How is Criterion
important in Industrial Psychology?
Answer:
Definition:
Criterion is defined as ‘a measurement of the goodness of a work’. That is, criterion is an evaluative standard,
which can be used to measure a person’s performance, attitudes, motives,
etc. Criterion is also defined as ‘that
which is to be predicted’ (Guion, 1965).
Industrial
Psychology can be effective as a science only and only if it has a
criterion. That is, the magnitude of the
contribution of industrial psychology is completely determined by the adequacy
of the criterion measures involved.
Despite the fact that much work on the problem of criterion has been
done in the measurement of human performance and job effectiveness, the
problems and needs still exist in developing criteria in areas such as
advertising, effectiveness, consumer behaviour, leadership, job satisfaction
etc.
Discuss any
three requirements that are fundamental to Criterion.
Answer:
1.
Time:
That is, when can one obtain his criterion data? At what moment in time
is our criterion data not ripe?
2.
Type: that is, which measure(s) should we select out
of all the available performance measures? How reliable are our conclusions
likely to be, as a result of the criterion so selected.
3.
Level: Given that ‘time’ and ‘type’ have
been considered, what performance level is likely7 going to be accepted? What
quantity of units can a worker produce before he is judged a good worker?
List any five
characteristics of Criteria.
Answer:
- Reliable
- Realistic
- Representative
- Related to other criteria
- Acceptable to job analyst
- Predictable
- measurable
- Relevant
Identify any
five methods of Job Analysis and assess their relevance for application in
Nigeria industries.
Answer:
1.
Questionnaire Method-this method is
usually used to obtain information about occupations via a mail survey. The job incumbent is asked to provide data
about himself and his job in his own word.
2.
Check List Method – The technique
requires the worker to check the task he performs from a long list of possible
task statements.
3.
Individual
Interview Method – Here ‘representative’ job incumbents are selected for
extensive interviewing usually outside or the actual job situation. The
interview is usually structured, and the results of a number of interviews are
combined into a single job analysis.
4.
Observation Interview Method – The
observation interview actually takes place right on the job. The interviewer collects data from the
incumbent, using normal interview methods, as the incumbent performs his
work. The interviewer observes and
questions the worker in an attempt to get complete job description data.
5.
Group Interview Method – The group
interview is similar to the individual interview except that a number of job
incumbents are interview simultaneously.
Under the guidance of the interviewer, the interviewees recall and
discuss their work activities.
How can the
following environmental factors affect employee performance at work?
i. Music ii. Noise, iii. Illumination and
iv. Colour
Answer:
Music – is the
introduction of music during the working hours.
Although plant broadcasting is little more than thirty five years old,
most of the sound and fury has been relatively recent. Possibly, one of the
reasons for the popularity of music is the variety of ways in which it can be
provided. On an extremely informal basis, music can be brought into a plant by
merely plugging in a radio and allowing it to blare form the beginning to the
end of the work day. However, the much
environment can sometimes be counterproductive as some workers could be carried
away with some music stars and as a result slow the space of their work.
Noise- is generally
regarded as a distractor and therefore as interfering with efficiency.
Illumination – daylight
provides the best illumination for work.
Artificial lighting which closely approximates daylight in colour and composition is next best. Artificial
light should be as free from colour as possible, light that is unbalanced
toward any colour is a detriment and not a help. Of the colured lights when equalized for
brightness and saturation, yellow causes the least discomfort. The most
important different between daylight and artificial light is diffuseness. Excessive intensity and poor diffuse can result
in considerably eye damage. One of the most common causes of visual discomfort
and fatigue is brightness in the field of vision.
Colour – An article, which
appeared in popular science monthly in 1947 dealt vividly with the use of
colour in industry. With reckless abandon it clamed that less fatigue increased
production and greater safety result from the ‘scientific use of colour in the
factory.’
Overview
Guion (1965)
defines I-O psychology as ‘the scientific study of the relationship between man
and the world of work in the process of making a living’. Blum and Naylor (1968) define it as simply
the application or extension of psychological facts and principles to the
problems concerning human beings operating within the context of business and industry.
