Current Issues in I/O Psychology - PDF

**Lesson \#1: INTRO TO FUNDAMENTALS OF I/O PSYCHOLOGY** **I/O PSYCHOLOGY --** is a branch of psychology that applies the principles of psychology to the workplace. \-- its purpose is to enhance the dignity and performance of human beings, and the organizations they work in, by advancing the scienc...

**Lesson \#1: INTRO TO FUNDAMENTALS OF I/O PSYCHOLOGY** **I/O PSYCHOLOGY --** is a branch of psychology that applies the principles of psychology to the workplace. \-- its purpose is to enhance the dignity and performance of human beings, and the organizations they work in, by advancing the science and knowledge of human behavior. **APPROACHES** **INDUSTRIAL APPROACH --** focuses on determining the competencies to perform a job, staffing the organization with employees who have those competencies through training. **ORGANIZATION APPROACH --** creates an organizational structure and culture that will motivate employees to perform well, give them information to do their jobs, and provide working conditions that are safe and result in enjoyable and satisfying work environment. **MAJOR FIELDS IN I/O PSYCHOLOGY** - **PERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY --** the of study that concentrates on the selection and evaluation of employees. **-** study and practice in such areas as analyzing jobs, recruiting applicants, selecting employees, determining salary levels, training employees, and evaluating employee performance. - **ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY --** investigates the behavior of employees with the context of organization. **-** more on leadership, job satisfaction, employee motivation, organization communication, conflict management, organizational change, and group processes within an organization. - **HUMAN FACTORS/ERGONOMICS --** a field study concentrating on the interaction between humans and machines. **-** workplace design, human-machine interaction ergonomics, and physical fatigue and stress. **THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF I/O PSYCHOLOGY** **REFER TO THE TABLES** **PIONEERS OF I/O PSYCHOLOGY** - **JOHN WATSON --** major in US Army in WWI, developed perceptual and motor tests for potential pilots. - **HENRY GANTT --** responsible for increasing the efficiency with which cargo ships were built, repair, and loaded. - **THOMAS A. EDISON --** in 1920, he created a 150-item knowledge test that administered to over 900 applicants. **-**- the test passing score were so difficult that only 5% of the applicant passed. - **FRANK GILBRETH & LILIAN MOLLER GILBRETH --** among the first scientists to improve productivity and reduce fatigue by studying the motions used by workers. - **HOWTHORNE STUDIES --** a series of studies conducted at the Western Electric Plant in Howthorne, Illinois, that have come to0 present any change in behavior when people react to a change in the environment. - **HOWTHORNE EFFECT --** when employees change their behavior due solely to the fact that they are receiving attention or are being observed. Specifically they become more productive. **FOUR MAJOR CHANGES IN I/O PSYCHOLOGY** 1. Increased use of fairly sophisticated statistical techniques and method analysis. 2. An interest in the application of cognitive psychology to industry 3. Increased interest in the effects of work on family and leisure activities. 4. I/O psychologists renewed interest in developing methods to select employees. **THEORIES AND THOUGHTS OF CULTURAL INFLUENCE** **COLLECTIVIST CULTURE --** values the group more than the individual **INDIVIDUALIST CULTURE --** values the individual more than the group **HORIZONTAL CULTURE --** minimizes distances between individuals **VERTICAL CULTURE --** accepts and depends upon distances between individuals **HOFSTEDE'S THEORY** **INDIVIDUALISM/COLLECTIVISM --** the degree to which individuals are expected to look after themselves versus remaining integrated into groups (usually family) **POWER DISTANCE --** less powerful members of and organization accept and expect an unequal distribution of power **UNNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE --** the extent to which members of a culture feel comfortable in unstructured situations **MASCULINITY/FEMENINITY --** distribution of emotional roles between the genders, with the masculine role being seen as "tough" and the feminine roles seen as "tender." \- Masculine cultures tend to emphasize accomplishments and technical performance \- Feminine cultures tend to emphasize interpersonal relationships and communication **LONG-TERM VERSUS SHORT-TERM --** members of the culture expect immediate versus delayed gratification of their material, social, and emotional needs **Lesson \#2: JOB ANALYSIS, PERFORMANCE, AND EVALUATION** **IMPORTANCE OF JOB ANALYSIS --** a thorough job analysis, also called WORK ANALYSIS, is the foundation for almost all human resources activities. **JOB ANALYSIS --** is the process of studying positions, of describing the duties and responsibilities that go with jobs, and grouping positions into job categories. - Recruitment