Industrial/Organizational psychology (I/O Psychology) is devoted to the study of employee behaviour in the workplace. I/O Psychologists have been supplying theoretically-based and empirically-tested advice to leaders, managers, employees and unions for the past 100 years. We address the critical issues facing organizations and employees today, and we work to anticipate the needs of organizations in the future. For example, we assist organizations in recruiting, selecting, and retaining the most talented employees. As well, we help organizations and employees adapt to the constantly-evolving work environment by addressing the impact of technology, by enhancing innovation and productivity, and by maintaining quality and balance in work and life. Our knowledge emerges from a unique understanding that human behaviour is contingent on the interaction among individuals, the situations they face, and the environments in which they work.

This contingent approach to understanding people and processes at work recognizes that there is no “one best way” to manage people, organize their activities, or motivate them. Each individual brings a unique combination of knowledge, skills, abilities, and interests that interact with the types of jobs they have and the organizations they work for. Therefore, I/O Psychologists do not subscribe to popular “fads” that provide quick-fix solutions for challenges at work. We rely on our training as scientists to guide us in the search for the answers and advice that organizations need to be successful.

Our goal is to study and understand people at work. We conduct research in university and organizational settings, and apply our research knowledge to maximize the satisfaction, motivation, and effectiveness of people engaged in every aspect of organizational activity. A large body of evidence demonstrates that practices advocated by I/O Psychologists have a positive impact on both organizations and individuals. For example, we know how to design jobs to maximize productivity, while at the same time reducing stress, encouraging flexibility, and promoting personal growth.

Below, we have briefly outlined a few of the many areas in which I/O Psychology has made substantial contributions to the success of organizations and individuals:

(1) Job and Work Analysis
( 2) Recruitment and Selection
(3) Performance Appraisal
(4) Teamwork
(5) Training and Development
(6) Employee Motivation
(7) Employee Health and Well-Being
(8) Leadership.

Job and Work Analysis

Job Analysis, or the act of describing jobs and the human attributes necessary to perform them, is the cornerstone of all human resource related activities. Job analysis activities are designed to provide the answers to critical questions. For example, how do we determine which applicant is best suited for the job? How much education or experience is required for the position? Are there any special skills that job applicants must have in order to succeed? Answering these questions using job analysis allows for a detailed understanding of the job and the requirements of the job incumbent.

Job versus person-oriented analysis. Job analysis activities can be focused on identifying the nature of the tasks done on the job or on providing a description of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) or competencies required for a person to successfully perform a particular job. Both methods rely on the knowledge of experts, usually comprised of job incumbents and their supervisors, to clearly outline the characteristics of the job and the people who will be best suited to it. Regardless of the method adopted to conduct job analysis, the process serves a multitude of purposes ranging from job classification, recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, training, and promotion.

Benefits of job and work analysis. Job and work analysis provides the most reliable, valid, and comprehensive information about a particular job and the characteristics of people who will succeed in any given position. Job analysis information allows us to clearly outline what the job entails and who will be successful. Furthermore, basing human resource decisions (e.g., recruitment, selection, training, etc.) on job analysis information reduces bias and discrimination, ensures fairness, and helps organizations meet legal obligations. As demonstrated below, job analysis is an integral part of every successful human resource activity.

Recruitment and Selection- Finding the Right Fit

Once we have identified the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics (KSAOs or competencies) required for a position, we have to attract people to our organization and identify those applicants who best fit with the job. Since the beginning of the last century, I/O Psychologists have been at the forefront of efforts to attract potential job applicants and to identify job applicants who have the right mix of skills and abilities to perform well on the job. Two key activities involved in finding the right people include recruitment and selection.

Recruitment: Attractiveness and Equality. There are numerous methods of attracting potential job applicants: newspaper ads, referrals, and more recently, the internet. Although each of these methods has their benefits, the key to recruitment is to attract the best candidates while ensuring that all people have equal access to jobs. I/O Psychologists adhere to legal and ethical requirements when designing recruitment strategies to obtain the most representative mix of job applicants.