History
The industrial
side of I-O psychology has its historical origins in research on individual
differences, assessment, and the predication of performance. This branch of the field crystallized during
Wrold War I, in response to the need to rapidly assign new troops to duty
stations. After the War the growing
industrial base in the US added impetus to I-O psychology. Walter Dill Scott, who was elected President
of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1919, was arguably the most
prominent I-O psychologist of his time, although James McKeen Cattell (elected
APA President in 1895) and Hugo Munsterber (1898) were influential in the early
development of the field. Organizational psychology gained prominence after
World War II, inclunced by the Hawthorne studies and the work of researchers
such as Kurt Lewin and Muzafer Sherif.
Explain the
Following:
a)
Job Evaluation
Answer:
Job evaluation is a process of
determining the relative worth of a job. It is a process which is helpful even
for framing compensation plans by the personnel manager. Job evaluation as a
process is advantageous to a company in many ways:
1.
Reduction in inequalities in
salary structure - It is found that people and
their motivation is dependent upon how well they are being paid. Therefore the
main objective of job evaluation is to have external and internal consistency
in salary structure so that inequalities in salaries are reduced.
2.
Specialization - Because of division of labour and thereby specialization, a large
number of enterprises have got hundred jobs and many employees to perform them.
Therefore, an attempt should be made to define a job and thereby fix salaries
for it. This is possible only through job evaluation.
3.
Helps in selection of
employees - The job evaluation information can be helpful at the time of
selection of candidates. The factors that are determined for job evaluation can
be taken into account while selecting the employees.
4.
Harmonious relationship
between employees and manager - Through job evaluation,
harmonious and congenial relations can be maintained between employees and
management, so that all kinds of salaries controversies can be minimized.
5.
Standardization - The process of determining the salary differentials for different
jobs become standardized through job evaluation. This helps in bringing
uniformity into salary structure.
6.
Relevance of new jobs - Through job evaluation, one can understand the relative value of new
jobs in a concern.
b)
Job Analysis
Answer:
Job analysis is the formal process of identifying the
content of a job in terms activities involved and attributes needed to perform
the work. Job analysis was conceptualized by two of the founders of Industrial/Organizational
Psychology, Frederick
Taylor and Lillian Moller
Gilbreth in the early 20th
century.
One of the main purposes of conducting job analysis is to prepare
job description and job specification which in turn helps to hire the right
quality of workforce into the organization. The general purpose of job analysis
is to document the requirements of a job and the work performed. Job and task
analysis is performed as a basis for later improvements, including: definition
of a job domain; describing a job; developing performance appraisals, selection
systems, promotion criteria, training needs assessment, and compensation plans.
In the fields of Human
Resources (HR) and Industrial Psychology, job analysis is often
used to gather information for use in personnel selection, training,
classification, and/or compensation.
2.
Freely discuss the term Motivation to the best of your understanding
using any two theories of your choice.
Answer:
Motivation is the force that initiates, guides
and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It is what causes us to take action,
whether to grab a snack to reduce hunger or enroll in college to earn a degree.
The forces that lie beneath motivation can be biological, social, emotional or
cognitive in nature.
Researchers have developed a number of different theories to explain
motivation. Each individual theory tends to be rather limited in scope.
However, by looking at the key ideas behind each theory, you can gain a better
understanding of motivation as a whole.
Instinct Theory of Motivation
According to instinct theories, people are motivated to behave in
certain ways because they are evolutionarily programmed to do so. An example of
this in the animal world is seasonal migration. These animals do not learn to
do this, it is instead an inborn pattern of behavior.
William
James created a list of human
instincts that included such things as attachment, play, shame, anger, fear,
shyness, modesty and love. The main problem with this theory is that it did not
really explain behavior, it just described it. By the 1920s, instinct theories
were pushed aside in favor of other motivational theories, but contemporary
evolutionary psychologists still study the influence of genetics and heredity
on human behavior.
