It is a long time for a large mount of
big corporations or international companies to pay much attention to an
ever-important subject -- Industrial Psychology. For studying and using the
subject, they can produce more profits than ever before. So, what is its
definition It is an application of various psychological techniques to the
selection and training of industrial workers and to the promotion of efficient
working conditions and techniques, as well as individual job satisfaction. This
field of applied psychology first became prominent during World War II, when it
became necessary to recruit and train the large number of new workers who were
needed to meet the expanding demands of industry.
The selection
of workers for particular jobs is essentially a problem of discovering the
special intelligence and personality characteristics needed for the job and of
devising tests to determine whether candidates have such intelligence and
characteristcs. The development of tests of this kind has long been a field of
psychological research.
Once the worker is on the job and has
been trained, the fundamental aim of the industrial psychologist is to find ways
in which a particular job can best be accomplished with a minimum of effort and
a maximum of individual satisfaction. The psychologist’s function, therefore,
differs born that of the so-called efficiency expert, who places primary
emphasis on increased production. Psychological techniques used to lessen the
effort involved in a given job include a detailed study of the motions required
to do the job, the equipment used, and the conditions under which the job is
performed. These conditions include ventilation, heating, lighting, noise, and
anything else affecting the comfort or morale of the worker. After making such a
study, the industrial psychologist often determines that the job in question may
be accomplished with less effort by changing the routine motions of the work
itself, changing or moving the tools, improving the working conditions, or a
combination of several of these methods.
Industrial
psychologists have also studied the effects of fatigue on workers to determine
the length of working time that yields the greatest productivity. In some cases
such studies have proven that total production on particular jobs could be
increased by reducing the number of working hours or by increasing the number of
rest periods, or "breaks", during the day. Industrial psychologists may also
suggest less direct requirements for general improvement of job performance,
such as establishing a better line of communication between employees and
management. |
