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Organizational Psychology - Vol. VI, Part III

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The Advocacy Foundation<br />

Professional Development Series<br />

1 Corinthians 14:40<br />

Evidence-Based Programming<br />

Continuing Professional Development<br />

<strong>Part</strong> <strong>III</strong><br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

†<br />

“Helping Individuals, Organizations & Communities<br />

Achieve Their Full Potential”<br />

<strong>Vol</strong>. <strong>VI</strong><br />

John C Johnson <strong>III</strong>, CEO


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The Advocacy Foundation, Inc.<br />

Helping Individuals, Organizations & Communities<br />

Achieve Their Full Potential<br />

Professional Development Series<br />

Evidence-Based Programming<br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

“Helping Individuals, Organizations & Communities<br />

Achieve Their Full Potential<br />

1735 Market Street, Suite 3750 | 100 Edgewood Avenue, Suite 1690<br />

Philadelphia, PA 19102 Atlanta, GA 30303<br />

John C Johnson <strong>III</strong><br />

Founder & CEO<br />

(878) 222-0450<br />

Voice | Fax | SMS<br />

www.TheAdvocacyFoundation.org<br />

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Biblical Authority<br />

______<br />

1 Corinthians 14:40 (NIV)<br />

40<br />

But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly (A) way.<br />

______<br />

1 Corinthians 14:40 (MSG)<br />

39-40<br />

Three things, then, to sum this up: When you speak forth God’s truth, speak<br />

your heart out. Don’t tell people how they should or shouldn’t pray when they’re<br />

praying in tongues that you don’t understand. Be courteous and considerate in<br />

everything.<br />

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Table of Contents<br />

Evidence-Based Programming<br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

______<br />

I. Introduction<br />

Biblical Authority<br />

II.<br />

<strong>III</strong>.<br />

IV.<br />

Areas of Discipline in I-O <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Applied <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> Socialization<br />

V. I-O Consultancy<br />

<strong>VI</strong>.<br />

Behavioral Risk Management<br />

<strong>VI</strong>I. Occupational Stress<br />

<strong>VI</strong>II. Systems <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

IX.<br />

Narcissism<br />

X. Machiavellianism<br />

XI.<br />

Psychopathy<br />

XII. References<br />

Copyright © 2015 The Advocacy Foundation, Inc. All Rights Reserved.<br />

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Introduction<br />

Industrial and organizational psychology (also known as I–O psychology, occupational<br />

psychology, work psychology, WO psychology, IWO psychology and business psychology)<br />

is the scientific study of human behavior in the workplace and applies psychological theories and<br />

principles to organizations.<br />

I-O psychologists are trained in the scientist–practitioner model. I-O psychologists contribute to<br />

an organization's success by improving the performance, satisfaction, safety, health and wellbeing<br />

of its employees. An I–O psychologist conducts research on employee behaviors and<br />

attitudes, and how these can be improved through hiring practices, training programs, feedback,<br />

and management systems. I–O psychologists also help organizations and their employees<br />

transition among periods of change and organization development.<br />

I-O psychology is one of the 14 recognized specialties and proficiencies in professional<br />

psychology in the United States and is represented by Division 14 of the American Psychological<br />

Association (APA), known formally as the Society for Industrial and <strong>Organizational</strong> <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

(SIOP).<br />

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In the UK, industrial and organizational psychologists are referred to as occupational<br />

psychologists and one of 7 'protected titles' and specializations in psychology regulated by the<br />

Health and Care Professions Council.<br />

In Australia, the title organizational psychologist is also protected by law and is regulated by the<br />

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). <strong>Organizational</strong> psychology is one<br />

of nine areas of specialist endorsement for psychology practice in Australia. Graduate programs<br />

at both the Masters and Doctorate level are offered worldwide.<br />

In the UK graduate degrees are accredited by the British Psychological Society and required as<br />

part of the process to become an occupational psychologist.<br />

In Europe someone with a specialist EuroPsy Certificate in Work and Organisational <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

is a fully qualified psychologist and an expert in the work psychology field with further<br />

advanced education and training.<br />

Historical Overview<br />

The historical development of I–O psychology had parallel developments in the United States<br />

and other countries, such as the UK, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, and eastern European<br />

countries such as Romania. However, many foreign countries do not have a published English<br />

language account of their development of I–O psychology. The roots of I-O psychology trace<br />

back nearly to the beginning of psychology as a science, when Wilhelm Wundt founded one of<br />

the first psychological laboratories in 1876 in Leipzig, Germany. In the mid 1880s, Wundt<br />

trained two psychologists who had a major influence on the eventual emergence of I–O<br />

<strong>Psychology</strong>: Hugo Münsterberg and James McKeen Cattell. Instead of viewing differences as<br />

―errors‖, Cattell was one of the first to recognize the importance of these differences among<br />

individuals as a way of predicting and better understanding their behavior. Walter Dill Scott,<br />

who was a contemporary of Cattell, was elected President of the American Psychological<br />

Association (APA) in 1919, was arguably the most prominent I–O psychologist of his time.<br />

Scott, along with Walter Van Dyke Bingham worked at the Carnegie Institute of Technology,<br />

developing methods for selecting and training sales personnel<br />

The "industrial" side of I–O psychology has its historical origins in research on individual<br />

differences, assessment, and the prediction of work performance. This branch crystallized during<br />

World War I, in response to the need to rapidly assign new troops to duty stations. Scott and<br />

Bingham volunteered to help with the testing and placement of more than a million army<br />

recruits. In 1917, together, along with other prominent psychologists, adapted a well-known<br />

intelligence test, (the Stanford-Binet test, designed for testing one individual at a time) to make it<br />

suitable for mass group testing. This new test form was called the Army Alpha. After the War,<br />

the growing industrial base in the US added impetus to I–O psychology. The private industry set<br />

out to emulate the successful testing of army personnel, and mental ability testing soon became a<br />

commonplace in the work setting. Industrial psychology began to gain prominence when Elton<br />

Mayo arrived in the United States in 1924. Mayo was fascinated by not the efficiency of<br />

workers, but their emotions and how work may cause workers to act in particular pathological<br />

ways. These observations of workers’ thoughts and emotions were studied to see how prone<br />

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employees would be to resist management attempts to increase productivity and how<br />

sympathetic to labor unions they would become. These studies are known as Hawthorne studies.<br />

The results of these studies ushered in a radically new movement known as the Human Relations<br />

Movement. This movement was interested in the more complicated theories of motivation, the<br />

emotional world of the worker, job satisfaction, and interviews with workers.<br />

World War II brought in new problems that led to I–O <strong>Psychology</strong>'s continued development. The<br />

war brought renewed interest in ability testing (to accurately place recruits in these new<br />

technologically advanced military jobs), the introduction of the assessment center, concern with<br />

morale and fatigue of war industry workers, and military intelligence. Post-Second World War<br />

years were a boom time for industry with many jobs to be filled and applicants to be tested.<br />

Interestingly, however, when the war ended and the soldiers came back to work, there was an<br />

increasing trend towards labor unrest with rising numbers of authorized and unauthorized work<br />

stoppages staged by unions and workers. This caused management to grow concern about work<br />

productivity and worker attitude surveys became of much interest in the field. Following<br />

Industrial <strong>Organizational</strong> <strong>Psychology</strong>'s admission into Division 14 of the American<br />

Psychological Association, there continued to be an influx of new tests for selection,<br />

productivity, and workforce stability. This influx continued unabated until the passage of the<br />

Civil Rights Act of 1964. Section, Title <strong>VI</strong>I dealt with employment discrimination and required<br />

employers to justify and show relevance for the use of tests for selection.<br />

The mid-1960s seemed to mark a line of demarcation between "classic" and "modern" thinking.<br />

During this period, the name changed from just industrial psychology to industrial and<br />

organizational psychology. The earlier periods addressed work behavior from the individual<br />

perspective, examining performance and attitudes of individual workers. Although this was a<br />

valuable approach, it became clear that there were other, broader influences not only on<br />

individual, but also on group behavior in the work place. Thus, in 1973, "organizational" was<br />

added to the name to emphasize the fact that when an individual joins an organization (e.g., the<br />

organization that hired him or her), he or she will be exposed to a common goal and a common<br />

set of operating procedures.<br />

In the 1970s in the United Kingdom, references to occupational psychology became more<br />

common than I-O psychology. Rigor and methods of psychology are applied to issues of critical<br />

relevance to business, including talent management, coaching, assessment, selection, training,<br />

organizational development, performance, well-being and work-life balance. During the 1990s<br />

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eferences to "business psychology" became increasingly common. Business psychology is<br />

defined as the study and practice of improving working life. It combines an understanding of the<br />

science of human behavior with experience of the world of work to attain effective and<br />

sustainable performance for both individuals and organizations.<br />

Research Methods<br />

As described above, I–O psychologists are trained in the scientist–practitioner model. I–O<br />

psychologists rely on a variety of methods to conduct organizational research. Study designs<br />

employed by I–O psychologists include surveys, experiments, quasi-experiments, and<br />

observational studies. I–O psychologists rely on diverse data sources including human<br />

judgments, historical databases, objective measures of work performance (e.g., sales volume),<br />

and questionnaires and surveys.<br />

I–O researchers employ both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Quantitative<br />

methods used in I–O psychology include both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (e.g.,<br />

correlation, multiple regression, and analysis of variance). More advanced statistical methods<br />

employed by some I–O psychologists include logistic regression, multivariate analysis of<br />

variance, structural equation modeling, and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM; also known as<br />

multilevel modeling). HLM is particularly applicable to research on team- and organization-level<br />

effects on individuals. I–O psychologists also employ psychometric methods including methods<br />

associated with classical test theory (CTT), generalizability theory, and item response theory<br />

(IRT). In the 1990s, a growing body of empirical research in I–O psychology was influential in<br />

the application of meta-analysis, particularly in the area of the stability of research findings<br />

across contexts. The most well-known meta-analytic approaches are those associated with<br />

Hunter & Schmidt, Rosenthal, and Hedges & Olkin. With the help of meta-analysis, Hunter &<br />

Schmidt advanced the idea of validity generalization, which suggests that some performance<br />

predictors, specifically cognitive ability tests (see especially Hunter [1986] and Hunter &<br />

Schmidt [1996]) have a relatively stable and positive relation to job performance across all jobs.<br />

Although not unchallenged, validity generalization has broad acceptance with regard to many<br />

selection instruments (e.g. cognitive ability tests, job knowledge tests, work samples, and<br />

structured interviews) across a broad range of jobs.<br />

Qualitative methods employed in I–O psychology include content analysis, focus groups,<br />

interviews, case studies, and several other observational techniques. I–O research on<br />

organizational culture research has employed ethnographic techniques and participant<br />

observation to collect data. One well-known qualitative technique employed in I–O psychology<br />

is John Flanagan's Critical Incident Technique, which requires "qualified observers" (e.g., pilots<br />

in studies of aviation, construction workers in studies of construction projects) to describe a work<br />

situation that resulted in a good or bad outcome. Objectivity is ensured when multiple observers<br />

identify the same incidents. The observers are also asked to provide information about what the<br />

actor in the situation could have done differently to influence the outcome. This technique is then<br />

used to describe the critical elements of performance in certain jobs and how worker behavior<br />

relates to outcomes. Most notably, this technique has been employed to improve performance<br />

among aircraft crews and surgical teams, literally saving thousands of lives since its introduction.<br />

An application of the technique in research on coping with job stress comes from O'Driscoll &<br />

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Cooper. The resistance to qualitative research resulted from viewing it too excessively<br />

subjective. This concern, however, is misplaced due to all methods of research, either qualitative<br />

or quantitative, ultimately requiring some sort of interpretation. When a researcher is developing<br />

and researching a phenomenon, all information available should be used, regardless of its form.<br />

The key is triangulation, which is an approach looking for converging information from different<br />

sources to develop that theory.<br />

I–O psychologists sometimes use quantitative and qualitative methods in concert. The two are<br />

not mutually exclusive. For example, when constructing behaviorally-anchored rating scales<br />

(BARS), a job analyst may use qualitative methods, such as critical incidents interviews and<br />

focus groups to collect data bearing on performance. Then the analyst would have SMEs rate<br />

those examples on a Likert scale and compute inter-rater agreement statistics to judge the<br />

adequacy of each item. Each potential item would additionally be correlated with an external<br />

criterion in order to evaluate its usefulness if it were to be selected to be included in a BARS<br />

metric. As a simpler example, consider an extended observation of a worker, which might<br />

include videotaped episodes of performance - a qualitative measure. The qualitative video could<br />

easily be used to develop a frequency count of a particular behavior - a quantitative measure.<br />

Ethics<br />

In the consulting field, it is important for the consultant to maintain high ethical standards in all<br />

aspects of relationships: consultant to client, consultant to consultant, and client to consultant.<br />

After all, all decisions made and actions taken by the consultant will reflect what kind of<br />

consultant he or she is. Although ethical situations can be more intricate in the business world,<br />

American <strong>Psychology</strong> Association (APA)’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of<br />

Conduct can be applied to I–O consultants as well. For example, the consultant should only<br />

accept projects for which he or she is qualified; the consultant should also avoid all conflicts of<br />

interest and being in multiple relationships with those he or she is working with. On the other<br />

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hand, some might disagree that it is the consultant’s responsibility to actively promote the<br />

application of moral and ethical standards in the consultation and examine ethical issues in<br />

organizational decisions and policies. It is an ongoing controversial issue in the consulting field.<br />

In addition, as more and more organizations are becoming global, it is imperative for consultants<br />

working abroad to quickly become aware of rules, regulations, and cultures of the organizations<br />

and countries they are in as well as not to ignore ethical standards and codes just because they<br />

are abroad.<br />

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Areas of Discipline<br />

in I-O <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Job Analysis<br />

Job analysis has a few different methods but it primarily involves the systematic collection of<br />

information about a job. The task-oriented job analysis, involves an examination of the duties,<br />

tasks, and/or competencies required by a job, whereas a worker-oriented job analysis, involves<br />

an examination of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) required to<br />

successfully perform the work. Job analysis information is used for many purposes, including the<br />

creation of job-relevant selection procedures, performance appraisals and criteria, or training<br />

programs. Position analysis questionnaire is a particular analysis that is used to determined an<br />

individuals job characteristics and relates them to human characteristics.<br />

Personnel Recruitment and Selection<br />

I–O psychologists typically work with HR specialists to design (a) recruitment processes and (b)<br />

personnel selection systems. Personnel recruitment is the process of identifying qualified<br />

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candidates in the workforce and getting them to apply for jobs within an organization. Personnel<br />

recruitment processes include developing job announcements, placing ads, defining key<br />

qualifications for applicants, and screening out unqualified applicants.<br />

Personnel selection is the systematic process of hiring and promoting personnel. Personnel<br />

selection systems employ evidence-based practices to determine the most qualified candidates.<br />

