Industrial Organizational Psychology in the Work Place, Essay Example

Archival Description of Industrial and Organizational Psychology is a scholarly article because it is derived from the American Psychological Association in 2009 which is a reputable association known for printing credible information and the year printed is current. The article describes the occupation of an Industrial Organizational Psychologist and the level of education needed to obtain a position in this field. The article further describes the applications of the position and the scope of the work as an IOP. A degree in Industrial Organizational Psychology is offered at the doctorate level with the expectation of using the degree in the workplace to focus on the competency levels of ethics, legal and professional practises. The studies are focused on the foundations of psychological science that include (a) biological bases of behaviour, (b) cognitive-affective bases of behaviour, (c) social bases of behaviour, and (d) individual differences.” (“Archival Description of Industrial and Organizational Psychology”). A person studying in this field should also have a strong background with research, behavioural, psychological and statistical studies in order to support the doctorate degree. The studies are further focused on consulting, business, human attitudes and behaviours, consumer attitudes, individual, group and work ethics within an organization. Work motivation, leadership theory, training, program development and program design are also taught as a secondary to the main psychological core subjects.

Psychological applications to business are the key subjects of focus for this degree. Secondary subjects of focus include business, labour and industrial relations, physiology, medicine and arbitration and contract negotiations. Having practical knowledge and applications of these subjects are essential to using this degree in industry. Psychologist with a degree of this calibre can work for private and public agencies in the capacity of a coach, human resource planner, team development manager, validation and procedure specialist, performance and procedure specialist and other positions. He/she can also conduct research for the community, government or private sector organizations. “He/she can also work for quasi bodies in regard to psychological principles in the workplace.” (“Archival Description of Industrial and Organizational Psychology”). In a governmental role a psychologist with this type of degree is trained to recognize the impact of laws on the citizens and how the changes of laws affect the workforce environment. Further a person can assess the impact of employee turnover, lay-offs, reductions of force, restructuring, changes in technology and any other changes from within the company. They can make these assessments through assessment, intervention, consultation and evaluations.

Careers in Industrial Organizational Psychology is very informative as a secondary article to the first however the article is dated back to 2000 therefore is somewhat out of date. The source of the site is Westchester Pennsylvania University hence it is a credible and reliable source as any. The article focuses on the idea that this new field was booming in the year of 2000 and would be active until about the year 2008 because companies were interested in hiring employees with a psychology graduate degree in human resources to aid in hiring more desirable employees. It was believed that people with psychology degrees could ‘case a candidate’ better than those with business degrees. The article speaks of this higher degree being a positive for a person in the human resources field but not being a necessity. Further the article states that there are endless possibilities of employment for candidates with this degree. On the flip side, the article does not offer any explanation of what the other possibilities are for potential candidates to pursue with terms of employment other than human resources. This article gives extension to clinical, medical and environmental careers as you navigate to other pages on the site. The site also references ethical issues within the career. I especially like the links the site guides you to explore the many possibilities of careers one with a PhD degree could pursue after graduation. The idea that this article is referenced through a University makes the article easy to navigate.

What is Organizational Industrial Psychology speaks about the definition and application of this branch of psychology which is to apply the study of psychology to the workplace. This is very important because this increases productivity in the workplace by keeping employees’ healthy and happy. I/O psychologists spend their time “studying workers attitudes and behaviours in order to make a work place happy and free flowing.” (Wagner, 2009). This area of psychology is different because it is applied theory. This reference is not very scholarly because it simply states the definition of I/O and does not speak about the details of the theory. The source of the reference is Abouthow.com which is mediocre for validation. The source is informative but I would not use it to write a research paper.

The first two articles are very legitimate and valid. The third source was used for the purpose of comparing two credible sources to a not so credible source that could be mentioned but not quoted for the purpose of a research paper.

It is clear that a person with a PhD in I/O can work in many capacities but they can work as social worker, psychologists amongst other things. Whist working as an I/O they can presumably increase work production because they are able to probe what the worker wants and what the employee needs from the worker. Through a ‘meeting of the minds’ the psychologist can accomplish the best game plan to make the company productive through the achievements of work productivity. A happy worker will be a productive worker. A disgruntled worker will not work at his/her maximum potential. PhD graduates typically earn $55,000 a year out of college and professors typically earn $75,000 a year. In the private sector an I/O can earn as much as $100,000. (Wagner, 2009).

The third article gives reference to great potential on the earning capacity of I/O’s which is informative to the college student wanting to endeavour into this field of study. But for research on the capacity of an I/O to turn your company’s productivity around this research article is not productive. This article is educational based and rather informative rather than theoretically based.

If you are seeking information on whether to study I/O the last article would be very informative. Whereas if you are seeking research on how to apply the use of an I/O to your business to increase productivity the first and second would be of best application.

References

Archival Description of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (2009) Retrieved December 10, 2009 from, http://www.apa.org/crsppp/io.html

Careers in Industrial Organizational Psychology (2000) Retrieved December 10, 2009 from, http://www.wcupa.edu/_Academics/sch_cas.psy/Career_Paths/Industrial/Career06.htm

Wagner, K. (2009) What is Industrial Organizational Psychology? (2009) Retrieved December 10, 2009 from, http://psychology.about.com/od/iopsychology/f/organizational.htm