INTRODUCTION TO IO PSYCHOLOGY
● Branch of Psychology that applies
psychological principles to understand
people in the workplace
● Industrial
○ Various HR procedures
■ Recruitment and
selection
■ Performance appraisal
■ Training and
development
■ Job analysis
● Organizational
○ Work attitudes, team dynamics,
motivation, leadership
● How is this different from Human
Resource Management courses?
○ Focus: factors affecting
employees in the workplace
Areas of Application of Psychology in the
Workplace
● Psychometrics and individual
differences
○ Employee motivation
○ Employee selection
● Social psychology
○ Group processes
○ Leadership
● Health psychology
○ Stress
○ Work-life balance
● Cognitive psychology
○ Learning
○ Decision-making
○ Performance appraisal
Scientist-Practitioner Model
1) Scientist
○ Conduct empirical research
about people in the organization
2) Practitioner
○ Apply research findings to
actual organizations and
employees
BRIEF HISTORY
1. Early years
a. Study of work
b. Scientific management
c. Testing movement
2. Human relations era
a. Hawthorne studies
b. Needs theories
c. Theory X and Y
3. Engineering psychology
a. WW11
b. OSS
4. Later developments
a. Civil rights era
b. High-tech era
1) EARLY YEARS
Study of work
Willhelm Wundt
● 1876: founded one of the first
psychological laboratories in Leipzig,
Germany
● Mid 1880s: trained Hugo Munsterberg
and James McKeen Cattell
Hugo Munsterberg
● German who trained under W. Wundt
● Went to Harvard University
○ Became the director of the
psychological laboratories
○ Studied abilities and how it
relates to work and
performance
● 1912/23: wrote a book entitled,
“Psychology and Industrial Efficiency”
James Cattell
● American who studied under W. Wundt
● Went to Columbia University
○ Studied individual differences in
predicting behavior
● 1921: founded the Psychological
corporation
Scientific management
Frederick Taylor
● Father of Scientific Management
● Scientific Management
 ○ Approach that uses logical and
scientific principles in the
management of organizations
pessimistic view of human
nature
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
● Engineering practitioners
○ Applied time and motion
studies to help study the most
efficient way to do work by
eliminating unnecessary
motions
● Lillian Gilbreth
○ First person to earn a PhD
degree in Industrial Psychology
○ Research works focused on
scientific management (time
and motion studies)
Max Weber
● Structural theory: organizational activity
based on authority relations
○ Bureaucruacy: a system
characterized by division of
labor, a clear hierarchy, detailed
rules and regulations, and
impersonal relationships
Testing Movements
Walter Dill Scott
● American who also trained under W.
Wundt
● Worked at the northwestern university
● Worked at the Carnegie Institute to
develop selection and training methods
for sales personnel
● Books
○ The Theory of Advertising
(1903)
○ Publication of the Theory and
Practice of Advertising (1907)
○ Increasing Human Efficiency in
Business (1911)
● 1919: founded the first consulting
company in Industrial Psychology
● Also became the president of APA
World War 1 (1917)
● Together with Walter, Von Dyke
Bingham and other prominent
psychologists, they adopted
Standford-Binet to make it suitable for
mass testing
○ Army Alpha: verbal
○ Army Beta: non-verbal
● After the war, mental ability testing
became a common practice in the
workplace
2) HUMAN RELATIONS ERA (1927-1940s)
Elton Mayo
Hawthorne studies
● Located at the plant of Western Electric
Corporation in Hawthrone, Illinois
● Started with studying the effect of
lightning conditions on workers’
efficiency
● Discovered the “Hawthrone Effect”
○ The change in behavior that
results from researchers paying
attention to the workers
Dogulas McGregor
● 1960: Theory of Human Nature
○ Managers should take a
positive view of people and help
them realize their potential
● Theory X assumes that staff…
○ Dislike their work
○ Avoid responsibility and need
constant distraction
○ Need to be controlled, forced
and threatened to deliver work
○ Need to be supervised
○ No incentive to work or
ambition
● Theory Y assumes that staff…
○ Happy to work on their own
incentive
○ Self-motivated
○ Seek and accept responsibility
○ View work as fulfilling
3) ENGINEERING PSYCHOLOGY
JOB ANALYSIS
World War 2
A systematic process
● Tremendous advances in aircraft, tanks,
● Collecting and analyzing information
ships, and other bottles tools → a new
about the job such as;
set of required competencies → safety
○ Tasks, duties, responsibilities
and efficiency
(TDRs)
● Renewed interest in ability testing:
○ Knowledge, skills, abilities, and
accurate placements
other characteristics (KSAOs)
Office of Strategic Services (OSS)
○ Tools or types of equipment
● Government department responsible for
used
gathering and analyzing military
○ End product → job descriptions
intelligence
STEPS IN JOB ANALYSIS
● Led by Henry Murray, a personality
Step 1: Identify the task performed
theorist
Method:
● One of its responsibilities is to have
● Gather existing information
spies to anticipate the strategic of the
○ Job description
opponent
○ Task inventories
○ Spy candidates will undergo
○ Training manuals
extensive testing under the
○ Critical incidents
assessment center (a week or
○ Activity logs
more)
○ Occupational information
○ Assessments: interviews,
network (O*net)
pen-and-paper tests, stress
● Interview subject matter experts
exercises, physical exercises,
○ Job incumbents
etc.
