Industrial and organizational psychology

Industrial and organizational psychology (also known as I/O psychology, work psychology, work and organizational psychology, W-O psychology, occupational psychology, personnel psychology or talent assessment) concerns the application of psychological theories, research methods, and intervention strategies to workplace issues. I/O psychologists are interested in making organizations more productive while ensuring workers are able to lead physically and psychologically healthy lives. Relevant topics include personnel psychology, motivation and leadership, employee selection, training and development, organization development and guided change, organizational behavior, and work and family issues. I/O psychologists who work for an organization are most likely to work in the HR (human resources) department. However, many I/O psychologists pursue careers as independent consultants or applied academic researchers. I/O psychology is one of the many domains that should be assessed when conducting psychological research when answering applied questions.

Overview

Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology (Division 14 of the American Psychological Association) as a specialty area has a more restricted definition than Psychology as a whole. Guion (1965) defines Industrial and Organizational Psychology as "the scientific study of the relationship between man and the world of work:... in the process of making a living" (p. 817). Blum and Naylor (1968) define it as "simply the application or extension of psychological facts and principles to the problems concerning human beings operating within the context of business and industry" (p 4). Broadly speaking, I/O Psychologists are concerned with human behavior in work contexts. According to Muchinsky, the applied side of I/O Psychology is concerned with utilizing knowledge gathered from scientific inquiry "to solve real problems in the world of work". Example problems include hiring better employees, reducing absenteeism, improving communication, and increasing job satisfaction.

One of the tools I/O psychologists commonly utilize in the field is called a job analysis. Job analyses identify essential characteristics associated with any particular position through interviews of job incumbents, subject matter experts, supervisors and/or past job descriptions. Job analyses measure both worker facets necessary to perform the job adequately (aka KSAOs - knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics as well as unique facets of the job itself. Once a job analysis is complete, I/O psychologists will typically utilize this information to design and validate systems to select new applicants, restructure employee performance appraisals, uncover training needs, and analyze fairness in employee compensation. Though a thorough job analysis takes time, resources and money, its benefits tend to outweigh the costs.

• I/O Psychologists are professionals seeking to address real-world issues or problems in the workplace.
  • As scientists, they derive principles of individual, group, and organizational behavior through research.
  • As consultants and staff psychologists, they develop scientific knowledge and apply it to the solution of problems at work.
  • As teachers, they train in the research and application of I/O Psychology

I/O psychologists also may employ psychometric tests to measure the abilities and personality traits of prospective and current employees. These tests are commonly used for employee selection and other employment decisions. Employee attitudes such as morale, job satisfaction, or feelings towards management or customers are other commonly measured work-related person variables.

Increasingly, people factors are recognized as a major determinant of organizational performance and a key competitive differential. Psychologists therefore may also advise senior managers on the management of organizational climate or culture, on dealing with organizational change, or on group dynamics within an organization. It is probably partly for this reason that management coaching is an increasingly popular part of the psychologist's work.

Industrial and organizational psychology is a diverse field incorporating aspects of disciplines such as social psychology, personality psychology and quantitative psychology (which includes psychometrics) as well as less closely linked social studies such as law. As a diverse, applied field, influences from any branch of psychology, even clinical psychology, are not uncommon. At one point in time, industrial and organizational psychology was not distinguished from vocational (counseling) psychology or the study of human factors. Although the foregoing disciplines still overlap with industrial and organizational psychology, today they are formally taught in separate classes and housed in separate graduate-level psychology programs within a psychology department.

Many industrial and organizational psychologists specialize in one of the following aspects: psychometrics; quality; employment law; personnel selection; training; leadership selection, coaching and development; organizational design and change. Many of these activities are referred to as talent management. Some I/O psychologists are academic (working in both business and psychology departments) or non-academic researchers, while many others are engaged in practice, holding positions such as the following:

• Board of Directors Chairman
• Governing Board Chairman
• Board Chairman
• Personnel Committee Chairman
• CEO
• Technical Recruiter
• Selection Committee Chairman
• Vendor Services Executive Committee
• Executive coach
• Senior Personnel Officer
• College of Business Associate Dean
• Psychology Faculty
• Employment Specialist
• Staffing Specialist
• Job Developer
• Vocational Specialist
• Co-Producer of Professional Development and Training.
• Academic Adviser
• VP of Management Services
• Vice President
• Staffing Consultant
• Recruiter
• legislative compliance officer
• labor relations specialist
• ADA Trainer / Account Manager
• Human Resources Assistant
• Human Resources Specialist
• Process Improvement Consultant
• Manager of selection and training
• Employee Benefits
• Counselor
• Diversity Consultant
• Human Capital Measurment Consultant/Analyst
• Talent Management Consultant
• Executive Coach
• Organizational Development Consultant
• Workforce Analyst
• Psychometrician

References

• Muchinsky, Paul M., (199). Psychology Applied to Work: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Third Edition.

• Goodwill Industries, Inc.’ Career Services, Headquarter Office at 1500 Mission St. in San Francisco, California, U.S.A.; work done by two I/O Psy degreed employees and one with also a marketing minor from 7/2004 to 6/2005 in the Career Services area involving candidate evaluation, and representation, marketing and sales of recruiting and placement services to potential client companies and referring state agency, tracking of billable services and received authorizations of services to state referring agency clients reportable to accounting, case notes using Metsys software.

• Janet Pomeroy Center, VLS Dept./ ADD Dept. / Gardening Services Dept. (formerly RCH, Inc.) in San Francisco, California, U.S.A.; office support services (e.g. folding, stuffing, stamping, targeted flyer posting, sorting, reworking) marketing and sales, quality assurance, new office support service (paper shredding) development and market penetration, Department of Labor reports submittal, payroll reporting, prevailing wage surveys, job analysis and more work done by I/O Psy and marketing minor degreed employee from 3/2003 to 12/2003.

• Arriba Juntos, Inc. in SF, CA, U.S.A.; employment services, recruiting, and training programs marketing done by I/O Psy and marketing minor degreed employee serving WIA/TWIA and other job seekers between August 2002 and November 2002.

• Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in FROM 4/2001 to 4/2002. work done by I/O Psy and marketing minor degreed employee in the areas of …s

• LIons Center for the Blind, Oakland, California, United States of America. March 1998 to March 2001 Job Placement Services Department minutes and Training Materials records on Work Place Dynamics and Job Seeking Sklls.

• RGA Associates, Inc.’s Software Unit in San Francisco, California, U.S.A.; work done by I/O Psy and marketing minor degreed employee in the areas of technical recruiting from 9/1996 to 11/1997.

• Studetn Union Governing Board of the Cesar Chave Student Center Building at SAn Francisoc State University, CSU, USA, Minutes Records between 1990 and 1995.

• San Francisco State University College of Business, Assistant Dean Records as of 2004.

• San Francisco State University Academic Senate minutes, SF, CA U.S.A.

• San Francisco State University Riskk Management Department (formerl The Human Resources Department) 1992 to 1996 approximately.

• San Francisco State University EEO / AA / ADA office record between 1990 and 1996.

• San Francisco State University, Vice Presidents Office of The Urban Institute and the American with Disabilities Act Training Team; 1992-1995 aprox.

• San Francisco State University, Vice President of Student Affairs Office, SF, CAS, U.S.A..

