Think of an organization or company as a ship. Industrial and organizational
(I-O) psychology students are trained to use their knowledge of human behavior
to help make the crew and the entire ship work better.
I-O psychology degrees are generally offered at the graduate level.
(A graduate degree is required for certification.) The master's degree typically
requires two to three years of training. The doctorate takes another two to
three years.
Most graduate students in I-O psychology have a bachelor's degree in psychology.
"It doesn't have to be psychology," says Theresa Kline. She teaches I-O
psychology. "But given that we are a discipline that draws on a lot of our
sister psychology disciplines, it's good to have at least some grounding
in psychology."
If you decide to take a bachelor's degree in another field, make sure you
take at least some related courses. A related job will also look good.
"Any degree is acceptable if students have a background in undergraduate
statistics, research [in] industrial and organizational psychology at the
undergraduate level or equivalent work experience," says Michael Biderman.
He works with the psychology department at the University of Tennessee at
Chattanooga.
Many programs offer research and work experience opportunities.
Biderman says his students must take two practicum courses and are allowed
to take a third.
Admission to a graduate I-O psychology program is pretty competitive. Universities
will generally require good scores in the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE).
You also need a high grade point average (GPA).
Typical courses cover topics such as research methods, performance evaluation
and appraisal and personnel selection and placement. You might also study
work motivation, leadership, job satisfaction and employee training and development.
Kline suggests you start being extra observant of what takes place in
work settings. Get a job or volunteer for a position. Start playing I-O
psychologist by noting the performance of workers and some of the things that
positively or negatively affect their work.
And take your math seriously. "One of the things that they [students]
should know is that this area of psychology is very math- and statistics-oriented,"
says Kline.
"So you need to have some comfort level with numbers. That doesn't mean
you have to know everything about calculus and beyond -- it means being comfortable
dealing with numbers and tables of numbers."
If you want to work as an I-O psychologist in the U.S., you will need
to be licensed. Requirements may vary by state.
Links
Occupational Outlook Handbook
For more information related to this field of study, see: Psychologists
Industrial-Organizational Links
Plenty of resources available here
Encyclopedia of Psychology
Industrial psychology links
PsychCareers
A great resource for job seekers from the American Psychological
Association