ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Organizational Psychology?

DEFINITION: Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology

= application of psychology to the workplace

Scientific study of thinking and behavior at work

“Industrial / Organizational psychology is a branch of psychology that applies the principles of psychology to the workplace”.

“Organizational Behavior is the study of individuals and their behavior with the contest of the organization in workplace setting”.

The goal of I/O psychology is “to increase the productivity and well-being of employees”.

The purpose of I/O psychology is “to enhance the dignity and performance of human beings, and the organizations they work in, by advancing the science and knowledge of human behavior”

I/O psychology examines factors that affect the people in an organization

Principles

With the possible exception of sleeping, people spend more time at their jobs at any other activity in life

If a person is unhappy at work for 8 hours a day, the residual effects of this unhappiness will affect the quality of that person´s family and leisure life as well.

The industrial approach (the “I” in I/O Psychology) focuses on determining the competencies needed to perform a job, staffing the organization with employees who have those competences, and increasing those competences through training.

The organizational approach (the “O” in I/O Psychology) creates an organizational structure and culture that will motivate employees to perform well, give them the necessary information to do their jobs, and provide working conditions that are safe result in an enjoyable and satisfying work environment.

The field of I/O Psychology consists of three major subfields: Personnel Psychology Organizational Psychology / Behavior Human factors

Industrial psychologists work in a variety of settings including industry, government, education, and consulting firms.

Organizational Psychology

I /o psychology is a relatively new idea. In fact, the notion that the principles of science should be applied to work settings has been around for less than 100 years.

Contemporary I/O psychology has its roots in the history of industry, as well as the two world wars, during which eras psychologists were called upon to help address the crucial military concerns of recruitment, selection, and morale.

The pioneers in applying scientific methods to the workplace were not psychologists but engineers.

They focused on scientific management : the managerial philosophy that emphasizes the worker as a well-oiled machine and the determination of the most efficient methods for performing any work-related task. Yet these engineers sounded like psychologists at times. Among them was Frederick Winslow Taylor, the mastermind of the idea of scientific management. Taylor.

Among them was Frederick Winslow Taylor, the mastermind of the idea of scientific management. Taylor (1911) suggested the following guidelines, which have continuing infuence today:

Jobs should be carefully analyzed to identify the optimal way to perform them.

Employees should be hired according to the characteristics associated with success at a task. These characteristics should be identified by examining people who are already successful at a job.

Employees should be trained at the job they will perform.

Employees should be rewarded for productivity to encourage high levels of performance

Two other famous contributor in the scientific approach to work were Frank (an engineer) and Lillian (a psychologist) Gilbreth, best known for the time and motion studies they conducted in the early twentieth century . These studies involved examining the precise movements required to complete a task and identifying and removing unnecessary movements.

The advent of the assembly line perhaps best demonstrates the spirit of scientific management and its emphasis on time and motion. It may be hard to imagine, but before the twentieth century, an individual or a team of people created an entire single product. These individuals put each and every piece together from beginning to end, whether the product was a clock, a car, or a pair of shoes.

Then came a revolution in industrial history, when Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company, invented the assembly line, in which the workers stayed in one place and an individual laborer assembled one (and only one) part of a car as it moved along on a mechanized conveyor belt. Ford brought in Frederick Taylor to conduct time and motion studies that would perfect the efficiency of his brainchild. In 1913, the first moving assembly line in history was complete, and no one could argue that it was not a boon to productivity and efficiency. Indeed, by 1916, Ford Motor Company was producing twice as many automobiles as all of its competitors combined.

Two other famous contributor in the scientific approach to work were Frank (an engineer) and Lillian (a psychologist) Gilbreth, best known for the time and motion studies they conducted in the early twentieth century . These studies involved examining the precise movements required to complete a task and identifying and removing unnecessary movements.

The advent of the assembly line perhaps best demonstrates the spirit of scientific management and its emphasis on time and motion. It may be hard to imagine, but before the twentieth century, an individual or a team of people created an entire single product. These individuals put each and every piece together from beginning to end, whether the product was a clock, a car, or a pair of shoes.

Then came a revolution in industrial history, when Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company, invented the assembly line, in which the workers stayed in one place and an individual laborer assembled one (and only one) part of a car as it moved along on a mechanized conveyor belt. Ford brought in Frederick Taylor to conduct time and motion studies that would perfect the efficiency of his brainchild. In 1913, the first moving assembly line in history was complete, and no one could argue that it was not a boon to productivity and efficiency. Indeed, by 1916, Ford Motor Company was producing twice as many automobiles as all of its competitors combined.

Hawthorne Effect

Overall implication of the Hawthorne studies, which later formed the impetus for organizational psychology, was that social factors impact behavior in organizational settings

Increase in worker productivity produced by the psychological stimulus of being singled out and made to feel important

Hawthorne?? Their aim was to discover how to optimize the workplace by

manipulating factors such as levels of lighting and hours of work, in order to achieve maximum productivity.

Two groups of female employees took part in the first investigation. The control group worked without any changes in the level of illumination in their workroom.

In the experimental group the lighting was systematically varied (being sometime brighter /dimmer than the standard level of illumination), and the productivity of the workers was continually monitored. Subsequent investigations examined the effects on productivity of variables such as length of rest pauses, length of the working day and week, and a free lunch.

