Meaning of Industrial and Organizational Psychology

INTRODUCTION

Industrial or Organizational Psychologyas a sub-field of Psychology dated to the work of some notable writers such as Hugo Munsterberg, Fredrick Taylor, Eton Mayo, Abraham Maslow and so many others whose works are focused on the issues of man at work, functioning either as individuals or in groups. Our lives as individuals revolve around industries and organisations from where we sojourn either as workers or owners of businesses to make ends meet. 

Since the home, church, marketplace, shopping malls, and schools are all forms of organisation, there is no escaping the grip of the rules, relationships that range from the very simple to complex forms and the conforming structures and processes that are features of organisations. In the same vein, industries are forms of organisation and although they are commonly associated with machines and equipment, man is an important component.

Because of the pervasiveness of industries and organisations, Industrial/Organisational Psychology as a scientific discipline seeks to study the impact of organisations on man and vice versa.

MEANING OF PSYCHOLOGY

Human behaviour holds a lot of charm for all and sundry. Philosophers such as Socrates and Plato speculated a lot about human behaviour. There are many puzzles as well as several rightly or wrongly held myths and believes about human behaviour.

Puzzles such as:

i.      How do we remember things?

ii.      Why do we dream?

iii.      How and why do drugs alter human consciousness?

iv.       What will cause someone to taking his/her own life, via suicide, or take the life of others via gun shots or what is the origin of extreme behaviour like suicide bombing?

v.         What makes individuals such as Boko Haram members become social misfits?

vi.      Why will several ranks of the military continue to obey Abacha even when murderous orders were involved?

vii.  Why will a sergeant Roger pull the trigger on eminent civilian like Kudirat Abiola in the name of order from above?

Also myths and widely held believes that are either right or wrong such as:

i.      Intellectual ability declines rapidly with ageing,

ii.      People with exceptional abilities or IQ are often poorly adjusted to society,

iii.      Consistent use of rod can correct errant children’s behaviour,

iv.       Whistling in the afternoon summons demons or snakes, and

v.         Anyone standing in the doorway during rainfall risks being thunderstruck.

Many people carry some of these puzzles and held believes into their daily lives and interactions with others. In extreme cases, prejudices and stereotypes are built on faulty premises and assumptions about other natives, ethnic groups and nationalities. Psychology, as a scientific field of study, is aimed at interrogating these believes and assumptions, making meaning out of human thinking, dreams, puzzles and prejudices by means of empirically verifiable methods and logical proofs.

The term Psychology is a combination of two words; Psyche which means the mind and Logoswhich means word. In the past, psychology is deemed as the study of the mind and mental life. At the turn of the1920s however, many psychologists such as J B Watson began to view the mind as something that is unobservable and difficult to subject to scientific study. Within the same ambit of time however, Sigmund Freud (1934) proposed a method for the study of human mind called psychoanalysis. The implication of which is that both covert (unobservable) and overt (observable) behaviours can be studied. Modern Psychology according to Kosylin & Rosenberg (2001) is the scientific study of human behaviour and mental processes.

Psychology as a field of study has grown in leaps and bounds, especially in developed countries such as Germany, Russia and America where several fields of practice have been identified and classified. There are over 50 fields of practice and subdivisions and by the turn of the 20^thcentury psychology rated as one of the topmost professions in America ranking with education, political science and philosophy (Ruckmich, 1912). The growth had continued unhindered in developed countries. In developing countries like Nigeria, the study of psychology has continued to gain appreciable ground both as academic discipline and profession.

MEANING OF INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Industrial Psychology as a subfield of study initially focused mainly on individuals at work. The principal concern was about individual differences at work. This focus was as a result of the concept of man as mere factor of production. This approach was influenced by Taylorism whose mechanistic conception of work pitch man as sharing narrow roles in productivity after work has been divided and the one-best way was found to improve productivity through appropriate connectivity between productivity and reward (Taylor, 1911). It was common to dig around issues such as staffing and training and traditional psychological studies of individual differences covering intelligence, personality, sensation, perception, learning and abnormal work behaviour.

MEANING OF ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Industrial Psychology as an academic discipline started with the pioneering works of Musterberg (1913) who published the first known book about managing human behaviour in industrial organisations and Gilbret& Gilbreth (1917) who writing about the same time as Fredrick Taylor reported their studies on motions studies. By the scope and results from Elton Mayo and colleagues work in the 1930s, it was soon apparent that man’s contribution to work is regulated by factors beyond the individual(Mayo, 1933). 

Equally of note was the application, as far back as 1920s, of classical conditioning to advertising where TV commercials and logo are paired with attractive models and celebrities as promoted by J. B. Watson. Informal groups at work and such issues as group morale, social conformity, attitudes and the generally observable changes that both physical and social aspects of the work place represents and other scenarios such as structure, processes and people became topical issues which are codified as Organisational Psychology. Organisational Psychology thus began as a separate field of study different and independent of Industrial Psychology.

