Industrial relations--A "blind spot" in the teaching, research and practice of industrial/organizational psychology.

Abstract

It is argued that the way we teach, research and practise organizational psychology, and teach others to do so, is based on the erroneous assumption that we exist in non-unionised environments. The influence of union membership on behaviour in organizations is illustrated, the neglect of industrial relations by organizational psychologists documented, and the need for attitudinal, behavioural and ideological change by organizational psychologists is identified. During the 1950s, industrial/organizational (I/O) psychologists frequently researched industrial relations (IR) issues, such as simultaneous loyalty to company and union (e.g., Dean, 1954; Purcell, 1954). Thereafter, the 1950s were called the golden decade of psychological research into unions (Straus, 1977). Since then, the reciprocal relationship between I/O psychologists and unionists has been characterized at best by neglect, at worst by mutual mistrust, suspicion and ideological differences. Numerous reasons for this situation have been documented elsewhere (e.g. Huszczo, Wiggins & Currie, 1984), and include ideological and methodological differences between the study of I/O psychology and IR, and will not be repeated here. Rather, it will be argued that avoidance of studying the effects of unions as a central aspect of industrial relations psychology results in the construction and dissemination of a truncated body of knowledge regarding organizational psychology.