Personnel psychology

Last updated October 11, 2023

Personnel psychology is a subfield of industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology .^[1] Personnel psychology is the area of I-O psychology that primarily deals with the recruitment, selection and evaluation of personnel, and with other job aspects such as morale, job satisfaction, and relationships between managers and workers in the workplace.^[2] It is the field of study that concentrates on the selection and evaluation of employees; this area of psychology deals with job analysis and defines and measures job performance, performance appraisal, employment testing, employment interviews, personnel selection and employee training, and human factors and ergonomics.^[1]

History

Twentieth Century

By the end of the nineteenth century, industrial, or personnel psychology, was developed as a way to understand work behavior.^[3] One influential figure in the beginning of this new area was Hugo Munsterberg, a German psychologist who was trained by Wilhelm Wundt and who also worked with William James.^[3]^[4] Munsterberg studied selection and fit in the workplace, and he proposed experimental methods as solutions to business problems in his text, Psychology and Industrial Efficiency (1913).^[3] He also served on the faculty at Harvard, and in his writings, talked about such topics as fit in a career, from both an employer's and employee's perspective.^[4] Walter Dill Scott, also trained by Wundt and a professor at Northwestern University, is credited with the foundation of I/O psychology, as he used such psychology in advertising and in founding the first personnel consulting firm.^[1]^[3]

Our aim is to sketch the outlines of a new science which is to intermediate between the modern laboratory psychology and the problems of economics: the psychological experiment is systematically to be placed at the service of commerce and industry.

Hugo Munsterberg, Psychology and Industrial Efficiency, p. 3.

World War I

The time around WW I brought about significant contributions to the field of industrial psychology. Robert Yerkes, along with Walter Van Dyke Bingham and Scott, headed the selection and placement of army personnel with their Army Alpha and Army Beta tests.^[1] These test helped to bring attention to testing as a form of selection and their uses in practical applications.^[3] This was the beginning of industrial psychology in the real world as opposed to the world of academia.^[1]

World War II

World War II was marked by much of the same needs as in World War I.^[3] Bingham and Yeakes helped out the military again in developing research programs designed to assess work behavior, including: the Army General Classification Test (AGCT), the Aircrew Classification Test Battery, assessment center methods, and performance appraisal methods.^[3] Post World War II advances were also seen in increased doctoral programs, master's degree programs, and the expansion of other already existing programs.^[3]

Twenty-first Century

As opposed to war defining most of the twentieth century and the use of the applied psychology, economics will be the main focus of the twenty-first century.^[1] Technology is ever changing and decreasing the number of jobs for individuals; organizations are also striving to "flatten" out in their attempts to move away from largely hierarchical companies, and one other changing area of the twenty-first century is the diversifying of the workplace.^[1] All these applications and areas will help to serve as importance for I/O psychology in the workplace and economic world.^[1]

Uses

Personnel psychology is used in a variety of ways. Some of the most important functions it serves range from analyzing corporate culture and individual and group interactions to developing and evaluating employee selection and appraisal techniques. Other areas of use are assessing corporate leadership and employee motivation strategies, identifying causes and resolutions to internal conflicts, advising management of the potential psychological and social impact of corporate policies, and researching ways organizations can effectively manage cultural differences and leadership styles.^[5]

Personnel psychologists work in a variety of settings, including education, business, community, and agency environments. Many personnel psychologists serve as human resources specialists, helping organizations with staffing, training, and employee development and management in areas such as strategic planning, quality management, and adjustments to organization changes. Personnel psychologists apply psychological theories and principles to organizations. This field focuses on increasing workplace productivity and related issues such as the physical and mental well-being of employees. Personnel psychologists use psychological measurement and research findings related to human abilities, motivation, perception, and learning in seeking to improve the fit between the needs of the work organization and those of the people who populate it.^[5]

Job Analysis

Job analysis can be defined as "A loose term for the study of particular aspects of a given job. Those aspects may range from the tasks and duties of the position, to an examination of the desirable qualities of an employee, to the conditions of employment including pay, promotion opportunities, vacations, etc.".^[6] There are many different ways to conduct a job analysis, as there are many different parts to it: job evaluation, job description, and job specifications.^[7] The most common tool used to measure job design is the Job Description Survey or JDS,^[8] but there is growing literature for other surveys and measures such as the Work Design Questionnaire or WDQ.^[8] Such analyses are used to determine "what is important" within the job description, so as to better educate companies and individuals on the descriptions and requirements of the job.^[9]

