Work psychology
Understanding human behavior in the workplace
Exam 01
o H02: Theory, research and practice in work psychology. pp. 01 - 06
o H03: Individual differences. pp. 06 - 07
o H04: The foundations of personnel selection. pp. 08 - 11
o H05: Personnel selection and assessment methods. pp. 11 - 15
o H06: Assessing performance at work. pp. 15 - 18
o H07: Attitudes at work and the employment relationship. pp. 19 - 26
, H02: Theory, research and practice in work psychology
Theory in work psychology: organized collection of ideas that describe, explain or predict
what a person will do, think or feel. Needs to specify Five elements:
1. The Behaviors, Thoughts and Emotions should be significant for human affairs.
2. Differences between people in the
degree they characteristically
exhibit the B/T/E
3. Situational factors that are of
influence on the when or whether
B/T/E occur
4. Consequences of the interaction
between 2 or 3 for B/T/E
5. Any ways in which particular
B/T/E might feedback which
changes 2 and 3.
There is a philosophical disagreement in between positivism and phenomenological
approaches. The first emphasizes objectively variables causes of B/T/E. The second focuses
on people’s subjective explanations.
Positivism: the social worlds exists objectively, this usually implies measuring
according to quantitative data. Making hypotheses about laws and behavior and testing them.
This can be done without influencing that what is being investigated.
Social constructionism/ (phenomenological): reality is not a objective. The meaning of
events, concept and objectives is constructed and interpreted by people, trough process and
social interactions. Data is rich in meaning, detail and explanation, interpretation but hard to
summarize. The researcher itself is interpreting the results. Reflexivity; how much influenced.
Work psychology is predominantly problem-centered. Theory should work in real live. But
wel thought theories aren’t always used when they work on paper. Often the political and
social context has not been taken in account. Organizational context: situational opportunities
and constraints that affect the occurrence and meaning of organizational behavior as well as
functional relationships between variables. There is a lack of communication between those
who produce new knowledge and those who use it on the work space. There are two ways of
doing research in work psychology:
1
, Work psychologist can be categorized in four types:
- Popularist science: relevance is high, about pressing organizational problems. Problem
it is not always based on the best of research. It is not valid.
- Pedantic science: is well-designed and executed research but the result is limited, there
are not many opportunities to apply them.
- Puerile science: there is a bad methodological aspect is pour. Bad questionnaires, an
unimportant issue, or to little people investigated.
- Pragmatic science: it addresses problems of practical importance and does so using
rigorous methodology. Good research and practical relevance.
If work psychology is to have a substantial influence on organizational and public policy,
work psychologist must get involved in the organization they research and address the
political acceptability as well as the technical merit of their recommendations.
The research process in work psychology:
Research methods: are the procedures by which information is collected
o Questionnaires: used to asses a person’s attitude, values, opinions, beliefs of
experiences. Answer a series of written questions, answers are usually multiple-
choice; this is referred to as structured; questions and answers are predefined. The data
is easily to subjected to statistical analysis often positivistic.
o Psychometric test: used to measure ability or personality. Answer a series of written
questions, answers are usually multiple-choice; this is referred to as structured;
2
Understanding human behavior in the workplace
Exam 01
o H02: Theory, research and practice in work psychology. pp. 01 - 06
o H03: Individual differences. pp. 06 - 07
o H04: The foundations of personnel selection. pp. 08 - 11
o H05: Personnel selection and assessment methods. pp. 11 - 15
o H06: Assessing performance at work. pp. 15 - 18
o H07: Attitudes at work and the employment relationship. pp. 19 - 26
, H02: Theory, research and practice in work psychology
Theory in work psychology: organized collection of ideas that describe, explain or predict
what a person will do, think or feel. Needs to specify Five elements:
1. The Behaviors, Thoughts and Emotions should be significant for human affairs.
2. Differences between people in the
degree they characteristically
exhibit the B/T/E
3. Situational factors that are of
influence on the when or whether
B/T/E occur
4. Consequences of the interaction
between 2 or 3 for B/T/E
5. Any ways in which particular
B/T/E might feedback which
changes 2 and 3.
There is a philosophical disagreement in between positivism and phenomenological
approaches. The first emphasizes objectively variables causes of B/T/E. The second focuses
on people’s subjective explanations.
Positivism: the social worlds exists objectively, this usually implies measuring
according to quantitative data. Making hypotheses about laws and behavior and testing them.
This can be done without influencing that what is being investigated.
Social constructionism/ (phenomenological): reality is not a objective. The meaning of
events, concept and objectives is constructed and interpreted by people, trough process and
social interactions. Data is rich in meaning, detail and explanation, interpretation but hard to
summarize. The researcher itself is interpreting the results. Reflexivity; how much influenced.
Work psychology is predominantly problem-centered. Theory should work in real live. But
wel thought theories aren’t always used when they work on paper. Often the political and
social context has not been taken in account. Organizational context: situational opportunities
and constraints that affect the occurrence and meaning of organizational behavior as well as
functional relationships between variables. There is a lack of communication between those
who produce new knowledge and those who use it on the work space. There are two ways of
doing research in work psychology:
1
, Work psychologist can be categorized in four types:
- Popularist science: relevance is high, about pressing organizational problems. Problem
it is not always based on the best of research. It is not valid.
- Pedantic science: is well-designed and executed research but the result is limited, there
are not many opportunities to apply them.
- Puerile science: there is a bad methodological aspect is pour. Bad questionnaires, an
unimportant issue, or to little people investigated.
- Pragmatic science: it addresses problems of practical importance and does so using
rigorous methodology. Good research and practical relevance.
If work psychology is to have a substantial influence on organizational and public policy,
work psychologist must get involved in the organization they research and address the
political acceptability as well as the technical merit of their recommendations.
The research process in work psychology:
Research methods: are the procedures by which information is collected
o Questionnaires: used to asses a person’s attitude, values, opinions, beliefs of
experiences. Answer a series of written questions, answers are usually multiple-
choice; this is referred to as structured; questions and answers are predefined. The data
is easily to subjected to statistical analysis often positivistic.
o Psychometric test: used to measure ability or personality. Answer a series of written
questions, answers are usually multiple-choice; this is referred to as structured;
2