Selection. Once a pool of job applicants is identified, the organization must choose applicants who will best fit with the job. To identify the best candidates, a complex process of job analysis and the identification of valid selection tools must take place. As indicated above, job analysis is the key to any selection activity because it helps us identify the relevant job dimensions necessary for success and link these to specific KSAOs that applicants must possess.

Why good recruitment and selection makes sense. Rather than relying on intuition or “gut” feelings, I/O Psychologists will recommend a series of assessment devices that objectively assess potential job applicants. These assessment tools might include: ability or knowledge tests, personality tests, structured employment interviews, or work simulations. Each of these methods is designed to tap into the relevant KSAOs for a position. When used in combination with each other, these tools can provide an accurate and objective picture of the job candidate and allow for unbiased and well-informed selection decisions.

Effective recruitment practices will attract high quality job applicants and will present a positive image of the organization to its stakeholders. Proper selection practices will guarantee better selection decisions. Identifying applicants who have the right mix of KSAOs for the job will ensure that they perform well, are satisfied with their jobs and are less likely to leave the organization.

Appraising Performance

I/O Psychologists have been interested in the performance appraisal of individuals as a research topic for nearly 100 years. Based upon this research, we have gained a vast amount of knowledge concerning how organizations should design their performance management systems. A few of the highlights from this research offer some critical issues to consider when evaluating employee performance.

Identifying and defining effective performance. How do we decide what aspects of work-related performance should be subject to evaluation? Should we focus upon quantitative “objective” indicators of performance (e.g., units produced or sold, etc.), or should we evaluate employees based upon more subjective impressions of performance? Research has yielded some impressive technologies to assist organizations in answering these questions.

To effectively evaluate performance, performance evaluators must agree on what is meant by “effective” or “ineffective” performance. Research has led to the development of approaches to assist organizations in mapping out their performance standards. Job-analysis techniques can identify the aspects of a job that should be subject to evaluation, and the extent to which “objective” performance indicators should be incorporated into the evaluations. One approach in this regard is the “critical-incident technique.” This technique allows appraisal system developers to outline the work actions associated with alternate levels of performance effectiveness.

Measuring effective performance. One of the most popular areas of research involves the development and testing of alternative types of performance rating scales. This research has shown that rating scales should be structured, such that employees are rated on specific work-related behaviours. That is, behaviours associated with specific performance levels are provided for the raters. Ratings on traits or competencies (e.g., communication skills, integrity etc.) without consideration of employee behaviours should be avoided. Not only do trait-based scales potentially lead to reduction in rating quality; these types of ratings might be viewed upon negatively by courts of law, should an employee launch a legal challenge based upon his/her performance evaluation.

Identifying and training performance evaluators. Although immediate supervisors typically provide performance ratings, there has been a proliferation of multi-source rating systems (sometimes termed “360-appraisals”) in recent years, in which performance may be evaluated by a number of people (e.g., peers, the self, customers). Research examining these systems has shown that alternate rating sources often do not agree on their assessments of the same individual. These differences may be due to the fact that different sources have different expectations and conceptions about performance. Alternatively, some sources might produce ratings that are in error. For example, research has shown that self-ratings may be prone to a tendency to rate oneself more favourably. Research has also shown that these multi-source rating systems work best when used for developmental purposes, and not for personnel-related decisions (e.g., promotions, raises).

I/O research has led to the development of rater training programs. The goal of these programs is to maximize the quality of performance evaluations. For example, “rater error training” introduces raters to common rating errors, and frame-of-reference training is designed to calibrate raters and standardize their assessments. Other training programs include behaviour-observation training, designed to impart effective strategies for observing and collecting performance information, and feedback delivery training (to improve the process of employee feedback and development).

