Historical Impact of Personnel Psychology
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Historical Impact of Personnel Psychology
Many scholars and events have influenced the current research in personnel psychology. Personnel psychology is a branch of industrial, work, and organizational psychology concerned with the recruitment selection, training of staff, and the current personnel’s work relations. This paper focuses on how Mayo Elton influenced current research personnel psychology.
Professor Elton Mayo played an important role in the current research of personnel psychology. In 1927, Mayo initiated a psychological research project at the Western Electric Hawthorne Plant in Chicago (“Personnel psychology awards,” 2017). The Committee on Industrial Lighting conducted a groundbreaking series of experiments to prove that increased illumination leads to increased productivity. The team comprised of members of the gas and electric lighting industry of independent organizations.
Historical Impact of Personnel Psychology
The illumination experiment showed little effect on the study’s’ main purpose, illuminating productivity. The researchers shifted their focus from industrial illumination to the effects of staffs’ overall work environment (Onday 2016). The experiment revealed to researchers in psychology and sociology the need to control the factors that affect human performance. The relay assembly test experiment attempted to identify and control factors that affect workers’ production and satisfaction. The team improved workers’ working conditions and obtained the effects on production, satisfaction, health, and social interactions. The study concluded that uncontrolled factors, as opposed to experimental manipulation, increases performance.
Telecommuting is one of the current applications of personnel psychology being applied today. The approach improves staff workers’ productivity at the comfort of their homes (Chan 2019). The design reduces the costs of infrastructure in offices and saves transport costs for both employees and employers. Telecommuting expands the workforce of an organization beyond the boundaries of physical location.
Reference
Chan, D. (2019). Personnel psychology.
Onday, O. (2016). Human resource theory: From Hawthorne experiments of Mayo to groupthink of Janis. Global Journal of Human Resource Management, 4(1), 95-110.
Personnel psychology awards. (, 2017). Personnel Psychology, 70(4), 727-728. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12244
Historical Impact of Personnel Psychology
Question
a brief description of the historical event or person that you selected. Then, explain how this person or event influenced current research in personnel psychology. Finally, explain one way you might have experienced an application of this current research. Support your response with the Learning Resources and current literature.