Development of I/O Psychology Flashcards
Theme 1: Productivity & Efficiency
- Scientific Management (Taylor; 1911; focus on machine, industry (dehumanising); productivity & efficiency in production process; minimisation in workplace incidents)
- Recruitment & Personnel Tests
WWI (foundation & payment for I-o psychology research)
- Research in Universities
- Market for I-O psychology
- Army Alpha (reading & writing intelligence)
- Beta Tests; innate intelligence
- Grading: A - E
- ^ measurable & quantifiable
Arthur Kornhauser
- negative “workplace spillover”
(Costly in terms of money, time, turnover; focus on limiting employee turnover).
Standardised Time (Taylor)
- Time study = Stopwatch Method
- Rationale: the amount of work/ time taken to complete work (e.g. bricklayering)
- Thus, structured used of resources, money & time used for efficiency,
Motion Study (Frank & Lillian Gilbert’s)
- Ergonomics (workplace standards)
- rationale; task flowchart; objective; steps to complete a task; elementary motions; breakdown steps into motions
Hawthorne Effect (Elton Mayo; 1925)
- As long as employees are being supervised, the employees will work at the same speed
- started the human relations movement (manager interested in giving employees suitable conditions i.e., more light)
Theme 2: Quantification & Measurement
- Industries started to view psychology as a science with the use of quantifiable data (Galton, Spearman; statistical methods from mathematicians).
- Quantifiable; making inferences about the unobserved.
Introspection (Wundt)
- Wundt did not believe awareness and thought could be measured.
The Stanford Binet Intelligence Test (Alfred Binet France & US)
- Both innate intelligence (what you’re born with) & variability from external factors (environment, health).
Psychometrics (Galton)
- quantifying psycho concepts on a metric.
General Factor of Intelligence (Spearman)
- founding the “multiple intelligence” theory
Measurement in psychology
- hard to measure feelings, awareness, & subjective ideas, hence why organisational psychology focuses on human behaviour (observable & hard facts).
Theme 3: The Study of Differences
- psychology: understanding & understanding human differences (Jung; sensation, feeling, intellect, intuition = personality; MBTI; FAD!)
- psychopathology; mental illness vs “normal” functioning individuals
- IOP; differences in personality, motivation, job design, engagement, burnout.
Behaviourism (B.F. Skinner)
Environment is the only determinant of behaviour (this goes against ‘eugenics’; “intrinsic qualities”; NOT IDEAL but gives a opposing argument to the idea that we can’t change our abilities, talents, intelligence).
Behaviourism/ positive reinforcement
- positives & negatives
- but a poor way of building motivation.
Learning through imitation (‘invisible’) (Albert Bandura’s)
- nature & nurture (environment influences our behaviour)
Patterns of differences
Goal of quantifying relationships
Taylorist
-standard; supervising workers; seeing why some workers are not working efficiently
- workers who are not meeting standard will be worked with or cut off or moved to a different work role in the company.
- difficulties; time-management; employees are at fault, so workers are seen as ‘lazy’, or pushed as machines.
- solution; putting employees in a training program (based on their weaknesses in the role); simulating work processes with employees (trialed/measured/tested).
Behaviourist
- difficulties; the environment is not conducive for worker productivity; poor reward systems; company systems are at fault for a lack of motivation.
- solution; implement a better pay-performance system; offer stock or share options to employees, evaluate values of both employees & manager (focusing on the values causing poor behaviour, then managers working on fixing it)
Evidence-based management
- Pfeffer readings; dont just offer stock-option, find the cause of the problem, and work on fixing that issue.
Theme 4: Science & Practice
Put theory in practice, but what makes theory useful is when it suits the purpose, meaning the problem has been clearly identified!
