Summary Industrial Psychology 132 ALL Notes

INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY 132
NOTES BY LYNDSAY ADAMSON 24964131

,CHAPTER 1 – PSYCHOLOGY OF WORK & ORGANIZATIONS
Work & Organisational Psychology
 Psychology = study of mind and behaviour
 Applied psychology:
o Problem-driven
o Applies psychological theories, principles and methods to real world problems
of work, business, organisation → solutions

 Definition of W&OPsych (Woods and West):
Study of people and behaviour at work; organizations in which they work

o Develop psych theory
o Apply rigour / methods to issues that important to businesses/organisations
o Promote and advance understanding of effectiveness at work
i.e., individual, group and organizational
o AND wellbeing and satisfaction of people working in or served by
organizations
 Aims
o ↑↑ productivity; employee citizenship behaviour; job satisfaction
o ↓↓ absenteeism & turnover; deviant workplace behaviour


 Core values of W&O psychology:
o Science – methodologies &
scientific rigour to
understanding people
and behaviour at work
o Pragmatism – solving practical
problems via
application of
psychology
o Ethics - ethical practices
o People and organization – seeking
solutions to organisational problems
and enhancing oranisational
effectiveness and the well-being of
people in organisations

organizational productivity
BALANCE BETWEEN
employee motivation & success


Take into account the 3 P’s : PROFITS; PEOPLE; PLANET within context

,  Sub-fields of Industrial Psychology:
o Organizational psychology
 Organizational behaviour
 Individual differences & attitudes
 Organizational development/change
 Organizational culture, strategy, design
o Personnel Psychology/HRM
 Performance Measurement & Mx
 Work motivation
 Personnel selection & assessment
o Career psychology
 Learning, training, development
 Vocational behaviour & careers
o Employee relations
 Leadership & management
 Teams & groups
 Employment law & industrial relations
o Employee & Organizational well-being
 Employee systems programs
 Health, well-being, safety
o Ergonomics
 Interface with our environment
o Consumer psychology
 Shops use psychological methods to market
o Research methodology & psychometrics
 Test development

 Brief History
o Originated in the 20th century
o The First and the Second World War saw major growth
 application & success of science
 modern psychology
 changing nature of work
o US & Europe developed fast but divergent
 US: productivity; assessment; training; performance
 Europe: wellbeing & welfare; organizational influence


Contemporary Themes/Challenges

 Ethical and socially responsible work psychology
o 2 critical relationships include in moral consideration

Government ↔ Businesses ↔ Rest of society

o CSR = Corporate Social Responsibility
 obligation to consider direct & indirect effects – positive/negative –
of organizational operation
1. Economic – operate profitably and efficiently (returning value to shareholders
and fulfilling taxation)
2. Legal – To conform to all aspects of the law
3. Ethical – Act in accordance with societal and business moral norms (promote
overall wellness of society)

, o Wider issues where W&O psychologists contribute to irresponsible management:

 Pro-management bias – Competitive nature of business
Work psychologists contacted by managers - precise in require. Can lead
to bias of management goals and needs -questionable actions i.e.,
downsizing

 Focus on means and not ends – Work psychologists focus on the
methods and practices; failure to focus on long-term outcomes


 Global, cross-cultural W&O psychology
o Globalisation is already happening
o Culture
 Consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting,
 acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive
achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts
 the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially
their attached values
o The culture determines specifics of organizational development – contingency
theory
o (Areas of motivation, values, leadership, management and teamwork influenced
by culture)
o Culture needs to feature more so it can be better understood:
 Expansion of cross-cultural research – Selection, training and
performance management need a clearer integration of culture
 Understanding the implicit values of research questions – Need to
understand the cultural limitations by acknowledging the limitations of
individual’s perspectives (influence of Western culture)
 Theory and Cultural Influence - A globalised perspective needs to be
adopted, but first the cultural influence needs to be understood and when
culture matters must also be understood


 Sustainable work psychology

o Sustainable development = development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet her own needs
o Includes attention to 3 areas (3 P’s)

Primary focus 1. Economic – Developing economies – do not threaten long-term economic health
of growth 2. Social – Focusing on development that addresses global social issues (poverty,
hunger and inequality)
3. Environmental – Developing in a way that allows less environmental resources to
be consumed than those can naturally be replenished



Economic Environment




Social