Fields of study and practice areas in Industrial and Organisational (I-O) Psychology

1. Chapter 2 Fields of study and practice areas in Industrial and Organisational (I-O) Psychology

2. What are the main themes and focus areas of industrial and Organisational Psychology (I–O) and why are they important? • Describe the nature and identity of I-O psychology • Name and discuss various subfields of I-O psychology • Describe application fields in I-O psychology • Discuss the history of I-O psychology • Discuss professional training and practice in I-O psychology • Discuss future challenges in I-O psychology.

3. Sub-fields in psychology • Clinical psychology – aims to alleviate emotional distress caused by psychological disorders and problems of life • Counselling psychology – management of pain caused by life, facilitating improved understanding of issues, fostering use of effective coping skills • Career psychology – involves studying and facilitating occupational development across the life-span • Educational and school psychology – focuses on studying factors, behaviour, processes & problems of learning • Developmental psychology – focuses on age related changes across a person’s life span • Social psychology – studying human social interaction by understanding the influence of behaviour, beliefs and feelings amongst people.

4. Sub-fields in psychology (continued) • Cognitive psychology – revolves around the theory and research regarding higher mental processes • Personality psychology – the study of the more or less consistent patterns of behaviour in people across time and situations • Physiological/Neurological psychology – Study of relationship between human behaviour and neurological and physiological systems • Psychometrics – entails the development of psychological measuring instruments • Experimental psychology – used in many psychological disciplines to establish patterns of human behaviour in controlled situations • Health psychology – utilises psychological knowledge to identify causes and symptoms of physical health and illness and related dysfunctions.

5. Sub-fields in psychology (continued) • Positive psychology – emphasis on enhancement of optimum human functioning • Forensic psychology – studying context of criminal behaviour (e.g. causes) and obtaining and giving evidence in legal procedures • Community psychology – using, developing and adapting psychological knowledge and practices to improve quality of life in human communities • Cross-cultural psychology – focuses on diversity management or the consideration of differences in and between groups of people • Consulting psychology – professional involvement of psychologists with individuals, groups & organisations • Industrial and Organisational (I-O) psychology – utilises principles and assumptions of psychology to study and influence human behaviour at work.

6. Nature and identity of I-O psychology:I–O Psychology: A scientific discipline? • I-O Psychology is branch of psychology • Utilises psychological knowledge and in the work context to assess, utilise, develop and influence individual employees • While inextricably linked to psychology, I-O psychology has adapted and developed it own identity • It utilises, develops and teaches foundational knowledge, e.g. psychological theory/research on human behaviour in work context • Foundational knowledge is supported through work-related research to further its knowledge base • Is an applied science utilising many types of practical applications and methods to achieve best fit between employee and workplace.

7. Sub-fields and practice areas in I-O psychology Organisational psychology • Concerned with work organisations as systems involving individual employees and work groups, as well as structure and dynamics of organisations Personnel psychology • Focus on utilising individual differences in and between employees and predicting the optimal employee-organisation fit Research methodology • Entails psychological methods of inquiry to solve research problems Occupational psychological assessment • Entails the development and utilisation of assessment instruments to obtain measures of attributes and behaviour of employees.

8. Sub-fields and practice areas in I-O psychology (continued) Career or vocational psychology/counselling • Studies career development issues with regard to individuals, employment, unemployment, career-related issues in organisations and also non-work influencing factors Employment relations • Deals with behavioural dynamics, communication and conflict management between individuals and groups of employees, employers and other parties Employee and organisational well-being • Aims to facilitate positive psychological capital or resources in organisations and employees Ergonomics • Concerned with understanding of human interaction between employees and their technical environment.

9. Sub-fields and practice areas in I-O psychology (continued) Consumer psychology • Also referred to as Economic and Market Psychology concerned with studying psychological aspects of consumer behaviour Other applied fields • Cross-cultural Industrial Psychology • Management and leadership • Entrepreneurship and diversity management.

10. History of I-O psychology Taylorism • Man is a rational-economic being • Humans are inherently • Lazy, inefficient and unreliable • Only motivated by financial incentives Criticism of taylorism • Heavily criticised as a result of findings in Hawthorne experiments • Perceived as an exploitation of workers • Neglect of individual differences Hawthorne experiments • Employee work performance may vary if employees follow specific procedures and standards under strict supervision.

11. Professional training and practice issues Contributing institutions • HPCSA • Professional Board for Psychology, etc. Contributing peoples, associations and events Professional training and practice • Governing bodies • Qualifications • Practice • Universities and other training institutions • Proximity with human resources management.

12. Future challenges in I-O psychology • How to use existing knowledge and practice • How to develop and adapt this knowledge and practice • I-O psychologist must be able to speak the language of business • Future psychologists successes in making employees and organisation more adaptive to change • The management of the increase in work stress • Creating meaningful employment amidst growing sophisticated technology, business mergers and downsizing, decreasing job opportunities • Changing nature of work requires ongoing revision of validity theory in the assessment of employees • More incorporation of technology driven interventions in organisations.

13. Thank you.