Industrial psychology

Industrial
Psychology
Dr. JITENDRA KUMAR
(Assistant Professor)
Department of Basic Science & Humanities
Pranveer Singh Institute of Technology (PSIT)
Kanpur (U.P.) India 1

UNIT I
Introduction to
Industrial Psychology
Dr. Jitendra Kumar, PSIT, Kanpur (U.P.) 2

TOPICS
 Nature & Scope of Industrial Psychology
 Scientific Management
 Human Relations Approaches & Hawthorn
Experiments
 Implication of Industrial Psychology on
Modern industries
3Dr. Jitendra Kumar, PSIT, Kanpur (U.P.)

The term 'Industrial Psychology' is a combination
of two words:
1.Industrial
2.Psychology
1.Industrial: It is that part of social life whose
function is to provide civilized man with the
material goals that his condition of life demand.
2.Psychology: It is the science of behavior in
relation to environment.
Unit-I Introduction to Industrial Psychology

The word ‘Psychology’ comes from
the latin word, “Psychologia”.
Psychologia
Psycho logous
Mind Study

What is Industrial Psychology?
Industrial and organizational psychology
(also known as I–O psychology) is the
scientific study of human behavior in the
workplace and applies psychological
theories and principles to organizations and
individuals in their workplace.

In other words:
 Industrial Psychology is the
systematic study of the behaviour of
people at work.
 It studies how the social, industrial,
economic, political and other
factors affect the behaviour of the
people at work.

Some function & Goals of Industrial Psychology

Industrial
Psychology
Policy Planning
Employee Testing &
Selection
Training &
Development design
Improving
Management
Synthesizing work
style
Improving
workplace
productivity
Some function & Goals of Industrial Psychology

Characteristics of Industrial Psychology
Characteristics of
Industrial
Psychology
Systematic Study
( Study of human behaviour concerned
with collecting information)
Research
(Information gathered from the work
should be implemented)
Functional/ Applied
(Application of Information about
human behaviour)
Human Engineering
(various methods of performing
manual operations) 10Dr. Jitendra Kumar, PSIT, Kanpur (U.P.)

Key Pillars of Industrial Psychology
11
Dr. Jitendra Kumar, PSIT, Kanpur (U.P.)

Key Pillars of Industrial Psychology
Basic concepts and technique of industrial
psychology are based on the following key
principles:
1.Individual differences: A basic assumption on
which psychology is based that every person is
different from others in intelligence, aptitudes,
attitudes, personality, skills etc.
2.Causation of Human Behavior: IP assumes that
human behavior is caused. Therefore it is necessary
to understand the causes of behavior.

Contd…
3. Whole person: A person is a complete
system in himself. It is not possible to separate
mind & skills of a person.
4. Human dignity: A person has a mind to think
and a heart to feel. He has emotions,
sentiments and aspirations which have to be
respect by organization.

The main aim of Industrial Psychology are as
follows:
To investigate in an unbiased manner the way in
which psychological problems are handled at
present.
To develop new methods and to modify the
methods which have been tried out and evaluated.
To formulate certain principles which will help in
the solution of human relation problems.
Aims of Industrial Psychology

Scope of Industrial Psychology
Industrial Psychology
Personal
Psychology
Organizational
Psychology
Human
Engineering
It concerned with
analyzing jobs
It concerned with
analysis of
organization issues
It concerned with
adjustment of man
with machine
 Recruiting applicants
 Selecting employees
 Training employees
 Evaluate employee
performance
 Determining salary
levels
 Employee motivation
 Job satisfaction
 Group processes
 Leadership
 Conflict management
 Organizational
communication
 Layout of workplace
 Man-machine
adjustment
 Fatigue and boredom
 Industrial safety
 Stress management

Psychology is an extreme broad field, encompassing many
different approaches to the study of mental process and
behavior. The main application are as follows:
1.Scientific selection of worker
2.Proper division of work
3.Minimizing the wastage of Human efforts
4.Promoting labour welfare
5.Enhancement of Human relations
6.Development of human relation
Application of Industrial Psychology

1. Scientific selection of workers: IP offers a whole
arrangement of tests such as systematic depth
interviews and psychological tests of intelligence,
aptitude, skills, abilities and interest the personnel
characteristic etc.
 Benefit: By these tests candidates are measured and
properly selected and placed on the job.
2. Proper division of work: The work should be properly
divided according to the abilities, skills and aptitude of
the workers so they may feel comfortable and
satisfied.
1. Benefit: It may also lead higher production.

3. Minimizing the wastage of human efforts— IP
tries to minimize the wastage of human power. It
studies psychological factors causing fatigue or
accident and give feasible suggestions to prevent
them.
Benefit: The techniques of motivation and morale
are used for this purpose.
4. Promoting labour welfare—It promotes the
welfare of the labour by introducing adequate
working environment through which job
satisfaction, work efficiency increases and also state
the provisions of higher incentives.
Contd……..

