MODULE 6: CONTEMPORARY TRENDS IN I/O PSYCHOLOGY
Today, industrial/organizational psychology is one of the fastest-growing areas of psychology. I/O
psychologists are in the forefront of those professionals who are satisfying the huge demand for
information leading to greater understanding of the worker, the work environment, and work
behavior. They are involved in nearly every aspect of business and industry, and as we will see,
the range of topics they research and the varieties of tasks they perform are extensive.
The mission of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), the professional
organization for I/O psychology, most clearly defines this field (and reflects aspirations for the
future):
[T]o enhances human well-being and performance in organizational and work settings by
promoting the science, practice, and teaching of I-O Psychology. The major developments in the
working world and in the world at large have in turn influenced the field of I/O psychology.
Some of the major trends in I/O Psychology are discussed in detail in the below sections
Trend 1: Changing nature of Work:
To increase employee satisfaction, motivation, and performance and to reduce absenteeism and
turnover, many organizations have implemented changes in work schedules and in the modalities
of doing work. Some of the major changes and challenges related to changing nature of work are
discussed below.
Today, most employees work eight hours a day, five days a week. Usually, the workdays are
Monday through Friday. But these have not always been the typical work hours. In the late
eighteenth century, it was common for employees to work14–16 hours a day, six days per week.
Compressed Workweeks
Although the vast majority of people still work eight hours a day, five days a week, there is a trend
toward working fewer days a week but more hours per day. These deviations from the typical five-
day workweek are called compressed workweeks and usually involve either ten hours a day for
four days or 12 hours a day for three days.
The “explosion” in organizations using compressed schedules came in the early 1970s after Riva
Poor (1970) published the first book on the topic. Compressed schedules generally bring a
moderate reduction in absenteeism, a small increase in productivity, a large increase in job
satisfaction, and a moderate increase in fatigue.
The potential advantages of compressed workweeks are obvious from the employees’ perspective.
They get more vacation days, have more time to spend with their families, have increased
opportunities to moonlight, and have reduced commuting costs and times. Furthermore, if parents
have different compressed schedules, child-care costs are greatly reduced. One of the major
concerns with compresses work weeks is the possibility of increased employee fatigue.
Moonlighting: As mentioned previously, one of the concerns with compressed workweeks is the
possibility of employee fatigue. The same concern applies to employees working more than one
job, or moonlighting. For example, an employee might work the day shift as a machine operator
for Ford Motor Company and then work the night shift as a store clerk for a 7-Eleven convenience
store. People moonlight because they want or need to earn extra money, and they may even enjoy
the second job.
Moonlighting is defined as,” The act of working more than one job simultaneously, including
working for employers and self-employment, wherein all tasks, or sets of tasks, are performed in
exchange for, or expectation of, compensation” (Campion, Cazz & Moss,2020). The concept of
moonlighting is also distinct from gig workers, though both the terms overlap on some aspects.
Gig work has the features of i) independence and separation of workers from the organization ii)
short-term nature of work and iii) project-based payment. The seminal article by Wilensky (1963)
reported that moonlighting is not a class phenomenon and employees are driven to hold multiple
jobs due to financial or career-related reasons.
In the Indian IT sector, there have been differences of opinion regarding the practice of
‘moonlighting’ by employees. Recently Indian IT company WIPRO was in the headlines for firing
300 employees for moonlighting. IT companies like TCS and Infosys also view moonlighting as
cheating and unethical. At the same time, Tech Mahindra another IT company thinks that
companies should change with contemporary trends like moonlighting. It is also interesting to note
that the Indian food delivery start-up Swiggy has introduced an industry-first ‘moonlighting policy’
allowing its employees to work on projects outside of their regular employment at the company,
during the hours away from work. With this policy, Swiggy is hoping that it will improve the
creativity and productivity of employees. Electronics and Information Technology minister of state
Sri Rajeev Chandrasekharan has also supported moonlighting, and has called for companies to
appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit of employees. Several companies are accepting moonlighting
for reasons like cost cutting, business process reengineering and benchmarking of quality
standards. Global IT giant Microsoft even had a job position termed, gig-economy manager. It is
indeed a challenging task for the human resource management of organizations to find a balance
between ensuring productivity of employees and promoting their personal and career development.
As the economy is moving towards short term labour models and contract online platforms,
researchers have projected a steady and upward trend for moonlighting. Some of the terms which
are used interchangeably with moonlighting are multiple job holding, hybrid entrepreneurs, dual
practitioners, plural careerists and portfolio workers. Moonlighting leads to conflict of interest
when current employees work for rival firms. The companies also fear of data and confidentiality
breaches. Employees may use company resources for their second job which increases operating
expenses
Flexible working hours: With flextime, employees are given greater control over the hours they
work. It is believed that this increase in control and flexibility has many advantages for employees.
