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The Psychology of Work

and Organizations
Stephen A. Woods and Michael A. West
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Dene Work and Organizational Psychology
List the main areas of Work and Organizational

Psychology
Identify and know about professional

organizations in the eld
Understand three contemporary challenges

facing organizations, and their relevance to
Work and Organizational Psychology:
Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
Globalization and Cross-cultural Issues
Sustainability and the Environment
Describe core values in Work and Organizational

Psychology
Describe the history of Work and Organizational

Psychology
Understand the role of historical context in giving

rise to Work and Organizational Psychology
We start our book with a scenario and task. Imagine that you are a senior manager
in an organization. Perhaps a Human Resource Director. Or a Chief Executive of a
medium-sized business or multinational corporation. Or perhaps a group or middle
manager with responsibility afor 100 members of staff. Think about the tasks and
responsibilities you might have if you really were that person. Now think about the
day-to-day challenges you would likely face. Finally narrow down your thoughts to
focus on people and their behaviour in your organization.
Here is the task. If you really were that person, what do you think would be
the seven most important questions you would have about how to understand the
people you managed or employed? What would be the most helpful information that
someone could give you in respect of people and their behaviour at work? Think
hard about these questions. At the risk of suggesting a short break too early in your
reading, now would be a good time to get a tea or coffee, while you mull it over.
Write down the seven questions on a scrap of paper, and tuck them into the back
cover of this book.
Now we are going to make our first assertion of the book. It is our belief that
Work and Organizational Psychologists will have, in some way, addressed most, if
3

4
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
not all of the questions you have just written down. We also think that by the end of
this book, you will have some answers for most, if not all of your questions. Not all
of the answers will be as straightforward as you might like, but they will definitely
help you to understand the issues raised by your questions with more clarity.
Work and Organizational Psychology is a fascinating area of psychology that
deals with all aspects of work, business and organizations. We are enthusiastic about
Work Psychology, and believe that it can make highly important contributions to
organizations, business and management. Work Psychology has the potential to help
people be more productive and prosperous in their jobs, and to feel good about
work, and its place in their lives and therefore to enhance their lives generally. In this
chapter, we will start our exploration of Work and Organizational Psychology by
taking a broad overview of the field, looking at the present, the past and some of the
major contemporary and future challenges.
The psychology of work and organizations:

rst encounters
Work and Organizational Psychology is a field of psychology that applies psychological principles and science to help solve problems of work, business and organizations. To understand the basics of the field, you first have to understand something
about psychology. For those of you new to psychology, we can broadly define the
subject as the study of mind and behaviour. Psychologists are interested in peoples
behaviour, in processes of the mind, and in understanding how a multitude of factors influence both. Such factors include physiological, developmental, social and
cultural influences.
The academic, theory-driven aspect of psychology is sometimes called pure psychology. However, an ever-increasing domain of psychology might be thought of
as applied psychology. Applied psychology is problem-driven. This means that the
purpose of applied psychology is to understand and solve problems that people face
in their everyday lives. A great advantage of psychology is that it is adaptive, and
it can be applied in many different ways. During its relatively short history, it has
permeated many different areas of life, developing and evolving alongside societies
and cultures. The major areas of applied psychology are:
Clinical Psychology: The area of applied psychology concerned with
psychological disorders and illnesses.

Counselling Psychology: Often confused with clinical psychology, but is rather
concerned with working with clients with a variety of problems through talking,
and relationship-based therapies.
Health Psychology: Psychology applied to the issues of health and healthy
lifestyles, living with, and recovering from physical illness and disease.
Forensic Psychology: Concerned with crime and criminality.
Educational Psychology: Psychology applied to understand learning, development
and education over the whole lifespan.

Sport Psychology: Psychology applied to performance in sports.
Work and Organizational Psychology: Psychology applied to work, business and
organizations.

The importance and relevance of Work Psychology is evident when you compare
it with other areas of applied psychology. Each of us will be educated formally for up
to 20 years. We will all get ill from time to time, or spend time improving our general
health. Around one quarter of us in Europe will experience some form of psychological disorder (Alonso et al., 2004), and a few of us will experience the pain of being
a victim of crime, or the excitement of being a top athlete. Most of these areas of
applied psychology are relevant to us, but tend to be so infrequently or episodically.
The majority of us, however, will work for most of our lives, some of us for 60 years
or more, and moreover, we will spend a significant part of our waking hours working. Work and Organizational Psychology is therefore directly relevant to the vast
majority of us for most of our lives, and most of the time.
There are a variety of terms associated with Work and Organizational Psychology,
and they are not all simply interchangeable. In the UK, the field is known as
Occupational Psychology, and in the US, Industrial and Organizational (I/O)
Psychology. In Europe, the title Work and Organizational Psychology is most common, and we feel this captures the content of the field most clearly. There are a few
other variants that capture specific aspects of the field:
Business Psychology: Focusing on business development.
Personnel Psychology: Focusing on core Human Resource tasks and functions.
Vocational Psychology: Focusing on careers and vocational behaviour.
WORK AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:

A CONTEMPORARY DEFINITION AND SUMMARY
A definition of Work and Organizational Psychology is tricky to articulate, and there
are a number of alternatives (e.g. Borman, Klimoski and Ilgen, 2001). However, we
would define it as follows:
Work and Organizational Psychology is the study of people and their behaviour at
work, and of the organizations in which people work; Work Psychologists develop
psychological theory and apply the rigour and methods of psychology to issues that
are important to businesses and organizations, in order to promote and advance
understanding of individual, group and organizational effectiveness at work, and
the well-being and satisfaction of people working in or served by organizations.
The main areas of Work and Organizational Psychology are listed differently
depending on the source you read, but currently, they may be summarized as:
Organizational Behaviour, Individual Differences and Attitudes at Work.
Work Motivation.
Personnel Selection and Assessment.
Performance Measurement and Management.
Learning, Training and Development at Work.
Careers and Vocational Behaviour.
Health, Well-being and Safety at Work.
Teams and Groups at Work.
Organizational Development and Change.
Leadership and Management in Organizations.

6
Organizational Culture, Strategy and Design.

Employment Law and Industrial Relations.
To get an indication of how Work Psychologists approach these areas of interest,

it is helpful to consider them alongside some core values of Work and Organizational
Psychology:
Science: Commitment to methodological and scientific rigour as ways of
understanding people and their behaviour at work, and organizations.

Pragmatism: Commitment to solving practical problems, and on application of
psychology to issues that matter to people at work, and organizations.

Ethics: Commitment to ethical best practice in the application of psychology to
work and organizations (see later section).

For People and Organizations: Commitment to seeking solutions to organiza-
tional problems that enhance organizational effectiveness, and the well-being of

people working in organizations. Work and Organizational Psychologists avoid
compromising on either of these outcomes, and rather strive to balance and promote both.
Collectively these values give a flavour of the way in which Work Psychologists
conduct applied work in organizations. They are our summary of those values
that have emerged from the relatively short history of Work and Organizational
Psychology, and to appreciate the present field, it is of course important, and interesting, to understand the past.
A brief history of Work and Organizational

Psychology
There are a number of accounts of the development of Work Psychology (e.g., Katzell
and Austin, 1992; Koppes 2003), and its rise is an amazing insight into how societal forces necessitate the rise of new ideas and concepts. The emergence of Work
Psychology can be credited to the combination of a number of initially unrelated
developments around the turn of the 20th century.
1. The applications and successes of science were growing, and entering public
consciousness.
2. Modern psychology emerged as a fledgling, but quickly developing area of study.

In the UK, the work of Francis Galton and Karl Pearson on individual differences
heralded the start of the assessment tradition, in which measurement techniques
for capturing varied and detailed information about human beings were being
designed and tested. At around the same time in the US, psychologists were
working on the assessment of intelligence.
3. More widely, the nature of work was changing rapidly, brought about by
industrialization. Fuelled by new feats of technology and engineering, the ideas
of the early industrialists, people like James Watt, Matthew Boulton and William
Murdoch in the English Midlands, a century earlier, had transformed the working
and commercial landscape of Europe and the US. Katzell and Austin (1992) quote
Sullivan (1927), observing the transformation:

little shops closing down, big factories growing bigger; little one-man businesses
giving up, great corporations growing and expanding; ... fewer craftsmen, more
factory operatives ... an adjustment of man to [technology].
Collectively, the context was set for Work Psychology, and the people usually credited with initiating the field in the US are Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, and Frederick
Taylor. The only psychologist among them was Lillian Gilbreth, whose work with
husband Frank, an engineer, aimed to quantify and measure human behaviour in
basic, elementary chunks. The purpose was to measure and manage; to quantify
what people did in factory settings, and to make it more efficient. This is the fundamental basis of Scientific Management or Taylorism, named after the entrepreneur
and management theorist Frederick Taylor.
The emergence of Work Psychology in Europe is usually associated with Hugo
Munsterberg, a German psychologist who split his academic career between Germany
and the US. He published a book in 1913 called Industrial Efficiency, which set down
some of the core ideas of the role of psychology in scientific management. In the UK,
C. S. Myers was perhaps the first consultant Work Psychologist, working with the
British Expeditionary Force during the First World War on the treatment of shell
shock. Myers personally saw more than 2000 cases in the first two years of the war.
Work by these early pioneers spawned applications of psychology to work in
many industrialized nations, but the major influences were from the US and UK.
Notably, it is possible to separate the development of Work Psychology in the US
from the UK and rest of Europe.
The First World War was a major catalyst for progress and, after the war, psychologists in both the US and UK exported their new techniques from the military and
into industry. In the US, the emphasis was firstly on productivity through personnel
selection and training, but Katzell and Austin (1992) also highlight the significance
of the Hawthorne Studies in the US as marking a departure from the assessment
emphasis. The studies found that changes to working conditions (e.g. environmental
changes such as illumination and heat, and work changes such as payment and supervision), irrespective of the actual nature of the change, resulted in improvements in
productivity. The Hawthorne Effect refers to outcome changes that are attributed to
a specific intervention, when in fact, any intervention would do. The reporting of the
Hawthorne studies has been questioned recently (Chiesa and Hobbs, 2008), and their
almost mythological status in Work Psychology is surely now in doubt. The criticism
is around the science of the studies. They were never subjected to peer review, and the
evidence of any effect is weakened because of obvious methodological flaws (Chiesa
and Hobbs, 2008). Either way, the Hawthorne studies reflected a growing trend to
consider worker rights more clearly during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
In the UK, Myers, with industrialist Henry Welch, founded the National Institute
of Industrial Psychology (NIIP) in 1921. Much of the work that the NIIP carried out
was concerned with worker well-being. Myers published on worker fatigue, and the
group was politically influential, campaigning for the kinds of workers rights that we
still care about now (e.g. limiting work hours, protecting worker dignity and worklife balance, consideration of organizational atmosphere or culture; Kwiatkowski
and Duncan, 2006). The NIIP also conducted work on the importance of skills and
temperaments in helping people to find suitable employment.
In the rest of Europe, the development of Work Psychology was severely hampered
by the Great Depression and the rise of Nazism in Germany. Many gifted German

