INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:â€˜Hardâ€™ Criteria and â€˜Softâ€™ Criteria

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Introduction to Psychology PSY101

Lesson 42

INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

· The branch of psychology that investigates the psychology of the workplace.

· Industrial/organizational psychologists use the scientific methods and knowledge for studying

the affects, cognitions, and behaviors of people in the work settings.

Major focus of interest

How best to fit the right person to a given job.

How best to fit the job to the person

How best to fit the right person to a given job

What does "doing a good job," mean?

Personnel selection: How to select people who do the job well?

Training: How to train them so that they do the job well?

Motivation: How to motivate them so that they do the job well?

How best to fit the job to the person?

Quality of work life

Job satisfaction

Worker safety

Fitting the right person to the job

It involves the following:

a. Job analysis

b. Personnel selection

c. Personnel training

d. Worker's motivation

a. Job analysis

The first step in selecting the right person for a job is to do a job analysis.

Job analysis is to prepare a specific description of a job. It encompasses the qualities and

behaviors required of a person to do the job properly.

It is "the systematic study of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a job and the knowledge,

skills, and abilities needed to perform it" (Riggio, 1990).

The purpose of job analysis is to find the best person for the job.

For this we have to be very clear about the requirements of the job.

Also, these requirements have to be translated into specific measurable behaviors.

A complete job analysis is a two-step process

Step 1

Preparing a detailed description of what a person to be selected for a particular job is expected to

do.

· The job analysis has to be specific.

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Instead of stating general duties it should describe actual behaviors that the person has to

perform.

In general the duties and the responsibilities have to be specified.

Step 2

Determining the performance criteria needed for the proper performance of a job.

The specified duties and responsibilities have to be translated into measurable personal

characteristics.

Here, the Industrial/Organizational psychological has to outline the exact behaviors and

characteristics that a person ought to have in order to perform the job in the best possible

manner.

`Hard' Criteria and `Soft' Criteria

Hard Criteria

These are the objective criteria.

These criteria are obtained from the available data e.g. salary, number of units sold, number of

absentees etc.

Soft Criteria

These are the subjective criteria.

Soft criteria have a personal touch and require a degree of judgment i.e., sense of humor,

congeniality, creativity etc.

For example the best student of your college may be selected on the basis of her grades, or her

interaction with fellow students, or both i.e., soft as well as hard criteria.

b. Personnel Selection

Once job analysis is complete, the next task is to select the right person for the job.

Personnel selection includes:

Devising ways of selecting the best applicant.

Making decisions regarding retention.

Making decisions regarding promotion.

Making decisions regarding termination.

Personnel Selection: Functions of an Application Form

It can be a rough screening device.

It can supplement, or provide cues for, interviewing.

The information contained in the application form may be used as a predictor of future

performance e.g. academic record and job history can be indicative of a person's ability and

potential.

Personnel Selection: Employment Interview

· Employment interviews can be structured or unstructured.

· Structured interviews are preferred over the unstructured interviews.

· These consist of carefully phrased, prescribed, uniform, and fixed-ordered questions for all

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applicants.

Structured interviews are considered more valid than the unstructured ones.

Personnel selection: Use of Psychological Tests

· At times the data obtained through application form and interviews may need to be

supplemented by psychological assessment.

Intelligence, ability, aptitude, achievement, or personality tests may be used.

The tests of cognitive functioning (e.g. ability or achievement) have been found to be most

useful.

The use of I.Q tests for screening purposes is an issue of dispute.

c. Training the Selected Personnel

Proper training is a requirement and a partial guarantee that the selected person will do the job

well

Training refers to a systematic and intentional process of altering the behaviors of employees

to increase organizational effectiveness (Gerow, 1997).