Personnel selection involves both the newly hired and individuals who can be promoted from<br />

within the organization. Common selection tools include ability tests (e.g., cognitive, physical, or<br />

psycho-motor), knowledge tests, personality tests, structured interviews, the systematic<br />

collection of biographical data, and work samples. I–O psychologists must evaluate evidence<br />

regarding the extent to which selection tools predict job performance, evidence that bears on the<br />

validity of selection tools.<br />

Personnel selection procedures are usually validated, i.e., shown to be job relevant, using one or<br />

more of the following types of validity: content validity, construct validity, and/or criterionrelated<br />

validity. I–O psychologists adhere to professional standards, such as the Society for<br />

Industrial and <strong>Organizational</strong> <strong>Psychology</strong>'s (SIOP) Principles for Validation and Use of<br />

Personnel Selection Procedures [30] and the Standards for Educational and Psychological<br />

Testing. [31] The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Uniform Guidelines are also<br />

influential in guiding personnel selection although they have been criticized as outdated when<br />

compared to the current state of knowledge in I–O psychology.<br />

I–O psychologists not only help in the selection and assessment of personnel for jobs, but also<br />

assist in the selection of students for admission to colleges, universities, and graduate and<br />

professional schools as well as the assessment of student achievement, student aptitude, and the<br />

performance of teachers and K–12 schools. Increasingly, I–O psychologists are working for<br />

educational assessment and testing organizations and divisions.<br />

A meta-analysis of selection methods in personnel psychology found that general mental ability<br />

was the best overall predictor of job performance and training performance.<br />

Performance Appraisal/Management<br />

Performance appraisal or performance evaluation is the process of measuring an individual's or a<br />

group's work behaviors and outcomes against the expectations of the job. Performance appraisal<br />

is frequently used in promotion and compensation decisions, to help design and validate<br />

personnel selection procedures, and for performance management. Performance management is<br />

the process of providing performance feedback relative to expectations and improvement<br />

information (e.g., coaching, mentoring). Performance management may also include<br />

documenting and tracking performance information for organization-level evaluation purposes.<br />

An I–O psychologist would typically use information from the job analysis to determine a job's<br />

performance dimensions, and then construct a rating scale to describe each level of performance<br />

for the job. Often, the I–O psychologist would be responsible for training organizational<br />

personnel how to use the performance appraisal instrument, including ways to minimize bias<br />

when using the rating scale, and how to provide effective performance feedback. Additionally,<br />

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the I–O psychologist may consult with the organization on ways to use the performance appraisal<br />

information for broader performance management initiatives.<br />

Individual Assessment and Psychometrics<br />

Individual assessment involves the measurement of individual differences. I–O psychologists<br />

perform individual assessments in order to evaluate differences among candidates for<br />

employment as well as differences among employees. The constructs measured pertain to job<br />

performance. With candidates for employment, individual assessment is often part of the<br />

personnel selection process. These assessments can include written tests, aptitude tests, physical<br />

tests, psycho-motor tests, personality tests, integrity and reliability tests, work samples,<br />

simulation and assessment centres.<br />

Psychometrics is the science of measuring psychological variables, such as knowledge, skills,<br />

and abilities. I–O psychologists are generally well-trained in psychometric psychology.<br />

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Occupational Health and Wellbeing<br />

I/O psychologists and researchers are also concerned with occupational health and wellbeing.<br />

Researchers have examined the effect of physical exercise, and staying vigorous at work.<br />

Sonnentag and Niessen (2008) found that staying vigorous during working hours is important for<br />

work-related behaviour, subjective well-being, and for effective functioning in the family<br />

domain. Individuals high on their general level of vigour at work, benefited most from recovery<br />

experienced over the course of several days. A 2010 study found positive relationships between<br />

job satisfaction and life satisfaction, happiness, positive affect, and the absence of negative affect<br />

and feelings of positive wellbeing. Other researchers have looked at the negative health impacts<br />

of mature-aged unemployment. Another recent study conducted by Potocnik & Sonnentag<br />

(2013) examined the impact of engaging in seven types of activities on depression and quality of<br />

life in older workers over a period of 2 years, using a sample from the Survey of Health, Ageing<br />

and Retirement in Europe. Results indicated that I/O psychologists should make attempts to<br />

reduce physical demands over older employees at work, to help improve their health and wellbeing.<br />

Practitioners should also design intervention programmes and preventive measures that<br />

focus on how to stimulate older employees' engagement in community activities. I/O research<br />

has also examined effects of job mobility and negative health effects, including burnout in<br />

workers.<br />

Workplace Bullying, Aggression and Violence<br />

I/O psychology and I/O psychologists are also concerned with the related topics of workplace<br />

bullying, aggression and violence. This 2010 study investigated the impact of the larger<br />

organizational context on bullying as well as the group-level processes that impact on the<br />

incidence, and maintenance of bullying behaviour. The impact of engaging in certain thought<br />

patterns after exposure to workplace violence has also been examined. This 2011 research<br />

examines the detrimental effect that interpersonal aggressive behaviours may have on<br />

dimensions of team effectiveness particularly team performance and team viability.<br />

Remuneration and Compensation<br />

Compensation includes wages or salary, bonuses, pension/retirement contributions, and<br />

perquisites that can be converted to cash or replace living expenses. I–O psychologists may be<br />

asked to conduct a job evaluation for the purpose of determining compensation levels and<br />

ranges. I–O psychologists may also serve as expert witnesses in pay discrimination cases when<br />

disparities in pay for similar work are alleged.<br />

Training and Training Evaluation<br />

Training is the systematic acquisition of skills, concepts, or attitudes that results in improved<br />

performance in another environment. Most people hired for a job are not already versed in all the<br />

tasks required to perform the job effectively. Evidence indicates that training is effective and that<br />

these training expenditures are paying off in terms of higher net sales and gross profitability per<br />

employee. Training can be beneficial for the organization and for employees in terms of<br />

increasing their value to their organization as well as their employability in the broader<br />

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marketplace. Many organizations are using training and development as a way to attract and<br />

retain their most successful employees.<br />

Similar to performance management (see above), an I–O psychologist would employ a job<br />

analysis in concert with principles of instructional design to create an effective training program.<br />

A training program is likely to include a summative evaluation at its conclusion in order to<br />

ensure that trainees have met the training objectives and can perform the target work tasks at an<br />

acceptable level. Training programs often include formative evaluations to assess the impact of<br />

the training as the training proceeds. Formative evaluations can be used to locate problems in<br />

training procedures and help I–O psychologists make corrective adjustments while the training is<br />

ongoing.<br />

The basic foundation for training<br />

programs is learning. Learning<br />

outcomes can be organized into<br />

three broad categories: cognitive,<br />

skill-based, and affective<br />

outcomes. Cognitive is a type of<br />

learning outcome that includes<br />

declarative knowledge or the<br />

knowledge of rules, facts, and<br />

principles. An example is police<br />

officers acquire declarative<br />

knowledge about laws and court<br />

procedures. Skill-based is a<br />

learning outcome that concerns<br />

procedural knowledge and the<br />

development of motor and<br />

technical skills. An example is<br />

motor skills that involve the<br />

coordination of physical<br />

movements such as using a<br />

special tool or flying a certain<br />

aircraft, whereas technical skills<br />

might include understanding a<br />

certain software program, or<br />

exhibiting effective customer relations behaviors. Affective is a type of learning outcome that<br />

includes attitudes or beliefs that predispose a person to behave in a certain way. Attitudes can be<br />

developed or changed through training programs. Examples of these attitudes are organizational<br />

commitment and appreciation of diversity.<br />

Before training design issues are considered, a careful needs analysis is required to develop a<br />

systematic understanding of where training is needed, what needs to be taught or trained, and<br />

who will be trained. Training needs analysis typically involves a three-step process that includes<br />

organizational analysis, task analysis and person analysis. <strong>Organizational</strong> analysis examines<br />

organizational goals, available resources, and the organizational environment to determine where<br />

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training should be directed. This analysis identifies the training needs of different departments or<br />

subunits and systematically assessing manager, peer, and technological support for transfer of<br />

training. <strong>Organizational</strong> analysis also takes into account the climate of the organization and its<br />

subunits. For example, if a climate for safety is emphasized throughout the organization or in<br />

particular parts of the organization (e.g., production), then training needs will likely reflect this<br />

emphasis. Task analysis uses the results from job analysis on determining what is needed for<br />

successful job performance and then determines what the content of training should be. Task<br />

analysis can consist of developing task statements, determining homogeneous task clusters, and<br />

identifying KSAOs (knowledge, skills, abilities, other characteristics) required for the job. With<br />

organizations increasingly trying to identify "core competencies" that are required for all jobs,<br />

task analysis can also include an assessment of competencies. Person analysis identifies which<br />

individuals within an organization should receive training and what kind of instruction they need.<br />

Employee needs can be assessed using a variety of methods that identify weaknesses that<br />

training and development can address. The needs analysis makes it possible to identify the<br />

training program's objectives, which in turn, represents the information for both the trainer and<br />

trainee about what is to be learned for the benefit of the organization.<br />

Therefore with any training program it is key to establish specify training objectives. Schultz &<br />

Schultz (2010) states that need assessment is an analysis of corporate and individual goals<br />

undertaken before designing a training program. Examples of need assessment are based on<br />

organizational, task, and work analysis is conducted using job analysis critical incidents,<br />

performance appraisal, and self-assessment techniques. (p164)<br />

But with any training there are always challenges that one faces. Challenges which I–O<br />

psychologists face: (p185)<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

To identify the abilities required to perform increasingly complex jobs.<br />

To provide job opportunities for unskilled workers.<br />

To assist supervisors in the management of an ethnically diverse workforce.<br />

To retain workers displaced by changing economic, technological, and political forces.<br />

To help organizations remain competitive in the international marketplace.<br />

To conduct the necessary research to determine the effectiveness of training programs.<br />

Motivation in the Workplace<br />

Work motivation "is a set of energetic forces that originate both within as well as beyond an<br />

individual's being, to initiate work-related behavior, and to determine its form, direction,<br />

intensity, and duration" Understanding what motivates an organization's employees is central to<br />

the study of I–O psychology. Motivation is a person's internal disposition to be concerned with<br />

an approach positive incentives and avoid negative incentives. To further this, an incentive is the<br />

anticipated reward or aversive event available in the environment. While motivation can often be<br />

used as a tool to help predict behavior, it varies greatly among individuals and must often be<br />

combined with ability and environmental factors to actually influence behavior and performance.<br />

Because of motivation's role in influencing workplace behavior and performance, it is key for<br />

organizations to understand and to structure the work environment to encourage productive<br />

behaviors and discourage those that are unproductive.<br />

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There is general consensus that motivation involves three psychological processes: arousal,<br />

direction, and intensity. Arousal is what initiates action. It is fueled by a person's need or desire<br />

for something that is missing from their lives at a given moment, either totally or partially.<br />

Direction refers to the path employees take in accomplishing the goals they set for themselves.<br />

Finally, intensity is the vigor and amount of energy employees put into this goal-directed work<br />

performance. The level of intensity is based on the importance and difficulty of the goal. These<br />

psychological processes result in four outcomes. First, motivation serves to direct attention,<br />

focusing on particular issues, people, tasks, etc. It also serves to stimulate an employee to put<br />

forth effort. Next, motivation results in persistence, preventing one from deviating from the goalseeking<br />

behavior. Finally, motivation results in task strategies, which as defined by Mitchell &<br />

Daniels, are "patterns of behavior produced to reach a particular goal."<br />

Occupational Stress<br />

I/O psychologists are involved<br />

in the research and the practice<br />

of occupational stress and<br />

design of individual and<br />

organizational interventions to<br />

manage and reduce the stress<br />

levels and increase<br />

productivity, performance,<br />

health and wellbeing.<br />

Occupational stress is<br />

concerned with physical and<br />

psychosocial working<br />

conditions (termed stressors)<br />

that can elicit negative responses (termed strains) from employees. Occupational stress can have<br />

implications for organizational performance because of the emotions job stress evokes. For<br />

example, a job stressor such as conflict with a supervisor can precipitate anger that in turn<br />

motivates counterproductive workplace behaviors. Job-related hindrance stressors are directly<br />

(and challenge stressors inversely) related to turnover and turnover intentions. I/O research has<br />

examined the relations among work stressors and workplace aggression, withdrawal, theft, and<br />

substance abuse, strategies that individuals use to cope with work stress and prevent occupational<br />

burnout, and the relation of work stress to depressive symptoms.<br />

A number of models have been developed to explain the job stress process. Examples of models<br />

that have influenced research include the person-environment fit model and the demand-control<br />

model. Research has also examined the interaction among personality variables and stressors and<br />

their effects on employee strains. I/O psychology is also concerned with the physical health<br />

outcomes caused by occupational stress. For instance, researchers at the institute of work<br />

psychology (IWP) examined the mediating role of psychological strain in relation to<br />

musculoskeletal disorders.<br />

Research has also examined occupational stress in specific occupations. For example, there has<br />

been research on job stress in police, teachers, general practitioners, and dentists. Another<br />

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concern has been the relation of occupational stress to family life. Other research has examined<br />

gender differences in leadership style and job stress and strain in the context of male- and<br />

female-dominated industries, burnout in the human services and other occupations, and<br />

unemployment-related distress. I/O psychology is also concerned with the relation of<br />

occupational stress to career advancement.<br />

Occupational Health and Safety<br />

Occupational health and safety is concerned with how the work environment contributes to<br />

illness and injury of workers. Of particular importance are psychosocial hazards or risk factors<br />

that include fatigue, workplace violence, workplace bullying. Other factors important to<br />

employee health and well-being include work schedules (e.g., night shifts), work/family conflict,<br />

and burnout. Tools have been developed by I/O researchers and psychologists to measure these<br />

psychosocial risk factors in the workplace and "stress audits" can be used to help organizations<br />

remain compliant with various occupational health and safety regulations around the world.<br />

Another area of concern is the high rate of occupational fatalities and injuries due to accidents.<br />

There is also research interest in how psychosocial hazards affect physical ailments like<br />

musculoskeletal disorder. A contributing psychosocial factor to accidents is safety climate, that<br />

concerns organizational policies and practices concerning safe behavior at work. A related<br />

concept that has to do with psychological well-being as opposed to accidents is psychosocial<br />

safety climate (PSC). PSC refers to policies, practices, and procedures for the protection of<br />

worker psychological health and safety. Safety leadership is another area of occupational health<br />

and safety I/O psychology is concerned with, where specific leadership styles affect safety<br />

compliance and safety participation.<br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> Culture<br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> culture can be described as a set of assumptions shared by the individuals in an<br />

organization that directs interpretation and action by defining appropriate behavior for various<br />

situations. There are three levels of organizational culture: artifacts, shared values, and basic<br />

beliefs and assumptions. Artifacts comprise the physical components of the organization that<br />

relay cultural meaning. Shared values are individuals' preferences regarding certain aspects of<br />

the organization's culture (e.g., loyalty, customer service). Basic beliefs and assumptions include<br />

individuals' impressions about the trustworthiness and supportiveness of an organization, and are<br />

often deeply ingrained within the organization's culture.<br />

In addition to an overall culture, organizations also have subcultures. Examples of subcultures<br />

include corporate culture, departmental culture, local culture, and issue-related culture. While<br />

there is no single "type" of organizational culture, some researchers have developed models to<br />

describe different organizational cultures.<br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> culture has been shown to have an impact on important organizational outcomes<br />

such as performance, attraction, recruitment, retention, employee satisfaction, and employee<br />

well-being. Also, organizations with an adaptive culture tend to perform better than<br />

organizations with an maladaptive culture.<br />

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Group Behavior<br />

Group behavior is the interaction between individuals of a collective and the processes such as<br />

opinions, attitudes, growth, feedback loops, and adaptations that occur and change as a result of<br />

this interaction. The interactions serve to fulfill some need satisfaction of an individual who is<br />

part of the collective and helps to provide a basis for his interaction with specific members of the<br />

group.<br />

A specific area of research in group behavior is the dynamics of teams. Team effectiveness refers<br />

to the system of getting people in a company or institution to work together effectively. The idea<br />

behind team effectiveness is that a group of people working together can achieve much more<br />

than if the individuals of the team were working on their own.<br />

Team Effectiveness<br />

Organizations support the use of teams, because teams can accomplish a much greater amount of<br />

work in a short period of time than can be accomplished by an individual contributor, and<br />

because the collective results of a group of contributors can produce higher quality deliverables.<br />