Another influence at this point is the contributions and application of Social Psychological studies to work places. While Industrial Psychologists were focussing on individuals at work, Organisational Psychologists shifted concerns to influence of group and group processes at work. The American Psychological Association, a body regulating the practice of psychology in America however merged the two set of psychologists into what is now the Industrial/Organizational Psychology Division 14 in 1990s.

The sub-field is now simply referred to as ‘I/O Psychology’. It is one of the several sub-fields of psychology and its goals are basic as in general psychology, which are to measure, describe, explain, predict and control human behaviour at work for the overall benefit of man, entrepreneur and society in general.

Industrial/organizational psychology, also called workplace psychology, is a systematised and specialised body of knowledge about human behaviour in industries and organisations. It is germane to ask the question at this point, what then is work? The array of goods and services generated as a result of organised effort, called work, is awesome. Work involves the deliberate use of physical, emotional and mental energy to produce utilities. 

Harnessing these energies have led to production of tangible goods such as agricultural products putting food on tables, automobiles for mobility, energy as bare bone for domestic and industrial uses, telecom equipment for communication, textiles for clothing and such a wide varieties of other goods; also intangible goods such as legal, social psychological or counsel, health care, security, education and so forth. To do this certain basic inputs such as land, raw materials, energy, information, capital, equipment/technology and people. 

Work produces jobs which are organised or deliberately designed group of activities composing of units of tasks, duties, responsibilities within the context of peculiar conditions and rules which significant amount of influence on performance and gives coherence to attainment of set goals and objectives.

According to Cascio and Aguinis (2005) organisations are all around us as businesses, hospitals, political parties, government (civil and public service) international and non-governmental organisations, military/defence formations, social clubs, churches, Boy and Girl Scouts and schools. Industries on the other hand are organised body of people, structure, equipment/technology and processes aimed at manufacturing utilities for human consumption. 

Organisations basically offers services whether tangible or intangible, the outcome of which societies of man depend upon to achieve the important objectives of modern living which includes attainment of fundamental rights to decent food, water, shelter, education, protection and other life’s socio-political, psychological and career aspirations. Whether as industries and organisations, the common denomination is the presence of people acting, thinking and feeling in particular ways that are significant to the attainment of the goals and objectives of the entities in which they are a part of the whole.

BASIC ISSUES IN I/O PSYCHOLOGY

With the background already provided, the rest of this article will now focus on salient issues that engage the attention of I/O psychologists. The issues are many and can only be briefly touched upon in an introductory course of this nature. The issues selected for brief discussion are:

i.     Assessment of human attributes at work

ii.    Work and Job design

iii.    Selection and placement of people on jobs

iv.     Training and learning at work

v.       Performance appraisal

vi.    Organisational change and development

vii.     Ergonomics, equipment design and man-machine fit

viii.     Attitudes, attitude measurement, job satisfaction, pay satisfaction, organisational commitment, organisational citizenship, work motivation and performance

ix.    Social and interpersonal skill; self-esteem, self-efficacy, locus of control, leadership, assertiveness, negotiation, communication, mentoring

x.      Self-Assessment, Career choice and development

xi.     Industrial accident, safety and health

GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY

Understanding human behaviour, from a scientific point of view, is the overall goal of Psychology. This broad, all-important goal involves five basic activities:

i.      Measurement of behaviour: Much of the work of psychologists involve measuring of concepts, attributes, characteristics or variables that impact or conditions human behaviour The psychological processes, concepts or attributes that are regularly measured are; anxiety, learning attitudes, abilities, intelligence, creativity, interest, perception, sensation, emotion, and so forth. Measurement

ii.    Describing: Attributes or concepts that are so measured are classified, identified, or categorized in terms of their salient features, or characteristics. While doing this, the concept/attribute is being described.

iii.    Explanation: This mean adducing reason(s) to why people think, feel, or act the way they do. It is one of the major goals of any scientific discipline and this may be achieved through formulation of theories. A theory provides explanatory framework, by organizing facts in a meaningful pattern that lend itself to logic and reasoning.

iv.     Prediction: The goal of predicting behaviour is underscored by the need to take decisions that will be valid for now and in the future. This effort relies heavily on objective and accurate measurement of attributes to be so predicted.

v.       Control: Another equally important goal is the need to; based on predicted behaviour, encourage frequent occurrence of desired behaviour and stoppage of undesired ones. The professional psychologist, just like physiologist uses knowledge from medical research to treat illness, seeks to apply knowledge from Psychology to bring about changes in behaviour.

SUB-FIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY

According to Jayeoba (2008), Psychologists apply their training in different areas of endeavour. For anybody to practice as a psychologist in any field he requires at least an M.Sc degree in psychology. The fields of practice are outlined and briefly explained below.

