Organizational Psychology

Organizational psychology is a very diverse field and is one of the most interesting aspects of human resource management. Have the writers at Paper Masters help you with organizing, writing and composing your organizational research.

Organizational psychology, also known as industrial and organizational psychology or I-O psychology, is the study of human behavior in the workplace. Organizational psychology allows social scientists to improve the health, safety, performance, job satisfaction and well being of an organization's employees. Organizational psychology is one of 14 recognized specialties in American professional psychology.

The foundations of organizational psychology can be traced back as far as Wilhelm Wundt, but it was the work of James McKeen Cattell and Walter Dill Scott that brought the field to the forefront in America. It was Scott who first developed scientific methods for choosing and training sales personnel.

Organizational psychologists employ a number of research methods in the collection of data, including surveys, observational studies and experiments. From there, they choose either qualitative or quantitative analysis from which to further research.

Many I-O psychologists work with Human Resource professionals in designing recruitment processes and selection systems for potential employees. They are also responsible for creating performance evaluation standards, training programs, and job analysis, as well as creating programs to deal with the following:

• Employee motivation
• Occupational stress
• Safety issues in the workplace

History of Organizational Psychology

Although the field of industrial, organizational, and work psychology dates to the first half of the twentieth century, the discipline did not come to be widely applied to the work organization until the latter half of the twentieth century. This development coincided roughly with the increasing prevalence of different styles of management in American organizations, which began to rise precipitously in the 1970s and 1980s.

During this period, an increasing number of American firms, particularly those in the manufacturing industry, were being met with aggressive competition from foreign competitors. In order to appropriate some of the competitive advantage displayed by their foreign counterparts, an increasing number of American firms began to assess, modify, and implement formal management styles. Although a broad array of managerial practices were implemented during this period, a large proportion of these practices were influenced by Japanese paradigms of management, leadership, quality control, and efficiency.

The rise of formal managerial practices in American work organizations also served to revolutionize the research, practice, and theory of industrial, organizational, and work psychology. The implementation of a discernible management methodology offered researchers a set of more clearly-defined variables to evaluate, assess, and compare.

In addition, practitioners in the field of industrial, organizational, and work psychology began to employ their empirical assessments of existing management practices to develop improved methodologies and approaches to management and organizational leadership. These changes also served to influence the development of theory within the discipline, as well.

In the mid-1980s, economic changes continued to exert a great deal of influence upon the nature and characteristics of work organizations in the United States. As the economy entered a period of recession and contraction, many major corporations were forced to drastically reduce the size and scope of their workforces.

This period of transformation initiated a significant amount of research and theory in the fields of industrial, organizational, and work psychology. Specifically, the challenge of managing organizational change and transformation effectively emerged as a central focus of research, theory, and practice issues during this era.

The subject of successful change management would take on many new dimensions in the 1990s, as rapid technological changes began to remake the face of the modern work environment. This focus would be further extended as the processes and mechanisms of globalization became more prevalent and powerful in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The early 2000s, which came to be defined as an era of downsizing, increasingly insecure employment, and corporate scandal, posed new challenges for researchers, practitioners, and theorists in the fields of industrial, organizational, and work psychology. While the overarching challenge of effective change management retained centrality, other issues, including organizational fit, appropriate compensation, and corporate citizenship also gained stature.

A good research paper on organizational psychology will endeavor to provide a broad assessment and analysis of recent developments in research, theory, and practice in the fields of organizational, industrial, and work psychology over the course of the last several decades, with a primary focus on research trends that have been solidified over the course of the last five years. First, the evolution of the workplace environment will be discussed. This will be followed be a discussion of the changing nature of workplace relationships and organizational dynamics.

Then, trends and developments in organizational psychology research and theory should be discussed. This should be followed by an evaluation of emerging topics in organizational, industrial, and work psychology. Finally, in conclusion, an overarching assessment of the topic will be offered.

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