The findings were quite baffling. Both the control group and the experimental group increased their productivity during the study. Regardless of whether illumination levels were increased or decreased, the productivity of the experimental group went up. Even when the illumination was turned so low that the women could barely see what they were doing, productivity went up! The introduction of changed lengths of working hours, weeks and rest pauses had a similar impact. Even the introduction of a free lunch led to improved performance. The results suggested that productivity rose because the women responded favorably to the ‘special attention’ by investigators. Knowing they were being watched made them feel valued, and they were motivated to do their best, regardless of what changes introduced.

Hawthorne?? In a second component of the investigation, conducted in

the bank wiring room, members of work groups (this time all men) were observed during their work and interviewed at length at the end of the working day or week. There was no intervention here, since the aim was simply to observe the work process and discover how it could be done more efficiently and productively.

The men did not improve their productivity. Quite the contrary – they stopped work before the end of the working day and later told the investigators that they were capable of being much more productive. It appeared that the men feared the study would lead the company to raise the level of productivity required for the same rate of pay. So they deliberately kept productivity low to ensure they were not required in the future to achieve unreasonable levels of performance. The men had agreed informal rules between themselves about the level of productivity they would achieve, and they maintained this through their cooperation and shared goals.

Hawthorne?? In contrast to the assumptions of the scientific

management approach (i.e. that technological and ergonomic factors are the predominant influences on workplace productivity), these investigations reveal the importance of social factors in work performance. In both cases, interpersonal processes played the major role in determining productivity.

These findings mark the birth of the ‘human relations’ movement, which drew attention to the importance of workers’ needs, attitudes, social relationships and group memberships in the workplace. It is an orientation that continues to have a major influence on managerial practice today, most notably in the domain of human resource management.

Hawthorne Studies: 4 Conclusions

1. Aptitudes of individuals (Bingham) are imperfect predictors of job performance. Although they give some indication of physical and mental potential of the individual, amount produced is strongly influenced by social factors

2. Informal organization affects productivity = group life among the workers. Studies also showed that the relations supervisors develop with workers tend to influence the manner in which the workers carry out directives

3. Work-group norms affect productivity: not the first to recognize that work groups tend to arrive at norms of what is a fair day's work; however, they provided the best systematic description and interpretation of this phenomenon.

4. The workplace is a social system made up of interdependent parts

Hawthorne Effect: Real World

Workers improve their productivity when they believe management is concerned with their welfare and pay particular attention to them

Productivity can also be explained by paying attention to the workers’ social environment and informal groupings

Defining Groups What would you include if you were

asked to name all the groups in which you are a member? Would you list your family? Your neighborhood association?

Your political party? The handful of fellow students who often take the same classes you do? Coworkers who go out for drine after work once in a while? The people standing in line with you at the checkout counter of the supermarket?

Work groups or teams Work groups, or teams, are increasingly

common in organizations. Formal groups are those designated as work groups by the organization. The members of these groups usually have shared task objectives. Examples of these formal groups include health care teams, management groups, mining crews and research and development project groups. Informal work groups are not defined by the organization as functional units, but nevertheless have an impact on organizational behavior. Examples include friendship and pressure groups.

Types of group and what makes them effective In some organizations, groups as a whole

may be hired, fired, trained, rewarded and promoted. This trend has developed as organizations have grown and become increasingly complex, demanding that shared experiences and complementary skills are constantly utilized in decision-making processes.

group is defined as two or more individuals who are connected to one another by social relationships.

Types of group and what makes them effective De Muse and Futrrel distinguish four main

types of formal work teams1. Advice / involvement team i.e.

committees, boars, advisory councils2. production/ service group i.e. assembly

teams manufacturing crews3. Project development groups i.e. research

group, task force, planning team4. Action/ negotiation group i.e.

entertainment group, negotiation team, surgery team cockpit crew

Types of group and what makes them effective

Types of group and what makes them effective A group can range in size from two members to

thousands of members. Very small collectives, such as dyads (two members) and triads (three members) are groups, but so are very large collections of people, such as mobs, crowds, and congregations

WHO ARE CONNECTED TO ONE ANOTHER Like a series of interconnected computers, the individuals in any given group are networked: They are connected one to another. These connections, or ties, may be strong emotional bonds, like the links between the members of a family or a clique of close friends. The links may also be relatively weak ones that are easily broken with the passage of time or the occurrence of relationship-damaging events. Even weak links, however, can create robust outcomes across an entire group of networked individuals.

Classifying Groups1. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY GROUPS

Primary groups, such as family and friends, are small, long term groups characterized by face-to-face interaction and high levels of cohesiveness, solidarity, and member identification.

Secondary groups. Such groups are larger and more formally organized than primary groups, and they tend to be shorter in duration and less emotionally involving. However, secondary groups continue to define the individual’s place in the social structure of society

Classifying Groups PLANNED AND EMERGENT GROUPS planned groups, which are deliberately formed by

their members or by an external authority for some purpose, Planned groups tend to be organized, task focused, and formal. Such groups generally define their membership criteria clearly and so atall times know who is and who is not in the group. military units, musical groups, research teams

emergent groups, which come into existence spontaneously when individuals join together in the same physical location or form gradually over time as individuals find themselves repeatedly interacting with the same subset of individuals. People found planned groups, but they often find emergent

groups. such as audiences at events, bystanders at a crime scene, crowds, customers at a club, gangs