First, an employee can take care of personal tasks such as going to the doctor, picking up children
from school, and even sleeping in after a rough night. Furthermore, this increased control should
enrich the employee’s job, thus theoretically resulting in increased job satisfaction. Flexible
working, also known as flextime or flextime, refers to non-traditional working arrangements that
take into account an individual’s personal needs, often involving some degree of working from
home. Flexible working is often used to describe any other working arrangement than the
traditional nine –to-five. Flextime can be arranged in many ways, but all share the same three basic
components: bandwidth, core hours, and flexible hours. Bandwidth is the total number of
potential hours available for work each day. For example, employees can work their eight hours
anytime in the 12-hour bandwidth between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Core hours are those that everyone
must work and typically consist of the hours during which an organization is busiest with its
outside contacts. For example, a restaurant might have core hours between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to
cover its lunchtime business, whereas a bank might have core hours from 12 noon to 1 p.m. and
from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. to cover the periods of highest customer volume. Flexible hours are those
that remain in the bandwidth and in which the employee has a choice of working. For example, if
the bandwidth is the 12-hour period from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the core hours are from 11 a.m. to
1 p.m., then the employee can schedule the remaining six hours (including lunch hour) anywhere
from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. The actual degree to which these hours are truly
flexible depends on the specific flextime program used by the organization.
The most flexible of these schedules is called gliding time. With this system, an employee can
choose her own hours without advance notice or scheduling. Employees can come and go as they
please as long as they work eight hours each day and 40 hours each week. With gliding time, there
are no core hours.
Most flexible working schedules are categorized as flexitour or modified flexitour, with the
employee enjoying greater flexibility in working hours, although the hours must be scheduled in
advance. With a flexitour system, the employee must submit a schedule on a weekly, biweekly, or
monthly basis, depending on the organization. In a modified flexitour, the employee must schedule
her hours in advance but can change these hours on a daily basis with some advance notice.
Job sharing involves two employees who share their work hours. Rather than one person working
40 hours each week, two employees combine their hours so that they total 40.The main difference
between job sharing and part-time employment is the level of employee commitment, both to the
organization and to the other employee. Job-sharing programs are targeted at employees who have
family responsibilities. Thus, an organization can attract a highly qualified employee who would
not be able to work full time.
Some of the benefits of flexible working for employees include a better work-life balance, lower
levels of absence and lower levels of stress. One of the logistical challenges associated with
flexitime is recording and managing each employee’s hours to ensure they are still fulfilling their
contractual obligations.
Work from home: The unprecedented crisis of Covid-19 has ensured that be it, employers or
employees, everyone has some sort of idea about WFH, however, it largely varies based on
different perceptions. WFH is often interchangeably used as Telework, however, there lie some
inherent differences between the two. WFH can be construed as a subset of Telework, as telework
not only includes the work performed from home but also the work which can be performed while
travelling. With telecommuting, however, an employee uses a computer to electronically interact
with a central office. Other terms commonly used for telecommuting are telework and mobile
working. Telecommuting is ideal for such tasks as computer programming, data entry, and
telemarketing. WFH is an alternate way of organising task that may be defined as the work which
can be performed from home (away from the traditional workplace such as factories or offices)
and enables employees to access their labour activities through the use of information technology.
Service-based companies especially the IT and Software firms such as Tata Consultancy Services
(TCS), Infosys, International Business Machines (IBM), and Cognizant etc. have already used this
measure since quite some time.
Benefit for employers
WFH can result in improved productivity than the conventional working style
Reduction in turnover rate
Reduction in organisational cost
Employees can be hired from a wider talent pool as WFH will be unrestrained from geographic
conditioning.
In case of some undesired event, such as any natural calamities, distributed workforce ensures
continuity in operation and hence reduces the risks.
Benefit for employees
It helps in reduction of commuting time: This is specifically important in the Indian context as its
people spend on average 7% of the day in commuting
Reduced travel and other associated costs
The lower level of stress in employees and better work-life balance
Increased autonomy for individuals
Increased family and leisure time
Increased job satisfaction
Less distracted by co-workers
In the time of pandemic, WFH has become increasingly popular and also seen by many as a long-
term alternative to the traditional way of doing work. However, there can be numerous pitfalls
associated with it.
Concern for employers
Data Security, a threat to Intellectual Property Rights and issues of Cyber-security are among the
major concerns for the industries considering WFH arrangement.
Measuring productivity and performance management is also going to be changed in case of WFH
arrangement. The prevailing notion among managers is that if they can’t directly observe their
subordinates while working, evaluation and giving constructive feedback will be seriously
hampered. Therefore, Companies need to invest in managers to equip them in measuring
performance and giving feedback to their subordinates. This will be an added cost initially for the
organisations but in the long run, it will foster growth and higher productivity and engagement.