8
psychologists fell out of favour with the Nazi government, and left to continue their
work elsewhere. Perhaps the most well known of these people is Kurt Lewin, who
moved to the US to continue his seminal works on Field Theory and Action Research
in Work Psychology.
Like the First World War, the Second World War saw major growth and development of Work Psychology in the US, with hundreds of psychologists employed by
the US army in a variety of roles. Some of the main assessment techniques used in
organizations today for selection and appraisal of staff originated in the US military
during the Second World War, including assessment centres, multi-instrument test
batteries and rating forms for measuring performance. Shimmins and Wallis (1994)
note similar successes of psychologists in the UK military, but after the war, the initiative was taken primarily by US psychologists, who applied the newly developed
techniques extensively in public and private organizations.
In the UK, psychologists likewise transferred methods from the Armed Services,
notably to the Civil Service. However, the NIIP changed its emphasis, concerning
itself more with the science of Work Psychology rather than practice. Combined with
its persistent funding difficulties, it is a choice that probably assisted in its demise in
1977, and the failure to capitalize on past input into Government policy and organizations must be seen as an opportunity missed in the UK. The British Psychological
Society Division of Occupational Psychology (DOP), formed to represent the interests of Work Psychologists in the UK, has never matched the political influence and
impact that the NIIP achieved between 1920 and 1940.
MODERN WORK AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Since the 1970s, progress and expansion in Work Psychology has accelerated considerably. In the US, emphasis has consistently been strongly in respect of assessment, personnel
selection, performance management and training. Although Work and Organizational
Psychology in Europe has followed the US lead in many ways, European researchers
and practitioners have carved out some important niches. The work of psychologists
in the 1980s, such as Cary Cooper and Tom Cox, put the study and management of
work stress firmly on the Work Psychology agenda. The work of Peter Warr and others
on unemployment and well-being are major contributions to the understanding of the
positive and negative psychological consequences of work. Qualitative traditions are
much more vibrant in the UK than anywhere else in the world, and the UK assessment
industry features some of the major global assessment companies.
Researchers in Scandinavia, and notably in Finland and Sweden, have developed a
reputation for producing some of the most influential and powerful findings on work
and health. European researchers are at the forefront of research on work teams, and
members of the Organization Studies group at Aston University in Birmingham during the 1960s and 1970s carried out some of the most important early studies of
whole organizations from a psychological perspective, starting a tradition for such
research in Europe. There are therefore aspects of Work Psychology that, over the
past 1520 years, might genuinely be considered Europe-dominated.
The difference in emphasis between US and European approaches is a feature in
commentaries on research and practice of Work Psychology (e.g. Kwiatkowski, Duncan
and Shimmin, 2006), and is evident in comparisons of contents of journals published
in Europe and the US. Looking back at the roots of the differences, Highhouse (2006)
highlights the importance of the relative power of management and labour in the US
and Europe. In the US, management is dominant, and so the preference has been for

the application of psychology to improve productivity and organizational functioning,

