industrial organizational psychology research topics

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Category: Industrial-Organizational Psychology Topics

Work motivation topics.

Work motivation is one of the most central and highly researched topics in industrial-organizational psychology. Even the earliest textbooks in I/O psychology addressed motivation and topics related to it, such as morale, job attitudes, productivity, and job performance. Several definitions have been offered, but the one adopted here was first advanced by the author in… Continue reading Work Motivation Topics

Recruitment Topics

The term recruitment refers to a set of organizational activities and practices that are intended to attract new hires to an organization. The goal of recruitment is to generate applicants who are qualified for employment, who will accept employment offers, and who will ultimately succeed on the job. Recruitment is an important complement to employee… Continue reading Recruitment Topics

Organizational Development Topics

Organizational development (OD) is a field of professional practice focused on facilitating organizational change and improvement. The theory and practice of OD is grounded in both the social and behavioral sciences. The field originated in the 1960s and has been evolving ever since. This evolution has been influenced by a wide range of disciplines including… Continue reading Organizational Development Topics

Organizational Behavior Topics

Organizational behavior (OB) can be defined as the study of human behavior in the workplace. More specifically, investigators employ the principles of the scientific method to help them understand, predict, and manage employee behavior. The knowledge that follows rigorous, systematic study is used to enhance the productivity of organizations and the quality of work life… Continue reading Organizational Behavior Topics

Leadership and Management Topics

Leadership is the process by which a leader influences another person or group and focuses the followers’ behavior on a goal or outcome. Persuading a subordinate to clean up his or her work area could be seen as a form of leadership, as could convincing hundreds of people to volunteer for disaster relief work. Influencing… Continue reading Leadership and Management Topics

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6.2 Topics in Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Topics in Industrial and Organizational Psychology 1 2

Work occupies a central part of people’s lives around the world. For example, full-time workers in the U.S. work an average of 8.5 hours/day, spending more time working than performing any other life activity except for sleep (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). Work experiences exert a heavy effect on people’s life satisfaction (Erdogan, Bauer, Truxillo, & Mansfield, 2012), and career goals are a central concern of many young adults (e.g., Rogers, Creed, & Glendon, 2008). Indeed, most readers of this chapter are likely in college as a step toward achieving a hoped-for career!

However, the world of work is changing in many ways that present new questions and challenges for workers. For example, advances in technology, including automation, are disrupting major industries and changing or eliminating many jobs (Susskind & Susskind, 2016). Employers are increasingly experimenting with alternative work arrangements, like contract workers in “gig” jobs (e.g., driving for Uber or Lyft), rather than offering full-time work with job security and stable benefits (Friedman, 2014). Despite progress, women, racial and ethnic minorities, religious minorities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities still struggle to be accepted and successful in many workplaces (Myors et al., 2008). And, around the world, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers continue to search for decent work opportunities that can fulfill their basic needs (Moyce & Schenker, 2018).

Against this backdrop, industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology has an important role to play in improving organizations and promoting the well-being of workers. This chapter first presents a brief overview of I-O and what work in this field entails, and then reviews a series of major areas of research and practice within each half of the field.

I-O psychology is the scientific study of working and the application of psychological principles to workplace issues facing individuals, teams, and organizations. I-O psychologists apply the scientific method to investigate issues of critical relevance to individuals, businesses, and society. As a consequence, I-O psychologists are trained as scientist-practitioners with the ability to both conduct rigorous research and engage in the practical application of scientific knowledge alongside business people.

There are roughly 500 graduate programs in the U.S. that grant master’s and doctoral degrees in I-O psychology. Unlike many areas of psychology that require a doctoral degree practice, a terminal master’s degree is sufficient to pursue many excellent work opportunities in I-O psychology (Michalski, 2017). Moreover, the Department of Labor projects increased demand for I-O psychology into the mid-2020s. Much more information about graduate training and work opportunities is available on the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) website; SIOP is the primary professional body for the field.

Figure 1. SIOP, Division 14 of the American Psychological Association, has over 9,000 members as of January 2018.

Photo source: SIOP, used with permission.

Industrial Psychology

As the name “industrial-organizational” suggests, I-O psychology has often been viewed as a field with two distinct, though related, components. The industrial half of I-O Psychology, which is sometimes referred to as personnel psychology , focuses on the analysis of jobs; recruitment, selection, and training of employees; and evaluation of performance in the workplace. Industrial psychology is a close partner of human resource (HR) management in organizations, with industrial psychologists supplying the technical and legal expertise to create and evaluate the personnel systems that HR managers use on a daily basis. To this end, the major areas of research and practice that fall within industrial psychology include job analysis, recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, and training.

Job Analysis

Before we can hire people, before we can assess their performance, before we can decide on their salaries, before we can train them – before we can do virtually anything to affect a job, we must first understand what a job consists of. What tasks does it include? What skills does the job require? Where does the job fit within the organization? Job analysis helps I-O psychologists answer these questions (Sanchez & Levine, 2012). Because of its importance for making further decisions about jobs, many I-O psychologists begin their consulting work with a job analysis.

Generally speaking, a job analysis can fall into one of two categories: work-oriented or worker-oriented (Brannick, Levine, Morgeson, & Brannick, 2007). Work-oriented job analysis focuses on the job itself, and involves developing a list of tasks that the job involves. For example, a retail store sales clerk might assist customers in finding merchandise, answer customer questions, use a cash register to take money and make change, bag the merchandise, and thank the customer, among other responsibilities.  If we put this all together, it produces a job description that we can later use to identify training needs and the valuable behaviors that we should reward.

On the other hand, worker-oriented job analysis focuses on identifying the qualities needed by an employee to successfully perform the job in question. Traditionally, I-O psychologists have tried to identify several key characteristics of employees, including their knowledge (things they know), their skills (such as skill at persuading others), and their abilities (more stable traits they possess, like mathematical ability), often referred to as the “KSAs” required to perform the job. Returning to the example of our retail sales clerk, we might find that they need to be friendly, detail-oriented, reliable, and have the ability to learn about the merchandise the store has in stock. This information is crucial to developing a selection system that identifies job applicants with the right qualifications to be successful.

The process of completing a work- or worker-oriented job analysis procedure is actually quite similar. In each case, I-O consultants typically interview current employees and supervisors, or ask them to complete surveys, to gather information about the job. The consultants then use this information to write the task or KSA statements that describe the job.

Recruitment, Selection, & Placement

Once I-O psychologists understand what a job entails, and the requirements that are necessary to do the job, they can use this information to assist an organization in a wide variety of ways. Generally, this information will be used to aid the hiring process in an organization–quality job analysis information can help with this process in a variety of ways.

The hiring process actually begins with recruitment—before people can be hired into an organization, they must first apply for an open position. Recruitment refers to the process of attracting people to submit applications for open positions within an organization. Today, recruitment often takes advantage of technology, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and internet job boards like Indeed.com and Monster.com. In their attempts to recruit people to apply for a job opening, organizations will typically describe the requirements of the position, including educational requirements, and the main tasks and responsibilities associated with the position. Organizations may also attempt to describe aspects of the culture of the organization, such as the feel of the work environment, or the values or mission of the company. An organization that describes itself as “fast-paced” or “competitive” is likely to attract rather different applicants than an organization that advertises “teamwork” and “cooperation.”

Once an organization has recruited an applicant pool, the organization must decide how to assess the applicants, and the formal hiring process begins. The process used to evaluate job candidates and decide which ones to hire is typically referred to as personnel selection .  Personnel selection is one of the oldest topics in I-O psychology, dating back to the very roots of the field at the start of the 20 th century (Farr & Tippins, 2010; Ployhart, Schmitt, & Tippins, 2017). Selection usually involves administering a series of instruments, such as tests or interviews, to job applicants; the instruments are often scored and combined with other information, such as letters of recommendation, to help employers select the best applicant(s). The selection instruments an organization uses are commonly referred to as predictors , and helping organizations develop effective predictors are one of the most common roles that I-O consultants engage in. Common predictors that I-O psychologists help develop include tests of various qualities (such as intelligence, personality and other traits), and interviews (Cascio & Aguinis, 2011).  Determining the right combination of predictors to give applicants for a given job is a central topic for consultants that assist with personnel selection, and involves the consideration of many factors, including cost, time, legality, validity, reliability, practicality, and acceptance in the business world. Selection often occurs in multiple stages. During the initial stage, it is common for applicants to participate in some initial screening assessments to “weed out” unqualified applicants.  Following this, subsequent stages in the selection process attempt to select the optimal candidate from the qualified applicants that remain after screening.

What predictors do the best job of helping organizations choose qualified applicants? One of the most consistent findings in I-O psychology, based on decades of research, is that general mental ability , or intelligence, is the single most effective predictor of job performance in nearly all jobs, and especially complex jobs (Schmidt & Hunter, 2004). One of the reasons this is the case is that general mental ability helps predict a person’s ability to learn new information and skills, a critical component of success in virtually any job.

Beyond general mental ability tests, many other predictors have been found to be effective for predicting employee success as well. Personality tests , such as those measuring the Big 5 traits, have also been found to successfully predict which applicants will make effective employees. In particular, the Big 5 trait conscientiousness has been found to predict performance in a wide variety of jobs. This is not surprising, given that people high in this trait are typically hard-working, reliable, and organized, all traits that should lead to success in most jobs (Barrick, Mount, & Judge, 2001). Additional predictors, such as simulations and work samples, can be used to successfully assess a person’s ability to handle actual job-related tasks in realistic settings (Scott & Reynolds, 2010).

What about interviews? Interviews have long been used by organizations to help make hiring decisions, and they remain one of the most commonly-used predictors in organizations today (Posthuma, Morgeson, & Campion, 2002). Interviews can be written to evaluate a variety of applicant characteristics and qualifications (Landy & Conte, 2010). Research on the effectiveness of interviews is mixed. Most interviews used in organizations tend to be fairly flexible conversations, where the interviewer is free to ask an applicant a wide variety of different questions. Each applicant may be asked different questions, and the questions may not be directly related to the job the applicant is applying for. These interviews are typically known as unstructured interviews , and, despite their prevalence, they are not very effective predictors for evaluating applicants. One reason for this is that the information gained from one applicant’s interview might be quite different from the information gained from another applicant’s interview, thus making it difficult to compare “apples to apples.”

Fortunately, interviews can be improved by making the interview process more structured . Strategies for structuring an interview include deciding on a consistent list of questions that will be asked of all applicants, ensuring that the questions are related to the content of the job, and using a scoring system to evaluate applicants’ responses. Structured interviews that have these features are much more effective at predicting which applicants will be successful in a given job (Huffcutt, Conway, Roth, & Stone, 2001). I-O consultants often help organizations to design and implement structured interviews to improve the organization’s selection process. Unfortunately, many organizations continue to rely on traditional unstructured interviews, which are much more prone to errors and subjective evaluations of job applicants. This divide between the predictors that I-O psychologists know are effective, and the predictors that many organizations utilize, remains an important concern for many I-O psychologists today.

Evaluating and Managing Worker Performance

Once employees are hired and placed into their roles in an organization, it is typically necessary to assess their performance to see how well they are performing in their new role. Evaluating how well employees perform their jobs, and documenting this performance, is important for a variety of reasons. Certainly, performance information is often used to make decisions about whether and when to promote, train, re-assign, or terminate employees; it can also be used for decisions about compensation, bonuses, and other rewards. If an employee’s performance is lacking, the gap between how he or she is performing, compared to the ideal, might be addressed by training (or re-training) the needed knowledge, skills, or abilities. Performance appraisal can also be used to give employees feedback, and help employees learn about their strengths and weaknesses–thus, another goal of performance appraisal is general employee development.

Performance appraisals are often conducted on a recurring schedule—once or twice a year is common. The review itself is typically structured around the employee’s primary tasks and responsibilities, such that the supervisor provides a summary of the employee and their performance. The appraisal will often involve making ratings on numeric scales corresponding with specific aspects of performance, as well as comments and/or illustrative critical incidents to communicate to the employee how well they are performing on each aspect of the job. Critical incidents are specific behaviors the employee has engaged in—they are used to illustrate good or bad performance and often supplement numeric performance ratings. Feedback and critical incidents from other coworkers may be gathered by the supervisor with the goal of basing the performance appraisal on complete information.

One variant of performance appraisal that has become popular in recent years is 360-degree appraisal, which seeks to gather feedback from multiple sources that the person being evaluated interacts with, such as subordinates, peers, supervisors, clients/customers, and others.  Self-appraisal, provided by the employee him- or herself, may also be included. The goal of this process is to provide employees with a more well-rounded sense of how they’re performing.

Numeric performance ratings are a common part of a performance appraisal.  For example, an employee may be rated on dependability on a scale of one to five, with anchors ranging from unacceptable (1), to average (3), to superior (5). Employees are often rated in the context of how other members of their team or work group are performing. Other rating approaches involve making direct comparisons between employees within a unit, such as ranking all employees, or comparing them two at a time and deciding which of the two is the superior performer. When using any numeric rating method, organizations need to be aware of the biases that raters may unknowingly exhibit. One risk is that all raters will not use a rating scale the same way—for instance, some might provide more generous, or harsher, ratings regardless of how the employee is performing. Such errors can lead to biases in the appraisal process, and impact the fairness of a performance appraisal system; fortunately, rater training can help avoid some of these issues.