and Selection - Performance Appraisal - Compensation Survey Comparison - Training and Development - Career Planning **JOB DESCRIPTION --** the written result of a job analysis; a brief, two-to-five page summary of the tasks and job requirements found in the job analysis \- described the job in terms of its level of duties and tasks or procedures needed to do the job \- describes the duties performed, the skills, training, and the experiences required, the responsibilities involved, the conditions under which the job is done and the relation of the job to the other jobs in the organization **DETIALED AND ACCURATE DESCRIPTIONS** **JOB TITLE --** accurate title describes the nature of the job, its power and status level, and the competencies need to perform\ **BRIEF SUMMARY --** briefly describe the nature and purpose of the job **WORK ACTIVITIES --** lists the tasks and activities in which the worker is involved **TOOLS AND EQUIPMENTS USED --** a section should be included for these to make identification simpler **JOB CONTEXT --** describes the environment in which the employee works and mentions stress level, work schedule, etc. **WORK PERFORMANCE --**this section contains a relatively brief description of how and employee's performance is evaluated and what work standards are expected of the employee **COMPENSATIONS INFORMATION --** this section should contain information of the salary grade and the compensable factors used to determine salary **JOB COMPETENCIES --** contains what are commonly job specifications **CONDUCTING A JOB ANALYSIS** **STEP 1: IDENTIFY TASKS PERFORMANCE** **STEP 2: WRITE TASKS STATEMENTS** **STEP 3: RATE TASKS STATEMENTS** **STEP 4: DETERMINE ESSENTIAL KSAOs** **STEP 5: SELECTING TESTS TO TOP KSAOs** **METHODS PROVIDING GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT WORKER ACTIVITIES** 1. **POSITION ANALYSIS QUESTIONNAIRE (PAQ) --** a structured instrument developed at Purdue University by McCormick, Jeanneret, and Mecham. **-** contains 194 items organized into 6 main dimensions (information input, mental processes, work output, relationships with other persons, job context, and other job-related variables) **-** designed to cover all jobs 2. **JOB STRUCTED PROFILE (JFP) --** revised version of the PAQ which was developed by Patrick and Moore. Rather than incumbent, use JSP 3. **JOB ELEMENTS INVENTORY (JEI) --** another alternative to the PAQ, develop by Cornelius and Hakel. **-** contains 153 items and has readability appropriate for an employee with only 10^th^ grade education 4. **FUNCTIONAL JOB ANALYSIS (FJA) --** was initially designed by Sidney Fine as a method could be used by the federal government to analyze and compare thousands of jobs. **METHODS PROVIDING INFORMATION ABOUT TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT** 1. **JOB COMPONENTS INVENTORY --** develop by banks, Jackson, Stafford, and Warr to take advantage of PAG's strength while avoiding some of its problems for use in England. **-** consists of more than 400 questions covering 5 major categories **METHODS PROVIDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORK ENVIRONMENT** 1. **ARBEITSWISSENCHAFTLICHES ERHEBUNGSVERFAHREN ZUR TATIGKEITSANALYSE (AET) --** an ergonomic job analysis method developed in Germany by Rohmert and Landau **-** 216 item standardized questionnaire that analyzes job **METHODS PROVIDING INFORMATION ABOUT COMPETENCIES** 1. **OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION NETWORK (O\*NET) --** a national job analysis system created by the federal government to replace the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) **-** major advancement in understanding the nature of work 2. **CRITICAL INCIDENT TECHNIQUE (CIT) --** developed and first used by John Flanagan and his students at the University of Pittsburgh in the 1940s and early 1950s **-** used to discover actual incidents of job behavior that make the difference between a job's successful or unsuccessful performance 3. **Job Components Inventory (JCI) -** provides information about the perceptual, physical, mathematical, communication, decision making, and responsibility skills needed to perform the job. 4. **Threshold Traits Analysis (TTA) --** an approach similar to the JCI, which was developed by Lopez, Kesselman, and Lopez **-** A 33-item questionnaire developed by Lopez that identifies traits necessary to successfully perform a job. The TTA's greatest advantages are that it is short and reliable and can correctly identify important traits 5. **Fleishman Job Analysis (F-JAS) --** this test was a result of more than 30 years of research by requiring incumbents or job analyst to view a series of abilities and rate the level of ability needed to perform the job **-** These ratings are performed for 73 distinct cognitive, physical, psychomotor, sensory-perceptual, and social/interpersonal abilities and knowledge 6. **Job Adaptability Inventory (JAI) --** is a 132-item inventory developed by Pulakos, Arad, Donovan, and Plamondon that taps the extent to which a job incumbent needs to adapt to situations