Introduction to industrial and organisational psychology

Industrial and organizational psychology (or I/O psychology) is also known as occupational psychology (in the United Kingdom) and work psychology (from the German, Arbeitpsychologie).

Industrial and organizational psychology is the study of the behavior of people in the workplace. Industrial and organizational psychology attempts to apply psychological results and methods to aid workers and organizations.

Industrial and organizational psychologists use psychological testing to measure the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics of people for a variety of employment-related purposes, such as selection for hiring or promotion, training and development, or measuring employee satisfaction. Historically, the job analysis has been the traditional means by which the essential characteristics associated with any particular position are identified.

It is a fairly diverse field incorporating aspects of fields such as clinical psychology, social psychology, and psychometrics as well as broader social studies such as organizational theory, law, and gender issues.

Many industrial and organizational psychologists specialize in aspects (e.g., psychometrics; time and motion studies; labor law; personnel selection; training) aspects (e.g., leadership selection, coaching and development; organizational design and change). Some I/O psychologists are academic (working in both business and psychology departments) or non-academic researchers, while many others are engaged in practice, holding positions such as:


 * executive coach
 * diversity consultant
 * legislative compliance officer
 * labor relations specialist
 * human resources specialist
 * process improvement consultant
 * manager of selection and training.

Related disciplines

 * Industrial engineering
 * Total quality management
 * Psychometrics
 * Social psychology
 * Labor and industrial relations
 * Organizational development
 * Personality psychology

Milestones in industrial and organizational psychology

 * Hawthorne studies at Western Electric
 * U.S. Army Project A

Key works in industrial and organizational psychology

 * Four volume Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, eds. Marvin D. Dunnette and Leaetta Hough
 * Two volume Handbook of Industrial, Work and Organizational psychology, edited by Neil Anderson, Deniz S. Ones, Handan K. Sinangil, and Chockalingam Viswesvaran