Running Head: Industrial/Organizational Psychology 1 Industrial/Organizational Psychology 7 Industrial/Organizational Psychology Christina Washek Dr. Michelle Vallie PSYC 495 4 April 2020 Introduction Organizational psychology is the usage of a person’s psychological knowledge to explain their work. The aim is to improve job satisfaction among the workers and to increase their productivity while ensuring that any issues in the organization are solved by promoting a healthy working environment. The issues in the organization are addressed using facts to ensure that the decisions made are beneficial to the involved parties. Many aspects are considered in one’s working relationship that is from the employer’s point of view, the employee, and any external factors that enable work to be done in the organization. Therefore, psychology is a crucial subject as it benefits both the organization and individuals in the environment, ensuring that there is an optimal surrounding. The environment should be clear that productivity, efficiency, and the wellbeing of the employees are supported. Organizational psychology covers a wide spectrum, which is from the time a person starts to work in the organization up to when they retire. The purpose of this essay is to analyze organizational psychology, the history, theories, and the relationship it has with other areas, among other considerations. Also, a study is done on how human resource management is incorporated into the organizational setup. History of Organizational psychology It is an academic discipline, and the area of practice has become more and more useful in the working life of individuals in organizations and creating a proper work environment. This is a field that involves the identification of issues in an organization, obtaining the effects, and finding solutions for the problems using data obtained for research. The main focus is on the attitude and behavior of individuals in the workplace. Some important outcomes that are required out of an employee from psychology are; understanding the attitude of the employee and controlling their behavior. Organizational psychology is made up of two pillars. One of the pillars is fitting a man to the job, and the other is fitting the job to a man. The first pillar implies that an individual needs to attain the skills and knowledge required for the task in the organization while the second pillar implies that the job is designed in a way that the individual assigned the task can manage it without difficulties. The job can have tolls and equipment necessary to handle the task that cannot be handled by the use of hands. Industrial and organizational psychology comes in from the fact that there was a need to understand individu ...

1. Running Head: Industrial/Organizational Psychology
1
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
7
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Christina Washek
Dr. Michelle Vallie
PSYC 495
4 April 2020
Introduction
Organizational psychology is the usage of a person’s
psychological knowledge to explain their work. The aim is to
improve job satisfaction among the workers and to increase
their productivity while ensuring that any issues in the
organization are solved by promoting a healthy working
environment. The issues in the organization are addressed using
facts to ensure that the decisions made are beneficial to the
involved parties.
Many aspects are considered in one’s working relationship that
is from the employer’s point of view, the employee, and any

2. external factors that enable work to be done in the organization.
Therefore, psychology is a crucial subject as it benefits both the
organization and individuals in the environment, ensuring that
there is an optimal surrounding. The environment should be
clear that productivity, efficiency, and the wellbeing of the
employees are supported.
Organizational psychology covers a wide spectrum, which is
from the time a person starts to work in the organization up to
when they retire. The purpose of this essay is to analyze
organizational psychology, the history, theories, and the
relationship it has with other areas, among other considerations.
Also, a study is done on how human resource management is
incorporated into the organizational setup.
History of Organizational psychology
It is an academic discipline, and the area of practice has become
more and more useful in the working life of individuals in
organizations and creating a proper work environment. This is a
field that involves the identification of issues in an
organization, obtaining the effects, and finding solutions for the
problems using data obtained for research. The main focus is on
the attitude and behavior of individuals in the workplace. Some
important outcomes that are required out of an employee from
psychology are; understanding the attitude of the employee and
controlling their behavior.
Organizational psychology is made up of two pillars. One of the
pillars is fitting a man to the job, and the other is fitting the job
to a man. The first pillar implies that an individual needs to
attain the skills and knowledge required for the task in the
organization while the second pillar implies that the job is
designed in a way that the individual assigned the task can
manage it without difficulties. The job can have tolls and
equipment necessary to handle the task that cannot be handled
by the use of hands.
Industrial and organizational psychology comes in from the fact
that there was a need to understand individual differences in an
organization and assess the differences. History can be traced