• San Francisco State University, School of Education' Step-To-College Program stationed at Mission HIgh School in San Francisco, California, U.S.A.; work doen by I?O Psychology Student between 1990 and 1994.

• San Francisco State University, College of Business Journal advertising space sales via project with Salesmanship Class thought by Dave Heckenlively during Dean Wallace early arrival to the SFSU School of Business in the early to mid 1990s.

• San Francisco State University, School of Education' Faculty / Students Mentorship Program work done by I/O Psychology Student between 1991 and 1994 approximately.

• San Francisco State University' Student Oureach Services Program (S.O.S.) at stationed at Newcomer High School's Counseling Office. Student Recruiting work done by I/O Psy SFSU Student approxximately between 1989 and 1991.

• City and County of San Francisco Government's HUman Resources Department and Redevelopment Agency; personal knowledge and records of minutes showing work done by Sr. Personnael Analyst with degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

• Associated Students Incorporated, Legislature, San Francisco State University, CSU, USA, Minutes Records between 1990 and 1993.

• Enterprise for High School Students in SF, CA U.S.A.; student outreach, tutoring, and recruiting done by I/O Psy student at its Mission High School location between 1988 an d1992 approximately).

Job Functions and Duties

Job functions, duties and responsibilities carried out by individuals holding a degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and Business Administration with business minor emphasizing Marketing and Employee Relations graduate course work include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Use of Robert's Rules of Order parliamentarian procedures to facilitate and participate in orderly and effective corporate, organizational, committee and legislative meetings and training others on it.
• Writing and editing.
• Interface with the private and public for profit corporations.
• Interface with private non-profit corporations and organizations.
• Interface with several United States of America (U.S.A.) governmental agencies and stakeholders including city , county state and federal government agencies.
• Introduce legislation and motions to various governing bodies.
• Interpret and explain motions and resolutions to-be-introduced.
• Review, approval, interpretation and oversight of implementation of organizational constitution, bylaws and articles of incorporation.
• Sales and marketing strategies design, development and implementation.
• Gain internal and external stakeholders buy-in on policy, referendums, procedures update.
• Conduct needs assessment to define project scope, deliverables and implementation plan.
• Create and drive the implementation of marketing strategies that increase technical recruiting, job placement and career services revenue.
• Recommending top candidates to final hiring person.
• Articulate organizational vision, mission and values.
• Programs image re-positioning.
• Chairmanship
• Assist decision-makers and facilitate the decision-making process within several governing bodies.
• Abide by the Brown Act regulations for posting notices of public meetings.
• Governing board retreat strategic agenda development and retreat activities planning.
• Foster a culture of and Improving performance, productivity and results.
• Decrease micromanagement
• Starting up new business units and penetrating markets to gain market share.
• Interlocking board and or personnel matters committee members
• Executive management
• Governing Board relations.
• Supervision of professional executive management and clerical staff
• Strategic planning and work force restructuring
• Using the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
• Oversee, plan, direct, coordinate and / or participate in corporate operations.
• Track & report billable hours; accounts payable (A/P) and account receivable (A/R) and expenses
• Invoicing
• Budgeting: Resource forecast, management, allocation and monitoring.
• Starting up organizations, companies.
• Run the full cycle of candidate recruiting and client company development and management.
• Technical Recruiting
• Developing and implementing direct and indirect technical recruiting strategies.
• Consult with hiring managers, executives and founders about recruiting requirements.
• Facilitate resolution of volatile political issues.
• Liaison between employment services organizations, job candidates and client companies.
• Individual human achievement coaching.
• Interview, check references, match candidates and personnel needs, Schedule and coordinate interviews, follow-up and follow through to turning candidate down and / or extend job offers, and getting acceptance of job offer / candidate.
• Personnel Management
• Interpret and implement personnel policies and procedures.
• Staff planning, direction, Recruiting, selection, hiring, new employee orientation and evaluation
• Risk management (damage-control)
• Interact with constituencies or stake-holders of diverging views.
• Collect, review, approve and report multiple departments’ employees payroll to human resources accounting unit.
• Review and recommend steps to bring consistency or congruency of employee handbooks with Human Resources Policies and Procedures.
• Personnel Policies Administration
• Personnel Research Design, Statistical Analysis and Interpretation.
• General Statistical Analysis
• University Teaching
• Personnel Statistical Analysis.
• Research Design and Analysis
• Individual and group coaching
• Design, develop and implement position (job openings) tracking systems.
• General Management
• Job Placement services
• Analysis of and advice to management on complex personnel issues.
• Design and administer weighted personnel selection tools.
• Research and write labor relations manual
• Utilize word processing, spreadsheet and statistical analysis software packages to present human resources projects data, statistical analysis and interpretation, conclusions and recommendations.
• Research, review, summarize and present complex information in an understandable manner to audiences varying in education levels (ranging from Ph.D. to only 7th grade or GED) and fields of expertise.
• Conduct wage surveys to determine prevailing wage.
• Analyze and interpret data.
• Entrepreneurship
• Ensure validity and reliability of job analysis and Job performance evaluation system and its tools whether using quantitative, qualitative statistical data and analysis, and / or weighted scoring type of tools; whether one-to-one evaluation, peer-to-peer or the more complex 360 degree job performance evaluation, ensuring the validity and fairness of the data and how its valid statistical analysis, interpretation and recommendations, pointing out the flows of the data in a 360 degree evaluation system such a political witch-hunt, comments or impute filled with personal venderas or other irrelevant matters. This is s huge area where the backing of major corporate officers such as HR Head or the expert backing of a PhD with Statistical research and design analysis can be paramount to adding credibility to the person presenting the outcomes from such an evaluation system to say a board of directors or major committee evaluating a major key player in for example a head of an executive management team.
• Personnel compensation reviews
• Review and increase validity and reliability of evaluation surveys to for example comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) U.S.A. Federal Law.
• Communicate effectively with Exam and Testing Units Heads, Senior Personnel Analysts, Agencies Heads and / or representatives and EEO personnel to discuss and negotiate employment testing reasonable accommodations for job candidates.
• Price Standardization of office support services.
• Writing Excel formulas to track data and perform calculations.
• Facilities safety and security coordination and standards.
• Design and implementation of pre-employment testing via work sample.
• Review and recommend vendors policies/procedures.
• Vendor relations.
• Review vendors contract performance and compliance.
• Respond to RFP’s / RFQ’s submittals.
• Quality assurance.
• Communicate policies and procedures
• Respond to employee grievances.
• Research and interpret personnel laws, solve problems, explain requirements and make decisions often with the aide of legal council.
• Employee Relations (e.g. Federal and State laws, regulations and or guidelines relevant to 1) Performance Management and Evaluation; 2) I-9 Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986; 3) Americans with Disabilities (ADA); 4) Sections 503 / 504 of the Rehabilitation Act; 5) Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO); 6) Affirmative Action (A.A); 7) Racial, ethnic, multi-lingual, disability, gender, political and nationality diversity issues management.)
• Design, review and performance of records filling and management to meet and sustain strict confidentiality and documentation standards of certification by accrediting institutions
• Research and write content of participatory seminars on professional development topics such as time management, implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), conducting effective job performance appraisals, stress management, anger management and conflict resolution.
• Standardize sales price of Office support services.
• Enhance R business processes (e.g. employment recruiting and selection, new employee orientation, staff development policies and procedures, catastrophic leave policy EEO and implementation of the ADA), customer service, and staff development.
• Address staff inquiries about compensation grades
• Employment and Classification (e.g. job candidate testing design and interview questions development, evaluation standards design, Job restructuring involving job enlargement and job enrichment.)
• Shift differential policy.
• Catastrophic leave policy.
• Retirement benefits policy.
• COLA's and MSA's requests, reviews and recommendations.
• Office space management

Equipment and supplies policies.

