Industrial and Organizational (I-O) Psychology (IOP) is a scientific field that applies psychology principles and research methods to understand and support employees and workplaces. As its name implies, there are two general facets of this field: the industrial and organizational.

The Industrial Side

The industrial side of this field focuses on technical and legal areas within workplace psychology and includes areas such as employee selection (e.g., the process of finding new people to employ in jobs), equal employment opportunities, and training and development.

The Organizational Side

The organizational side of the field includes the “softer” and people-focused aspects of the workplace, such as leadership development, organizational culture, and team-building. These are just some examples of areas that fall under each facet, and each of these examples also includes layers, concepts, and components.

The Scientific Nature

The scientific nature of the field is a critical feature. Workplaces and organizations are often comprised of employees interacting with each other, managers, customers or clients, machines, structures, and other elements. Industrial and organizational psychology provides a way to study these elements and their interactions systematically, learn from them, and develop best practices and solutions to support employees, employers, and workplaces.

There is a vast scientifically developed research literature comprised of empirical studies conducted in workplaces and on issues related to industrial and organizational psychology. Researchers with expertise in industrial and organizational psychology continuously conduct research in this field and publish their research findings in scientific and trade journals,  books, conference proceedings, and increasingly more through blogs, videos, and podcasts. This body of research and the continuous, applied research that practitioners conduct in the field contribute to the field’s scientific foundation, differentiating it from related fields, such as human resource management. In fact, in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security recently deemed the field of industrial and organizational psychology a stem science.