3. back to world war one when there was a need to assess the work
performance of individuals before they were sent to their place
of work. In the process, the army alpha test was created. After
the war, the European and U.S. nations proceeded with their
industrial activities and productions, where the tests started to
be used more often (Collette & Miller, 2016). The human
relations movement was later on established to take into
consideration the emotions of workers, motivation, job
satisfaction, and interviews to be held one to one.
New problems arose during World War II resulted to the
advance of industrial/organizational psychology. Before new
people were recruited for different technological tasks in the
military, the evaluation was conducted to test the abilities of the
individuals (Collette & Miller, 2016). Testing was done
regarding intelligence, morale, and fatigue during their work in
the taskforce. After the end of world war II, testing was
conducted regarding the stability and productivity of the
soldiers to know if they were fit to work in the civil workforce.
It was a demand from the employers as they wanted an
unstoppable workforce, and to reduce conflicts. The
development of organizational psychology was due to the need
to understand the workers to know why there were stoppages,
unrest, and conflicts in work after they returned from war.
The transformation of an old industrial psychology to the
modern one happened in the 1960s. The transformation was
mainly from the concentration of individual behavior to the
analysis of group behavior to understand the nature of the
employees. The word organizational was added in the year
1973, whereby emphasis was on the fact that when people are
employed, they become subject to the common goal set by the
organization and the need to accomplish it. In the UK, during
the 1970s, industrial/organizational psychology was otherwise
termed as occupational psychology, and in the 1990s, it was
known as business psychology.
Relationship with other areas of Psychology
The difference between industrial and organizational

4. psychology is that industrial psychology deals with the use of
statistical and psycho-metric tools, together with research tools
to establish a system of employing that is unbiased. Also, there
is job analysis and design to ensure that the employees’
performance at the job is high, and they are well trained to
ensure development. On the other hand, organizational
psychology has its focus on the relationships between
individuals in the organizations, and the differences between
people in the organization and how it influences the
development of the organization. Also, it deals with team
building, leadership, development, and motivation among the
employees.
Psychology is also divided into other fields, such as basic,
applied, and behavioral psychology. Basic psychology deals
with the study of human behavior, including memory, attitude,
and personality. On the other hand, applied psychology deals
with the application of the concepts and interventions whereby
experiments are conducted on the effective use of the theories.
Therefore, all the classifications of psychology can be related to
organizational psychology because the skills are utilized in the
organization for effective development.
Factors that distinguish the field of industrial/organizational
psychology from other fields include population, problems, and
procedures. The population does determine not only the effect
of behavior in work but also the effect of
industrial/organizational psychology on population. Problems
go in line with behavior and the including leadership,
communication, and social interactions. Another factor is
procedures and techniques that are used to measure the work as
a whole (Pratt & Bonaccio, 2016).
Psychological Theories
In organizational psychology, the behavior of the employees is
a result of need. If their need is satisfied, then they can be
motivated to perform well at work. Various theories are related
to the motivation of individuals in the organization. The
theories include Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg’s

5. Two Factor Theory.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham H. Maslow established the theory, and the theory is
well known and in use in many organizations. The theory
includes Murray’s system of needs that are organized
hierarchically. Murray’s study of needs was on a broad
perspective, which implies that needs drive human nature. The
needs trigger the action and behavior of people. Maslow then
took the list created by Murray and established it in a
hierarchical manner whereby need was placed as the most
important factor that drives human behavior. The hierarchy is in
such a way that needs are arranged, and he concludes that need
flows from one level to another; therefore, implying that one
need satisfaction leads to another level of need (Arikkök, 2017).
Thus, one need needs to be satisfied before another need arises,
and as needs are satisfied, the level of satisfaction reduces,
which leads to the development of other needs.
Maslow mentions five basic needs that need to be satisfied,
which are physiological, belonging, love and safety, esteem/
respect, and the need for self- actualization. Here, the
psychological needs are the lowest that need to be satisfied
before the rest. On the other hand, self-actualization is at the
top of the pyramid. The lower level needs need to be satisfied
before moving on to the next level.
Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
The theory was proposed by Frederick Herzberg, who was a
great thinker of motivational theory. It states that two
motivational factors affect their satisfaction. In the year 1959, a
study was conducted using 200 engineers and accountants as
subjects (Arikkök, 2017). Their experiences were analyzed at
their respective jobs, which were both negative and positive.
Their job attitudes were analyzed using results. A two-factor
theory was established from there, which includes motivators
and hygiene factors.
The theory is based on quantitative data, which makes it more
recognized compared to the other theory. Motivators are the

6. factors that affect the job performance of employees in the
organization. They can be factors such as good work
relationships among people and the employer. The hygiene
factors include proper working environments, salary, and
policies, among other factors. The two factors are the ones that
determine the productivity of people. If people are paid well for
their work, they will be motivated to work well and have a
positive impact and development in the organization.
Research Methods
There are two different levels of research approaches that are
used in industrial/organizational psychology, namely general
and operational levels. The general level involves different
research methods such as scientific, inductive and deductive
reasoning, hypothesis testing, problem statement, study design,
among others. The operational level includes the manipulation
of variables, methods, measurements, sampling procedures,
statistical methods, and conclusion, among others.
The research process involves two methods of data collection,
which are qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative methods
involve the use of rating scales, questionnaires, and they rely on
tests. Also, there is the use of psychological measurements, and
numerous results are obtained. Qualitative methods, on the
other hand, rely on observations, events, narrative descriptions,
interviews, analyzing written documents, and diagrams (Pratt &
Bonaccio, 2016).
Psychologists in industrial/organizational psychology utilize
statistics as a way of describing the data collected in their
research. There are variables of study which can be dependent
and independent. The work of the researcher is to analyze the
data to see if there is any relationship between the variables
using statistical methods. Some of the statistical methods used
include central tendency, mean inference, multivariate analysis,
regression, and sampling distribution, among other methods
(Pratt & Bonaccio, 2016).
Also, the researchers must develop a hypothesis that is used for
inference. There is a null and alternative hypothesis. Therefore

