HISTORY OF INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY

History of Industrial Psychology

History of Industrial Psychology

Introduction

Overarching Models Industrial and organizational psychology is the study of human behavior in organizations; the behaviours of interest contribute to either the effectiveness of organizational functioning the satisfaction and well-being of those who populate the organizations, or both. These behaviours and the people who exhibit them exist in a dynamic open system (Katz & Kahn, 1978). Behaviours observed in the present are influenced by past behaviors and conditions, as well as by the anticipation of future ones. Individuals are systems nested within other systems--such as teams and work groups--that are nested under larger organizational systems. All of these systems are open to the outside through connections to family members, customers, and multiple other potential sources of influence on organizational members' behaviour.

Discussion

Industrial/organizational psychology also known as I/O psychology is the study of an individuals behavior in the workplace. I/O psychology is extremely important in the workplace. It helps promote productive work behavior. I/O psychology is recruitment, selection, placement, training, development, performance management, motivation and reward systems; organizational development, quality of life work, consumer behavior and the structure of work and human factors. According to Spector, I/O psychology falls into the latter category of being concerned with both psychological science and application to issues of people in organizations (2006). Even though industrial/organizational psychology may sound like one type of psychology it is not.

Industrial/organizational psychology is broken up into two parts, the industrial (or personnel) and the organizational. Spector stated ?although the content of the two major divisions overlaps and cannot be easily separated, each grew out of different traditions in the history of the field (2006). Industrial psychology is the older branch of the two and clearly focuses solely on recruitment, selection, classification, compensation, and performance appraisal. Organizational psychology was industrialized from the human relations movement in organizations. The organizational side of I/O psychology focuses more on the individual employee rather than the group. Organizational psychology is socialization, motivation, occupational stress, leadership, group performance, and organizational development. Although this is a different type of psychology, it still has research.

Open Systems Although open systems models capture the complexities of a psychology bound by the context in which the behaviours occur, the field of industrial and organizational psychology has--for the most part--constrained its domain to that of the interface between individuals and their environments, where that environment is physical (tasks, jobs, working conditions, organizational structures) or social (superiors, subordinates, peers). Furthermore, the beliefs, feelings, and behaviours of interest within that domain are limited to those for which there is some reason to believe that understanding them will enhance our ability to influence organizational effectiveness or individual well-being.

Fit Underlying the psychological focus on individuals in organizational settings is the implicit assumption that both the organization and the individual are best served when there is a good fit between the goals, expectations, and conditions of organizations (e.g., jobs) with the characteristics of the people in them. From a prescriptive viewpoint, there are many ways to obtain a good ...