Evaluating team performance. With the increased use of teams as the organizing unit for work, appraisal research has recently begun to consider the issue of team-based appraisal. In particular, dimensions and behaviours associated with effective teamwork have been explicated, thus enabling organizations to evaluate employees on the extent to which they are effective in a team-based environment.

Teamwork

Despite the prevalence of teams in organizations, and the considerable enthusiasm that people have for them, creating effective teams can be challenging. In fact, the reality is that although some teams work very well, many others fail miserably. Moreover, it is often difficult to diagnose what went wrong after the fact, when people are disgruntled with the team’s process and disappointed with its outcomes. Complicating this situation further, is the fact that there are various types of teams (e.g., surgical teams, research and development teams, and customer service teams) and, hence, no universal recipe for success.

I/O Psychologists have long been interested in the dynamics of teams and have conducted research on various aspects of teamwork in organizations to determine how a group of people, with various characteristics and skills, come together to form a well-oiled, high-performance team. Psychological research and theory suggests that the following issues need to be considered to ensure team success.

Suitability of the task to teamwork. Many tasks lend themselves, and indeed require, interdependent activity. Other tasks, however, can be completed as well (or better) by people working alone. Thus, a critical first step for organizations is to consider whether the task is well-suited to teamwork. Conducting a comprehensive job analysis facilitates such a decision.

Team-organization alignment. Organizations often pay lip service to teams but fail to develop practices and policies that are consistent with a team environment. Consider, for example, the organization that says it values teamwork, but evaluates and rewards only individual performance. Or the organization that provides the team with training in participative decision-making, but gives the team no authority to make decisions. Such “mixed messages” create a lack of team-organization alignment that can impede both employee morale and team performance.

The right “people mix.” If you get the mix wrong, the team can spend lots of time and energy trying to work around people problems, rather than the task. In a sense, team members have two jobs: to do the particular duties assigned to them and to work constructively, and interactively, with their teammates. Teams seem to work best when they are made up of people who each contribute some unique job-relevant skill or experience to the mix. Good interpersonal and communication skills help create effective relationships and help individuals express dissent constructively and explain concerns in ways that take account of the perspective of others in the team. Although there is still much to be learned about the specific personality traits associated with being a “good team player,” research suggests that conscientiousness is important. In addition, having a preference for working collectively (versus individually) is important.

Roles and team size. Team size is often dictated by the magnitude and skill complexity of the job at hand but in general, the smaller the better and everyone must have a clear role on the team. Having too many members can bog the team down with coordination and communication problems. Furthermore, it diminishes the task responsibility and accountability to the team that any given member feels, hence potentially reducing individual motivation, effort, and performance.

Goals, goal commitment, and group potency. In highly effective teams, members have a very clear sense of why they are working together, a strong commitment to these goals, and a strong belief that, together, they can achieve the goals. Consequently, team goals need to be clearly articulated and frequently reviewed. In addition, like employees working independently, team members need to get regular feedback about progress toward the team’s goals.

Trust and shared knowledge. Although “team building” sessions might be fun, research to date has not strongly supported the idea that these sessions readily develop trust. Instead, deciding whether or not you trust your teammates might require that you learn, through experience, how each person deals with challenging and/or serious situations that arise on the job. Recent research indicates that it is important for team members to have a shared view of what team members can do, and are likely, to do in particular situations. Developing these “team mental models,” which are particularly crucial in teams that work in fast response situations (e.g., emergency, transportation, or military teams), requires that the members of the team either have very similar training or have spent considerable time training and/or working as a unit.

Authority, Resources, and Time. Like individuals, teams derail when expected to do the impossible. In order for a team to take effective charge of a project, it needs to have sufficient and appropriate resources, such as financial, physical, informational, and people resources. Teams also require a level of authority appropriate to their expertise and the goals they have been given. Further, organizations must appreciate that newly created teams do not develop into viable working units instantly, particularly if they have divergent backgrounds and skills sets. For this reason, organizations are advised to consider the composition of the team in light of the long- versus short-term nature of the task. Clearly, it will be more challenging and time consuming to bring together team members who have never worked together before; thus, such groups might be better suited to longer, rather than shorter, projects.

