Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Industrial/Organizational Psychology Sydney Barcus

Industrial Organizational Psych.The Ancient stirrings… • Aristotle, in Politics, developed foundations for many modern management concepts: • specialization of labor • delegation of authority • departmentalization • decentralization • leadership selection

Industrial Organizational Psych.Ideas grow… • In the mid 17th century, Thomas Hobbes advocated strong centralized leadership as a means for bringing "order to the chaos created by man". He provided a justification for autocratic rule that helped establish the pattern for organizations through the 19th century. • In the late 17th Century, John Locke presents that leadership is granted by the governed… which in effect, advocates participatory management

Industrial Organizational Psych.Ideas grow… • In 1776, Adam Smith’s: The Wealth of Nations revolutionized economic and organizational thought by suggesting the use of centralization of labor and equipment in factories, division of specialized labor, and management of specialization in factories

Industrial Organizational Psych.The field begins to emerge… • 1881: The first school of professional management was started at the Univ. of Pennsylvania • 1883: Frederick W. Taylor began experiments at the Midvale and Bethlehem Steel plant, which later led to the development of his "scientific management" philosophy(We’ll talk more about Mr. Taylor and his scientific management philosophy in few slides)

Industrial Organizational Psych.Where did the name come from? • In the 1903 presidential address to APA, W.L. Bryan, encouraged psychologists to study "concrete activities and functions as the appear in every day life". Although he didn't cite industry directly, he encouraged these sorts of "real life" applications of a science of psychology. • Postscript note: "The term 'industrial psychology' first appeared in a 1904 article of Bryan's APA address. Ironically, it appeared in print only as a typographical error. Bryan was quoting 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." (Muchinsky, 1997, p10;)

Industrial Organizational Psych.Walter Dill Scott • Also in 1903, Walter Dill Scott gave a talk to Chicago business leaders on the application of psychology to advertising, which led to the publication of two books on the topic published in 1903 & 1908. • By 1911 he had published two more books (Influencing Men in Business and Increasing Human Efficiency in Business), and became the first to apply the principles of psychology to motivation and productivity in the workplace. • He also became instrumental in the application of personnel procedures within the army during World War I.

Hugo Munsterberg:“The Father of Industrial Psychology” • Pioneered the application of psychological findings from laboratory experiments to practical matters • He was the first to encourage government funded research in the area of industrial psyc.

Hugo Munsterberg:“The Father of Industrial Psychology” • In 1911 he cautioned managers to be concerned with "all the questions of the mind...like fatigue, monotony, interest, learning, work satisfaction, and rewards." • In 1913 his book Psychology and Industrial Efficiency addressed such things as personnel selection and equipment design • Munsterberg’s early concept of I/O psychology assumed that people need to fit the organization, and thus the role of “applied behavioral sciences” was to of help organizations shape people to serve as replacement parts for organizational machines. His ideas were influential well into the 1950's

Frederick Taylor • About the same time as Munsterberg, Frederick Taylor began publishing similar philosophies on management -- which had a tremendous impact on organizational management • 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 “Pay the worker, not the job”. • His book Shop Management (1909) explained management's role in motivating workers to avoid "natural soldiering", i.e., the natural tendency of people to "take it easy"

Frederick TaylorThe good news… • 1911 Taylor's book The Principles of Scientific Management; suggested: • scientifically design work methods for efficiency • select the best workers and train them in the best methods • A study he did showed workers who handle heavy iron ingots were more productive when given 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 by the workers • This allowed for increased wages increased wages • Costs dropped from 9.2 to 3.9 cents per ton

Frederick TaylorThe controversy… • Taylor's methods led to charges that he inhumanely exploited workers for higher wages and that great numbers of workers would be unemployed because fewer were needed (a sensitive topic since unemployment was already high at the time) • Both the Interstate Commerce Commission and the U.S. House of Representatives began investigations • Taylor replied that increased efficiency would produce greater not lesser prosperity • Outbreak of WWI distracted most from the controversy before much was resolved

Lillian GilbrethThe Mother of Modern Management • In 1900 at age 22, she earned a BA in Lit from Berkeley, despite her Father’s belief that educating women was a waste of time. • She spoke at the commencement, the 1st woman ever to do so at any U of C campus • She earned a MA from Berkeley (also in Lit.) in 1902.

Lillian GilbrethThe Mother of Modern Management • After graduation, she meets and falls in love with an uneducated builder named Frank Gilbreth. • Frank is interested in workplace efficiency, and Lillian looks into scientific management principles. They begin consulting together. • In 1915, Lillian receives a PhD in Educational Psychology, with an emphasis in management, at Brown University. At commencement, she is accompanied by her 4 children, all under age 5.

Lillian GilbrethThe Mother of Modern Management • 1924: Nine years have passed, and she has had another 8 children. She and Frank perform groundbreaking work in process simplification, efficiency and employee motivation. She is the first to recognize the impact of stress and fatigue on time management. (go figure) Frank dies. • Lillian continues to work full time until the age of 88, and makes tremendous contributions to how we work, which endure to this day. She puts all of her 12 children through college. • 2 of her children write a book modeled after her, called Cheaper By the Dozen.

Lillian GilbrethSome of her contributions: • Designed the layout of keys on a typewriter keyboard • Invented scaffolding • Created the process hospitals use to organize instruments during surgery • Designed the first continuous-surface-model kitchen (created to assist handicapped women work in the kitchen) • Invented “hospital corners” to prevent back injuries in nurses • Designed a myriad of household appliances and industrial equipment.

Industrial Organizational Psych.World War I • Robert Yerkes was the most influential in getting psychology into the war • He 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. • Walter Dill Scott classified and placed enlistees, conducted performance evaluations of officers, and developed and prepared job duties and qualifications for over 500 military jobs

Industrial Organizational Psych.After World War I • Psychological Corporation started by James Cattell in 1921 • Main purpose was to advance psychology and promote its usefulness to industry • Also to 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

Industrial Organizational Psych.The Hawthorne Studies • In 1924 a series of experiments began at the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company • Researchers from Harvard University set out to study the relation between lighting and efficiency • Increased lighting resulted in increased efficiency, but to their surprise, efficiency continued to improve as the lighting dimmed to faint moonlight levels • The Hawthorne Effect -- change in behavior following the onset of a novel treatment (generally new or increased attention). Effect eventually wears off (behavior returns to original) as the "novelty" dissipates

Industrial Organizational Psych.The Hawthorne Studies • In 1933 Elton Mayo made his interim report on the Hawthorne studies. It contains the first significant call for the human relations movement • Mayo showed the existence of informal employee groups and their effects on production, the importance of employee attitudes, the value of a sympathetic and understanding supervisor, and the need to treat people as people -- not simply as human capital • This was one of the benchmark events in the development of industrial psychology • By this time, several Universities offered a PhD program in I/O Psychology.

References Books • Cascio, W. F. (1997). Applied psychology in personnel management (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. • Munchinsky, P.M.(2002): Psychology Applied to Work: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology • Spector, P. E. (2000). Industrial and organizational psychology: Research and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons Websites www.SIOP.org www.wcupa.edu/_Academics/sch_cas.psy/Career_Paths/Industrial/Career06.htm www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/gilbreth.html

Industrial/Organizational Psychology