Herzberg's two-factor theory
Frederick Herzberg's two-factor
theory, a.k.a. intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, concludes that certain
factors in the workplace result in job
satisfaction, but if absent, they don't lead to dissatisfaction but no
satisfaction.The factors that motivate people can change over their lifetime,
but "respect for me as a person" is one of the top motivating factors
at any stage of life.
He distinguished between:
§ Motivators; (e.g. challenging work, recognition, responsibility) which give
positive satisfaction, and
§ Hygiene factors; (e.g.
status, job
security, salary and fringe benefits) that do not
motivate if present, but, if absent, result in demotivation.
The name Hygiene factors is used because, like hygiene, the presence
will not make you healthier, but absence can cause health deterioration.
The theory is sometimes called the "Motivator-Hygiene
Theory" and/or "The Dual Structure Theory."
Herzberg's theory has found application in such occupational fields
as information systems and in studies of user satisfaction (see Computer user satisfaction).
Alderfer's ERG theory
Alderfer, expanding on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, created the ERG theory. This theory posits
that there are three groups of core needs — existence, relatedness, and growth,
hence the label: ERG theory. The existence group is concerned with providing
our basic material existence requirements. They include the items that Maslow
considered to be physiological and safety needs. The second group of needs are
those of relatedness- the desire we have for maintaining important
interpersonal relationships. These social and status desires require
interaction with others if they are to be satisfied, and they align with
Maslow's social need and the external component of Maslow's esteem
classification. Finally, Alderfer isolates growth needs' an intrinsic desire
for personal development. These include the intrinsic component from Maslow's
esteem category and the characteristics included under self-actualization.
Self-determination theory
Self-determination theory, developed by Edward
Deci and Richard Ryan,
focuses on the importance of intrinsic
motivation in driving human
behavior. Like Maslow's hierarchical theory and others that built on it, SDT
posits a natural tendency toward growth and development. Unlike these other
theories, however, SDT does not include any sort of "autopilot" for
achievement, but instead requires active encouragement from the environment.
The primary factors that encourage motivation and development are autonomy,
competence feedback, and relatedness.
Need theories
Need hierarchy theory
The content theory includes the hierarchy of needs from Abraham
Maslow and the two- factor
theory from Herzberg. Maslow's theory is one of the most
widely discussed theories of motivation.
The American motivation psychologist Abraham H. Maslow developed the
Hierarchy of needs consistent of five hierarchic classes. It shows the complexity
of human requirements. According to him, people are motivated by unsatisfied
needs. The lower level needs such as Physiological and Safety needs will have
to be satisfied before higher level needs are to be addressed. We can relate
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory with employee motivation. For example, if a
manager is trying to motivate his employees by satisfying their needs;
according to Maslow, he should try to satisfy the lower level needs before he
tries to satisfy the upper level needs or the employees will not be motivated.
Also he has to remember that not everyone will be satisfied by the same needs.
A good manager will try to figure out which levels of needs are active for a
certain individual or employee. The basic requirements build the first step in
his pyramid. If there is any deficit on this level, the whole behavior of a
human will be oriented to satisfy this deficit. Subsequently we do have the
second level, which awake a need for security. Basically it is oriented on a
future need for security. After securing those two levels, the motives shift in
the social sphere, which form the third stage. Psychological requirements
consist in the fourth level, while the top of the hierarchy comprise the self-
realization So theory can be summarized as follows:
§ Human beings have wants and desires which influence their behavior.
Only unsatisfied needs influence behavior, satisfied needs do not.
§ Since needs are many, they are arranged in order of importance, from
the basic to the complex.
§ The person advances to the next level of needs only after the lower
level need is at least minimally satisfied.
§ The further the progress up the hierarchy, the more individuality,
humanness and psychological health a person will show.
The needs, listed from basic (lowest-earliest) to most complex
(highest-latest) are as follows:
§ Physiology (hunger, thirst, sleep, etc.)