• Responding to and requesting position reclassification.
• Write job descriptions.
• Coordinate and conduct job analyses.
• Contact presenters to gain their commitment in principle.
• Fostering relationships for a department in order to gain internal expertise cooperation and participation.
• Design, and coordinate job performance appraisal (evaluation) systems.
• Train professionals and clerical staff on providing reasonable accommodations to implement the ADA and / or sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act whichever laws were applicable.
• Market post-secondary educational institutions and admissions requirements.
• Manage & prioritize multiple projects.
• Use Statistical Analysis Software such as Statview.
• Use Emailing and Scheduling System such as GroupWise
• Use Client and Program Management System such as Metsys software.
• Introduce revised elections codes to governing bodies to meet ADA Federal Law requirements of programmatic and physical accessibility.
• Monitor compliance with Fair Labor Standards Act
• Monitor compliance with EEO laws and guidelines.

References

• Goodwill Industries, Inc.’ Career Services, Headquarter Office at 1500 Mission St. in San Francisco, California, U.S.A.; work done by two I/O Psy degreed employees and one with also a marketing minor from 7/2004 to 6/2005 in the Career Services area involving candidate evaluation, and representation, marketing and sales of recruiting and placement services to potential client companies and referring state agency, tracking of billable services and received authorizations of services to state referring agency clients reportable to accounting, case notes using Metsys software.

• Janet Pomeroy Center, VLS Dept./ ADD Dept. / Gardening Services Dept. (formerly RCH, Inc.) in San Francisco, California, U.S.A.; office support services (e.g. folding, stuffing, stamping, targeted flyer posting, sorting, reworking) marketing and sales, quality assurance, new office support service (paper shredding) development and market penetration, Department of Labor reports submittal, payroll reporting, prevailing wage surveys, job analysis and more work done by I/O Psy and marketing minor degreed employee from 3/2003 to 12/2003.

• Arriba Juntos, Inc. in SF, CA, U.S.A.; employment services, recruiting, and training programs marketing done by I/O Psy and marketing minor degreed employee serving WIA/TWIA and other job seekers between August 2002 and November 2002.

• Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in FROM 4/2001 to 4/2002. work done by I/O Psy and marketing minor degreed employee in the areas of …s

• LIons Center for the Blind, Oakland, California, United States of America. March 1998 to March 2001 Job Placement Services Department minutes and Training Materials records on Work Place Dynamics and Job Seeking Sklls.

• RGA Associates, Inc.’s Software Unit in San Francisco, California, U.S.A.; work done by I/O Psy and marketing minor degreed employee in the areas of technical recruiting from 9/1996 to 11/1997.

• Studetn Union Governing Board of the Cesar Chave Student Center Building at SAn Francisoc State University, CSU, USA, Minutes Records between 1990 and 1995.

• San Francisco State University College of Business, Assistant Dean Records as of 2004.

• San Francisco State University Academic Senate minutes, SF, CA U.S.A.

• San Francisco State University Riskk Management Department (formerl The Human Resources Department) 1992 to 1996 approximately.

• San Francisco State University EEO / AA / ADA office record between 1990 and 1996.

• San Francisco State University, Vice Presidents Office of The Urban Institute and the American with Disabilities Act Training Team; 1992-1995 aprox.

• San Francisco State University, Vice President of Student Affairs Office, SF, CAS, U.S.A..

• San Francisco State University, School of Education' Step-To-College Program stationed at Mission HIgh School in San Francisco, California, U.S.A.; work doen by I?O Psychology Student between 1990 and 1994.

• San Francisco State University, College of Business Journal advertising space sales via project with Salesmanship Class thought by Dave Heckenlively during Dean Wallace early arrival to the SFSU School of Business in the early to mid 1990s.

• San Francisco State University, School of Education' Faculty / Students Mentorship Program work done by I/O Psychology Student between 1991 and 1994 approximately.

• San Francisco State University' Student Oureach Services Program (S.O.S.) at stationed at Newcomer High School's Counseling Office. Student Recruiting work done by I/O Psy SFSU Student approxximately between 1989 and 191.

• City and County of San Francisco Government's HUman Resources Department and Redevelopment Agency; personal knowledge and records of minutes showing work done by Sr. Personnael Analyst with degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

• Associated Students Incorporated, Legislature, San Francisco State University, CSU, USA, Minutes Records between 1990 and 1993.

• Enterprise for High School Students in SF, CA U.S.A.; student outreach, tutoring, and recruiting done by I/O Psy student at its Mission High School location between 1988 an d1992 approximately).

Methodologies in Organizational Psychology

There are also a number of methodologies specifically dedicated to Organizational Psychology such as Peter Senge’s 5th Discipline and Arthur F. Carmazzi’s Directive Communication. These are a variety of psychological approaches that have been developed into a system for specific outcomes such as the 5th Discipline’s “learning organization” or Directive Communication’s “Organizational culture enhancement”.

In an attempt to correct for statistical artifacts (i.e., sampling error, unreliability and range restriction) that compromise the ability of I/O psychologists to draw general conclusions from a single study, I/O researchers have increasingly employed a technique known as meta-analysis. Meta-analysis is a methodology for averaging results across studies. It has been used to address research questions involving various levels of analysis (i.e., individual, group, organizational, and/or vocational). Although the use of meta-analytic methods is not without controversy, its more frequent appearance in the I/O research literature has profoundly impacted the field. The most well-known meta-analytic approaches are those of Hunter & Schmidt (1990, 2004), Rosenthal (1991), and Hedges & Olkin (1985).

Financial compensation of industrial and organizational psychologists generally is among the highest in the whole field of psychology. While salary and benefits tend to be significantly greater in the private sector, academics who specialize in industrial and organizational psychology may command greater compensation than their faculty peers. Teaching (and sometimes research) opportunities exist in business schools as well as in psychology programs. Business schools typically offer more generous salaries and benefits than do psychology programs. Some academics choose to gain practical experience and access to data, as well as to supplement their incomes, by engaging in consulting work on the side.

Standardization and Management

Taylor, in his writing of Shop Management, made it clear that the key concept which he believed in and defended was not any particular wage system; instead it was the principle of standardization based on scientific investigation of real, tangible and measurable results. (Frank Barkley Copley; Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management; Volume II, 1923 and reprinted 1969; library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 68-55515 Vol. 2; page 173).

