Chapter 1

Introduction to I/O Psychology

THE FIELD OF I/O PSYCHOLOGY be of high quality and enhance an

organization’s effectiveness.
 Industrial/organizational psychology is a
branch of psychology that applies the
principles of psychology to the workplace.
 Purpose: “to enhance the dignity and IMPORTANT NOTE:
performance of human beings, and the  Societal perspective:
organizations they work in, by advancing  I/O psychologists can also improve the quality
the science and knowledge of human of life by increasing employee effectiveness,
behavior” (Rucci). which reduces the cost of goods sold by
improving product quality. This in turn reduces
 Industrial approach - focuses on determining repair and replacement costs by improving
the competencies needed to perform a job, organizational efficiency, which can result in
staffing the organization with employees who decreases in inefficient activities such as
have those competencies, and increasing waiting in line.
those competencies through training.  I/O psychology can improve the quality of life
at levels equal to, and often exceeding, those
 Organizational approach- creates an of fields such as counseling psychology and
organizational structure and culture that will medicine. So, even though I/O psychologists
motivate employees to perform well, give them make a good salary, the real benefits to the
with the necessary information to do their jobs, field involve the positive impacts on the lives of
and provide working conditions that are safe others.
and result in an enjoyable and satisfying work
environment. MAJOR FIELDS OF I/O PSYCHOLOGY

Differences between I/O and business programs 1. Personnel psychology

1. Application of psychological principles  analyzing jobs, recruiting applicants,
2. Examines factors that affect the people in selecting employees, determining salary
an organization as opposed to the levels, training employees, and evaluating
broader aspects of running an employee performance.
organization such as m arketing channels,
2. Organizational psychology
transportation networks, and cost
 issues of leadership, job satisfaction,
accounting
employee motivation, organizational
3. Relies extensively on research,
communication, conflict management,
quantitative methods, and testing
organizational change, and group
techniques.
processes within an organization.
IMPORTANT NOTE: 3. human factors
 I/O psychologists are trained to use  workplace design, human-machine
empirical data and statistics rather than interaction, ergonomics, and physical
clinical judgment to make decisions fatigue and stress
 I/O psychologists are not clinical
psychologists who happen to be in BRIEF HISTORY OF I/O PSYCHOLOGY
industry, and they do not conduct therapy
for workers.
 Professionals in the field can have a
positive impact on the lives of other
people

 IO psychology VS. Other field of Psychology

 reliance on the scientist-practitioner
model.
 I/O psychologists act as scientists
when they conduct research and as
practitioners when they work with
actual organizations.
 I/O psychologists act as scientist-
practitioners when they apply
research findings so that the work
they perform with organizations will
Alyssa Louise C. Cabije
BS Psychology
University of Mindanao
 Research in I/O Psychology

Why conduct Research?

1. Answer questions and make decisions
2. Daily basis
3. Common sense is often wrong

Considerations in Conducting Research

 Ideas, Hypothesis Theories
1. What to research?
2. Form a hypothesis:
 educated prediction about the
answer to a question
 based on a theory, previous
research, or logic

Literature Reviews
4 types of periodicals
1. Journals- consist of articles written by
researchers directly reporting the results
of a study
2. Bridge Publications- design to bridge the
gap
3. Trade magazines- contain articles usually
written by professional writers who have
developed expertise in a given field
4. Magazines- good sources of ideas but
terrible sources to use in support of a
scientific hypothesis. Often written by
professional writers who do not have
 Hawthorne studies- were initially designed to training in the topic and thus little
investigate such issues as the effects of expertise in what they are writing about
lighting levels, work schedules, wages, 5. Internet- increasingly popular source of
temperature, and rest breaks on employee information. There is no review of
performance. information placed on the Internet to
 Hawthorne Effect- employees changed their ensure that it is accurate
behavior and became more productive
because they were being studied and received Location of the Study
attention from their managers
1. Laboratory Research
 Graduate Record Exam (GRE)- the graduate a) Disadvantage:
school version of the Scholastic Aptitude Test,  External validity/
or SAT, that you took after high school generalizability of results to
organizations in the “real
world.”
2. Field Research
a) Disadvantage:

Alyssa Louise C. Cabije

BS Psychology
University of Mindanao
  internal validity-- gains in can choose a random sample and control
external validity it loses for many of the extraneous variables.
control of extraneous  The method of selecting the sample is
variables that are not of certainly dependent on the nature of the
interest to the researcher organization.
b) Informed consent- participate  A small organization will probably be
in studies of their own free will forced to use all of its employees,
which means that the sample will be
Research Method to be used small but highly representative of the
intended population.
1. Experiments- most powerful research;  For economical and practical
cause and effect reasons, a large organization will
select only certain employees to
 2 Characteristics define an participate in a study rather than use
experiment the entire workforce.
 Manipulation of one or more  The problem then becomes one of
independent variables which employees will participate.
 Random assignment of subjects  If the study involves a questionnaire,
to experimental and control it is no problem to randomly select a
conditions desired number of employees and
have them complete the survey.
 Independent variable- manipulated  If, the study is more elaborate, such
 Dependent variable- measures the as investigating the effects of lighting
changes that occur as a result of that on performance, it would be difficult
manipulation to randomly select employees
 Experimental group- employees
who received the training  Random sample: sample will be as
 Control group - employees who did representative as possible. The problem is that
not receive the training are researchers are unlikely to get a 100% return
collectively rate if study participation is voluntary
 Convenience sample: easily available to a
2. Quasi- Experiments- used to evaluate
researcher
the results of a new program implemented
 Random assignment: each subject in a
by an organization
nonrandom sample is randomly assigned to a
3. Archival research- previously collected
particular experimental condition.
data or records to answer a research
question.
Running the Study
4. Survey- asking people their opinion on
some topic  Debriefed: told the purpose of the experiment
5. Meta-analysis- statistical method of and be given a chance to ask questions about
reaching conclusions based on previous her participation
research
a) Mean effect size: a meta-analysis
Statistical Analysis
results in one number which
indicates the effectiveness of some  After all data have been collected, the results
variable. are statistically analyzed
b) Correlation coefficients (r): effect  In psychology, we use the .05 level of
size when researchers are interested significance: If our analysis indicates that the p
in the relationship between two robability that our data resulted from chance is
variables, and the majority of 5% or less, we consider our results to be s
studies use correlation as their tatistically significant.
statistical test  Although the .05 level of significance is the
c) Difference score (d): effect size most commonly used, some researchers have
when researchers are looking at the suggested that we should be more flexible and
difference between two groups use either more conservative or more liberal
levels, depending upon the situation
The average effect size for an
organizational intervention is .044. Significance levels tell us the statistical
significance of a study
Subject Samples Effect sizes (combined with logic) tell us the
practical significance of a study.
 Although it is nice to have a large sample
for any research study, a large sample
size is not necessary if the experimenter
Alyssa Louise C. Cabije
BS Psychology
University of Mindanao
Correlation: is a statistical procedure that enables a +2; the further the coefficient is from zero, the
researcher to determine the relationship between two greater the relationship between two variables.
variable
 Correlation coefficient: the result of Intervening variable: often accounts for the relationship
correlational analysis is a number called a between two variables
The values of this coefficient range from −1 to

Alyssa Louise C. Cabije

BS Psychology
University of Mindanao