[strawberry7171]

Hello everybody!



I'm an INFJ and thinking about going into the sub-field: Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Here's a little bit from Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Inc. Homepage Article

Industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology is the scientific study of the workplace. Rigor and methods of psychology are applied to issues of critical relevance to business, including talent management, coaching, assessment, selection, training, organizational development, performance, and work-life balance.

As a fellow INFJ, I wanted to know what you thought about this field and whether or not it appeals to the INFJ traits. Lookin' forward to hearing what you think!

[Malovane]

Well, I don't know. I suppose I have some concerns about such things. It would depend how it was applied.

I like capitalism as a system, and generally speaking I believe corporations do a lot of good for society. I like being in business, and as someone in IT - I enjoy enhancing that business with systems that are tailored to make it more productive. To some extent I believe an organizational psychologist could do a lot of good, for both the people in the business and for the productivity of the business itself. On a personal level I think I would enjoy it quite a bit.

That said, I do get the feeling that a lot of people are being treated like cattle these days - by both the government and by big business. We run the risk of crossing some real serious ethical boundaries if we take such things too far. Look at what the TSA is doing - how intrusive can you get? People are assets to a company, yes... but they should always be treated as individuals, and with dignity. In an age where the bottom line is most important, this will likely not be the case. How deeply would you psychoanalyze people? How deeply would you go to *fix* them?

[LeafStew]

What you seam into is a mix a of management and human resources. Both are listed everywhere in career suggestion for INFJs. I think INFJs can do a great deal to improve workplace and make it more pleasant and human because of their particular understanding of human beings. Also with their ability to be creative and think, analyze people and put them in system it seams like the perfect fit.

Personally, some of the classes I've enjoyed the most in my business curriculum were the psychology class (Behavior and human relations at work), the culture class (International management and cultures) and the management class. It was really fun to understand how company use to be managed in an army type fashion and that nowadays some company have a more flexible/consensus way of working with a more flat structure and different mechanism to make decision. Also, I really like when we talked about motivational factors at work, leadership styles, subordination styles, etc.

The culture style was also pretty handy to understand differences in the way people think in act depending from where they were brought up. If you are interested I could look for a few authors I had in those classes to see if you are interested in their work. Dunno if you already had classes in the field, you might know them already.

[vel]

I am not involved with management or human resources (I do lab work) but I've been playing a multiplayer game for the past couple of years and this is always what I end up doing in it lol. Most people there play as part of groups that have certain goals and structure to them. There are hundreds of these groups and you can switch between them at your will. And these groups compete, we actually take over each other's resources, so there is competitive stimulus to improve. A bit like in real life between companies :)

And so what I end up doing is coming up with ideas on how to optimize the structure, optimize recruitment, optimize resource procurement, how to do training, optimize this optimize that and also sometimes taking actions myself to bring these changes about but mainly coordinating with other players on 1-on-1 basis, finding the right person for the right job, to help me bring these changes about. This sort of experience, where since it was a game I have a lot of freedom in what I could do and say, showed me what sort of things are enjoyable for me to do in that sort of environment. In real life I was a science major, so most of my work has been working on a project of my own in a laboratory, not very people-oriented work, and entry level you don't get to do any people management.

Whether this is the right thing for you, I do not know, but it goes along with INFJ profile for sure. I don't know much about jobs in human resources or management. Most of my family and people I know have occupations in science and engineering or some creative arts/english sort of deal. My INFJ aunt is only one in family that has a psychology degree, she has her own practice, a set of clients that go to visit her regularly, but she practices in another country.

[strawberry7171]

Well, I don't know. I suppose I have some concerns about such things. It would depend how it was applied.

I like capitalism as a system, and generally speaking I believe corporations do a lot of good for society. I like being in business, and as someone in IT - I enjoy enhancing that business with systems that are tailored to make it more productive. To some extent I believe an organizational psychologist could do a lot of good, for both the people in the business and for the productivity of the business itself. On a personal level I think I would enjoy it quite a bit.

That said, I do get the feeling that a lot of people are being treated like cattle these days - by both the government and by big business. We run the risk of crossing some real serious ethical boundaries if we take such things too far. Look at what the TSA is doing - how intrusive can you get? People are assets to a company, yes... but they should always be treated as individuals, and with dignity. In an age where the bottom line is most important, this will likely not be the case. How deeply would you psychoanalyze people? How deeply would you go to *fix* them?

