INDTRODUCTION TO

INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY

 It began as a branch of psychology in

December 1901,when Dr. Walter Dill
Scott in the U.S.A spoke on the
possibilities of the application of
psychological principles to the field of
advertising.
It tries to understand the human
problems that have arisen as a result
of tremendous expansion of industry
in the last few decades.

 People are the essential ingredients

in all organizations. Industrial
psychology has the potentiality to
contribute to the productivity of
industry and business on one hand
and achieving greater effectiveness
and fulfilment of working on hand on
the other.

 It is defined as the study of man and

his behaviour with the aid of
scientific methodology.
Industrial Psychology is the science
of behaviour (what we do) and
mental processes (sensations,
perceptions, dreams, thoughts,
beliefs, and feelings).

 Scope of Industrial Psychology is an

extremely broad field, encompassing
many different approaches to the
study of mental processes and
behaviour. The Personnel Selection,
Personnel development, Human
Engineering, Productivity Study,
Management, Accident prevention
and safety measures and Labour
Relations are the scope of the
Industrial Psychology.

 The omnipresent tendency to resist

changes of any ort and maintain a status
quo has been a great hurdle in the
acceptance of industrial psychology by
employees and managements all over the
world because practice of industrial
psychology often demands radical
changes in the outlooks and attitudes of
both employees and the employers are
also averse to changes because often
they are not sure about the efficacy of the
new ideas and are least inclined to take
risks.

 Industrial Psychology is the

application of psychological
principles and facts to the behaviour
of the people at work in industry and
business. One important thing of this
psychological principle is that
basically they govern the behaviour
of all the human beings in any
situation in life whether in school,
home or in business and industry

 The first principle of psychology is that all

the activities of human beings are not
random but are always brought about by
some stimulating factors or conditions that
make a person to behave in a certain
fashion.
In industrial situations, many such
behaviours like absenteeism among workers,
low figures of production, or a poorly running
sales department or industrial tensions
which often erupt in strikes or lockouts; are
investigated with a view to determining the
underlying stimulating conditions or causes
or antecedent conditions.

 By understanding the causation of

behaviour we can predict, change or
control their behaviour or shape it in
a desirable direction. Industrial
Psychology aims at understanding
the causation of events so that it
may help us to have a better control
over the situation.

 Individual differences both in physical and

psychological characteristics of the
individuals from the very basis of industrial
psychology.
The basic aspects in which individuals may
vary broadly are:
Differences
Differences
Differences
Differences

in
in
in
in

Physical Characteristics.
intelligence
Interest.
Personality Characteristics.

 If all adults in India were given a general

intelligence test, the frequency distribution of
the scores would resemble the following bellshaped curve. The normal distribution has an
important characteristic. The mean, median
and mode are the same score (a score of 100)
because a normal distribution, is symmetrical.
The score with the highest frequency occurs in
the middle of the distribution and exactly half
of the scores occur above the middle and half
of the scores occur below. Most of the scores
occur around the middle of the distribution or
the mean. Very high and very low scores occur
infrequently and are therefore considered rare.

 Learning has been defined in psychology

a relatively permanent change in
behaviour which occurs as a result of
experience or practice.
The characteristic of learning are:
1.It is a change in behaviour for better or
worse. If there is no change in behaviour
there is no learning.
2.Learning is the effect of experience or
practice.
3.The change brought about by learning may
last for sometime and may not be transitory
as in the case of changes brought about by
fatigue or drugs

 Perception plays an important role in

our daily life and is a complex
phenomenon What we see also
depends on the frame of reference in
which we see it. People may again
differ in the rapidity with which they
perceive

 In many industries tasks the larger

size of visual field is a very crucial
factor and obviously persons with a
narrow visual field are ill equipped for
such jobs. What you perceive or how
you perceive is largely a matter of
learning or training, but often such
differences are inherent and difficult
to improve by training, beyond a
certain limit

 Attitude is a very important concept

in psychology and must be clearly
understood by industrial
psychologists and students. Attitude
may be best defined as learned
orientation or disposition towards
favourable or unfavourable manner.
It is often used to explain various
form of industrial behaviour.

 Opinion can be distinguished from

attitude in two ways- first, an opinion
is verbalized or expressed in
language or in some other way while
an attitude may not be. Opinions are
a public affair, while attitudes are
private affairs. Opinion is there for
every one to see and infer.

 Prejudice is used to imply negative or

unfavourable attitude towards a
person or group of persons. Even
production of company is influenced
by unfavourable attitude of the
workers. Changing and improving the
attitude is the part of an industrial
psychologists function in industry

 It is a basic psychological concept . It

may be defined as a behaviour
arising out of various human needs
and which is directed towards certain
goals that may bring satisfaction of
the need. There are primary, general
and acquired or learned motives or
social motives.

 Personality is the some total of all the

physical and mental characteristics,
capacities and abilities of a person. It
describes what a person is.
Behaviour on the other hand, is what a
person does. It is fairly flexible in
individual. It is based on personality,
but depends generally on environment.
The phenomenon can be described
with a simple equation: B = f (P,E)
where B= behaviour, f= function, P=
personality and E=Environment.

 We generally start off our lives with

roles which are determined by
providence and not by any choice of
ours. These roles are imposed on us
by our fate or providence or what we
call circumstances. Roles, thus
patterns behaviour.

 A human group has been defined by

Hegrath as a system of roles and social
organization as a system of human groups.
The organizational roles are primarily based
on the tasks to be performed at various
levels and functions within the organization
and form the formal organizational
structure. Role performance is a continuous,
dynamic process which necessarily takes
place in conjunction with performance of
people in the roles, and role relationship is
vital for the work to be done.

 In industries several small and large groups

are often at work in terms or department.
Such group phenomena are:
An organization is a dynamic entity and the
organizational structure and environment
develops through the interaction of
individuals performing various operating
roles in work groups. It rests on three
elements namely the structure, process and
attitude of people Managerial Approaches
Effectiveness of an organization depends on
the environment it has developed and the
quality of its people and the opportunity
they get to utilize their talents.

 The different approaches used are the

Benevolent approach( It makes the
employer, or the boss to look after his
employees and decide what is good or
bad for them and it is often described as
authoritarian, autocratic and
paternalistic or coercive), the Human
Relations approach( It aims at producing
maximum employee satisfaction and is
based on a series of studies by industrial
psychologists) and The Human
Resources approach( In this the
subordinate is all important).

 One offshoot of concern for human factor in

industry is the concept of industrial morale.
Both personal or social features involved in
mental condition which we call group
morale or team spirit or esprit de corps. It is
a complex phenomenon resulting from
working of several factors.
It is of utmost importance in industry
because at every level it has tremendous
impact on the working of an organization.
Industrial psychologists are well-versed in
the various styles and aspects of leadership

 India has a long tradition in industrial

psychological training and research. A section of
Applied Psychology within the department of
Psychology in Calcutta University was first
established in 1993 and some first papers on
industrial psychology were read at the Indian
Science Congress held in Bombay in 1934.
Nearly 380 papers have been published on the
subject between 1950and 1970. Industry
psychology seems to be of the few sub-fields of
psychology managing the industries are
increasing felt with the terrific tempo of
industrial growth in our country in the last 2 or 3
decades.