§ Self-esteem/Recognition/Achievement
3.
Explain the term “Criterion” and critically examine any five (5)
characteristics that are desirable in any good criterion
In psychometrics, criterion validity is a measure of how well one variable or
set of variables predicts an outcome based on information from other variables,
and will be achieved if a set of measures from a personality
test relate to a behavioral
criterion on which psychologists agree.[1] A typical way to achieve this is in
relation to the extent to which a score on a personality test can predict
future performance or behavior.
Another way involves correlating test scores with another established test that
also measures the same personality
characteristic.[1]
Criterion or concrete validity is the extent to which the measures
are demonstrably related to concrete criteria in the "real" world.
This type of validity is often divided into "concurrent" and
"predictive" subtypes. The term "concurrent validity" is reserved for
demonstrations relating a measure to other concrete criteria assessed
simultaneously. "Predictive validity" refers to the degree
to which any measure can predict future or independent past events. These
variables are often represented as “intermediate” and “ultimate” criteria. For
example, let us say we are conducting a study on success in college. If we find
out there is a high correlation between student grades in high-school
math classes and their success in college (which can be measured by many
possible variables), we would say there is high criterion-related validity between
the intermediate variable (grades in high-school math classes) and the ultimate
variable (success in college). Essentially, the grades students received in
high-school math can be used to predict their success in college.
The Five Characteristics that are desirable in any good criterion
are:
In contemporary psychology,
the "Big Five"
factors (or Five Factor Model; FFM) of personality are five
broad domains or dimensions of personality that are used to describe human
personality.
The Big Five framework of personality traits from Costa &
McCrae, 1992 has emerged as a robust model for understanding the relationship
between personality and various academic behaviors.[1] The Big Five factors are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness,
and neuroticism(common
acronyms are OCEAN, NEOAC, or CANOE). Conscientiousness is exemplified by being
disciplined, organized, and achievement-oriented. Neuroticism refers to degree
of emotional stability, impulse control, and anxiety. Extraversion is displayed
through a higher degree of sociability, assertiveness, and talkativeness.
Openness is reflected in a strong intellectual curiosity and a preference for
novelty and variety. Finally, agreeableness refers to being helpful,
cooperative, and sympathetic towards others. The neuroticism factor is
sometimes referred by its low pole – "emotional stability". Some
disagreement remains about how to interpret the openness factor, which is
sometimes called "intellect" rather than openness to experience.
Beneath each factor, a cluster of correlated specific traits are found; for
example, extraversion includes such related qualities as gregariousness,
assertiveness, excitement seeking, warmth, activity and positive emotions.[2]
4.
Is learning important in Industrial Psychology? Discuss
Answer:
Industrial
psychology is the study of learning human behavior on the job or in working
environment to make the organization or industry more productive and job
satisfied.
Importance
of industrial psychology is concerns in today world, it is very much important
because as a manager you must need to know about, what are the needs of
employees? How we make good and effective employ for organization? And much
more question arises when you working in an industry. when a employ working in
any industry the first thing that he or she need is satisfaction in term of
money, respect, facilities and so on and so forth the industrial psychology
help us to select the employees which are good for your industry. It also tells
us the payment schedule about the employees. There thing environment there way
of living are fulfil in working environment.
Industrial
psychology is not just a study it is the way of treating the people how to act
with them talk with them facilitates them and so on to get this type of
knowledge we need industrial psychology.
As
in Pakistan we all know that the labor is the major issue to tackle with them
is very difficult to train them is the major necessity of today business
environment these concepts are come from the psychological aspects. People of
today’s need more facilities then the past they need more working skill to
fight with others.
5.
How can attitude be measured?
Answer:
attitude can be measured in several ways. Attitudes are revealed in
the behaviour of an individual. So they can be measured by direct observation
of overt behaviour of the individual this method, needless to point out has all
the defects of observation. In addition to the difficult of experimentally
creating a stimulated situation where on the behaviour can be observed.