What kinds of employee performance are typically assessed in organizations? In many cases, the answer to this question is determined by the type of organization the employee works in—effective performance for an employee who makes electric motors in a factory is likely to be very different from an employee who creates apps for your phone. For legal reasons, it is important for an organization to avoid assessing people based on irrelevant characteristics, such as their age, gender, or race. Here again, I-O consultants often help organizations design performance appraisal systems that focus on core aspects of job performance, and avoid evaluating irrelevant characteristics. For many jobs, the main focus of performance appraisal is on task performance —that is, how effectively an employee performs the key requirements of their job. However, many organizations are also concerned with additional behaviors that employees may engage in outside of their job responsibilities. These “extra” behaviors can be positive or negative in nature. Positive behaviors are typically referred to as organizational citizenship behaviors , or OCBs, and may include actions such as bringing donuts or bagels to an early morning meeting, staying late to assist a coworker with a project, or speaking positively about the organization to outsiders. Negative behaviors, often called counterproductive work behaviors , or CWBs, range from fairly minor actions, such as being rude to a coworker from time to time, to more serious, criminal activities such as theft, sabotage, or arson. As you would expect, employees who enjoy their work are more likely to engage in OCBs, while dissatisfied employees are likely to engage in CWBs. Thus, if organizations want to promote OCBs, and prevent CWBs, it is important for them to consider their employees’ thoughts and feelings about their workplace.

Training & Development

Over time, it often becomes necessary for employees to learn new knowledge or skills, to enhance their job performance and keep pace with changes in their occupation. I-O psychology intersects with cognitive psychology and learning theories in the domain of training and development , which focuses on increasing employees’ knowledge, skills, and abilities. Like many other organizational processes, training is, in part, based on job/task/work analysis to determine the elements of a job that a person requires training to do. The training process often begins with a training needs analysis, which is an analysis of the organization, tasks, and person that results in objectives for training (Arthur, Bennett, Edens, & Bell, 2003). Principles of learning and cognition serve as the basis for designing training and development interventions. Basic principles about memory, perception, judgment, and learning include cognitive biases, primacy and recency, interferences, decision-making, and developments. These are relevant to determining how best to convey information about how and when to engage in various work behaviors, and how to assess how well training has accomplished its goals.

What topics do organizations commonly use training for? Some training is motivated by legal considerations, such as diversity and sexual harassment training. With diversity training, employees are typically educated on the benefits of diversity, and provided with suggestions for acting with sensitivity in a diverse workplace. Sexual harassment and discrimination, which are typically prohibited both by law and organizational policies, can also be addressed via training. Employees may be educated on key terms and ideas related to harassment, practice identifying situations in which harassment may occur, and discuss appropriate courses of action for reporting and preventing harassment.

Other types of training are prompted when employers require employees to possess a particular area of knowledge, skill, or ability to meet organizational needs. If an organization wants to avoid training, they may look to hire employees that already have those KSAs that they desire (a selection approach). Alternatively, they may use help current employees develop those KSAs (a training approach). The decision between these approaches is driven by several considerations, including cost, timing, other available resources, and staffing goals. For example, for employers do not wish to increase the size of their workforce, training may be a more attractive option. In addition, the expected trainability of a knowledge, skill, or ability and skill level of current personnel might be taken into account. Consider the likelihood of successfully teaching someone a specific skill, such as typing, using a cash register, or engaging in successful customer service interactions, compared to the more difficult challenge of improving a person’s mathematical abilities or extraversion.

In organizations today, training can occur in a wide variety of formats. Training often occurs with a face-to-face instructor , but many organizations today are relying on remote or distance training, mediated by communication technology, and self-paced training. In addition, employers are generally motivated to understand whether their resources devoted to training are achieving key training objectives. Consequently, many employee trainings are followed, either immediately or after a delay, with some form of evaluation. Some evaluations focus on how much of the training content was understood and retained by the trainee, while others focus on how well that information transfers to on-the-job behaviors, how well the trainee feels about the training process, and what the outcomes for the organization are (Kirkpatrick, 1959). For the individual, training can be considered in terms of impact on career development and advancement in the organization.

Organizational Psychology

The organizational half of I-O Psychology is broadly concerned with the social and psychological context of the workplace. Organizational psychology focuses on many different levels of workplace phenomena, including micro, within-person experiences, like attitudes and emotions; meso, small group dynamics like teamwork and interpersonal discrimination; and macro, organization-wide factors, such as leadership and organizational culture. Overall, organizational psychology helps us understand the experience and consequences of working life in modern organizations. Major areas of study within organizational psychology include employee attitudes, worker health and safety, motivation, and teamwork and leadership.

Employee Attitudes

I-O psychologists are often concerned with the attitudes employees hold about their work.  Several attitudes have been the focus of extensive research over the past several decades, and the importance of employee attitudes has been demonstrated by their ability to predict whether employees will exert less effort at work, engage in CWBs, or even leave the organization altogether.

Job satisfaction , which refers to an employee’s overall evaluation of their job, is the most fundamental attitude studied in I-O psychology (Judge & Klinger, 2007).  When a worker has positive feelings and thoughts about his or her job, positive outcome are likely. These outcomes include performing their job at a high level, feeling motivated, and being inclined to do extrarole behaviors that are helpful but aren’t explicitly required as part of the job. Job satisfaction is often measured using scales, which include questions with a range of numeric response options with either images or phrases as anchors (e.g., 1 = very dissatisfied to 5 = very satisfied). While job satisfaction can be measured using a single question, a more nuanced understanding of satisfaction can be achieved using multi-item scales that ask the respondent about various aspects of a job (e.g., pay, autonomy, coworkers). Measuring satisfaction in this way can help I-O consultants get a more detailed understanding of which aspects of their jobs employees like and dislike the most.

Another attitude important for understanding work behavior is organizational commitment , or an individual’s psychological attachment to an organization (Meyer & Allen, 1991).  Researchers studying the nature of organizational commitment have identified three types of commitment. Affective commitment reflects an emotional connection an employee may feel with their organization. Employees with high affective commitment may feel as though they are a “part of a family” with their organization. Continuance commitment reflects commitment that is based on a lack of available alternative employment options. Employees with high continuance commitment may stay at their current job because of poor job prospects in their area, or because they lack necessary education or training to make themselves competitive for other job opportunities. Finally, normative commitment is driven by employees’ sense of obligation to their organization. For instance, if a company gives an employee their first job after graduating from college, or has invested resources in an employee in the form or training or development, the employee may feel obligated to stay with the organization to “pay back” these investments. Overall, strong ties have been found between organizational commitment and turnover, or leaving one’s organization.

Employees’ attitudes about an organization may also be based on how fairly they feel they are treated.   Organizational justice theory suggests that employees pay attention to the fairness of how they’re treated in several ways.  The various types and subtypes of justice focus on how outcomes or results are distributed across employees, the fairness of organizational procedures or decision rules, and the nature of interactions among organizational members.  For example, an employee may feel that the process of performance appraisal is fair (procedural justice), but that it did not result in a sufficient pay raise (distributive justice).

What can an organization do to improve their employees’ attitudes? Unfortunately, psychological research on attitudes in general suggests that attitude change is often quite difficult. A basic principle of attitudes is that once an attitude or belief is held, it serves as an anchor around which new information is judged. Thus, once an employee begins to evaluate their workplace negatively, they may seek out and focus on additional information that supports this attitude.

Worker Health & Safety

Occupational health is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the health and safety of people at work, and has become the subject of much research in I-O psychology. Jobs place a variety of demands on workers, and these demands can lead to the experience of stress, which may be followed by various negative outcomes such as effects on the physical and mental health of employees (Beehr, 1995; Jex, 1998; Tetrick & Quick, 2011). Occupational health research examines internal and external sources of occupational stress, as well as ways to decrease worker stress and methods for preventing stress. Evidence suggests that organizations should be concerned with occupational health, as consistent exposure to stressful working conditions can impact not only employees, but also organizational effectiveness: studies have estimated that billions of dollars are lost from the U.S. economy due to occupational stress, based on the assumption that stress plays a role in negative outcomes such as increased medical, legal, and insurance costs, higher rates of absenteeism and turnover, diminished productivity, and increased occupational accidents (e.g., Goldin, 2004).

While I-O psychologists have contributed to the study of occupational stress, the occupational stress literature consists of important contributions from multiple perspectives, including medical (focusing on the contribution of stress in the workplace to employee health and illness), clinical/counseling (which focuses on the impact of stressful working conditions on mental health outcomes such as anxiety and depression), engineering psychology (which focuses on stressors originating from the physical work environment), and organizational psychology . Organizational psychology focuses heavily on cognitive appraisal (the process by which employees perceive the work environment and decide whether it is stressful), as well on sources of stress that are social in nature (e.g., are sourced from interactions with others). Recently, these four approaches have joined into one field known as occupational health psychology (OHP; Barling & Griffiths, 2011). OHP is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on using psychological theories and methodology to enhance health, safety, and well-being for individuals and organizations.

Another focus within the field of OHP is employee safety, usually with regard to preventing accidents and injuries in the workplace. Research has examined workplace safety outcomes in relation with both situational factors in the work environment (e.g., physical hazards such as heat and noise; Jex, Swanson, & Grubb, 2013) and personal factors in the employee (e.g., personality traits; Clarke & Robertson, 2008). Most models of employee safety posit that certain factors influence the experience of accidents and injuries through an effect on the safety performance of the employee (i.e., employees being compliant with safety procedures and notifying others in the organization about safety concerns; Griffin & Neal, 2000). Most studies have found moderate to strong relationships between different types of safety performance and the experience of workplace accidents (Jiang, Yu, Li, & Li, 2010). Moreover, the safety climate of a work unit and/or organization is predictive of safety performance, which has been linked to workplace accidents (Zohar, 2011). Safety climate refers to whether the employees in a company share similar perceptions of policies and procedures regarding workplace safety, such as rules regarding the use of safety equipment. A recent review of the injury and accident prevalence literature suggested that thousands of American workers die each year from injuries sustained in the workplace; however, prevalence rates are far worse in countries that do not have government oversight of labor practices: over two million individuals worldwide die each year as a result of injuries suffered in the work environment (Kaplan & Tetrick, 2011). In the United States, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the government agency established to assure safe and healthful working conditions by setting and enforcing standards and providing training, outreach, education, and assistance to US organizations. Most private employers are responsible for ensuring that OSHA standards are met, and employers concerned with worker health and well-being seek to maintain safe working conditions and offer channels for addressing issues as they arise.

Understanding employee motivation –the forces that direct employees’ behaviors at work–has a long history in I-O psychology. The study of motivation in I-O psychology can be traced back to studies by Hugo Munsterberg , who studied motivation issues for employees working at knitting mills (Landy & Conte, 2004). He saw that employees were working 12-hour days, and working 6 days a week.  With some modifications (i.e., having kittens play with balls of yarn on the factory floor), Munsterberg was able to influence the satisfaction and alertness of the employees.

Some of the basic motivational questions that I-O psychologists study include what needs elicit action for individuals, what traits impact the engagement of behaviors, and how the environment (space and individuals) influences the motivation and behaviors of people.  While the study of work motivation is continually evolving, there are several seminal theories that have informed our understanding of motivation.

One of the most well-supported theories of motivation in I-O psychology is goal-setting theory (Locke & Latham, 1990). This theory emphasizes that goals can influence employees in a variety of ways. For instance, goals can influence the direction of actions; Goals can also affect the effort that employees put forth to those actions; In addition to these benefits, goals can increase employee persistence, and motivate them to choose more effective strategies for attaining those goals. Goals that tend to provide the benefits just described tend to share some key characteristics. Specifically, goals that are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) are typically more effective than goals that lack these qualities (Locke & Latham, 2002).

Despite the popularity of goal-setting theory, several other motivation theories have received attention, and research support, from I-O psychologists. Expectancy theory (Vroom, 1964) suggests that employees are unlikely to be motivated unless they can provide affirmative answers to three questions. The first question involves asking whether employee effort will lead to performance (instrumentality). If an employees feels that working hard will not result in success on the job, they are likely to have low motivation. If an employee decides that their effort will actually result in a sufficient level of performance, they must then evaluate whether their performance is likely to be rewarded or recognized in satisfactory ways (expectancy). In some workplaces, employees may feel that their strong performance goes unrecognized–if this pattern persists over time, they are likely to lose motivation. Finally, the third questions associated with expectancy theory concerns whether an employee values the rewards they are able to receive (valence). If an organization rewards its employees with public “employee of the month” ceremonies, but an employee would prefer a cash reward rather than public recognition, they may find their motivation limited.

The job characteristics theory (Hackman & Oldham, 1976) takes a rather different approach to motivation. This theory suggests that several key features of job themselves can also influence the motivation level of employees. For example, autonomy , or the freedom that employees have to choose how their work is done (or at least certain elements of it) typically has a positive effect on motivation. Doing work that allows employees to use a variety of different skills and abilities (task variety), and performing work that feels important to other peoples’ lives (task significance) can also generate higher levels of motivation. Finally, receiving feedback , such as from supervisors and peers, can improve motivation for many employees.

