Before moving to the question of particular field’s evolution, it is crucial to define it. I am going to discuss peculiarities of industrial/organizational psychology. “I/O psychology is an eclectic field that has borrowed concepts, ideas, techniques, and theories from many other disciplines” (Spector, 2012: 5). Along with the rapid technological progress, scientific fields have changed too. The origins of this science can be associated with the works of Herman von Helmholtz. He spread the idea of preserving human energy to find out if its levels in the current labor force were enough to the all-time growing needs of the industrial revolution. There is no wonder his studies became especially relevant when the Revolution began. John Locke in his turn assumed that personal sensory experience is the key to learning. This philosopher from Great Britain was sure that “logical thinking when mixed with sensory knowledge created a ground for civil society’s evolution and improvement” (Koppes and Pickren, 2007). One more world-known philosopher, Karl Marx, offered freedom as the basic concept for determining what it’s like to be a human. Marx supported the belief that people strived for freedom within capitalist environment as far as this political system made an attempt to cultivate a strong spurious sense of confidence of freedom in average laborers. German psychiatrist Emil Kraeplin presented original researches aimed to observe work performance. This man supposed that several gaps between physical and mental/spiritual performance took place. His studies were based on the conviction that laborers faced fatigue in both types of performance in alike ways through justifying work curve outcomes that displayed drops in production during the certain period of time. He thought it would be possible to minimize “fatigue over time via corresponding practice and coaching” (Koppes and Pickren, 2007). Another critical part in the evolution of industrial/organizational psychology is so-called experimental psychology. Perhaps, it even plays the major role in its development. The point is that “experimental psychology provides all principles and necessary techniques” (Spector, 2012). During the industrial revolution epoch, there were a few scientists who tried to use psychological theory within business sector and see the results. In particular, psychological testing was applied on the workers. Speaking about the US, all early studies in the field of industrial/organizational psychology were based on topics regarding worker’s individual behavior and organizational efficiency. As for the UK, those studies aimed high to define the “health conditions and fatigue of employees” (Spector, 2012). The first followed experimental psychologists in the USA were Hugo Munsterberg and Walter Dill Scott. They highlighted the basis of industrial/organizational psychology. One of their first combined works was focused on the application of psychology to assist in solving various organizational conflicts. These two scientists received a credit and authority for composing the first manual on the I/O psychology. The first book was called The Theory of Advertising by Scott; the second one as prepared by Munsterberg, and it was titled Psychology and Industrial Efficiency . Both countries started to implement the theories of industrial/organizational psychology when World War I arrived. It was a peculiar defensive reaction to the military actions and high demand for weapon, military skills, and special clothing. The tendencies were noticed in “private as well as the government sectors” (Spector, 2012). When the war ended, industrial/organizational psychology went on expanding into the majority of fields, especially associated with business and government.
“Scientists who dedicated their lives to industrial/organizational psychology accomplish a variety of tasks in a number of different setting” (Spector, 2012: 6). Those people are not exclusively psychologists or psychiatrists; they possess solid experience and knowledge in such areas as statistics, sociology, economics, marketing, management, history, etc. they often separate in different categories by their practice and research. Due to the fact the practice of this type of psychology is grounded on the scientifically gathered data, industrial/organizational psychology depends on qualitative and quantitative methods just as many other branches of science. Despite there is a couple of significant deviations in the classification of this kind of psychology, its representatives tend to perform jobs that belong to both organizational and industrial areas. The basic nuance is setting. I/O psychologists are often employed as professors and tutors in various higher educational institutions. They perform the majority of their researches there. Also, “practical psychologists adapt well in counseling companies, government, federal institutions, private firms, and military” (Spector, 2012). This type of psychology may be defined as an independent science as far as research is the basic procedure run by scientists. I/O researches have proved that the main contribution of this activity to the overall science is the elaboration of processes applied to choose and coach workers. Research in terms of I/O psychology is applied in order to make decisions regarding organizational moments: from employee turnover to workplace behaviors and culture. The entire data obtained from studies is placed in basic academic/scientific journals and publications established by solid scientific organizations where young practitioners can access the required information retrieved from annual conferences.
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Such type of psychologists applies various research techniques that require knowledge and skills in the corresponding scientific fields. Many of these applied methods involve processes, approaches, and tools necessary to carry out empirical research (SOIP, 2013). The main approaches to scientific method, “inductive and dedctive reasoning, setting research questions, formulating thesis statement, offering hypothesis, constructing research design, and nature of constructs form serve as the ground for industrial/organizational psychologists” (Spector, 2012). In addition, industrial and organizational psychology representatives don’t forget about statistical approaches to conducting in-depth analysis of the information obtained from the empirical research. The procedure consists of inferential and descriptive methods. In addition, parametric and non-parametric techniques are in place. The way I/O professionals estimate main trends, variability, apply sampling/distribution techniques, and plot the results prove that industrial/organizational psychology is really a science.
Both World Wars forced American associations to being using the help of industrial/organizational psychology experts. US organizations required this cooperation to solve appearing employee problems connected with productivity and overall psychological condition. As for the situation in the UK, the country’s government and corresponding entities were also interested in “raising the efficiency and general working conditions” (Spector, 2012). This epoch noticed the peak of I/O psychology’s progress: a number of consulting agencies appeared. The first one is still known as the American Company Psychological Corporation founded by James McKeen Cattell. One more crucial push for the development of this science was the Hawthorn research conducted in the course of long 10 years. “Western Electric Company took part in those studies” (Spector, 2012). The studies concentrated on the environmental nuances of the workplace. “Such issues as the brightness of lights and humidity impact were discussed” (Franke, and Kaul, 1978). Later studies were also covering such alarming signs as organizational leadership, interpersonal conflicts, authorities, and working schedule. The main factors that shaped the evolution of industrial/organizational psychology were the passage of” the Civil Rights Act and Americans with Disabilities Act” (Spector, 2012). Moreover, research of the area has resulted in the useful data that led to serious improvements in the standards of the working conditions, staff satisfaction rates, professional training, and overall productivity.
References
Franke, R., and Kaul, J. (1978). The Hawthorne Experiments: First Statistical Interpretation . American Sociological Review, Vol. 43 (October): 623-643.
Koppes, L., and Pickren, W. (2007). Industrial and Organziational Psychology . Retrieved from http://uwf.edu/skass/orgpsy_files/articles/Historical%20perspectives1.pdf
SIOP (2013). Retrived from http://www.siop.org/history/crsppp.aspx
Spector, P. E. (2012). Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Research and Practice (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