Selection

Selection involves the exchange of information between applicants and employers.^[10] Personnel selection involves the goal alignment of applicants and organizations, however those goals may not always line up at times. Thus selection processes are designed to ensure that those goals line up and individuals are the best "fit" for the organization. Thus individuals may be likely to adapt their own behavior to better align with an organization.^[10] Interviews are one of the most important pieces of information in regards to selection decisions.^[11] In the interviews, it is found that individuals are more likely to exhibit organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) in their hopes of being hired by the company, but it is also found that these OCBs play a positive role in the interviewer's evaluation of the individuals.^[11] Today, increases in technology have allowed for a much easier administration of such online tests as measures of aptitude, achievement, and personality. Thus these tests are starting to serve as the first hurdle of the selection process, even more so than the interview.^[12]

Training

Training relates to an organization giving an individual the skills, knowledge, and abilities to help put the individual in line with the organization's goal.^[13] Training provides the opportunity for the individual to gain personal, career, and job-related benefits, such as individual increases in job performance, better career relationships and objectives, and pride and job satisfaction.^[13] Research has also shown that the effectiveness of training has a relationship in how the work of an individual is organized.^[14] Organizations that allow employees more autonomy and freedom in how they do their work have shown that employees are more able to improve and incorporate training aspects into their work.^[14]

Rewards

One major approach to compensation around the world, is performance based pay.^[15] Short of job loss, income security is a major stressor for individuals as they stress out over predictability of income.^[15] In contrast, other research has also shown though that such pay systems can actual provide motivation, satisfaction, or desired challenge levels to the job, instead of individuals perceiving it is inequality, unfair, or stressful.^[15] Stable pay systems have been found to not necessarily be the best link between an individual's performance and his pay level. Stable pay levels can also account for decreases in performance as individuals' incomes are not linked with their performances. Thus these performance levels may drop without a perceived cost to their pay level.^[16] It has also been found that individuals who perceive a strong connection between their effort and reward are evaluated more highly and in turn have higher work satisfaction.^[17]

Feedback

Feedback has been defined as any response from the environment that helps to influence future actions, information that follows task performance, or information from others in the social world, whether it be approval or disapproval.^[2]^[18] A positive feedback culture is one in which individuals not only receive and solicit feedback for job performance improvement, but also use both formal and informal feedback as means to accomplish performance goals.^[19] Such an environment is created by an employee's direct supervisors and includes the quality and frequency of coaching and informal feedback delivery.^[19] Research has found publicly offering employees negative feedback may decrease positive affect and willingness to show organizational citizenship behaviors, and doing so, also increases tendencies to engage in more destructive forms of work behavior ^[20]

Related Research Articles

Industrial and organizational psychology "focuses the lens of psychological science on a key aspect of human life, namely, their work lives. In general, the goals of I-O psychology are to better understand and optimize the effectiveness, health, and well-being of both individuals and organizations." It is an applied discipline within psychology and is an international profession. I-O psychology is also known as occupational psychology in the United Kingdom, organisational psychology in Australia and New Zealand, and work and organizational (WO) psychology throughout Europe and Brazil. Industrial, work, and organizational (IWO) psychology is the broader, more global term for the science and profession.

A performance appraisal, also referred to as a performance review, performance evaluation, (career) development discussion, or employee appraisal, sometimes shortened to "PA", is a periodic and systematic process whereby the job performance of an employee is documented and evaluated. This is done after employees are trained about work and settle into their jobs. Performance appraisals are a part of career development and consist of regular reviews of employee performance within organizations.

Work design is an area of research and practice within industrial and organizational psychology, and is concerned with the "content and organization of one's work tasks, activities, relationships, and responsibilities" (p. 662). Research has demonstrated that work design has important implications for individual employees, teams, organisations, and society.