○ Supervisors
4) LATER DEVELOPMENTS
○ Customers
Civil Rights Era (1964 - present)
○ Upper-level management
● Passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act in
● Observe job incumbents
the US
○ While performing their actual
● Ensures fairness in hiring process
tasks
○ Adverse impact
● Job participations
○ Prohibits discrimination on the
○ Spending enough time
basis of race, color, religion, sex
performing their job
or national origin
● Questionnaires: general information
High-tech Era (2000 to present)
about the work
● Use of computers and internet
○ Position analysis questionnaire
○ Online job applications
○ Job structure profile
○ Online or computerized test
○ Job elements inventory
administration and scoring
○ Functional job analysis
○ Statistics or big data in research
Categorize:
○ AI in other HR activities
● Tasks: Specific tasks performed within
○ E-learning
the scope of the job
■ Ex. encode student
grades
 ● Tools and equipment: Tools used to importance/criticality of the task being
perform the task effectively performed
○ Ex. MLS, AnimoSpace, ○ Rate the frequency and
Microsoft Excel importance on a scale from 0-3
● Conditions: Conditions under which the
tasks are performed
○ Ex. at the end of the term or 1
week after student’s submission
● Tasks dimensions: Group of task
statements
○ Ex. Administrative
○ Afterwards, get the total of
Step 2: Write task statements
score given to frequency and
● Important for task inventory and job
importance
description
○ Get combined average of the 2
○ Task inventory: questionnaire
SMEs
containing a list of tasks that
○ Accepted scores for combined
will be rated based on their
average
importance and relative time
■ Frequency and
spent
importance = 0.6 and
○ Job description: summary of
above
the job
■ Combined ratings = 2.0
Must contain these elements/details:
and above
● Action
Step 4: Determine essential KSAOs
○ Ex. conduct
Knowledge
● Object
● Declarative
○ Ex. grade consultations
○ Knowledge of facts or concepts
● Where the job is done
○ Ex. knowledgeable in test
○ Ex. Zoom
construction
● How the job is done
● Procedural
○ Ex. before encoding the final
○ Knowledge of how to do or
grades in MLS
perform a task
● Why the job is done
○ Ex. knowledgeable in the
○ Ex. for transparency
process of test construction
Guidelines for writing task statements:
Skills
● 1 action: 1 object
● Observable competence
● Should include the tools or equipment
● Example: communication skills, project
used to complete the task
management, leadership
● Written in the reading ability of the
Abilities
typical job incumbent
● Underlying, enduring trait
● Should not be a competency or policy
● 4 general categories: cognitive,
● Provide context; not too general
psychomotor, physical, and sensory
Step 3: Rate task statements
abilities
● Rate each task statement based on the
● Example: memory, intelligence, reaction
frequency and the
time
Other characteristics
● Personality
● Willingness to learn
● Motivation
● Licenses
● Educational degree
● Years of experience

● Will also be rated to the extent to which

of these KSAOs is essential in
performing the job
Average ratings:
● 2.5 - above = to be included in the
selection process
● 1.5 - 2.49 = to be taught during training
● 0.5 - 1.49 = to be learned on the job
Step 5: Select tests to tap KSAOs
● Determine best methods to measure
KSAOs needed at the time of hire