In many organizations today, work is often conducted in the context of a group or team. Teams are defined as two or more individuals who share one or more common goals, and interact to perform activities that are relevant to the organization. Teams are influenced by a wide variety of social dynamics. As an example, consider Susie who just graduated medical school and has started her intern year in a department that emphasizes teamwork. Her role in the interdisciplinary team is that of the physician, which she feels comfortable doing as she graduated with honors from her university. What she is concerned about is how to function effectively in the team. She personally likes to do things on her own, so she is uncertain how this part of her job will actually go, especially since she knows the intern year is a very stressful one and she knows that two of the other team members have reputations of being really difficult to work with.

Some of the concerns that Susie has are ones that I-O psychologists try to grapple with as consultants and researchers. Many topics that originated in social psychology are relevant to the study of teams. For instance, many people have a tendency to work with less intensity when they are in a group, compared to when they are by themselves, which social psychologists refer to as social loafing (see Latané, Williams, & Harkins, 1979). Managers can help avoid social loafing in their work groups by making sure that each employee knows what they are responsible for.

Management and Leadership

A natural sister topic of teams concerns the individuals tasked with facilitating teams— leaders . While there are many definitions of leadership, the common elements of the definitions are influence and guidance of others towards a goal. Over time, I-O psychologists have studied management and leadership from several different perspectives. In the 1920s and 1930s, early leadership research focused on the trait approach , which centers on the idea that leaders possess certain traits (e.g., ambition, dominance, extroversion, height) that non-leaders do not possess.  However, this approach did not prove to be productive, as research did not show consistent relationships among the traits. Undeterred, I-O psychologists re-focused their attempts to understand leadership by looking for specific behaviors that successful leaders might engage in. Fleishman and Harris (1962) defined leadership using two dimensions, consideration (concern for the individual’s needs) and initiating structure (organizes and defines activities). This approach proved to be more successful, and the legacy of this work can be seen in more modern research on transactional and transformational leadership (Bass, 1985).

I-O psychologists have a unique place as researchers and consultants when informing the greater population as to the practice of leadership. With changing workforce practices, such as the utilization of temporary workers, teleworking, virtual teams, increasing diversity in the workforce and other existing ambiguous boundaries that modern jobs hold, I-O psychologists are prepared to contribute to our understanding of leadership and how we best develop and coach the leaders of today and tomorrow.

A significant portion of I-O research focuses on management and human relations. Douglas McGregor (1960) combined scientific management (a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows with the main objective of improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity) and human relations into the notion of leadership behavior. His theory lays out two different styles called Theory X and Theory Y. In the  Theory X  approach to management, managers assume that most people dislike work and are not innately self-directed. Theory X managers perceive employees as people who prefer to be led and told which tasks to perform and when. Their employees have to be watched carefully to be sure that they work hard enough to fulfill the organization’s goals. Theory X workplaces will often have employees punch a clock when arriving and leaving the workplace: Tardiness is punished. Supervisors, not employees, determine whether an employee needs to stay late, and even this decision would require someone higher up in the command chain to approve the extra hours. Theory X supervisors will ignore employees’ suggestions for improved efficiency and reprimand employees for speaking out of order. These supervisors blame efficiency failures on individual employees rather than the systems or policies in place. Managerial goals are achieved through a system of punishments and threats rather than enticements and rewards. Managers are suspicious of employees’ motivations and always suspect selfish motivations for their behavior at work (e.g., being paid is their sole motivation for working).

In the  Theory Y  approach, on the other hand, managers assume that most people seek inner satisfaction and fulfillment from their work. Employees function better under leadership that allows them to participate in, and provide input about, setting their personal and work goals. In Theory Y workplaces, employees participate in decisions about prioritizing tasks; they may belong to teams that, once given a goal, decide themselves how it will be accomplished. In such a workplace, employees are able to provide input on matters of efficiency and safety. One example of Theroy Y in action is the policy of Toyota production lines that allows any employee to stop the entire line if a defect or other issue appears, so that the defect can be fixed and its cause remedied (Toyota Motor Manufacturing, 2013). A Theory Y workplace will also meaningfully consult employees on any changes to the work process or management system. In addition, the organization will encourage employees to contribute their own ideas. McGregor (1960) characterized Theory X as the traditional method of management used in the United States. He agued that a Theory Y approach was needed to improve organizational output and the wellbeing of individuals.  Table summarizes how these two management approaches differ.

Another management style was described by Donald Clifton, who focused his research on how an organization can best use an individual’s strengths, an approach he called strengths-based management . He and his colleagues interviewed 8,000 managers and concluded that it is important to focus on a person’s strengths, not their weaknesses. A strength is a particular enduring talent possessed by an individual that allows her to provide consistent, near-perfect performance in tasks involving that talent. Clifton argued that our strengths provide the greatest opportunity for growth (Buckingham & Clifton, 2001). An example of a strength is public speaking or the ability to plan a successful event. The strengths-based approach is very popular although its effect on organization performance is not well-studied. However, Kaiser & Overfield (2011) found that managers often neglected improving their weaknesses and overused their strengths, both of which interfered with performance.

Leadership is an important element of management. Leadership styles have been of major interest within I-O research, and researchers have proposed numerous theories of leadership. Bass (1985) popularized and developed the concepts of transactional leadership versus transformational leadership styles. In  transactional leadership , the focus is on supervision and organizational goals, which are achieved through a system of rewards and punishments (i.e., transactions). Transactional leaders maintain the status quo: They are managers. This is in contrast to the transformational leader. People who have  transformational leadership  possess four attributes to varying degrees: They are charismatic (highly liked role models), inspirational (optimistic about goal attainment), intellectually stimulating (encourage critical thinking and problem solving), and considerate (Bass, Avolio, & Atwater, 1996).

As women increasingly take on leadership roles in corporations, questions have arisen as to whether there are differences in leadership styles between men and women (Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt, & van Engen, 2003). Eagly & Johnson (1990) conducted a meta-analysis to examine gender and leadership style. They found, to a slight but significant degree, that women tend to practice an interpersonal style of leadership (i.e., she focuses on the morale and welfare of the employees) and men practice a task-oriented style (i.e., he focuses on accomplishing tasks). However, the differences were less pronounced when one looked only at organizational studies and excluded laboratory experiments or surveys that did not involve actual organizational leaders. Larger gender-related differences were observed when leadership style was categorized as democratic or autocratic, and these differences were consistent across all types of studies. The authors suggest that similarities between the genders in leadership styles are attributable to genders needing to conform the organization’s culture; additionally, they propose that gender-related differences reflect inherent differences in the strengths each gender brings to bear on leadership practice. In another meta-analysis of leadership style, Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt, & van Engen (2003) found that women tended to exhibit the characteristics of transformational leaders, while men were more likely to be transactional leaders. However, the differences are not absolute; for example, women were found to use methods of reward for performance more often than men, which is a component of transactional leadership. The differences they found were relatively small. As Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt, & van Engen (2003) point out, research shows that transformational leadership approaches are more effective than transactional approaches, although individual leaders typically exhibit elements of both approaches.

Work-Family Balance

Many people juggle the demands of work life with the demands of their home life, whether it be caring for children or taking care of an elderly parent; this is known as  work-family balance . We might commonly think about work interfering with family, but it is also the case that family responsibilities may conflict with work obligations (Carlson, Kacmar, & Williams, 2000). Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) first identified three sources of work–family conflicts:

• time devoted to work makes it difficult to fulfill requirements of family, or vice versa,
• strain from participation in work makes it difficult to fulfill requirements of family, or vice versa, and
• specific behaviors required by work make it difficult to fulfill the requirements of family, or vice versa.

Women often have greater responsibility for family demands, including home care, child care, and caring for aging parents, yet men in the United States are increasingly assuming a greater share of domestic responsibilities. However, research has documented that women report greater levels of stress from work–family conflict (Gyllensten & Palmer, 2005).

There are many ways to decrease work–family conflict and improve people’s job satisfaction (Posig & Kickul, 2004). These include support in the home, which can take various forms: emotional (listening), practical (help with chores). Workplace support can include understanding supervisors, flextime, leave with pay, and telecommuting. Flextime usually involves a requirement of core hours spent in the workplace around which the employee may schedule his arrival and departure from work to meet family demands.  Telecommuting  involves employees working at home and setting their own hours, which allows them to work during different parts of the day, and to spend part of the day with their family. Recall that Yahoo! had a policy of allowing employees to telecommute and then rescinded the policy. There are also organizations that have onsite daycare centers, and some companies even have onsite fitness centers and health clinics. In a study of the effectiveness of different coping methods, Lapierre & Allen (2006) found practical support from home more important than emotional support. They also found that immediate-supervisor support for a worker significantly reduced work–family conflict through such mechanisms as allowing an employee the flexibility needed to fulfill family obligations. In contrast, flextime did not help with coping and telecommuting actually made things worse, perhaps reflecting the fact that being at home intensifies the conflict between work and family because with the employee in the home, the demands of family are more evident.

Posig & Kickul (2004) identify exemplar corporations with policies designed to reduce work–family conflict. Examples include IBM’s policy of three years of job-guaranteed leave after the birth of a child, Lucent Technologies offer of one year’s childbirth leave at half pay, and SC Johnson’s program of concierge services for daytime errands.

Link to Learning:  Glassdoor  is a website that posts job satisfaction reviews for different careers and organizations. Use this site to research possible careers and/or organizations that interest you.

Organizational Culture

Each company and organization has an organizational culture.  Organizational culture  encompasses the values, visions, hierarchies, norms, and interactions among its employees. It is how an organization is run, how it operates, and how it makes decisions—the industry in which the organization participates may have an influence. Different departments within one company can develop their own subculture within the organization’s culture. Ostroff, Kinicki, and Tamkins (2003) identify three layers in organizational culture: observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic assumptions. Observable artifacts are the symbols, language (jargon, slang, and humor), narratives (stories and legends), and practices (rituals) that represent the underlying cultural assumptions. Espoused values are concepts or beliefs that the management or the entire organization endorses. They are the rules that allow employees to know which actions they should take in different situations and which information they should adhere to. These basic assumptions generally are unobservable and unquestioned. Researchers have developed survey instruments to measure organizational culture.

With the workforce being a global marketplace, your company may have a supplier in Korea and another in Honduras and have employees in the United States, China, and South Africa. You may have coworkers of different religious, ethnic, or racial backgrounds than yourself. Your coworkers may be from different places around the globe. Many workplaces offer diversity training to help everyone involved bridge and understand cultural differences.  Diversity training  educates participants about cultural differences with the goal of improving teamwork. There is always the potential for prejudice between members of two groups, but the evidence suggests that simply working together, particularly if the conditions of work are set carefully that such prejudice can be reduced or eliminated. Pettigrew and Tropp (2006) conducted a meta-analysis to examine the question of whether contact between groups reduced prejudice between those groups. They found that there was a moderate but significant effect. They also found that, as previously theorized, the effect was enhanced when the two groups met under conditions in which they have equal standing, common goals, cooperation between the groups, and especially support on the part of the institution or authorities for the contact.

One well-recognized negative aspect of organizational culture is a culture of  harassment , including sexual harassment. Most organizations of any size have developed sexual harassment policies that define sexual harassment (or harassment in general) and the procedures the organization has set in place to prevent and address it when it does occur. Thus, in most jobs you have held, you were probably made aware of the company’s sexual harassment policy and procedures, and may have received training related to the policy. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (n.d.) provides the following description of  sexual harassment :

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. (par. 2)

One form of sexual harassment is called quid pro quo. Quid pro quo means you give something to get something, and it refers to a situation in which organizational rewards are offered in exchange for sexual favors. Quid pro quo harassment is often between an employee and a person with greater power in the organization. For example, a supervisor might request an action, such as a kiss or a touch, in exchange for a promotion, a positive performance review, or a pay raise. Another form of sexual harassment is the threat of withholding a reward if a sexual request is refused. Hostile environment sexual harassment is another type of workplace harassment. In this situation, an employee experiences conditions in the workplace that are considered hostile or intimidating. For example, a work environment that allows offensive language or jokes or displays sexually explicit images. Isolated occurrences of these events do not constitute harassment, but a pattern of repeated occurrences does. In addition to violating organizational policies against sexual harassment, these forms of harassment are illegal.

Harassment does not have to be sexual; it may be related to any of the protected classes in the statutes regulated by the EEOC: race, national origin, religion, or age.

Violence in the Workplace

In the summer of August 1986, a part-time postal worker with a troubled work history walked into the Edmond, Oklahoma, post office and shot and killed 15 people, including himself. From his action, the term “going postal” was coined, describing a troubled employee who engages in extreme violence.

Workplace violence is one aspect of workplace safety that I-O psychologists study.  Workplace violence  is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening, disruptive behavior that occurs at the workplace. It ranges from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and even homicide (Occupational Safety & Health Administration, 2014).

There are different targets of workplace violence: a person could commit violence against coworkers, supervisors, or property. Warning signs often precede such actions: intimidating behavior, threats, sabotaging equipment, or radical changes in a coworker’s behavior. Often there is intimidation and then escalation that leads to even further escalation. It is important for employees to involve their immediate supervisor if they ever feel intimidated or unsafe.

Murder is the second leading cause of death in the workplace. It is also the primary cause of death for women in the workplace. Every year there are nearly two million workers who are physically assaulted or threatened with assault. Many are murdered in domestic violence situations by boyfriends or husbands who chose the woman’s workplace to commit their crimes.