Thank you, that's really supportive. I believe that I/O Psychology really would be rewarding for the foundation of a business and the employees that make everything happen on a daily basis. I am very compassionate towards people and I think that the corporate - cattle out look is a bit terrible, however...! There are ethics and guidelines that help of course. I don't like the few unhealthy egos and political aspects of corporations but that can't be avoided - there will always be this.

Currently, I try my best to psychoanalyze people in order to understand them and to be able to have a civilized relationship with them. I wouldn't go too far to change them because I believe that people essentially should change for themselves. I would suggest changes. Otherwise, there wouldn't be much I can do if someone didn't want my help - as an INFJ, I've learned to accept instances where I have done all I can and I had to leave because things didn't change. At my current position, I'm a supervisor and I work with a ton of different personalities. Personally, I see each and every individual free to live the way they wish and have their own perspectives. I actually encourage it. I always ask others what they think about changes and policies because I feel like they should have a say. I guess I have a great passion for people, organization, consistent policies, and finding techniques to help people everyday in business.

[strawberry7171]

What you seam into is a mix a of management and human resources. Both are listed everywhere in career suggestion for INFJs. I think INFJs can do a great deal to improve workplace and make it more pleasant and human because of their particular understanding of human beings. Also with their ability to be creative and think, analyze people and put them in system it seams like the perfect fit.

Personally, some of the classes I've enjoyed the most in my business curriculum were the psychology class (Behavior and human relations at work), the culture class (International management and cultures) and the management class. It was really fun to understand how company use to be managed in an army type fashion and that nowadays some company have a more flexible/consensus way of working with a more flat structure and different mechanism to make decision. Also, I really like when we talked about motivational factors at work, leadership styles, subordination styles, etc.

The culture style was also pretty handy to understand differences in the way people think in act depending from where they were brought up. If you are interested I could look for a few authors I had in those classes to see if you are interested in their work. Dunno if you already had classes in the field, you might know them already.

Thanks! That would be great! I think looking up those authors and reading up on those topics would be really helpful. I love psychology and every aspect of it - the business, spiritual, cultural, and humane, every single angle! All very fascinating. I think that I/O psych would be more practical and would be beneficial for me in the long run. I love people because they're so interesting... I'm interested in where they're from, where they're going, and what they're talents/skills/aspirations are. Helping them be more efficient, happier, and a strong asset in a company would be very rewarding.

I was actually debating between going back to school for HR Mgmt or I/O Psych - my passion for psych led to me to I/O. Have you taken statistics? I heard that I/O will require a ton of stats. I'm not too worried though. I'm looking forward to the challenge. Also, I have a strong urge to help people and be creative. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this field will allow me to do both things.

It's really intriguing how there are so many different platforms for a company to work upon, what works for employees depending on the type of field, and what managers look for. Just thinking about the different personalities of managers and their supervisees is interesting.. Wonder if there are specific directions to take regarding this. I feel like there is so much to learn in this field, it's exciting!

[LeafStew]

Thanks! That would be great! I think looking up those authors and reading up on those topics would be really helpful. I love psychology and every aspect of it - the business, spiritual, cultural, and humane, every single angle! All very fascinating. I think that I/O psych would be more practical and would be beneficial for me in the long run. I love people because they're so interesting... I'm interested in where they're from, where they're going, and what they're talents/skills/aspirations are. Helping them be more efficient, happier, and a strong asset in a company would be very rewarding.<br />
<br />
I was actually debating between going back to school for HR Mgmt or I/O Psych - my passion for psych led to me to I/O. Have you taken statistics? I heard that I/O will require a ton of stats. I'm not too worried though. I'm looking forward to the challenge. Also, I have a strong urge to help people and be creative. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this field will allow me to do both things. <br />
<br />
It's really intriguing how there are so many different platforms for a company to work upon, what works for employees depending on the type of field, and what managers look for. Just thinking about the different personalities of managers and their supervisees is interesting.. Wonder if there are specific directions to take regarding this. I feel like there is so much to learn in this field, it's exciting!