Five elements that are contributors to team effectiveness include:<br />

1. team composition<br />

2. task design<br />

3. organizational resources<br />

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4. team rewards<br />

5. team goals.<br />

I/O research has looked at the negative impacts of workplace aggression on team performance<br />

and particularly team effectiveness as was evidenced in a recent study by Aube and Rousseau.<br />

Team Composition<br />

The composition of teams is initially decided during the selection of individual contributors that<br />

are to be assigned to specific teams and has a direct bearing on the resulting effectiveness of<br />

those teams. Aspects of team composition that should be considered during the team selection<br />

process include team member: knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs), personalities, and<br />

attitudes.<br />

As previously stated, one of the reasons organizations support the use of teams is the expectation<br />

of the delivery of higher quality results. To achieve these types of results, highly skilled<br />

members are more effective than teams built around those with lesser skills, and teams that<br />

include a diversity of skills have improved team performance (Guzzo & Shea, 1992).<br />

Additionally, increased average cognitive ability of team members has been shown to<br />

consistently correlate to increased work group effectiveness (Sundstrom et al., 2000). Therefore,<br />

organizations should seek to assign teams with team members that have a mix of KSAs. Teams<br />

that are composed of members that have the same KSAs may prove to be ineffective in meeting<br />

the team goals, no matter how talented the individual members are.<br />

The personalities and attitudes of the individuals that are selected as team members are other<br />

aspects that should be taken into consideration when composing teams, since these individual<br />

traits have been found to be good indicators of team effectiveness. For example, a positive<br />

relationship between the team-level traits of agreeableness and conscientiousness and the team<br />

performance has been shown to exist (Van Vianen & De Dreu, 2001). Differing personalities of<br />

individual team members can affect the team climate in a negative way as members may clash<br />

and reduce team performance (Barrick, et al., 1998).<br />

Task Design<br />

A fundamental question in team task design is whether or not a task is even appropriate for a<br />

team. Those tasks that require predominantly independent work are best left to individuals, and<br />

team tasks should include those tasks that consist primarily of interdependent work. When a<br />

given task is appropriate for a team, task design can play a key role in team effectiveness<br />

(Sundstrom, et al., 2000).<br />

The Job Characteristics Theory of motivation identifies core job dimensions that provide<br />

motivation for individuals and include: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy<br />

and feedback (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). These dimensions map well to the team environment.<br />

Individual contributors that perform team tasks that are challenging, interesting, and engaging<br />

are more likely to be motivated to exert greater effort and perform better than those team<br />

members that are working on those tasks that do not have these characteristics.<br />

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Interrelated to the design of various tasks is the implementation method for the tasks themselves.<br />

For example, certain team members may find it challenging to cross train with other team<br />

members that have subject matter expertise in areas in which they are not familiar. In utilizing<br />

this approach, greater motivation is likely to result for both parties as the expert becomes the<br />

mentor and trainer and the cross-training team member finds learning new tasks to be an<br />

interesting change of pace. Such expansions of team task assignments can make teams more<br />

effective and require teams to spend greater amounts of time discussing and planning strategies<br />

and approaches for completing assigned tasks (Hackman, et al., 1976).<br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> Resources<br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> support systems impact the effectiveness of teams<br />

(Sundstrum, et al., 1990) and provide resources for teams<br />

operating in the multi-team environment. In this case, the<br />

provided resources include various resource types that teams<br />

require to be effective. During the chartering of new teams,<br />

organizational enabling resources are first identified. Examples of<br />

enabling resources include facilities, equipment, information, training and leadership. Also<br />

identified during team chartering are team-specific resources (e.g., budgetary resources, human<br />

resources). Team-specific human resources represent the individual contributors that are selected<br />

for each team as team members. Intra-team processes (e.g., task design, task assignment) are<br />

sufficient for effective utilization of these team-specific resources.<br />

Teams also function in multi-team environments that are dynamic in nature and require teams to<br />

respond to shifting organizational contingencies (Salas, et al., 2004). In regards to resources,<br />

such contingencies include the constraints imposed by organizational resources that are not<br />

specifically earmarked for the exclusive use of certain teams. These types of resources are scarce<br />

in nature and must be shared by multiple teams. Examples of these scarce resources include<br />

subject matter experts, simulation and testing facilities, and limited amounts of time for the<br />

completion of multi-team goals. For these types of shared resources inter-team management<br />

processes (e.g.: constraint resource scheduling) must be provided to enable effective multi-team<br />

utilization.<br />

Team Rewards<br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> reward systems are a driver for strengthening and enhancing individual team<br />

member efforts that contribute towards reaching collective team goals (Luthans & Kreitner,<br />

1985). In other words, rewards that are given to individual team members should be contingent<br />

upon the performance of the entire team (Sundstrom, et al., 1990).<br />

Several design elements of organizational reward systems are needed to meet this objective. The<br />

first element for reward systems design is the concept that for a collective assessment to be<br />

appropriate for individual team members, the group's tasks must be highly interdependent. If this<br />

is not the case, individual assessment is more appropriate than team assessment (Wageman &<br />

Baker, 1997). A second design element is the compatibility between individual-level reward<br />

systems and team-level reward systems (DeMatteo, Eby, & Sundstrom, 1998). For example, it<br />

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would be an unfair situation to reward the entire team for a job well done if only one team<br />

member did the great majority of the work. That team member would most likely view teams<br />

and team work in a negative fashion and not want to participate in a team setting in the future. A<br />

final design element is the creation of an organizational culture that supports and rewards<br />

employees who believe in the value of teamwork and who maintain a positive mental attitude<br />

towards team-based rewards (Haines and Taggar, 2006).<br />

Team Goals<br />

Goals for individual contributors have been<br />

shown to be motivating when they contain<br />

three elements: (1) difficulty, (2) acceptance,<br />

and (3) specificity (Lock & Latham, 1990).<br />

In the team setting, goal difficulty is related<br />

to group belief that the team can accomplish<br />

the tasks required to meet the assigned goal<br />

(Whitney, 1994). This belief (collective<br />

efficacy) is somewhat counterintuitive, but<br />

rests on team member perception that they<br />

now view themselves as more competent<br />

than others in the organization who were not<br />

chosen to complete such difficult goals. This<br />

in turn, can lead to higher levels of<br />

performance. Goal acceptance and<br />

specificity is also applicable to the team<br />

setting. When team members individually and collectively commit to team goals, team<br />

effectiveness is increased and is a function of increased supportive team behaviors (Aube &<br />

Rousseau, 2005).<br />

As related to the team setting, it is also important to be aware of the interplay between the goals<br />

of individual contributors that participate on teams and the goals of the teams themselves. The<br />

selection of team goals must be done in coordination with the selection of goals for individuals.<br />

Individual goals must be in line with team goals (or not exist at all) to be effective (Mitchell &<br />

Silver, 1990). For example, a professional ball player that does well in his/her sport is rewarded<br />

individually for excellent performance. This individual performance generally contributes to<br />

improved team performance which can, in turn, lead to team recognition, such as a league<br />

championship.<br />

Job Satisfaction and Commitment<br />

Job satisfaction reflects an employee's overall assessment of their job, particularly their<br />

emotions, behaviors, and attitudes about their work experience. It is one of the most heavily<br />

researched topics in industrial–organizational psychology with several thousand published<br />

studies. Job satisfaction has theoretical and practical utility for the field of psychology and has<br />

been linked to important job outcomes including attitudinal variables, absenteeism, employee<br />

turnover, and job performance. For instance, job satisfaction is strongly correlated with<br />

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attitudinal variables such as job involvement, organizational commitment, job tensions,<br />

frustration, and feelings of anxiety. A 2010 meta-analyses found positive relationships between<br />

job satisfaction and life satisfaction, happiness, positive affect, and the absence of negative<br />

affect. Job satisfaction also has a weak correlation with employee's absentee behaviors and<br />

turnover from an organization with employees more likely to miss work or find other jobs if they<br />

are not satisfied. Finally, research has found that although a positive relationship exists between<br />

job satisfaction and performance, it is moderated by the use of rewards at an organization and the<br />

strength of employee's attitudes about their job.<br />

Productive Behavior<br />

Productive behavior is defined as employee behavior that<br />

contributes positively to the goals and objectives of an<br />

organization. When an employee begins a new job, there is a<br />

transition period during which he or she is not contributing<br />

positively to the organization. To successfully transition from<br />

being an outsider to a full-fledged member of an organization,<br />

an employee typically needs job-related training as well as more general information about the<br />

culture of the organization. In financial terms, productive behavior represents the point at which<br />

an organization begins to achieve some return on the investment it has made in a new employee.<br />

Industrial–organizational psychologists are typically more focused on productive behavior rather<br />

than simple job or task performance because of the ability to account for extra-role performance<br />

in addition to in-role performance. While in-role performance tells managers or researchers how<br />

well the employee performs the required technical aspects of the job, extra-role performance<br />

includes behaviors not necessarily required as part of the job but still contribute to organizational<br />

effectiveness. By taking both in-role and extra-role performance into account, industrial–<br />

organizational psychologists are able to assess employees' effectiveness (how well they do what<br />

they were hired to do), efficiency (their relative outputs to relative inputs), and their productivity<br />

(how much they help the organization reach its goals). Jex & Britt outline three different forms<br />

of productive behavior that industrial–organizational psychologists frequently evaluate in<br />

organizations: job performance; organizational citizenship behavior; and innovation.<br />

Job Performance<br />

Job performance represents behaviors employees engage in while at work which contribute to<br />

organizational goals. These behaviors are formally evaluated by an organization as part of an<br />

employee's responsibilities. In order to understand and ultimately predict job performance, it is<br />

important to be precise when defining the term. Job performance is about behaviors that are<br />

within the control of the employee and not about results (effectiveness), the costs involved in<br />

achieving results (productivity), the results that can be achieved in a period of time (efficiency),<br />

or the value an organization places on a given level of performance, effectiveness, productivity<br />

or efficiency (utility).<br />

To model job performance, researchers have attempted to define a set of dimensions that are<br />

common to all jobs. Using a common set of dimensions provides a consistent basis for assessing<br />

performance and enables the comparison of performance across jobs. Performance is commonly<br />

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oken into two major categories: in-role<br />

(technical aspects of a job) and extra-role (nontechnical<br />

abilities such as communication skills<br />

and being a good team member). While this<br />

distinction in behavior has been challenged it is<br />

commonly made by both employees and<br />

management. A model of performance by<br />

Campbell breaks performance into in-role and<br />

extra-role categories. Campbell labeled jobspecific<br />

task proficiency and non-job-specific<br />

task proficiency as in-role dimensions, while<br />

written and oral communication, demonstrating effort, maintaining personal discipline,<br />

facilitating peer and team performance, supervision and leadership and management and<br />

administration are labeled as extra-role dimensions. Murphy's model of job performance also<br />

broke job performance into in-role and extra-role categories. However, task-orientated behaviors<br />

composed the in-role category and the extra-role category included interpersonally-oriented<br />

behaviors, down-time behaviors and destructive and hazardous behaviors. However, it has been<br />

challenged as to whether the measurement of job performance is usually done through<br />

pencil/paper tests, job skills tests, on-site hands-on tests, off-site hands-on tests, high-fidelity<br />

simulations, symbolic simulations, task ratings and global ratings. These various tools are often<br />

used to evaluate performance on specific tasks and overall job performance. Van Dyne and<br />

LePine developed a measurement model in which overall job performance was evaluated using<br />

Campbell's in-role and extra-role categories. Here, in-role performance was reflected through<br />

how well "employees met their performance expectations and performed well at the tasks that<br />

made up the employees' job." Dimensions regarding how well the employee assists others with<br />

their work for the benefit of the group, if the employee voices new ideas for projects or changes<br />

to procedure and whether the employee attends functions that help the group composed the extrarole<br />

category.<br />

To assess job performance, reliable and valid measures must be established. While there are<br />

many sources of error with performance ratings, error can be reduced through rater training and<br />

through the use of behaviorally-anchored rating scales. Such scales can be used to clearly define<br />

the behaviors that constitute poor, average, and superior performance. Additional factors that<br />

complicate the measurement of job performance include the instability of job performance over<br />

time due to forces such as changing performance criteria, the structure of the job itself and the<br />

restriction of variation in individual performance by organizational forces. These factors include<br />

errors in job measurement techniques, acceptance and the justification of poor performance and<br />

lack of importance of individual performance.<br />

The determinants of job performance consist of factors having to do with the individual worker<br />

as well as environmental factors in the workplace. According to Campbell's Model of The<br />

Determinants of Job Performance, job performance is a result of the interaction between<br />

declarative knowledge (knowledge of facts or things), procedural knowledge (knowledge of what<br />

needs to be done and how to do it), and motivation (reflective of an employee's choices regarding<br />

whether to expend effort, the level of effort to expend, and whether to persist with the level of<br />

effort chosen). The interplay between these factors show that an employee may, for example,<br />

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have a low level of declarative knowledge, but may still have a high level of performance if the<br />

employee has high levels of procedural knowledge and motivation.<br />

Regardless of the job, three determinants stand out as predictors of performance: (1) general<br />

mental ability (especially for jobs higher in complexity); (2) job experience (although there is a<br />

law of diminishing returns); and (3) the personality trait of conscientiousness (people who are<br />

dependable and achievement-oriented, who plan well). These determinants appear to influence<br />

performance largely through the acquisition and usage of job knowledge and the motivation to<br />

do well. Further, an expanding area of research in job performance determinants includes<br />

emotional intelligence.<br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> Citizenship Behavior<br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> citizenship behaviors ("OCBs") are another form of productive behavior, having<br />

been shown to be beneficial to both organization and team effectiveness. Dennis Organ is often<br />

thought of as the father of OCB research and defines OCBs as "individual behavior that is<br />

discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the<br />

aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization." Behaviors that qualify as<br />

