industrial organizational psychology

u can do this nova

what is psychology?

study of behavior and mental processes

what is i/o psychology?

the branch of psychology concerned with the study of behavior in work settings and the application of psychology principles to work behavior

dual focus in industrial organization psychology

two main branches in i/o psych such as the efficiency/productivity of organizations and health/wellbeing of employees

how was productivity and efficiency seen as before the hawthorne effect came to be?

people assumed productivity and efficiency was related to organizational aspects

what is the hawthorne effect?

people do better when they are being observed

what are the six general sub-fields in i/o psych?

selection & placement; training & development; performance appraisal; organizational development; quality of work life; ergonomics

Most of those who receive a MA in i/o psych are in…

private sector/business

Was I/O almost entirely American?

yes

what is a job analysis?

systematic study of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a job, and the qualities needed to perform

what are the two major questions of job analysis?

what do people in a particular job do? (task oriented) and what human characteristics are necessary for a job? (person oriented)

job analysis entails what?

job description, job specification, and job evaluation 

what is job description?

what do people in this job do

what is job specification?

what qualifications do you need

what is a job evaluation?

value or worth of a job of an organization to determine appropriate compensation/wages

what is KSAO?

Knowledge (how to do a task), Skills, Abilities, and Other characteristics required for a job.

what is the S in KSAO?

Skill, which refers to the proficiency acquired through practice or training

what is the A in KSAO?

Ability, which refers to innate or acquired capacities to perform specific tasks

what is the K in KSAO?

Knowledge, which involves the understanding and information necessary to perform a task.

what type of KSAO is typing speed?

skill

what type of KSAO is finger dexterity? 

ability

what type of KSAO is driving a car? 

skill

what type of KSAO is traffic rules? 

knowledge

what type of KSAO is drivers license? 

other

what type of KSAO is a friendly responsibility?

other

ten years of experience is considered?

other 

what is basic intellligence considered?

ability

what are the purposes of job analysis?

• career development

• human resource planning such as how to manage the personnel’s paperwork

• project future needs

• legal defense

• performance appraisal

• selection

• training

• research

where do sources of job analysis information come from?

analyst, subject matter expert, records of what has worked and hasnt, and data bases such as DOT and O*NET

who is usually tge subject matter expert?

incumbent and suprivisor 

how do people collect data?

surveys, existing data, interview, participation, diary and observation

specific job analysis includes what…

crticial incidents (how badly od they mess up), positional analysis questionnaire O*NET and DOT 

how does one choose a job analysis method?

depends on purpose and cost 

what are critical incidents?

relies on instances of especially successful or unsuccessful job performances

questioning knowledgabale individuals 

great for identifying KSAOs 

what do functional job analysis store?

examines the sequence of tasks in a job and the process by which they are completed

what are the 3 components of job analysis?

data (about information on tools, procedures, etc./crunching numbers) and people things (matching people for best fit) and things (physical tools u need for the job)

what does DOT (dictionary of occupational titles) do?

classifies and describes jobs

what is positioned analysis questionnare?

structures questionnare -→ job statements, 6 categories

whats the job element method?

analyzes in terms of KSAO and is popular in federal government

how is recruitment process?

process of attracting a pool qualified applicants, provide a realistic job preview, avoid discriminations against underrepresented groups. 

what type of recruit methods are considered formal or direct?

media advertisements, point of purchase, direct mail, employment agencies, college recruiters, computer databases, special events, employee referral programs

what type of recruit methods are considered indirect?

situtation wanted ads, direct applications, employee referrals

what kind of method is most common that hire ppl by hr ?

networking

what is the least popular methods that hire ppl by hr departments?

website applications

what is the highest rating method thats considred effective by hr and job seekers?

networking

what is screening?

the process of reviewing information about job applicants used to select workers, review written matterials (application form or resume) + biographical data, references and letters of recommendation, employment testing 

what is reliability?

the extent to which a score from a test is consisitent, stable over time, and free from errors of measurement

what are methods of determining reliability?

test-retest (temporal stability), parallel forms (from stability), internal reliability (item stability) , scorer reliability.

accuracy of a measurement instrument and its ability to make accurate inferences about a criterion is?

validity 

what type of validity is there?

construct validity, criterion validity, and content validity 

what is content validity?

are we testing what we want to be testing

what is criterion validity?

is it associated with this outcome we really care about

what is construct valdity?

what measuring the right direct construct?

why should resumes be checked?

truth, error, embellishment, fabrication

what is obtaining missing information?

unintentional omission, strategic omission, deceptive omission

what alternative methods?

bogus application items, social security reports, hire professional reference checkers

are references are not reliable?  

no; a higher correlation between two letters written by the same person being written about 

are selection systems reliable and valid?

yes

are selection systems cost effective?

cost effective, cost to administer, cost to score

do selection systems reduce the chance of a legal challenge?

face valid, dont invade privacy, dont intentionally discriminate, minimize adverse impacts (hire ppl from general pool)

what test formats is there?