Distinguished techniques like error technique (Hammond, 1848)
sentence completion technique (Karr, 1943), story and argument completion
techniques (Murray and Margpm. 1945), pictorial techniques (Smith, 1954) can
also be used to assess on individuals attitudes. The basis for the use of
protective techniques to measure attitude is that attitudes can be inferred by
one's unconsciousness responses certain stimuli like photographs, cartoons,
etc. This method's to all the disadvantages of projective technique like,
difficulty in administration scoring, low inter scores, reliability etc.
The most common method of obtaining an estimate a Person's attitude
is through an attitude scale. In this technique, the individual is asked to
exams this opinion on several controversial statements about the psychological
object under consideration. The logic behind the use of opinion to measure
attitude is that they will do about it. To the extent people's actions
correlated with the expressed opinion. We can naturally predict the former from
the later, any single statement of opinion and any single action, however, will
be extremely unreliable from the point of view of measurement. Further, though
a Pearson's particular actions cannot be predicted with high degree accuracy,
one's position on an attitude from expressed opinion is also subject to some
limitations like faking of the response by the individual, where he tends to
give socially acceptable responses there by concealing his real attitude.
Nevertheless, this could be overcome in several ways like making the
questionnaire anonymous, giving concealed statements etc. There are various
methods of contracting attitudes scale some of them are:
A.
Criterion and Leaning of Industrial Psychology
Industrial Psychology can be effective as
a science only and only if it has a criterion.
That is, the magnitude of the contribution of industrial psychology is
completely determined by the adequacy of the criterion measures involved. Despite the fact that much work on the
problem of criterion has been done in the measurement of human performance and
job effectiveness, the problems and needs still exist in developing criteria in
areas such as advertising, effectiveness, consumer behaviour, leadership, job
satisfaction. Etc.
Criterion is a measurement of goodness of
work. That is , criterion is an
evaluative standard, which can be used to measure a person’s performance,
attitudes, motives, etc. Criterion is
also that which is to be predicted.
LEANING
Leaning is relatively permanent change in
the repertoire of behaviour occurring as a result of experience. Learning can only be said to occur when a
person shows different behaviour, for instance, when he can prove the knowledge
of new facts or do something he was not able to do before. Changes in behaviour due solely to ageing or
injury person had found ways of adapting himself to his disability, this new
behaviour would then have been learned.
Our knowledge of the psychology of
learning is drawn partly from experiments with animals and humans, and partly
from general observations of the human learning process.
Using the results of animal experiments
and making due allowance for the differences between humans and animals, a
great deal has been learned about the principles of human learning. In fact learning is generally viewed as, any
relatively long-lasting alteration in performance consequence on specific experience. There are two standard paradigms for the
study of learning: Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning.
B. WORK ENVIRONMENT
The problem of increasing production and
also making work more pleasant has been approached through the introduction of
changes in the working environment, there is a difference between this approach
and that in which increased efficiency is attained though time and motion
studies. Despite the fact that such
studies most often lead to environmental changes, the said changes are normally
related to the job, such as changing the height of a tool or the size of a work
area. That is, time and motion studies
usually result not only in environmental changes but also in changes in an integral
part of the job or task being performed.
Approaches such as increasing efficiency
through refined selection and techniques do not accommodate environmental
factors, related to job. Changes related
to noise as it affects work as well as changes in connection with the
illumination, ventilation and temperature of the work environment, have been
introduced in varying claims of success.
The introduction of music in the office
or factory was also acknowledged in the content of environmental change for
increased productivity. Increased in
production has also been associated with claims such as, the use of various
colour schemes, primarily a factory walls, benches, machines and in rest rooms.
C. INFLUENCES OF EMPLOYEES BEHAVIOUR
Various influences on the behaviour of
people at work have been concern of most managers. These can be summarised under the following
headings.
a.
Physique, making the individual
more suitable for some jobs than for others
b.
Intelligence, which also
affects suitability for jobs and the capacity for learning
c.