focusing on getting the most out of individuals at work, and measuring their abilities,
skills and behaviour. In Europe, labour movements, social welfare and the humanist tradition are stronger, and more widely appreciated, reflected in a closer focus on
worker well-being and satisfaction, and on organizational influences on behaviour.
The practice and business of Work Psychology is now established to greater
or lesser extents in almost all industrialized countries. Most Work Psychology is
delivered to organizations on a consultancy model, with Work Psychologists taking
roles as either external or internal consultants with organizations. Work Psychology
firms are profitable and, for the most part, disconnected from academic institutions.
Educational programmes are popular with trainee psychologists looking to specialize, and Masters programmes in Work Psychology are hosted by Universities in
Europe and the US, in Australia and New Zealand and more recently in parts of Asia
and Africa. In just one century, Work Psychology has developed from a new idea initiated by an obscure, select group of interested academics to a truly global concern.
Work and Organizational Psychologists have joined together in large professional
organizations, and three are reviewed briefly in Box 1.1.
In 2009, three major professional organizations (the Society for Industrial and
Organizational Psychology, the European Association of Work and Organizational
Psychology and the International Association of Applied Psychology) signed an agreement to form a new Alliance of Organizational Psychology, aiming to increase visibility
and promote the practice of Work and Organizational Psychology globally.
BOX 1.1
Professional regulation of Work and Organizational Psychology
Work Psychologists are supported by a number of different professional associations and organizations.
The aims of professional organizations vary, from representation, through to educational accreditation and
regulation. Broadly though, all attempt to promote good practice in the eld, to increase presence and
inuence thinking in organizations and government and to ensure that Work Psychologists stay in touch with
developments in the eld and to keep pace with change. If you are a student, graduate or practitioner, you
may be eligible to join one of these organizations.
The Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP)
Without doubt, the heavyweight of Work Psychology professional organizations. SIOP is a division of the
American Psychological Association (APA), has more than 6000 members, and was formally established in
1982, replacing the earlier Division of Business and Industrial Psychology. SIOP is well resourced, and has
ongoing initiatives to raise awareness of and promote I/O Psychology in the US. The Society also publishes
an excellent series of edited books (the Frontiers Series) that continue to mark out the contemporary
landscape of Work Psychology.
The European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP)
EAWOP is a relatively young organization, founded in 1991, set up to represent Work Psychology in Europe,
and to promote cooperation among professionals in the eld across the nations of Europe. In some senses,
it is the least bureaucratic and regulated of these three organizations. People are eligible for membership
without higher degrees in Work Psychology, so long as they can demonstrate that they have a rst degree
in psychology and that they are professionally active as a Work Psychologist. People who are professionally
active in a related area (e.g. Human Resources) could also join EAWOP as an associate. EAWOP publishes
a good academic journal (the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology) and holds a
conference every two years in a different part of Europe.
(continued)

10
BOX 1.1
Professional regulation of Work and Organizational Psychology (continued)
The British Psychological Society and Division of Occupational Psychology

The UK professional environment has taken its own direction in Work Psychology, managed by the British
Psychological Society, Division of Occupational Psychology (DOP). The DOP, founded in 1971, represents
Work Psychology in the UK, and the major difference between SIOP and EAWOP is in the regulation of
Work Psychology education and practice. Members of the British Psychological Society (BPS), having
demonstrated minimum standards of training in psychology, are eligible to join accredited Masters
programmes in occupational psychology, in which they learn about eight knowledge areas dened by
the DOP:
Human-Machine Interaction.
Design of Environments and Work: Health and Safety.
Personnel Selection and Assessment.
Performance Appraisal and Career Development.
Counselling and Personal Development.
Training.
Employee Relations and Motivation.
Organizational Development and Change.
The DOP is also unique in that it confers a professional title to members; Chartered Occupational
Psychologist. In 2009, this title was further formalized in UK law when along with other titles
in Psychology, it was taken under regulation by the Health Professionals Council (HPC). Work
Psychologists in the UK are the rst in the world to be regulated alongside Medical Doctors and other
health professionals. To gain the professional title and full membership of the DOP, Work Psychologists
need to complete a period of supervised practice in which they demonstrate a breadth and depth
of practical skills in Work Psychology. The BPS publishes a high-quality journal: The Journal of
Occupational and Organizational Psychology.
Contemporary themes in Work

and Organizational Psychology
So far in this chapter, we have reviewed some fundamental concepts of Work and
Organizational Psychology and the history of the field. In this section, we consider
contemporary challenges facing businesses and organizations and discuss the role of
Work Psychology in addressing those challenges. We return to each of these themes
at various points in the chapters of this book, illustrating how the topics of Work
Psychology relate to each of them:
Ethics and Social Responsibility.
Globalization and Cross-cultural Issues.
Environment and Sustainability.