Applied psychology is the use of psychological methods and findings of scientific psychology to solve practical problems of human and animal behavior and experience. Educational and organizational psychology, business management, law, health, product design, ergonomics, behavioural psychology, psychology of motivation, psychoanalysis, neuropsychology, psychiatry and mental health are just a few of the areas that have been influenced by the application of psychological principles and scientific findings. Some of the areas of applied psychology include counseling psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, engineering psychology, occupational health psychology, legal psychology, school psychology, sports psychology, community psychology, neuropsychology, medical psychology and clinical psychology, evolutionary psychology, human factors, forensic psychology and traffic psychology. In addition, a number of specialized areas in the general area of psychology have applied branches. However, the lines between sub-branch specializations and major applied psychology categories are often mixed or in some cases blurred. For example, a human factors psychologist might use a cognitive psychology theory. This could be described as human factor psychology or as applied cognitive psychology. When applied psychology is used in the treatment of behavioral disorders there are many experimental approaches to try and treat an individual. This type of psychology can be found in many of the subbranches in other fields of psychology.

Job satisfaction, employee satisfaction or work satisfaction is a measure of workers' contentment with their job, whether they like the job or individual aspects or facets of jobs, such as nature of work or supervision. Job satisfaction can be measured in cognitive (evaluative), affective, and behavioral components. Researchers have also noted that job satisfaction measures vary in the extent to which they measure feelings about the job. or cognitions about the job.

Personnel selection is the methodical process used to hire individuals. Although the term can apply to all aspects of the process the most common meaning focuses on the selection of workers. In this respect, selected prospects are separated from rejected applicants with the intention of choosing the person who will be the most successful and make the most valuable contributions to the organization. Its effect on the group is discerned when the selected accomplish their desired impact to the group, through achievement or tenure. The procedure of selection takes after strategy to gather data around a person so as to figure out whether that individual ought to be utilized. The strategies used must be in compliance with the various laws in respect to work force selection.

A job interview is an interview consisting of a conversation between a job applicant and a representative of an employer which is conducted to assess whether the applicant should be hired. Interviews are one of the most common methods of employee selection. Interviews vary in the extent to which the questions are structured, from an unstructured and informal conversation to a structured interview in which an applicant is asked a predetermined list of questions in a specified order; structured interviews are usually more accurate predictors of which applicants will make suitable employees, according to research studies.

Transfer of training is applying knowledge and skills acquired during training to a targeted job or role. This is a term commonly used within industrial and organizational psychology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edwin A. Fleishman</span> American psychologist (1927–2021)

Edwin A. Fleishman was an American psychologist best known for his work in the field of industrial and organizational psychology. Among his notable achievements was a taxonomy for describing individual differences in perceptual-motor performance. The Fleishman Job Analysis Survey (F-JAS) that he developed under Management Research Institute has been cited 100 times since 1995. Additionally, Fleishman is the author of more than 250 research articles and journals.

Affective events theory (AET) is an industrial and organizational psychology model developed by organizational psychologists Howard M. Weiss and Russell Cropanzano to explain how emotions and moods influence job performance and job satisfaction. The model explains the linkages between employees' internal influences and their reactions to incidents that occur in their work environment that affect their performance, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. The theory proposes that affective work behaviors are explained by employee mood and emotions, while cognitive-based behaviors are the best predictors of job satisfaction. The theory proposes that positive-inducing as well as negative-inducing emotional incidents at work are distinguishable and have a significant psychological impact upon workers' job satisfaction. This results in lasting internal and external affective reactions exhibited through job performance, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Onboarding</span> Management jargon for introducing new employees to employers policies and practices

Onboarding or organizational socialization is the American term for the mechanism through which new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective organizational members and insiders. In standard English, this is referred to as "induction". In the United States, up to 25% of workers are organizational newcomers engaged in onboarding process.

Organizational behavior management (OBM) is a subdiscipline of applied behavior analysis (ABA), which is the application of behavior analytic principles and contingency management techniques to change behavior in organizational settings. Through these principles and assessment of behavior, OBM seeks to analyze and employ antecedent, influencing actions of an individual before the action occurs, and consequence, what happens as a result of someone's actions, interventions which influence behaviors linked to the mission and key objectives of the organization and its workers. Such interventions have proven effective through research in improving common organizational areas including employee productivity, delivery of feedback, safety, and overall morale of said organization.

Training and development involve improving the effectiveness of organizations and the individuals and teams within them. Training may be viewed as related to immediate changes in organizational effectiveness via organized instruction, while development is related to the progress of longer-term organizational and employee goals. While training and development technically have differing definitions, the two are oftentimes used interchangeably and/or together. Training and development have historically been topics within adult education and applied psychology but have within the last two decades become closely associated with human resources management, talent management, human resources development, instructional design, human factors, and knowledge management.