According to Frank Barkley Copley Shop Management, written by Frederick W. Taylor, is where for the first time in the history of management reference can be found to a semi-complete management system. While he worked at the Bethelham Company, he in addition to having in mind and using certain new and improved mechanisms and methods of management (e.g. time card, sliding rule, documentation for individual responsibility / accountability, matching task difficulty with best qualified equipment and / or individual or in some cases animal such as the horses example in the executive summary Definition of The Term- First-Class Men by Romullous A. Diaz; 2007), had moved beyond the independent existence of such methods and mechanisms. Taylor was able to link them together, see and coordinate their uses as to make their interplay a relationship of multiple methods, used to evaluate and measure different variables associated with a job. These methods and systems, he worked out and developed to improved stages, resulted in the formation of an improved system of professional scientific management of a higher caliber than its independent new parts (methods and mechanisms) he developed. That is where the more advanced, complex, well thought out professional scientific management system we tap into today appears to have been born.

We now refer to it or use more fancy terms such as Industrial and Organizational Psychology, organizational behavior, organizational development, applied Psychology at work, the psychology of work, motivation at work, personnel management; and to some of its sub-parts or applications we often refer to as human resources and lately as human capital management.

References

• Frank Barkley Copley; Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management, Vol. I and II, First edition 1923, reprinted 1969

Frederick W. Taylor’ Contributions to Personnel Management

The author of Frederick W. Taylor: Father of Scientific Management”, Volume two (2) reveals to us how Frederick W. Taylor, also well-known us the engineer in management, after he advanced personnel management in various private manufacturing companies such as the Bethelhelm company, during the last several decades of the 1800’s, continued his efforts to promote and further give time and effort towards the furtherance of it.

Taylor did advance core components, concepts, principles and applications or practices, as indicated in the Standardization and Management article by Romullous A. Diaz PSI CHI Member and co-founder of PAC BAC, such as the following with the United States of America Federal Government during the first decade of the 1900’s and before 1907 of what we now call HRM, HRD, HR, Human Capital Management, Personnel Management, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Development or whatever we might call it now and or in the future and have called it in the past:

• Job Performance Measurement.
• Job Analysis.
• Job Design.
• Job Enrichment.
• Job Enlargement.
• Job Restructuring.
• Benchmarking / Standardizing
• Delegating
• Change Process Management.
• Classifications.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis.
• Applied Motivation at Work.
• Organizational Re-Engineering / Reduction-In-Labor Force / Down-Sizing / Right-Sizing or Laying-Off.

Taylor also brought into our field very good basic economics concepts, theories, and practices such as:

• Return-On-Investment (ROI).
• Break-Even Point.
• Feasibility Study and Analysis.

Although he might have had used different words to refer to the above terms, the meaning, the activity involved in, the information sought, gained and objective of its use were the same as what the henceforth mentioned contributed concepts, principles and practices of management usually mean. If you are able to see this in the content of the text book written about him, you might begin to see that our field is a spectacularly advanced science which has been around more than 200 years.

In fact beginnings of the science of management introduced by Taylor were so well advanced for the time that Frederick W. Taylor Scientific Management enlightened a high caliber management team named “Vickers” brought from England which was going to be used in the NAVY in lieu of Taylor’s by one skeptic major division.

According to the author of the text book about Taylor’s systems, there is no account of weather The Vicker’s System was ever used in the NAVY. Taylor’s certainly was adopted and used more by some than by others. This is not to say that our U.S.A. Government was behind the A-Ball before Taylor joined them. It was not at all. On the contrary, when Taylor executed his in-kind “government-efficiency” consulting service with the ARMY, he found that they were quite advanced already. In the first decade of 1900 The ARMY already “selected officers from the line by competitive examinations” or what we might now refer to as civil service process (Vol. 2; pp 328).

Taylor’s first contributions to this science within The United States of America (U.S.A.) Government (Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management, First edition 1923, reprinted 1969, pp. 210-327) were with the engineering and manufacturing work of The NAVY’s yards and of The ARMY’s Ordenance Department (Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management, Vol. II, First edition 1923, reprinted 1969, pp. 328 – 352). Now we are able to apply them to other industries, and business-sectors such as the non-profit sector, the for-profit sector, the public sector, the private sector, the start-up sector, and in City, County, state, and federal government agencies.

In addition to the terms mentioned previously, Frederick W. Taylor also contributed the term "First-Class Men", which in personnel selection is key. We look for the best fit between the job and the person. Taylor presented a House Committee a pretty interesting description of the meaning he intended when he used the term "First-Class Men." His description is as useful today as it might have been when he educated the House Committee on the subject. In the following paragraphs, you will find an executive summary using metaphors and parallel thinking as opposed to linear, describing the term creatively. Furthermore, it allows us to see how rich the Industrial and Organizational Psychology field is in its thought provoking ideas and yet manages to retain a simplicity in the down to earth illustrations of its concepts.

References

• Frank Barkley Copley; Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management, Vol. I and II, First edition 1923, reprinted 1969

First-Class Men

Taylor’s definition of the term “First-Class Men” as he used it is furnished through an illustration, using the great capacity of horses. He used before the Special House Committee” this illustration in which he presented the “types of horses and the use for which they were intended. He explained how if you had 300 to 400 horses in a stable, you will have horses intended specially for hauling coal wagons, horses for hauling grocery wagons; you will have a certain number of trotting horses, a certain number of sattle (pleasure horses) and of ponies in that stable” (Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management, Vol. II, First edition 1923, reprinted 1969, pp. 76 to 77). Let’s say you ran out of coal hauling horses on a given day and you decide to use grocery wagon hauling horses he continued. The grocery hauling wagon horse would not be a first-class horse for hauling coal wagons. Would it? No, it would not. It would be a second class horse. You may not even have a grocery wagon hauling horse available, in which case, you may decide to use a treating horse; this wouldn’t be a first-class horse either. It would be a second class horse, he explained, or maybe even third for they are less fit than the grocery wagon hauling horse and much less than the coal wagon hauling horse to haul such a heavy duty, high weight material as coal. Last resort if you ran out of all the horses, you, at times, may need to use a Pony he said. The least fit of the three to haul coal wagons. However, do not think ponies are not physically fit; I remember my father while training a pony he had bought for me and my brother before our teenage years got thrown off of it and dragged around in circles. While ponies are not fully trained, they can wrestle you to ground fast and using the element of surprise. They seem easy to get them to do whatever you want them to or to be quickly tamable but they are not if you move on too heavily on them or try to tame them with too much force or heavy weight per my own observation. A pony while very welcoming and easy going can easily bring a tamer on his knees and drag him through the mud, hey, green grass and rocks. My dad was just hanging on to the rope. Luckily he did not get hurt when he pushed the pony too much or beyond the pony’s acceptable threshold of pain.

Now, the grocery wagon hauling horse would be a first-class horse to pull grocery wagons just as a trotting horse would be first-class, and not second class, for riding pleasure.

A pony might also be a first-class horse as far as say trotting for children and young adults under age 18 for gee 18 but not for adults over it. They may later on become first-class trotting horses for adults, but not coal-wagon hauling horses.

On a different dimension of objects from the henceforth mentioned, which used an animal kingdom specie, lets say now us that of an inanimate noun such as the coal wagons and grocery wagons. A coal-wagon is first-class wagon obviously for carrying coal, but not to carry groceries because it is not going to be very clean. Similarly with the case of grocery wagons, a grocery wagon is not a first-class wagon to carry coal for it might not stand the heavy weight. However, it would certainly be first-class to carry groceries.