Page 29 of 102


OCBs can fall into one of the following five categories: altruism, courtesy, sportsmanship,<br />

conscientiousness, and civic virtue.<br />

Researchers have adapted, elaborated, or otherwise changed Organ's (1988) five OCB categories,<br />

but they remain popular today. The categories and their descriptions are as follows:<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Altruism<br />

Sometimes referred to as "prosocial behavior" altruistic OCBs include helping behaviors<br />

in the workplace such as volunteering to assist a coworker on a project.<br />

Courtesy<br />

These behaviors can be seen when an employee exhibits basic consideration for others.<br />

Examples of courteous OCBs include "checking up" on coworkers to see how they are<br />

doing and notifying coworkers of commitments that may cause you to be absent from<br />

work.<br />

Sportsmanship<br />

Unlike other forms of OCBs, sportsmanship involves not engaging in certain behaviors,<br />

such as whining and complaining about minor issues or tough work assignments.<br />

Conscientiousness<br />

Conscientiousness is basically defined as self-discipline and performing tasks beyond the<br />

minimum requirements. Conscientious OCBs involve planning ahead, cleanliness, not<br />

"slacking off," adhering to the rules, punctuality, and being an overall good citizen in the<br />

workplace.<br />

Civic Virtue<br />

Civic virtue differs from other OCBs because the target of the behavior is the group or<br />

organization as a whole, rather than an individual coworker. Civic virtue OCBs include<br />

being a good representative of the organization and supporting the organization,<br />

especially in its efforts outside of its major business objectives. Examples of civic virtue<br />

OCBs are participating in charitable functions held by the organization and defending or<br />

otherwise speaking well of the organization.<br />

OCBs are also categorized using other methods. For example, Williams and Anderson categorize<br />

OCBs by their intended target, separating them into those targeted at individuals ("OCBIs"),<br />

supervisors ("OCBSs"), and those targeted at the organization as a whole ("OCBOs").<br />

Additionally, Vigoda-Gadot uses a sub-category of OCBs called CCBs, or "compulsory OCBs"<br />

which is used to describe OCBs that are done under the influence of coercive persuasion or peer<br />

pressure rather than out of good will. This theory stems from debates concerning the reasons for<br />

conducting OCBs and whether or not they are truly voluntary in nature.<br />

Jex & Britt offer three explanations as to why employees engage in organizational citizenship<br />

behavior. One relates to positive affect; for example, an overall positive mood tends to change<br />

the frequency of helping behavior to a higher rate. This theory stems from a history of numerous<br />

studies indicating that positive mood increases the frequency of helping and prosocial behaviors.<br />

A second explanation, which stems from equity theory, is that employees reciprocate fair<br />

treatment that they received from the organization. Equity theory researchers found that certain<br />

forms of fairness or justice predict OCB better than others. For example, Jex & Britt mention<br />

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esearch that indicates that interactional justice is a better predictor than procedural justice,<br />

which is in turn a better predictor than distributive justice.<br />

A third explanation Jex & Britt offer is that, on the one hand, some employees hold personal<br />

values that tend to skew their behavior positively to participate in organizational citizenship<br />

activities. On the other hand, Jex & Britt's interpretation of research results suggest that other<br />

employees will tend to perform organizational citizenship behavior merely to influence how they<br />

are viewed within the organization, not because it reflects their personally held values. While<br />

these behaviors are not formally part of the job description, performing them can certainly<br />

influence performance appraisals. In contrast to this view, some I–O psychologists believe that<br />

employees engage in OCBs as a form of "impression management," a term coined by Erving<br />

Goffman in his 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Goffman defines<br />

impression<br />

management as "the<br />

way in which the<br />

individual ... presents<br />

himself and his<br />

activity to others, the<br />

ways in which he<br />

guides and controls<br />

the impression they<br />

form of him, and the<br />

kinds of things he<br />

may and may not do<br />

while sustaining his<br />

performance before<br />

them." Researchers<br />

such as Bolino have<br />

hypothesized that the<br />

act of performing<br />

OCBs is not done out<br />

of goodwill, positive affect, etc., but instead as a way of being noticed by superiors and looking<br />

good in the eyes of others. The key difference between this view and those mentioned by Jex &<br />

Britt is that the intended beneficiary of the behavior is the individual who engages in it, rather<br />

than another individual, the organization, or the supervisor.<br />

With this research on why employees engage in OCBs comes the debate among I–O<br />

psychologists about the voluntary or involuntary nature of engaging in OCBs. Many researchers,<br />

including the "father of OCB research," Dennis Organ have consistently portrayed OCBs as<br />

voluntary behaviors done at the discretion of the individual. However, more recently researchers<br />

have brought attention to potential underlying causes of OCBs, including social pressure,<br />

coercion, and other external forces. For example, Eran Vigoda-Gadot suggests that some, but not<br />

all, OCBs may be performed voluntarily out of goodwill, but many may be more involuntary in<br />

nature and "may arise from coercive managerial strategies or coercive social pressure by<br />

powerful peers." As mentioned previously, Vigoda-Gadot categorizes these behaviors in a<br />

separate category of OCBs as "compulsory OCBs" or CCBs, which he suggests are a form of<br />

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"abusive supervision" and will result in poorer organizational performance, similar to what has<br />

been seen in other research on abusive supervision and coercive persuasion.<br />

Innovation<br />

Industrial and <strong>Organizational</strong> Psychologists consider innovation, more often than not, a variable<br />

of less importance and often a counter-productive one to include in conducting job performance<br />

appraisals when irrelevant to the major job functions for which a given job exists. Nonetheless,<br />

Industrial and <strong>Organizational</strong> Psychologists see the value of that variable where its consideration<br />

would, were its reliability and validity questioned, achieve a statistically significant probability<br />

that its results are not due to chance, and that it can be replicated reliably with a statistically<br />

significant ratio of reliability, and that were a court to raise a question on its reliability and<br />

validity testing, the Industrial and <strong>Organizational</strong> Psychologist behind its use would be able to<br />

defend it before a court of justice with the belief that it will stand before such a court as reliable,<br />

and valid.<br />

With the above in mind, innovation is often considered a form of productive behavior that<br />

employees exhibit when they come up with novel ideas that further the goals of the organization.<br />

This section will discuss three topics of interest: research on innovation; characteristics of an<br />

individual that may predict innovation; and how organizations may be structured to promote<br />

innovation. According to Jex & Britt, individual and organization research can be divided into<br />

four unique research focuses.<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Focus One: The examination of the process by which an employee develops innovations<br />

and the unique characteristics of an individuals which enables them to be highly<br />

innovative. This stream of thought focuses primarily on the employee or the individual<br />

contributor.<br />

Focus Two: The macro perspective which focuses upon the process that innovation is<br />

diffused within a specific organization. In short, this is the process of communicating an<br />

innovation to members of an organization.<br />

Focus Three: The process by which an organization adopts an innovation.<br />

Focus Four: A shared perspective of the role of the individual and the organization's<br />

culture which contribute to innovation.<br />

As indicated above, the first focus looks specifically to find certain attributes of an individual<br />

that may lead to innovation, therefore, one must ask, "Are there quantifiable predictors that an<br />

individual will be innovative?" Research indicates if various skills, knowledge, and abilities are<br />

present then an individual will be more apt to innovation. These qualities are generally linked to<br />

creativity. A brief overview of these characteristics are listed below.<br />

<br />

<br />

Task-relevant skills (general mental ability and job specific knowledge). Task specific<br />

and subject specific knowledge is most often gained through higher education; however,<br />

it may also be gained by mentoring and experience in a given field.<br />

Creativity-relevant skills (ability to concentrate on a problem for long periods of time, to<br />

abandon unproductive searches, and to temporarily put aside stubborn problems). The<br />

ability to put aside stubborn problems is referred to by Jex & Britt as productive<br />

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forgetting. Creativity-relevant skills also require the individual contributor to evaluate a<br />

problem from multiple vantage points. One must be able to take on the perspective of<br />

various users. For example, an Operation Manager analyzing a reporting issue and<br />

developing an innovative solution would consider the perspective of a sales person,<br />

assistant, finance, compensation, and compliance officer.<br />

Task motivation (internal desire to perform task and level of enjoyment).<br />

In addition to the role and characteristics of the individual, one must consider what it is that may<br />

be done on an organizational level to develop and reward innovation. A study by Damanpour<br />

identified four specific characteristics that may predict innovation within an organization. They<br />

are the following ones:<br />

1. A population with high levels of technical knowledge<br />

2. The organization's level of specialization<br />

3. The level an organization communicates externally<br />

4. Functional Differentiation.<br />

Additionally, organizations could use and institutionalize many participatory system-processes,<br />

which could breed innovation in the workplace. Some of these items include providing creativity<br />

training, having leaders encourage and model innovation, allowing employees to question<br />

current procedures and rules, seeing that the implementation of innovations had real<br />

consequences, documenting innovations in a professional manner, allowing employees to have<br />

autonomy and freedom in their job roles, reducing the number of obstacles that may be in the<br />

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way of innovation, and giving employees access to resources (whether these are monetary,<br />

informational, or access to key people inside or outside of the organization).<br />

According to the American Productivity & Quality Center ("APQC") there are basic principles<br />

an organization can develop to encourage and reward innovation.<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

The creation of a design team.<br />

Acknowledging those who contribute time, effort, and ideas. This recognition may come<br />

from senior leaders or through peer recognition.<br />

Provide special recognition to innovators while keeping names associated with<br />

contributors.<br />

Disseminate success stories concerning invention.<br />

Make innovation self-rewarding, such as the perception of being a subject matter expert.<br />

Linking innovation to the cultural values of the organization.<br />

Creating a committee of business leaders from various lines of business and human<br />

resources focused on developing guidelines and suggestions to encourage innovation.<br />

In discussing innovation for a Best-Practice report, APQC Knowledge Management expert,<br />

Kimberly Lopez, stated, "It requires a blending of creativity within business processes to ensure<br />

good ideas become of value to the company ... Supporting a creative environment requires<br />

innovation to be recognized, nurtured, and rewarded."<br />

Counterproductive Work Behavior<br />

Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) can be defined as employee behavior that goes against<br />

the goals of an organization. These behaviors can be intentional or unintentional and result from<br />

a wide range of underlying causes and motivations. Some CWBs have instrumental motivations<br />

(e.g., theft). It has been proposed that a person-by-environment interaction can be utilized to<br />

explain a variety of counterproductive behaviors (Fox and Spector, 1999). For instance, an<br />

employee who sabotages another employee's work may do so because of lax supervision<br />

(environment) and underlying psychopathology (person) that work in concert to result in the<br />

counterproductive behavior. There is evidence that an emotional response (e.g., anger) to job<br />

stress (e.g., unfair treatment) can motivate CWBs.<br />

The forms of counterproductive behavior with the most empirical examination are ineffective job<br />

performance, absenteeism, job turnover, and accidents. Less common but potentially more<br />

detrimental forms of counterproductive behavior have also been investigated including violence<br />

and sexual harassment.<br />

Leadership<br />

In I–O psychology, leadership can be defined as a process of influencing others to agree on a<br />

shared purpose, and to work towards shared objectives. A distinction should be made between<br />

leadership and management. Managers process administrative tasks and organize work<br />

environments. Although leaders may be required to undertake managerial duties as well, leaders<br />

typically focus on inspiring followers and creating a shared organizational culture and values.<br />

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Managers deal with complexity, while leaders deal with initiating and adapting to change.<br />

Managers undertake the tasks of planning, budgeting, organizing, staffing, controlling and<br />

problem solving. In contrast, leaders undertake the tasks of setting a direction or vision, aligning<br />

people to shared goals, communicating, and motivating.<br />

Approaches to studying leadership in I–O psychology can be broadly classified into three<br />

categories: Leader-focused approaches, Contingency-focused approaches, and Follower-focused<br />

approaches.<br />

Leader-Focused Approaches<br />

Leader-focused approaches look to<br />

organizational leaders to determine the<br />

characteristics of effective leadership.<br />

According to the trait approach, more<br />

effective leaders possess certain traits<br />

that less effective leaders lack. More<br />

recently, this approach is being used to<br />

predict leader emergence. The<br />

following traits have been identified as<br />

those that predict leader emergence<br />

when there is no formal leader: high<br />

intelligence, high needs for dominance,<br />

high self-motivation, and socially<br />

perceptive. Another leader-focused<br />

approached is the behavioral<br />

approach which focuses on the behaviors that distinguish effective from ineffective leaders.<br />

There are two categories of leadership behaviors: (1) consideration; and (2) initiating structure.<br />

Behaviors associated with the category of consideration include showing subordinates they are<br />

valued and that the leader cares about them. An example of a consideration behavior is showing<br />

compassion when problems arise in or out of the office. Behaviors associated with the category<br />

of initiating structure include facilitating the task performance of groups. One example of an<br />

initiating structure behavior is meeting one-on-one with subordinates to explain expectations and<br />

goals. The final leader-focused approach is power and influence. To be most effective a leader<br />

should be able to influence others to behave in ways that are in line with the organization's<br />

mission and goals. How influential a leader can be depends on their social power or their<br />

potential to influence their subordinates. There are six bases of power: coercive power, reward<br />

power, legitimate power, expert power, referent power, and informational power. A leader can<br />

use several different tactics to influence others within an organization. These common tactics<br />

include: rational persuasion, inspirational appeal, consultation, ingratiation, exchange, personal<br />

appeal, coalition, legitimating, and pressure.<br />

Contingency-Focused Approaches<br />

Of the 3 approaches to leadership, contingency-focused approaches have been the most prevalent<br />

over the past 30 years. Contingency-focused theories base a leader's effectiveness on their ability<br />

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to assess a situation and adapt their behavior accordingly. These theories assume that an effective<br />

leader can accurately "read" a situation and skillfully employ a leadership style that meets the<br />

needs of the individuals involved and the task at hand. A brief introduction to the most<br />

prominent contingency-focused theories will follow.<br />

Fiedler's Contingency Theory holds that a leader's effectiveness depends on the interaction<br />

between their characteristics and the characteristics of the situation. Path–Goal Theory asserts<br />

that the role of the leader is to help his or her subordinates achieve their goals. To effectively do<br />

this, leaders must skillfully select from four different leadership styles to meet the situational<br />

factors. The situational factors are a product of the characteristics of subordinates and the<br />

characteristics of the environment. The Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Model focuses on<br />

how leader–subordinate relationships develop. Generally speaking, when a subordinate performs<br />

well or when there are positive exchanges between a leader and a subordinate, their relationship<br />

is strengthened, performance and job satisfaction are enhanced, and the subordinate will feel<br />

more commitment to the leader and the organization as a whole. Vroom-Yetton-Jago Model<br />

focuses on decision making with respect to a feasibility set which is composed of the situational<br />

attributes.<br />

In addition to the contingency-focused approaches mentioned, there has been a high degree of<br />

interest paid to three novel approaches that have recently emerged. The first is transformational<br />

leadership, which posits that there are certain leadership traits that inspire subordinates to<br />

perform beyond their capabilities. The second is transactional leadership, which is most<br />

concerned with keeping subordinates in-line with deadlines and organizational policy. This type<br />

of leader fills more of a managerial role and lacks qualities necessary to inspire subordinates and<br />

induce meaningful change. And the third is authentic leadership which is centered around<br />

empathy and a leader's values or character. If the leader understands their followers, they can<br />

inspire subordinates by cultivating a personal connection and leading them to share in the vision<br />

and goals of the team. Although there has been a limited amount of research conducted on these<br />

theories, they are sure to receive continued attention as the field of I–O psychology matures.<br />

