Eva Rykr
The Right Way to Do Teamwork
In this May’s issue of HBR, there is an article called Why Teams Don’t Work, which sort of caught me by surprise with the negativity. Because I know a good amount of teams that DO work. But as I read through, I realized I’ve been part of more failed teams than I originally thought.
I-O Psychology versus Organizational Behavior
I Can Read Your Mind …. and Other I-O Psych Misconceptions
I can’t really blame the logic behind the post though. You see it in nearly every profession; the jerks that can’t do their job well give the rest a bad name. With respect to the intersection of business and psychology, I can tell the difference between the latter and the former within a few seconds. But I shouldn’t expect everyone else to do the same. Just like I don’t know the difference between an authentic car mechanic and a crook (true story).
Some things Industrial/Organizational Psychologists (Practitioners) do:
Job Analysis/Evaluation
Scientifically analyze duties, tasks, and jobs performed to accurately write an accurate job description, develop appropriate recruiting communications, design a valid selection system, assign relevant training, determine fair compensation, assess performance using appropriate metrics, and restructure the organization for efficiency. Leader in this field? Morris Viteles way back in 1922. Today, we have O*NET and competency models.
Performance Measurement/Management
Developing performance evaluation systems that incorporate supervisory, peer, subordinate, self, and/or customer ratings on task performance, contextual performance, and/or counterproductive performance using graphic rating scales, checklists, weighted checklists, forced choice format, behaviorally-anchored rating scales, mixed rating scales, or behavior observation scales to rank, pair, or otherwise compare the performance of employees to make decisions about selection, development, rewards, transfer, promotion, or layoff of employees all while avoiding halo, leniency, severity, and modesty biases but yet adhering to a common frame-of-reference among raters. Today we have 360-degree feedback and fair employment practices.
Leadership
Before this word appeared on everyone’s resume, it was heavily debated whether leadership was an inborn trait or a learned skill. Before taking a contingency approach there was discussion of the benefits of a task-orientation vs. a relationship-orientation. Leaders in this field? Blanchard, Yukl, Fiedler, and Graen. Today, we talk about leadership ethics, gender differences in leaders, leader emergence, and the role of charisma.
Quant and Qual Research Methods and Data Analysis Techniques to Enhance Decisions
Correlation, multivariate analysis of variance, hierarchical regression, structural equation modeling, classical test theory, item response theory, generalizability theory, content analysis, predictive validity, inter-rater agreement, the Likert scale, and our favorite, meta-analysis. Leaders here? Hunter and Schmidt. Today, we have assessments that carry more weight than online quizzes.
That’s all common sense, though – right?
Some things Industrial/Organizational Psychologists (Practitioners) don’t do:
Since I love research so much, let’s take a look at what the Journal of Applied Psychology, the most rigorous journal in the field, is contributing to the workplace this past month (in VERY broad language):
- What is the emotional effect of rude customers on customer service representatives and how can the adverse effects be lessened?
- What is the relationship between IQ /Mental Ability and change/adaptability?
- What are the differences between employees perceptions versus management perceptions of strategic HRM practices?
- How do your ratings of your own performance differ from your supervisor’s ratings of your performance? A compilation of 128 independently-conducted studies with a sample size of 37,752
- How does positive word-of-mouth information during the recruiting process impact the applicants’ employment decisions?
- What are the components of a selection system that maximizes performance while at the same time minimizes adverse impact?
Who cares… just irrelevant pseudo-science, right?
If you question the validity or reliability of the results, you are more than welcome to read the full text version and pick out the methodological flaws and suggest a better process [insert evil laughter here, those who went to grad school know what I mean].
Sarcasm aside, the main issues are the good stuff gets lost in translation between the journal and your boss (or between the professor and the guy with the MBA). Not only that, there is a temporal lag between published data and applied buzzword. Hence, why I still see the Maslow hierarchy on PowerPoint slides.
Related posts:
- Is Psychology a Science? Yes!
“Part of the reason that people still think of psychologists as old guys with beards, pipes and couches is because we have not done a good job of popularizing our discipline.” - Another Rebuttal Post
“I must ask, if psychological constructs like leadership potential, dominance, empathy, independence, tolerance, and self-control aren’t important, then on what are you basing your hiring decisions?”
How Soon Can You Deem Your Job Worthless?
I recently read a post called Why it’s smart to quit a job after just two weeks of work, which caused some intense debate about how soon is too soon to quit your job. Most readers voiced opinions that six months is a good amount of time to quit if you are unhappy. I take the other extreme viewpoint and I think you should give it at least a year. Though it ultimately comes down to personal and situational differences, here are my reasons why you should stick it out at a job you hate:
Case Study: Layoffs
What Counts as Wasting Time?
What is wasting time? How do you define it?
Lately, I have been coming across some odd ideas about time and how it is wasted. Some say that the top ways employees waste time at work are:
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surfing the internet
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socializing with co-workers
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conducting personal business
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spacing out
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running errands off-premises
“A certain amount of slacking off is already built into the salary structure.”
-Senior Vice President at Salary.com
“Chatting with your online friends is unethical, and wasting your boss’s money.”
-General Manger of Sales & Marketing
Counterproductive workplace behavior is behavior that is counter to the goals of an organization and includes mundane activities such as ineffective job performance and absenteeism all the way up to the criminal such as theft or violence. My take is that much of what people consider “wasting time” is NOT counterproductive workplace behavior. Instead, it is an excuse. It is displacing blame.
If an employee is performing poorly and missing deadlines, that’s a problem in the area of performance management. Don’t blame it on wasting time. It has nothing to do with time. Actually, the same article that mentioned the top time wasters also mentioned that the top three reasons for it. Those reasons were:
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not enough work to do
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a perception of being underpaid
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being distracted by co-workers
To me, that sounds like a problem with the organizational structures and processes rather than a specific employee’s motivation, work ethic, or ability to perform. So let’s take responsibility and fix what’s broken rather than simply pointing fingers.
10 Simple PowerPoint Tips for Stunning Presentations
So you got all fancy with your slide backgrounds and added a background color or maybe even a gradient.
