL TESTS

Personnel tests - A test is a sample of behavior, observed under controlled conditions,

used to predict future behavior. The use of tests in personnel selection assumes
behavioral constancy; that is, that behavior remains relatively constant over time. In
personnel work, tests are used to measure psychomotor abilities (physical and
perceptual characteristics), job specific abilities (skills such as driving, typing, etc.),
cognitive abilities (mental skills and intelligence), personality, and interests
(vocational preferences).
Test reliability - reliability is measured by the correlation of one test score with a second
test score. Several types are:
1. Stability: same group, different times. Example: typing test score today, typing test
score tomorrow, same person.
2. Equivalence: different groups (same general population), same time. Example: test
score, two Baruch psych. classes.
3. Internal consistency: all parts of the test should be consistent. Example: first half
should correlate with second half.
Test validity - test scores should correlate with independent determinations of the
characteristic to be measured. Several types are:
1. Content validity: measures agreed upon representative sample of behavior which

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 defines content area. Experts define sample of job behavior. Examples: skills measured
in driving test; job sample test; actor's audition.
2. Construct validity: attributes which underlie desired behavior. Examples:
intelligence and SAT scores underlie college success; physical strength and endurance
underlie success as a sanitation worker.
3. Criterion related validity: test scores are correlated with the actual performance of
workers on the job.Criterion related validations of selection tests hold up best in court
tests.
a. Predictive validity - an applicant sample is
tested, hired without reference to the test, test
scores correlated with job performance of the
same sample at a later date.
b. Concurrent validity - presently employed
sample tested, test scores correlated with present
job ratings.
Relationship of reliability and validity- A test can never have a higher validity than its
reliability since it can never have a higher correlation with any other measure than
with itself! Tests with validities lower than 0.5 have low predictive efficiency and
should be combined with other measures in a selection battery. Tests with validities
lower than 0.2 probably should not be used in personnel selection at all.
Personal attributes measured - tests for the following attributes are listed in declining
order of reliability and validity:
1. Physical characteristics, performance - size, speed, perceptual ability, strength.
Examples: eye test, running speed.
2. Skills and job related performance - Examples: typing test, driving test.
3. Achievement test - measures skill learned after fixed period of exposure to content
material. Example: school tests.
4. Aptitude test - uses aptitude test score in given area to predict future performance
in same area. Example: use of school grades to
predict college performance. Note - achievement and aptitude tests are similar.
The prediction is different. Example: SAT
5. Intelligence test - an intelligence test is a generalized aptitude test used to predict
overall intellectual performance.
6. Interest test - a measure of vocational likes
and dislikes, often used to predict satisfaction
with a vocation.
7. Personality test - used to predict patterns of
response to life situations. Since daily mood
swings alter responses on personality tests, test
reliability tends to below. This may be due to
poor test design and/or to subject variability.

8. TYPES OF TESTS USED IN SELECTION

Cognitive abilities - tests of cognitive abilities measure one or more of the following
mental abilities:

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 1. Thinking flexibility and speed.
2. Fluency or variety of thinking.
3. Inductive reasoning.
4. Associative (rote) memory.
5. Memory span.
6. Number facility.
7. Perceptual speed.
8. Deductive reasoning.
9. Spatial orientation and visualization.
10. Verbal comprehension.
12. Visual memory.
General validity of cognitive tests - Cognitive tests are best at predicting ability to learn
and perform jobs requiring moderate to high levels of mental functioning. On average
such tests have validity coefficients of 0.40 with learning criteria and validities of 0.30
with job proficiency criteria. Thus they are useful, but not sufficient, instruments for
selection and should be combined with other measures in a test battery. The Differential
Aptitude Test and the Otis Test of Mental Ability are group administered examples of
cognitive tests. Reliable individually administered intelligence tests such as the
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) are sometimes used in executive selection
but are costly for general use.
Mechanical ability tests - Mechanical ability tests take two forms. The first is a
cognitive abilities test in which the test content is restricted to mechanical and physical
science information. Such mechanical comprehension tests are useful for selecting
personnel whose interests and knowledge lean toward things mechanical. The Bennett
Test of Mechanical Comprehension is typical of this group. The second form of
mechanical ability test requires the demonstration of actual skill in manipulation,
assembly, or disassembly of standardized objects. It is a generalized work sample test.
The validity of both types of test average 0.35 for learning mechanical skills and 0.20 for
predicting job proficiency.
Psychomotor and physical abilities tests - Psychomotor and physical abilities tests
measure the following:
1. Reaction time
2. Movement speed and precision
3. Limb coordination and flexibility
4. Static and explosive strength
5. Manual dexterity and steadiness
6. Endurance and stamina
7. Balance
The validity of physical and psychomotor tests is highest for simple tasks which utilize
these abilities in a nearly "pure" form. These skills often comprise a portion of the
underlying abilities hypothesized in construct validation approach to the development of
selection tests. Typical tests are the Purdue Pegboard and the Stromberg Dexterity
Test.
Perceptual tests - Visual and auditory abilities are critical to many jobs. Tests in these
areas are used both as absolute criteria and as performance predictors. Specific visual
abilities tested include acuity, color discrimination, and depth perception. Auditory tests
include monaural and binaural hearing loss and frequency range. Typical of this group

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 are the Snellen Visual Acuity Test and the Ortho-Rater Visual Test.
Job specific tests - Work sample tests and job specific tests examine knowledge and
abilities used on the job by requesting the applicant to perform a portion of the job under
standardized conditions. Driving, typing, and lifeguard tests fall in this category. So too
do qualification tests for pilot's licenses and in-basket tests for executives. Job specific
tests have a relatively high validity but are limited to areas where job relevant behaviors
can be easily sampled.
Personality tests - Personality tests used in business are primarily questionnaires which
ask the individual to identify the behavior most typical of his/her response in a given
situation. Assuming that the respondent is not trying to deceive, the principle of
behavioral consistency suggests that a similar behavioral pattern will be exhibited in the
future. A variety of behavioral models have been proposed, but most personality tests
attempt to predict dominance, aggression, compliance, social consideration,
impulsiveness, persistence, etc. Typical group administered personality tests include the
Edwards Personality Preference Schedule (EPPS) and the California Psychological
Inventory (CPI). The validity of personality tests is low for most jobs except those
where social interaction is critical, i.e. salespersons. Clinical personality tests such as the
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and projective tests such as the
Rorschach Ink Blot and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) are used on occasion
but have very low validity. The legality of non-job relevant questions on personality
tests is currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Interest Inventories - Interest inventories request the person being tested to indicate the
strength of interest or liking for job related activities, hobbies, recreations, situations,
etc. Patterns of interest exhibited by successful job incumbents are then matched against
the pattern elicited by the testee. The assumption is that individuals will like (and be
satisfied with) jobs where their interest pattern matches that of successful persons
already in the job. Interest tests are useful for predicting tenure and turnover. Since skill
or ability is not measured, no prediction can be made of job success. Typical interest
inventories are the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII) and the Kuder
Preference Test.
Faking of tests - Test faking is more likely in employment situations, where there is a
strong motivation to get the job, than in clinical situations. Since every candidate tries to
appear as good as possible, the effect of faking can be minimized by developing scoring
norms specifically for the job situation, rather than using clinical or national test
norms. Some tests include faking scores which identify typical response patterns of
fakers. In a sense, the successful faker is demonstrating a good knowledge of the
behavioral characteristics required for a job. If he/she can play the same role after
employment, chances for success are good. If you can fake sincerity, you've got it made.

9. BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
Biographical data - Biographical data (biodata) is personal, background, educational,
and occupational information about candidates secured from application forms or
Biographical Information Blanks (BIB). Additional sources of biodata are interviews,
references, educational transcripts, police and military records, and credit checks. An
extensive survey of the literature shows that biodata and tests are the two best
predictors of job performance. Biographical data from whatever source are subject to
the same legal restrictions as other selection criteria. The Uniform Guidelines on
Employee Selection prohibit discrimination on grounds of race, color, religion, sex, age,

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 or national origin. While it may be legal to collect personal information, it is illegal to
use this information for selection.
Application forms and BIBs - The application form requests factual personnel data
(name, telephone number, address), educational data (schools attended, graduation dates,
courses taken, degrees), employment data (past employers, positions held, salary,
duties), miscellaneous job related data (hobbies, languages, skills not shown elsewhere),
and references (job references, personal references, academic references). The BIB may
ask for similar data but usually requests additional detail. Both forms can be "scored" in
a manner similar a test and items or groups of items can be validated as predictors using
criterion validation techniques. If a group of responses, often called a dimension,
correlates with job success, than that group can be used as a predictor.
Dimensions of biodata information include:
1. Trade skills, determined by past jobs.
2. Family relationships.
3. Achievement motivation, job sequence.
4. Academic success, grades, awards.
5. Athletics, extracurricular activities.
6. Socioeconomic level, salary, income.
7. Personal and work related values.
8. Club and association membership.
Accuracy - Biodata can be faked. Experts differ on how much outright lying occurs
since, if the applicant is good at it, it never will be detected. Most applicants are truthful
on easily verifiable information, such as last employer or schools attended; however,
inaccuracies occur on items hard to verify. Salaries are often inflated, bonuses and extra
compensation being included in base pay. Job titles are inflated as well. Janitors become
"maintenance engineers". The hardest errors to detect are errors of omission. Jobs where
the employee would not receive a favorable recommendation vanish from the work
history. The same is true for periods of unemployment, jail terms, etc. A fair estimate is
that 75% of all applications contain some factual errors.
Verification of biodata - When possible, biodata is verified by reference checks,
recommendations, and if feasible, credit checks. References, as a whole, have very little
predictive validity. Negative references should be investigated thoroughly since few job
applicants will give references unless they are confident of the recommendation.
References primarily serve as a check on factual information in the biodata.

10. THE INTERVIEW

Uses and abuses of the interview - Interviews are one of the least valid and most used
techniques in personnel selection. Most job applicants are interviewed three times in the
selection process; at initial screening, during evaluation, and before a final decision to
hire is made. Judgments are made about specific aspects of the candidate personal and
occupational history, about personal and social compatibility with superiors and
coworkers, and about characteristics visible in the interview but illegal to determine by
other means (race, sex, age, ethnicity, foreign accent).
The interview is not a conversation - Both parties try to appear as desirable as possible
while trying to elicit information from the other that the other does not want to reveal.
The interviewer tries to ascertain the real "persona" of the candidate, the candidate's true

17
 goals, and why the candidate left the last job. In turn the candidate tries to persuade the
interviewer to reveal why the job is vacant, what the real advancement potential of a new
employee is, the "climate" of the organization, and the true economic facts surrounding
salary negotiations.

Interview format and process - Interviews can be entirely unstructured: "Tell me

about yourself." Semistructured: "Let's talk about what you learned on you past job."
Structured: "Please answer the following questions . . . " The more structured the
interview, the higher the interrater reliability. On the other hand, a highly structured
interview reveals little that could not be learned at lower cost through a well designed
application blank. The weighting given to information elicited in an interview is time
dependent. Information presented early tends to be weighed more heavily and influence
the perception of later information. It is best to present favorable information early.
Typically, the interviewer judges a candidate based on the early information, perhaps
during the first 5 or 10 minutes.
Applicant variables - Age, sex, race, attractiveness affect favorableness of the interview
outcome, although most interviewers base much of their rating on the perceived
competence of the candidate. Verbal and communications skills are probably the
dominating applicant variable in determining outcome.
Situational variables - The most significant situational variable is the contrast effect.
Applicants tend to be judges in comparison to the one who came before. If a good
candidate preceded the current candidate, the current candidate is judged poorer in
comparison and vice versa. Candidates seen early in the morning or very late in the day
also tend to be judged poorer. There are reports of a "Monday -Friday" effect which
works against candidates seen on those days.
Interviewer variables - Many interviewers have stereotypes of "ideal" candidates that
they use as their standard in judging actual candidates. If a real candidate possesses
characteristics similar to that of the stereotype, he/she fares better. Interviewer set
implies that an interviewer tends to have a disposition to evaluate all candidates with a
similar bias, either seeking negative information, or seeking positive information.
Training of interviewers - Training of interviewers can minimize errors in the rating of
candidates; particularly the halo effect, contrast effects, and attitudinal bias. There is
little evidence that training to reduce errors will influence final decisions about
candidates. It is unreasonable to expect that short term training will change well
established attitudes.

11. TRAINING IN BUSINESS

Nature of learning - Learning implies a change in behavior that occurs as the result of
repeated performances of a given act. After accounting for such factors as fatigue,
maturation, tissue change, etc. the resulting changes in performance are held to be due to
learning. Most learning in the business setting involves operant conditioning. In
operant conditioning, the probability of occurrence of a given behavior is increased by
following it with a "reward", a positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcements can be
anything the person desires or the cessation of something the person dislikes. Primary
reinforcements satisfy basic tissue needs, e.g. food, shelter, physical contact, sex, etc.
Higher order reinforcements are anything the individual has learned to associate with
primary reinforcers, e.g money, praise, shame, etc. Learning is considered an

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 intervening variable, that is a mathematical relationship describing the change in
behavior due to a series of reinforced (learning) trials.
Progress of learning - Generally most learning occurs during the earliest trials. Less and
less is learned in succeeding trials or training sessions. After a long period of training it
tales many hours of practice for marginal improvements in performance. In learning a
sport, golf or tennis, for example, an individual can learn to play a passable game in a
dozen or so sessions. To play well takes several years. To play at the professional level
takes a lifetime of dedication. Individuals rarely show a smooth relationship between
proficiency and trials. In learning a complex task, there occur periods when no apparent
improvement occurs. These plateaus last until there is some reorganization of the
individual's approach to the problem. The implication of the non-linear relationship
between learning time and proficiency is that jobs and prodedures should be designed to
require levels of skill obtainable early in the course of learning. (i.e. a 75% skill level
may be obtainable in half the time of a 90% skill level.)
Factors affecting the rate of learning:
1. Knowledge of results (or feedback) - the more timely and direct the knowledge, the
faster the learning.
2. Massed vs. distributed practice - distributed practice generally better for
learning and retention of material.
3. Quickness of reinforcement - the more closely reinforcement is associated with
desired act, the faster the learning.
4. Meaningfulness - generally, the more meaningful the material to the learner, the
faster the learning.
Personnel training - In business training is given in one or more of the following
categories:
Orientation training - information about general company policies, activities, and
factors extrinsic to the job. Serves to socialize new employee within context of the
company and to relieve initial anxieties.
Task (or job) training - sometimes called skills training, serves to convey knowledge of
job related skills. Task training also upgrades skills when new equipment or procedures
are introduced.
Attitude training - serves to influence employee attitudes with regard to company or
task.
Management development - upgrading of management skills, attitudes, etc. May
combine skills, attitude, and human relations training.
Location of training - where training takes place is largely determined by the number of
people to be trained and the risks, both economic and physical, of inserting semi-trained
personnel into the work flow. Training can take place:
On the job (OJT) - training that occurs while the individual is performing job tasks.
Training is usually provided by a co-worker or direct supervisor. It is efficient if small
numbers are to be trained and the semi-trained worker does not pose and undue risk to
himself or others. OJT has a negligible start-up cost but is costly if large numbers are to
be trained because of the loss in productivity of the trainer and the low productivity of
the trainee.

