Some careers in industrial and organizational psychology work in academic settings while others directly work for companies to provide coaching and consulting services.
Consulting Psychologist
Consulting industrial and organizational psychologists design surveys, analyze jobs and training to management as well as discipline and performance management coaching. Consulting psychologists should know how to create performance standards, promotional criteria and competency models. They play an active role within interdisciplinary management teams that strive to increase employee engagement and satisfaction and decrease turnover rates and inter-employee problems.
Consulting psychologists work on temporary projects with companies, so they must have excellent client and interfacing skills because they must quickly assess needs, understand challenges and create goals and plans. They must also know how to create customized employee training plans and performance appraisals and evaluations.
Organizational Development Consultant
Organizational development consultants partner executives of large corporations to develop employees, manage HR processes and recommend appropriate business strategies. They make and execute talent management programs that recruit, engage, acquire and retain top talent. They also lead the establishment of competency-based and industry-specific assessments that are used during the hiring process.
They support managers through setting goals, coaching supervisors and reviewing performance management techniques. Organizational development consultants set guidelines, define career paths and organize development plans. They work with executives to establish succession management approaches for key positions. They also technically define core competencies, such as skills and knowledge, for all job positions.
Organizational Change Manager
These leaders specialize in people, process, system or technology changes. They lead change initiatives with departments or entire organizations. They drive adoption and acceptance of changes through promoting improvements and eliciting employee buy-in, according to Forbes. They generate plans and strategies related to communications, capability transfers, organization transitions and leadership assessment. They also analyze end-user training, stakeholder alignment and change readiness levels.
They oversee project execution in accordance with established tools and methods. They coordinate resource planning, acquisition and management. They prepare presentations, facilitate meetings and distribute project updates. They partner with business leaders to understanding current trends and jointly develop and enforce change adoption plans. Organizational change managers must be sensitive to employee’s needs and demonstrate strong intuitiveness and emotional IQ.
Organizational Effectiveness Specialist
These specialists carry out HR strategies that support business strategies and client needs. They serve as senior leadership members by aligning HR programs with business objectives. They manage succession plans, talent strategies and performance evaluation programs. They create internal benchmarks that identify strengths and weaknesses. They identify existing and emerging talent gaps so they can address organizational needs.
Together with hiring managers, they make inclusive integration plans for new employers and managers. They incorporate their organizational psychology knowledge into the company’s strategic goals to maximize business success. To accomplish this, they achieve and maintain a deep understanding of business units, goals and processes to support organizational changes and develop solutions.
There are many more unique careers in industrial and organizational psychology, such as staff analyst, employee relations manager and workforce planning analyst.