11
ETHICAL AND SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE WORK

PSYCHOLOGY
Ethical conduct has always been a concern of Work and Organizational Psychologists
(see Box 1.2), but the focus of ethical codes of conduct is very much specific to psychology. Issues of ethics and social responsibility have, however, hit the broader business agenda in a big way in recent years. Lefkowitz (2007a) identifies two critical
relationships in the moral considerations of business:
1. The relationship between government and business.
2. The relationship between business and the rest of society.
It is the latter that is addressed by the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR). Moral and ethical perspectives on business suggest that the potential for
organizations and corporations to do substantial harm or good, gives rise to a
moral obligation to consider all of their direct and indirect effects on society and
BOX 1.2
Ethical guidelines in psychology
ADAPTED FROM THE BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY CODE OF ETHICS AND CONDUCT, 2006
Each professional organization in psychology has its own guidelines on ethical

conduct, and there are general similarities in most of them. The purpose of ethical
guidelines and codes of conduct is to present a common standard of expectations
about how psychologists will behave and conduct their work. Lefkowitz (2007b) points
out that another advantage of the guidelines is that although they do not cover all
possible eventualities, they provide a framework for helping to decide on the most
acceptable course of action in situations that represent ethical dilemmas. The main
themes in the BPS Ethical Code of Conduct (2006) are listed below:
Respect: Psychologists value the dignity and worth of all persons, with sensitivity
to the dynamics of perceived authority or inuence over clients, and with particular
regard to peoples rights, including those of privacy and self-determination.
Competence: Psychologists value the continuing development and maintenance
of high standards of competence in their professional work, and the importance
of preserving their ability to function optimally within the recognized limits of their
knowledge, skill, training, education and experience.
Responsibility: Psychologists value their responsibilities to clients, to the general
public and to the profession and science of Psychology, including the avoidance
of harm and the prevention of misuse or abuse of their contributions to society.
Integrity: Psychologists value honesty, accuracy, clarity and fairness in their
interactions with all persons, and seek to promote integrity in all facets of their
scientic and professional endeavours.
The general essence of these values is replicated in the majority of ethical codes
or sets of guidelines in psychology. Work Psychologists need to ensure that they
are competent and t to practice, and that they do so responsibly and with integrity,
exercising respect, a duty of care and avoidance of harm to the people they
work with.

12
Spend a few minutes now thinking about, or discussing each of these

ethical themes with a colleague. Identify for each, examples where
Work and Organizational Psychologists would be likely to face ethical
dilemmas.
DISCUSS WITH A
COLLEAGUE
shareholders. Carroll (1999) identifies three pertinent areas that frame the societal
responsibilities of business:
Economic: To operate profitably and efficiently, returning value to shareholders.
Legal: To conform to all aspects of the law, avoiding harmful litigation.
Ethical: To act in accordance with societal and business moral norms, to promote
the overall welfare of society and to avoid doing harm.
Wider issues of ethics and social responsibility in business and organizations are
highly relevant for Work Psychology from a number of perspectives (Lefkowitz,
2008), and part of conducting the field in a socially responsible way involves remaining vigilant to areas where Work and Organizational Psychology could indirectly
contribute to irresponsible management. Lefkowitz highlights two such areas.
Pro-management bias Work Psychologists are contracted to organizations by
management, and the competitive nature of the field means that management can
be quite precise in what they require from Work Psychologists. This can lead to a
bias for management needs and goals, rather than for employees that may lead to
questionable actions, such as assisting management in organizational changes such
as downsizing, without questioning the economic justifications.
Focus on means and not ends Ironically, businesses are often criticized for focusing
on ends and not means. Work Psychologists rightly tend to take seriously the methods
and practices of their work with organizations. However, the consequence is that
they may lower their gaze from the long-term ends and outcomes for individuals,
organizations and society.
Lefkowitz (2008) calls for a change in the values of Work Psychology to encompass
the ideas about how organizations ought to be, according to ideas of CSR. Lefkowitz
believes that this would give Work Psychology the broader values of societal responsibility
that a true profession needs. We highlight some of the ways that values and issues of CSR
could be integrated with key areas of practice in organizations. These, along with other
areas, offer plenty of ways in which theories and research in Work and Organizational
Psychology can help organizations function in socially responsible ways.
GLOBAL, CROSS-CULTURAL WORK AND

ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Over the past quarter of a century, commentators and writers have been talking
about globalization or internationalization and the importance it has for business

KLUCKHORN (1951; P86)
BOX 1.3
13
A denition of culture
A well-cited denition of culture is that of Kluckhohn (1951):

