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INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:‘Hard’ Criteria and ‘Soft’ Criteria

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Introduction to Psychology ­PSY101
VU
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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Table of Contents:
  1. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?:Theoretical perspectives of psychology
  2. HISTORICAL ROOTS OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY:HIPPOCRATES, PLATO
  3. SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT:Biological Approach, Psychodynamic Approach
  4. PERSPECTIVE/MODEL/APPROACH:Narcosis, Chemotherapy
  5. THE PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH/ MODEL:Psychic Determinism, Preconscious
  6. BEHAVIORAL APPROACH:Behaviorist Analysis, Basic Terminology, Basic Terminology
  7. THE HUMANISTIC APPROACH AND THE COGNITIVE APPROACH:Rogers’ Approach
  8. RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY (I):Scientific Nature of Psychology
  9. RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY (II):Experimental Research
  10. PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT AND NATURE NURTURE ISSUE:Nature versus Nurture
  11. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT:Socio- Cultural Factor, The Individual and the Group
  12. NERVOUS SYSTEM (1):Biological Bases of Behavior, Terminal Buttons
  13. NERVOUS SYSTEM (2):Membranes of the Brain, Association Areas, Spinal Cord
  14. ENDOCRINE SYSTEM:Pineal Gland, Pituitary Gland, Dwarfism
  15. SENSATION:The Human Eye, Cornea, Sclera, Pupil, Iris, Lens
  16. HEARING (AUDITION) AND BALANCE:The Outer Ear, Auditory Canal
  17. PERCEPTION I:Max Wertheimer, Figure and Ground, Law of Closure
  18. PERCEPTION II:Depth Perception, Relative Height, Linear Perspective
  19. ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS:Electroencephalogram, Hypnosis
  20. LEARNING:Motor Learning, Problem Solving, Basic Terminology, Conditioning
  21. OPERANT CONDITIONING:Negative Rein forcer, Punishment, No reinforcement
  22. COGNITIVE APPROACH:Approach to Learning, Observational Learning
  23. MEMORY I:Functions of Memory, Encoding and Recoding, Retrieval
  24. MEMORY II:Long-Term Memory, Declarative Memory, Procedural Memory
  25. MEMORY III:Memory Disorders/Dysfunctions, Amnesia, Dementia
  26. SECONDARY/ LEARNT/ PSYCHOLOGICAL MOTIVES:Curiosity, Need for affiliation
  27. EMOTIONS I:Defining Emotions, Behavioral component, Cognitive component
  28. EMOTIONS II:Respiratory Changes, Pupillometrics, Glandular Responses
  29. COGNITION AND THINKING:Cognitive Psychology, Mental Images, Concepts
  30. THINKING, REASONING, PROBLEM- SOLVING AND CREATIVITY:Mental shortcuts
  31. PERSONALITY I:Definition of Personality, Theories of Personality
  32. PERSONALITY II:Surface traits, Source Traits, For learning theorists, Albert Bandura
  33. PERSONALITY III:Assessment of Personality, Interview, Behavioral Assessment
  34. INTELLIGENCE:The History of Measurement of Intelligence, Later Revisions
  35. PSYCHOPATHOLOGY:Plato, Aristotle, Asclepiades, In The Middle Ages
  36. ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR I:Medical Perspective, Psychodynamic Perspective
  37. ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR II:Hypochondriasis, Conversion Disorders, Causes include
  38. PSYCHOTHERAPY I:Psychotherapeutic Orientations, Clinical Psychologists
  39. PSYCHOTHERAPY II:Behavior Modification, Shaping, Humanistic Therapies
  40. POPULAR AREAS OF PSYCHOLOGY:ABC MODEL, Factors affecting attitude change
  41. HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY:Understanding Health, Observational Learning
  42. INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:‘Hard’ Criteria and ‘Soft’ Criteria
  43. CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY:Focus of Interest, Consumer Psychologist
  44. SPORT PSYCHOLOGY:Some Research Findings, Arousal level
  45. FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY:Origin and History of Forensic Psychology