What is I-O Psychology?
Simply stated, I-O Psychology is psychology applied to the workplace. I-O psychologists are concerned with applying psychology to the workforce in an effort to identify and improve employee behavior and attitudes and thus help maximize the organization's success.
I-O Psychology is concerned with:
- Attitude Theory, Measurement, and Change
- Career Development
- Consumer Behavior
- Criterion Theory and Development
- Health and Stress in Organizations
- Human Performance/Human Factors
- Individual Assessment
- Job Evaluation and Compensation
- Job/Task Analysis and Classification
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Leadership and Management
- Organizational Development
- Organizational Theory
- Performance Appraisal and Feedback
- Personnel Recruitment, Selection, and Placement
- Small Group Theory and Team Processes
- Training: Theory, Program Design, and Evaluation
- Work Motivation
See this page for more information about required competencies, typical work activities, wage trends, and more.
What is Industrial vs. Organizational Psychology?
I-O Psychology is comprised of 2 branches: Industrial Psychology and Organizational Psychology. Though there is considerable overlap, Industrial Psychology is primarily concerned with issues that are more molecular in nature while Organizational Psychology takes a molar approach.
Industrial
- Recruitment
- Selection
- Classification
- Compensation
- Performance Appraisal
- Training
Organizational
- Socialization
- Motivation
- Occupational Stress
- Leadership
- Group Performance
- Organizational Development
For more helpful information, please visit the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
What is HRM?
Human Resource Management (HRM) is the management function that deals with the following aspects of an organization, with regards to company employees:
- Recruitment
- Placement
- Promotion
- Training and Development
- Change Management
- Employee Retention
For more helpful information, please visit the Society for Human Resource Management.
What jobs can I get in the HRM field?
- Human Resource Assistant: Basic HR role involving a variety of generalist HR activities (recruitment, performance management, and employee relations). Experience usually required: Graduate to 2 years.
- Standard Recruitment Consultant: Involves all aspects of recruitment (interviewing and reference checking, etc). Involves high level of involvement with managers and agencies (depending on individual companies). Experience usually required: Graduate to a few years of experience (depending on role).
- Specialized Recruitment Consultant: Same as Standard Recruitment Consultant except requires use of specialist field knowledge judgment when recruiting. Experience usually required: At least 12 months experience in the specialized field. Roles require technical knowledge including IT, science, and engineering.
- Education, Training, & HR Officer: Assessment of the overall company requirements regarding training needs, training programs, and assessment of individual development needs. Experience usually required: A few years experience working in a standard HRM recruitment role.
- HR Manager: Manages the day to day HR issues. Experience usually required: Many years experience working in a HRM role in a large corporate or professional services environment.
- Senior HR Services Consultant: Involves empowering managers in the uptake of HR initiatives and development of existing practical and progressive HR and people management strategies. Experience usually required: Extensive number of years experience working in recruitment in a corporate environment.
- Recruitment Coordinator: Requires understanding of business and the ability to cultivate an environment of trust and collaboration. Experience usually required: A few years experience working in HR recruitment in a management role.
- Executive Manager- Human Resources: Reporting to the Director of Human Resources and working with a small HR executive team. Experience usually required: Requires many years of experience in HR recruitment in a management role as well as proven HR generalist experience.