on the job. **-** The JAI has eight dimensions 7. **Personality-Related Position Requirements Form (PRPRF) --** was developed by Raymark, Schmit, and Guion to identify the personality types needed to perform job-related tasks **-** Consists of 107 items tapping 12 personality dimensions that fall under the Big 5 personality dimensions 8. **Performance Improvements Characteristics (PIC) --** Similar to the PPRF, the 48 questions on the PIC help determine which of the seven main personality traits are needed to perform a given job - The PAQ is seen as the most standardized technique and the CIT the least standardized. - The CIT takes the least amount of job analyst training and task analysis the most. - The PAQ is the least costly method and the CIT the most. - The PAQ takes the least amount of time to complete and task analysis the most. - Task analysis has the highest-quality results and TTA the lowest. - Task analysis reports are the longest and job-elements reports the shortest. - The CIT has been rated the most useful and the PAQ the least. - Task analysis gives the best overall job picture and the PAQ the worst. **JOB EVALUATION:** **STEP 1: DETERMINING COMPENSIBLE JOB FACTORS** **STEP 2: DETERMINING THE LEVELS FOE EACH COMPENSIBLE FACTOR** **STEP 3: DETERMINING THE FACTOR WEIGHTS** **STEP 4: DETERMINING EXTERNAL PAY EQUITY** **Lesson \#3: EMPLOYEE SELECTION (RECRUITING AND INTERVIEW)** **I. RECRUITMENT --** the process of attracting employees to an organization - **EXTERNAL RECRUITMENT --** recruiting employees from outside the organization - **INTERNARL RECRUITMENT --** recruiting employees already employed by the organization 1. Advertisements 2. Point of purchase method 3. Recruiters 4. Employment Agencies and Search Firms 5. Employee referral 6. Direct Mail 7. Internet 8. Job fairs 9. Realistic Job Preview (FJP) **1. ADVERTISEMENT --** media Advertisements **Newspaper Ads** **HOW TO RESPOND TO ADS:** - **Respond by calling --** recruitment ads in which applicants are instructed to call rather than to apply in person or send résumés. - **Apply-in-person ads --** recruitment ads that instruct applicant to apply in person rather than to call or send résumés - **Send-resume ads --** recruitment ads in which applicants are instructed to send their résumé to the company rather than call or apply in person - **Blind box --** recruitment ads that instruct applicants to send their résumé to a box at the newspaper; neither the name nor the address of the company is provided **2. POINT-OF-PIRCHASE METHODS --** base on the point-of-purchase advertising principles used to market products to consumers **3. RECRUITERS:** - **CAMPUS RECRUITERS --** any organizations send recruiters to college campuses to answer questions about themselves and interview students for available positions - **VIRTUAL JOB FAIRS** **--** a job fair held on campus in which students can "tour" a company online, ask questions of recruiters, and electronically send resumes **OUTSIDE RECRUITERS** - **EXECUTIVE SEARCH FIRMS --**employment agencies, often also called headhunters, that specialize in placing applicants in high-paying jobs - **EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES AND SEARCH FIRMS** - **EMPLOYMENT AGENCY --** an organization that specializes in finding jobs for applicants and finding applicants for organizations looking for employees - **EXECUTIVE SEARCH FIRMS --** executive search firms, better known as "head hunters" - **PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AGENCY --** an employment service operated by a state or local government, designed to match applicants with job openings - **EMPLOYEE REFERRALS --** a method of recruitment in which a current employee refers a friend or family member for a job - **DIRECT MAIL --** a method of recruitment in which an organization sends out mass mailings of information about job openings to potential applicants **INTERNET** - **EMPLOYER BASED WEBSITES --** an organization lists available job openings and provides information about itself and the minimum requirements needed to apply to a particular job - **JOB BOARDS --** private company whose website lists job openings for hundreds or thousands of organizations and résumés for millions of applicants. The largest Internet recruiter **SOCIAL MEDIA** **JOB FAIRS --** a recruitment method in which several employers are available at one location so that many applicants can obtain information at one time **REALISTIC JOB PREVIEW --** a method of recruitment in which job applicants are told both the positive and the negative aspects of a job \- the logic behind RJPs is that even though telling the truth scares away many applicants, the ones who stay will not be surprised about the job **EXPECTATION LOWERING PROCEDURE (ELP) --** a form of RJP that lowers an applicant's expectations about the various aspects of the job **EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES** **NUMBER OF APPLICANTS** **COST PER APPLICANT --** the amount of money spent on a recruitment campaign divided by the number of people that subsequently apply for