Industrial Psychology
Industrial psychology has various applications within an organization. Industrial psychology has been used by many companies to ensure increased productivity in personnel and maximizing profits for the organization. Organization managers use industrial psychology in the selection and training of new and current employees (Spector, 2012). It is also used to evaluate and analyze employee behavior. It is used to determine how to improve their corporations. Industrial psychology is also used to develop evaluation, appraisal ad review tests for employees. For every organization choosing the best-qualified employees. Recruiting academically qualified employees is not enough the human resource manager must ensure that the employees’ core competencies are suited to the needs of the company (Jonason, Wee, & Li, 2014). This is done through conducting industrial psychology analysis.
I/O in addition to being used to select new employees is also used to measure the competence of existing employees. It uses psychological and personality tests to ensure that the existing employees are still competent to work in the organization. It also uses these tests to ensure employee psychological attitude when working in high stress working environments (Spector, 2012). These tests when used by an organization they give it a competitive edge over its competitors. A healthy workforce is a key contributor to ensuring good performance of a firm. Organizational psychology helps to determine which factors will help each employee be optimally productive from the workplace (Jonason, Wee, & Li, 2014).
Application of I/O psychology in the selection of employees allows the organization to choose competent employees and to tailor their training program to the needs of those employees rather than using a standard training model.
Military organizations
I/O psychology is applied in both the public and the private sector. It is used in the selection of military personnel (Jonason, Wee, & Li, 2014). The military uses psychologically developed tests to measure the aptitude of new recruits as well as determine the correct job placement for them.
Selection and training
Each potential recruit takes an aptitude test to determine whether they qualify to join the arm for which they are applying. The aptitude tests are designed to ensure that each is matched with a training curse that suits their aptitude level to avoid dropping out, frustration and incompetence in the field. After passing the aptitude tests, they are required to disclose any and all information that will aid their superiors to conduct a full and thorough background check. This check weeds out any past factors that may impede the performances on the military personnel. It also checks for any affiliations that may affect their job performance (Steven Jarrett, 2016). The third test checks whether the individuals are physically fit to undergo the rigorous training tests taken by army recruits. The aptitude tests taken by new recruits are progressive in that they start at an average level then either progress towards hard or towards easy depending on the capabilities of the applicant. Organizational psychology helps in identifying the strength and weaknesses of individuals well as their basic skills during the job selection process. The tests measure the individual skills and help to match them to the suitable job placements. The tests also measure the individual’s ability to cope with stressful conditions and their ability to recover from traumatic conditions.
Measuring success
The use of psychology in the training and selection in the process of military recruitment has proven successful so far. The military measures the success of the training and selection process by using time in grade requirements; rank testing for skill proficiency and performance evaluations. The time taken to get the required grades determine where or not the soldiers will be allowed to take the practical courses (Steven Jarrett, 2016). The rank testing determines whether the soldiers have the required proficiency for each rank. Individual performance testing determines the performance of the individuals between from one grade to the next and the rank testing. The tests are an important part of choosing platoon leaders and grouping the soldiers for missions.
Legal and ethical concerns
There are concerns about the military research done on soldiers. There are concerns about the legality and morality of some of the tests they are subjected to. There are arguments about the fact that the military has the right to perform these research as well as these psychological tests. Civil rights groups argue that the military personnel should be allowed to choose which tests and research they are willing to accept.
The military is still faced with many challenges, especially when it comes to dealing with sexual harassment cases. Although there have been some improvements in the handling of sexual harassment cases are still many changes that need to be made.
Public high school system
Many education districts search and interview teaching applicants by their academic qualifications, speaking and self-awareness skills.
Selection and training process
The selection process of any school district starts with the application and interview process. These are based on the needs of the district. After the application stage, those qualified carry out phone interviews where there are then asked to provide documents and credentials that prove the eligibility of the candidates. The final step is to ask the candidate to present samples of their lesson plans (Weinstein, 2012).
After the selection process, the candidate is required to go through a training process with a teacher within the school district to learn the procedures and system used within the school. High school education in each district uses flexible and different methods and tailored within each school (Jonason, Wee, & Li, 2014). After employment, the teachers are expected to take up professional learning and teacher workshops in the course of the school year.
Measuring success
The principal measures the teacher’s success within the school based on the student performance, student feedback portfolio, and the teacher evaluation exercises.
Legal and ethical concerns
This method of evaluation may be affected by the principal’s and student’s biases. There is a likelihood of the students give prejudiced feedback based on outside influences such as their attitude towards the teacher, and the influence of their peers and guardians (Jonason, Wee, & Li, 2014). Evaluation based on the performance of the students does not show other aspects of the teacher competence such as their attitude, openness to diversity, ability to cope with stressful situations (Weinstein, 2012). Since the role of the teacher is not limited to the dissemination of education it also involves molding the students into responsible adults and citizens.
The background checks done of the teachers are sometimes not through or comprehensive enough. This means that there is a chance of employing teachers who have had legal infractions in the past and who are likely to exercise deviant behavior in the course of their career (Weinstein, 2012).
Conclusion
Industrial psychology is concerned with the practical issues that affect the productivity of the employee. It helps to match employee competencies with the organization's needs as well as determining the training level and placement of the employee within the organization.
References
Jonason, P., Wee, S., & Li, N. (2014). Thinking Bigger and Better About “Bad Apples”: Evolutionary Industrial-Organizational Psychology and the Dark Triad. Industrial And Organizational Psychology, 7(1), 117-121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/iops.12118
Steven Jarrett, P. (2016). Are You Using I/O Psychology in Your Hiring Process?. Selectinternational.com. Retrieved 25 June 2016, from http://www.selectinternational.com/blog/bid/184079/Are-You-Using-I-O-Psychology-in-Your-Hiring-Process
Weinstein, D. (2012). The psychology of behaviorally-focused résumés on applicant selection: Are your hiring managers really hiring the ‘right’ people for the ‘right’ jobs?. Business Horizons, 55(1), 53-63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2011.09.003
Spector, P. E. (2012). Industrial and organizational psychology (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
