Hello, my name is Valerie Weaver. I am an aspiring change agent and IO Psychologist for Early Childhood Education settings and the Medical Field. One of my greatest passions is helping people in the workplace, both the customer (clients, patients) and the organization entity (employees and employers). What’s unique about what I do is the relevancy and usefulness of my expertise. Some of my greatest accomplishments are collaborating with parents, teachers, and institutions in Early Childhood Education Settings to create a welcoming and nurturing space for children; and I am currently analyzing organizational structure in the medical field, maximizing satisfaction and effectiveness of patients facilitating change.
To me, IO Psychology helps people in the workplace to work together, fix what is needed, find gaps where it is not noticed before, and move on to the next to help others in need. IO Psychology is not focused solely on patients or on human resources alone but rather the entity (both outside and inside of the organization).
A general description of Industrial Oragnizational Psychology: “I-O psychology is a dynamic and growing field that addresses workplace issues at the individual and organizational level. I-O psychologists apply research that improves the well-being and performance of people and the organizations that employ them. This involves everything from workforce planning, employee selection, and leader development to studying job attitudes and job motivation, implementing work teams, improving diversity and inclusion, and facilitating organizational change” (Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, n.d. para. 2).
One example and brief description of how Industrial and Organizational Psychology got its start in practices from the Hawthorne studies is the study of work output in electromagnetic switches, producing more in less time. “First scientific inquiry into employee attitudes continuing changes in routine were freely discussed with the workers whose output as well as involvement in the project increased dramatically” (AT&T Archives, 2012, 00:04:10). Business organization is a social system where people are important. Focusing on what people liked and disliked can have a great impact on output and productivity. Furthermore, add contribution to areas that require new study.
Current applications of Industrial and Organizational Psychology in the modern workplace:
What IO Psychologists do:
| Selection and Placement | Develop or validate tests, analyze job content, identify management potential, defend tests against legal challenge |
| Training and Development | Identify training and development needs, forming or implementing technical and managerial training programs, evaluate training effectiveness, career planning |
| Organizational Development | Analyze organizational structure, maximize satisfaction and effectiveness of employees, facilitate organizational change |
| Performance Measurement | Develop measures of performance, measure economic performance benefit, introduce performance evaluation systems |
| Quality of Work Life | Identify factors associated with job satisfaction, reduce workplace stress, redesigning jobs to make them more meaningful |
| Engineering Psychology | Design work environments, optimize person-machine effectiveness, create safe workplaces |
(Conte & Landy, 2018, pg. 5).
A change agent can be an individual, group, or organization that helps improve how a business functions by identifying and addressing areas in need of growth or repair. As Ungvarsky (2023) explains, a change agent supports organizations in revitalizing business processes, management practices, personnel systems, or operational structures so they function more effectively. When I refer to analyzing organizational structure in the medical field, I mean closely examining how roles such as front desk staff and medical assistants interact with patients, providers, and systems—and whether job demands align with the skills required, such as technological comfort, communication style, and patient-facing professionalism. Effective change work also includes creating clear “know-how” processes for onboarding and daily procedures, while recognizing that change is often met with resistance. Facilitating change therefore requires strong communication skills that explain the why behind decisions and implement improvements in a way that is factual, respectful, and focused on systems—not personal blame.
References
About the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP). Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. (n.d.). https://www.siop.org/About-SIOP
AT&T Archives. (2012, August 30). Hawthorne Studies [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7RHjwmVGhs
Conte, J. M., & Landy, F. J. (2018). Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology (6th ed.). Wiley Global Education US. https://purdueuniversityglobal.vitalsource.com/books/9781119493440
Ungvarsky, J. (2023). Change agent. Salem Press Encyclopedia.