Culture consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and
transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human
groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists
of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached
values.
and organizations. We are now certainly beyond thinking about what is likely
to happen globalization has happened and is happening right now. There is
now a near certainty that in the course of your career you will work in another
country or with people from another country or culture as part of your job. It is
a reality.
Culture is defined in Box 1.3, and an important issue for organizations is the
impact of culture on work practices. For example, is it reasonable to expect that
theories and practices in HR and management established in Western Europe or the
US will apply in other cultures? You would think that the answer to this question
was so obviously no, that it was not worth asking. However, if you look at trends
in the dissemination of knowledge and practice to newly industrialized countries,
that is very much what happens. In some areas, the knowledge base that has been
established in Work Psychology, for example, is largely exported unmodified from
the West to other cultures (Gelfand, Leslie and Fehr, 2008).
There is something of an explicit assumption in this practice that organizations
develop in the same way through the process of industrialization. In other words, it
is sometimes assumed that organizational progress and development occurs similarly
around the globe. This idea was demolished many years ago through contingency
theory and studies of organizations. As part of the Aston studies, Childs and colleagues showed that culture should be built into contingency theory of organizations
(e.g. Child, 1981). The ways that organizations develop in different countries are
similar to an extent, but culture determines the specifics of that development. Child
concluded:
Culturally derived preferences infuse the exercise of choice between alternative
[organizational] structures.
The contingency argument was also seen to be moderated by culturally related
influences in the areas of decision-making, managerial roles and behavioural
expectations. (Child, 1981 p. 316318; cited in Aycan, 2000, p. 113.)
Research in Work Psychology has made some important contributions to understanding cultural influences, notably in the areas of motivation, values, leadership,
expatriation, management, team-work and diversity. However, a contemporary challenge for Work and Organizational Psychology is to expand and communicate this
work more effectively, in order to help people in organizations better understand the
influence of culture at work. To do this, culture needs to feature more routinely in

14
theory and research in the field, and there are several ways that this can be achieved
(Gelfland et al., 2008 and Aycan, 2000):
Expansion of Cross-cultural Research: Core topics in Work Psychology such
as selection, training and performance management particularly need clearer

integration of the role of culture.
Understanding the implicit Values of Research Questions: This issue is concerned
with the influence of Western cultural values on the ways that questions are asked,
and the ways that problems are framed in organizations. Understanding the cultural
limitations of theory and research involves Work and Organizational Psychologists
acknowledging the limitations of culturally nested individual perspectives.
Theory and Cultural Influence: To adopt a globalized perspective, practitioners
and researchers need to firstly consider and understand more clearly the nature
of cultural influences at individual, group and organizational levels. How does
culture affect individual behaviour? Is this different from the effects it has on
team behaviour? Work Psychology theory should also strive to understand and
identify when culture matters (Gelfand et al., 2008), and to incorporate that
information into models and theories.
All of the chapters in the book comment on cross-cultural perspectives in some

form, but in some chapters, we address issues of globalization and cross-cultural
Work Psychology directly by highlighting specific areas of importance.
SUSTAINABLE WORK PSYCHOLOGY

Sustainability is the third global issue that we consider in the book. In some ways the issue
of sustainability may be considered an offshoot of CSR in organizations, but we have
chosen to consider it as a separate issue given its broader global importance. The most
well-cited definition of sustainable development is credited to the Bruntland Report:
development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs. (Bruntland Commission, 1987.)
Sustainable development is also often represented as a Venn diagram with three

interlocking circles. Sustainable development includes attention to sustainable
growth in three areas (see Figure 1.1):
Economic: Developing economies in ways that do not threaten long-term
economic health.
Social: Focusing on development that addresses global social issues such as
poverty, hunger or inequality.

Environmental: Developing in ways that allow less environmental resources to be
consumed than those that can naturally be replenished.
The current reality of world development is that economic sustainability is the primary focus of growth, followed by social sustainability, and environmental sustainability
last. Much international politicking is currently, on the surface, devoted to redressing
the balance. Businesses and organizations have a critical role to play in sustainable
development, as they represent an important means by which humankind creates social
systems, develops economies, distributes wealth and develops new technologies.
Work Psychology has a role to play in promoting sustainable development, but
currently, almost no consideration has been given to whether applications of Work
Psychology are consistent with notions of sustainability (albeit despite some recent

FIGURE 1.1
15
Three spheres of sustainability
Environmental
Sustainability
Social
Economic
emergent thinking, e.g. Carr et al., 2008). Like most of the rest of the world, the preoccupation of Work Psychologists has been with economic outcomes (productivity
in organizations) and social outcomes (well-being and satisfaction). Little consideration is given to the environmental consequences, direct or indirect, of the work that
psychologists do in organizations. We could view such consequences in a number
of ways. A direct impact might be observed if psychologists assist in organizational
development strategies that in the long term are likely to cause environmental damage. An indirect impact might be ignoring sustainability issues in the selection of
powerful leaders, failing to raise such issues with organizations in consulting activities, or neglecting to integrate them into models of organizational performance.
There are ways that Work Psychology could influence organizations toward sustainable growth and development. For example, Work Psychologists understand how
attitudes and behaviour might be changed among leaders and employees, thereby
helping to ensure individuals contribute to sustainability. Measurement and modeling
of organizational and individual performance is also a strength of Work Psychologists,
and these could be further developed through research and theory to conceptualize the
role and place of sustainability in organizational outcomes. Work Psychologists are
also involved in organizational strategy, development and change processes, and this
affords an opportunity to counsel for the inclusion and utilization of environmental
and social sustainability outcomes in those processes. As with the other contemporary
themes, we consider issues of sustainability in several of the chapters in this book.
The psychology of work and organizations:

this book
The final task in this first chapter is to formally set the scene for the rest of this book.
We have structured it by dividing the major domains of Work and Organizational
Psychology into three sections, moving from foundations, through areas of professional practice and finally onto complex ideas about organizations.