Training and Development

Training is about learning and behaviour change. The key focus of training is to change the way that people behave on the job. In other words, training involves planned activities that are designed to provide employees with important knowledge and skills, and helps foster attitudes that are necessary to perform their jobs effectively. Although training usually focuses on one’s current job, development focuses more on future job responsibilities. In addition to improving employees’ knowledge and skills, research evidence supports the claim that training opportunities not only improve recruitment and retention, but that training is related to organizational effectiveness. During the last decade alone, we have learned a great deal about the science of training.

I/O Psychologists are involved in every aspect of training. For example, we assess the pre-training environment (i.e., what is happening in the organization), we conduct needs assessments (i.e., what the organization requires from a training program), we design the training and often run the training program. Finally, we evaluate the effects of training (i.e., how much did trainees learn and are they capable of transferring these new skills to the job). In sum, we know how to make training programs effective and how to improve the transfer of training to the job. Some important considerations when designing and implementing training programs include:

Learning. Trainee characteristics such as cognitive ability, motivation to learn, personality characteristics, and self-efficacy predict trainee learning and transfer. For example, we will design different training programs for employees who are highly motivated and capable. Organizational support for training also makes a difference. If the organization offers little support or rewards for training, employees will not take it seriously.

Training Design and Delivery. There are a multitude of options for training delivery. On-site training options include on-the-job training, job rotation, apprenticeships, and computer-based training. More traditional training options include off-site options such as lectures, conferences, or simulations. The key point is that regardless of all of these delivery methods, the training content must be based on sound learning principles. For example, incorporating active practice opportunities into training will enhance learning and the transfer of new skills to the job.

Training Transfer. Training is only considered successful if the knowledge and skills taught to employees get used on the job. The pre-training and post-training work environment is a key factor in training effectiveness and transfer. Particularly important is the role of trainees’ supervisor and the extent to which he/she provides support before, during, and after training. If the supervisor rewards the use of new knowledge and skills, employees are more likely to engage in new behaviours and maintain the use of newly learned skills. A number of post-training interventions such as goal setting and relapse prevention have been shown to improve the transfer of training.

Training Evaluation. Beyond assessing whether trainees have transferred their newly-learned skills to the job, it is important to assess whether employees actually reacted positively to the training, whether they learned anything from the training, whether behaviour changed as a result of training (e.g., transfer), and whether there are clear results of the training (e.g., an increase in the bottom-line for the organization).

Motivation

An employee who has all of the required knowledge and skills will not perform well if he/she is not motivated. Employees must choose to exert effort and persist in the use of their knowledge, skills and abilities to attain desired goals. I/O psychology provides a framework for predicting, understanding, and motivating people. Some of the key research evidence suggests four main strategies designed to ensure a highly motivated and satisfied workforce.

Enrich the Job. People have a strong desire to engage in meaningful work. Enriched jobs that provide them with recognition, responsibility, autonomy, achievement, and opportunities for advancement are more satisfying for most people than “unenriched” jobs, and hence, reduce voluntary turnover. Providing employees with on-going production feedback results in the setting of high goals for production quantity and quality.

Goal Setting. Specific and challenging goals lead to higher performance than no goals or even abstract goals such as “do your best.” When the latter mindset is adapted, people are unable to accurately assess their performance. Consequently, some people are too critical of themselves and other people are too lenient. Research evidence from more than 500 studies supports the finding that given high goal commitment, difficult goals lead to higher performance than easy goals. Finally, praise, participation in decision-making, and monetary incentives affect a person’s behaviour positively only to the extent that they lead to the setting of, and commitment to, difficult goals,

Understanding Outcomes and Expectations. Two important variables that increase goal commitment and consequently, motivation are a person’s outcome expectancies and self-efficacy. For motivation to be high, people must see the relationship between what they do and the desired outcomes that they can expect. If we understand the outcomes people expect, we can understand their behaviour. If we change the outcomes that people expect, we can change their behaviour.