Contd……..
 Benefit: Work efficiency increases and also state
the provisions of higher incentives.
5. Enhancement of human relations—Human
relations are the relation among individuals in
an organization and the group behavior that
emerge from their relations.
 Benefit: If workers' feel ease with the
surrounding then automatically they get
motivated and productivity will be higher.

Contd……
6.Developing industrial relations—Industrial
psychology studies the attitude of the employer and
employees. Individuals differ from each others in
their thoughts, thinking, behavior and other
parameters.
Benefit: This helps in developing industrial
relationship among workers' and management.

Contd……
American Psychologist Association, Division of Industrial
Psychology, The psychologist industry, Washington, D.C.,
1959 cited seven major areas which comprised the content
area of industrial psychology. These were:
(1) Selection and testing.
(2) Management development.
(3) Counseling.
(4) Employee motivation.
(5) Human engineering.
(6) Marketing research.
(7) Public relations research.

Major influences on industrial psychology are as
follows:
1. Scientific Management Approach
2. Human Relation Approaches
3. Administrative Approach
4. Behavioural Approach
Major influences on Industrial Psychology

 In general, scientific management is
defined as the use of the scientific
method to define the ‘one best way’
for a job to be done.
 The concept of Scientific
management was developed by
Frederick Winslow Taylor
(F.W.Taylor)
 Scientific Management is also called
Scientific Management

Frederick Winslow Taylor
(1856-1915)
“Father of Scientific
Management”
One of the first people to study
the behavior and performance
of people at work
His two most important books
on his theory are Shop
Management (1903) & The
Principles of Scientific
Management (1911).

Contd……
 Taylor (1856-1915) was an American
inventor and engineer that applied his
engineering and scientific knowledge to
management and developed a theory called
scientific management theory.

 Taylor was a foreman for the Midvale Steel
Company in Philadelphia from 1878 to 1890.
 Early in his management career, Taylor
observed that the workers under his
supervision engaged in soldiering—the practice
of deliberately working slower than one's
capabilities.
 Because the management of Midvale
Steel had little real knowledge about the
jobs performed in the plant, the practice
went mostly undetected.

Scientific management is a theory of
management that analyzes and
synthesizes workflows, with the
objective of improving labour
productivity.
According to Taylor:

Taylor gave the following principles which are the
cornerstone of scientific management:
1.Development and application of scientific methods in
place of ‘rule of thumb’.
2.Harmony between management & labour.
3.Cooperation with each other.
4.Maximum output in place of restricted output
5.Development of workers to their maximum efficiency
6.Equal division of responsibility between management &
labour.
Principle of Scientific Management

Implementation problems:
 Rather than sharing
performance gains with
workers through
bonuses, only increased
the amount of work that
each worker was
expected to do.
 Unhappy workers: more work
but same pay; increase in
performance meant fewer
jobs and greater layoffs;
dissatisfied with monotonous
and repetitive jobs.
Managers did not
care about the
workers’ well beings
Workers withheld job
knowledge to protect
their jobs and pay.
Workers develop
informal work rules
that discourage high
performance .

Techniques: Time-Motion Study
Work Study
Method Study
Work
Management
Motion Study Time Study
Higher ProductivityDr. Jitendra Kumar, PSIT, Kanpur (U.P.) 30

Contd…….
Time study was done by Frederick Winslow Taylor & Motion
study was done by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth.
Frederick Winslow Taylor Frank & Lillian Gilbreth

Time Study
This method is to determine the actual time for
performing a particular task.
Aims & Objective of Time Study
To create time consciousness among the workers.
To minimize and control the cost.
To set a fair hourly output standards for a worker.
To improve working conditions.
To use the standard time data so as to fix a fair
incentive wage plan.

Procedure of Time Study
Selection of work to be studied
Provide normal standardized methods, equipment & working condition
Selecting the average worker
Divide the job into small movements
Observe & Record the time consumed for repeat movements
Make adjustments if required
Fix the standard rate on the basis of above finding

Advantage:
It helps to measure the efficiency of each worker by
setting standards.
It helps in determining the ideal workload of different
categories of worker
It helps in setting of production schedules
It helps in making the effective incentive plans
It reduces the cost also.
Disadvantages:
It is not useful for repetitive job.
Standardization is not possible untill equipments,
products, materials, working condition all are standard.
Advantage & Disadvantage of Time
Study

According to Gilbreth, “Motion study is the science
of eliminating wastefulness resulting from using
unnecessary, ill-directed and inefficient motion”.
Motion Study
Aim of Motion study
To find and perpetuate the scheme of least wasteful
methods of labour.