16
FOUNDATIONS OF WORK AND ORGANIZATIONAL

PSYCHOLOGY
The first section of the book involves some scene setting for Work and Organizational
Psychology. We consider some of the core topics in social psychology and organizational behaviour. The section starts with an exploration of research methods and
their role in guiding research and practice in Work Psychology. We then consider
three further key foundation topics. These are:
Individual Differences.
Organizational Behaviour and Attitudes.
Motivation.
The aim in the first section of the book is to help you develop a broad perspective on psychology and its role in helping us understand peoples behaviour at work.
Many of the topics in the foundations of Work and Organizational Psychology are
fascinating, particularly when encountered for the first time, and so take your time
in absorbing new ideas and knowledge.
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE OF WORK AND

ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
In Part II of the book we cover the major professional applications of Work and
Organizational Psychology. Work Psychologists consult and work with businesses
and organizations in a number of key areas, and in Part II of the book, we review
and discuss these areas. Many reflect the tradition of Work Psychology that focuses
on individuals at work, and the chapters represent core tasks for managers in organizations. In each case, the chapters are designed to explore how Work Psychology
can help managers and practitioners to better understand and carry out those tasks.
The five areas covered are:
Recruitment, Selection and Assessment.
Learning, Training and Development.
Performance Measurement and Management.
Careers and Career Management.
Safety, Stress and Health at Work.
Collectively, the content of these chapters considers the major contributions of

Work and Organizational Psychology to the effective recruitment and selection of
people into organizations, and the management of peoples development, and performance once they join an organization. Moreover, the chapter considers peoples
development across their whole working lives and careers, and how peoples welfare,
health and safety can be protected at work.
ORGANIZATIONS
The final section of this book takes an organizational perspective by locating our
understanding of behaviour at work in the organizational context within which it
occurs. This is a perspective which is perhaps less popular or obvious for psychologists whose tendency is to focus on the individual or the small group. However, from
Kurt Lewin onwards, we have come to realize just how vital an understanding of

17
context is if we are to understand human behaviour and help to create better communities. Accordingly we consider the following areas:
Organizations: Structure, Strategy and Environment.
Leadership.
Teamworking in Organizations.
Organizational Culture and Change.
We propose that an understanding of Work and Organizational Psychology is

enhanced by knowledge of organizational strategy, structure and environment since
these have a considerable influence on attitudes, behaviour and experience at work.
This is an unusual aspect of our text but one we believe will be extremely valuable and,
we hope, fascinating for the reader. Second, we focus on what is arguably the most
researched area of Work and Organizational Psychology leadership. But we place
leadership in its organizational context rather than simply analyzing it atomistically as
traits, behaviours and tactics. The third chapter in this section looks at teamworking in
organizations and, in addition to reviewing the research, considers how teamworking
can be supported and how it can be developed most effectively in organizations. Finally,
there is a chapter on organizational culture, climate and change which takes a whole
organization perspective and seeks to give the reader helpful theoretical models with
which to understand work organizations and also practical tools for working in them.
EVIDENCE, CRITIQUE, PRACTICE

We have taken a particular approach to writing this book. We both find Work and
Organizational Psychology to be a very rewarding field to study and in which to
work. We are enthusiastic about the value of Work Psychology, and about the potential for it to make contributions in organizations and to businesses and to the wider
society of which they are a part, and we intend this to come across in our writing.
Both of us are academics and practitioners; we conduct research in a Business
School environment, and also work with organizations, applying Work Psychology.
Our perspective is therefore critical, but also pragmatic. We have aimed throughout
this book to review evidence, research and theory in Work Psychology, and to do so
in a critical, yet accessible way, and we encourage you to think critically about issues
that are raised in the chapters. However, we also adopt a practical focus in each
chapter too, and particularly value and report those aspects of Work Psychology that
have practical utility and relevance to organizations. We encourage you throughout
this book to think about and understand how Work Psychology could, and should
be applied in organizations.
And on that note, it is time that we started doing these things by beginning the
journey through the book.
Summary
Work and Organizational Psychology is the study of
people and their behaviour at work, and of the organizations in which people work; Work Psychologists
develop psychological theory and apply the rigour
and methods of psychology to issues that are
important to businesses and organizations, in order

to promote and advance understanding of individual,
group and organizational effectiveness at work, and
the well-being and satisfaction of people working in
or served by organizations.

