Cate Tesmer

Surely the field of Industrial Organizational Psychology does not seem to be the most socially impactful application of the science. For instance, therapists and counselors are taking on much more pressing issues in terms of philanthropy. But let’s consider for a moment the amount of time we all spend at work. Within those eight to twelve-hour days - how often do we find ourselves frustrated with management or outdated processes? How often do we feel like the company values do not match our own? How often do we feel like we are not being heard? We cannot even begin to imagine the mental toll these inner struggles have on billions of employees across the globe. Scared to speak up and potentially lose their job, workers remain silent and wait for the weekend. How often do these inner struggles develop into somatic symptoms like back or knee pain? And how often do they develop into mental disorders that therapists spend years diagnosing and treating? What if I/O psychologists were to eliminate these issues by focusing on the employee experience and deepening the connection to leadership? This may be the chance to improve the lives of many. I would like to take that chance and see what I can do for the companies, for the leaders and most importantly for the workforce.

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As an I/O professional, I desire to solve these workforce challenges and contribute to changes that have a truly measurable impact. I have heard about many organizations that force change upon their employees, causing struggles with productivity, job satisfaction, motivation, and retention. Often a disconnect between their leadership and employees leads to inefficiencies, conflict, and high attrition. Learning about such cases sparked my desire to become the link between leadership and employees, helping leaders optimize processes and employees to remain motivated and happy. 

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Business leaders are often startled by the challenges of change management. Especially when employees lose their job, the remaining employees experience a lack of commitment and motivation because the change has led them to lose trust in their leadership. I/O psychologists are able to objectively evaluate situations like these through quantitate and qualitative data and find change management opportunities through prescriptive analytics. Knowledge of psychological theories further deepens the capabilities of an I/O psychologist as they help understand human feelings, believes, and behavior. One of those theories is the self-determination theory of Deci and Ryan who found that motivation is optimized when the three psychological needs of relatedness, competence and autonomy are met. Their theory is still applicable today and relates to various leadership behaviors that have been shown to effectively impact employee motivation. If you are interested in this theory and would like to learn more about how to be a competitive leader, visit my I/O Project Motivation page. 

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Organizations need I/O psychologists who critically think about the impact of current processes on employee wellbeing, satisfaction, motivation, commitment, satisfaction, and commitment and find applicable improvements by analyzing employee data. I believe that I am capable to take on this challenge.