1. Analysis of Therbligs
2. Micromotion
3. Principles of motion economy
1. Analysis of THERBLIGS
‘Therbligs’ are 18 kinds of elemental motions used
in the study of motion economy in the
workplace.
GILBRETH
Motion study can be divided into three components:

The therbligs are listed below:
Sl. No. Therbligs Sl. No. Therbligs
1 Search 10 Inspect
2 Find 11 Disassemble
3 Select 12 Release Load
4 Grasp 13 Transport Empty
5 Transport Loaded 14 Rest for overcoming Fatigue
6 Position 15 Unavoidable Delay
7 Pre-position 16 Avoidable delay
8 Assemble 17 Plan
9 Use 18 HoldDr. Jitendra Kumar, PSIT, Kanpur (U.P.) 37

2. Micromotion Study
 It is defined as “the fundamental elements of an
operation with the help of a high speed movie
camera in order to eliminate the unnecessary
motions involved in the operation & balancing
the necessary motion”.
 The elements are expressed in the units of TMU
(1 TMU= 0.036 Second).
 It enables greater detailing than eye observation
provides greater accuracy than pencil-paper and
stop watch technique.

3. Principles of Motion Economy
The law of motion economy suggest ways to do the
work with minimum fatigue and time.
According to Gilbreth, the laws of motion economy are:
Both hands should work and rest at the same time
Both hands should begin and complete their therblings at
the same instant.
Motion of arms should be in opposite and symmetrical
directions instead of in the same direction and should be
made simultaneously.
All materials and tools should be so located to permit
proper sequence

Advantages & Disadvantages of Motion Study
Advantages:
It leads to increase the production.
It increases the efficiency of workers by reducing fatigue
and manual labour.
It helps in to reduce the cost of the production.
It improves the working conditions.
Disadvantages:
It adversely affects the initiative and creativeness of workers.
It lays down a certain pattern of motions which, if employed task
become monotonous.
It does not take into consideration the differences in the efficiency
of various workers.

Motion Study vs Time Study
Basis of
Comparison
Motion Study Time Study
1. Meaning
It relates to watching and
recording the movements of
worker
It involves careful measurement
of time required to do the
different parts of a job
2. Nature
It is concerned with
minimization of movement of
operators
It is concerned with
increasing the productivity
to labour
3. Purpose
The purpose of motion study is
to determine the best way of
doing a job
The purpose of this study is
to determine fair day’s work
4. Technique
It is conducted with a
moving camera
It is conducted with a
stop watchDr. Jitendra Kumar, PSIT, Kanpur (U.P.) 46

 The Human Relations Movement began with
the Hawthorne Experiments.
 The Hawthorne studies, which were conducted by
Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger in the 1920s
with the workers at the Hawthorne plant of the
Western Electric Company, Chicago.
 This company faces the problems of workers
dissatisfaction, although they provide various
facilities like pension scheme, sickness benefits
etc., which resultant into loss of production.
Human Relation Approach
(HAWTHORNE EXPERIMENTS)

Contd…..
 Now, it became necessary a through investigation
of the problem of low productivity and to find
out the relationship between production and
various factors of efficiency.
 To find out the relationship between productivity
and working conditions a number of studies were
conducted by Professor Elton Mayo and his
researcher team which was started in 1924.

HAWTHORNE EXPERIMENTS
Conducted between: 1924-
1932
Conducted at:
WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, Chicago, USA
Conducted By:
Elton Mayo
White Head
Roethlisberger

George Elton Mayo
 He was an Australian Psychologist,
Sociologist and Organization Theorist.
 Lectured at University of Queensland
before moving to the University of
Pennsylvania
 Spent most of his career at Harvard
Business School and was the Professor of
Industrial Research
 Known as the founder of Human
Relations Movement

Fritz Roethlisberger
He was a Social Scientist and
Management Theorist
He was also the Professor of
Harvard Business School

Western Electric Company, Chicago
 Gray and Barton, a telephone industry
supply company founded in 1869 by
Elisha Gray and Enos Barton
 In 1872, the company changed its name
to the Western Electric Manufacturing
Company
 In 1881, when the annual sales had
already grown to nearly $1 million, the
firm was purchased by the American Bell
Telephone Company, it was renamed the
Western Electric Company and became
Bells manufacturing arm

The Hawthorne studies consist of four
phases:
Phase I : Experiment on Illumination (1924-27)
Phase II : Relay Assembly Test room Experiment
(1927-28)
Phase III : Mass Interviewing Programme (1928-30)
Phase IV : Bank wiring observation Room (1931-32)

 Hypothesis – With higher illumination
productivity increases.
 In this experiment researchers tries to find out
how varying levels of illumination affect the
efficiency of workers.
 This experiment was funded by General
electric.
 Conducted by The National Research Council
(NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences with
engineers from MIT.