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 Off the job - training which occurs in an off line situation, generally in a formalized or
school setting. Designated trainers (teachers) train new workers using specialized
training materials. May be used for all forms of training including management
development. Off the job training has a high start-up cost but becomes efficient when
large numbers are to be trained. The off the job training location may be outside the
control of the organization (i.e. colleges).
Vestibule training - is an archaic name for off line training done in a situation which
simulates and gradually leads into on line work. It is usually employed when inserting a
semi-trained worker into the work situation would entail an economic or practical risk
by slowing down production or exposing other workers to danger. The "vestibule"
mimics the work situation but work is performed at a slower pace in a more regulated
manner. Vestibule training is related to simulation, with the difference that the vestibule
trained worker is doing real work while simulation mimics work.
Determination of training requirements - training requirements are determined by
subtracting the measured capabilities of new personnel from the comprehensive listing
of required knowledge, information, and skills for a specific position given in the job
description. The difference, the required knowledge, information and skills, that the new
worker does not possess, constitute the training requirement.
Training methods - the following training methods are in common use:
Lecture - high flexibility, relatively fixed cost, low feedback.
Seminar (small lecture) - highest flexibility, high cost per person, good feedback. Best
for groups <20.
Audio-visual methods, TV - moderate flexibility, no feedback, good for complex
material. Best for large groups.
Simulation - best for learning equipment operating skills where cost or danger of real
equipment is a factor.
Participation (conference, role playing) - best where human relations skills are taught.
Very costly.
Case method - good where few general rules can be directly applied. Builds practical
experience off the job.
Games (computer simulation) - somewhat lifelike decision simulation with speeded
time scale. Quick feedback.
Programmed instruction - material divided into small units, self paced learning,
usually mediated by computer. Best where exact material must be learned. Economical
once material is prepared for presentation.

12. THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

Nature of motivation - Motivation is an internal force within an organism which impels
it to action. It is generally regarded as an intervening variable, impossible to observe
directly but inferred from an observation of the conditions antecedent and subsequent to
behavior. In animals motivation is held to result from unsatisfied tissue needs (hunger,
thirst, sex, etc.), the strength of the motivation being roughly proportional to the time of
deprivation. In humans, living in civilized societies, motives resulting from tissue needs
(primary needs) are generally satisfied by social institutions (the family, mates, etc.).
Motives in humans are largely attributed to secondary or higher order needs, which
are attached to primary needs in childhood by a process of informal classical and
instrumental conditioning. Since child rearing and socialization processes differ between
cultures, adult motivational patterns may reveal cultural differences as well as

20
 differences attributed to the individual's unique hereditary and environmental factors.
Motivation in business - Human performance depends both on ability and motivation.
i.e. Performance = Ability x Motivation. Since it is possible to select and train
individuals with the requisite ability, assuring performance requires maintaining
adequate motivation.
Concept of the "implicit bargain" - An essential part of management is the
establishment of an implicit bargain with workers that states "If you give me your time
and effort, I will give you what you desire." Limits to the bargain are imposed by
economic, ethical, and legal considerations, of course, but the best bargain can be struck
by management offering the worker what he/she desires most. Thus one worker may
desire money, another prestige, another security, another recognition. Striking a bargain
on an individual basis, sometimes known as the "Different strokes for different folks"
theory is impractical if more than six or seven workers are to be motivated. Effective
bargain making is dependent on the uncovering of a single approach to need satisfaction
which can be offered to all workers. The search for the "common denominator of
desire" is the driving force behind motivational research in business.
Need theories in motivation - These theories suggest that human motivation is
dependent on the satisfaction of needs, either rational or emotional. Knowledge of these
needs provides management with information necessary to motivate.
Rational need theories - are based primarily on the classical philosophy of Hedonism,
rational need theories suggest that the mainspring of human activity is a self interested
desire to seek comfort and pleasure and avoid discomfort and pain. The search for
satisfaction arises out of conscious purpose. It is assumed that man is a rational being
who knows what he wants and is responsible for his actions. The concept of economic
man (man works to maximize wages and avoid getting fired) is at the base of almost all
motivationally oriented mechanisms (wage policies, advancement policies, etc.) in the
business world. The theory is attractive to business because it prescribes a single
approach to motivation, the greater the economic reward, the greater the effort. The
major liability of the theory is the evidence that man does not always act to maximize
economic reward. Economic incentives appear to have a short term effect on influencing
effort. Regardless of theoretical merit, this is the approach to motivation
overwhelmingly adopted in practice!
Expectancy theory - is a modification of the rational approach, proposed by Vroom,
that assumes that workers are decision makers that choose among various courses of
action by selecting the one that offers the greatest return. The choice is based on the
attractiveness or valence of a particular outcome, the instrumentality or correlation
between performance and outcome, and the expectancy or belief that a specific behavior
will result in the outcome. When faced with the opportunity for a number of possible
behaviors, the individual makes a rational choice. Management motivates workers by
convincing them that a desired behavior will have a high expectation of resulting in a
valued or high valence outcome. The theory is interesting but too complex for practical
use. Little evidence supports such rational choice.
Emotional or instinctive theories - suggest that behavior stems from inborn tendencies
not always under the control of the individual. Man may not understand the causes of
behavior. Instincts include such factors as search for security, sex, survival, and have
been expanded to include emotional needs as well. The theory assumes that behavior is
directed by unconscious drives manifested in terms of emotional promptings to action.
The concept of emotional man assumes that man can be motivated by offering a social