jobs as a result of the recruitment campaign. **COST PER QUALIFIED APPLICANT --** the amount of money spent on a recruitment campaign divided by the number of qualified people that subsequently apply for jobs as a result of the recruitment campaign. **NUMBER OF MAJORITY APPLICANTS** **II. EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEW --** a method of selecting employees in which an interviewer asks questions of an applicant and then makes an employment decision based on the answers to the questions as well as the way in which the questions were answered. **TYPES OF INTERVIEWS** 1. **STRUCTURE** **STRUCTURED INTERVIEW --** interviews in which questions are based on a job analysis, every applicant is asked the same questions, and there is a standardized scoring system so that identical answers are given identical scores **UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEW --** an interview in which applicants are not asked the same questions and in which there is no standard scoring system to score applicant answers 2. **STYLE --** determined by the number of interviewees and number of interviewers. - **ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEWS** - **SERIAL INTERVIEW --** a series of single interviews. - **PANEL INTERVIEW --** multiple interviewers. - **GROUP INTERVIEW --** multiple interviewees. - **SERIAL-PANEL GROUP INTERVIEW** -- "life is too short for such nonsense" 3. **MEDIUM** 1. **FACE-TO-FACE INTERVIEW** 2. **TELEPHONE INTERVIEW** 3. **VIDEO CONFERENCE** 4. **WRITTEN INTERVIEW** **DISADVANTAGES OF UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEW** - **POOR INTUITIVE ABILITY** - **LACK OF JOB RELATEDNESS** - **PRIMACY EFFECT -** The fact that information presented early in an interview carries more weight than information presented later - **CONTRAST EFFECT --** when the performance of one applicant affects the perception of the performance of the next applicant. - **NEGATIVE INFORMATION BIAS** - the fact that negative information receives more weight in an employment decision than does positive information. **INTERVIEWER-INTERVIEWEE SIMILARITY** **INTERVIEWEE APPEARANCE** **NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS** -- actors such as eye contact and posture that are not associated with actual words spoken. **CREATING STRUCTURED INTERVIEW** 1. **DETERMINING KSAOs** 2. **CREATING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:** 3. **CLARIFIER --** a type of structured interview question that clarifies information on the résumé or application 4. **DISQUALIFIER --** a type of structured interview question in which a wrong answer will disqualify the applicant from further consideration 5. **SKILL LEVER DETERMINER --** a type of structured-interview question designed to tap an applicant's knowledge or skill 6. **FUTURE FOCUSE QUESTIONS --** a type of structured interview question in which applicants are given a situation and asked how they would handle it\ **SITUATIONAL QUESTION --** a structured-interview technique in which applicants are presented with a series of situations and asked how they would handle each one 7. **PAST FOCUSED QUESTION --** a type of structured-interview question that taps an applicant's experience 8. **PATTERNED BEHAVIOR DESCRIPTION (PBDI) --** a structured interview in which the questions focus on behavior in previous jobs 9. **ORGANIZATIONAL FIT QUESTIONS --** a type of structured-interview question that taps how well an applicant's personality and values will fit with the organizational culture **CREATING A SCORING KEY FOR INTERVIEW ANSWERS** **RIGHT/WRONG APPROACH --** some interview questions, especially skill-level determiners, can be scored simply on the basis of whether the answer given was correct or incorrect **TYPICAL-ANSWER APPROACH --** a method of scoring interview answers that compares an applicant's answer with benchmark answers **BENCHMARK ANSWERS --** standard answers to interview questions, the quality of which has been agreed on by job experts **KEY-ISSUES APPROACH --** a method of scoring interview answers that provides points for each part of an answer that matches the scoring key **III. JOB SEARCH SKILLS** **COVER LETTER --** a letter that accompanies a resume or job application 1. **SALUTATION** 2. **PARAGRAPH** - **FIRST PARAGRAPH --** the fact that your resume is enclosed, the name of the job you are applying for, and how you know about the job opening - **SECOND PARAGRAPH --** states that you are qualified for the job and provides about three reasons why. Four to five sentences and should not rehash the content of the resume - **THIRD PARAGRAPH --** why you are interested in the particular company to which you are applying - **FINAL PARAGRAPH --** closes your letter and provides information on how you can best be reached 3. **SIGNATURE --** above your signature, use words such as "cordially" or "sincerely." "Yours truly" is not advised, and words such as "Love," "Peace," or "Hugs and snuggles" are strongly discouraged. Personally sign each cover letter; and type your name, address, and phone number below your signature