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Industrial-Organizational Psychologist

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Dan Skarlicki studies chaotic workplaces to find out what's gone wrong. "I started out my research investigating organizational justice," says the I-O psychologist.

"This means I wanted to find out about how employees were treated on the job, if the staffing was fair, if the pay was fair, and how this affected employee productivity."

The aim of Skarlicki's research was to find out why some people would go beyond the call of duty at the workplace and give their utmost to a company, and why some wouldn't. "I found that when an employee feels she's being fairly treated she'll go out of her way, and when an employee feels she is being unfairly treated she won't go out of her way, and may in fact start to hinder the company.

"I quickly found out that I was really interested in the injustices at the workplace. People aren't foolish. They won't punch out their boss, but they'll begin to do things like take pencils home because they feel they're underpaid, or they'll talk poorly of the organization."

Taking long lunch breaks and not completing work on time are detrimental to a company, but aren't extreme forms of retaliation. Skarlicki is also interested in these more extreme cases.

"I collaborate with a colleague...and focus on what we call 'going postal.' In these cases, people may see that someone is getting paid more for the same work, and go to the boss and ask why. If the superintendent slams the door in their face, then the dissatisfaction is combined with unfair treatment, and resentment can be maximized.

"Fairness on the job is something that's pretty easily understood. It's something that people get pretty excited about because almost everyone has experienced being treated unfairly, and want to do something about it."

But not everyone is thrilled about Skarlicki's research. "In today's era of downsizing, employees can be laid off in inhumane ways. In a recent company takeover, managers fired employees over the phone. It was pretty awful."

Paul Spector, an I-O psychologist in Florida, is interested in the effect that these negative feelings generated in an uncomfortable work environment have on the worker's health and well-being. "Physical and verbal aggression, sabotage and theft can happen at the workplace, and I'm interested in how this affects people," he says.

Job stress is a global phenomenon, and Spector has joined other researchers from around the world to collect data in a cross-cultural study. "The work is very challenging because there are ethical and practical limitations to research on humans. I also love to have contact with people in other countries and have developed a network of researchers."

Reducing job stress is an important part of an I-O psychologist's job. Kaye Alvarez -- currently working on her thesis in I-O psychology -- is researching the advantages of teamwork in different organizations.

"I love the new trend of Fortune 1,000 companies using teams to accomplish organizational goals. I'm busy creating performance appraisals for teams, and it's very exciting. In an undergraduate course, a grad student came in and talked to us about her thesis on teamwork and I was instantly in love."

Alvarez plans to continue her research while working in the field. "I have the same exciting feeling running through my blood, so I know I want to help develop teamwork."

More often, I-O psychologists are able to pass on valuable information, whether it's about job fairness, alleviating job stress or developing teamwork, and can assist companies in smoothing over difficulties. "It is exciting to see people listen, take in the information and really try to improve the working conditions for everybody."

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