Trust, synergy innovation and problem-solving: Pioneer research of Nicholas Bloom suggests that
face-to-face meetings are essential for developing new ideas and keeping staff motivated and
focused. (Bloom et al, 2013)
Induction program will be a challenge for new employees.
The business process management (BPM) firms use the same system/computers etc. in different
shifts. This will not be possible in case of WFH. This will lead to increase in cost.
Concern for employees ➢ Internet connectivity and interrupted power supply.
• Issues associated with Female Employees in India: In laws, sick family members,
household chores need additional attention.
• Managing younger kid: Perhaps the most challenging aspect of working from home for
parents with younger children is managing their kids. The closure of schools and transition
to “distance learning” for students has forced many working parents to take on the
additional job of a full-time teacher. One requirement for a successful work-fromhome
program for any business is the requirement that children are in school or daycare, Bloom
says.
• Difficulty in distinguishing between work and home time.
• Feeling of loneliness, anxiety and depression due to social isolation.
• Some employees may be reluctant to telecommute because of the perception that working
remotely hinders promotional opportunities (Chapman et al., 1995).
An increasingly popular concept in telecommuting is the neighborhood “telebusiness center.” At
these centers, employees from a variety of organizations share office space close to their homes
but are connected electronically to their respective organizations
Organizational downsizing is a strategy of reducing an organization’s workforce to improve
organizational efficiency, productivity, and/or competitiveness. Organizations are downsizing
because of technological advancements such as robotic and computer-assisted manufacturing that
eliminate workers’ jobs, because of increased efficiency in jobs and the elimination of overlapping
worker functions, and because of a general reduction in middle-level managers. In addition,
economic downturns, such as the economic meltdown in 2007–2008, tend to increase the number
of laid-off workers. Moreover, catastrophic events can affect certain industries, such as the
September 11, 2001, terrorist hijackings and airliner crashes that caused the immediate downsizing
of nearly all U.S. commercial airlines. Downsizing requires organizations to “do more with less”
to survive—including the fact that fewer workers are doing more work . This trend toward “leaner”
workforces has negative consequences for workers, who are required to do more, and can create a
sense of job insecurity.
Outsourcing: Outsourcing means contracting with an external organization to accomplish work
tasks . Outsourcing is used to increase output and can reduce overhead costs associated with the
personnel needed to do the tasks in house. I/O psychologists are involved in helping to understand
the effects that the increased use of outsourcing is having on variables such as the way jobs are
conducted, group processes, structure and design of organizations, employee commitment,
motivation, and other factors. Outsourcing can involve using a large third-party provider, such as
a company like IBM to manage IT services or FedEx Supply Chain for third-party logistics
services. But it can also involve hiring individual independent contractors, temporary office
workers and freelancers.
New models of outsourcing came about in the late 1980s and 1990s with the profound leap in
Internet technology and software. IT outsourcing was a result: companies wanted to divest from
their own facilities, operations, and personnel to focus on other business interests. Companies
could put their resources in other important areas, while leaving outsourced areas to specialize in
the area that they found less important; this was sort of a modern “division of labor. “Many of the
outsourced IT jobs and foreign workers that come to the United States are from India. There are
countless reasons why this is so, but from a historical standpoint, we can see that one of the prime
factors has to do with higher education.
Types of outsourcing
• Onshoring. Relocating work or services to lower-cost location in the company's own
country.
• Offshoring. Relocating work or services to third-party providers overseas.
• Nearshoring. Relocating work or services to people in nearby, often bordering regions
and countries.
Companies often outsource as a way to lower costs, improve efficiencies and gain speed.
Companies that decide to outsource rely on the third-party providers' expertise in performing the
outsourced tasks to gain such benefits. The underlying principle is that because the third-party
provider focuses on that particular task, it is able to do it better, faster and cheaper than the hiring
company could.
Trend 2: Expanding focus on human resources
Organizations have become more and more concerned about and responsive to the needs of
workers. At the same time, organizations are realizing that skilled and creative workers are the
keys to success. The technological age of the past few decades has seen a tight labor market for
truly skilled workers, particularly in high-tech industries. This means that organizations will have
to compete ferociously to attract and keep the best workers.Greater emphasis will need to be given
to such areas as employee recruitment and selection procedures. Companies will also have to offer
more enticing benefit programs to attract and retain the best workers—including “family-friendly”
policies such as employer- sponsored child-care and extended family leaves
Trend 3: Globalization and diversity at workplace
Immigration, the increase in global organizations, and the increasing number of women entering
the organizational workforce has led to greater and greater workplace diversity. This diversity will
only increase in the future. Women and ethnic minorities—who have been targets of employment
discrimination—now make up the majority of the workforce, worldwide. Moreover, the diversity
of cultures in workplaces will also increase as workers become more internationally mobile.
