Introduction to

organizational
psychology
By Fouzia Hassan

WHAT IS I/O PSYCHOLOGY?

Psychology is the science of human behavior
I/O psychology is the science of human behavior at
work
Dual focus
Efficiency/productivity of organizations
Health/well-being of employees
Dual nature
Application of the science of psychology to the
workplace
Development/discovery of scientific psychological
principles at work

I/O Psychologists Work With

Organizations in the Areas of...
Job Analysis - the systematic study of the
tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a job and
knowledge, skills, abilities, and other
characteristics needed to perform it
Job Evaluation - an assessment of the relative
value of jobs to determine appropriate
compensation

I/O Psychologists Work With

Organizations in the Areas of...
Employee recruitment - the process by which
companies attract qualified applicants
Employee selection - the process of choosing
applicants for employment
Employee placement - the process of
assigning workers to appropriate jobs

I/O Psychologists Work With

Organizations in the Areas of...
Performance Appraisal - the formalized
means of assessing worker performance in
comparison to certain established
organizational standards
Employee Training - planned organizational
efforts to facilitate employee learning of jobrelated knowledge and behavior

I/O Psychologists Work With

Organizations in the Areas of...

Employee Motivation - the force that

energizes, directs, and sustains work
behavior
Job Enrichment - designing jobs to
give workers greater responsibility
in the planning, execution, and
evaluation of their work.

I/O Psychologists Work With

Organizations in the Areas of...
Job Satisfaction - the positive and negative
feelings and attitudes about ones job
Leadership - the ability to guide a group
toward the achievement of goals
Group Dynamics - the nature of groups,
including the factors governing their
formation and development, elements of their
structure, and their interrelationships with
individuals, other groups, and organizations

I/O Psychologists Work With

Organizations in the Areas of...
Organization Development - the process of
assisting organizations in preparing for and
managing change
Organizational Politics - self-serving actions
designed to affect the behavior of others to
achieve personal goals
Human Factors - a specialty area of I/O
psychology focused on designing tools, machines,
work systems, and work places to fit workers

Psychologists Do

Increase motivation and teamwork

Improve leadership and governance
Improve employee recruitment, selection & retention
Increase organizational performance & effectiveness
Increase job satisfaction, participation, & involvement
Improve communication, decision-making, & conflict
resolution
Reduce needlessly high levels of stress

Definition
Organizational Psychology is a specialized
field within the larger discipline of
psychology that focuses on the WORKPLACE
Human Factor Psychology- studies ways to
improve the design and function of machines
and the work environment to better meet the
needs of human users

Organizational Psychology Organizational Psychology- deals with how

interpersonal relations in the work setting
affect productivity
Personnel Psychology- involves in
recruitment, selection, training and
evaluation of workers

Organizational Psychology -is an industrial engineer who worked on a

system known as scientific management
which is intended for management to redesign
work methods to make them more efficient.
Under this system, management would also
choose the best workers for each job, train
them in new methods, develop cooperation
between managers and workers, and involve
workers in the design and conduct of work.

Organizational Psychology emphasized making production more

efficient by matching people to the jobs
for which they were suited. He
believed that individual qualities can
contribute to peoples performance in
various jobs.

Organizational Psychology The human relations movement focuses on

job motivation and work satisfaction.
Researchers concluded that human
considerations such as friendship and sense of
achievement are as powerful as the structural
factors such as rest periods and other physical
aspects of the work situation.

Organizational Psychology The problems with machines is that people

have to use them. It is not difficult for an
engineer to design a machine that functions
efficiently by itself or when run by an
engineer. The difficulty arises when an
ordinary person and the machine must work
together as one unit to become a HUMANMACHINE SYSTEM (is an arrangement of
people and machines, tools and other devices
that produce a product or service.)

Organizational Psychology <How do personnel psychologists make

employee selection?>
Personnel selection begins with JOB ANALYSIS
(a detailed description of the skills, knowledge
and activities required by a particular job.
CRITICAL INCIDENTS - are situations with
which competent employees must be able to
cope in a particular situation

Organizational Psychology Bio-data which is a detailed biographical

information about an applicant particularly
containing useful items
2. Interviews which are done on a one-on-one
or panel interview basis to gauge the suitability
of the applicant to the job
3. Psychological Testing
general mental ability test (intelligence test)
persons chances of succeeding in various jobs

Organizational Psychology vocational-interest test assesses peoples interests

and match them
to
interests found among
successful workers in various occupations
multi-media computerized test which use
computers to present realistic work situations
4. Work samples assessment device that require a
person to demonstrate how well he or she can
perform the tasks involved in the job under
standardized conditions

Organizational Psychology Assessment Centers designed to measure

how well a person is able to perform the task
of a specific job.