A key factor that characterizes a high performing individual or team is resiliency, the ability to bounce back in the face of failure. Self-efficacy refers to one’s task specific confidence. People with high self-efficacy commit to high goals: Obstacles to high goals are perceived as sources of excitement and challenges to be overcome. Conversely, people with low self-efficacy look for tangible reasons to abandon the goal. Ways to increase self-efficacy include: (a) sequencing tasks, giving assignments that ensure early successes; (b) finding relevant role models who have either mastered the task or are in the process of doing so,

Treat People Fairly. Few issues destroy motivation faster than feeling that one is being exploited, used, or treated unfairly. It’s not only important that employees are treated fairly, but also that they perceive the treatment as fair. Fairness can be achieved by ensuring that outcomes (e.g., bonuses, promotions) are distributed fairly, the procedures and processes for making these decisions are fair, and supervisors treat their subordinates fairly. If employees do not feel that they have been treated fairly, motivation will be compromised.

Employee Health and Well-Being

We all experience some level of stress at work. However, rather than accepting that stress is an inevitable consequence of work, I/O Psychologists have been actively trying to study the effects of workplace stress on employees to identify how poor-quality work can be enhanced to reduce stress-related injuries and to improve the lives of organizational employees. We study the causes and effects of stress because work stress can impact how we think, how we behave, and how we perform at work. In fact, just over 10 years ago, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the United States declared work stress to be one of the 10 leading causes of workplace death and it is now common to speak of work stress as an epidemic.

Poor Quality Work and Stress. The effects of poor quality work are widespread. Being overworked, or even underworked, has been linked to four overlapping and inter-related stress categories: psychological stress, physical stress, behavioural stress, and organizational stress.

The effects of psychological stress can range from a bad mood, anxiety, and depression to a disturbance in concentration and an inability to carry out job tasks. Research has demonstrated that people who do not have a great deal of authority in making decisions, do not use many skills, and have little job security and low social support are more likely to experience major depression.

Work stress also impacts our physical health. Work stress can result in physical complaints ranging from sleep disturbance to hypertension and cardiovascular disease. And, people often exacerbate the effects of work stress by engaging in behaviours, such as smoking or drinking, that make it more difficult to counteract the effects of stress. There is also a clear relationship between workplace stress and organizational outcomes. Psychological, physical, and behavioural strain all contribute to increased absence from work, increased injuries, turnover, and lower job performance.

Alleviating work stress. Organizations can no longer afford to ignore the effects of workplace stress because the physical, emotional, and economic costs of doing so are too high. Organizations must demonstrate their commitment to employee health and well being through their mandate, policies, and procedures. Furthermore, by incorporating job analysis into recruitment and selection activities, organizations will be more successful in matching individual skills with job requirements. Therefore, employees are less likely to experience the ill effects of work-related stress.

Minimizing stressors such as role conflict, role ambiguity and inter-role conflict have also been demonstrated to alleviate work stress. In other words, employees need to have jobs that are clearly defined, with tasks and responsibilities that are clearly understood. Also, employees need to be able to effectively balance the competing demands of work and family. Organizations need to make role responsibilities very clear for employees and must introduce policies and procedures that allow greater flexibility to employees in meeting their work and non-work responsibilities. For example, flextime or a compressed workweek can help employees balance the role demands of work with non-work responsibilities.

Organizations can also help employees alleviate career stressors by providing employees with career development opportunities such as training and mentoring. Furthermore, organizations must be vigilant in building positive interpersonal relationships at work and addressing any sources of interpersonal conflict (e.g., poor leadership, workplace aggression). Finally, increasing the amount of autonomy employees have in making decisions, and enhancing how many different skills they use to complete their job tasks has been demonstrated to decrease workplace stress.

