Psychology and Work Today: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology (8th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Very Useful and Informative
Review: Review: This book attempts to describe the major fields in industrial/organizational psychology. For a textbook designed for use in an introductory-level course, it does its job fairly well.
This book is very easy to use, and utilizes most of the more common aids to direct the reader to the most-salient information in each chapter, such as using bold-face for definitions and breaking the chapter up into several sections. It also provides a tremendous amount of additional information used to strengthen and support what is presented in each chapter. Most of this work is accomplished using the sides of each page, which is common in most current textbooks. The sheer number of visual aids used throughout the book is impressive, and despite the frequency with which they are used, they are usually helpful.
The single greatest fault that I can raise with this textbook is that, quite simply, the scope is so broad. Its purpose is to present the reader with a brief exposure to each of the major fields in I-O Psychology, and it succeeds in doing this. However, many of the chapters feel a little too general, especially towards the end of the book, when the authors are still presenting more subsets of I-O Psychology. Several chapters are used in the front of the book to give the reader a working terminology for the book and a basic theoretical framework needed to better understand some of the more difficult concepts in this field. Since the book never moves beyond an introduction to all these subsets of I-O Psychology, however, it seems as if some of this information could be trimmed down so that more depth could be achieved in some of the later chapters. Of course, the danger with this approach might be that the book would move beyond the purpose for which it was intended.
For the most part, this is a well-constructed, informative textbook, and serves to introduce its readers to I-O Psychology. The chapters flow very well, and the textbook is broken down nicely so that the reader is never overwhelmed with too much information at one sitting. Some chapters are more effective than others, and some of the introductory chapters seem a bit unnecessary, but those are essentially the book's only failings.
This is a good textbook that I would recommend to anyone looking for information on I-O Psychology. At the very least, it will help readers determine where their true interest is in this field and provide them with a good working vocabulary as well.

Rating:
Summary: Very Useful and Informative
Review: Review: This book attempts to describe the major fields in industrial/organizational psychology. For a textbook designed for use in an introductory-level course, it does its job fairly well.
This book is very easy to use, and utilizes most of the more common aids to direct the reader to the most-salient information in each chapter, such as using bold-face for definitions and breaking the chapter up into several sections. It also provides a tremendous amount of additional information used to strengthen and support what is presented in each chapter. Most of this work is accomplished using the sides of each page, which is common in most current textbooks. The sheer number of visual aids used throughout the book is impressive, and despite the frequency with which they are used, they are usually helpful.
The single greatest fault that I can raise with this textbook is that, quite simply, the scope is so broad. Its purpose is to present the reader with a brief exposure to each of the major fields in I-O Psychology, and it succeeds in doing this. However, many of the chapters feel a little too general, especially towards the end of the book, when the authors are still presenting more subsets of I-O Psychology. Several chapters are used in the front of the book to give the reader a working terminology for the book and a basic theoretical framework needed to better understand some of the more difficult concepts in this field. Since the book never moves beyond an introduction to all these subsets of I-O Psychology, however, it seems as if some of this information could be trimmed down so that more depth could be achieved in some of the later chapters. Of course, the danger with this approach might be that the book would move beyond the purpose for which it was intended.
For the most part, this is a well-constructed, informative textbook, and serves to introduce its readers to I-O Psychology. The chapters flow very well, and the textbook is broken down nicely so that the reader is never overwhelmed with too much information at one sitting. Some chapters are more effective than others, and some of the introductory chapters seem a bit unnecessary, but those are essentially the book's only failings.
This is a good textbook that I would recommend to anyone looking for information on I-O Psychology. At the very least, it will help readers determine where their true interest is in this field and provide them with a good working vocabulary as well.