HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF I/O PSYCHOLOGYAtty. Harve B. Abella, Esq.
Pscyh 11 MWF 5:30-6:30PM
PRE-PSYCHOLOGY
•Ἀριστοτέλης Aristoteles / Aristotle
• Developed the foundations for modern
Management concepts• SPECIALIZATION OF LABOR• DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY• DEPARTMENTALIZATION• DECENTRALIZATION• LEADERSHIP SELECTION
PRE-PSYCHOLOGY• GUILDS OF MEDIEVAL
EUROPE
• Functioned like training centers• Functioned like modern day
Quality control circles to ensure
Fine craftsmanship
PRE-PSYCHOLOGY
• Niccolò Machiavelli
• Offered practical advise for developing
Authoritarian structures within organizations
• Applied principles of power and the
Understanding of human nature in dealing
With people
PRE-PSYCHOLOGY• THOMAS HOBBES (1651)
• Advocated strong centralized
Leadership as a means for bringing
“order to the chaos created by man”• Justified the use of autocratic rule
That helped establish the pattern for
Organizations throughout the 19th century.
PRE-PSYCHOLOGY• JOHN LOCKE (1690)
• Advocated participatory management
In his argument that leadership is
Granted by the governed.
PRE-PSYCHOLOGY• Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762)• Supported Locke’s position in
The Social Contract
PRE-PSYCHOLOGY• ADAM SMITH (1776)
• Wealth of Nations • Revolutionized economic and
Organizational though by suggesting
The use of centralization of labor and
Equipment in factories, division of
Specialized labor, management of
Specialization in factories.
THE EARLY YEARS 1900-1916
1900-1916• W.L. BRYAN• Encouraged psychologists to study “concrete activities
and functions as they appear in everyday life”
• The term INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY which appeared in 1904 was MERE TYPOGRAPHICAL ERROR
• Quoted 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."
1900-1916• WALTER DILL SCOTT• Gave a talk to Chicago Business leaders on the
application of psychology to advertising
• Books on the matter were published in 1903 and 1908• Influencing Men in Business• Increasing Human Efficiency in Business
• first to apply the principles of psychology to motivation and productivity in the workplace
• instrumental in the application of personnel procedures within the army during World War I.
1900-1916• HUGO MUNSTERBERG
• Considered as the father of INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY• Pioneered the application of psychological findings from
lab experiments to practical matters
• 1911: cautioned managers to be concerned with "all the questions of the mind...like fatigue, monotony, interest, learning, work satisfaction, and rewards."
• first to encourage government funded research in the area of industrial psy
• 1913 his book Psychology and Industrial Efficiency addressed such things as personnel selection and equipment design
1900-1916• HUGO MUNSTERBERG (continuation)
• Early I/O PSYCH became influential well into the 1950s
• assumed people need to fit the organization, thus applied behavioral sciences largely consisted of helping organizations shape people to serve as replacement parts for organizational machines
1900-1916• FREDERICK 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
• 1909 Taylor's book Shop Management explained management's role in motivating workers to avoid "natural soldiering", i.e., the natural tendency of people to "take it easy"
1900-1916• FREDERICK TAYLOR (continued)• 1911 Taylor's book The Principles of Scientific
Management; two of his key principles: scientifically design work methods for efficiency • select the best workers and train them in the best methods• e.g., showed workers who handle heavy iron ingots more
productive given use of 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 • Increased wages • Costs dropped from 9.2 to 3.9 cents per ton
1900-1916• FREDERICK TAYLOR (continued)
• Charged with inhumanely exploiting workers for higher wages • great numbers of workers would be unemployed because fewer
were needed (which was a sensitive topic since unemployment was already high at the time)
• Investigated by the Commerce Commission• Replied that increased efficiency would produce greater not
lesser property• Outbreak of WWI distracted most from the controversy before
much was resolved
WORLD WAR 1 (1917-1918)• Robert Yerkes was the psychologist most influential in
getting psychology into the war 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
• Meanwhile Walter Dill Scott was doing research on best placement of soldiers in Army He classified and placed enlistees, conducted performance evaluations of officers, and developed and prepared job duties and qualifications for over 500 jobs
•However, the final authorization for the testing program came in August 1918, only three months before the Armistice was signed -- thus the intelligence tests weren't as utilized as much as Yerkes had hoped
1917: Journal of Applied Psychology began publication Today is still perhaps the most respected, representative journal in I/O field
WORLD WAR 1 (1917-1918)
1919-1940• JAMES CATTEL (1921)• Psychological Corporation - promote its usefulness to
industry
• 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
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