An easy, yet, impractical solution may well be to make the load of coal wagon so light that even a pony could carry it, or a task so easy, at which point you are making a fool out of yourself, that the task can be done by a second class animal when in fact to be effective and efficient it most be made by a first-class animal. And that is an illustration of using, in specie different from the human specie, the term “First-Class” by Taylor in management.

Taylor’s metaphor was not intended to compare or diminish a worker or laborer’s dignity or value to that of an animal, namely, a horse, or of an inanimate noun such as a hauling wagon. It was nothing but a mere way of using a metaphor or parallel thinking to convey his point which took us as a variable out of the equation. He genuinely and savvyly took a scenario outside our own human species in a situation where human beings would decide which subject (i.e. horses and wagons) within their own categories would be best qualified to do or perform or achieve the job that required doing; which inanimate subject would be determined as first-class and on the basis on which the individual is determined to do the job is simply illustrated by the horses example. This utility of term is transferable personnel management and selection when used in determining who might be the best person fit or qualified to get a certain task or job done without regard to creed, skin color, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, political affiliation and gender. It is a nifty term for it allows you the broadest flexibility to view yourself as a “First-Class” at whatever it is you are very well qualified to do. And there can be I would think several first-class individual in any field which is very good.

On the one hand when used well in personnel selection, it is a neat way to find and select the crème of the crop (the high-caliber people) to do whatever job needs to be done. On the other hand, if not used well by making jobs too complicated (lumping three into one) or too simple that anybody can do it, one may end up wasting the knowledge, skills, abilities and experience of person doing a simple task which had it been delegated to a qualified person less experienced in breath and in depth it could have been done just as well or maybe better. You might end up, if the first-class men practice for the job is not used at all, having a poorly qualified person of narrow knowledge and shallow experience doing or overseeing a project or program or job which required wider or broader and more comprehensive (deeper) knowledge, skills, abilities and formal education. Thereby ending with negative or undesired results or no results whatsoever, and maybe even in the red from an accounting view point.

You see he, Taylor, took us humans out of the equation in his metaphor to allow us to see his point more easily. His attempt perhaps to show us the classifying of horses and wagons into first and second class was, in my view, to help us with seeing beyond ourselves, straight ahead and forward so that he could keep our minds open just by giving us an example which did not set up into classifying us, humans, into first and second class. Once he allowed us to see his point in a different world, he then showed us how to apply it in ours. And hopefully we have seen beyond the “salad days” or childish, immature reactions such as “he is comparing us to horses, godsh” or he is anti-union No, no, no, he was not. His point simply was every person just as every horse in the horses example can be First-Class or many of the best to do a certain kind of job based on what the job requires and the person’s knowledge, skills, abilities, education and or experience. And he firmly believe that an employee could not just demand higher wages without decreasing cost of production and increasing productivity thereby benefiting the employer, too. Justly so, he too believed that an employer could not overwork their employees, exploit them and keep blinders on them so as not to find out of company which offered better opportunities. In fact as stated in the book about him, he is referred as having such a Yankee mind that he did not only not put blinder on their employees to find out about potentially better employment opportunities. He told them about it too; and that is what qualified his mind as Yankee mind (page 73, vol 2). He, too, took people back whom returned to him for they deemed Taylor’s practices fairer and more financially rewarding and with better working environments.

Taylor was saying a machine can be first-class at his job like a CEO, Attorney, Surgeon can be at their respective jobs. And there may be second-class members in each profession, surely.

Just like a CEO or doctor is not likely to become first-class in mechanic, where he would be only a second class mechanic, the mechanic would never be a first-class CEO or doctor. He would be second-class doing a CEO’s, doctor’s or attorney’s job.

Nevertheless, this did not mean one cannot become first-class in another profession if one had the fortitude, self-discipline and consistency, and acquired the KSA’s (Knowledge, skills and abilities) and achievement results required to be deemed a First-Class individual in whichever profession, educational endeavor or sports.

Aside from concepts, principles and practices Frederick W. Taylor brought from the engineering and the accounting world to the field of Personnel Management and selection academic and practice sides of the field, he although not trained in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the time was formally educated in engineering and was known as the American Engineer in Management. Furthermore, he promoted and fostered the advamncement of formal academic education referred to him as "intellect" and also acknoledged that just education without common sense or without hands-on experience was aof little value to an individual. He furthermore ranked them and augmented the power of each by adding character or honesty. He ranked character at the top, common sense second and intellect third. This was not to dillute the value of education but just to provide perspective based on his own personal experience of the result he could get from those whe were formally educated without experience in contrast to those whom he trained for whever worked he needed done and and those who came to him with the tremendous combination of an academic education coupled with hands-on work or internship experience. The next Section on these henceforth mentioned valuss (i.e. Character, common sense and intellected) is revealed.

References

• Frank Barkley Copley; Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management, Vol. I and II, First edition 1923, reprinted 1969

Character, Common Sense and Intellect

Three Individual Achievement Traits or learned behaviors if not traits are, according to The American Engineer in American Management and Organizational Development Science and founding father of Industrial and Organizational Psychology in the United States Of America -- Frederick W. Taylor--are:

1. Character
2. Common Sense, and
3. Intellect

Intellect without character Taylor pointed out makes many people end up in the jail/prison [i.e. the joint] (Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management by Frank Barkley Copley, Volume II, 1923 and reprinted 1969; library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 68-55515).

And character without common sense or without intellect, I would add, can become Puritanism or in other words just opinions without factual rational backing. It can become expecting people to believe anything just because some body says it. It can become de-individuation a concept in Group Psychology which leads to cults where the individual looses his or her individuality. You shall remedy by educating the group about group-think and thereby breaking it up (Social Psychology by David G. Myers, Third Edition; Copy Right 1990; page 292 to 298). This is the opposite of the good all American value of Individuality. The way to address de-individuation is to break group-think by making people aware of it. And letting the group know that it is perfectly fine and totally American to state a dissenting opinion about whatever without caving-in under political or peer-pressure.

References

• Frank Barkley Copley; Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management, Vol. I and II, First edition 1923, reprinted 1969
• Social Psychology by David G. Myers, Third Edition; Copy Right 1990; page 292.

Working in Teams vs. in Pairs or Singly

Men will not do anything like one-half the work if they are herded together as they will when working in pairs or singly. … pretty soon it is a catch to see who is the slowest. This was the experience of two ore shovelers when relocated to work for a higher contingency payment on the per tone of ore shoveled. They did not know they were going to be thrown up in a herd of between 10 (ten) and 12 (twelve) shovellers where when one man stopped to spit on his hand, another begun to look at him and thought, that bugger is loafing. I will keep my eye on him. He is not doing as much as I do, decreasing his output to the lowest ratio of the loafer. Thereby the matching of who went the slowest, decreasing the ROI (Return-On-Investment) for all, begun (Frank Barkley Copley; Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management; Volume II, 1923 and reprinted 1969; library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 68-55515 pg 71 to pg 75).

Therefore the two man who thought were going to a higher earning employer did not earn as much as they did at their previous where men no longer are submerged in gangs, but are individualized (Frank Barkley Copley; Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management; Volume II, 1923 and reprinted 1969; library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 68-55515; pg 73) .

