The role of industrial/organizational psychology in selecting and training employees
Industrial psychology refers to the application of psychological concepts in solving problems in the workplace. In most cases such a process entails coming up with solutions to problems associated with performance of employees in addition to dealing with other organizational concerns. Industrial psychology also concentrates on conducting studies on different sets of behavior expressed in an organization as seen in the nature of interactions between workers and management.
Psychology can be applied in an organization’s training programs through identification of causes of internal conflicts and the solutions to such conflicts. Evaluating and developing techniques for employee selection and appraisal techniques can be achieved using industrial psychology. A psychologist helps in designing a selection and training program for an organization through assessing corporate leadership skills and strategies for employee motivation (Stone and Mark 1997).
A number of surveys have been carried out to determine the use of industrial/ organization psychology in the U.S. it is established that the use of psychologists in private companies, government organizations and agencies is on the rise. It has also been established that large organizations are the major users of the concepts in organizational psychology as evident in General Motors Corp, PepsiCo, Inc, IBM, AT&T among others. They have at least one psychologist working with them.
A number of companies seek psychology consultants for assistance instead of hiring psychologists. The government is known to employ psychologists. An example is evident in the federal office of Personnel Management which has a numerous psychologists working with them.
The military also has employed psychologists to work with them an example being in the U.S. Army Research institute. In all these organizations, the psychologists mostly work in the areas of performance appraisal, personnel selection, organizational and leadership psychology.
After analyzing an organizations problem, a psychologist employs different techniques to address the problem and suggest possible solutions. An example of such a technique is the use of engineering psychology. This technique addresses the human problems in an organization by using design in an organization’s machinery which in most cases takes into account human limitations.
This is evident in the large American corporations whose sole objective is to make profit. The ethical concerns evident in such a process is changing employee’s perception to be more in line with profit making thus a diversion from a number of moral concepts (Malhotra 2007).
Another technique used is personnel psychology as evident in the military. This technique concentrates on the differences between individuals. In the long run it deals with specifics of selection and recruitment.
The ethical concern is evident in the ability of such a process to alter the goals and ideologies of the personnel to be in line with those of the nation. Motivation and leadership is a commonly used technique in non military sectors of government as evident in government departments. The legal concern is that such a process is not grounded on law.
The utility of the scientific selection of employees
Experts in the field suggest that in order to select and hire the best employees, a hiring strategy that is scientifically based should be used. These strategies deliver appropriate results if properly implemented. These strategies ensure that an organization creates a job benchmark that is reliable especially in terms of statistics.
Another advantage of using the scientific based employee selection strategy is that an organization implements an un-biased employee selection program. Selecting and hiring the best talent available in the field is an added advantage that this strategy promises.
It is worth noting that if such a strategy is used, an organization’s performance is likely to improve. In the process an organization is likely to reduce its employee turnover which usually arises from employees who do not qualify for certain tasks. Another important factor in the exercise of selecting and training employees scientifically is putting in place a strategy that accurately determines the best investment ventures.
To attain favorable results on such investments it is appropriate to highlight specific job requirements. It is also important that an organization conforms to a training program that will bring about overall improvement in performance. It is advisable that an organization identifies growth opportunities in an effort to meet societal needs.
This can be achieved through the use of personality instruments that are powerful enough to detect an individual’s needs. After this process, an organization formulates a customized strategy geared towards managing an employee’s talent.
There are cases where scientific selection and training of workers can not be applied as is the case when an assumption is made concerning the presence of a capitalist system which in turn leads to an automatic increase in profits and efficiency of workers. It is however possible to employ scientific selection technique in an organization where there is a clear definition of authority and task specialization (Malhotra 2007).
References
Malhotra, N. (2007). Review of Marketing Research. New York, NY: M.E. Sharpe
Stone, P. & Mark, C. (1997). Organizational Psychology. Brookfield, VT: Ashgate