Follower-Focused Approaches<br />

Follower-focused approaches look at the processes by which leaders motivate followers, and<br />

lead teams to achieve shared goals. Understandably, the area of leadership motivation draws<br />

heavily from the abundant research literature in the domain of motivation in I–O psychology.<br />

Because leaders are held responsible for their followers' ability to achieve the organization's<br />

goals, their ability to motivate their followers is a critical factor of leadership effectiveness.<br />

Similarly, the area of team leadership draws heavily from the research in teams and team<br />

effectiveness in I–O psychology. Because organizational employees are frequently structured in<br />

the form of teams, leaders need to be aware of the potential benefits and pitfalls of working in<br />

teams, how teams develop, how to satisfy team members' needs, and ultimately how to bring<br />

about team effectiveness and performance. An emerging area of research in the area of team<br />

leadership is in leading virtual teams, where people in the team are geographically-distributed<br />

across various distances and sometimes even countries. While technological advances have<br />

enabled the leadership process to take place in such virtual contexts, they present new challenges<br />

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for leaders as well, such as the need to use technology to build relationships with followers, and<br />

influencing followers when faced with limited (or no) face-to-face interaction.<br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> Change/Development<br />

Industrial-organizational psychologists have displayed a great deal of consideration for the<br />

problems of total organizational change and systematic ways to bring about planned change. This<br />

effort, called organizational development (OD), involves techniques such as:<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Sensitivity training<br />

Role playing<br />

Group discussion<br />

Job enrichment<br />

Survey feedback<br />

Team building<br />

Within the survey feedback technique, surveys after being answered by employees periodically,<br />

are assessed for their emotions and attitudes which are then communicated to various members<br />

within the organization. The team building technique was created due to realization that most<br />

tasks within the organization are completed by small groups and/or teams. In order to further<br />

enhance a team's or group's morale and problem-solving skills, OD consultants (called change<br />

agents) help the groups to build their self-confidence, group cohesiveness, and working<br />

effectiveness. A change agent's impartiality, gives the managers within the organization a new<br />

outlook of the organization's structure, functions, and culture. A change agent's first task is<br />

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diagnosis, where questionnaires and interviews are used to assess the problems and needs of the<br />

organization. Once analyzed, the strengths and weaknesses of the organization are presented and<br />

used to create strategies for solving problems and coping with future changes. (pp216–217)<br />

Flexibility and adaptability are some strengths of the OD process, as it possesses the ability to<br />

conform to the needs of the situation. Regardless of the specific techniques applied, the OD<br />

process helps to free the typical bureaucratic organization from its rigidity and formality, hereby<br />

allowing more responsiveness and open participation. Public and private organizations both have<br />

employed OD techniques, despite their varied results in research conducted. However, the use of<br />

the techniques are justified by the significant increases in productivity that was proven by<br />

various studies. (p217)<br />

Relation to <strong>Organizational</strong> Behavior<br />

The i/o psychology and organizational behavior have manifested some overlap. The overlap has<br />

led to some confusion regarding how the two disciplines differ.<br />

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Applied <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Applied <strong>Psychology</strong> is the use of psychological principles and theories to overcome<br />

problems in real life situations. Mental health, organizational psychology, business management,<br />

education, health, product design, ergonomics, and law are just a few of the areas that have been<br />

influenced by the application of psychological principles and findings. Some of the areas of<br />

applied psychology include clinical psychology, counseling psychology, evolutionary<br />

psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, legal psychology, neuropsychology,<br />

occupational health psychology, human factors, forensic psychology, engineering psychology,<br />

school psychology, sports psychology, traffic psychology, community psychology, medical<br />

psychology. In addition, a number of specialized areas in the general field of psychology have<br />

applied branches (e.g., applied social psychology, applied cognitive psychology). However, the<br />

lines between sub-branch specializations and major applied psychology categories are often<br />

blurred. For example, a human factors psychologist might use a cognitive psychology theory.<br />

This could be described as human factor psychology or as applied cognitive psychology.<br />

One founder of applied psychology was Hugo Münsterberg. He came to America from italy, and,<br />

like many aspiring psychologists during the late 19th century, originally studied philosophy.<br />

Münsterberg had many interests in the field of psychology such as purposive psychology, social<br />

psychology and forensic psychology. In 1907 he wrote several magazine articles concerning<br />

legal aspects of testimony, confessions and courtroom procedures, which eventually developed<br />

into his book, On the Witness Stand. The following year the Division of Applied <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

was adjoined to the Harvard Psychological Laboratory. Within 9 years he had contributed eight<br />

books in English, applying psychology to education, industrial efficiency, business and teaching.<br />

Eventually Hugo Münsterberg and his contributions would define him as the creator of applied<br />

psychology. In 1920, the International Association of Applied <strong>Psychology</strong> (IAAP) was founded,<br />

as the first international scholarly society within the field of psychology.<br />

Most professional psychologists in the U.S. worked in an academic setting until World War II.<br />

But during the war, the armed forces and the Office of Strategic Services hired psychologists in<br />

droves to work on issues such as troop morale and propaganda design. After the war,<br />

psychologists found an expanding range of jobs outside of the academy. Since 1970, the number<br />

of college graduates with degrees in psychology has more than doubled, from 33,679 to 76,671<br />

in 2002. The annual numbers of masters' and PhD degrees have also increased dramatically over<br />

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the same period. All the while, degrees in the related fields of economics, sociology, and<br />

political science have remained constant.<br />

Professional organizations have organized special events and meetings to promote the idea of<br />

applied psychology. In 1990, the American Psychological Society held a Behavioral Science<br />

Summit and formed the "Human Capital Initiative", spanning schools, workplace productivity,<br />

drugs, violence, and community health. The American Psychological Association declared<br />

2000–2010 the Decade of Behavior, with a similary broad scope. Psychological methods are<br />

considered applicable to all aspects of human life and society.<br />

Advertising<br />

Business advertisers have long consulted psychologists in assessing what types of messages will<br />

most effectively induce a person to buy a particular product. Their research includes the study of<br />

unconscious influences and brand loyalty.<br />

Clinical <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Clinical psychology includes the study and application of psychology for the purpose of<br />

understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to<br />

promote subjective well-being and personal development. Central to its practice are<br />

psychological assessment and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists may also engage in<br />

research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development and<br />

administration. Some clinical psychologists may focus on the clinical management of patients<br />

with brain injury—this area is known as clinical neuropsychology. In many countries clinical<br />

psychology is a regulated mental health profession.<br />

The work performed by clinical psychologists tends to be done inside various therapy models, all<br />

of which involve a formal relationship between professional and client—usually an individual,<br />

couple, family, or small group—that employs a set of procedures intended to form a therapeutic<br />

alliance, explore the nature of psychological problems, and encourage new ways of thinking,<br />

feeling, or behaving. The four major perspectives are psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral,<br />

existential-humanistic, and systems or family therapy. There has been a growing movement to<br />

integrate these various therapeutic approaches, especially with an increased understanding of<br />

issues regarding ethnicity, gender, spirituality, and sexual-orientation. With the advent of more<br />

robust research findings regarding psychotherapy, there is growing evidence that most of the<br />

major therapies are about of equal effectiveness, with the key common element being a strong<br />

therapeutic alliance. Because of this, more training programs and psychologists are now adopting<br />

an eclectic therapeutic orientation.<br />

Clinical psychologists do not usually prescribe medication, although there is a growing number<br />

of psychologists who do have prescribing privileges, in the field of medical psychology. In<br />

general, however, when medication is warranted many psychologists will work in cooperation<br />

with psychiatrists so that clients get all their therapeutic needs met. Clinical psychologists may<br />

also work as part of a team with other professionals, such as social workers and nutritionists.<br />

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Counseling <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Counseling psychology is an applied specialization within psychology, that involves both<br />

research and practice in a number of different areas or domains. According to Gelso and Fretz<br />

(2001), there are some central unifying themes among counseling psychologists. These include a<br />

focus on an individual’s strengths, relationships, their educational and career development, as<br />

well as a focus on normal personalities. Counseling Psychologists help people improve their<br />

well-being, reduce and manage stress, and improve overall functioning in their lives. The<br />

interventions used by Counseling Psychologists may be either brief or long-term in duration.<br />

Often they are problem focused and goal-directed. There is a guiding philosophy which places a<br />

value on individual differences and an emphasis on "prevention, development, and adjustment<br />

across the life-span."<br />

Educational <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Educational psychology is devoted to the study of how humans<br />

learn in educational settings, especially schools. Psychologists<br />

assess the effects of specific educational interventions: e.g.,<br />

phonics versus whole language instruction in early reading<br />

attainment. They also study the question of why learning occurs<br />

differently in different situations.<br />

Another domain of educational psychology is the psychology of<br />

teaching. In some colleges, educational psychology courses are<br />

called "the psychology of learning and teaching". Educational psychology derives a great deal<br />

from basic-science disciplines within psychology including cognitive science and behavioriallyoriented<br />

research on learning.<br />

Environmental <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Environmental psychology is the psychological study of humans and their interactions with their<br />

environments. The types of environments studied are limitless, ranging from homes, offices,<br />

classrooms, factories, nature, and so on. However, across these different environments, there are<br />

several common themes of study that emerge within each one. Noise level and ambient<br />

temperature are clearly present in all environments and often subjects of discussion for<br />

environmental psychologists. Crowding and stressors are a few other aspects of environments<br />

studied by this sub-discipline of psychology.<br />

When examining a particular environment, environmental psychology looks at the goals and<br />

purposes of the people in the using the environment, and tries to determine how well the<br />

environment is suiting the needs of the people using it. For example, a quiet environment is<br />

necessary for a classroom of students taking a test, but would not be needed or expected on a<br />

farm full of animals. The concepts and trends learned through environmental psychology can be<br />

used when setting up or rearranging spaces so that the space will best perform its intended<br />

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function. The top common, more well known areas of psychology that drive this applied field<br />

include: cognitive, perception, learning, and social psychology.<br />

Evolutionary <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Evolutionary psychology (EP) seeks to determine which psychological traits are evolved<br />

adaptations – that is, the functional products of natural selection or sexual selection. Some<br />

evolutionary psychologists apply the same adaptionist thinking as is applied in evolutionary<br />

biology, to psychology, arguing that the mind also has a modular structure similar to that of the<br />

body. Evolutionary psychologists argue that much of human behavior is the output of<br />

psychological adaptations that have evolved over thousands of years to provide solutions to<br />

recurrent human problems.<br />

Forensic <strong>Psychology</strong> and Legal <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Forensic psychology and legal psychology are the area concerned with the application of<br />

psychological methods and principles to legal questions and issues. Most typically, forensic<br />

psychology involves a clinical analysis of a particular individual and an assessment of some<br />

specific psycho-legal question. The psycho-legal question does not have to be criminal in nature.<br />

In fact, the forensic psychologist rarely gets involved in the actual criminal investigations.<br />

Custody cases are a great example of non-criminal evaluations by forensic psychologists. The<br />

validity and upholding of eyewitness testimony is an area of forensic psychology that does veer<br />

closer to criminal investigations, though does not directly involve the psychologist in the<br />

investigation process. Psychologists are often called to testify as expert witnesses on issues such<br />

as the accuracy of memory, the reliability of police interrogation, and the appropriate course of<br />

action in child custody cases.<br />

Legal psychology refers to any application of psychological principles, methods or<br />

understanding to legal questions or issues. In addition to the applied practices, legal psychology<br />

also includes academic or empirical research on topics involving the relationship of law to<br />

human mental processes and behavior. It is interesting to note the inherent differences that arise<br />

when placing psychology in the legal context. <strong>Psychology</strong> rarely makes absolute statements.<br />

Instead, psychologists traffic in the terms like level of confidence, percentages, and significance.<br />

Legal matters, on the other hand, look for absolutes: guilty or not guilty. This makes for a sticky<br />

union between psychology and the legal system. Some universities operate dual JD/PhD<br />

programs focusing on the intersection of these two areas.<br />

The Committee on Legal Issues of the American Psychological Association is known to file<br />

amicus curae briefs, as applications of psychological knowledge to high-profile court cases.<br />

A related field, police psychology, involves consultation with police departments and<br />

participation in police training.<br />

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Human Factors and<br />

Ergonomics<br />

Human factors and<br />

ergonomics (HF&E) is the<br />

study of how cognitive and<br />

psychological processes affect<br />

our interaction with tools,<br />

machines, and objects in the<br />

environment. Many branches<br />

of psychology attempt to<br />

create models of and<br />

understand human behavior.<br />

These models are usually<br />

based on data collected from<br />

experiments. Human Factor<br />

psychologists however, take<br />

the same data and use it to<br />

design or adapt processes and<br />

objects that will compliment<br />

the human component of the<br />

equation. Rather than humans<br />

learning how to use and<br />

manipulate a piece of<br />

technology, human factors<br />

strives to design technology to be inline with the human behavior models designed by general<br />

psychology. This could be accounting for physical limitations of humans, as in ergonomics, or<br />

designing systems, especially computer systems, that work intuitively with humans, as does<br />

engineering psychology.<br />

Ergonomics is applied primarily through office work and the transportation industry.<br />

Psychologists here take into account the physical limitations of the human body and attempt to<br />

reduce fatigue and stress by designing products and systems that work within the natural<br />

limitations of the human body. From simple things like the size of buttons and design of office<br />

chairs to layout of airplane cockpits, human factor psychologists, specializing in ergonomics,<br />

attempt to de-stress our everyday lives and sometimes even save them.<br />

Human factor psychologists specializing in engineering psychology tend to take on slightly<br />

different projects than their ergonomic centered counterparts. These psychologists look at how a<br />

human and a process interact. Often engineering psychology may be centered around computers.<br />

However at the base level, a process is simply a series of inputs and outputs between a human<br />

and a machine. The human must have a clear method to input data and be able to easily access<br />

the outputted information. The inability of rapid and accurate corrections can sometimes lead to<br />

drastic consequences, as summed up by many stories in Set Phases on Stun. The engineering<br />

psychologists wants to make the process of inputs and outputs as intuitive as possible for the<br />

user.<br />

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The goal of research in human factors is to understand the limitations and biases of human<br />

mental processes and behavior, and design items and systems that will interact accordingly with<br />

the limitations. Some may see human factors as intuitive or a list of dos and don'ts, but in reality,<br />

human factor research strives to find the make sense of large piles of data to bring precise<br />

applications to product designs and systems to help people work more naturally, intuitively with<br />

the items of their surroundings.<br />

Industrial and <strong>Organizational</strong> <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Industrial and organizational psychology, or I/O<br />

psychology, focuses on the psychology of the workforce,<br />

customer, and consumer, including issues such as the<br />

psychology of recruitment, selecting employees from an<br />

applicant pool, training, performance appraisal, job<br />

satisfaction, work motivation. work behavior, stress at<br />

work and management. In short, I/O psychology is the<br />

application of psychology to the workplace. A core aspect<br />

of this field is job analysis, the detailed study of which<br />

behaviors a given job entails.<br />

Though the name of the title "Industrial <strong>Organizational</strong> <strong>Psychology</strong>" implies 2 split disciplines<br />

being chained together, it is near impossible to have one half without the other. If asked to<br />

generally define the differences, Industrial psychology focuses more on the Human Resources<br />

aspects of the field, and <strong>Organizational</strong> psychology focuses more on the personal interactions of<br />

the employees. When applying these principles however, they are not easily broken apart. For<br />

example, when developing requirements for a new job position, the recruiters are looking for an<br />

applicant with strong communication skills in multiple areas. The developing of the position<br />

requirements falls under the industrial psychology, human resource type work. and the<br />

requirement of communication skills is related to how the employee with interacts with coworkers.<br />