The result: Taylor specially trained ore shoverlers whom had been taken from him by a Pittsburgh steal company came back to Taylor s company because they could earn more in the individualized compensation system based on scientific management.

Taylor had told his men about the higher compensation as to not keep them from what appeared to be a greener grass (i.e. a better opportunity); he always kept their best interest in mind; and thus he advised them to see the other employer with whom they went and later on in a matter of two (2) to four (4) weeks resigned from. This approach to not keeping blinders on his employees from better opportunities is, according to Frank Barkley Copley in his book Frederick W. Taylor: Father of Scientific Management, a particularly fine example of Taylor s gift for the dramatic and incidentally workings of his shrwed-yankee mind (page 73). Why did they return to Frederick Taylor because the pluses did not out-weight the minuses of what we might now refer to as teaming-up without the individualistic spirit of personal responsibility for specific, measurable, attainable, real and tangible results (SMART) which are measured.

References

• Frank Barkley Copley; Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management, Vol. I and II, First edition 1923, reprinted 1969

Why and Who Resisted Taylor’s Writings and Management System

It is said that Frederick W. Taylor writings were of such an advanced English writing composition type and about methods and systems which were so new that they felt foreign to readers already entrenched in other management systems. This feeling caused already experienced managers, typically in the late 1800s and early 1900s at around age forty, to feel unable of grasping where Taylor was coming from with regard to his management new ideas.

However, the younger crowd was more able than the older crowd to grasp Taylor’s ideas, concepts, methods -- several of which are listed in the executive brief article titled Frederick W. Taylor’ Contributions to Personnel Management authored by Romullous Diaz in 2007 -- and what not about the improved management system.

References

• Frank Barkley Copley; Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management, Vol. I and II, First edition 1923, reprinted 1969

The Good and the Bad of Industrial and Organizational Psychology

    The beauty of a degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology I think is that instead of involving only one side (the hands-on or the

scientific method) of, metaphorically speaking, the equation, it encompasses both. Thereby the hands-on side enjoying backing by the scientific method, its Siamese-twins or if you are free spirited its soul-mate. This sibling of the I/O Psychology realm of Psychology you might say helps to keep the emotions in check and under control in the decision making process. Thereby, insuring accuracy, equity and fairness. Notice that I said equity not equality. Equality is not a true-fairness concept I believe. On the contrary, equality disregards the in-put and out-put ratio of resources used to get a result. It ignores the difference between reducing cost and increasing productivity and the fact that often both need to happen. Reducing cost and decreasing productivity and as such outcome / results is a poor ROI (Return –On-Investment). We all want a good

bang

for our buck; don’t we. We as employees trade time for money. The goose trades money for time; but time used which yields results which matter to revenue. This is conduit to the down-side of a degree in I/O Psychology.

    It comes without the academic and much less

practicum of basic business sense, economics, the marketing and sales of ideas, recommendations, and their charting to speak the language of the people who provide the money. He who has the money….. eh.

 Now

I/O Psychology degreed employees are not any panacea whatsoever.

    However an I/O Psychology student could easily

combine this degree with a business minor thought by faculty who not just lecture from a book but from those who have done it. The proof is in the pudding. And so here lies a potential solution to the down side of I/O Psychology. Take a marketing minor which teaches you basic economics, finance, marketing, advertising, public relations, employee relations, how to defend a company in court, business ethic, personal salesmanship. And furthermore allows you to practice the concepts you learn in group and individual projects by going out into the world outside the university. A class where you have to read and discuss the ethics of articles on the Wall Street Journal.

    I firmly think that these two fields go

hand-in-hand. It is kind of like you can not kill the goose that lays the golden egg and still expect to get its eggs. Well, Industrial and Organizational Psychology brings tones of concepts which are applied in the various course thought in the college of business majors. Now we, because I took a minor in Marketing and began a master’s degree in business,

are

savvy. We take the brilliancy of I/O Psychology concepts and theories and use them in for example marketing, advertising to make us and our companies money. This is where our brilliancy needs savvyness. Why can’t I/O Psychology programs require this basic subjects and even accounting should be added. I mean Frederick Taylor was using accounting back in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s.

    If I/O Psy programs are unable to face the music,

which is that they are not preparing their students to compete in corporate America in the hopes that they will go on to get an MS and perhaps a PhD, inform them for goodness sake about the flaw which requires patching. No matter how posh a student turns out to be from the I/O Psychology program, they shall have to have street smarts and the feeling of competing in the cut-throat corporate America financial district world.

Even if your job often seems to foster a nice,

shouldn’t we all get along fluffy environment.

    I am reminded of the old saying .. many

over-educated derelicts, genius will not, persistency will. But then again it alone can not be superior to three traits by Taylor: Character, common sense and intellect. The intellect requires revamping. Sometimes like Ralph Waldo Emerson refers to in his essays, you have to cut out all niceties for it often will not get anything done but just give you a smile. And remember the song about smiling faces; smiling faces don’t always tell the truth.

References

• Frank Barkley Copley; Frederick W. Taylor Father of Scientific Management, Vol. I and II, First edition 1923, reprinted 1969

Job Enrichment vs. Job Enlargement

Job enrichment in organizational development, human resources management, and organizational behavior, is the process of giving an employee more responsibility and increased decision-making authority. This is the opposite of job enlargement, which does not give greater authority, just more duties.

Job enlargement is often called "multi-tasking". This perhaps violates of one of the key principles of human achievement, namely, concentration of effort. One can perhaps manage and work on a variety of projects and still practice concentrated effort, but multitasking is so out of hand that it often prevents an employee from getting anything done.

The current practice of job enrichment stemmed from the work of Frederick Herzberg in the 1950s and 1960s. Herzberg's two factor theory argued that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are not to be seen as one dimension, but two. Aspects of work that contributed to job satisfaction are called motivators and aspects that contributed to job dissatisfaction are called hygiene factors; hence, the theory is also refereed to as motivator-hygiene theory. Examples of motivators are recognition, achievement, and advancement. Examples of hygiene factors are salary, company policies and working conditions. According to Herzberg's theory, the existence of motivators would lead to job satisfaction, but the lack of motivators would not lead to job dissatisfaction, and similarly; hygiene factors affect job dissatisfaction, but not job satisfaction. In general, research has failed to confirm these central aspects of the theory.

Hackman and Oldham later refined the work of Herzberg into the Job Characteristics Model , which forms the basis of job enrichment today. (UTC)

References

Motivation and Work Behavior by Richard M. Steers and Lyman W. Porte, 1991

I/O in Ancient Times

• Plato’s Republic
  • Created a taxonomy of citizens (e.g., guardians, auxiliaries, and workers)
  • Proposed ways to select and train members in each category
• The Chinese
  • Developed a selection system for bureaucrats 3,000 years ago (lasted through 1905)
  • Multiple hurdle system

In the United States, its origins are those of applied psychology in the early 19th Century, when the nation was experiencing tremendous industrialization, corporatization, unionization, immigration, urbanization and physical expansion. The field's founding fathers were Frederick W. Taylor, Hugo Münsterberg (1863-1916), Walter Dill Scott (1869-1955), and Walter Van Dyke Bingham (1880-1952). As in other countries, wartime necessity (e.g., World War I and World War II) led to the discipline's substantial growth. Business demand for scientific management, selection and training also has promoted and sustained the field's development.