Leadership

Leadership has been a source of widespread interest in organizations for nearly a century. I/O psychologists generally agree that leadership involves a social influence process, one that involves at least two parties - a leader and a follower. Fundamentally, I/O researchers have concentrated on investigating the mechanisms by which a leader can influence the thoughts, behaviours, attitudes, and emotions of one or more followers.

Impact on the bottom line. Although at one time considerable debate existed regarding the ability of a single individual to manifest his/her influence over group and institutional outcomes, today most people agree that leaders do make a difference. Consistently, research has shown that regardless of the group under consideration (e.g., professional sports teams, church, city, or manufacturing organization), leaders account for a significant amount of the variance in group performance, even after contextual factors have been statistically controlled.

Distinguishing leaders from everyone else. A substantial amount of time and energy has been invested into identifying the critical KSAOs or competencies that are necessary to effectively lead. Both the emergence of an individual as a leader and his/her effectiveness are moderately associated with many of the dimensions of the five-factor personality model (e.g., conscientiousness and openness to experience). Leader performance at higher organizational levels tends to be dependent upon social intelligence and behavioural flexibility. From a behavioural perspective, a task-oriented leadership style is related to group-organization performance and a relationship-oriented leadership style is related to subordinates’ job satisfaction and motivation.

The Role of the Situation. One of the clearest maxims to have emerged from leadership research is that effective leader behaviour depends upon the context within which it is enacted. Since the 1960s, leadership researchers have developed several models that outline the types of contextual factors that may moderate the impact of particular leader behavioural styles. A leader’s relationship with his/her subordinates, the nature of the tasks performed by subordinates, and the amount of formal authority possessed by a leader have an influence on the effectiveness of different behavioural styles. Moreover, not only do situational characteristics appear to influence the appropriateness of a leader’s actions, but they also appear to be critical for understanding the extent to which leadership will be perceived by observers. Important factors such as gender, situational crises, and culture have been shown to be influence perceptions of effective leadership.

Leadership and Learning. Whether or not individuals can learn to lead has been the source of considerable debate in recent years. Tentatively, it seems reasonable to conclude that leaders are shaped by the learning and experiential opportunities that are afforded to them. Effective leadership performance depends upon the complexity and organization of the knowledge structures that are formed within the organization. Not only do expert leaders possess more developed knowledge, but these structures are formed on the basis of organizational experience. Focused training interventions can impact the extent to which a given leader enacts a particular behavioural style. Moreover, behavioural interventions are associated with a number of significant outcomes, such as improved group performance and satisfaction.

The Canadian Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (CSIOP) aims to benefit both organizations and individuals by supporting and promoting the contributions of Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology within the Canadian academic community, government agencies, business community, and general public.

Along with the areas of expertise described above, I/O Psychologists bring theory and research to individuals and organizations in many other areas including: organizational development and change, organizational culture, job satisfaction, and job performance. For more information on I/O Psychology in Canada, please visit the CSIOP website at: <a href="http://psychology.uwo.ca/csiop> psychology.uwo.ca/csiop

The Canadian Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (CSIOP) gratefully acknowledges the following people for their contributions to this document:

• Dr. Natalie Allen, University of Western Ontario
• Dr. Ramona Bobocel, University of Waterloo
• Dr. Doug Brown University, of Waterloo
• Dr. Arla Day, Saint Mary’s University
• Dr. Kevin Kelloway, Saint Mary’s University
• Dr. Gary Latham, University of Toronto
• Dr. Arla Day, Saint Mary’s University
• Dr. Kevin Kelloway, Saint Mary’s University
• Dr. Gary Latham, University of Toronto
• Dr. Alan Saks, University of Toronto
• Dr. Lorne Sulsky, University of Calgary
• Dr. David Zweig, University of Toronto

  *Please do not cite this document without the permission of CSIOP