Example Career: Industrial-Organizational Psychologists

Career Description

Apply principles of psychology to human resources, administration, management, sales and marketing problems. Activities may include policy planning; employee testing and selection, training and development; and organizational development and analysis. May work with management to organize the work setting to improve worker productivity.

What Job Titles Industrial-Organizational Psychologists Might Have

• Consultant
• Industrial Psychologist
• Industrial/Organizational Psychologist (I/O Psychologist)
• Organizational Psychologist

What Industrial-Organizational Psychologists Do

• Formulate and implement training programs, applying principles of learning and individual differences.
• Conduct research studies of physical work environments, organizational structures, communication systems, group interactions, morale, and motivation to assess organizational functioning.
• Conduct presentations on research findings for clients and at research meetings.
• Provide expert testimony in employment lawsuits.
• Study consumers' reactions to new products and package designs, and to advertising efforts, using surveys and tests.
• Review research literature to remain current on psychological science issues.
• Develop interview techniques, rating scales, and psychological tests used to assess skills, abilities, and interests for the purpose of employee selection, placement, and promotion.
• Conduct individual assessments, including interpreting measures and providing feedback for selection, placement, and promotion.
• Write articles, white papers, and reports to share research findings and educate others.
• Develop new business by contacting potential clients, making sales presentations, and writing proposals.
• Develop and implement employee selection and placement programs.
• Identify training and development needs.
• Train clients to administer human resources functions including testing, selection, and performance management.
• Facilitate organizational development and change.
• Analyze job requirements and content to establish criteria for classification, selection, training, and other related personnel functions.
• Assess employee performance.
• Observe and interview workers to obtain information about the physical, mental, and educational requirements of jobs as well as information about aspects such as job satisfaction.
• Coach senior executives and managers on leadership and performance.
• Study organizational effectiveness, productivity, and efficiency, including the nature of workplace supervision and leadership.
• Write reports on research findings and implications to contribute to general knowledge and to suggest potential changes in organizational functioning.
• Participate in mediation and dispute resolution.
• Provide advice on best practices and implementation for selection.
• Counsel workers about job and career-related issues.
• Advise management concerning personnel, managerial, and marketing policies and practices and their potential effects on organizational effectiveness and efficiency.

What Industrial-Organizational Psychologists Should Be Good At

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.

What Industrial-Organizational Psychologists Should Be Interested In

• Investigative - Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

What Industrial-Organizational Psychologists Need to Learn

• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.