7. the researcher needs to understand the different statistical
methods and how to make conclusions based on the results
obtained during the analysis.
Empirical Studies
(Gloss et al., 2017) in the article study to establish whether
industrial/organizational psychology has some form of bias
towards people who are free from poverty. It is a qualitative
study that involves the analysis based on other researches. In
the workplace, people who come from poor backgrounds lack
skills enough to qualify for jibs because of a lack of proper
education. The people with higher positions tend to earn more
compared to other workers because of the levels of their jobs.
The researchers utilize the data to study how poverty is
involved in industrial/organizational psychology. Therefore, the
welfare of the people living in the poverty level should be
considered to avoid the existence of bias in the workplace.
(Oswald et al., 2017) explains the impact of big data and
artificial intelligence use in industrial/organizational
psychology and HRM. Psychology and human resource
management can benefit from the use of technology in the
organization to analyze data. Also, human welfare will be
improved by enabling the use of technology because people will
have more social time in their lives. For people to perform well
in organizations, they need a work-life balance that ensures that
they are not too rooted to work. People also need some time off
work to work on their personal lives. Also, the health of
individuals in the organization needs to be a priority because it
affects their performance and productivity (Grand et al., 2018).
Occupation
I would like to enter human resource management to work as a
director in the organization. A human resource director works to
ensure that the personnel in the workforce and the work done
runs smoothly. Also, the director ensures that programs run
effectively and efficiently towards the achievement of the set
objectives in an organization. Some of the duties that the
director has to conduct is supervising the HR personnel, solving

8. disputes among employees, helping with the development of
employees, helping workers attain satisfaction, implementation
of strategies, maintaining the records of the employees,
budgeting for the organization, and seeing the needs of the
employees (Human Resources, 2020). The director is like the
one who runs the activities in the organization and the one who
makes sure that employees are satisfied with their needs.
Some of the skills that an HRM director requires are excellent
communication skills, being ethical in the workplace, having
knowledge in labor regulation, a strategic thinker, interpersonal,
and organizational skills. Also, one must have skills and
knowledge in HR to ensure that they are fit for the task. As a
human resource director, one has the ability to recruit and
remove any employee that does not comply with the set rules
and regulations. Therefore, for the organization to develop, the
director needs to ensure that any person that is employed has
the skills to conduct the activities set.
An HR director oversees the behavior of the workers in an
organization. There is a need for equality and the avoidance of
discrimination among workers. The people that work in the
organization need to be compliant and adhere to rules. They
need to coordinate work to ensure that work is well done and
the goals of the organization are met. Industrial/organizational
psychology deals with the behavior and wellbeing of the
workers. Also, the goals of the organization are met, and the
working environment is sufficient and safe for all the involved
individuals. Also, motivators need to be included in the
environment as well as enough salary for the employees to
increase their performance and productivity.
Curricular and Extracurricular Activities
The class materials and course materials have helped me attain
the knowledge needed to work in the HRM job environment.
The materials have helped in the attainment of the required
skills and communication skills needed for the department.
These are some of the stated skills needed to work in the
department. Also, learning materials have helped in

9. understanding the psychological skills necessary in
industrial/organizational psychology. Also, the knowledge
attained during the industrial helped in achieving interpersonal
skills. Interacting with other workers in the organization helps
understand what people think of their work and their behavior.
Also, the industrial attachment helps exercise the knowledge
attained in class in the field. The communication skills learned
and how to achieve organizational culture and behavior in class
can be put in practice. Therefore, the knowledge and skills
attained are necessary for the job description and are enough to
work as an HRM director in an organization to help in the
development and attainment of the set goals.
Conclusion
Industrial/organizational psychology has evolved over the years
and has been in use in many organizations. The support has
increased; many people have grown to support the idea. It
includes research and practice. Industrial/organizational
psychology helps establish how individuals in the organization
behave and how the functions conducted in the organization can
be done with positivity and in a clear environment. It also helps
in the formation and operation of HRM. For an organization to
be well conducted there is a need for a strong human resource
management team. The director is in charge of ensuring that the
activities are well conducted. The roles and skills needed by an
HR director have been discussed in the paper and how they help
in organizational development. There is a need for an
organizational psychology program that helps in running the
organization. Ensuring that employees and the employer have a
positive relationship can help the organization develop. Also,
organizational culture needs to be implemented to eliminate
discrimination. People with disabilities can have a special place
of work, and color should not be considered. Ensuring equality
and motivation helps the employees work well and attain job
satisfaction. Also, maintaining a work-life balance can help
make the workers perform well in the work environment and
ensure high productivity.

