An Introduction

Industrial and
Organizational
Psychology

Industrial/Organization
al Psychology
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Industrial Organizational Psych.

The Ancient stirrings
Aristotle, in Politics, developed
foundations for many modern
management concepts:
specialization of labor
delegation of authority
departmentalization
decentralization
leadership selection

Industrial Organizational Psych.

Ideas grow
In the mid 17th century, Thomas Hobbes
advocated strong centralized leadership
as a means for bringing "order to the
chaos created by man". He provided a
justification for autocratic rule that
helped establish the pattern for
organizations through the 19th century.
In the late 17th Century, John Locke
presents that leadership is granted by
the governed which in effect,
advocates participatory management

Industrial Organizational Psych.

Ideas grow
In 1776, Adam Smiths: The Wealth
of Nations revolutionized economic
and organizational thought by
suggesting the use of centralization
of labor and equipment in factories,
division of specialized labor, and
management of specialization in
factories

Industrial Organizational Psych.

The field begins to emerge
1881: The first school of professional
management was started at the Univ. of
Pennsylvania
1883: Frederick W. Taylor began
experiments at the Midvale and Bethlehem
Steel plant, which later led to the
development of his "scientific
management" philosophy

Industrial Organizational Psych.

Where did the name come from?
In the 1903 presidential address to APA,
W.L. Bryan, encouraged psychologists to
study "concrete activities and functions
as the appear in every day life". Although
he didn't cite industry directly, he
encouraged these sorts of "real life"
applications of a science of psychology.
Postscript note: "The term 'industrial psychology' first
appeared in a 1904 article of Bryan's APA address.
Ironically, it appeared in print only as a typographical
error. Bryan was quoting a sentence he had written five
years earlier in which he spoke of the need for more
research in individual psychology. Instead, Bryan wrote
industrial psychology and did not catch his mistake."

Industrial Organizational Psych.

Walter Dill Scott
Also in 1903, Walter Dill Scott gave a talk to
Chicago business leaders on the application of
psychology to advertising, which led to the
publication of two books on the topic published
in 1903 & 1908.
By 1911 he had published two more books
(Influencing Men in Business and
Increasing Human Efficiency in Business),
and became the first to apply the principles of
psychology to motivation and productivity in the
workplace.
He also became instrumental in the application

Munsterberg:
The Father of Industrial
Psychology

Pioneered the
application of
psychological findings
from laboratory
experiments to
practical matters
He was the first to
encourage
government funded
research in the area
of industrial psyc.

Hugo Munsterberg:
The Father of Industrial Psychology
In 1911 he cautioned managers to be
concerned with "all the questions of the
mind...like fatigue, monotony, interest, learning,
work satisfaction, and rewards."
In 1913 his book Psychology and Industrial
Efficiency addressed such things as personnel
selection and equipment design
Munsterbergs early concept of I/O psychology
assumed that people need to fit the
organization, and thus the role of applied
behavioral sciences was to of help
organizations shape people to serve as
replacement parts for organizational machines.
His ideas were influential well into the 1950's

Frederick Taylor
About the same time as Munsterberg, Frederick
Taylor began publishing similar philosophies on
management -- which had a tremendous impact
on organizational management
Taylor realized the value of redesigning the work
situation (thru use of time and motion studies)
to achieve both higher output for the company
and higher wages for the worker Pay the
worker, not the job.
His book Shop Management (1909) explained
management's role in motivating workers to
avoid "natural soldiering", i.e., the natural

Frederick Taylor
The good news
1911 Taylor's book The Principles of Scientific
Management; suggested:
scientifically design work methods for efficiency
select the best workers and train them in the best
methods
A study he did showed workers who handle heavy
iron ingots were more productive when given work
rests

Training when to work and when to rest raised productivity

from 12.5 to 47.0 tons moved per day
Less fatigue reported by the workers
This allowed for increased wages increased wages
Costs dropped from 9.2 to 3.9 cents per ton

Frederick Taylor
The controversy
Taylor's methods led to charges that he
inhumanely exploited workers for higher wages
and that great numbers of workers would be
unemployed because fewer were needed
Both the Interstate Commerce Commission and the
U.S. House of Representatives began investigations
Taylor replied that increased efficiency would
produce greater not lesser prosperity
Outbreak of WWI distracted most from the
controversy before much was resolved

Lillian Gilbreth
The Mother of Modern Management
In 1900 at age 22, she earned a
BA in Lit from Berkeley, despite
her Fathers belief that educating
women was a waste of time.
She spoke at the commencement,
the 1st woman ever to do so at
any U of C campus
She earned a MA from Berkeley
(also in Lit.) in 1902.

Lillian Gilbreth
The Mother of Modern Management
After graduation, she meets and falls in love
with an uneducated builder named Frank
Gilbreth.
Frank is interested in workplace efficiency, and
Lillian looks into scientific management
principles. They begin consulting together.
In 1915, Lillian receives a PhD in Educational
Psychology, with an emphasis in management,
at Brown University. At commencement, she is
accompanied by her 4 children, all under age 5.

Lillian Gilbreth
The Mother of Modern Management
1924: Nine years have passed, and she has had another 8
children. She and Frank perform groundbreaking work in
process simplification, efficiency and employee motivation.
She is the first to recognize the impact of stress and fatigue
on time management. (go figure) Frank dies.
Lillian continues to work full time until the age of 88, and
makes tremendous contributions to how we work, which
endure to this day. She puts all of her 12 children through
college.
2 of her children write a book modeled after her, called
Cheaper By the Dozen.