18
The eld is known by a number of different titles,

such as Occupational Psychology, and Industrial and
Organizational Psychology. However, the nature of
the eld is indicated by the work that psychologists
do in organizations, reected in the contents of this
book.
The eld has a relatively short history, dating back
to the start of the 20th century. Work Psychologists
in the US and in Europe developed the eld of Work
and Organizational Psychology quickly, and along
somewhat divergent lines, with the US focusing on
productivity, performance, training and assessment,
and Europe adopting a stronger focus on well-being
and welfare at work.
Professional issues in Work Psychology are
guided by professional societies and associations,
notably SIOP, EAWOP and the DOP. These organizations have a signicant responsibility for representing,
developing and promoting the eld.
Global challenges for businesses and organizations are relevant concerns for Work Psychology.
Three key challenges facing organizations globally
are to strive for Corporate Social Responsibility, to
understand the role of culture in globalized business
and management and to develop sustainably. These
are challenges that contemporary Work Psychology
can help businesses meet.
We are totally serious about our assertion at the
start of this book, and if you havent already done so,
write down seven questions now that you might ask
about people and their behaviour in organizations if
you were a manager. Keep them with this book, and
tick them off as you nd out something that helps
you answer the questions. If you have any that arent
answered, or at least addressed in some way by the
time you nish reading the book, then send them to
us at Aston Business School. Theyll be in the next
edition. But we think that most are covered.
Web resources
The major professional groups in Work and Organizational Psychology all have web resources:
http://www.iaapsy.org
The International Association of Applied Psychology
http://www.eawop.org
The European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology
http://www.bps.org.uk
The British Psychological Society
http://www.bps.org.uk/dop
Division of Occupational Psychology
http://www.bps.org.uk/the-society/code-of-conduct/
The BPS Code of Ethics and Conduct: The Ethics code is available online in full.
Further reading
Warr, P.B. (2006) Psychology at Work 5th Edition.
Penguin.
Journal of Occupational and Organizational
Psychology Volume 74, (4) A set of reviews
of the eld in 2001, most of which still have
relevance today.

19
References
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Bruffaerts, R., Brugha, T.S., Bryson, H., De
Girolamo, G., De Graaf, R., Demyttenaere, K.,
Gasquet, I., Haro, J.M., Katz, S.J., Kessler, R.C.,
Kovess, V., Le Pine, J.P., Ormel, J., Polidori, G.,
Russo, J.L. and Vilagut, G. (2004). Prevalence
of mental disorders in Europe: results from the
European study of the Epidemiology of Mental
Disorders (ESEMeD) project. Acta Psychiatrica
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Aycan, Z. (2000). Cross-cultural industrial and
organizational psychology: Contributions,
past developments and future directions. Journal
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Carr, S.C., Maclachlan, M., Reichman, W.,
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reduction: where supply meets demand. Journal
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then to now: The development of industrialorganizational psychology in the United
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Kluckhohn, C. (1951). The study of culture. In
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Koppes, L.L. (2003). Industrial-organizational
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handbook of psychology: Vol. 1. History of
psychology (pp. 367389). New York: John
Wiley and Sons.
Kwiatkowski, R. and Duncan, D.C. (2006). UK
occupational/organizational psychology, applied
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The Psychology of Work

2010, Cengage Learning EMEA

Printed by Seng Lee Press, Singapore

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Dene Work and Organizational Psychology

List the main areas of Work and Organizational

Identify and know about professional

Understand three contemporary challenges

Globalization and Cross-cultural Issues

Sustainability and the Environment

Describe core values in Work and Organizational

Describe the history of Work and Organizational

Understand the role of historical context in giving

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The psychology of work and organizations:

psychological disorders and illnesses.

and education over the whole lifespan.

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WORK AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:

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Organizational Culture, Strategy and Design.

To get an indication of how Work Psychologists approach these areas of interest,

understanding people and their behaviour at work, and organizations.

psychology to issues that matter to people at work, and organizations.

work and organizations (see later section).

tional problems that enhance organizational effectiveness, and the well-being of

A brief history of Work and Organizational

2. Modern psychology emerged as a fledgling, but quickly developing area of study.

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MODERN WORK AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

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the application of psychology to improve productivity and organizational functioning,

Professional regulation of Work and Organizational Psychology

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Professional regulation of Work and Organizational Psychology (continued)

The British Psychological Society and Division of Occupational Psychology

Contemporary themes in Work

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ETHICAL AND SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE WORK

Ethical guidelines in psychology

Each professional organization in psychology has its own guidelines on ethical

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Spend a few minutes now thinking about, or discussing each of these

the overall welfare of society and to avoid doing harm.

GLOBAL, CROSS-CULTURAL WORK AND

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KLUCKHORN (1951; P86)

A well-cited denition of culture is that of Kluckhohn (1951):

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as selection, training and performance management particularly need clearer

All of the chapters in the book comment on cross-cultural perspectives in some

SUSTAINABLE WORK PSYCHOLOGY

Sustainable development is also often represented as a Venn diagram with three

poverty, hunger or inequality.

consumed than those that can naturally be replenished.

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Three spheres of sustainability

The psychology of work and organizations:

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