In this issue of TIP, I have invited Scott McIntyre, another American working in Europe, to introduce himself and the field of I-O psychology in Portugal. My exchanges with Scott and various other individuals trained in American I-O psychology have indicated that we often face new challenges when presenting our research and knowledge to non-American student audiences. We find that we must adapt the material to the new context, which means that we must become aware of how the American context influences our thinking. In a future column, I think it would be interesting for those of us who have had experiences teaching outside the U.S. to comment on what we have learned and give examples of how we adapt the material we teach to the new audience. If you have something to contribute on this topic, please let me know and we will work together on this future column. As usual, I welcome your comments and suggestions for future columns. My address is: Dirk Steiner, Facult des Lettres, Arts, et Sciences Humaines, Universit de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, 98, boulevard Edouard Herriot, 06204 Nice Cedex 3, FRANCE. E-mail: steiner@hermes.unice.fr. Phone: (33) 492.00.11.91. Fax: (33) 492.00.12.97.

In this brief article, I would like to describe the current situation of psychology in Portugal, along with the state of I-O psychology and some of the challenges facing us here.

First a little background information. Portugal is a small country, about the size of Indiana with a population of 10 million people. It is located on the Iberian peninsula next to Spain with which it shares a common history. About half of the population lives in the cities of Lisbon and Porto (Oporto) with an increasing influx of people to the cities and the consequent abandonment of the interior of the country. This creates a social conflict between the "modern" values (of which U.S. values as presented by the media are dominant), and the "older, more conservative" ones. For a half century, before the military revolution in 1974, Portugal was ruled by a Fascist dictatorship. Since 1974, access to a university education has opened up with the social sciences enjoying an increasingly important status in Portuguese society.

There are currently more than 5,000 psychologists in Portugal. Psychology itself is a recent phenomenon, only really recognized as a profession after 1974 with the creation of psychological studies at the state-run universities. The prestige of psychology has increased over the years and is now one of the most sought after courses in the country. In terms of professionalization, there is still a long way to go in comparison to other professional groups, especially those of the medical doctors. One could say that the situation here, as far as psychology being professionalized, is comparable to that in the U.S. about 30 years ago, with many specialty areas yet to be defined and professional rights to be won.

I-O psychology is really just starting to develop and gain an identity here. As in most of Europe, I-O is considered to be a subspecialty of social psychology, therefore, in academia, one is recognized as being a social psychologist, not an I-O psychologist. The label of I-O psychologist is usually used by people who have had a lot of exposure to other countries, especially the U.S. It is rare to identify oneself as an I-O psychologist. Usually, one is identified as an organizational psychologist (if at all) and the industrial term is almost never used. The basic psychologist degree is a general one. It requires 4–5 years of study, which includes a short internship in a specialty area, and is called a licentiate. Currently, no university offers postgraduate courses in I-O psychology, although a master’s program is supposed to begin during the next academic year (organizational psychology.).

There are very few professors in I-O psychology. In fact, to hire a professor in I-O you would need to find someone who did the doctorate outside of the country. Within the country, it is possible to identify a potential candidate with a doctorate in social psychology, but specializing in organizations. In terms of the marketplace, psychologists who have an interest in organizations work primarily in recruiting and selection. They may do some consulting, but their activities are usually limited to providing training solutions to companies. It is rare to be able to intervene at an organizational level with top management with the traditional organizational orientation. My experience as a consultant in Portugal is that consultation is usually limited to providing training, but not as an integrated part of a comprehensive strategy of human resource development. Also, consultants with advanced degrees, especially if they are teaching at a university, are viewed with suspicion as being only "theoretical" and "not understanding the real world." In business, especially in the area of human resources, which would include selection and recruiting, there is a lot of competition for jobs from other areas, such as organizational sociology and human resource management and the psychology of work. I-O psychology is still not widely understood, except perhaps in specific courses at the university, and differentiating between psychology and these other disciplines has been difficult.

Psychological assessment for I-O purposes is problematic. There is a great need for psychological tests that have been normed or developed for Portugal. Most tests that are used are translated versions of tests from other countries, but they usually have either not been normed or have been poorly-translated. Most selection assessment tools consist of some basic psychological tests, the interview, and sometimes, graphology. The areas of recruitment, selection, job assessment, personality inventories, and so forth, still require much work to be done. As an example, the concept of discrimination in hiring is very different from that of the U.S.. Here, discrimination by age, handicap, looks, and so forth, is all quite legal, but very little research has been done on showing how discriminatory practices affect hiring decisions and the resultant job performance.

I came to Portugal in 1991 having taught for 3 years in the university system, 2 years in a public university and 1 year in a private school. I am a professor in the psychology department and the department of Management of Human Resources. As a result, I teach organizational psychology to psychologists and to non-psychologists, which is very interesting. Our university is only 7 years old and as a result we only offer undergraduate courses. We plan to offer masters programs in the near future.

I am also the director of the university counseling center which has just opened. We currently have three units in the center (Centro de Apoio e Servio Psicolgico): Clinical/Health, Educational/Vocational, and Social/ Organizational. We hope to use this as a training ground for our students, to provide services to the community, and to do applied research. My interests, besides developing the center, will be in providing services to organizations in terms of training, consulting, and research. I would like to develop assessment tools, programs in teamwork, conflict management, personality profiles, and so forth. We have great hopes for this center, especially in terms of demonstrating the effectiveness of organizational psychologists.

I would welcome collaborating with people in the U.S. and in Europe in a variety of areas, especially in developing assessment tools and the profession of organizational psychology in this country.