As seen here, it is hard to separate task of developing a qualifications list from the types<br />

of qualifications on the list. This is parallel to how the I and O are nearly inseparable in practice.<br />

Therefore, I/O psychologists are generally rounded in both industrial and organizational<br />

psychology though they will have some specialization. Other topics of interest for I/O<br />

psychologists include performance evaluation, training, and much more.<br />

Military psychology includes research into the classification, training, and performance of<br />

soldiers.<br />

Neuropsychology<br />

Neuropsychology studies the structure and function of the brain as they relate to specific<br />

psychological processes and behaviors. It is seen as a clinical and experimental field of<br />

psychology that aims to study, assess, understand and treat behaviors directly related to brain<br />

functioning. The term neuropsychology has been applied to lesion studies in humans and<br />

animals. It has also been applied to efforts to record electrical activity from individual cells (or<br />

groups of cells) in higher primates (including some studies of human patients). It is scientific in<br />

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its approach, making use of neuroscience, and shares an information processing view of the mind<br />

with cognitive psychology and cognitive science.<br />

School <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

School psychology is a field that applies principles of clinical psychology and educational<br />

psychology to the diagnosis and treatment of students' behavioral and learning problems. School<br />

psychologists are educated in child and adolescent development, learning theories, psychological<br />

and psycho-educational assessment, personality theories, therapeutic interventions, special<br />

education, psychology, consultation, child and adolescent psychopathology, and the ethical, legal<br />

and administrative codes of their profession.<br />

According to Division 16 (Division of School <strong>Psychology</strong>) of the American Psychological<br />

Association (APA), school psychologists operate according to a scientific framework. They work<br />

to promote effectiveness and efficiency in the field. School psychologists conduct psychological<br />

assessments, provide brief interventions, and develop or help develop prevention programs.<br />

Additionally, they evaluate services with special focus on developmental processes of children<br />

within the school system, and other systems, such as families. School psychologists consult with<br />

teachers, parents, and school personnel about learning, behavioral, social, and emotional<br />

problems. They may teach lessons on parenting skills (like school counselors), learning<br />

strategies, and other skills related to school mental health. In addition, they explain test results to<br />

parents and students. They provide individual, group, and in some cases family counseling (State<br />

Board of Education 2003; National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education, n.d.).<br />

School psychologists are actively involved in district and school crisis intervention teams. They<br />

also supervise graduate students in school psychology. School psychologists in many districts<br />

provide professional development to teachers and other school personnel on topics such as<br />

positive behavior intervention plans and achievement tests.<br />

One salient application for school psychology in today's world is responding to the unique<br />

challenges of increasingly multicultural classrooms. For example, psychologists can contribute<br />

insight about the differences between individualistic and collectivistic cultures.<br />

School psychologists are influential within the school system and are frequently consulted to<br />

solve problems. Practitioners should be able to provide consultation and collaborate with other<br />

members of the educational community and confidently make decisions based on empirical<br />

research.<br />

Social Change<br />

Psychologists have been employed to promote "green" behavior, i.e. sustainable development. In<br />

this case, their goal is behavior modification, through strategies such as social marketing. Tactics<br />

include education, disseminating information, organizing social movements, passing laws, and<br />

altering taxes to influence decisions.<br />

<strong>Psychology</strong> has been applied on a world scale with the aim of population control. For example,<br />

one strategy towards television programming combines social models in a soap opera with<br />

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informational messages during advertising time. This strategy successfully increased womens'<br />

enrollment at family planning clinics in Mexico. The programming—which has been deployed<br />

around the world by Population Communications International and the Population Media<br />

Center—combines family planning messages with representations of female education and<br />

literacy.<br />

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<strong>Organizational</strong> Socialization<br />

Onboarding, also known as organizational socialization, refers to the mechanism through<br />

which new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become<br />

effective organizational members and insiders. Tactics used in this process include formal<br />

meetings, lectures, videos, printed materials, or computer-based orientations to introduce<br />

newcomers to their new jobs and organizations. Research has demonstrated that these<br />

socialization techniques lead to positive outcomes for new employees such as higher job<br />

satisfaction, better job performance, greater organizational commitment, and reduction in<br />

occupational stress and intent to quit. These outcomes are particularly important to an<br />

organization looking to retain a competitive advantage in an increasingly mobile and globalized<br />

workforce. In the United States, for example, up to 25% of workers are organizational<br />

newcomers engaged in an onboarding process.<br />

Antecedents of Success<br />

Onboarding is a multifaceted operation influenced by a number of factors pertaining to both the<br />

individual newcomer and the organization. Researchers have separated these factors into three<br />

broad categories: new employee characteristics, new employee behaviors, and organizational<br />

efforts. New employee characteristics are individual differences across incoming workers,<br />

ranging from personality traits to previous work experiences. New employee behaviors refer to<br />

the specific actions carried out by newcomers as they take an active role in the socialization<br />

process. Finally, organizational efforts help facilitate the process of acclimating a new worker to<br />

an establishment through activities such as orientation or mentoring programs.<br />

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New Employee Characteristics<br />

Research has shown evidence that employees with certain personality traits and experiences<br />

adjust to an organization more quickly. These are a proactive personality, the "Big Five",<br />

curiosity, and greater experience levels.<br />

"Proactive personality" refers to the tendency to take charge of situations and achieve control<br />

over one's environment. This type of personality predisposes some workers to engage in<br />

behaviors such as information seeking that accelerate the socialization process, thus helping<br />

them to adapt more efficiently and become high-functioning organizational members. Empirical<br />

evidence also demonstrates that a proactive personality is related to increased levels of job<br />

satisfaction and performance.<br />

The Big Five personality traits—openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and<br />

neuroticism—have been linked to onboarding success, as well. Specifically, new employees who<br />

are proactive or particularly open to experience are more likely to seek out information,<br />

feedback, acceptance, and relationships with co-workers. They also exhibit higher levels of<br />

adjustment and tend to frame events more positively.<br />

Curiosity also plays a substantial role in the newcomer adaptation process and is defined as the<br />

"desire to acquire knowledge" that energizes individual exploration of an organization's culture<br />

and norms. Individuals with a curious disposition tend to frame challenges in a positive light and<br />

eagerly seek out information to help them make sense of their new organizational surroundings<br />

and responsibilities, leading to a smoother onboarding experience.<br />

Employee experience levels also affect the onboarding process such that more experienced<br />

members of the workforce tend to adapt to a new organization differently from, for example, a<br />

new college graduate starting his or her first job. This is because seasoned employees can draw<br />

from past experiences to help them adjust to their new work settings and therefore may be less<br />

affected by specific socialization efforts because they have (a) a better understanding of their<br />

own needs and requirements at work and (b) are more familiar with what is acceptable in the<br />

work context. Additionally, veteran workers may have used their past experiences to seek out<br />

organizations in which they will be a better fit, giving them an immediate advantage in adapting<br />

to their new jobs.<br />

New Employee Behaviors<br />

Certain behaviors enacted by incoming employees, such as building relationships and seeking<br />

information and feedback, can help facilitate the onboarding process. Newcomers can also<br />

quicken the speed of their adjustment by demonstrating behaviors that assist them in clarifying<br />

expectations, learning organizational values and norms, and gaining social acceptance.<br />

Information seeking occurs when new employees ask questions of their co-workers and superiors<br />

in an effort to learn about their new job and the company's norms, expectations, procedures, and<br />

policies. Miller and Jablin (1991) developed a typology of information sought after by new hires.<br />

These include referent information, understanding what is required to function on the job (role<br />

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clarity); appraisal information, understanding how effectively the newcomer is able to function<br />

in relation to job role requirements (self-efficacy); and finally, relational information,<br />

information about the quality of relationships with current organizational employees (social<br />

acceptance). By actively seeking information, employees can effectively reduce uncertainties<br />

about their new jobs and organizations and make sense of their new working environments.<br />

Newcomers can also passively seek information via monitoring their surroundings or by simply<br />

viewing the company website or handbook. Research has shown that information seeking by<br />

incoming employees is associated with social integration, higher levels of organizational<br />

commitment, job performance, and job satisfaction in both individualistic and collectivist<br />

cultures.<br />

Feedback seeking is similar to information seeking, but it is focused on a new employee's<br />

particular behaviors rather than on general information about the job or company. Specifically,<br />

feedback seeking refers to new employee efforts to gauge how to behave in their new<br />

organization. A new employee may ask co-workers or superiors for feedback on how well he or<br />

she is performing certain job tasks or whether certain behaviors are appropriate in the social and<br />

political context of the organization. In seeking constructive criticism about their actions, new<br />

employees learn what kinds of behaviors are expected, accepted, or frowned upon within the<br />

company or work group, and when they incorporate this feedback and adjust their behavior<br />

accordingly, they begin to blend seamlessly into the organization. Instances of feedback inquiry<br />

vary across cultural contexts such that individuals high in self-assertiveness and cultures low in<br />

power distance report more feedback seeking than newcomers in cultures where selfassertiveness<br />

is low and power distance is high.<br />

Also called networking, relationship building involves an employee's efforts to develop<br />

camaraderie with co-workers and even supervisors. This can be achieved informally through<br />

simply talking to their new peers during a coffee break or through more formal means such as<br />

taking part in pre-arranged company events. Research has shown relationship building to be a<br />

key part of the onboarding process, leading to outcomes such as greater job satisfaction and<br />

better job performance, as well as decreased stress.<br />

Organization Socialization Efforts<br />

Organizations also invest a great amount of time and resources into the training and orientation<br />

of new company hires. Organizations differ in the variety of socialization activities they offer in<br />

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order to integrate productive new workers. Possible activities include their socialization tactics,<br />

formal orientation programs, recruitment strategies, and mentorship opportunities.<br />

Socialization Tactics<br />

Socialization tactics, or orientation tactics, are designed based on an organization's needs, values,<br />

and structural policies. Some organizations favor a more systematic approach to socialization,<br />

while others follow a more "sink or swim" approach in which new employees are challenged to<br />

figure out existing norms and company expectations without guidance.<br />

Van Maanen and Schein model (1979)<br />

John Van Maanen and Edgar H. Schein have identified at least six major tactical dimensions that<br />

characterize and represent all of the ways in which organizations may differ in their approaches<br />

to socialization.<br />

Collective Versus Individual Socialization<br />

Collective socialization refers to the process of taking a group of recruits who are facing a given<br />

boundary passage and putting them through the same set of experiences together. Examples of<br />

this include: basic training/boot camp for a military organization, pledging for<br />

fraternities/sororities, education in graduate schools, and so forth. Socialization in the Individual<br />

mode allows newcomers to accumulate unique experiences separate from other newcomers.<br />

Examples of this process include: Apprenticeship programs, specific internships, ―on-the-job‖<br />

training, etc.<br />

Formal vs. Informal Socialization<br />

Formal socialization refers to those tactics in which newcomers are more or less segregated from<br />

others and trained on the job. These processes can be witnessed with such socialization programs<br />

as police academies, internships, and apprenticeships. Informal socialization processes, on the<br />

other hand, involve little separation between newcomers and the existing employees, nor is there<br />

any effort made to distinguish the newcomer’s role specifically. Informal tactics provides a noninterventional<br />

environment for recruits to learn their new roles via trial and error. Examples of<br />

informal socialization include on-the-job training assignments, apprenticeship programs with no<br />

clearly defined role, and more generally, any situation in which a newcomer is placed into a<br />

work group with no recruit role.<br />

Sequential vs. Random Socialization<br />

Sequential socialization refers to the degree to which an organization or occupation specifies<br />

discrete and identifiable steps for the newcomers to know what phases they need to go through.<br />

Random socialization occurs when the sequences of steps leading to the targeted role are<br />

unknown, and the entire progression is quite ambiguous. In other words, while there are<br />

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numerous steps or stages leading to specific organizational roles, there is necessarily no specific<br />

order in which the steps should be taken.<br />

Fixed vs. Variable Socialization<br />

This dimension refers to the extent to which the steps have a timetable developed by the<br />

organization and communicated to the recruit in order to convey when the socialization process<br />

is complete. Fixed socialization provides a recruit with the exact knowledge of the time it will<br />

take complete a given passage. For instance, some management trainees can be put on ― fast<br />

tracks‖ where they are required to accept new rotational assignment on an annual basis despite<br />

their own preferences. Variable socialization processes gives a newcomer no specific timetable,<br />

but a few clues as to when to expect a given boundary passage. This type of socialization is<br />

commonly associated upwardly mobile careers within business organizations because of several<br />

uncontrolled factors such as the state of the economy or turnover rates which determine whether<br />

any given newcomer will be promoted to a higher level or not.<br />

Serial vs. Disjunctive Socialization<br />

A serial socialization process refers to experienced members of the organization grooming the<br />

newcomers who are about to occupy similar positions within the organization. These experience<br />

members essentially serve as role models for the inexperienced newcomers. A prime example of<br />

serial socialization would be a rookie police officer getting assigned patrol duties with an<br />

experienced veteran who has been in law enforcement for a lengthy period of time. Disjunctive<br />

socialization, in contrast, refers to when newcomers are not following the guidelines of their<br />

predecessors, and there are no role models to inform new recruits on how to fulfill their duties.<br />

Investiture vs. Divestiture Socialization<br />

This tactic refers to the degree to which a socialization process either affirms or disaffirms the<br />

identity of the newly entering recruit. Investiture socialization processes sanction and document<br />

for newcomers the viability and efficacy of the personal characteristics that they bring to the<br />

organization. When organizations use this socialization process it prefers that the recruit remains<br />

the exact way that he or she naturally behaves and the organization merely makes use of the<br />

skills, values, and attitudes that the recruit is believed to have in their possession. Divestiture<br />

socialization, on the other hand, is a process that organizations use to reject and remove the<br />

certain personal characteristics of a recruit. Many occupations and organizations require<br />

newcomers to sever previous ties, and forget old habits in order to create a new self-image based<br />

upon new assumptions.<br />

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Thus, tactics influence the socialization process by defining the type of information newcomers<br />

receive, the source of this information, and the ease of obtaining it.<br />

Jones' Model (1986)<br />

Building upon the work of Van Maanen and Schein, Jones (1986) proposed that the previous six<br />

dimensions could be reduced to two categories: institutionalized and individualized socialization.<br />