There are many risk factors for workplace violence that can be committed by leaders, employees, and even customers. A significant risk factor is the feeling of being treated unfairly, unjustly, or disrespectfully, and may become more serious when combined with other individual factors like personality and history, environmental stressors, and lack of community. In a research experiment, Greenberg (1993) examined the reactions of students who were given pay for a task. In one group, the students were given extensive explanations for the pay rate. In the second group, the students were given a curt uninformative explanation. The students were made to believe the supervisor would not know how much money the student withdrew for payment. The rate of stealing (taking more pay than they were told they deserved) was higher in the group who had been given the limited explanation. This is a demonstration of the importance of procedural justice in organizations. Procedural justice  refers to the fairness of the processes by which outcomes are determined in conflicts with or among employees.

In another study by Greenberg & Barling (1999), they found a history of aggression and amount of alcohol consumed to be accurate predictors of workplace violence against a coworker. Aggression against a supervisor was predicted if a worker felt unfairly treated or untrusted. Job security and alcohol consumption predicted aggression against a subordinate. To understand and predict workplace violence, Greenberg & Barling (1999) emphasize the importance of considering the employee target of aggression or violence and characteristics of both the workplace characteristics and the aggressive or violent person.

As you can see, I-O psychologists are concerned with a wide variety of topics related to the performance and well-being of both employees and their organizations. Some topics, such as recruitment, selection, and performance appraisal, have been important from the start, while others, such as worker attitudes, stress, and motivation, have increased in importance in recent years. Today, while it is still possible to make a distinction between “I” and “O” topics within this field, there is greater recognition that these areas represent two sides of the same coin, and that both sides can have a substantial influence on one another. As work continues to become more complex and subject to global and technological pressures, I-O psychologists will become increasingly important for helping both workers and organizations weather these changes.

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Introduction to Psychology as a Social Science Copyright © by The Introduction To Psychology As A Social Science Teaching and Learning Group is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Psychology Research Guide

I/o industrial or organizational psychology.

I/O, Industrial, Organizational or Industrial-Organizational Psychology is the scientific study of human behavior in organizations and work situations. I/O Psychologists study individual, group, and organizational behavior and use this knowledge to improve workplace problems. Before you explore the database below to find evidence for your project, you may find it helpful to learn more about this area of psychology. The following resources can help you narrow your topic, learn about the language used to describe psychology topics, and get you up to speed on the major advancements in this field.

• Potential Topics: APA Spotlight Articles I/O Psychology This link opens in a new window
• Learn more about Industrial and Organizational Psychology on the American Psychological Association's website

I/O Psychology Databases

Research in I/O psychology utilizes core psychology resources, as well as resources in business, human resources, and sociology. You may find it helpful to search the following databases for your I/o topics or research questions, in addition to the core resources listed on the home page.

I/O Psychology Subject Headings

You may find it helpful to take advantage of predefined subjects or subject headings in Shapiro Databases. These subjects are applied to articles and books by expert catalogers to help you find materials on your topic.

• Learn more about Subject Searching

Consider using databases to perform subject searches, or incorporating words from applicable subjects into your keyword searches. Here are some I/O subjects to consider:

• Industrial & Organizational Psychology
• Management & Management Training
• Occupational Interests & Guidance
• Organizational Behavior
• Personnel Attitudes & Job Satisfaction
• Personnel Evaluation & Job Performance
• Personnel Management & Selection & Training
• Professional Education & Training
• Working Conditions & Industrial Safety

I/O Example Search

Not sure what you want to research exactly, but want to get a feel for the resources available? Try the following search in any of the databases listed above:

(Industrial OR Organizational OR I/O) AND Psych*

There isn't just one accepted word for this area of psychology, so we use OR boolean operators to tell the database any of the listed terms are relevant to our search. We use parenthesis to organize our search, and we stem or truncate the word psychology with the asterisk to tell the database that any ending of the word, as long as the letters psych are at the beginning of the word, will do. This way, the word psychological and other related terms will also be included.

• Learn more about Boolean Operators/Boolean Searching

I/O Psychology Organization Websites

• Alliance for Organizational Psychology This link opens in a new window Founded in 1991, EAWOP is an open network of I/O psychology groups. Their website includes publications and resources.
• Harvard Business Review Blog - Psychology This link opens in a new window Current articles from the HBR Blog on psychology in business.
• Occupational Information Network (O*NET) This link opens in a new window O*NET is a regularly updated database of occupational characteristics and worker requirements information across the U.S. economy. It describes occupations in terms of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required as well as how the work is performed in terms of tasks, work activities, and other descriptors. It is made available by the United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration.
• Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology (SIOP) This link opens in a new window Membership organization for I-O psychologists. SIOP is a division of the American Psychological Association and an organizational affiliate of the Association for Psychological Science.
• SIOP-SHRM White Papers The SHRM-SIOP Science of HR white paper series provides practitioner-oriented reviews of evidence-based HR practices written by leading researchers and practitioners in the field of I-O psychology and HR.
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13.1 What Is Industrial and Organizational Psychology?

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Understand the scope of study in the field of industrial and organizational psychology
• Describe the history of industrial and organizational psychology

In 2019, people who worked in the United States spent an average of about 42–54 hours per week working (Bureau of Labor Statistics—U.S. Department of Labor, 2019). Sleeping was the only other activity they spent more time on with an average of about 43–62 hours per week. The workday is a significant portion of workers’ time and energy. It impacts their lives and their family’s lives in positive and negative physical and psychological ways. Industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology is a branch of psychology that studies how human behavior and psychology affect work and how they are affected by work.

Industrial and organizational psychologists work in four main contexts: academia, government, consulting firms, and business. Most I-O psychologists have a master’s or doctorate degree. The field of I-O psychology can be divided into three broad areas ( Figure 13.2 and Figure 13.3 ): industrial, organizational, and human factors. Industrial psychology is concerned with describing job requirements and assessing individuals for their ability to meet those requirements. In addition, once employees are hired, industrial psychology studies and develops ways to train, evaluate, and respond to those evaluations. As a consequence of its concern for candidate characteristics, industrial psychology must also consider issues of legality regarding discrimination in hiring. Organizational psychology is a discipline interested in how the relationships among employees affect those employees and the performance of a business. This includes studying worker satisfaction, motivation, and commitment. This field also studies management, leadership, and organizational culture, as well as how an organization’s structures, management and leadership styles, social norms, and role expectations affect individual behavior. As a result of its interest in worker wellbeing and relationships, organizational psychology also considers the subjects of harassment, including sexual harassment, and workplace violence. Human factors psychology is the study of how workers interact with the tools of work and how to design those tools to optimize workers’ productivity, safety, and health. These studies can involve interactions as straightforward as the fit of a desk, chair, and computer to a human having to sit on the chair at the desk using the computer for several hours each day. They can also include the examination of how humans interact with complex displays and their ability to interpret them accurately and quickly. In Europe, this field is referred to as ergonomics.

Occupational health psychology (OHP) deals with the stress, diseases, and disorders that can affect employees as a result of the workplace. As such, the field is informed by research from the medical, biological, psychological, organizational, human factors, human resources, and industrial fields. Individuals in this field seek to examine the ways in which the organization affects the quality of work life for an employee and the responses that employees have towards their organization or as a result of their organization’s influence on them. The responses for employees are not limited to the workplace as there may be some spillover into their personal lives outside of work, especially if there is not good work-life balance. The ultimate goal of an occupational health psychologist is to improve the overall health and well-being of an individual, and, as a result, increase the overall health of the organization (Society for Occupational Health Psychology, 2020).

In 2009, the field of humanitarian work psychology (HWP) was developed as the brainchild of a small group of I-O psychologists who met at a conference. Realizing they had a shared set of goals involving helping those who are underserved and underprivileged, the I-O psychologists formally formed the group in 2012 and have approximately 300 members worldwide. Although this is a small number, the group continues to expand. The group seeks to help marginalized members of society, such as people with low income, find work. In addition, they help to determine ways to deliver humanitarian aid during major catastrophes. The Humanitarian Work Psychology group can also reach out to those in the local community who do not have the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) to be able to find gainful employment that would enable them to not need to receive aid. In both cases, humanitarian work psychologists try to help the underserved individuals develop KSAs that they can use to improve their lives and their current situations. When ensuring these underserved individuals receive training or education, the focus is on skills that, once learned, will never be forgotten and can serve individuals throughout their lifetimes as they seek employment (APA, 2016). Table 13.1 summarizes the main fields in I-O psychology, their focuses, and jobs within each field.

Link to Learning

Find out what I-O psychologists do on the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) website—a professional organization for people working in the discipline. This site also offers several I-O psychologist profiles.

The Historical Development of Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Industrial and organizational psychology had its origins in the early 20th century. Several influential early psychologists studied issues that today would be categorized as industrial psychology: James Cattell (1860–1944), Hugo Münsterberg (1863–1916), Walter Dill Scott (1869–1955), Robert Yerkes (1876–1956), Walter Bingham (1880–1952), and Lillian Gilbreth (1878–1972). Cattell, Münsterberg, and Scott had been students of Wilhelm Wundt, the father of experimental psychology. Some of these researchers had been involved in work in the area of industrial psychology before World War I. Cattell’s contribution to industrial psychology is largely reflected in his founding of a psychological consulting company, which is still operating today, called the Psychological Corporation, and in the accomplishments of students at Columbia in the area of industrial psychology. In 1913, Münsterberg published Psychology and Industrial Efficiency , which covered topics such as employee selection, employee training, and effective advertising.

Scott was one of the first psychologists to apply psychology to advertising, management, and personnel selection. In 1903, Scott published two books: The Theory of Advertising and Psychology of Advertising . They are the first books to describe the use of psychology in the business world. By 1911 he published two more books, Influencing Men in Business and Increasing Human Efficiency in Business . In 1916 a newly formed division in the Carnegie Institute of Technology hired Scott to conduct applied research on employee selection (Katzell & Austin, 1992).

The focus of all this research was in what we now know as industrial psychology; it was only later in the century that the field of organizational psychology developed as an experimental science (Katzell & Austin, 1992). In addition to their academic positions, these researchers also worked directly for businesses as consultants.

When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the work of psychologists working in this discipline expanded to include their contributions to military efforts. At that time Yerkes was the president of the 25-year-old American Psychological Association (APA) . The APA is a professional association in the United States for clinical and research psychologists. Today the APA performs a number of functions including holding conferences, accrediting university degree programs, and publishing scientific journals. Yerkes organized a group under the Surgeon General’s Office (SGO) that developed methods for screening and selecting enlisted men. They developed the Army Alpha test to measure mental abilities. The Army Beta test was a non-verbal form of the test that was administered to illiterate and non-English-speaking draftees. Scott and Bingham organized a group under the Adjutant General’s Office (AGO) with the goal of developing selection methods for officers. They created a catalogue of occupational needs for the Army, essentially a job-description system and a system of performance ratings and occupational skill tests for officers (Katzell & Austin, 1992). After the war, work on personnel selection continued. For example, Millicent Pond researched the selection of factory workers, comparing the results of pre-employment tests with various indicators of job performance (Vinchur & Koppes, 2014).

From 1929 to 1932 Elton Mayo (1880–1949) and his colleagues began a series of studies at a plant near Chicago, Western Electric’s Hawthorne Works ( Figure 13.4 ). This long-term project took industrial psychology beyond just employee selection and placement to a study of more complex problems of interpersonal relations, motivation, and organizational dynamics. These studies mark the origin of organizational psychology. They began as research into the effects of the physical work environment (e.g., level of lighting in a factory), but the researchers found that the psychological and social factors in the factory were of more interest than the physical factors. These studies also examined how human interaction factors, such as supervisorial style, increased or decreased productivity.

Analysis of the findings by later researchers led to the term the Hawthorne effect , which describes the increase in performance of individuals who are aware they are being observed by researchers or supervisors ( Figure 13.5 ). What the original researchers found was that any change in a variable, such as lighting levels, led to an improvement in productivity; this was true even when the change was negative, such as a return to poor lighting. The effect faded when the attention faded (Roethlisberg & Dickson, 1939). The Hawthorne-effect concept endures today as an important experimental consideration in many fields and a factor that has to be controlled for in an experiment. In other words, an experimental treatment of some kind may produce an effect simply because it involves greater attention of the researchers on the participants (McCarney et al., 2007).

Watch this video of first-hand accounts of the original Hawthorne studies to learn more.

In the 1930s, researchers began to study employees’ feelings about their jobs. Kurt Lewin also conducted research on the effects of various leadership styles, team structure, and team dynamics (Katzell & Austin, 1992). Lewin is considered the founder of social psychology and much of his work and that of his students produced results that had important influences in organizational psychology. Lewin and his students’ research included an important early study that used children to study the effect of leadership style on aggression, group dynamics, and satisfaction (Lewin, Lippitt, & White, 1939). Lewin was also responsible for coining the term group dynamics , and he was involved in studies of group interactions, cooperation, competition, and communication that bear on organizational psychology.