Workforces will continue to consist of members from a greater number and variety of cultures.
An obvious advantage of increased workforce diversity is the opportunity for different viewpoints
and perspectives that will lead to organizational creativity and innovation. Increased workforce
diversity can also help an organization in understanding and reaching new markets for products or
services. An organization’s commitment to diversity can also help in recruiting and retaining the
best workers. For instance, cutting-edge companies that value workforce diversity not only attract
the most qualified workers, but also the valuing of diversity permeates the entire organizational
culture, leading to reduced organizational conflict, greater cooperation among workers, and
increased flexibility and innovation.Although diversity has benefits, demographic and cultural
differences can, if not carefully managed, create great difficulties in the functioning of work
teams—increasing destructive conflict, inhibiting team cooperation, and impeding performance.
As more and more organizations go international, there is an increasing need for workers to be
trained for working in or with organizations located in other countries. The successful executive
or manager of the future must be globally aware, knowledgeable and respectful of other cultures,
and capable of working with people from a wide variety of backgrounds.
Dandelion principle: Robert D. Austin and Thorkil Sonne found that it can be highly beneficial
to managers to seek out and hire people to do specific tasks who might have otherwise been
overlooked for such jobs. The company founded by Sonne, Specialisterne (Danish for “The
Specialists”) makes a point of hiring people who have some form of autism spectrum disorder, for
example, because they have found that such people can be “well-suited to certain jobs, such as
software testing, quality control and security monitoring.” Hiring these so-called dandelions not
only provides job opportunities to people who are normally considered unhireable, but also allows
unconventional thinkers to add value as they can see things others might not.
Trend 4: Emphasis on compliance and legal standards
Today I/O psychologists are paying greater attention to the effects of the external environment, for
instance, the wider society, governmental and international developments. A relatively new area
is sexual harassment. The first ruling by U.S. Supreme Court on subject of sexual harassment was
delivered in 1986. In India, it was in 1997 in the landmark case of Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan
and others, that sexual harassment was identified as a separate illegal behaviour. All this has led
to the need for greater accountability for the actions of I/O psychologists. The Vishaka Guidelines
were a set of procedural guidelines for use in India in cases of sexual harassment. They were
promulgated by theIndian Supreme Court in 1997 and were superseded in 2013 by the Sexual
Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act.
Trend 5: Quality improvement programs
Efficient human resource management was behind the economic revolution achieved by countries
ruined after the Second World War. Cases in point are Germany and Japan, who achieved
revolutionary success within a short span of time. They not only succeeded in reviving their
economies but sent their surplus produce to other nations, spreading prosperity the world over.
They famously accomplished the task by adopting the total quality management (TQM) approach
with focus on optimum development and management of the precious human resource. Total
Quality Management is related to work organisation and management. TQM marks a shift away
from the traditional productivity centred approach to a quality centric, systemic approach to
management.Total quality management (TQM) is a management approach that seeks to improve
quality and performance at all levels of an organization. TQM focuses on continuous improvement,
customer satisfaction, and teamwork. It is based on the belief that quality is everyone's
responsibility and that everyone can contribute to the improvement of quality. TQM involves the
use of quality tools and techniques such as statistical process control, benchmarking, and quality
circles.Continuous improvement is a top down process. It is initiated and directed from the top,
but implemented from the bottom.
There are many benefits to implementing a Total Quality Management system in a company's
human resources department. First and foremost, TQM can help to improve the quality of the
department's services to employees and managers. TQM also encourages a team-oriented approach
to problem-solving, which can lead to more creative and efficient solutions. Additionally, TQM
can help to identify and eliminate waste in HR processes, which can lead to cost savings. Finally,
TQM can help to promote a continuous learning environment within the HR department, which
can lead to improved employee satisfaction and productivity.
Trend 6: Organizational change management
A change in an organisation is known as organisational change, which refers to the setting up new
production methods; producing new products; restructuring of organisation; adoption of
information technology; change from public to private ownership or vice-versa etc. Organisations,
which learn and cope up with change, will flourish and others, which fail to do, so, will disappear.
Modern organisations are required to compete in a global market. Further technological
developments resulted in changes in the methods of producing goods and services. All these
developments make changes inevitable, pervasive, and persistent in organisational life.Both
internal and external forces influence the process of change in an organisation. A successful change
process involves three steps; i.e., identification of need for change, cultivation of new behaviour
and feeling comfortable with the new situation.As the change is introduced in an organisation, it
may face the resistance by the organisational members. Both individual and organisation may
resist the change. Organisation may deal with the resistance to change through : education and
communication, participation and involvement, facilitation and support, negotiation and
incentives, manipulation and cooptation and coercion. The process of change requires to be
managed in a careful and systematic way. The factors influencing successful management of
organisational change should be considered for this purpose.