21
 environment which satisfies needs for "security", "love", "belongingness", etc. The basic
problem in the use of these theories in business is the cataloging of social and instinctive
needs and the manipulation of the work situation to maximize the worker's emotional
return. The practical manifestation of the theory are social programs and benefits
packages aimed at security, human relations, etc. Many management policies such as
employee counseling, participative management, etc. are emotionally directed. The main
liability of this approach is the inability to determine unconscious needs and provide
suitable means of satisfying those needs. In addition, management tends to single out
those emotional areas most convenient to satisfy rather than those relevant to deep
seated needs. It is more likely to provide a health insurance program or sponsor a
company picnic than permit worker participation in company planning or control of
work activities. Often deficits in emotional satisfaction are paid for by higher economic
rewards (combining two theories).
Motivational hierarchy theories - assume that both physical and emotional needs are
important in motivating behavior. Needs can be ranked on a scale and the most
important needs must be satisfied before the others become influential. The individual
must satisfy physical needs before social needs become important, social needs before
egoistic needs become important. Needs may act in concert, any given behavior may
result from the interaction of several needs. The most well known of the hierarchy
theories was proposed by Maslow. He suggested that needs are ranked in order with
physiological needs being the most basic, followed by safety, social, esteem, and self
actualization needs. Physical and safety needs require constant external satisfaction and
relate to economic or hedonistic theories of motivation. Social and egoistic needs tend to
be self satisfying and are related to emotional need theories. Lower levels of need must
be satisfied before higher levels become operative. The basic strategy of employing this
theory is to find the need level relevant to the individual and attempt to develop a reward
package to satisfy those needs, allowing for change as lower level needs are replaced by
higher level needs over time. An alternative theory developed by Alderfer combines
Maslow's 5 levels of need into three groups. These are existence needs (physical,
safety), relatedness needs (social, and some esteem), and growth needs (esteem, self
actualization). This has come to be known as the ERG theory.
Two-factor motivational need theories - assume that the factors producing job
satisfaction and motivation are separate and distinct from those producing job
dissatisfaction. The opposite of job satisfaction is not dissatisfaction but is simply no job
satisfaction. Individuals are motivated on the job by those factors which satisfy their
egoistic and individualistic needs (achievement, recognition, responsibility,
advancement, etc.). They are dissatisfied by factors which fail to satisfy social and
security needs (company policy, salary, work conditions, relations with supervisors,
etc.). Decreasing the dissatisfyers does not produce satisfaction, merely an absence of
dissatisfaction. Satisfaction can be produced by restructuring the job to permit the
worker to exercise greater responsibility, provide more opportunity for recognition and
advancement, and provide opportunity for growth and learning. The most well known
proponent of two-factor theory is Herzberg. It is a theory beloved by management
practitioners because of its prescriptive nature. It tells a manager exactly what to do in a
given situation. Although it may not always work, it relieves the anxiety of indecision.
Balance theories of motivation - These theories attribute motivation to an effort to
achieve balance between an individual's beliefs and his experiences in life. Any
inconsistency between beliefs and experience cause tension which the individual
attempts to resolve. The tension serves as the source of motivation which induces efforts
to restore balance between beliefs and experience. The best known general balance
theory is Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance. It rarely stands alone as a

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 motivation theory but is used as an explanatory concept in other theories. Equity theory
- as proposed by Adams, assumes that outcome and input in a work situation should be
equitable. If an individual believes that he/she is appropriately compensated for the
effort expended in a job, then the situation is equitable. If the person feels underpayed, a
state of dissatisfaction occurs and the individual attempts to restore balance by
improving the outcome/input ratio, either by trying to increase compensation or by
reducing effort. If the person feels overpayed, the dissatisfaction is resolved by bringing
effort into accord with pay or changing the belief to justify the pay.

13. JOB SATISFACTION

Job satisfaction - Generally viewed as the overall attitude toward a job, composed of the
individual attitudes that workers hold regarding various aspects of the work itself, work
situation, supervisors, co-workers, company policy, etc. It is a subject of great interest to
managers and behavioral scientists alike. Managers assume that a satisfied worker is
productive and measures of satisfaction reflect the overall emotional health of an
organization. Behavioral scientists, utilizing effective techniques for attitude
measurement, treat job satisfaction as a fertile research area.
Dimensions of job satisfaction - Locke classified various events or conditions (work and
work related situations) and agents (people) that are considered relevant to job
satisfaction. Workers develop attitudes about these aspects of the job.
Events or conditions:
1.Work - nature of the work itself, its intrinsic
interest, opportunity for learning, difficulty,
amount, chances for success, control over
work flow, etc.
2. Rewards - pay, promotion, recognition.
3. Context of work - working conditions
including hours, equipment, environment,
quality of work space, location; benefits,
pensions, insurance, vacations, etc.
Agents:
1. Self - values, skills, abilities.
2. Others in company - supervisors style and
influence, technical skills, administrative
skills; co-workers competence, friendliness,
helpfulness, technical skill, etc.
3. Others outside company - customers;
family members; others.
Evaluation of job related attitudes - The composite attitude of job satisfaction is formed
by evaluating individual attitudes about job dimensions. A variety of approaches to the
evaluation process have been suggested. It is likely that any or all of them can be used.
These are:
Comparison processes - The individual compares his/her view of each dimension with
that of other individuals on similar jobs. Pay, for example, is evaluated in comparison to
how much someone else makes. Thus a ditch digger who makes $10 per hour is satisfied
if the digger in the next ditch makes only $8 per hour, while a baseball player who
makes three million a year is dissatisfied if another player with equivalent statistics

23
 makes four million.
Instrumentality theory - The individual judges each aspect of the job by how well it
leads to valued outcomes. Thus if a job provides the opportunity for advancement it is
considered good, regardless of how bad the conditions are in reality. The medical intern
working 80 hour weeks values his/her position because it leads to a desirable life style as
a high earning specialist. Conversely the worker in a dead end position may be
dissatisfied in spite of good conditions.
Social influence - The attitudes of others, either co-workers, family or friends influence
the judgment of the job. If others are impressed, envious, etc. a job is likely to be judged
desirable. There is a fairly stable popular opinion about the social influence and prestige
of various jobs (Supreme Court Justice at the top, garbage man near the bottom) that is
only roughly related to pay and working conditions. As an example, most corporate
lawyers have an income many times that of a Federal Judge, yet most would accept a
judgeship if it was offered because of the social influence and prestige.
Job satisfaction and work behavior - There is little evidence that job satisfaction
influences work behavior except in two areas. Turnover correlates negatively with
satisfaction. Low satisfaction means high turnover since dissatisfied workers are likely
to take the first opportunity to switch jobs. Absenteeism correlates with job satisfaction
but the relationship is complex. Dissatisfied workers are likely to be absent a lot, but so
are very satisfied workers. Indeed, the possibility of unpenalized absences may be a
cause for job satisfaction.

14. LEADERSHIP
Definition of leadership - Leaders are individuals who influence group members in task
relevant activities. To exert this influence, a leader performs all or most of the following
functions: planning group activities, coordinating group actions, directing behavior,
allocating resources, and evaluating results. Individuals are leaders to the extent that
they can actually influence the behavior of others. Popularly, the success or failure of an
organization is attributed to its leader.
Types of leaders - Leaders are classified according to the method by which they obtain
their position.
Nominal leaders - are leaders in name only. They obtain their position through a formal
or traditional process but have little actual authority conferred on them by the
organization. The Queen of England is a nominal leader, the figurehead of the British
Empire. Nominal leaders can control the actions of others but they do so through
influence and example since they cannot normally use the power of the organization to
reward and punish behavior.
Appointed leaders - achieve power through a formal process (election, appointment,
succession) which places some or all of the control mechanisms of the organization in
their hands. Examples are: the U.S. President, military officers, business CEOs, college
professors. By using the power of the organization to reward or punish behavior,
appointed leaders can influence behavior is a direct fashion. The strength of this control
is largely a function of the invested power.
Emergent leaders - are individuals who are perceived by followers as having leadership
characteristics through force of personality, superior knowledge, and/or physical
presence. Power of emergent leaders is a function of the belief of followers that their