Lillian Gilbreth
Some of her contributions:
Designed the layout of keys on a typewriter
keyboard
Invented scaffolding
Created the process hospitals use to organize
instruments during surgery
Designed the first continuous-surface-model
kitchen (created to assist handicapped women
work in the kitchen)
Invented hospital corners to prevent back
injuries in nurses
Designed a myriad of household appliances and

Industrial Organizational Psych.

World War I
Robert Yerkes was the most influential in getting
psychology into the war
He proposed ways of screening recruits for mental
deficiency and assigning selected recruits to army
jobs
Committees of psychologists also investigated
soldier motivation, morale, psychological problems
of physical incapacity ("shell shock"), and discipline
Army was skeptical and approved only a modest
number of proposals, primarily in the assessment
of recruits -- which Yerkes and others developed as
a general intelligence test.
Walter Dill Scott classified and placed enlistees,
conducted performance evaluations of officers, and

Industrial Organizational Psych.

After World War I
Psychological Corporation started by James
Cattell in 1921
Main purpose was to advance psychology and
promote its usefulness to industry
Also to maintain quality reputation of field by
serving as a place for companies to get
reference checks on prospective psychologists
Helped companies weed out quacks from qualified
professionals

Mission has shifted: Today serves as one of

largest publishers of psychological tests

Industrial Organizational Psych.

The Hawthorne Studies
In 1924 a series of experiments began at the Hawthorne
Works of the Western Electric Company
Researchers from Harvard University set out to study the
relation between lighting and efficiency
Increased lighting resulted in increased efficiency, but to
their surprise, efficiency continued to improve as the
lighting dimmed to faint moonlight levels

The Hawthorne Effect -- change in behavior

following the onset of a novel treatment
(generally new or increased attention). Effect
eventually wears off (behavior returns to
original) as the "novelty" dissipates

Industrial Organizational Psych.

The Hawthorne Studies
In 1933 Elton Mayo made his interim report on
the Hawthorne studies. It contains the first
significant call for the human relations
movement
Mayo showed the existence of informal
employee groups and their effects on
production, the importance of employee
attitudes, the value of a sympathetic and
understanding supervisor, and the need to treat
people as people -- not simply as human capital
This was one of the benchmark events in the
development of industrial psychology
By this time, several Universities offered a PhD
program in I/O Psychology.

Industrial/Organization
al Psychology
CONCEPTS

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

SPECIFIC AREAS OF CONCERN

Recruiting and selecting employees for jobs
Training employees
Assessing performance
Defining and analyzing jobs
Determining people feel about work
Determining why people act as they do at work
Effects work has on people
Effects people have on one another
How organizations are structured and function
Designing work
Designing tools and equipment
Employee Health and Safety

What is I-O psychology?

The application of psychological
principles to the workplace (anywhere
people work)
Helping people do their jobs
helping employers treat employees fairly
helping make jobs more interesting and
satisfying
helping workers be more productive

Treating employees
fairly
Treating people from diverse
backgrounds fairly
selecting people for jobs
providing training
rewarding promotions/raises
addressing harassment

Assessing performance accurately

Making jobs more

interesting/satisfying
Designing jobs people will find
satisfying
rewarding work
safe, efficient work areas (Human Factors)

Motivating employees to perform

Creating teams that work well together
combining diverse talents and perspectives

Helping people be more

productive
Designing work patterns that enhance
efficiency
Providing skills training and
development
Helping to meet the challenges of
competition
Moving past downsizing

Percentage of I/O Psychologists Who

Work in Various Settings in 1960 and
2001
Setting

2001

1960

Consulting firms

32%

28%

Government

7%

11%

Private companies

15%

35%

Universities

38%

26%

Other

8%

Note: Trend away from private companies in favor of consulting firms and academia.

Mean Salaries of I/O Psychologists in the US in

2000
M.A.

$67,000

Ph.D.

$90,000

Top 10%

$200,000 or more

Professors

$73,000

Companies

$100,000

New Ph.D.

$60,000

Men

$93,000

Women

$77,000

Note: Gender difference mostly accounted for by women being more likely to be M.A.
level and being younger. Source: Katkowski, D. A., & Medsker, G. J. (2001).

I/O PSYCHOLOGY AROUND

THE WORLD
At one time I/O was almost entirely
American
I/O interest has exploded over the past 1015 years and accelerating
American consulting firms have become
international, reflected in names
DDI--Developmental Decisions Inc. to
International
PDI--Personnel Decisions Inc. to International

Number of graduate programs increasing

rapidly around the world

Countries With the Most I/O Graduate

Programs
Country
U.S.
Germany
Australia
Canada
England
Belgium
China
Netherlands

Number of
programs

Country

Number of
programs

124
11

France
New Zealand

4
4

Spain
Turkey
Korea
Nigeria
Puerto Rico

4
4
3
3
3

7
7
7
5
5
5

The Most Popular I/O Research Topics in Eight Countries

Country
Canada
England
Germany
India
Israel
Japan
Scandinavia
United
States

Topics
Career development, Employee selection,
job stress, leadership
Employee selection, gender, job stress,
leadership, turnover
Job Stress, motivation, training, work
environment
Job satisfaction, job stress, motivation,
organizational level
Career development, job satisfaction,
motivation, performance appraisal, values
Career development, job stress, leadership,
motivation
Gender, job stress, shift work,
unemployment
Career development, employee selection,
leadership, performance appraisal

References
Books
Cascio, W. F. (1997). Applied psychology in personnel management (5th ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Munchinsky, P.M.(2002): Psychology Applied to Work: An Introduction to
Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Spector, P. E. (2000). Industrial and organizational psychology: Research and
practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons

Websites
www.SIOP.org
www.wcupa.edu/_Academics/sch_cas.psy/Career_Paths/Industrial/Career06.htm
www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/gilbreth.html