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