ASSESSING TRAINING NEEDS

GOLDSTEIN'S (1986, 1989) SYSTEM

Assess

instructional needs

Derive

Develop evaluation

training/learning

criteria

objectives

Select training

method and media

Pretest trainees

Conduct training

Monitor training

Evaluate training

Evaluate transfer

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Evaluating training Effectiveness

It can be done in various ways;

Taking trainees' ratings

Assessment by the organization i.e., measuring effectiveness with reference to training

objectives

d. Workers' Motivation

Workers' motivation affects efficiency and productivity of the organization.

A team comprising unmotivated workers will not be able to attain the desired goals.

Motivation to Work

For an organizational psychologist, what motivates a person to carry on or not his work is

much dependent on three explanations. They are;

Need theories

Cognitive theories and

Reinforcement theories

Need theories are primarily based upon Maslow's hierarchy of needs in which the most basic needs are

easily fulfilled while complex needs may be difficult to meet or may remain unfulfilled.

In order for higher order needs to be met; the basic and lower level needs have to be met first.

When this theory relates to work, it maintains that initially workers are more concerned with

salary and job security but when these requirements are met, and then they move towards the

more sophisticated and complex needs.

In this way workers strive to fulfill their requirements by doing work

Cognitive Theories of Work Motivation

Theories that focus on the cognitive aspects of motivation; i.e. about the job and the work

place as the motivational force

How people think, feel, understand and expect about the job are the cognitions that affect

motivation.

Expectancy Theory

Workers make logical choices to do what they believe will result in their attaining outcomes of

highest value.

Equity Theory

Workers are motivated to match their inputs and outcomes with those of fellow workers in

similar positions.

This can be assumed to have a basis in vicarious learning.

Reinforcement Theories of Work Motivation

The theory is based on the learning principles and maintains that motivation is increased or

decreased by the level and type of reinforcement that is given to the workers

Positive reinforcement increases in production or optimal production

Punishment suppresses motivation.

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No reinforcement discourages motivation.

Goal setting as a motivational technique

Setting goals can motivate workers:

Set difficult but achievable goals.

Goals should be specific and focused rather than general and vague.

Feedback regarding achievement of goals should be regularly provided.

Employees should be aware of the specific goals, and should accept them as reasonable.

Cultural concerns should be kept in mind.

In collective cultures, where working together is practiced, involvement in goal setting is more

important than in individualistic cultures.

Fitting the Job to the Person

Molding the job and the workplace in such a way that workers put in optimal efficiency and

productivity.

Job Satisfaction

An attitude toward or a collection of positive feelings about, one's job or job experience

Factors of Job Satisfaction:

· In job satisfaction, decision- making is very important.

· Usually two types of decision- making may take place:

Decentralized decision- making and

Centralized decision- making

In decentralized decision- making the power extends throughout the organization

In centralized decision- making power and authority rests in the hands of just few individuals

at the top

Job satisfaction is higher in organizations following decentralized decision-making.

Some Facts about job Satisfaction

Younger workers tend to be more dissatisfied with their job.

Older workers are more jobs dissatisfied by the end of their careers.

There are no significant gender differences in terms of job satisfaction.

There is a positive relationship between job satisfaction and perceived level or status of one's

job.

Nature and Type of Job and Job Satisfaction

It depends on two things

Job clarity

The rules and what is being expected of the person from the particular job are explicit to the

worker.

Role conflicts

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It has a negative effect on job satisfaction.

It arises when the person is unable to perform the job adequately and optimally because the roles

and responsibilities are not clearly defined.

Role conflict may make it easier to hide mistakes.

But it also leaves little room for one's contribution being clearly identified.

Ways of Enhancing Job Satisfaction

Industrial and organizational psychologists are concerned with ways of enhancing job

satisfaction, as it is beneficial both for the organization and the workers.

There can be three main approaches to affecting job satisfaction:

Changing the job

Changing the person in the job

Matching the person to the job

Worker Safety

Job satisfaction can be improved if the organization is concerned about he safety and security

of the workers, and the workers are also aware of the fact.

Practical and explicit steps toward maintaining employees' protection have a positive effect.

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