Workplace aggression is a specific type of aggression which occurs in the workplace. Workplace aggression is any type of hostile behavior that occurs in the workplace. It can range from verbal insults and threats to physical violence, and it can occur between coworkers, supervisors, and subordinates. Common examples of workplace aggression include gossiping, bullying, intimidation, sabotage, sexual harassment, and physical violence. These behaviors can have serious consequences, including reduced productivity, increased stress, and decreased morale.

Job performance assesses whether a person performs a job well. Job performance, studied academically as part of industrial and organizational psychology, also forms a part of human resources management. Performance is an important criterion for organizational outcomes and success. John P. Campbell describes job performance as an individual-level variable, or something a single person does. This differentiates it from more encompassing constructs such as organizational performance or national performance, which are higher-level variables.

Despite a large body of positive psychological research into the relationship between happiness and productivity, happiness at work has traditionally been seen as a potential by-product of positive outcomes at work, rather than a pathway to business success. Happiness in the workplace is usually dependent on the work environment. During the past two decades, maintaining a level of happiness at work has become more significant and relevant due to the intensification of work caused by economic uncertainty and increase in competition. Nowadays, happiness is viewed by a growing number of scholars and senior executives as one of the major sources of positive outcomes in the workplace. In fact, companies with higher than average employee happiness exhibit better financial performance and customer satisfaction. It is thus beneficial for companies to create and maintain positive work environments and leadership that will contribute to the happiness of their employees.

Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) is employee's behavior that goes against the legitimate interests of an organization. This behavior can harm the organization, other people within it, and other people and organizations outside it, including employers, other employees, suppliers, clients, patients and citizens. It has been proposed that a person-by-environment interaction (the relationship between a person's psychological and physical capacities and the demands placed on those capacities by the person's social and physical environment.) can be utilized to explain a variety of counterproductive behaviors. For instance, an employee who is high on trait anger is more likely to respond to a stressful incident at work with CWB.

Core self-evaluations (CSE) represent a stable personality trait which encompasses an individual's subconscious, fundamental evaluations about themselves, their own abilities and their own control. People who have high core self-evaluations will think positively of themselves and be confident in their own abilities. Conversely, people with low core self-evaluations will have a negative appraisal of themselves and will lack confidence. The concept of core self-evaluations was first examined by Judge, Locke, and Durham (1997) and involves four personality dimensions: locus of control, neuroticism, generalized self-efficacy, and self-esteem. The trait developed as a dispositional predictor of job satisfaction, but has expanded to predict a variety of other outcomes. Core self-evaluations are particularly important because they represent a personality trait which will remain consistent over time. Furthermore, the way in which people appraise themselves using core self-evaluations has the ability to predict positive work outcomes, specifically, job satisfaction and job performance. These relationships have inspired increasing amounts of research on core self-evaluations and suggest valuable implications about the importance this trait may have for organizations.

Walter Van Dyke Bingham (1880–1952) was an applied and industrial psychologist who made significant contributions to intelligence testing. A pioneer in applied psychology, Bingham got his start in experimental psychology, receiving his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago under James R. Angell. Bingham went from Dartmouth in 1915 to organize the Division of Applied Psychology at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. When war came to the United States, Bingham was recruited by Robert Yerkes as a member of a small group that developed the Army Alpha and Beta tests. During World War I Bingham served as executive secretary of the committee on classification of personnel in the U.S. Army, and later in the war served as lieutenant colonel in the Personnel Branch of the Army General Staff. From 1940 to 1947 Bingham was chief psychologist of the Adjutant General's Office of the War Department, serving as consultant or advisor to the Surgeon General, the Army General Staff, and the Secretary of Defense. Walter Bingham's contribution on the army classification methods paved the development of the field of industrial psychology. Bingham carried out editorial responsibilities for several journals and was the author of over 200 articles and books. His "Aptitude and Aptitude Testing" (1937/1942) is a classic in the field.

Trait activation theory is based on a specific model of job performance, and can be considered an elaborated or extended view of personality-job fit. Specifically, it is how an individual expresses their traits when exposed to situational cues related to those traits. These situational cues may stem from organization, social, and/or task cues. These cues can activate personality traits that are related to job tasks and organizational expectations that the organization values. These cues may also elicit trait-related behaviors that are not directly related to job performance.

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