Parallel to these studies in industrial and organizational psychology, the field of human factors psychology was also developing. Frederick Taylor was an engineer who saw that if one could redesign the workplace there would be an increase in both output for the company and wages for the workers. In 1911 he put forward his theory in a book titled The Principles of Scientific Management ( Figure 13.6 ). His book examines management theories, personnel selection and training, as well as the work itself, using time and motion studies. Taylor argued that the principal goal of management should be to make the most money for the employer, along with the best outcome for the employee. He believed that the best outcome for the employee and management would be achieved through training and development so that each employee could provide the best work. He believed that by conducting time and motion studies for both the organization and the employee, the best interests of both were addressed. Time-motion studies were methods that aimed to improve work by dividing different types of operations into sections that could be measured. These analyses were used to standardize work and to check the efficiency of people and equipment.

Personnel selection is a process used by recruiting personnel within the company to recruit and select the best candidates for the job. Training may need to be conducted depending on what skills the hired candidate has. Often companies will hire someone with the personality that fits in with others but who may be lacking in skills. Skills can be taught, but personality cannot be easily changed.

One of the examples of Taylor’s theory in action involved workers handling heavy iron ingots. Taylor showed that the workers could be more productive by taking work rests. This method of rest increased worker productivity from 12.5 to 47.0 tons moved per day with less reported fatigue as well as increased wages for the workers who were paid by the ton. At the same time, the company’s cost was reduced from 9.2 cents to 3.9 cents per ton. Despite these increases in productivity, Taylor’s theory received a great deal of criticism at the time because it was believed that it would exploit workers and reduce the number of workers needed. Also controversial was the underlying concept that only a manager could determine the most efficient method of working, and that while at work, a worker was incapable of this. Taylor’s theory was underpinned by the notion that a worker was fundamentally lazy and the goal of Taylor’s scientific management approach was to maximize productivity without much concern for worker well-being. His approach was criticized by unions and those sympathetic to workers (Van De Water, 1997).

Gilbreth was another influential I-O psychologist who strove to find ways to increase productivity ( Figure 13.7 ). Using time and motion studies, Gilbreth and her husband, Frank, worked to make workers more efficient by reducing the number of motions required to perform a task. She applied these methods not only to industry but also to the home, office, shops, and other areas. She investigated employee fatigue and time management stress and found many employees were motivated by money and job satisfaction. In 1914, Gilbreth wrote the book, The Psychology of Management: The Function of the Mind in Determining, Teaching, and Installing Methods of Least Waste , and she is known as the mother of modern management. Some of Gilbreth’s contributions are still in use today: you can thank her for the idea to put shelves inside refrigerator doors, and she also came up with the concept of using a foot pedal to operate the lid of trash can (Gilbreth, 1914, 1998; Koppes, 1997; Lancaster, 2004). Gilbreth was the first woman to join the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1926, and in 1966 she was awarded the Hoover Medal of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Taylor and Gilbreth’s work improved productivity, but these innovations also improved the fit between technology and the human using it. The study of machine–human fit is known as ergonomics or human factors psychology.

From World War II to Today

World War II also drove the expansion of industrial psychology. Bingham was hired as the chief psychologist for the War Department (now the Department of Defense) and developed new systems for job selection, classification, training, and performance review, plus methods for team development, morale change, and attitude change (Katzell & Austin, 1992). Other countries, such as Canada and the United Kingdom, likewise saw growth in I-O psychology during World War II (McMillan, Stevens, & Kelloway, 2009). In the years after the war, both industrial psychology and organizational psychology became areas of significant research effort. Concerns about the fairness of employment tests arose, and the ethnic and gender biases in various tests were evaluated with mixed results. In addition, a great deal of research went into studying job satisfaction and employee motivation (Katzell & Austin, 1992).

The research and work of I-O psychologists in the areas of employee selection, placement, and performance appraisal became increasingly important in the 1960s. When Congress passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Title VII covered what is known as equal employment opportunity. This law protects employees against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, as well as discrimination against an employee for associating with an individual in one of these categories.

Organizations had to adjust to the social, political, and legal climate of the Civil Rights movement, and these issues needed to be addressed by members of I/O in research and practice.

There are many reasons for organizations to be interested in I/O so that they can better understand the psychology of their workers, which in turn helps them understand how their organizations can become more productive and competitive. For example, most large organizations are now competing on a global level, and they need to understand how to motivate workers in order to achieve high productivity and efficiency. Most companies also have a diverse workforce and need to understand the psychological complexity of the people in these diverse backgrounds.

Today, I-O psychology is a diverse and deep field of research and practice, as you will learn about in the rest of this chapter. The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) , a division of the APA, lists 8,000 members (SIOP, 2014) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics—U.S. Department of Labor (2013) has projected this profession will have the greatest growth of all job classifications in the 20 years following 2012. On average, a person with a master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology will earn over $80,000 a year, while someone with a doctorate will earn over $110,000 a year (Khanna, Medsker, & Ginter, 2012).

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Home > Academic Units > SPFC > IOP Dissertations

Industrial-Organizational Psychology Dissertations

The Seattle Pacific University Department of Industrial-Organizational Psychology offers both an M.A. and Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology.

This series contains successfully defended doctoral dissertations.

Dissertations from 2024 2024

Effects of Advertising Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) on Female Applicants’ Intentions to Pursue Employment Through Perceived Organizational Support , Jamie Crites

Dissertations from 2023 2023

The psychometric evaluation of decent work in India , Jadvir K. Gill

Implicit Trait Policies and Situational Judgment Tests: How Personality Shapes Judgments of Effective Behavior , Alexander Edward Johnson

An Investigation of the Impact of Prosocial Action on Psychological Resilience in Female Volunteer Maskmakers During COVID-19 , Linda D. Montano

To make or buy: How does strategic team selection and shared leadership strategy interact to impact NBA team effectiveness? , Brandon Purvis

Dissertations from 2022 2022

“Intended Between a Man and a Woman”: Examining the LGBTQ Campus Climate of a Non-Affirming Free Methodist University , Justin Cospito

Adverse Work Experiences and the Impact on Workplace Psychological Well Being, Workplace Psychological Distress, Employee Engagement, Turnover Intention, and Work State Conscientiousness , Nicole J. DeKay

Managing One’s Anxiety When Work Narratives Misalign , Shannon Eric Ford and Shannon Ford

The HERO in you: The impact of psychological capital training and perceived leadership on follower psychological capital development and burnout , Alifiya Khericha

CoachMotivation: Leveraging Motivational Interviewing Methodology to Increase Emotion Regulation Ability in the Workplace , Michael R. Nelson

Effects of Pay Transparency on Application Intentions through Fairness Perceptions and Organizational Attractiveness: Diversifying the Workforce by Effectively Recruiting Younger Women , Phi Phan-Armaneous

The space between stress and reaction: A three-way interaction of active coping, psychological stress, and applied mindfulness in the prediction of sustainable resilience , Kait M. Rohlfing PhD

A Quantitative Comparison of Employee Engagement Antecedents , Kirby White

Dissertations from 2021 2021

RAD Managers: Strategic Coaching for Managers and Leaders , Audrey Mika Kinase Kolb

Can Gender Pronouns in Interview Questions Work as Nudges? , Fei Lu

Catalytic Resilience Practices: Exploring the Effects of Resilience and Resilience Practices through Physical Exercise , Mackenzie Ruether

Dissertations from 2020 2020

Softening Resistance Toward Diversity Initiatives: The Role of Mindfulness in Mitigating Emotional White Fragility , Vatia P. Caldwell

When Proenvironmental Behavior Crosses Contexts: Exploring the Moderating Effects of Central Participation at Work on the Work-Home Interface , Bryn E.D. Chighizola

Developing Adaptive Performance: The Power of Experiences and a Strategic Network of Support , Joseph D. Landers Jr.

Purposeful Investment in Others: The Power of a Character of Service , Kayla M. Logan

Developmental Experiences Impacting Leadership Differentiation in Emerging Adults , Gabrielle E. Metzler

Fighting dirty in an era of corporate dominance: Exploring personality as a moderator of the impact of dangerous organizational misconduct on whistleblowing intentions , Keith Andrew Price

CoachMotivation: Developing Transformational Leadership by Increasing Effective Communication Skills in the Workplace , Megan L. Schuller

The Relationship Between Authentic Leadership and Resilience, Moderated by Coping Skills , Alice E. Stark

Building and Sustaining Hope in the Face of Failure: Understanding the Role of Strategic Social Support , Kira K. Wenzel PhD

Dissertations from 2019 2019

Exploring the Buffering Effects of Holding Behaviors on the Negative Consequences of Workplace Discrimination for People of Color , Heather A. Kohlman Olsen

Employee Engagement Around the World: Predictors, Cultural Differences, and Business Outcomes , Amanda Munsterteiger

Dissertations from 2018 2018

Ignatian Spirituality in Vocational Career Development: An Experimental Study of Emerging Adults , Scott Campanario

Narrative Leadership: Exploring the Concept of Time in Leader Storytelling , Helen H. Chung Dr.

Vulnerability in Leadership: The Power of the Courage to Descend , Stephanie O. Lopez

An Exploratory Study Examining a Transformational Salesperson Model Mediated by Salesperson Theory-of-Mind , Philip (Tony) A. Pizelo Dr.

Dissertations from 2017 2017

Developing Conviction in Women Leaders: The Role of Unique Work and Life Experiences , McKendree J. Hickory

The Role of Organizational Buy-in in Employee Retention , Serena Hsia

The Psychometric Evaluation of a Personality Selection Tool , James R. Longabaugh

Approaching Stressful Situations with Purpose: Strategies for Emotional Regulation in Sensitive People , Amy D. Nagley

Validation of the Transformative Work in Society Index: Christianity, Work, and Economics Integration , John R. Terrill

Seeking Quality Mentors: Exploring Program Design Characteristics to Increase an Individual’s Likelihood to Participate as a Mentor , Kristen Voetmann

Predicting Employee Performance Using Text Data from Resumes , Joshua D. Weaver

College for The Sake of What? Promoting the Development of Wholly Educated Students , Michael P. Yoder

Dissertations from 2016 2016

Am I a Good Leader? How Variations in Introversion/Extraversion Impact Leaders’ Core Self-Evaluations , Marisa N. Bossen

Dissertations from 2015 2015

The Development of Job-Based Psychological Ownership , Robert B. Bullock

Generational Differences in the Interaction between Valuing Leisure and Having Work-Life Balance on Altruistic and Conscientious Behaviors , Sandeep Kaur Chahil

Obtaining Sponsorship in Organizations by Developing Trust through Outside of Work Socialization , Katie Kirkpatrick-Husk

Managing Work and Life: The Impact of Framing , Hilary G. Roche

Men and Women in Engineering: Professional Identity and Factors Influencing Workforce Retention , Caitlin Hawkinson Wasilewski

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Home > Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstone Projects > ALL-PROGRAMS > Industrial/Organizational Psychology Theses

Industrial/Organizational Psychology Theses

Theses/dissertations from 2022 2022.

Employee Satisfaction and Perceptions of Organizational Leadership Accountability , Caroline M. Clancy

The Effects of Transformational Leadership on Sales Performance in a Multilevel Marketing Organization , Alexander Techy

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Too Illegit to Quit: The Impact of Illegitiate Tasks on Turnover Intentions and Well-Being , Jacob Wessels

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

The Effects of Positive and Negative Humor at Work , Trevor Frey

Diverse Teams, Team Effectiveness, and the Moderating Effect of Organizational Support , Hannah Tilstra

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Effects of Psychological Need Satisfaction on Proactive Work Behaviors , Shota Kawasaki

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Gender Differences in Development Center Performance in a Healthcare Organization , Samuel Lawson

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Success in Learning Groups: Where have we been? And Where are we going? , Tiffany Michelle Ackerman

Individual Differences as Predictors of Success for Learning Community Students , Nicole Haffield

Moderating Effects of Resilience and Recovery on the Stressor-Strain Relationship Among Law Enforcement Officers , Austin Hearne

Selection Portfolio: Applying Modern Portfolio Theory to Personnel Selection , Eric Leingang

The Hogan Development Survey: Personality in Selecting and Training Aviation Pilots , Jenna McChesney

Evaluating a Measure of Student Effectiveness in an Undergraduate Psychology Program , Colin Omori

Participant Self-Assessment of Development Center Performance , Ryan Powley

“Let’s be clear”: Exploring the Role of Transparency Within the Organization , Maxwell Salazar

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

The Effect of an Email Intervention Tailored to Highly Ambitious Students on University Retention , Lauren Bahls

911,What's My Emergency? Emotional Labor, Work-Related Rumination, and Strain Outcomes in Emergency Medical Dispatchers , Jessica Lee Deselms

Can You Hack It? Validating Predictors for IT Boot Camps , Courtney Gear

Intervention E-mails and Retention: How E-mails Tailored to Personality Impact an Undergraduate Student's Decision to Return to School or Not , John Kelly Heffernon

Prudence and Persistence: Personality in Student Retention , Logan J. Michels

Examination of the Antecedents, Reactions, and Outcomes to a Major Technology-driven Organizational Change , Ngoc Dinh Nguyen

Training Coping Techniques to Reduce Statistics Anxiety , Brittany Prothe

Assessing the Effect of Personality Characteristics of Minnesota Golfers on the Brand Equity of Golf Drivers , Eric Schinella