Personality, which includes the
important factors of perception, motivation, and social adjustment.
d.
Physical working conditions,
which should make the immediate job environment suitable to the employee and
minimise fatigue and accidents.
e.
The working group, imposing its
own standards of conduct and output on the individual but offering some
advantages in return
f.
Style of leadership, which to
be effective should take account of the nature of the process and the type of
employee.
g.
Participation, the degree to
which employees can share in decision-making.
h.
Communications, the spread of
knowledge about policies, intentions and attitudes within the company.
Particular reference was made to the
connection between communication and the handling of change.
It has been shown, for example in the
discussion on job satisfaction and leadership, that the type of production
process is an important factor in behaviour at work. It is logical to assume, therefore, that the
action of an employee depends not only on his individual qualities and the
influence of the working group but also on the type of job he is doing and the
type of company he is in. the same
individual in a different job, or in a different company, could behave in quite
a different way.
D.
JOB ANALYSIS AND JOB EVALUATION
Job
analysis is an accurate study of the various
components of a job. It is concerned not
only with the duties and conditions of work but also with the individual
qualification of the worker. Whereas,
the industrial engineer is concerned primarily with the job aspects, the
industrial psychologist tends to emphasize the man aspects of the job. This because; jobs are performed under
different environments, temperature, postures and hazards etc.
Though different meanings are assigned to
terms jobs, job specifications and job evaluation for the purpose of industrial
psychologists, these terms may be regarded as being relatively similar.
Job
Evaluation
The industry is often concerned with
making job evaluation rather than job analysis.
The essential difference between these
tow is that job evaluation has its function the establishment of equitable wage
and salary rates. Job evaluations may be
obtained by ranking one job as a whole against another job or by classifying
jobs according to previously determined standards. These methods attempt to evaluate the whole
job. The most common approach, however,
is to evaluate job against job by breaking each into its elements. A rating system is usually used, such as the
one devised by Kress (1939). In this
system there are four major items and each item has subdivisions. Job evaluation is achieved by assigning one
of five ranks to each of these items. Each job is rated for:
1.
Skill
a.
Education
b.
Experience
c.
Initiative and ingenuity
2.
Effort
a.
Psychological demand
b.
Mental or physical demand
3.
Responsibility
a.
For equipment or process
b.
For material or product
c.
For safety or others
d.
For work of others
4.
Job Conditions
a.
Working conditions
b.
Unavoidable hazards
E.
ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT
Human being have attitudes that give rise
to tendencies of responding either positively or negatively to another person,
or group of people or an object, or a situation involving people, an idea or an
object. In most cases the passion of an
attitude predisposes one to react in a specific direction. Thus, knowledge of one’s attitudes sometimes
pave way for the prediction of his behaviour both in industry and in various
aspects of life.
Attitudes are learned or acquired by an
individual. In some cases, the learning
process is so subtle that the individual does not recognise the attitude he
acquired or honesty know he acquired it.
Attitudes may be rational or irrational
and the possession of one’s intelligence is in itself not a guarantee of a
bigger number of rational attitudes. The
individual who posses a particular attitude often resolve to rationalise
(self-justify) his reasons for the said attitude by selecting only the
illustrations that will back it up.
The acquired determining tendency is
one’s thinking or behaviour may be the result of fact or opinion, but for the
individual who holds the attitude in question, this has no significance
importance. Attitude based on opinion
may be more intense, as compared to the attitude that is based on facts.
F.
Motivation
Motivation is a positive drive that
forces a person to reach the goal. In a
workplace the manager or supervisor has to know the needs or drive of
individual and motivate according to it.
In an organization, when an employee is
doing good job or production is increased by him, he must be rewarded with
respect to his needs.
Motivation is usually a complex
process. An individual’s needs and
determined in part by certain physiological imbalances within him, in part by
his previous experiences, and in part by the interaction of these two. Industry
has tended to over simplify the worker’s motives by attaching too much importance
to financial incentives.
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