For a detailed history of industrial and organizational psychology, particularly in the United States (but with some discussion of developments in other countries), one can consult Koppes, L. L. (Ed.). (2007). Historical perspectives in industrial and organizational psychology. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.

For a concise history of Industrial/Organizational Psychology please visit History

Milestones in industrial and organizational psychology

• Hawthorne studies at Western Electric
• U.S. Army Project A

References

• Anderson, N., Ones, D. S., Sinangil, H. K., & Viswesvaran, C. (Eds.). (2002). Handbook of industrial, work and organizational psychology, Volume 1: Personnel psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Ltd.
• Anderson, N., Ones, D. S., Sinangil, H. K., & Viswesvaran, C. (Eds.). (2002). Handbook of industrial, work and organizational psychology, Volume 2: Organizational psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Ltd.
• Borman, W. C., Ilgen, D., R., & Klimoski, R., J. (Eds.). (2003). Handbook of Psychology: Vol 12 Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
• Borman, W. C., & Motowidlo, S. J. (1993). Expanding the criterion domain to include elements of contextual performance. Chapter in N. Schmitt and W. C. Borman (Eds.), Personnel Selection. San Francisco: Josey-Bass (pp. 71-98).
• Campbell, J. P., Gasser, M. B., & Oswald, F. L. (1996). The substantive nature of job performance variability. In K. R. Murphy (Ed.), Individual differences and behavior in organizations (pp. 258–299). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Dunnette, M. D. (Ed.). (1976). Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Chicago: Rand McNally.
• Dunnette, M. D., & Hough, L. M. (Eds.). (1991). Handbook of Industrial/Organizational Psychology (4 Volumes). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
• Greenberg, Jerald [1]. Managing Behavior in Organizations, Prentice Hall, 2005. [2]
• Guion, R. M. (1998). Assessment, measurement and prediction for personnel decisions. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Hunter, J. E., & Schmidt, F. L. (1990). Methods of meta-analysis: Correcting error and bias in research findings. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
• Hunter, J. E., & Schmidt, F. L. (2004). Methods of meta-analysis: Correcting error and bias in research findings. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
• Lowman, R. L. (Ed.). (2002). The California School of Organizational Studies handbook of organizational consulting psychology: A comprehensive guide to theory, skills and techniques. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Muchinsky, P. M. (Ed.). (2002). Psychology Applied to Work. Wadsworth Publishing Company.
• Rogelberg, S., G. (Ed.). (2002). Handbook of research methods in industrial and organizational psychology. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
• Sackett, P. R., & Wilk, S. L. (1994). Within group norming and other forms of score adjustment in pre-employment testing. American Psychologist, 49, 929-954.
• Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 262-274.

Key journals in industrial and organizational psychology

• Journal of Applied Psychology
• Personnel Psychology
• Academy of Management Journal
• Academy of Management Review
• Journal of Management
• Human Performance
• The Journal of Organizational Behavior
• Organizational Research Methods
• The Journal of Vocational Behavior
• Administrative Science Quarterly
• Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
• European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
• Applied Psychology: An International Review
• International Journal of Selection and Assessment
• International Journal of Training and Development
• Work and Stress
• Journal of Occupational Health Psychology
• Journal of Organizational Behavior Management
• International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology [3] (edited annual volume)

Organizations

• Academy of Management (AOM), United States
• Association of Business Psychologists, UK
• Canadian Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (CSIOP), Canada
• College of Organisational Psychologists (COP), Australian Psychological Society, Australia
• Division of Occupational Psychology, British Psychological Society, UK
• European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP), Europe
• Institute of Work Psychology, Sheffield, England, UK
• Industrial Psychology Research Centre, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
• Psychology and College of Business Alumni Club (PAC BAC)
• International Public Management Association for Human Resources Assessment Counsel (IPMAAC)
• Minnesota Professionals for Psychology Applied to Work (MPPAW), United States
• Division 1: Work & Organizational Psychology, The International Association of Applied Psychology, International
• NIOSH - Occupational Health Psychology, United States
• Organizational Behavior Management Network (OBM Network)
• Industrial Division, Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA), South Africa
• Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), United States
• Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), United States
• Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology of South Africa (SIOPSA), South Africa

Graduate Programs

In many countries it is possible to obtain a bachelor's degree, master's degree, Psy.D., and/or a Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology. The types of degrees offered vary by educational institution. There are both advantages and disadvantages to obtaining a specific type of degree (e.g., master's degree) in lieu of another type of degree (e.g., Ph.D.). Some helpful ways to learn more about graduate programs and their fit to one's needs and goals include taking or sitting in on an industrial and organizational psychology course or class; speaking to industrial and organizational psychology faculty, students, and practitioners; consulting with a career counselor; taking a reputable vocational interest survey; and visiting program websites. Regardless of one's needs or goals, admission into industrial and organizational psychology programs can be highly competitive, especially given that many programs accept only a small number of students each year.

In the United States, specific resources that can help to clarify the fit of particular programs to an individual's needs, goals, and abilities are Graduate Training Programs (Including Program Rankings) - SIOP, Top U.S. Graduate School Programs - U.S. News & World Report, and Professional I/O Psychologist Network.

In the UK, you must take an accredited psychology degree before you can gain Graduate Basis for Registration with the British Psychological Society [4] and then follow an approved Masters and three years supervision to gain Chartered Occupational Psychologist status.

== A Ketchup Drop for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Faculty and Students ==

    The beauty of a degree in Industrial and

Organizational Psychology I think is that instead of involving only one side (the hands-on or the scientific method) of, metaphorically speaking, the equation, it encompasses both. Thereby the hands-on side enjoying backing by the scientific method, its Siamese-twins or if you are free spirited its soul-mate(s). This sibling {the scientific method] of the hands-on side of the equation of I/O Psychology you might say helps to keep the emotions in check and under control in the decision making process. Thereby, insuring accuracy, equity and fairness. Notice that I said equity not equality. Equality is not a true-fairness concept I believe. On the contrary, equality disregards the in-put and out-put ratio of resources used to get a result. It ignores the difference between reducing cost and increasing productivity and the fact that often both need to happen. Reducing cost and decreasing productivity and as such outcome / results is a poor ROI (Return –On-Investment). We all want a good

bang for our buck;  don’t we.  Employees trade time

for money. The goose (employer) trades money for time; but time used which yields results which matter to revenue. This is a good bridge cover the flaw of a degree in I/O Psychology which can be easily solved, but it takes additional money, effort and time.

    It comes without the academic and much less

practicum of basic business sense, economics, the marketing and sales of ideas, recommendations, and the use of non-statistical analysis metrics, aside from the more advanced statistical graphics at which we are very well trained at, to speak the language of the people who provide the money and do not have the statistical research, design and analysis academic background. He who has the money….. eh. So shall we say, it might be useful to use their non-scientific lingo? I shall answer yes.

    Now I/O Psychology degreed employees even with PhD’s but without the college of business academic background are not any panacea

Whatsoever for statistics, economics, finance and sales and marketing are different yet complimentary and necessary topics especially for the I/O Psy degreed practitioner who is applying it at work as opposed to merely teaching it in a university class-room.