Mood and Engagement Contagion in a Call Center Environment , Sarah Welsch

Why Do Some Employees Readjust to Their Home Organizations Better Than Others? Job Demands-Resources Model of Repatriation Adjustment , Yukiko Yamasaki

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Fitting Flow: An Analysis of the Role of Flow Within a Model of Occupational Stress , Jeffrey Alan Dahlke

Created Equal? Comparing Disturbing Media Outcomes Across Occupations , Christine Nicole Gundermann

The Influence of Perceived Similarity, Affect and Trust on the Performance of Student Learning Groups , Jennifer Louise Lacewell

Depth of a Salesman: Exploring Personality as a Predictor of Sales Performance in a Multi-Level Marketing Sample , Colleen Rose Miller

Expatriate Adjustment of U.S. Military on Foreign Assignment:The Role of Personality and Cultural Intelligence in Adjustment , Jennifer Pauline Stockert

Organizational Trust As a Moderator of the Relationship between Burnout and Intentions to Quit , Glenn Trussell

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Ethnic Names, Resumes, and Occupational stereotypes: Will D'Money Get the Job? , Tony Matthew Carthen

Examining the Effectiveness of the After Action Review for Online and Face-to-Face Discussion Groups , William Cradick

University Commitment: Test of a Three-Component Model , Brittany Davis

An Investigation into the Effect of Power on Entrepreneurial Motivations , Jack Reed Durand

Development and Enhancement to a Pilot Selection Battery for a University Aviation Program , Ryan Thomas Hanna

Overseas Assignments: Expatriate and Spousal Adjustment in the U.S. Air Force , Andrew R. Hayes

The Roles of Social Support and Job Meaningfulness in the Disturbing Media Exposure-Job Strain Relationship , Hung T. Hoang

Student Assessment of Professor Effectiveness , Roger Emil Knutson

Dirty Work: The Effects of Viewing Disturbing Media on Military Attorneys , Natalie Lynn Sokol

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Selection System Prediction Of Safety: A Step Toward Zero Accidents In South African Mining , Rachel Aguilera-Vanderheyden

Examining Generational Differences across Organizational Factors that Relate to Turnover , Kimberly Asuncion

An Investigation of Online Unproctored Testing and Cheating Motivations Using Equity Theory and Theory of Planned Behavior , Valerie Nicole Brophy

Race, Gender, and Leadership Promotion: The Moderating Effect of Social Dominance Orientation , Chelsea Chatham

Disentangling Individual, Organization, and Learning Process Factors that Drive Employee Participation , Diana Colangelo

Will [email protected] get the Job Done? An Analysis of Employees' Email Usernames, Turnover, and Job Performance , Jessica Marie Lillegaard

Using Personality Traits to Select Customer-Oriented Security Guards , Tracy Marie Shega

Mobile Internet Testing: Applicant Reactions To Mobile Internet Testing , Sarah Smeltzer

Ethical Leadership: Need for Cross-Cultural Examinations , Shuo Tian

Development of a Pilot Selection System for a Midwestern University Aviation Program , Kathryn Wilson

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

Identifying Organizational Factors that Moderate the Engagement-Turnover Relationship in a Healthcare Setting , Stevie Ann Collini

Organizational Wellness Programs: Who Participates and Does it Help? , Justin Michael Dumond

Coping with Economic Stressors: Religious and Non-Religious Strategies for Managing Psychological Distress , Jonathan Karl Feil

The Creation and Validation of a Pilot Selection System for a Midwestern University Aviation Department , Jacob William Forsman

The National Survey of Student Engagement as a Predictor of Academic Success , Paul Michael Fursman

Perceptions of a Text-Based SJT versus an Animated SJT , Amanda Helen Halabi

The Moderating Effects of Work Control and Leisure Control on the Recovery-Strain Relationship , Jason Nicholas Jaber

The Role Social Influence Has On Dormitory Residents' Responses to Fire Alarms , Michael Otting Leytem

The Impact of Culture, Industry Type, and Job Relevance on Applicant Reactions , Olivia Martin

Someone Who Understands: The Effect of Support on Law Enforcement Officers Exposed to Disturbing Media , Jessica Morales

The Effects of Task Ambiguity and Individual Differences on Personal Internet Use at Work , Hitoshi Nishina

The Roles of Self-Efficacy and Self-Deception in Cheating on Unproctored Internet Testing , Christopher Adam Wedge

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

Assessing Transfer Student Performance , Hyderhusain Shakir Abadin

Should You Hire [email protected]?: An Analysis of Job Applicants' Email Addresses and their Scores on Pre-Employment Assessments , Evan Blackhurst

The Dirty Work Of Law Enforcement: Emotion, Secondary Traumatic Stress, And Burnout In Federal Officers Exposed To Disturbing Media , Amanda Harms

Comparison of a Ranking and Rating Format of the 5Plus5: A Personality Measure , Kristy Lynn Jungemann

Cultural Intelligence and Collective Efficacy in Virtual Team Effectiveness , Pei See Ng

Relationship Type Determines the Target of Threat in Perceived Relational Devaluation: Organizational Self vs. Interpersonal Relationships , Peter Sanacore

Development of an Assessment Center as a Selection Method for I/O Graduate Applicants , Ting Tseng

Hiking, Haiku, or Happy Hour After Hours: The Effects of Need Satisfaction and Proactive Personality on the Recovery-Strain Relationship , Paige Woodruff

Exploring the Antecedents of Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Knowledge-based Virtual Communities , Luman Yong

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Contemporary Topics in Industrial/Organizational Psychology – PSYC 826

CG • Section 8WK • 07/01/2018 to 12/31/2199 • Modified 02/01/2024

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Course Description

Exploration of contemporary topics in Industrial/Organizational psychology. Empirical research, current trends, and a special focus on ongoing research in the field will be highlighted.

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the  Academic Course Catalog .

This course is designed to keep students aware of the most current themes and topics within industrial/organizational psychology today. This is an i/o concentration course that gives students an opportunity to be on the cutting edge of both research application that is both current and even anticipates future trends and events.

Course Assignment

Textbook readings and lecture presentations/notes

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations , the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview. 

Discussion (8)

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student is required to provide a thread in response to the provided prompt for each discussion assignment. Discussion threads that answer the question(s) presented must be at least 500 words and demonstrate course-related knowledge. In addition to the initial main post, the student is required to reply to two other classmates’ threads. Each reply must be 250 words.  Discussion assignments are assigned in Modules 1-8.  Please see instructions for each discussion assignment. (CLO’s: A, B, C, D, E)

Research Presentation Assignments (4)

Annotated Bibliographies (3)

In preparation of the Research Presentation: Part 4 - Narrated PowerPoint Assignment, the student will prepare three annotated bibliographies of articles that will be used in their presentation. Each annotated bibliography submission will include a minimum of 7 articles (for a total of 21 articles on their topic).  The first annotated bibliography submission will also include a one-sentence description of the topic chosen.  This assignment is expected to be in annotated bibliography format and should include 7 journal articles per submission. Please see the instructions for the Annotated Bibliographies in the classroom. These assignments are due in Modules 1-3.  (CLO’s: A, B, C, D, E)

Narrated PowerPoint (1)

For this presentation, the student will prepare a narrated PowerPoint presentation on their research topic.  In the PowerPoint presentation, the student will describe the area of research they have researched, evaluate the current state of the research (including areas that need more research), a biblical discussion of the topic, and introduce a proposed study to further the research area. The presentation will include sources cited and referenced in current APA style.  The student will also narrate the presentation. Please see the instructions for the Narrated PowerPoint for more information. (CLO’s: A, B, C, D, E)

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Pay dues now, volunteering, join siop as an affiliate, affiliate faqs, siop fellowship, local i-o groups, international i-o groups, demographics, licensure policy by state, allied organizations, items of interest, conversation series, siop white papers, siop-shrm white papers, siop source, iop journal, organizational frontiers series, professional practice series, siop research gateway, the annual conference, the leading edge consortium, work smart series, continuing education, graduate training program, guidelines for education and training, online teaching survival guide, i-o resources for teachers, incorporating i-o, future events, carma affiliate program, great china region project, online programs webinar series, demystifying the siop awards process, i-o internships, i-o career paths, pursuing a career in i-o psychology, calls and announcements, professional ethics, manage subscription, top 10 work trends, remote work, diversity, equity, & inclusion, io product-service guide, consultant locator, future of work, smarter workplace awareness, science for a post-roe workplace, media resources service, press releases, lec partner program, annual conference partner program, advertising-overview, annual conference advertising, i-o products and services guide, siop source advertising, tip advertising, top 10 workplace trends for 2020, new decade brings new trends along with familiar topics in siop’s 7th annual top 10 workplace trends.

The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) is pleased to announce its seventh annual Top 10 Workplace Trends list. Based on member surveys, these are the issues that will have the most impact on the workplace in 2020. 

For the first time, there is a tie between two of the topics; at #9 on the list – “Virtual working spaces” and ”Meaning and purposeful work.” Newly trending topics include workforce health and well-being, and meaning and purposeful work. The entries in SIOP’s Top 10 list are broad, complex issues posing difficult challenges to the business world and modern society, so it’s no surprise that many other trends have appeared on previous lists. 

Industrial-organizational psychologists study workplace issues of critical relevance to business, including talent management, coaching, assessment, selection, training, organizational development, performance, and work–life balance. I-O psychologists can help all kinds of organizations, including for-profit, nonprofit and government, grappling with these issues find solutions that are right for their organizations and their staff.

To create this list, SIOP asked its members for their predictions based on their expertise as well as interactions with clients and colleagues. After the responses were compiled, members selected the top 10 issues organizations are likely to face in 2020. Nearly 1,000 members responded, and here’s what they had to say:

10. Data visualization and communication

First appearing on the list of top trends in 2019, the need to visualize and communicate the results of data analysis remains a global business priority. Making sense of the massive amounts of data available to organizations is a necessary step in making sound, data-driven decisions. The volume and velocity at which data are collected by organizations can be overwhelming. Organizations will need to find ways to creatively yet simply present data to stakeholders to effectively communicate the core messages of each data analysis and leverage the power of the data.

How I-O psychologists can help 

The ability to create and communicate clear, visually compelling data-driven arguments, is an essential data science skill. As a data-driven profession, I-O psychologists can help organizations and their leaders effectively use data to make human capital decisions and communicate with managers, board members, and the public about human capital topics that are central to organizational success. 

In a short presentation at the 2019 SIOP Annual Conference, Dr. Tina Burke shared evidence-based advice on effectively communicating about complex subjects .  The SHRM-SIOP White Paper authored by Dr. Evan Sinar , Data Visualization: Get Visual to Drive HR’s Impact and Influence , was created expressly to help use visualization techniques in representing HR data.

9-TIE! Virtual working spaces

Virtual coworking space can help limit workplace distractions while creating a sense of community for employees. In virtual coworking space, employees can join multiple chatrooms with coworkers (some work related, some common interests), see what meetings others are attending, and work on projects together. Virtual coworking comes at a low cost for employers and provides employees with flexibility, but they do have disadvantages. For instance, it is more difficult to foster employee engagement, and a lack of engagement can spiral into a lack of commitment, employee burnout, and attrition.  

I-O psychologists have found many methods of optimizing the remote work experience over the last several years. Some of them are simple procedural “hacks” such as conducting video meetings to increase accountability, engagement, and professionalism. Other, more substantive interventions include mapping career development paths to guide training and development for virtual employees.

SIOP has published resources on several aspects of remote work, including a 2014 White Paper on Telecommuting by Dr. Kristen Shockley, which provides a readily accessible grounding in the psychological impacts of remote work. Some resources linked to other trends higher on this list are also relevant here.

9-TIE! Meaning and purposeful work

A newcomer on the 2020 Top 10 WorkplaceTrends list, “meaning and purposeful work” reflects the shift in how people view work in the context of their lives. Finding meaning is a basic psychological need, and people are increasingly seeking to fill that need through their work. They seek work that is aligned with their values and supports their sense of life purpose. People are no longer viewing work as a means to an end but rather a way of life; they want to do something they believe will contribute to the world and fulfill them. Organizations will need to rethink their human capital strategy in order to evolve along with the mindset of their employees.

Meaning and purpose are connected to organizational culture and inclusion. Creating an inclusive, values-driven organizational culture thus one key element of business success. I-O psychologists can help organizations by helping with job design (also job sculpting, job crafting), selecting employees that share the same values with the organization, and training managers to help their employees find meaning and purpose as work. 

The white paper, Getting Engaged: Top Tips for an Engaged Workforce , by Dr. Allison Gabriel and Dr. Andrew Bennett reviews the organizational importance of employee engagement and provides tips for achieving it. Also, see resources linked to diversity and inclusion in the discussion of Trend #2, below. 

8. Workforce health and well-being

Stress and insecurity aggravated by the technology-mediated pressure to be “always on” contribute to rising rates of employee burnout. Business leaders are finding that burnout is not only harmful to employee health but also costly and detrimental to organizations. If organizations want to retain their top performers, they need to think not only about the employees’ well-being at work but also consider how the employees’ work life can affect their personal life in both positive and negative ways. 

In addition to the business case for worker health, there are strong ethical mandates for businesses to consider worker well-being (e.g., the UN Sustainable Development Goals and understanding of health as a human right). 