Phase I : Experiment on Illumination (1924-27)

In this experiment worker divided into two groups.
First Group: Test group which were undergo
environmental changes
Second Group: It was control group. The members
of this group would work under normal, constant
environment condition.
First Group
Lightening Increases- Productivity
increases
Lightening Decreases- Productivity
increases
Second Group
Lightening at the workstation
of this group had not been
altered but productivity
increases as first group

Contd……
Result :
Higher worker productivity and satisfaction at all
light levels
Worker productivity was stopped with the light
levels reached moonlight intensity.
Conclusions:
Light intensity has no conclusive effect on output.
Productivity has a psychological component.

Hypothesis: Production would be higher if incentive
system was improved and work week become
shorter with rest & lunch periods.
For this experiment, the researchers set up
relay assembly test room & two experienced
workers were chosen. There experienced
workers were asked to choose four girls as co-
worker.
Phase II : Relay Assembly Test room Experiment (1927-28)

Contd……
Manipulated factors of production to measure
effect on output:
 Pay Incentives (Each Girls pay was based on the
other 5 in the group)
 Length of Work Day & Work Week (5pm, 4:30 pm,
4pm)
 Use of Rest Periods (Two 5 minutes break)
 Company Sponsored Meals (Morning Coffee & soup
along with sandwich)

Results:
Higher output and greater employee satisfaction.
Then after Researcher decided to go back to
the original position, with some other benefits.
After that it was founded that productivity
increased as earlier.

Conclusion
 The outcome implied that
productivity increases not because
positive changes but because of
changed attitude of the girls towards
work and their work group.
 Girls were developed a sense of
belongingness, responsibility,
stability and self discipline.

Women in the Relay Assembly Test room

Objective: To find out the employee attitudes
towards supervisor, company, wages, facilities,
promotion, moral etc.
Process:
The researcher interviewed a large number of
worker (21000 worker) with regard to their
opinions on work, work condition & supervision.
This method is done by two approaches:
1.Direct Approaches
2.Indirect Approaches
Phase III : Mass Interviewing programme (1928-30)

1. Direct Approaches:
 In this method interviewer asked questions
considered important by managers and
researchers.
2. Indirect Approaches:
 In this process interviewer simply listened to
what the workman had to say.

Results
 Giving an opportunity to talk and express
grievances would increase the morale.
 Complaints were symptoms of deep-rooted
disturbances.
 Workers are governed by experience obtained
from both inside and outside the company.
Conclusion:
 Employees behaviour was being influenced by
group behaviour.

Phase IV : Bank wiring observation Room (1931-32)
Objective: To find out exact information about
informal groups in plants & what are the factors
which influence output

Limited changes to work conditions
 Segregated work area
 No Management Visits
 Supervision would remain the same
 Observer would record data only – no interaction
with workers
 Small group pay incentive
Result:
No appreciable changes in output

Conclusion of Hawthorne Experiment
Following conclusion are as:
Work is a group activity
Environmental factors not the sole factors affecting
productivity
Worker is not an economic man (not purely motivated
by money alone)
Importance of recognition, security and morale
Importance of Informal group
Importance of total work situation
Complaints as symptoms
Group collaboration does not occur by accident, it must
be planned and developed.Dr. Jitendra Kumar, PSIT, Kanpur (U.P.) 70

Hawthorne Studies
Working of
Informal social
factor
Pay attention
to worker
Open
Communication
Increase Productivity

Criticism of Human Relation Approach
The human relation approach has been criticized
on the following grounds:
Invalid assumptions
Lack of Scientific validity
Limited Application
Limited focus on work
Over-concern with Happiness
Fragmented Approach

Lead ToPlanning Organizing Leading Controlling
Achieving
the
organizati
on goals
Defining goal,
establishing
strategy &
developing
sub plans to
co-ordinate
activity
Determining
what needs
to be done,
how it will be
done & who
will do it
Directing or
motivating all
involving
parties &
resolving
conflicts
Monitoring
activities to
ensure that
they are
accomplished
as plan
Scientific Management vs Human
Relation
73
Dr. Jitendra Kumar, PSIT, Kanpur (U.P.)

 In Today’s competitive environment Industrial
psychologist play a important role for betterment
of employees as well as industries.
 They play a vital role in reducing stress, anxiety,
monotony, boredom, fatigue etc. and increasing
motivation, morale, job satisfaction among
employees.
Implication of Industrial Psychology on modern Industries
Physical
environment of work
situation
Scientific & Clinical
studies of Individual
SHIFTED

These are the following implications:
1. Technological changes in workplace
2. Human engineering includes
designing as per the capabilities.
3. Recruitment & Selection
4. Training & Development of
employees
5. Safe & Healthy environment

Industrial psychology

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