Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions

1. 17 Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions

2. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Psychology and Work • Industrial-organizational psychologists • Seek to improve human benefits of work • Increase job production • Increase job satisfaction • Employee selection • Methods of training and management • Hired, employed in personnel departments

3. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Employee Selection and Evaluation • Psychological measures used in • Selection and hiring new employees • Interviews • Paper-and-pencil tests • Performance tests • Job performance ratings • Evaluating simulated job performance • Finding right person improves morale and productivity; decreases turnover and absenteeism

4. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Psychological Measures • Interviews • Personality, spoken language, personal factors • Unstructured and structured questions used • Tests of • Intelligence (desired 115 IQ?) • Specific abilities, skills, and job knowledge • Performance • Ratings of job performance (scales, check lists)

5. 34.13% 34.13% 13.59% 13.59% 2.14% 2.14% 70 55 85 100 115 130 145 Attorney Chemist Accountant Sales manager Sales Secretary Machinist Mechanic Factory worker Range of intelligence scores of the middle half of applicants for various occupations

6. 5 7 A A C C B B D E D E Tests of Specific Skills

7. Dependability Unsatisfactory Below average Average Above average Outstanding Requires constant supervision to ensure that directions are followed Requires considerable supervision; does not always follow directions Requires average to normal supervision Can usually be depended upon to complete assignments Needs virtually no supervision; completely reliable Quantity of work Unsatisfactory Below average Average Above average Outstanding Consistently below job requirements Frequently below job requirements Meets job requirements Frequently exceeds job requirements Consistently exceeds job requirements Job Knowledge Unsatisfactory Below average Average Above average Outstanding Unsatisfactory Below average Average Knows job well Thorough knowledge Sample items from multiple-step rating scale

8. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Employee Selection • Assessment centers • Evaluations by staff or team outside company environment – very popular method • Upper managers, psychologists, or outside consultants • Use of traditional interviews and tests • Simulated management task • in-basket technique • Evaluation of organizational citizenship

9. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Validity of Job Selection Measures • Overall, good selections save money, time • IQ tests – best predictor of performance • Useful for new employees and complex jobs • Not useful for selecting for simpler jobs – need performance tests more than IQ tests • IQ related to speed of learning new skills; experience tends to equalize job learning • Performance tests and assessment centers are valid measures

10. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Job Selection • Conscientiousness is important in selection • Fairness in employee selection • Gender bias in U.S. • Two-thirds of positions filled by males have • Individual high financial rewards • Power over others • Jobs involving helping others mostly held by women. Why? • Men and women want different job types • Less likely to hire woman in power job

11. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Job Selection • Race-ethnic bias • Powerful, highly paid jobs tend to go to men, and tend to be filled by majority culture men • Huge disparities among U.S. ethnic group occupational achievement • Prejudice is declining but remains a job barrier • Impact of IQ tests: African Americans and Hispanics tend to score lower than whites • Tests content criticized as culture-biased

12. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Job Selection • Solutions to biased selection • More emphasis on job knowledge and skill tests for experienced employees • IQ tests for prediction on new employees and complex jobs • Tests with more validity; elimination or less validity of tests increases bias

13. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Job Satisfaction, Happiness, and Productivity • Goals of I/O psychologists • Happiness and satisfaction of employees • Increase productivity • Both accomplished by • Match right person to right job • Improve working conditions

14. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Job Satisfaction, Happiness, and Productivity • Research results • Satisfied employees • More productive • Miss less work • Have fewer accidents on the job • Less likely to resign • Customers more satisfied when in contact • Increase company profits

15. Job experience Intellectual ability Job performance Knowledge of job Conscientiousness Knowing skills and information needed to perform a job tends to lead to better job performance

16. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Management Strategies • Improving employee satisfaction • Improving management style: • Considerate (warm, friendly) • Communicative (good feedback) • Structuring (organizing, directing work) – manager effectiveness linked to being highly considerate

17. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Management Strategies • Improving employee satisfaction • Improving managerial organization: • Participative style – teams of employees at all levels involved in decision process • Management by objectives – management sets goals and deadline, employees decide how accomplished and who does what

18. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Management Strategies • Improving employee satisfaction • Improving physical conditions: • Influence of physical conditions: lights, noise, temperature) on satisfaction and production (decision making and errors) • Design of machines, equipment, tools to fit human characteristics • Minimizing social loafing

19. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Human Diversity • Gender differences in leadership • Traits of successful leaders studied • Drive • Honesty • Flexibility • Leadership • Inspiring leaders: charisma, clear vision, inspiration, personalized attention paid to followers • Motivation • Intelligence • Creativity

20. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Human Diversity • Gender differences in leadership • Overall, men and women similar in style • Transformational management • Seek to improve, change employees • More likely used by female managers • Set clear goals • Set good example, mentor employees • Reward and empower employees

21. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Psychology of the Entrepreneur • People who turn ideas into businesses • Engage in less counterfactual thinking • Have excellent social skills • Tend to be physically attractive

22. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Human Factors Engineering • Time and motion studies • Analyze movements of workers • Efficiency - find better ways to perform tasks • Ergonomics – human factors engineering • Design of machines, instrument panels, gages • Location, grouping design, readability • Shape related to function, • Developed to overcome human frailties

23. Examples of controls and dials arranged to fit the cognitive characteristics of human operators Acceptable arrangement Preferred arrangement

24. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Health Psychology in the Workplace • Stress and unhealthy patterns of behavior • Overwork, poor diet, lack of exercise • Good employee health is good business • Healthy employees • More productive • Less absenteeism • Fewer health benefit claims • Live longer, healthier, productive lives

25. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Other Applications of Psychology • In theworkplace • Developing training methods for new and continuing education for current employees • Computer-assisted instruction in computer simulation area • Advertising and marketing end of business (size, color, repetition, social position linked to effectiveness of ads) • Determining consumer preferences

26. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Environmental Psychology • Study effects of • Environment on behavior and mental processes • Human behavior on environment • Office and workplace design: office landscape format (cubicles) • Architectural design of living units: college dorms and corridors (dense housing) • Layouts affect human interactions and emotions

27. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Sustainability and Environmental Protection • Three vital concerns • Overpopulation • Human concentrations in large cities • Earth’s carrying capacity reaching its limit • Resource depletion • Overconsumption and waste; scarce water • Pollution and climate change • Global warming; Greenhouse effect

28. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Why Environmental Destruction? We are in denial We have bad habits We act like helpless bystanders We do not believe that we are efficacious We are guided by short-term self-interest We refuse to let anyone lead

29. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Psychology and Law • Behavior in courts • Psychologists apply methods in courtroom • Administering justice involves people, behavior • Characteristics of defendants, plaintiffs • Physically attractive defendants less likely to be convicted than unattractive ones • White jury members more likely to convict African Americans than white

30. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Psychology and Law • Characteristics of defendants, plaintiffs • Defendants with facial features typical of African Americans get longer sentences • Monetary awards in civil courts – younger plaintiffs and male plaintiffs get larger awards than female or elderly plaintiffs (less emphasis on needs of plaintiff) • Juries gave larger settlement awards when defendant was corporation than if individual

31. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Psychology and Law • Characteristics of jury members • More conviction prone, harsher/punitive • White, older, better educated, higher in social status, more conservative, strong belief that authority and law be respected • Women convict more; more punitive sentences • Men more likely believe female victim encouraged rape • Overall, they tend to be kinder to their own

32. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Capital Punishment • Link between attitude toward death penalty and likelihood of conviction • Cannot bar person from serving on jury due to beliefs against death penalty unless bias would result in ignoring evidence presented • Research: pro-death penalty more likely from high status, conservative, authoritarian males

33. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Psychological Factors • Presenting evidence • Criminal trials: adversarial proceedings • Order of presentation by attorney has effect (attorney presenting second had advantage) • In lengthy, complex information – last items remembered best

34. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Psychological Factors • Interrogating criminals • Good cop-bad cop game; false confessions • People with poor intellect and emotional resources maybe tricked in false confession • Juries more likely believe taped confession if interrogators not present on tape • Consultants err in interpreting nervous fidgeting and failed eye contact as lying • Liars blink less often, have longer speech pauses than those telling the truth

35. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Psychology and Education • Educational psychology • Test children (especially for special needs) • Improve educational needs • Advise/consult with teachers • Mastery learning (for slow learners) and intelligent tutoring systems (computer use) • Direct instruction (guided learning, small amounts of information presented)

36. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions Psychology and Education • Motivating the classroom • Emphasizing intrinsic importance • Criterion-referenced testing • Not for comparing students • Determine if minimal level of knowledge met • Mainstreaming those with special needs • Right defined in Public Law 94-142 and its successor, IDEA (least restrictive environment)

37. Psychology Applied to Business and Other Professions 17 The End