Where Did This Name Come From Anyway? A Brief History of the I-O Label

Some people like the name industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology because it sounds professional. Others like that it is descriptive and reflects an evolved interest in both individual and organizational processes. Many, how-ever, find the title clunky, confusing, and antiquated. Some of these people would like the name shortened to simply “organizational psychology ” or “business psychology. ” These folks believe that the shorter title is more advan-tageous for communicating to managers that we can provide a competitive advantage to organizations. Some would like to see it changed to “work psy-chology. ” These folks believe that this title would communicate to lay people, reporters, and funding agencies that we study the psychology of the workplace broadly defined. Still others would like to see the name changed to “work and organizational psychology ” to take advantage of all of these benefits and to provide some consistency with our European cousins.1 As I point out in this essay, we have long been struggling with the issue of what to call ourselves. Name Change Attempt