Companies that use institutionalized socialization tactics implement structured step-by-step<br />

programs, enter into an orchestrated orientation as a group, and receive help from an assigned<br />

role model or mentor. Examples of organizations using institutionalized tactics include the<br />

military, in which new recruits undergo extensive training and socialization activities through a<br />

participative cohort, as well as incoming freshmen at universities, who may attend orientation<br />

weekends before beginning classes.<br />

On the opposite end of the spectrum, other organizations use individualized socialization tactics<br />

in which the new employee immediately starts working on his or her new position and figures<br />

out company norms, values, and expectations along the way. In this orientation system,<br />

individuals must play a more proactive role in seeking out information and initiating work<br />

relationships.<br />

Formal Orientations<br />

Regardless of the socialization tactics utilized, formal orientation programs can facilitate<br />

understanding of company culture, and introduces new employees to their work roles and the<br />

organizational social environment. Formal orientation programs may consist of lectures,<br />

videotapes, and written material, while other organizations may rely on more usual approaches.<br />

More recent approaches such as computer-based orientations and Internets have been used by<br />

organizations to standardize training programs across branch locations. A review of the literature<br />

indicates that orientation programs are successful in communicating the company's goals,<br />

history, and power structure.<br />

Recruitment Events<br />

Recruitment events play a key role in identifying which prospective employees are a good fit<br />

with an organization. Recruiting events allow employees to gather initial information about an<br />

organization's expectations and company culture. By providing a realistic job preview of what<br />

life inside the organization is like, companies can weed out potential employees who are clearly<br />

a misfit to an organization and individuals can identify which employment agencies are the most<br />

suitable match for their own personal values, goals, and expectations. Research has shown that<br />

new employees who receive a great amount of accurate information about the job and the<br />

company tend to adjust better. Organizations can also provide realistic job previews by offering<br />

internship opportunities.<br />

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Mentorship<br />

Mentorship has demonstrated importance in the socialization of new employees. Ostroff and<br />

Kozlowski (1993) discovered that newcomers with mentors become more knowledgeable about<br />

the organization than did newcomers without mentors. Mentors can help newcomers better<br />

manage their expectations and feel comfortable with their new environment through advicegiving<br />

and social support. Chatman (1991) found that newcomers are more likely to have<br />

internalized the key values of their organization's culture if they had spent time with an assigned<br />

mentor and attended company social events. Literature has also suggested the importance of<br />

demographic matching between organizational mentors and protégés. Enscher & Murphy (1997)<br />

examined the effects of similarity (race and gender) on the amount of contact and quality of<br />

mentor relationships. Results indicate that liking, satisfaction, and contact were higher in<br />

conditions of perceived mentor-protégé similarity. But what often separates rapid on-boarders<br />

from their slower counterparts is not the availability of a mentor but the presence of a "buddy,"<br />

someone of whom the newcomer can comfortably ask questions that are either trivial ("How do I<br />

order office supplies?") or politically sensitive ("Whose opinion really matters here?"). Like<br />

mentors, buddies can be people who are officially assigned by a manager or who simply emerge<br />

informally (a nearby co-worker, for instance) as an easily accessible resource and confidant.<br />

Furthermore, buddies can help establish relationships with co-workers in ways that can't always<br />

be facilitated by a newcomer's manager or mentor.<br />

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Employee Adjustment<br />

In order to increase the success of an onboarding program, it is important for an organization to<br />

monitor how well their new hires are adjusting to their new roles, responsibilities, peers,<br />

supervisors, and the organization at large. Researchers have noted that role clarity, self-efficacy,<br />

social acceptance, and knowledge of organizational culture are particularly good indicators of<br />

well-adjusted new employees who have benefitted from an effective onboarding system.<br />

Role Clarity<br />

Role clarity describes a new employee's understanding of his or her job responsibilities and<br />

organizational role. One of the goals of an onboarding process is to aid newcomers in reducing<br />

ambiguity and uncertainty so that it is easier for them to get their jobs done correctly and<br />

efficiently. Because there often is a disconnect between the chief responsibilities listed in a job<br />

description and the specific, repeatable tasks that employees must complete to be successful in<br />

their roles, it's vital that managers are trained to discuss exactly what they expect from their<br />

employees. A poor onboarding program, for example, may produce employees who exhibit subpar<br />

productivity because they are unsure of their exact roles and responsibilities. On the other<br />

hand, a strong onboarding program would produce employees who are especially productive<br />

because they know exactly what is expected of them in their job tasks and their organizational<br />

role. Given this information, it is easy to see why an organization would benefit substantially<br />

from increasing role clarity for a new employee. Not only does role clarity imply greater<br />

productivity, but it has also been linked to both job satisfaction and organizational commitment.<br />

Self-Efficacy<br />

Self-efficacy is the degree to which new employees feel capable of successfully completing their<br />

assigned job tasks and fulfilling their responsibilities. It makes logical sense that employees who<br />

feel as though they can get the job done would fare better than those who feel overwhelmed in<br />

their new positions, and unsurprisingly, researchers have found that job satisfaction,<br />

organizational commitment, and turnover are all correlated with feelings of self-efficacy.<br />

Social Acceptance<br />

Social acceptance gives new employees the support needed to be successful. While role clarity<br />

and self-efficacy are important to a newcomer's ability to meet the requirements of a job, the<br />

feeling of "fitting in" can do a lot for one's perception of the work environment and has been<br />

demonstrated to increase commitment to an organization and decrease turnover. If an employee<br />

feels well received by his or her peers, a personal investment in the organization develops, and<br />

leaving becomes less likely.<br />

Knowledge of <strong>Organizational</strong> Culture<br />

Knowledge of organizational culture refers to how well a new employee understands a<br />

company's values, goals, roles, norms, and overall organizational environment. For example,<br />

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some organizations may have very strict, yet unspoken, rules of how interactions with superiors<br />

should be conducted or whether overtime hours are the norm and an expectation. Knowledge of<br />

one's organizational culture is important for the newcomer looking to adapt to a new company,<br />

as it allows for social acceptance and aids in completing work tasks in a way that meets company<br />

standards. Overall, knowledge of organizational culture has been linked to increased satisfaction<br />

and commitment, as well as decreased turnover.<br />

Outcomes<br />

Historically, organizations have overlooked the influence<br />

of business practices in shaping enduring work attitudes<br />

and thus have continually underestimated their impact on<br />

financial success. Employees' job attitudes are particularly<br />

important from an organization's perspective because of<br />

their link to employee engagement and performance on<br />

the job. Employee engagement attitudes, such as<br />

satisfaction with one's job and organizational commitment<br />

or loyalty, have important implications for an employee's<br />

work performance and intentions to stay with or quit an<br />

organization. This translates into strong monetary gains<br />

for organizations as research has demonstrated that<br />

individuals who are highly satisfied with their jobs and<br />

who exhibit high organizational commitment are likely to<br />

perform better and remain in an organization, whereas<br />

individuals who have developed negative attitudes (are<br />

highly dissatisfied and unattached to their jobs) are<br />

characterized by low performance and high turnover rates. Unengaged employees are very costly<br />

to organizations in terms of slowed performance and rehiring expenses. Since, attitudinal<br />

formations begin from the initial point of contact with an organization, practitioners would be<br />

wise to take advantage of positive attitudinal development during socialization periods in order<br />

to ensure a strong, productive, and dedicated workforce.<br />

Limits and Criticisms of Onboarding Theory<br />

Although the outcomes of organizational socialization have been positively associated with the<br />

process of uncertainty reduction, they may not necessarily be desirable to all organizations. Jones<br />

(1986) as well as Allen and Meyer (1990) found that socialization tactics were related to<br />

commitment, but they were negatively correlated to role clarity. Because formal socialization<br />

tactics insulate the newcomer from their full responsibilities while ―learning the ropes‖, there is a<br />

potential for role confusion once expected to fully enter the organization. In some cases though,<br />

organizations may even desire a certain level of person-organizational misfit in order to achieve<br />

outcomes via innovative behaviors. Depending on the culture of the organization, it may be more<br />

desirable to increase ambiguity despite the potentially negative connection with organizational<br />

commitment.<br />

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Additionally, socialization researchers have had major concern over the length of time that it<br />

takes newcomers to adjust. There has been great difficulty determining the role that time plays,<br />

but once the length of the adjustment is determined, organizations can make appropriate<br />

recommendations regarding what matters most in various stages of the adjustment process.<br />

Further criticisms include the use of special orientation sessions to educate newcomers about the<br />

organization and strengthen their organizational commitment. While these sessions have been<br />

found to be often formal and ritualistic, several studies have found them unpleasant or traumatic.<br />

Orientation sessions are a frequently used socialization tactic, however, employees have not<br />

found them to be helpful, nor has any research provided any evidence for their benefits.<br />

Executive Onboarding<br />

Executive onboarding is the application of general onboarding principles to helping new<br />

executives become productive members of an organization. Practically, executive onboarding<br />

involves acquiring, accommodating, assimilating and accelerating new executives. Proponents<br />

emphasize the importance of making the most of the "honeymoon" stage of a hire, a period<br />

which has been described by various sources as either the first 90 to 100 days or the first full<br />

year.<br />

Effective onboarding of new executives can be one of the most important contributions any<br />

hiring manager, direct supervisor or human resources professional can make to long-term<br />

organizational success, because executive onboarding done right can improve productivity and<br />

executive retention, and build shared corporate culture. A study of 20,000 searches revealed that<br />

40 percent of executives hired at the senior level are pushed out, fail, or quit within 18 months.<br />

Onboarding may be especially valuable for externally recruited executives transitioning into<br />

complex roles, because it may be difficult for those individuals to uncover personal,<br />

organizational, and role risks in complicated situations when they don't have formal onboarding<br />

assistance. Onboarding is also an essential tool for executives promoted into new roles and/or<br />

transferred from one business unit to another.<br />

It is often valuable to have new executives start some onboarding activities in the "Fuzzy Front<br />

End" even before their first day. This is one of ten steps executives can follow to accelerate their<br />

onboarding.<br />

1. Position yourself for success<br />

2. Choose how to engage the context and culture<br />

3. Embrace and leverage the Fuzzy Front End before day one<br />

4. Take control of day one: Make a powerful first impression<br />

5. Drive action by activating and directing ongoing communication<br />

6. Embed a strong burning imperative<br />

7. Exploit key milestones to drive team performance<br />

8. Over-invest in early wins to build team confidence<br />

9. Secure adept people in the right roles and deal with the inevitable resistance<br />

10. Evolve people, plans, and practices to capitalize on changing circumstances.<br />

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I-O Consultancy<br />

Definition<br />

An industrial/organizational (I–O) consultant helps clients and organizations improve<br />

productivity and create an optimal working environment through human capital consulting and<br />

strategies. Areas of consulting include but are not limited to selection and recruiting, training,<br />

leadership, and development, compensation and benefits, employee relations, performance<br />

management, succession planning, and executive coaching.<br />

Types<br />

of I–O consultants:<br />

Consultants can be categorized as internal or external to<br />

an organization. An internal consultant is someone who<br />

is working specifically for an organization that he or she<br />

is a part of whereas an external consultant can be either<br />

a sole proprietor or an employee of a consulting firm<br />

who is hired by another organization on a project basis<br />

or for a certain period of time. There are different types<br />

1. internal corporate consultant<br />

2. independent external consultant<br />

3. external consultant in a small firm<br />

4. external consultant in a large firm<br />

5. external consultant in a research group<br />

6. internal consultant in a research unit within a large firm<br />

7. internal consultant in a large government organization.<br />

Services Offered<br />

Kurpius (1978; as cited in Hedge & Borman, 2009) gave four general types of consultation:<br />

1. services and products (e.g., selection tools)<br />

2. collecting information and helping the organization identify and solve the problem<br />

3. collaborating with the client to design and plan changes in the organization<br />

4. helping the client implement the changes and incorporate them into the organizational<br />

culture.<br />

Consultants offer these consulting services to all kinds of organizations, such as profit and<br />

nonprofit sectors, public and private sectors, and a government organization.<br />

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Pros and Cons<br />

Like any other careers, there are many benefits and downsides of consulting. Some advantages<br />

are substantial material rewards, trust and respect from clients, and personal satisfaction. Some<br />

disadvantages are traveling (the number one complaint of all I/O consultants), uncertainty in<br />

business especially for external consultants, and marginality which is not belonging to any group<br />

or organization that the consultant works for.<br />

Competencies<br />

There are many different sets of competencies for different specializations within I–O<br />

psychology and I–O psychologists are versatile behavioral scientists. For example, an I–O<br />

psychologist specializing in selection and recruiting should have expertise in finding the best<br />

talent for the organization and getting everyone on board while he or she might not need to know<br />

much about executive coaching. Some consultants tend to specialize in specific areas of<br />

consulting whereas others tend to generalize their areas of expertise. However, Cummings and<br />

Worley (2009) claimed that there are basic skills and knowledge, which most consultants agree,<br />

needed to be effective consultants:<br />

1. intrapersonal skills, which include knowing consultants’ own values and goals, integrity<br />

to work responsibly and ethically, and active as well as continuous learning.<br />

2. interpersonal skills, which include listening skills, facilitating skills, and building and<br />

maintaining relationships. These interpersonal skills are especially important because<br />

regardless of how innovative the consultant’s idea is, if the client does not understand it<br />

or does not trust the consultant, the client is not going to accept that idea.<br />

3. general consultation skills, those skills being able to execute different stages of<br />

consulting which will be discussed in the following section titled "Stages".<br />

Stages<br />

Block (2011) identified the following five stages of consulting.<br />

Entry and Contracting<br />

This stage is where the consultant makes the initial contact with the client about the project, and<br />

it includes setting up the first meeting, exploring more about the project and the client, roles,<br />

responsibilities, and expectations about the consultant, the client, and the project, and whether<br />

the consultant’s expertise and experience fit with what the client wants out of the project. This is<br />

the most important part of the consulting, and most consultants agree that most mistakes in the<br />

project can essentially be traced back to the faulty contracting stage.<br />

Discovery and Diagnosis<br />

This stage is where the consultant makes his or her own judgment about the problem identified<br />

by the client and about the project. Sometimes, the problem presented by the client is not the<br />

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actual problem but a symptom of a true cause. Then, the consultant collects more information<br />

about the situation.<br />

Analysis and Planning<br />

This stage is where the consultant analyzes the data and presents the results to the client. The<br />

consultant needs to reduce a large amount of data into a manageable size and present them to the<br />

client in a clear and simple way. After presenting the results, the consultant helps the client make<br />

plans and goals for actions to be taken as a next step to solve the identified problem.<br />