group vs individual, objective vs open ended, paper and pencil vs performance, power vs speed

what personnel screening methods/tests? pt 1 

biodata, cognitive, mechanical ability, motor and sensory ability, and skills and knowledge

what personnel screening methods/tests? pt 2

personality, honesty & integrity (polygraph), assessment centers (leaderless group discussion), drug testing, hiring interviews (unstructured vs structured).

what is biodata?

background and personnel characteristics

are structured interviews better?

yes, they are reliable, valid, and not prone to legal challenge due to them being based on job analysis, ask the same questions to everyone, standarized scoring procedure 

what is the selection process of choosing applicants?

regression; statistical mutiple predictors, mutiple cutoff, mutiple hurdle

what does placement mean?

process of assigning worker to appropriate jobs: best fit between KSAOs and job requirements 

what is performance appraisal?

means of assessing worker performance in comparison to company’s established standards (should be tied directly to performance criteria)

what uses does performance appraisal have? 

personnel decisions (firing, promotions, transfer), employee development and feedback, criteria for research (e.g., validation of tests), documentation for legal action, training 

what do objective methods measure?

measures of job performance that are easily quantified such as counts of behaviors or outcomes of behaviors

what are the pros of objective methods?

consistent standards within jobs, not biased by judgement, easily quantified, face validity —> bottom line oriented

what are the disadvantages of objective methods?

not always applicable (teacher), performance not always under individual’s control, too simplistic, time consuming, potentially costly 

what are subjective methods?

people’s judgements about performance

what are the advantages of subjective methods?

easy to use, inexpensive, can asses variables that object methods can not (e.g., motivation, team spirit)

what are the disadvantages of subjective methods?

potentially poor reliability between raters, prone to rater bias, rating errors such as leniency, halo, etc., supervisor subversion of system— leniency as a strategy 

what are some sources of performance ratings?

supervisors, peers, customers, self appraisals, subordinates, 360 feedback

what are some comparative methods?

rank order (one person is always number one; compared to another), paired comparison (comparison amongst others but on point base), forced distribution

individual methods include checklist, narratives, and..?

graphic rating scales, behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS), behavioral observation scales (BOS)

what is a checklist for an individual method?

such as “did they introduce themselves? did they say their name?”

what are narratives when it comes to individual methods?

longer descriptive narrative, explicit and thoroughly 

what is graphic rating scales?

rate yourself depending on the image scale (good to bad) ex. i feel like the red angry scale

what is the behaviorally anchored rating scales?

images with words attached to them (angry red face = utterly horrible)

what is behavioral observation scales?

describing behavior that is being seen from others usually from an observer pov 

what are common rating errors?

leniency (rates lightly) or severity (harsh rater), halo (they have one positive quality which makes them have ALL positive qualities) and horns (dislike 1 thing which makes them dislike everything about that person), primacy (remember things that are seen at first) and recency (remember the last thing), casual attribution (didnt get enough sleep → sleepy → lazy), personal biases (race, age)

what is an effective performance appraisal review?

employee input prior to the meeting, high level of employee participation, helpful supervisor attitude, focus on behaviors rather than traits, identification of solutions to problems, mutual setting of specific goals, consistent application of standards, rater is familiar with the employee’s work   

effective and legal performance appraisals are..

formal, standardized, not too complicated 

what are effective and legal performance appraisals?

job related and based on a job analysis, are properly administered 

employee training is?

planned effort by an organization to facilitate the learning, retention and transfer of job related behavior 

is training limited to only new employees?

no, various types of training is offered throughout an employee’s career

what are areas of employee training occur?

new employee orientation, retirement planning, career development, retraining and continuing education, international business, team training 

what are some fundamental issues in employment training?

developed out of a need for a specific theory of how adults learn and based on assumptions

what are some assumptions that were built off it?

adults have the need to know why are learning something, adults have a need to be self directed, adults bring more work related experiences into the learning situation, adults enter into a learning experience with a problem-centered approach to learning, motivated by both extrinsic and intrinsic motivators

what are some design issues?

self concept (mutual planning & collaboration), experience (use learner experience as basis for examples and applications), readiness (develop instruction based on learner’s interests and competencies), time perspective (immediate application of content), orientation to learning (problem centered)

transfer of training: issues in employment training 

how learning translates into use of newly learned behaviors on the job AND how programs are structures and conducted 

trainee readiness: issues in employment training

characteristics of the trainees

what is organizational analysis?

organization’s goals, resources, and the climate for training

task analysis is?

specific knowledge, skills, and abilities that a job requires

person analysis is?

capabilities and deficiencies of the workers themselves

assessing training needs may also involve?

demographic analysis, or assessing training needs of a specific group

what are the three components of training objective?

performance (what is trainee expected to do?) , conditions (what conditions is the trainee expected to carry out performance), criterion (what is the level of acceptable performance)

what test materials is used onsite?

• on-the job training (OJT): placing worker in the workplace to learn firsthand about a job

• apprenticeship: supervised on the job training experience with classroom instruction

• vestibule: training that uses separate area adjacent to the work area to stimulate the actual work setting

• job rotation: a method of rotating workers among a variety of jobs to increase their breath of knowledge