PSYINDY

• IO Psychology is a branch of psychology that applies psychological principles to understand people in the workplace
• Industrial Focus:

  • Job analysis
  • Personal Selection
  • Performance appraisal
  • Training & Development or Learning & Development
• Organizational Focus:

  • Work attitudes: work commitment, job satisfaction, job engagement, team or group dynamics, leadership
• IO Psychology focuses on factors affecting employees in the workplace such as the kind of leaders present, compatibility, team dynamics, motivation, fit with company culture or job, work attitudes, and accuracy of HR procedures
• HR Management focuses on the business aspect or operations to ensure productivity and finding the best fit for the job based on competencies
• Major Areas of IO Psychology:

  A. Psychometrics & Individual Differences:

  • Employee motivation
  • Employee selection

  B. Social Psychology:

  • Group processes
  • Leadership

  C. Health Psychology:

  • Stress
  • Work-life balance

  D. Cognitive Psychology:

  • Learning, especially adult-learning
  • Decision-making

  E. Performance appraisals:

  • Biases and how to avoid them
• IO Psychology is an interdisciplinary branch of psychology that blends principles from various subtypes of psychology
• Early Years of IO Psychology:

  • Focused on productivity and efficiency
  • Emphasized on personnel selection
  • Tension between science and practice
• Human Relations Era (1927-1940s):

  • Theory X and Theory Y by Douglas McGregor
• Engineering Psychology during World War II led to advances in safety and efficiency, with a focus on accurate placements
• Civil Rights Era (1964-Present) led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in the U.S. to ensure fairness in hiring practices
• High Tech Era (2000-Present) involves the use of computers, the internet, online job applications, computerized test administration, big data in research, and AI in HR activities
• Job Analysis is a systematic process of collecting and analyzing job information including tasks, duties, responsibilities (TDRS), knowledge, skills, and other characteristics (KSADS)
• Competencies in job analysis can be referred to as TDRS (Tasks, Duties, Responsibilities) and KSADS (Knowledge, Skills, and Other Characteristics)
• Steps in Job Analysis:

  • Identify Tasks Performed
  • Write Tasks Statements
  • Rate Tasks Statements
  • Determine Essential KSAOs
  • Select tests to tap KSAOs
• Methods for gathering existing information in job analysis include:

  • Interviewing Subject Matter Experts (SME)
  • Observing Job Incumbents
  • Job Participation
  • Questionnaires
• Properly written task statements should:

  • Include 1 action and 1 object
  • Mention tools or equipment used
  • Be written at the reading ability of the typical job incumbent
  • Provide context without being too general
• Tasks statements are rated based on frequency and importance:

  • Frequency: 0 = not performed, 1 = seldom, 2 = occasionally, 3 = frequently
  • Importance: 0 = unimportant, 1 = important, 2 = essential
  • Accepted scores for combined ratings are 2.0 and above
• KSAOs (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Other Characteristics) are essential for job performance and rated based on their importance:

  • Knowledge includes declarative and procedural knowledge
  • Skills are observable competencies like communication and leadership
  • Abilities are underlying traits like memory and intelligence
  • Other Characteristics include personality, willingness to learn, licenses, etc.
• KSAOs with average ratings of 2.5 and above are included in the selection process, 1.5 - 2.49 are taught during training, and 0.5 - 1.49 are learned on the job
• Job descriptions should include:

  • Job Title
  • Brief Summary
  • Work Activities (TDRs)
  • Tools & Equipment Used
  • Work Context
  • Performance Standards
  • Compensation Information
  • Job Competencies (KSAOs)
• Job analysis is important for guiding HR and organizational decisions related to:

  • Employee selection
  • Training and development
  • Performance appraisal
  • Promotion/Transfer decisions
• Job Evaluation involves determining the worth of a job for internal and external pay equity:

  • Internal pay equity compares jobs within the organization
  • External pay equity compares jobs to the external market
• Employee Selection is the process of choosing a qualified person for a job vacancy based on:

  • Job Performance
  • Cost
  • Legal obligations
• Validity measurements in selection plans assess the accuracy of measurement and prediction:

  • Accuracy of Measurement: similarity between the attribute being measured and the actual measure
  • Accuracy of Prediction: similarity of predictor scores and criterion scores
• Practical Significance:

  • Allows higher accuracy of prediction of the candidate’s job success
  • Assessed by examining:
  • Sign: direction of relationship between the predictor and the criterion
  • Magnitude: size that can range from 0 to 1
  • 0 = least desirable predictor
  • 1 = most desirable or useful predictor
  • 0.15 to 1.29 = considered as moderately useful
  • .30 & above = highly useful
• Statistical Significance:

  • Assessed by probabilities or the p-values
  • Accepted level of significance = p<.05
  • Confidence intervals: "We can be 90% confident that the true validity is no less than .30 and no greater than .40"
• Hiring Success:

  • Proportion of new hires who turn out to be successful in the job
  • Employees who work correctly and predicted to do well in the job
• Hiring Success Gain:

  • The increase in hiring success is significant because of the utility of the predictor use
  • Expected increase in the proportion of successful new hires as a result of:
  • Predictor's validity: Accuracy of measurement, Accuracy of prediction
  • Selection ratio: # of hired divided by # of applicants
  • Base rate: # of successful hires divided by # of employees
• Selection Plan:

  • Identifies specific predictors to be used to measure KSAOs required in the job
• Selection Sequence:

  • Applicant → Candidate → Finalist → Employee
  • Applicant: someone who sends in a resume, part of the initial assessment phase of selection
  • Candidates: has minimum credentials and is subject to further or substantive assessment
  • Finalist: meets all the minimum requirements and who is being considered by the company to join them
  • One decided the candidate will receive a job offer
  • If the finalist accepts the job offer then the finalist becomes an official employee
• Assessment Methods:

  1. Initial Assessment:

  • Useful to eliminate those applicants that do not meet even the minimum requirements
  • Includes:
  • Resume
  • Application blanks
  • Cover Letters
  • Biographical information
  • Reference Checks
  • Background Checks
  • Initial Interviews

  2. Substantive Assessment:

  • Applicants who pass the initial assessment (candidates)
  • Includes:
  • Personality Tests
  • Ability Tests
  • EQ Tests
  • Performance Tests and work samples
  • Situational Judgment Test
• • Integrity Test
  • Interest Test
  • Structured Interviews
• Discretionary Assessment:

  • Used to separate those who receive job offers from the list of finalists
  • Highly subjective
  • Should never be used without being preceded by initial and substantive methods
• Contingent Assessment:

  • Includes:
  • Drug Testing
  • Medical Exams
• Assessment Scores:

  • Single Predictor: The score in the single predictor is the final assessment score
  • Multiple Predictors Approaches:
  • Compensatory: Predictor scores are added to yield a total score
  • Procedures:
  • Clinical Prediction
  • Unit Weighing
  • Rational Weighing
  • Multiple Regression
• Hiring Standards:

  • Minimum Competency: Cut scores based on the minimum qualification necessary for the job
  • Top-Down Hiring: Examining the distribution of predictor scores for applicants and then determine which proportion of applicants will be hired
  • Test Score Banding: Applicants who score within a certain score range or band are considered to have scored equivalently
• Staffing Strategies:

  • Human Capital: Competencies owned by the employees and their motivation to use these successfully on the job
  • Staffing: Building the workforce, acquiring, deploying, and retaining a workforce of sufficient quantity and quality to create positive impacts on the organization's effectiveness
  • Staffing Quality:
  • Person-job Fit & Person-Organization Fit
  • Organizations Value: Considered the norms of desirable attitudes or behaviors, what is expected of employees to do
• Workforce / HR Planning:

  • First step in recruitment & selection
  • Identifying employment needs in the next few months: supply and demand
  • Advantages:
  • Ensure replacements are available
  • Provide realistic staffing projections for budgeting purposes
  • Help prepare for possible restructuring, downsizing, and expanding the workforce
• Succession planning:

  • Who among your employees has leadership potential
  • Process of identifying, assessing and developing organizational leadership to enhance performance
  • Three steps:
  • Identify key needs
  • Develop inside candidates
  • Assess and choose