10. References
Arikkök, M. (2017). Organizational Psychology. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316460246_Organizati
onal_Psychology
Collette, T., & Miller, R. L. (2016). A short history of
industrial/organizational psychology. Psychological Specialties
in Historical Context, 394.
Gloss, A., Carr, S. C., Reichman, W., Abdul-Nasiru, I., &
Oestereich, W. T. (2017). From handmaidens to POSH
humanitarians: The case for making human capabilities the
business of IO psychology. Industrial and Organizational
Psychology, 10(3), 329-369.
Grand, J. A., Rogelberg, S. G., Allen, T. D., Landis, R. S.,
Reynolds, D. H., Scott, J. C., ... & Truxillo, D. M. (2018). A
systems-based approach to fostering robust science in
industrial-organizational psychology. Industrial and
Organizational Psychology, 11(1), 4-42.
(Human Resources) HR Manager job description sample:
Workable. (2020, February 3). Retrieved from
https://resources.workable.com/hr-manager-job-description
Oswald, F. L., Behrend, T. S., Putka, D. J., & Sinar, E. (2017).
Big Data in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and Human
Resource Management: Forward Progress for Organizational
Research and Practice. Annual Review of Organizational
Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 7.
Pratt, M. G., & Bonaccio, S. (2016). Qualitative research in IO

11. psychology: Maps, myths, and moving forward. Industrial and
Organizational Psychology, 9(4), 693-715.
Professional Planning Portfolio Instructions
Portfolio
You will create a professional planning portfolio that contains a
Core section—completed by all students—and either an
Employment section or a Graduate School section, depending
upon your post-baccalaureate plans. The final section of your
portfolio will be a copy of your review paper, which has been
corrected according to the feedback you received from your
instructor.
The Core section will contain the following documents:
· Document 1 - A personal statement describing your immediate
and long-term career and life goals, including an explanation of
why these goals are appropriate and realistic in terms of your
curricular, extracurricular, professional, and personal
experiences
· Document 2- Students will write a paper reflecting upon their
educational experiences within their psychology program
journey, using the Program Goals as an organizational
paradigm. That means you will organize your paper using the
Goals. Sections of the body of the paper will correspond to the
Goals. This paper should include thoughts regarding successes
and challenges, new insights, and personal transformations.
This should be at a deep level rather than a surface mention.
You must address each of the Program Goals which are
displayed below and discuss how you have specifically met that
goal, referencing courses, papers and concepts. List the Program
Goal verbatim (with proper citation) and then address each
component to receive maximum points. The reflective paper
will be 7 to10 pages, double-spaced, not including the expected
title and reference pages. APA Style is expected and you must
reference yourself when quoting from past papers. Only

12. academic/scholarly sources should be used. You should
organize it by the Program Goals and use headings per the APA
Manual.
UMGC Psychology Program Goals
· Apply major concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical
findings, and historical trends in psychology to prepare for
graduate studies or careers in which psychological training is
relevant.
· Apply basic knowledge of research methodology, statistics,
measurement, guidelines, ethical standards, laws, and
regulations in order to design, participate in and to evaluate
research in a variety of contexts.
· Apply knowledge of human behavior to inform personal
growth, communicate effectively, solve problems, make
decisions and interact with individuals, communities, and
organizations.
· Use critical and creative thinking, skeptical inquiry, and where
possible appropriate technology and the scientific approach to
solve problems related to current and emergent trends within the
domains of psychology.
· Value diversity and different perspectives, tolerate ambiguity,
and act ethically to communicate appropriately with various
sociocultural and international populations.
· Document 3 - A current, accurate, and professional-appearing
resume or curriculum vitae
· Document 4 - Choose one of either the employment section or
graduate school section described below:
1. The Employment section will contain the following
documents:
· The results of a computerized job search that yielded at least
three job possibilities and a brief report that explains why each
of these programs is appropriate for you based on your

13. immediate and long-term career and life goals as described in
the first section of this portfolio.
· A professional-appearing cover letter that can be modified for
specific job applications
· A template or model letter that can be used to request letters
of recommendation for an employment opportunity.
1. The Graduate School section will contain the following
documents:
· Results of a search for appropriate graduate programs that
yielded at least three possible programs and a brief report that
explains why each of these programs is appropriate for you
based on your immediate and long-term career and life goals as
described in the first section of this portfolio.
· A professional appearing personal statement that can be
modified for specific graduate programs
· A template or model letter that can be used to request letters
of recommendation for graduate school.
· Document 5 - A revised copy of your Career Review Paper
from Week 3 of this course.