Assessing and placing disaster relief volunteers

Although industrial-organizational psychology is often viewed as serving the interests of shareholders, employers, and management, for some academics and practitioners humanitarian concerns are the heart of the subject. There are examples of I-O psychologists responding swiftly to disasters such as the devastating Hurricane Katrina (Rizzuto, 2008) and applying their knowledge of I-O psychology to humanitarian crises. In a world full of natural and human-made disasters, the opportunities and the potential for I-O psychology to make a contribution are great (Williams, Carr, & Blampied, 2007). One purpose of this chapter is to examine the application of I-O psychology to the selection and placement of disaster relief volunteers, and to describe a project that illustrates how this can be achieved. We shall then discuss the work that remains to be done in this area. Copyright © 2013 Taylor & Francis.