                How I-O psychologists can help 

I-O psychologists can help organizations that strive to balance ethical and practical considerations in developing employee benefits packages that will stand out to talented individuals in the job market. They can also assist in designing well-being programs and initiatives to keep employees healthy and happy. 

SIOP offers several resources relevant to this topic including a short overview video from the 2019 SIOP Conference by Dr. Tammy Allen , and these white papers: A Marathon, Not a Sprint: The Benefits of Taking Time to Recover from Work Demands by Dr. Charlotte Fritz and Dr. Allison M. Ellis , Work-Life Balance by Dr. Alison Rife and Dr. Rosalie Hall. Find more resources under the Worker Well Being tab on the SIOP White Papers web page.

7. Algorithmic selection – validity, bias, and applicant reactions

Algorithmic hiring is a growing trend in employee selection. Algorithms in employee selection use a formula to combine test scores into an overall candidate score, as opposed to using judgment or intuition to combine them. Algorithms can also be applied to arrive at a score for a specific assessment method, such as using artificial intelligence (AI) to score résumés instead of having recruiters evaluate them. In other types of AI assessments, candidates might be asked to play custom-built games to test their reaction time or speed. 

However, many practitioners have expressed concerns about validity and bias in algorithmic selection, as well as how applicants respond to more structured selection practices.  Although using formulas to combine test scores is more valid and less biased than judgmental combinations of scores, many questions remain about AI methods.

As algorithmic selection is used more often, and more data become available, I-O psychologists can help organizations be better prepared to navigate the complex issues and concerns about validity and bias in algorithmic selection, as well as applicant response to structured selection practices. 

In a SIOP White Paper, Dr. Neil Morelli discusses algorithms derived from artificial intelligence and their use in talent and selection assessment. Jon Willford discusses how human judgments and decisions can be enhanced with data from predictive algorithms. Also, for more information, see the recent SIOP White Paper: “Recent Trends in Pre-Employment Assessment” by Jessica M. Walker and Dr. Don Moretti .

6. Automation of jobs and tasks

Rapid increases in the sophistication of automation technology are, along with artificial intelligence, driving growing concern over the extent to which automation will disrupt the workforce. This is not a new concern, having returned with each new evolutionary phase in technology. But it is on the minds of many today and should be the subject of considered thought for educators, workforce planners, and business leaders in all sectors.

As jobs are increasingly automated, new jobs will emerge. These new jobs will require a 21st-century skill set that is in high demand already. Organizations view a growing skills shortage as one of their top concerns.

How I-O psychologists can help

Drawing on decades of theoretical and applied work, I-O psychologists are uniquely suited to help organizations conduct work analysis and forecast future human capital needs. They are also well-positioned to help organizations develop methods to aid workers to adapt to technology-enabled changes in work and the workplace.  

See Dr. Tara Behrend’s short video presentation on the topic from the 2019 SIOP Annual Conference. SIOP’s recent Organizational Frontiers book, Workforce Readiness and the Future of Work , which Dr. Behrend co-edited with Dr. Fred Oswald and Dr. Lori Foster , offers a more comprehensive treatment of the many forces shaping the future of work.

5. The changing nature of work 

Moore’s law defines the exponential growth of computing power, and that pace is driving the rapid changes in how people work. This is the fourth year in a row that the changing nature of work on the SIOP Top 10 Workplace Trends list, moving up two spots from last year.  As organizations embrace new and evolving technologies including social media communications, cloud-based collaboration tools, artificial intelligence, automation, and the digitization of work, our traditional notions of the workplace continue to evolve. 

Employee attitudes and expectations are also shifting  (e.g., see Trend #9) and require organizations to rethink their strategies for attracting and retaining employees. Organizations will also need to create agile policies and processes in order to respond to continuous change in a timely manner if they want to maintain a competitive edge.

I-O psychologists can help organizations properly transition into using these technologies while avoiding pitfalls related to cybersecurity and ethical concerns that can arise with the adoption of new technology-enabled work processes. I-Os can also help organizations develop the ability to cope with the increasing rate of change by building organizational and worker agility. 

The new SIOP webinar video on Performance Management 2.O by Dr. Alan Colquitt and the white paper, Agility and Agile: An Introduction for People, Teams, and Organizations by Dr. Ben Baran and Dr. Scott Bible are two useful resources for helping organizations adapt. 

4. Working with big data

Organizations continue to expand their capabilities for collecting large amounts of data from a multitude of sources (including people’s social media activity, digital work activities or purchase behavior, and other disparate information) at a rapid pace. The sheer amount of data available to organizations provides an unprecedented opportunity to explain and predict organizational outcomes.

But as several recent news stories and regulatory changes illustrate, the collection and use of big data in poorly designed systems can also create big risks. Using big data to inform employee selection may have unforeseen legal repercussions for organizations, for example, when analyses are conducted by those without a background in organizational psychology or statistics. Collecting data from employees and applicants also raises concerns over privacy intrusion in data collection. Big data analytics will only become more prevalent in organizations, and it is up to business leaders to ensure that they are protecting their organizations’ interests by behaving ethically and responsibly.

                How I-O psychologists can help

I-O psychologists can leverage their unique blend of expertise in psychological theory, research methods, statistics, and labor laws to ensure big data analytics are conducted responsibly, accurately, and effectively by organizations. I-O psychologists have unique expertise in understanding human behavior in organizations that aids in both data management and analysis.

Big Data at Work: Lessons From the Field , by Dr. Alexis Fink , Dr. Rick Guzzo , and Dr. Sara Roberts provides a nontechnical introduction and guidance on this topic

3. “Gig economy” – contract work

The gig economy is here, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Estimates range from 10.1% of America’s workforce (2017; Bureau of Labor Statistics) to 36% (2017; 35% in 2019; Upwork & Freelancers Union). Three major questions business leaders will need to tackle concerning the growing gig economy relate to recruitment and selection, the relationship between the organization and its workers, and regulatory issues. 

First, do current recruitment and selection best practices generalize to hiring and contracting gig workers? Leaders may need to revisit and revise their current hiring practices and systems for this labor supply. Second, how is the client–gig worker relationship different from the employer–employee relationship? What implications does this have for whether and how organizations invest in, retain, and develop their gig workers? Finally, what are the legal hotspots (e.g., compliance) of gig work that organizations and gig workers must understand and how do these impact the work itself?

I-O psychologists can help answer these questions and assist organizations navigating this complex and challenging shift from the traditional day job to contract work. In addition, they can aid organizations in developing a way to increase employee engagement and organizational commitment amongst gig workers. 

Resources  

Dr. William Macey offers an overview of the scope and impact of the gig economy in this short video from the  2019 SIOP Annual Conference.  In T he Gig Economy: An Overview and Set of Recommendations for Practice , Dr. Emily Campion addresses five of the most pressing questions on the topic, while focusing on practices supporting gig workers’ productivity.

2. Diversity, inclusion, and equity

Diversity, inclusion, and equity continue to be top considerations in the workplace, with an increasing focus on inclusion and equity. The #MeToo movement is just one recent example of how these concerns can move from the workplace into the headlines, underscoring the need for organizations to create diverse, inclusive workplace cultures.

Continued efforts to advance representation of women and historically underrepresented ethnic groups, particularly in leadership, are increasingly joined by inclusion and equity considerations of LGBTQI employees, renewed attention to age and ageism, global diversity and immigration, and integration of workers with disabilities, including invisible disabilities and mental health. Extending workplace inclusion and removing barriers for neurodiverse individuals is a growing imperative.

The public increasingly scrutinizes equity in organizations, including pay gaps, income inequality, executive pay, and minimum wage. Improvements in workplace equity may also enhance employer brands and the ability to attract and retain talent.   

I-O psychologists can help organizations focus on inclusivity, identify exclusionary practices, design training on unconscious biases, and examine possible biases and effects on diversity and equal opportunity. 

McKenzie Preston and Dr. Sumona De Graaf highlight business benefits in the white paper, Benefits of Socioeconomic Diversity to Organizations: How Organizations Can Promote and Benefit From Socioeconomic Diversity . Dr. Kizzy Dominguez shares insights from practice and statistics about diversity, inclusion, and equality in this short video from the 2019 SIOP Conference

And the #1 trend this year…

• Artificial intelligence and machine learning

Artificial intelligence and machine learning continue to be the number one workplace trend for the year 2020. More and more employers are exploring the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in personnel decisions such as hiring, retirement planning and benefits enrollment, and many other areas.

Though the use of AI in HR is still in the early stages, AI has immense potential to change how organizations make personnel decisions through the use of predictive analytics and metrics for talent acquisition, training and development, and compensation. 

In hiring, AI can predict the likelihood of success on the job as well as the risk of turnover. AI could be used to offer personalized recommendations for training/career development as well as suggest which employees should be assigned to specific teams for higher team performance. 

I-O psychologists are helping organizations use artificial intelligence and machine learning to increase effectiveness and efficiency by evaluating new methods of workflow, streamlining processes, improving customer experiences, and automating operations based on predictive intelligence. 

For more information, see this recent SIOP White Paper: Artificial Intelligence in Talent Assessment and Selection by Dr. Neil Morelli .  Dr. Dan Putka provided an introduction to AI and machine learning at the 2019 Annual Conference. In addition to definitions and use cases, Dr. Putka contextualizes the role of I-O psychology in relation to engineering and other data sciences in HR applications. See the video here .

Using I-O Psychology to Solve Business Challenges

SIOP members are I-O psychologists who work in business, government and academia. Several act as consultants, and you can find an expert to help with your organization’s workforce challenges by selecting a topic from the dropdown consultant service list in the SIOP Consultant Locator .

Learn more about practical business applications of I-O psychology in the SIOP Hot Topics White Papers. In-depth coverage of several of the fundamental human issues organizations face today are addressed in the SIOP Organizational Frontiers Book Series. Browse the catalog here.

Read previous Top 10 Trends lists here and find short videos on the 2019 trends, including an expert discussion of each trend and a brief overview of all the trends, here .

This year’s Top Ten Workplace Trends list was coordinated by the Media Subcommittee of SIOP’s Visibility Committee based on two online surveys sent to approximately 8,000 SIOP members from October of 2019 to December of 2019. Committee members include Nikki Blacksmith , Chair; Amanda Woller , Chair in Training; Andrew Pepper , Media Chair; Dan Eisen , Survey Analysis Coordinator Thanks to these volunteer writers for helping create the report: Nicholas Baldwin, Emily Campion, Nick Howald, Uma Iyer, Jaclyn Jensen, Ludmila Praslova, Jerel Slaughter, Tilman Sheets, and Laura Tate .

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5 Trends in Industrial-Organizational Psychology

Effects of 5 workplace trends on industrial-organizational psychology, globalization, sexual harassment, automation and artificial intelligence, internet recruiting, work-life balance and employee health.

Industrial-organizational psychology is the scientific study of the workplace. It looks at how people behave individually and in teams in that environment. Identifying trends in the field means looking at some of the major changes ahead in the workplace and how they will affect workers in that context.

Workplaces are becoming more globalized. This means there will need to be a greater awareness of cross-cultural issues in the workplace. The more diverse workforce means that rather than imposing a set of organizational standards throughout global companies, it will be more effective for teams to have standards that are reflective of local practices. Along with globalization comes an increasingly remote workforce. This presents challenges that industrial-organizational psychologists may wish to address, including:

• collaboration
• communication
• building a sense of teamwork

The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology has identified sexual harassment in the workplace as the top trend at present. A majority of American women voters have experienced sexual harassment, and most of them experienced it at work. From an industrial-organizational psychology standpoint, organizations will need to look at their:

They must start to address the conditions that lead to workplace sexual harassment.

Over the next decade, a growing number of jobs will be automated. This is expected to lead to widespread disruption in the workplace. Organizations may need to address issues such as morale and training. As artificial intelligence begins to perform increasingly sophisticated tasks, organizational psychologists may begin to look at whether and how people form relationships with the AI they work with. The increasing use of big data that will be able to improve performance and track a number of other things. These technological innovations may also raise ethical questions that psychologists will examine.

Employees are now largely recruited through the internet rather than the help wanted section of newspapers. Although older populations are increasingly comfortable using computers, this type of recruitment might still tend to skew toward younger workers. This may be something organizations need to address. Computer-based job applications can provide feedback to applicants.

Organizations may want to consider how they can make the best use of the opportunities offered by online recruiting and information gathering combined with interviews and other more traditional methods of recruiting and selecting people for employment. The use of social media in selecting or rejecting candidates might also come under increased scrutiny.

Unhealthy employees mean:

• lower productivity
• more time missed from work
• possibly even more turnover

When an organization addresses work-life balance and employee health, it benefits both the employee and the workplace. However, there may be privacy and other implications for workplace health and wellness programs that organizational-industrial psychologists will examine.

Rapid innovations in technology mean that workplaces are changing rapidly. All of these have implications for how people work within organizations. For the field of industrial-organizational psychology, it means new ways of conceptualizing the workplace and the effects on employees.