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 personal well being depends on obeying the leader's requests. Examples are: religious
and cult leaders (Joan of Arc), maverick political leaders (Adolph Hitler), leaders of
street gangs, and occasional military leaders. After gaining sufficient strength, emergent
leaders often consolidate their position by seizing control of organizational power and
behave as appointed leaders.
Leader effectiveness - Effectiveness is measured by assessing leader responsibility for
the group achieving its objectives. Effectiveness is evaluated against a variety of criteria.
Using a baseball manager as an example of an appointed leader, the following criteria
would apply:
Performance of work group - Objective measures of overall team success. Team
standing in league.
Judgment by superiors - Team owner thinks coach does an effective job regardless
of won/lost record.
Judgment by peers - Other managers in league asked for opinion. Voted "manager of
year" by peers.
Judgment by subordinates - Players judge on basis of leadership, fairness, resource
allocation, etc.
Research approaches to leadership - Several approaches to the study of leadership have
been offered. Organizations are studied to determine formal relations of leaders and
followers. The traits of leaders themselves are examined to isolate common factors.
Behaviors characteristic of leaders are cataloged for use in training future leaders.
Position or organizational theories - suggest that leadership resides in the position.
Every organization has prescribed behaviors for incumbent leaders and for followers.
The leader induces compliance by invoking the authority of the organization. Roles are
thus defined by the structure of the organization. Research is directed toward the
appropriate specification of leader and follower responsibility, defining the leadership
position in such a way as to insure maximum organizational effectiveness. This
approach assumes that leadership is insensitive to the characteristics of the individual
occupying a specific position. It is the position which defines the behavior. Static
and/or stable organizations have a vested interest in such theories since such
organization outlive many changes in personnel. Specific examples are governmental
and bureaucratic organizations, military organizations, formal religious organizations.
Research on position and organizational theories is usually performed by political
scientists and organizational theorists.
Person and trait theories - suggest that personal characteristics or traits of the leader,
regardless of how he/she achieves the position, induce followers to follow. Research
efforts are directed to uncovering the traits effective in a leadership role. The approach
assumes that a leader is "born" with specific traits, hence training efforts are
considered fruitless and attention is directed toward selection. The person approach is
currently unpopular in egalitarian societies since it smacks of elitism. It is often
discouraged by social scientists and businessmen who have a vested interest in believing
that leadership can be taught. To date, the research evidence on person and trait theories
suggests a weak relationship between personal characteristics and leadership. Ghiselli
and Campbell suggest that specific traits may appear in specific situations. Further, the
true relationship may have been masked by an averaging effect since most studies pool
leaders working in a variety of situations in defining traits. (i.e. like averaging the
physical characteristics of jockeys, basketball players, and skeet shooters in a search for
a typical athlete.) Research on trait theories is usually performed by developmental,
clinical, and personnel psychologists whose professional focus is on the individual.

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Process and behavioral theories - assume that leaders lead by effectively performing
specific behaviors relating to task organization, personal relations, motivation,
direction, and resource allocation. If these behaviors can be identified, they can be
taught. The process approach suggests that the leader's role is one of situational
diagnosis, followed by application of a learned appropriate behavior. The leader is, in
effect, an actor playing the "role" of leader. It makes little difference if the individual is
"born" to play the role or learns it through experience. (General Omar Bradley, who
served with General George Patton in WW II, said that actor George C. Scott played a
more impressive General Patton, in the movie "Patton", than the general was in real life.)
Research is directed both toward situational diagnosis and identification of specific
trainable behaviors. Most current efforts in leadership research follow the process
approach. Behavioral theories are further divided into several groups:
Behavior dimension theories - suggest that leaders can orient their behavior into
employee centered or task centered dimensions. Most prominent of these theories is the
one proposed by Fleishman and Hemphill. Based on a Leader Opinion Questionnaire,
leader behavior was characterized as initiating structure (task oriented) or considerate
(employee oriented). In the blue collar industries studied by Fleishman, considerate
leaders proved the most effective. A similar approach, the Managerial Grid, was offered
by Blake and Mouton. On this grid, managers were rated on a scale of 1 to 9 on both
their concern for people and their concern for production. The best managers had high
ratings on both scales.
Situational moderator theories - place a heavy emphasis on diagnosis of the nature of
the situation in specifying appropriate leader behaviors. Leaders must evaluate the needs
and capabilities of their subordinates, the structure of the situation, and, in some
theories, their own leadership style, in choosing a leadership strategy.
Three influential theories of this type are:
1. Contingency theory offered by Fiedler defines the favorableness of a situation in
terms of the leader-member relations, the task structure, and the leader position power
(authority to enforce decisions). If all are high, the situation is deemed favorable, if low,
unfavorable. Fiedler's research suggests that a task oriented leader outperforms a people
oriented leader in very favorable or unfavorable situations, but is outperformed by the
people oriented leader in average situations.
2. Distribution of decision making is held to be the most important aspect of leadership
by Vroom and Yetton. A leader must choose a decision making strategy that produces
both high quality decisions and generates motivation to work toward the chosen course
of action. The theory offers guides to the diagnosis of work situations and
recommends leadership strategies ranging from the authoritarian (boss centered) to
the participative (subordinate centered).
3. The path-goal theory of House and Mitchell suggests that a leader must modify
his/her behavior to suit the individual needs of subordinates. They identified four styles
of leader behavior; directive, supportive, achievement oriented, and participative which
influence subordinate motivation. The situation is defined by the leader's freedom to
assign tasks and give rewards and by the subordinate's individual characteristics and
needs. Leadership effectiveness involves matching the proper style with the task
requirements and the individual needs of the subordinates so that the subordinates will
be motivated to accomplish the group goals.
Leadership theory and practice - Managers assigned the task of choosing or developing

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 leaders in their own organizations do not subscribe wholeheartedly to any of the above
theories. In most instances potential leaders are selected from the pools of candidates
who have exhibited leadership talents during their formative years. Biodata is scanned
for election to school office, leadership in team sports, and participation in public
exposure activities (debate, drama). The leadership area is narrowly defined (business,
military, church) and the behaviors specific to success in those areas are studied for
trainable components. The organization is configured to endow leaders with suitable
position power to enforce their decisions, but the decisions themselves are limited by the
narrow scope of the defined area. In this sense, leadership can be taught. In the broader
social environment, however, the situational range is so great, the structure so imprecise,
and the needs of potential subordinates so varied, that no general theory of leadership
has proven effective. Leaders emerge, as they have always done, driven by internal
forces that are yet unknown.

15. ERGONOMICS (HUMAN FACTORS)

Ergonomics - is the sub-specialty of applied psychology that applies information about
human behavior, abilities, limitations, and other characteristics to the design and use of
tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs, and environments for productive, safe,
comfortable, and effective human use. It has two major objectives. The first is to
enhance the effectiveness and efficiency with which work and other activities are carried
out. Included would be convenience of use, reduced errors, and increased productivity.
The second objective is to enhance desirable human values such as increased safety,
reduced fatigue and stress, increased comfort, greater acceptance, increased job
satisfaction, and improved quality of life. The terms "human factors" or "human
engineering" are synonymous with ergonomics in the U. S.
The systems concept - The basic concept of ergonomics is the human-machine system.
Such a system is an interacting combination of people and machines, possibly connected
by a network of communications, intended to accomplish a specific purpose. The
purpose might be transportation, health care, air defense, education, business, etc. Most
systems are adaptive using feedback of results to modify the relationship of humans and
machines to improve performance. Typically systems get information or raw materials
through an input subsystem; process the information (or raw materials); and output the
processed information or materials. In the ergonomic sense, business can be considered a
closed loop information and materials processing system whose primary purpose is to
maximize profits.
Human role in systems - Historically human-machine systems improved performance by
emphasizing technology since labor intensive processes made use of a readily available
labor supply of easily trainable quality. Humans were adapted to machines by selection
and training. Current trends to increased automaticity and lessened human involvement
are driven by efforts to reduce labor costs, increased system complexity requiring raised
selection and training standards, decreased quality labor supply because of increased
competitive opportunity, cost increasing regulations, foreign competition. Humans
perform three basic roles (activities) in systems. These are:
Executive role: Decision making function essential to allocation of system resources
and administrative activities. Examples are analysis of data, alternative routings of
communications or transport, design functions, management, medical diagnosis, writing
a report. In the Executive role, the human decides upon a course of action to be taken.
Research in this area explores ways in which humans interpret and process information
and make decisions.

