INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY

INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY

The branch of psychology that investigates the psychology of the workplace.

Industrial psychologists use the scientific methods and knowledge for studying the affects, cognitions, and behaviours of people in the work settings.

Major focus of interest

How best to fit the right person to a given job.

How best to fit the job to the person

Major focus of interest

How best to fit the right person to a given job What does “doing a good job,” mean? Personnel selection: How to select people who do the

job well? Training: How to train them so that they do the job

well? Motivation: How to motivate them so that they do the

job well? How best to fit the job to the person? Quality of work life Job satisfaction Worker safety

Fitting the right person to the job

It involves the following:a. Job analysisb. Personnel selectionc. Personnel trainingd. Worker’s motivation

a. Job analysis

The first step in selecting the right person for a job is to do a job analysis.

• Job analysis is to prepare a specific description of a job. It encompasses the qualities and behaviours required of a person to do the job properly.• It is “the systematic study of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a job and the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform it” (Riggio, 1990).• The purpose of job analysis is to find the best person for the job.

A complete job analysis is a two-step process

Step 1 Preparing a detailed description of

what a person to be selected for a particular job is expected to do.

• The job analysis has to be specific. Instead of stating general duties it

should describe actual behaviours that the person has to perform

A complete job analysis is a two-step process

Determining the performance criteria needed for the proper performance of a job.

• The specified duties and responsibilities have to be translated into measurable personal characteristics.

‘Hard’ Criteria and ‘Soft’ Criteria

Hard Criteria These are the objective criteria. These criteria are obtained from

the available data e.g. salary, number of units sold

‘Hard’ Criteria and ‘Soft’ Criteria

Soft Criteria These are the subjective criteria. Soft criteria have a personal touch and

require a degree of judgment i.e., sense of humour, congeniality, creativity etc.

• For example the best student of your college may be selected on the basis of her grades, or herinteraction with fellow students, or both i.e., soft as well as hard criteria.

b. Personnel Selection

Personnel selection includes: Devising ways of selecting the

best applicant. Making decisions regarding

retention. Making decisions regarding

promotion. Making decisions regarding

termination

Personnel Selection: Functions of an Application Form

It can be a rough screening device. It can supplement, or provide cues

for, interviewing. The information contained in the

application form may be used as a predictor of future performance e.g. academic record and job history can be indicative of a person’s ability and potential.

Personnel Selection: Employment Interview

Employment interviews can be structured or unstructured. Structured interviews are preferred

over the unstructured interviews. These consist of carefully phrased,

prescribed, uniform, and fixed-ordered questions for all applicants.

Structured interviews are considered more valid than the unstructured ones.

Personnel selection: Use of Psychological Tests

At times the data obtained through application form and interviews may need to be supplemented by psychological assessment.

Intelligence, ability, aptitude, achievement, or personality tests may be used.

The tests of cognitive functioning (e.g. ability or achievement) have been found to be most useful.

The use of I.Q tests for screening purposes is an issue of dispute

c. Training the Selected Personnel

Proper training is a requirement and a partial guarantee that the selected person will do the job well

Evaluating training Effectiveness

It can be done in various ways; Taking trainees’ ratings Assessment by the organization

i.e., measuring effectiveness with reference to training objectives

d. Workers’ Motivation

Workers’ motivation affects efficiency and productivity of the organization.

A team comprising unmotivated workers will not be able to attain the desired goals.

Motivation to Work

For an organizational psychologist, what motivates a person to carry on or not his work is much dependent on three explanations. They are;

Need theories Cognitive theories and Reinforcement theories

Stoooooooooop

for heaven sake plz

stop.You have already

taken 10 minutes

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