<br />
<br />
I'll list some authors I thought had interesting ideas but I haven't read all of them in depth. There surely isn't any shortage of authors in both the psychology and management field.. Dont read all of them, look those you find the most interesting on Wikipedia or something :P

Management wise:
Some reading I did and liked:
-Peter Drucker is quite visionary. This guy predict trends that will appear a decade or so before they materialize. It's fun to read some of his old work and see that it still works this way today and read some of his actual material to see how the future will be. This guy is one the most read author and a guru in management.
-Henry Mintzberg: is a very handy read if you want to understand better what is the role of manager, how they use their time in a day, what are their roles.
-Peters and Waterman: are a good read to understand how the company with best practice/culture use to work.
-Ricardo Semler is quite unique. This guy took his father company and turned it into something never seen before. He implemented one of the most advance form of democracy in a company. Workers were even the one evaluating their boss, they were fixing their own salary, cutting it back in down turns, etc. This author/manager has done a lot of experimentation in his company and his quite often overlook in business literature but he's great.
-Gary Hamel writes about how technology help innovating in a company and get the information flowing from employees to managers in order to make better/more original decisions. If remember correctly he writes about some of the most innovative companies like IBM, Google, etc.

Some classical management authors we saw includes: Frederick Taylor scientific organization of work/Taylorism, Max Weber he was a sociologist and did some work on hierarchy, Henry Ford invented chain production/Fordism, Henri Fayol he established some of the first principle of administration. Neoclassical thinker include: Elton Mayo, he was one of the first to understand that employee work better when you pay attention to them with the Hawethorne experience, Douglas McGregor with his X and Y theory on motivation. Also, Michael Porter his one of the best author on corporate strategies, and Philip Kotler is one of the inventor of marketing. Most modern form of management include the Toyota method, leadership development as thinked by Lee Iacocca, this phase of management include some thinkers like Peter Senge(learning organizations/smart company), James Champy(re-engineering processes), and cult manager like Jack Welch (GE), Steve Jobs(Apple), Jeff Beszos(Amazon), Richard Branson (Virgin), you could probably add other popular heroes like Bill Gates (Microsoft), Sergey Brin and Larry Page (Google).

Business psychology:
Like I said earlier I really liked motivation theory so here's the one we saw:
-Maslow, hierarchy of need. Probably the most known motivational theory.
-Herzberg makes a difference between what makes employee happy and unhappy. It's like a scale where some factors gets you under the zero mark and other gets you in the positive. It's a combination of a lot of things.
-Vroom's theory on expectation. It applies to a lot of situations in life.
-Locke & Latham on fixing objectives.
-Deci & Ryan, this model establish the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
We saw personality types, that's where I learned about MBTI :D
The 8 crisis of life by Erik Erikson. This is quite useful to understand what people go through at different stage of their lives. Hence understanding what people at different point in their career feel like. What are their goals/challenges. We all know about mid-life crisis, it's only one of them.

Well we saw a lot of others topics in that psychology class not gonna list all authors, it would be a huge wall of text. Just gonna name a few topic we saw: learning styles, change management, adaptation, stress, feedback, active listening, sources of power, group working, etc.

Some authors we saw in the cultural management class:
-Geert Hofstede, he quantified difference between nations regarding factors like uncertainty control, hierarchy, individualism, masculism/feminism, and long/short term orientation.
-Philippe d'Iribarne compared culture and how they influence organizations. He use a more qualitative and anthropological approach than Hofstede.
-Allaire and Firsirotu created a theory on organizational cultures. There is a culture around the company as developped by the other aforementioned author but that latter talk about how culture work in a company as well. It's a mix of internal and external factors.

My powerpoints are full of author names, look into what seams to interest you. You will probably see most of them in your classes and see others as well.

As for stats and calculus, I study more in the managing-accounting field now though. We use some statistics since we follow how quantitative information fluctuates (ratio, results, costs) but I dont do as much research as people in marketing or management could do. I had a statistic class since everyone in my business program had to take one, it was a good challenge but if you work hard it shouldn't be a problem. The difficulty level must differ from school to school. We saw some group measure like mean, median, etc., sampling and some probabilities theories. I had a friend in marketing and he said they were doing much more data manipulation in doing market research. You might do some finance too which I find a really fun thing to do, actualizing cash flow in time, calculating risk, debt payment. Basically that's pretty much all I do now. Sometimes when you want to get an idea through in a company you got to work the numbers to convince the direction. Most of these people are from marketing and accounting department so you dont really have any choice to user numbers. The more you used them, the better you get at calculating all kinds of stuff (even if we aren't Ts..).