    However an I/O Psychology student could easily

combine this degree with a business minor thought by faculty who not just lecture from a podium based on a book they read but from those who have done it or currently do it in an active consulting practice. The proof is in the pudding. And so here lies a potential solution to the weakness in an I/O Psychology degree. Take a marketing minor from the college of business which teaches basic economics, finance, marketing, advertising, public relations, employee relations (how to protect a company from litigious people), business ethic, and personal salesmanship. And furthermore allows you to practice the concepts you learn in group and individual projects by going out into the world outside the university. A class where you have to read The Wall Street Journal, discuss its article in the classroom and state your grounds from a business ethics view point about the situation presented in the article along with a succinct written analysis of it.

    I firmly think that these two academic and practitioner areas (business and I/O psychology) go

hand-in-hand. It is kind of like you can not kill the goose (Psychology theories) that lays the golden egg and still expect to get its eggs. Industrial and Organizational Psychology brings tones of concepts and theories which are applied in the various college of business core areas. Now College of Business Faculty shall we say are savvy. They take the brilliancy of I/O Psychology theories and teach how to apply them in for example marketing, personal sales, advertising to make us money more quickly. This is where the brilliancy of I/O Psychology needs savvyness. Why can’t I/O Psychology programs add basic business Subject matter and even accounting by collaborating with the College of Business faculty; it seems like a win/win situation. I mean Frederick Taylor was using accounting back in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. He interfaced with people from several functional areas of expertise. Why is not a basic understanding of it and such topics required to complete and I/O Psychology degree beginning at the undergraduate level so that its graduates can inch up their earning power.

    If I/O Psychology programs are unable to face the music,

which is that they are not preparing their students to compete in corporate America in the hopes that their students will go on to get an MS and perhaps a PhD which still will not give them the business academic background and practice, inform them for goodness sake about the badly needed subject patching to the degree. No matter how posh a student turns out to be from the I/O Psychology program, they still will need a basic business knowledge as I have mentioned to get a better bang for their invested time and money. They will also more often than not need the feeling of wanting to win based on actual results which most be conveyed using marketing, persuasion, sales, and metrics for instance, in a let’s say cut-throat (competitive) corporate America world weather in the non-profit or for-profit employer-sector. And this is no different in non-profits which are not corporations; in fact you may need other skills such a dealing with political correctness and whinnying politics of the so called minority which when convenient refers to themselves as majority but when not they keep their protected status of minority. The competitiveness, yet disguised, in the non-profit sector-employers based on my experience is even more typical than such a sector would want its outsiders to think; this is probably for they depend on federal grants and state grants which are numbers driven, specially when funds come from the U.S.A. Federal Government. It is very much the survival of the fittest; and often the fittest at making you feel all like a family, fluffy type of stuff to get each other to cooperate with one another inter-organizationally and intra-organizationally. So watch out if you are interested in joining the non-profit sector thinking it is all easy-does it; we are all a happy family. Not at all. It can naturally be very retaliatory, inflammatory and a defamation (liable) prompt environment where although numbers driven in the final analysis they do not count more often than not. It is like walking on a tight rope lifted above thin ice, especially in the San Francisco area of horrendous political correctness by unqualified non-English speakers or English-as-a-second language speakers with the worse and most limited command of the English Language to whom many fearful human resources cater to just to keep their HR jobs often.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that Numbers are king and you can not always use sophisticated statistical analysis to show success; Communicating the bottom line, break-even point, cost of service, paid on account, credit / debit in accounting can help you out quite a bit.

Even if your job often seems to require fostering a nice, shouldn’t we all get along fluffy milieu, you most know how to persuade, sell your ideas to get the funding and later on pass the evaluators checkmate point. What are your numbers this quarter, this month as compared to the previous; what variables are confounding the results etc. I found that the for-profit corporate sector is far more flexible from many angles with regards to this matter; but you still have to not just tell, but persuade and show with specific, measurable, trackable and tangible results because it does not have the luxury of free money coming out its ears from government grants. However, it is more based on facts than on feeling and oversensitivity or lack of political correctness; but based on whether you can get the job done. This gives you both angles (the good and the bad) of the two different employment sector and of a degree in I/O Psychology without vs. one supplemented with the college of business basics via say a marketing minor.

If you know both extremes of something and you can think on your own feet, you might make a better decision. The view from the top is different; this is where you are when you can see both or all angles. Just as if you would set a drop of ketchup at the top of a snow-covered mountain you won’t miss the ketchup at the top; and the ketchup drop if it had eyes could see much of or all that lies ahead and below it; the good and the bad and if could share it with the snow, it can save the snow money, time, unnecessary effort and aches. But it is up to the snow to reach out to the ketchup for the ketchup is only a tiny amount compared to the huge pile of snow. And so you could say this article is a ketchup drop where you can see through its eyes of hands-on professional experience to make the I/O Program better and if a student of it to prepare yourself better or at least get a feel for what might be ahead. It is not all as good as milk with honey when you have the business background; however I might say that in my personal opinion I am sure it would be more difficult to compete without it.

    I am reminded of the old saying .. many

over-educated derelicts.., genius will not, persistency will. But then again it alone can not be superior to three traits by Taylor: Character, common sense and intellect as described in the executive brief Intellect, Character and Common Sense authored by Romullous A. Diaz. The intellect requires revamping or submerging depending on the situation at hand. Sometimes it is like like Ralph Waldo Emerson refers to in his essays, you have to cut out all niceties for it often will not get anything done but just give you a smile. And remember the song about smiling faces; smiling faces don’t always tell the truth. However often having a smile on your faces does surely help; as my ex-wife, Mari-Liza A. Diaz, says it very eloquently in her outgoing emails I receive:

“…the world will not overlook you for medals, degrees or diplomas, but for scars and matters of the heart; so give the world a smile and the world will give you joy.“

I find this often a good reminder to do and it just makes my day better. Just like a professional colleague, Kristy McClure, would often point out on the phone to me to sound more upbeat, more enthusiastic; it sure helps to get the job done. And my ex-girl friend Sally R. Durgan, a professional outcomes evaluator, has in the past advised me to not be too impulsive in my responding to say a letter. I could say they have been my ketchup drop in these matters at times, for which I am totally appreciative. However, they are surely far better than just a ketchup drop; they are real human beings.

I hope this article can serve you as a ketchup drop to you I/O Faculty and students of I/O Psychology.

References

See also

• Behavioral Risk Management
• Consulting Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Employment Law
• Group Emotion
• How Occupation and Employment can affect Identity
• Human Factors
• Human Resources Development
• Human resource management
• Industrial engineering
• Industrial sociology
• Labor and industrial relations
• Labor Law
• List of human resource management topics
• List of psychological topics
• Important publications in Industrial and organizational psychology
• Organizational behavior
• Organizational development
• Organizational empowerment
• Personality psychology
• Psychometrics
• Social psychology
• Total quality management
• Vocational (Counseling) Psychology
• Sexual harrassment
  • Office romance
• Ethical personality testing in the workplace
• Dealing with conflict in the workplace groups and teams

External links

• Industrial & organizational psychology at The Psychology Wiki
• Research on Organizations: Bibliography Database and Maps
• Professional I/O Psychologist Network (where you can post your own messages and/or read and reply to others' postings; organized by topic; maintains anonymity via use of avatars)