Related Resources:

• 30 Great Scholarships, Grants & Awards for Industrial-Organizational Psychology
• What are the Prerequisites for Master’s in Industrial-Organizational Psychology
• Is an Online Master’s in Industrial-Organizational Psychology Respected in the Field?
• How Long Does it Take to Become an Industrial-Organizational Psychologist?
• What is the Difference Between Industrial-Organizational Psychology and Human Resources?
• What are the Most Important Elements of an Industrial-Organizational Psychologist’s Job?
• Why is Industrial-Organizational Psychology Important?
• What Can I Expect From an Industrial-Organizational Psychology Ph.D. Program?
• Top 10 Most Affordable Online Master’s in Industrial-Organizational Psychology
• Top 9 Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology Online
• Top 10 Master’s in Industrial-Organizational Psychology Online
• Top 10 Ph.D. Programs in Industrial-Organizational Psychology
• 10 Most Affordable Top-Ranked Master’s in Industrial-Organizational Psychology
• Top 10 Bachelor’s in Industrial-Organizational Psychology 
• Top 25 Campus Based Industrial-Organizational Psychology Master’s Degree Programs
• Top 15 Industrial/Organizational Certificate Programs
• 10 Most Affordable Top-Ranked Master’s in Industrial-Organizational Psychology
• What Are Psychomotor Skills?

What’s the Value of an Industrial-Organizational Psychology Degree?

Where will an industrial-organizational psychology master's degree take you?

Lian Parsons

In the second part of our two-part series, HES alumni share their experiences and what they’re doing today.

Meet Our Alumni:

• Jasmin Gonzales

Read part one here .

What is your current career?

I work for PayPal in Developer Productivity Engineering as a senior director. I oversee a team of 85 employees, building software and platforms that accelerate the work of 6,000 PayPal developers.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Meetings! Balancing developing the careers and skills of my direct reports, meeting with them to give them guidance and ensure that the decisions they’re making align with our greater goals.

I also work toward building relationships across the enterprise, reassessing my strategies for each of my products, listening to my developer-customers, and helping my peers.

What impact has your IOP degree had on your career?

My Harvard degree likely helped me get my current job, because I work in a company where most people hold Ivy League degrees or have achieved great things as entrepreneurs.

More than any of those things, though, I think my degree gave me the confidence that I know how to be a good leader, and can teach those skills to others, effectively becoming a force multiplier for great people-focused leadership.

What did you find in the IOP master’s program at Harvard Extension that you couldn’t have found elsewhere?

 I love Harvard. The school’s motto, “Veritas” holds much meaning for me, that the school’s mission is to seek truth and help its students have that curiosity that is unencumbered by personal bias.

Harvard’s IOP program was the best in the world, in my opinion, because it incorporates modern leadership concepts that have been proven to work at the most forward-thinking companies with the happiest employees, like Spotify, Google, and even my own former company, World Wide Technology.

Concepts of emotional intelligence, mindfulness and self-awareness, humility and knowing yourself as a leader, grounding your leadership stance in your own unique story and gifts, were combined with practical knowledge of how to inspire and motivate and organize. Also, data! I learned how to gather meaningful data to help me make decisions as a leader, and how to interpret and assess the quality of other people’s research.

What advice would you give to yourself or to future students before beginning this journey?

Firstly, take this program because you want to learn and grow — not to just nab a Harvard degree. It can be a transformative experience, if you put the work in and are willing to change.

Secondly, take classes that will help you get to know yourself more. I took a class in the religious studies area called “Mindfulness, Meaning, and Resilience” taught by Chris Berlin and it was amazing. I also absolutely loved the classes in Purpose-Driven Leadership, which put you into cohorts and lead you through introspective journeys.

Thirdly, make sure you know how to demonstrate critical thinking in your writing by using the resources Harvard makes available. You cannot just regurgitate the lectures in your papers; you have to show you’ve thought about the readings and have your own opinions — and it’s a great way to improve your overall ability to influence, persuade, and lead others.

Lastly, leverage your RAs! The RA sessions are great for helping you nail your grades. I graduated on the Dean’s list in large part due to making good use of RA feedback.

Explore Our Industrial-Organizational Psychology Master’s Degree Program.

Yasmin Gonzales

I co-founded a company called Peak Performance Consulting Group that specializes in leadership development and in optimizing employee motivation and performance in the workplace. We also work with companies in transforming their culture. Our interventions include workshops, coaching, diagnosing human resource challenges, and conducting 360-degree feedback.

I design and facilitate workshops, coach leaders, design the overall intervention, and do business development and marketing work.

I am also an adjunct faculty member at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) where I teach motivation, resilience, and social influence. I am also the program director for their post-graduate certificate on resilience.

Every day looks different, as I have almost complete autonomy over my time. I am also a mom of two small kids so I balance everything with that.

I was successfully able to change my career from marketing to people development because of my ALM degree in IOP. I also feel that I am a lot more skilled now to do the work effectively, as I base all my interventions on the scientific literature. HES taught me the importance of using research as the foundation of any program we develop.

It also opened up the opportunity for me to work at AIM, a business school that is very particular with its faculties’ academic and work achievement.

I appreciate the freedom the HES IOP program gives you in terms of curating the classes that you want to specialize in. There are a few mandatory classes that is essential for an I-O master graduate student to take but HES is also generous in providing enough electives to pursue your interest.

I also like the program’s hybrid setup, which allows me as a mom to pursue my grad school while taking care of my family.

Lastly, graduating from Harvard really opens up doors of opportunity. The professors are top-notch and I also learned so much from my classmates.

Be immensely committed to excelling in each one of your classes. While effort is good, you can be rewarded and graded for mastery. You get as much as you give in this program.

Also, take advantage of the on-campus requirement. There is nothing like studying in the Harvard campus and experiencing Cambridge! It was truly an amazing experience.

I work as an investment specialist at J.P. Morgan.

My key responsibilities include providing investment advice to clients, staying updated on market trends, and recommending investment strategies to help clients with their wealth management goals.

I start my work day at 8 a.m. reading the Financial Times to get a head start with the morning news.

We have daily 8:30 a.m. meetings where we go over market developments and economic indicators.

During the day, I research investment opportunities, evaluate the performance of existing investments within portfolios and consider adjustments based on market environment and client goals. I meet with clients to discuss their goals, risk tolerance and provide updates to their portfolios.

I also hold discussions and collaborate with colleagues and other professionals to gather insights. The types of discussions may vary depending on whether they pertain to individual portfolios or institutional wealth.

My degree equipped me with sharpened problem solving and critical thinking skills. In my role, adaptability and the ability to respond to changing market dynamics are essential skills. 

HES’ IOP master’s program offered a distinctive blend of psychology and organizational management. Its academic rigor and emphasis on applying psychological principles to real-world business challenges set it apart. 

My advice is to fully engage yourself, seek projects that allow you to apply what you learn, and network extensively. Always stay curious and open to learning

Explore All Harvard Extension School Graduate Degrees.

About the Author

Lian Parsons is a Boston-based writer and journalist. She is currently a digital content producer at Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education. Her bylines can be found at the Harvard Gazette, Boston Art Review, Radcliffe Magazine, Experience Magazine, and iPondr.

How to Start a Career in Sustainable Finance

No need to choose between helping the planet and making a profit; sustainable finance is helping businesses do both.

Harvard Division of Continuing Education

The Division of Continuing Education (DCE) at Harvard University is dedicated to bringing rigorous academics and innovative teaching capabilities to those seeking to improve their lives through education. We make Harvard education accessible to lifelong learners from high school to retirement.

Roanoke College Psychology Department

Alumni highlight: industrial-organizational professionals.

Welcome to this week’s Alumni Highlights. We’re back to featuring a single incredible track in psychology: Industrial-Organizational. There are several career fields in which psychology is blended with other disciplines and Industrial-Organizational is one of those fields. Specifically, the Industrial-Organizational field blends knowledge from the disciplines of psychology and business! 

Roanoke College has been consistently been recognized by the Princeton Review as a great school for both Business and Psychology majors . Moreover, the college offers a concentration in Human Resource Management. So, current and prospective students are well positioned to pursue an Industrial-Organizational career upon graduation from Roanoke! 

Once again, before delving into the stories of our alumni for this week’s edition of the career tracks series, we want to express our sincere gratitude to our wonderful alumni. Their generosity in sharing reflections on their time at Roanoke College and details about their professional journeys is truly appreciated. Their stories not only highlight the wide range of opportunities in the field but also demonstrate the positive impact Roanoke College can have on your future. If you’re an alum who would like to share your story for a future post, please reach out to Dr. Powell ( [email protected] ).

Now, let’s explore the realm of careers that focus on Industrial and Organizational Psychology as we introduce our highlighted alumni for this week!

How did Jordan become a Human Resources Generalist?

“ Human resources was never really the position I thought I’d end up being in as a psychology major. I learned so much while earning my degree that I knew there were multiple paths that I could choose from. After receiving my degree from Roanoke, I went on to obtain my Master of Science degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Northern Kentucky University. I/O Psychology is about the study of the workplace and learning about employee performance, employee satisfaction, organizational development, training and development, and much more. I learned more about how statistics is used in a workplace setting and what types of workplace processes and policies can come from data obtained by my employees. While earning my degree, I realized that human resources was a position in which encompassed a lot of what I learned and was a gateway into being able to make more of a difference for employees in a workplace setting.”

What does Laura enjoy most about her role as a Senior Recruiter?

“ Helping candidates navigate our interview process and eventually being able to extend offers! Creating that positive experience and being a part of their journey is extremely rewarding. I love that we can offer these programs and knowing this opportunity can change someone’s life is everything.”

What is Kaitlin’s favorite part about being an Associate Consultant?

“ Every project is different, and I really like that it allows me to constantly learn something new every day! One day, I might score an employee assessment or interview to predict who will be a good hire for an organization. Another day, I might work on writing development reports that focus on employees’ strengths and development areas for rising leaders in an organization. Some days I might help with brainstorming and creating a selection system with a client to ensure employees are being hired fairly and accurately. These are just a few of the many things I’ve worked on, and I really enjoy the close-knit team setting that makes this work fun!”

What are some of Destinee’s duties as an Organization Development/Human Resources Coordinator?

“ I assist and support in the design, implementation, delivery, and ongoing maintenance of people programs that improve employee experience and organizational effectiveness in various areas such as employee engagement, performance management, leadership development, career development, HR initiatives, and culture.”

What responsibilities fall under Jessica’s role as a Personnel Psychologist? 

“Essentially I work with a lot of data and concepts related to the human element of work. A few example topic areas I may cover include understanding what skills are needed for a certain position, how to best evaluate if a training is effective, ensuring that selection systems are valid, analyzing exit survey data, and designing a data management system for personnel related data.  These are just a few examples, but essentially if you think about data Human resources might collect, it is likely that someone in my field would be involved in some way!”

From senior recruiter and Human Resources staff, to personnel psychologist, our alumni showcase some of the many opportunities within the field of industrial and organizational psychology. By sharing their experiences, these alumni hope to inspire the next generation of I-O psychology folks to explore and pursue their passions. 

We also asked our alumni to reflect on the Roanoke courses or experiences that have been most relevant to their current careers.

In terms of influential classes, alumni named PSYC-202 Research Methods in Psychology, PSYC-204 Quantitative Methods, PSYC-382 Industrial-Organizational Psychology, and PSYC-251 Social Psychology. 

Several alumni noted how instrumental the Roanoke College faculty mentors have been to their success. Many of them had never known about the field of Industrial and Organizational Psychology before they were exposed to it either in their coursework, or through individual professional development conversations with faculty. 

Alumni also highlighted specific research and internship experiences they had during their time at Roanoke that helped facilitate their successes after graduation. Kaitlin Busse mentioned both when saying, “[In] Dr. Powell’s research lab… I was able conduct research on an I-O Psychology topic area and present findings at the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology conference” and “I interned in a variety of HR roles during my summers (e.g., talent management, learning and development) where I gained practical knowledge of what it’s like to do this work in a real-life setting.”

Laura Pope, MS, sums up the sentiment shared by many of our alumni: “Truly, all of my experiences within the department helped set me up for success. I learned those invaluable ‘softer skills’ needed for a successful career (i.e., time management, problem-solving, working with others, achieving goals, etc), not to mention great general advice from professors.” These words echo the impact that Roanoke College’s psychology department and faculty have had on our alumni, emphasizing the value of both academic and personal development. 

If this series hasn’t highlighted it enough yet, we highly encourage you to seek out professors who inspire you and be open to learn from our very own experts in the field!

As Alumni Weekend approaches in just over one week, we look forward to showcasing our final set of alumni stories in the coming days. Stay tuned for next week’s spotlight on more than one exciting career path!

Get Connected!

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Overcoming Recruiting Shortages by Applying Industrial and Organizational Psychology Practices

In this podcast episode, guests Jenn Rineer and Rick Jacobs from the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology share their experiences and expertise with employing industrial and organizational psychology practices to help police departments attract the best and brightest candidates.

This episode of The Beat podcast features Gil Moore’s conversation with Doctors Jenn Rineer and Rick Jacobs, who are industrial psychologists and fellows with the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), on police recruitment, the challenges that departments are having with attracting new recruits, and the innovative ways that law enforcement agencies might respond to those challenges. The podcasters discuss the relationship between industrial psychology and law enforcement and their own professional experiences addressing police recruitment, promotion, and retention issues, as well as how SIOP’s partnership with the COPS Office aims to increase the level of support that both organizations can offer to law enforcement.

Additional Details

• Apple Podcast
• Transcript (PDF)
• The Beat (Podcast Series)

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