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 Administrative role: Performs specific functions and controls equipment to accomplish
desired ends. Examples are data input, vehicle control, computer operation, taking a
temperature, typing a report. In the Administrative role, the human performs an act,
generally physical or sensory in nature, which controls or assists the system in meeting
its goals. Research in this areas studies best ways of presenting information to humans
through displays and best ways of transmitting information from humans to machines
through controls. Most "knob and dial" research in ergonomics is directed toward
facilitating the administrative role.
Support (maintenance) role: Maintenance of the system's readiness to function.
Examples are the repair of equipments, supply of raw materials and resources, financing,
personnel support. Unscheduled operations involving both decision and action directed
toward system readiness. In the Support role, the human maintains the system's
function. Research centers on strategies for diagnosis and identification of equipment
(and human) malfunction.
Allocation of system functions - Most systems tasks can be performed by people or by
machines. The basic objective of function allocation is the optimization of system
objectives while staying within the parameters of cost, efficiency, safety, availability,
reliability, set by the environment within which the system must operate. Some function
allocations are set by policy, i.e.only the doctor can prescribe drugs, some by the
unavailability of hardware for specific tasks, i.e. no reasonably priced computer can
interpret human speech. Machines and humans differ in capabilities as follows:
Human superiority: (areas in which humans outperform machines)
Sensation of low levels of stimuli, vision, taste, complex sound within human
spectral limits.
Pattern recognition including vision and speech interpretation. Detection of stimuli
in noise.
Storage of large amounts of imprecise nformation in a small volume. Recall of
pertinent information.
Utilize experience in decision making.
Unprogrammed action in emergencies.
Reason inductively, generalizing from observations. Solve novel problems. Think
creatively.
Adapt physical response to wide variations in operational requirements. Maintain
mobility in rugged terrain.
Reliable performance for long periods. (But poor monitoring behavior.)
Machine superiority: (areas in which machines outperform humans)
Wide sensory spectral range. Rapid response to input signals. Measure sensation
with extreme accuracy.
Reason deductively. Logical decision making. (But poor at subjective evaluations
and estimates.)
Monitor prespecified events. (Cannot deal with unspecified events.) Perform
multiple activities simultaneously.
Store and retrieve coded information in
large quantities. Process data accurately.
Exert considerable physical force in controlled manner. Perform repetitive
activities reliability. Fatigue resistant.
Survive in extreme environments if properly designed. Maintain unvarying
performance over time.

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 Human/machine trade-offs: The decision between fully automatic, mixed, and manual
allocation depends on:

Capabilities - sophistication of equipment,

human abilities, available personnel, training
time, etc.
Cost - relative equipment and labor costs, cost
of capital, accounting methods, etc.
Convenience - surplus capacity of equipment
or personnel, design effort, use of available
facilities, etc.
Constraints - legal requirements, union contracts, social requirements, safety,
environment, etc.
Social values - worker job satisfaction, psychological needs, ethical standards,
prestige, etc.
Considerations in system design - The successful design of equipment for human use
requires consideration of mobility and muscle strength, sensory capabilities, intellectual
abilities, training requirements, body dimensions, and the effects of the working
environment on overall performance. At first approximation, it is useful to think of the
human as another system component, with specific limits and capabilities, subject to
environmental stress and overload. By designing the human-machine system within the
limits of this component, we can assure overall system effectiveness. Design takes place
in three distinct phases:
Study phase: Establishment of system requirements and constraints.
1. Determine job which human-machine system must perform.
2. Determine the overall requirements and restrictions to which the design must
conform.
3. Determine the operating conditions of the human-machine system.
4. Establish the relationships between the new design and existing equipments.
5. Specify the functions which must be performed by the human-machine system.
Design phase: Choose an approach to human-machine system design.
6. Allocate functions between human and machine.
7. Establish performance requirements for system operation.
8. Specify required controls and displays for transmitting information
between human and machine.
9. Lay out the operator's work space and working environment.
10.Prepare operating procedures and associated training materials.
Evaluation phase: Compare results of design effort with constraints and requirements.
11.Evaluate operator performance on a prototype of the system and redesign if
necessary.
Aids to human-machine system design and evaluation - Accurate and precise
information exists about human body dimensions, physical strength, sensory capability,
intelligence, and other measurable aspects of human performance. From this data,
handbooks have been prepared describing appropriate controls, displays, and
environmental conditions necessary to assure best performance under a variety of

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 conditions. The factors to be considered in equipment design are:
1. The type, speed and accuracy of required operator performance.
2. The frequency and extent of use of each individual display and control.
3. The criticality of each display and control with respect to equipment function.
4. The sequence of control use.
5. The standardization requirements for minimum maintenance costs and maximum
flexibility of use.
6. Allowable system down time for repair and maintenance.
7. Number and type of personnel using the equipment.
8. Physical size, strength, and other characteristics of expected operators.
9. Safety. OSHA requirements.
10. Environmental control.
11. Cost and scheduling.
Ergonomics and human error - Human error has been established as the major cause of
system failure and/or accidents. Human error is any deviation from a previously
established, required, or expected standard of human performance that results in an
unwanted state of events (time delay, difficulty, problem, incident, malfunction,
accident, or failure). Payne and Altman (1962) proposed that errors be characterized in
terms of the "behavioral components" that reflect the basic types of human behavior that
generates them. Input behaviors are errors of sensory or perceptual input. Mediation
behaviors are decision or information processing errors, including lack of information or
training. Output errors are errors in making physical responses. The input-mediation-
output model of this classification system corresponds to a common sequence of
psychological functions that are basic to all behavior. Human error occurs when any
element in this chain of events is broken such as failure to perceive a stimulus, inability
to discriminate among various stimuli, misinterpretation of the meaning of stimuli, not
knowing what response to make to a particular stimulus, physical inability to make a
required response, and responding out of sequence. Identifying the source of errors in
terms of the input-mediation-output behaviors permits direct access to the literature of
human performance.
Situational and individual variables - It is frequently difficult to isolate the real causes
of specific errors even though the actual behaviors have been observed. It is reasonable
to hypothesize that all errors should be attributed to either situational variables,
individual variables, or a combination of both. Broadly speaking, situational variables
can be lumped into categories involving task characteristics, equipment characteristics,
organizational structure and procedures, and environment. They are, to a large extent,
specific to each situation, but in general they may be related to the assigned duties,
equipment used, time of the day, work conditions, ambient environment, etc. Individual
variables involve age, perceptual skills, intelligence, physical skills, health, education,
experience, personality, and aptitudes. Both types of variables mediate human
performance. The situational variables provide a framework within which the individual
variables operate. In effect both sets of variables influence the probabilities of successful
or faulty performance.

16. INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS

Background of Safety Movement - Industrial safety pre-1900's was almost nonexistent.
There were no workman's compensation laws, most accidents being handled under
"common law". Injured employees had to sue for recompense. No compensation was
available if the accident had any employee contribution. Since the employee knew the

30
 hazards before injury, there was no employer negligence. In USA, Wisconsin passed first
no fault workman's comp. law in 1911. The Canadian Workman's Compensation Act
(1914) followed. The USSR adopted Labor Protection articles in their Constitution
(1921). Mgt. decisions to minimize payments by reducing accidents led to the organized
industrial safety movement. The death rate dropped by 31% from 1912 to 1933 as a result
of industry efforts. H.W. Heinrich's book "Industrial Accident Prevention" (1931)
suggested that the bulk of accidents are human caused. It changed the emphasis from
engineering to human related solutions. Accidents/million hours dropped from 15.2 in
1931 to 6.87 in 1980. The rate has been asymptotic since 1960, indicating that present
approaches to accident resuction have reached the point of diminishing returns.
Research emphasis on "objective" aspects of accident - Research on physical hazard
minimization, injury attenuation, proper work procedures, etc. has been the response to
legislative prompting, e.g. U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act, 1970; USSR Basic
Principles of Labor Law, 1921; British Industrial Health Act, 1933; Indian Factories Act,
1948. Declining payoff of objective component research shifted emphasis from
situational (workplace) to individual (worker) characteristics, subjective and attitudinal
areas (personality, risk tolerant behavior, perceived reward policy), personal history
factors. Studies of Mgt. safety policy and its implementation are increasing.
Accident Statistics and Costs - Accidents have been called the "twentieth century
disease". They are the leading cause of death in developed countries between ages of 1
and 30. They are also the leading cause of military casualty (i.e. more accident casualties
than combat casualties). Most accident statistics define a ratio (injuries per period of
exposure), but the definition of injury is imprecise. Injuries have been defined as any
injury, any lost time injury, an injury with > 24 hr. lost time, an indury with > 72 hour
lost time, hospitalization, or death. Periods of exposure are similarly loosely defined.
They may be man-hours worked, 1,000,000 man-hours worked, man-years worked,
100,000 man-years worked, etc. Transportation accidents utilize hours of exposure,
distance travelled, etc. Often used statistics are:
Frequency rate = disabling injuries x 1,000,000 / employee hours worked.
Severity rate = days lost x 1,000,000 / employee hours worked.
Average lost time = Severity rate / Frequency rate.
Definition of Accidents - The dictionary definition is an "event without apparent cause,
unexpected event, unintentional act, chance mishap". Most definitions contain elements
of unpredictability or undesirability.
Operational definition - "An accident may be defined as that class of events which
involves low level of expectedness, avoidability, and intention. Accidents possess high
unexpectedness, low avoidability, low intention." Suchman (1961) Generally we define
as accidents only events of above class which result in physical injury to persons or
property. Common usage lumps situations in which intentional or negligent acts cause
harm in the class of accidents (although courts may find differently).

Concept of "cause" - Cause is a legal rather than scientific concept, essential for
attributing blame or damages. Hume (1739) stated "We are never able, in a single
instance, to discover any power or necessary connection, any quality to bind the effect to
the cause and render one an infallible consequence of the other. We only find that one
does actually, in fact, follow the other." Causation implies high probability of events
occurring in specific sequence, i.e. "smoking gun" theory. Typical concept of accident
(Heinrich axiom) "The occurrence of an injury invariably results from a sequence of

31
 factors, the last being the accident itself. The accident is in turn invariably caused or
permitted directly by the unsafe act of a person and/or a mechanical or physical hazard."
Accident investigators and boards of inquiry search for "proximate" causes, the last
identifiable event before the accident, in order to establish culpability.

Common Accident Measures - Data is required for accounting of accidents, investigating

accident antecedents, accident prevention programs, cost allocation, research. Typical
measures are: (in declining order of reliability)
Official statistics - Fatalities, disability, medical care, clinic visits, lost time (all post
accident measures).
Unofficial statistics - Mishaps, unsafe acts, unsafe conditions, errors, critical incidents
(all "accident like" events)
Accident Research Techniques: -
Statistical approach: data analysis of official records. Examples: OSHA reports, BLS
Accident reports, Nat. Safety Council, ILO reports, Norske Veritas safety reports, etc.
Epidemiological approach: Research team makes detailed medical and psychological
investigation of each incident. Associated variables in subject and environment studied
for relation to accidents. Examples: FAA accident investigations, Marine accident
investigations.
Laboratory-field experiment: precise study of accident related hypotheses under
controlled conditions. Practical limit restricts studies. i.e. no injury or excessive costs.
Examples: Crash testing of automobiles, overload testing of industrial equipment.
Inappropriate experimentation can lead to disaster (e.g. Chernobyl).
Occupational simulation: "model" developed of industrial system with specific pre-
accident conditions applied to predict future consequences. Simulation can be
mathematical, a laboratory mockup, or a combination. Example: Driving simulation,
Grenoble tanker simulation, aviation and space flight simulation.

Conceptual Models and Theories of the Accident Process

Descriptive Models -
Chain of events: temporal sequence of events which culminate in injury or accident.
Heinrich (1931), Ramsey (1978), Thorndike (1951). Each accident has a different causal
chain, the only common element being the undesirable injury or damage. Antecedent
events are usually common and ordinarily do not lead to accident, however some
particular combination turns a safe act into an unsafe act. Inherent assumption of many
factors influencing accidents. No single key or "cause" other than common human factor.
Accident = f(X1, X2, X3 . . .Xn).
Epidemiological model: Attempt to systemize chain of events model using
epidemiological techniques of looking for common elements of "host" (accident victim),
"agent" (injury source), and "environment" (workplace and procedures). Gordon (1949),
McFarland (1965) Statistical analysis and interview techniques to determine attributes of
factors. Quite useful for study and classification of transportation accidents and industrial
accidents; but, not too helpful in analysing "why" accidents happen.

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Behavioral models - Behavioral models focus attention on particular aspects of the
human, and as such are useful, but to achieve a full understanding of the accident process,
they must be used in conjunction with a more global approach. Some behavioral models
proposed are:

Human error model: Theory proposes that most accidents can be traced to an erroneous
human act. Peters (1962) operationally defines human error as any deviation from a
required standard of human performance that results in an unwanted state of events
(delay, malfunction, difficulty, accident, etc.). Several workers classify human behaviors
in terms of input components, mediation components, and output components and
suggest that the omission, insertion, sequencing, and quality of performance of these
behaviors are accident antecedent factors. Rook (1962), Payne and Altman (1962). The
model is useful primarily because psychological literature is organized in the way
proposed. Accident investigations rarely present information which can be analysed in
terms of specific and discrete human acts.
Decision models: Model proposes that most accidents result from faulty decisions rather
than failures in perception or action. In every sequence of events leading to an accident,
the individual must make a series of decisions about perceptions, actions, and the
consequences of those actions. Whenever a decision must be made in the presence of
danger a degree of risk enters. Factors affecting risk are the amount of uncertainty of
outcome and the absolute danger of the situation. The theory suggests that different
persons at different times will take higher risks and be more liable to accidents. Risk
taking has been shown to be a significant factor in industrial accidents. By appropriate
personnel selection, training, and behavior modification techniques, accidents may be
reduced. Fell (1976), Zeitlin (1976), Christensen (1980)
Accident Proneness model: proposes a group of persons possess a personal idiosyncrasy
of relativeness permanence predisposing the individual to a greater rate of accidents.
Some statistical evidence to support. Weak explanatory concept which cannot account for
majority of accidents. Farmer and Chambers (1926), McCormick and Tiffen (1974)
"Systems" models- Systems models treat the human element, equipment, environment,
and sometimes even management policy as interrelated elements of a man-machine
system. Accidents are viewed as "extreme value" outputs. Each part of the system affects
the performance of the other, the human in the system being treated as a complex and
poorly understood part. System theory's great advantage is that it permits powerful
mathematical tools to be used in predicting system state from given sets of inputs.
Concepts of feedback from system output to input to change system response parameters
are incorporated. Systems components can be overloaded by excessive response
demands. Concepts of human information processing overload, response lag, distribution
of errors, etc. are easily handled in a systems theory. The theory recognizes the
interaction and feedback involved in the complex accident process and also recognizes
the probabilistic nature of the chain of events resulting in an accident. The liability of this
approach is that it requires physical definition of all parts of the system and their
interactions, definitions which are not, and may never be possible, in the life sciences.
Since humans are the least understood component, systems theories rarely consider
human behavior in all of its complexity. Attractive theory for engineers, whose response
to above problem is to design humans out of the system, whether appropriate or not.
17. WORKPLACE SAFETY
Nature of workplace safety - Workplace safety can be defined as the probability that a
workplace is free from unexpected agents that can cause harm to a trained worker

33
 carrying out the proper functions of his/her job. Few workplace accidents are really
"accidents" in the sense of being chance events. They consist of that large class of events
with low predictability and controllability and having undesirable consequences.
Increasing workplace safety requires the reduction of uncertainty and the prediction and
control of all phases of activity. Precautions can be taken to minimize the dangers of
undesirable situations that can be predicted. Experience points to three areas in which
common remediable factors may be found. These are: hazardous work activities or
equipment, the physical environment, and worker characteristics.
Reduction of equipment hazards - The sequence of priorities in reducing equipment
hazards is:
Elimination of injury producing agents: When possible the equipment should be
reengineered to eliminate the portion that can cause injury. Sharp edges should be
rounded, protruding parts depressed, external rotating machinery eliminated. The ultimate
goal is to design workplace equipment that can cause no harm to workers of minimal
training.
Guard injury producing agents: All injury producing agents that cannot be eliminated
should be equipped with guards that prevent users from inadvertent contact. Saw blades
should be shielded, moving belts covered, etc. The equipment should be designed that it
will not work if the guards are removed or the operator is using it improperly.
Warning of danger: Operators should be warned of hazards that cannot be eliminated or
guarded against. Warning of injury or life threatening dangers should be prominently
displayed on the equipment. Directions for safe use should be similarly displayed and
included in operating instructions. Warning levels are danger, implying high probability
of death or injury; warning, implying significant probability of injury or damage; and
caution, implying some hazard in use.
Environmental hazards - A high percentage of industrial injuries arise from work in
hazardous environments. Indeed, the most frequent injury on many jobs is falls from high
places. Human performance decreases as conditions deviate from the ideal "shirtsleeve"
environment, although it is possible for an individual to gain some degree of
acclimatization to extremes after several weeks of exposure. Cold is easier to deal with
since protective clothing can permit activity to -40° F. The main effect of cold is to
decrease manual sensitivity and dexterity. The performance decrement at -30° F is 20%,
at -40° F is 80%. High temperature is more troublesome. The maximum temperature at
which heavy physical work is unimpaired is 80° F. Efficiency approaches 0% when the
temperature exceeds 110° F. Both strength and precision essential to safety are likely to
be decreased when temperature extremes deviate from normal. Fatigue increased quickly.
Where it is not possible to modify extreme environmental conditions, it may be possible
to manage the work force to achieve a reasonable degree of effectiveness by:
Selection of personnel who have a high tolerance for the specific working conditions;
Acclimatization before requiring full effort;
Work schedule modification to minimize the effect of physical stress;
Procedure modification to minimize requirements for continuous high level human
performance;
Assessment of worker physical well being on a regular basis to identify hazard
likely conditions.
Worker characteristics - Worker physical characteristics, training, experience, and
attitudinal factors interact with the stresses of the environment to result in less than
optimum performance of assigned tasks. When sufficient deterioration occurs in the

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 presence of a potentially dangerous situation, an accident occurs.
Physical characteristics: Worker physical capabilities which influence safety are job
specific. They include sensory capability, strength, dexterity, size and weight,
intelligence, etc. By and large, if a worker is capable of doing the job in the first place,
he/she is capable of doing it safely. If physical performance deteriorates through age,
illness or substance use, response to an unexpected hazardous situation may be
ineffective in preventing accidents. Regular assessment is needed.
Training: Training which emphasizes workplace safety has been shown effective in
minimizing accidents as long as safe work procedures are reinforced by supervisors.
Generally worker safety training is introduced following a serious accident.
Experience: Studies have shown that nearly three quarters of all injuries have occurred
to workers with less than one year on the job and over half during the first six months.
Turnover is generally highest among this group. Special attention should be paid to the
safety orientation of new workers until their skill level is sufficient to cope with the
hazards of the workplace. A parallel finding shows that most automobile accidents occur
to drivers within the first few years of licensing.
Attitude: There are wide variations in personal acceptance of risk. Significant difference
occur between young and old, men and women. A recent study showed the men are twice
as likely to assume a high risk level, enjoying the sensation of danger, as are women.
Folklore has often defined people in terms of "courage" placing a high premium on
deliberate acceptance of danger. These theme are often instilled in children through
stories and TV and manifest themselves in adult behavior. Tolerance of risk acceptance
differs by industry, some defining themselves as particularly suitable for "heroic"
individuals (i.e. aviation, construction). Risk tolerance can be estimated by psychological
tests or by examination of biodata. Caution should be used in placing high risk tolerant
persons in situations where accidents will be catastrophic.
Motivational approaches to accident reduction - Motivational approaches suggest that
the worker must be motivated to behave safely and must perceive the rationale behind
risk avoidant behavior in the workplace. The approach tries to get workers to identify
unsafe behaviors and to suggest safer solutions. Safety is put on a competitive basis and
rewards, immediate and direct are offered for accident free periods. Feedback and
reinforcement are provided whenever possible to encourage safety. The technique is
effective and positive but very fragile. It requires almost constant attention from
supervisors. The accident rate rises almost to former levels if the attention lapses. Further,
maximization of safety often conflicts with maximization of productivity and company
enthusiasm for safety programs is likely to be mixed.
Screening and selection of personnel - The concept of accident proneness has lost favor
in recent years, but it is a fact that some workers simply have more accidents than others.
While plain bad luck may be a factor for some, for many of the others there exists a
combination of physical characteristics, personality, attitude, etc. which makes accidents
more likely. Identification of these workers can reduce workplace accidents by excluding
them from potentially hazardous job situations or retraining them to exhibit safer patterns
of behavior in dangerous situations. The practical difficulty in screening and selection of
personnel is the maintenance of safety records across industry. Without such records,
individuals cannot be identified nor can a new employer be apprised of their accident
likely behavior. However the technique has proven cost effective where common
insurance carriers maintain such records for specific industries (maritime industry, oil
exploration) and are willing to share their experience with employers.

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