(i)      Clinical Psychologist: The clinical psychologist comes close to many people’s idea of what a psychologist is. They are “doctors’ who diagnose psychological disorders and treat them using psychotherapy. The clinical psychologist is different from a psychiatrist. The main difference being that the psychiatrist holds a degree in medicine while a clinical psychologist holds an M.Sc, M.Phil or PhD. In addition, the psychiatrist uses drug in treating behaviour disorder while the clinical psychologist uses psychotherapy in psychology. A clinical psychologist may practice privately or work in government hospital or mental homes. Both clinical and counselling psychology have been described as healing professions since both diagnose and treat abnormality in human behaviour.

(ii)     Counselling Psychologist: This work is almost similar to that of a clinical psychologist. Also in terms of training they are similar. The main difference is that counselling psychologists work with people of milder emotional problems. He uses tests to measure traits like intelligence, interest, aptitude and personality characteristics based on which he has insight into people’s problem and counsel on adjustment strategies. The counselling psychologist may be involved in private practice or employed in schools or public service. They have different areas of focus depending on the category of problem they choose to tackle; adolescents problems, marital problems etc.

(iii)    Experimental Psychologist: The experimental psychologist is primarily engaged in research using experimental method. His work need not directly apply to practical problems. The value of his work lies in others finding useful application of his theories and propositions. They are found in universities, social research centres, etc.

(iv)     Physiological Psychologist: The psychologist is a specialist in research into physiological problems. His focus is on issues bothering on physiological basis of behaviour e.g. the brain, and the nervous system as they affect behaviour. His method is basically experimental and may use animals, such as rats and monkeys to infer human behaviour.

(v)       Industrial-Organisational Psychologist: As the name implies, the psychologist applies psychological principles, procedures, theories and insight to tackling industrial and organizational problems especially as they relate to the human aspect of the organization. He is involved in personnel recruitment, training, motivation, business administration, marketing strategies, communication, job counselling, as researcher and lecturer in universities, consultancy, etc. He is sometimes referred to as Personnel psychologist and functions in administrative management position in both public and private sectors of the economy. In America, the I/O Psychologists is in high demand especially because of flexible application of their skills and earns a mean annual salary of 125,980 USD annually, only next to the Psychiatrist.

(vi)       Social Psychologist: The social psychologist applies psychological principles and theories in understanding human behaviour in social setting. His scope of interest is wide and covers issues like attitude and attitude change, people perception or perceptual stereotypes, determination of influence and power, conformity etc. In the field, he works side-by- side the sociologists and uses psychological instruments to determine people’s attitude to political, ethnic or racial issues.

(vii)    Developmental Psychologist:      Developmental psychologists try to understand complex human behaviour by studying the onset of a behaviour pattern and the orderly way in which they change over time. He may specifically be interested in change as they occur across ages. Psychologists studying behaviour changes occurring in earlier years are called child psychologists. 

On the whole, developmental psychologists are interested, not only in the etiology of behaviour, (normal or abnormal) but seek to understand its progress, effects and mode of sustaining (if normal) or terminating (if abnormal) such behaviour. The developmental psychologist can also focus exclusively on areas like child psychology – e.g. prenatal, neo­natal and infanthood, adolescence, adult or old age / psychology or ageing. He may also be concerned with certain features of development e.g. cognitive, physiological or emotional development.

(viii)    Engineering Psychologist: The engineering psychologist or ergonomist is interested in the position and interaction of man with machines of varied complexities used in industries and organizations. His concern is how, through anthropomorphic measurements, to match human traits and attributes to the design and use of machines. In brief, his main focus is on man-job fit and so his area of concern spans organisational design, designs of environment of work, job- design and equipment design. He may work directly in industries and organisations or as consultant ergonomist.

(ix)     Forensic Psychologist: Involved in criminology and legal issues relating to the investigation and prosecution of criminals. That is, using psychological insight to gain confession to crimes without resort to torture and abuse of human right. They forensic psychologist also assist in managing after-effects of acquittal and conviction.

(x)       Military Psychologist: Like the name implies, the function in military setting in different capacities, as counsellor, ergonomist or in the use of psychological principles and procedures, to select, train and deplore military personnel. Indeed psychology as a discipline, first gained popularity in the use of psychological tests to select personnel, for military training during the World War II and has since played important roles in army recruitment, training and other military operations.

(xi)     Community Psychologist: A relatively new area, dealing with use of psychological principles, ideas and procedures to solve community based problems vis-a-vis helping people to adapt to their work and living groups. It is a bit difficult to describe one individual psychologist as a community psychologist; this is because psychologists in different sub-fields may function to solve community-based problems.

Indeed, there are as many as 49 sub–fields of Psychology as classified by the AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. These are:

Tablel.1: Fields of Psychology

 CONCLUSION

Industrial/Organisational Psychology offers valuable contribution and a repertoire of knowledge of man in work situations. The ranges of issues covered are broad and germane to the understanding, prediction and control of human behaviour at and off work.