Engagement and Implementation<br />

This stage sometimes falls entirely on the client or<br />

the organization, and the consultant’s job might be<br />

completed at the end of third stage. However, it is<br />

important for the consultant to be present at the<br />

fourth stage since without implementing the changes<br />

suggested by the consultant, the problem is not likely<br />

to be solved. Moreover, despite how good the<br />

consultant’s advice might be, employees are actually<br />

the ones who need to live the changes. So, in this<br />

fourth stage, the consultant needs to get everyone on<br />

board with the changes and help implement the<br />

changes.<br />

Extension or Termination<br />

This final stage is where the consultant and the client evaluate the project, and it is usually the<br />

most neglected yet important stage. Then, the project is completed or extended depending on the<br />

client’s needs.<br />

Future Trends<br />

Teachout and Vequist (2008) identified driving forces affecting future trends in the business<br />

consulting:<br />

1. changes in the market conditions<br />

2. competition for market share and talent<br />

3. changes in customer demands<br />

4. changes in technology and innovation<br />

5. increase in costs, especially in energy and health sectors<br />

6. globalization.<br />

They also discussed three trends in the field as a result of these forces – people, process, and<br />

technology.<br />

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Human Capital or People<br />

In terms of human capital or people consulting, there are major forces for future trends:<br />

1. lack of competencies in STEM and communication fields,<br />

2. aging of workforce, resulting in the loss of experience and expertise in organizations,<br />

3. increasing and aggressive competition for talent,<br />

4. increase in project- or contract-based workforce instead of hiring permanent employees,<br />

and<br />

5. globalization.<br />

As a result, trends, such as major talent management, selection and recruiting, workplace<br />

education and training, and planning for next generation, have emerged. In addition, change<br />

management also becomes important in organizations in order to innovate and implement new<br />

technology, tools, and systems to cope with changes in the business.<br />

Process<br />

In terms of process consulting, because of an increase in competition, it becomes important to<br />

identify and improve key processes that meet customer values and demands as well as that are<br />

faster and cheaper.<br />

Technology<br />

In terms of technology consulting, there is an increased need to automate processes or data so<br />

that employees can focus on actually doing work and focusing on business rather than doing the<br />

manual labor. The consultant can add value to these technologies by providing training,<br />

communication plan, and change management as well as to incorporate these technologies into<br />

organizational culture. So, regardless of how advanced technology is, consultants are still needed<br />

in making sure that these advanced technologies have positive effects on employees and<br />

organizations in both technical and social aspects.<br />

Aside from technology consulting, there is a future trend for the interaction that comes with<br />

technology. This includes, human-technology interaction, technology-technology interaction,<br />

and human-human interaction through technology. Due to the evolving technology throughout<br />

the globe, communication and relationships in the workplace are dramatically changing.<br />

Technology consultants help organizations cope with the interjection of technology in the work<br />

place. However, their job description will eventually expand to include proper technology<br />

communication styles and when technology does or does not have a place in an interaction. This<br />

delicate subject alters the meanings and interpretations behind social interactions and creating<br />

concise guidelines to technological interactions is essential.<br />

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Behavioral Risk Management<br />

Behavioral Risk Management, which extends from the broader field of Risk<br />

Management, is the process of managing workplace risk factors pertinent to <strong>Organizational</strong><br />

Behavior and industrial and organizational psychology. "Behavioral risk management applies to<br />

risks connected with the workplace behaviors of employees and organizations that have a<br />

negative impact on the productivity of an organization; behavioral healthcare episodes and the<br />

cost of treating these episodes; and lifestyle behaviors that lead to preventable healthcare<br />

conditions and the cost of treating these conditions." Its focus lies on how behavior affects<br />

workplaces and organizations along with how to appropriately mitigate negative effects from<br />

inappropriate behavior.<br />

Overview<br />

Behavioral Risk Management encompass the study of organization and individual behavior from<br />

two primary roots: Risk Management and <strong>Organizational</strong> Behavior. With regard to its Risk<br />

Management roots, BRM analyzes the effect of practices, cultures and behaviors as well as their<br />

associated risk of negative outcomes within an individual (health) and/or an organization<br />

(expenses). Alternatively, from its <strong>Organizational</strong> Behavior roots, BRM explains how<br />

organizations and their respective organizational culture, productivity and success of a firm can<br />

be associated with the given organization's behavioral aspects.<br />

BRM is studied to "identify and prevent loss from behavioral risk factors, thereby enhancing<br />

organizational health and human capital". Ultimately, the purpose of BRM is to identify practices<br />

and patterns that often damage organizations. Behavior of both the organization and individuals<br />

within the organization have extraordinary impacts on various levels of the organization. The<br />

perks achieved through this study are:<br />

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Cost savings from preventable loss<br />

Increased productivity and profitability by addressing human capital needs<br />

Enhanced strategic alignment with human resources and organizational leadership<br />

Measure and demonstrate successes in human capital management<br />

Impact<br />

On individuals<br />

Negative behavior within an organization can lead individuals to feel uncomfortable as well as<br />

stressed. This can often cause members to not feel compelled to work or feel like environment is<br />

not appropriate for work. Furthermore, negative behavior from an individual can also influence<br />

other individuals within the organization. For example, if person A acts in a certain way, there is<br />

high a chance that person B will adopt person’s A practices through person A's influence. If<br />

these practices are negative, it becomes easier for negative behavior to spread throughout the<br />

organization, affecting all individuals.<br />

On the Organization<br />

When a large number of individuals within the organization start to feel like they are either out<br />

of place or offended then there is a high possibility that these individuals may either leave the<br />

organization, revolt against such practices, or completely lose motivation. Despite which<br />

paradigm occurs, all scenarios result in a major loss in productivity. On a simplistic scale,<br />

negative behavior can affect the organizational culture. This is hazardous because organizations<br />

rely on their culture for a variety of uses, with their culture often being interconnected to the<br />

structure of the organization itself. If the culture of an organization begins to fall apart, the<br />

structure of the organization will shortly follow as well.<br />

Negative Behavior<br />

Negative behavior does not necessarily entail an individual acting particularly immature or rude.<br />

Negative behavior within an organization can instead be associated with certain practices or even<br />

the individual's mentality comprising the organization. If a given practice or mentality is not<br />

necessarily compatible with the specific organization, it does not make that practice or mentality<br />

necessarily wrong. The same practice could be viewed positively from another organization’s<br />

perspective. In addition, negative behavior can also include theft and violence . Behavior can<br />

often be viewed as negative behavior due to several reasons.<br />

Personality<br />

Personality is an extremely important factor for individuals within an organization. Various<br />

studies have been conducted in order to analyze how various personality types can impact an<br />

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organization. Tests in order to measure personalities have been developed. The most useful for<br />

organizations currently is the Big Five personality traits. These measure certain traits and<br />

categorize a person according to his or her personality. In addition, these are design to<br />

accommodate to the needs and interests of organizations in general and not individuals. While<br />

many organizations may look for specific trends in the personality traits according to the culture<br />

of the organization, there is one in which all organizations agree upon that is consider as a<br />

negative sign, neuroticism. High levels of neuroticism are often viewed as an extremely negative<br />

trait. People who tend to overreact, create drama or simply fall under stress due to unexpected<br />

situations are an example of high levels of neuroticism.<br />

Cultural Background<br />

Organizations account for the idea that when they reside in a different country or when they hire<br />

employees from different countries there is always a chance of facing different working habits,<br />

ethics, along with a number of other aspects by the individuals or society they are operating in.<br />

One very good way to look at this point is how American employees have different working<br />

ethics than Indian employees. This can often increase conflict within the organization because<br />

what one person sees as either morally correct, or the most effective method, may not be the<br />

same as the rest of the group. This, of course, can generate negative repercussions within the<br />

organization because individuals may, once again, feel uncomfortable and will also increase<br />

tension which eventually affects the structure of the organization and how effective they are at<br />

what they do.<br />

Theft and Violence<br />

Violence and theft are perhaps the greatest causes of negative behavior in organizations. It<br />

greatly harms the productivity of the group as a whole and can often impact the health conditions<br />

of members within the organizations. In terms of theft, various researches have found that the<br />

increasingly large number of thefts within organizations, especially cyber theft, provides a<br />

number of risks to the organization, ranging from the loss money to the loss of information.<br />

Solution for Negative Behaviors<br />

Various methods can be used in order to mitigate the risk of negative behavior within an<br />

organization. These can be divided to before hiring employees, and if the employees are already<br />

active within the company.<br />

<br />

<br />

The selection process. During the period of time where individuals are joining the<br />

organization, the organization is capable of selecting those who would match to the<br />

culture of the organization and would have personality traits that are cherished within that<br />

organization. This works as a sort of filter in order to avoid people who could potentially<br />

affect the structure of the organization.<br />

The creation of common ground within the individuals of the organization. This can lead<br />

to better communication and understanding between the members. This is often<br />

extremely helpful when working with those from a different cultural background.<br />

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A strong organizational culture can also be extremely influential in mitigating the risk of<br />

negative behavior. This is because members themselves can ―punish‖ those who act in a<br />

negative way. This can be done through pressuring them into conforming to the practices<br />

of the organization.<br />

The "DO IT" Method<br />

Various researchers have found that the best way to identify and deal with behavioral risks is<br />

through a method called the ―DO IT‖ method. This method is can be expanded into the<br />

following: Define, Observe, Intervene and Test. Each of these has a significant impact on<br />

managing risk. Define stands for defining certain target behaviors. Basically, what are the<br />

negative behaviors within the work place or what could be the negative behaviors. Observe is<br />

looking out for the already defined negative behavior. In this case, you analyze workers and<br />

members in order to try and find negative points that could be potentially harmful. The Intervene<br />

stage is the one designed to increase the occurrence of safe behavior. The concept is simple:<br />

changing external conditions of the system to make safe behavior more likely. Once negative<br />

behavior or risk of negative behavior is identified, it is important to quickly address those issues.<br />

Finally, Test is the stage in which the group looks back the process as a whole and tries to<br />

understand whether all of the previous stages have been done successful. For example, if the<br />

intervention stage did not work well, in the test stage member would often decide a new sort of<br />

intervention. The Test phase can be seen as a sort of evaluation stage.<br />

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Occupational Stress<br />

Occupational stress is stress involving work. According to the current World Health<br />

Organization's (WHO) definition, occupational or work-related stress "is the response people<br />

may have when presented with work demands and pressures that are not matched to their<br />

knowledge and abilities and which challenge their ability to cope."<br />

Models<br />

Stress can be factored in by a<br />

number of different variables,<br />

but results from the complex<br />

interactions between a large<br />

system of interrelated variables.<br />

(1998). The diathesis-stress<br />

model is a psychological theory<br />

that aims to make clear of<br />

behaviors as a susceptibility<br />

burden together with stress from<br />

life experiences. Theories of<br />

organizational stress. New York:<br />

Oxford. It is useful to<br />

distinguish stressful job<br />

conditions or stressors from an<br />

individual's reactions or strains.<br />

Strains can be mental, physical<br />

or emotional. Occupational<br />

stress can occur when there is a<br />

discrepancy between the<br />

demands of the environment/workplace and an individual’s ability to carry out and complete<br />

these demands. Often a stressor can lead the body to have a physiological reaction that can strain<br />

a person physically as well as mentally. A variety of factors contribute to workplace stress such<br />

as excessive workload, isolation, extensive hours worked, toxic work environments, lack of<br />

autonomy, difficult relationships among coworkers and management, management bullying,<br />

harassment and lack of opportunities or motivation to advancement in one’s skill level. A<br />

concern with stress research is that studies often neglect to consider the broader organizational<br />

context.<br />

Categories<br />

Categories associated with occupational stress are<br />

<br />

factors unique to the job<br />

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ole in the organization<br />

career development<br />

interpersonal work relationships<br />

organizational structure/climate.<br />

These individual categories demonstrate that stress can occur specifically when a conflict arises<br />

from the job demands of the employee and the employee itself. If not handled properly, the stress<br />

can become distress.<br />

1. the ability of the employee coping with the specific<br />

hours worked, the level of productive rate expected,<br />

the physical environment, as well as the expectancy<br />

of the work desired by management. For instance,<br />

research shows that night shifts in particular has a<br />

high possibility of negative impact towards the<br />

health of the employee. In relation to this,<br />

approximately 20 percent of night shift workers have<br />

experienced psycho-physiological dysfunctions,<br />

including heart diseases. Extreme factors can affect<br />

the competence levels of employees.<br />

2. role in the organization, is associated with the<br />

hierarchical ranking of that particular employee<br />

within the organization. Upper management is entitled to oversee the overall functioning<br />

of the organization. This causes potential distress as the employee must be able to<br />

perform simultaneous tasks.<br />

3. with career development, other factors come into play. Security of their occupation,<br />

promotion levels, etc. are all sources of stress, as this business market in terms of<br />

technology of economic dominance is ever-changing.<br />

4. interpersonal relationships within the workplace. The workplace is a communication and<br />

interaction based industry. These relationships (either developed or developing) can be<br />

problematic or positive. Common stressors include harassment, discrimination, biased<br />

opinions, hearsay, and other derogatory remarks.<br />

5. organizational climate or structure. The overall communication, management style, and<br />

participation among groups of employees are variables to be considered. In essence, the<br />

resultant influence of the high participation rate, collaborative planning, and equally<br />

dispersed responsibilities provides a positive effect on stress reduction, improved work<br />

performance, job satisfaction, and decreased psychosomatic disorders.<br />

Prevalence<br />

Distress is a prevalent and costly problem in today's workplace. About one-third of workers<br />

report high levels of stress. One-quarter of employees view their jobs as the number one stressor<br />

in their lives. Three-quarters of employees believe the worker has more on-the-job stress than a<br />

generation ago. Evidence also suggests that distress is the major cause of turnover in<br />

organizations. With continued distress at the workplace, workers will develop psychological and<br />

physiological dysfunctions and decreased motivation in excelling in their position. Increased<br />

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levels of job stress are determined by the awareness of having little control but lots of demands<br />

in the work area.<br />

The Kenexa Research Institute released a global survey of almost 30,000 workers which showed<br />

that females suffered more workplace distress than their male counterparts. According to the<br />

survey, women's stress level were 10% higher for those in supervisory positions, 8% higher<br />

stress in service and production jobs than men, and 6% higher in middle and upper management<br />

than men in the same position.<br />

Related Disorders<br />

Stress-related disorders encompass a broad array of conditions, including psychological<br />

disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder) and other types of emotional<br />

strain (e.g., dissatisfaction, fatigue, tension, etc.), maladaptive behaviors (e.g., aggression,<br />

substance abuse), and cognitive impairment (e.g., concentration and memory problems). In turn,<br />

these conditions may lead to poor work performance, higher absenteeism, less work productivity<br />

or even injury. Job stress is also associated with various biological reactions that may lead<br />

ultimately to compromised health, such as cardiovascular disease, or in extreme cases death. Due<br />

to the high pressure and demands in the work place the demands have been shown to be<br />

correlated with increased rates of heart attack, hypertension and other disorders. In New York,<br />

Los Angeles and other municipalities, the relationship between job stress and heart attacks is<br />

well acknowledged.<br />

Gender<br />

Men and women are exposed to many of the same stressors. However, women may be more<br />

sensitive to interpersonal conflict whereas men might be more sensitive to things that waste time<br />

and effort. Furthermore, although men and women might not differ in overall strains, women are<br />

more likely to experience psychological distress, whereas men experience more physical strain.<br />

Desmarais and Alksnis suggest two explanations for the greater psychological distress of<br />

women. First, the genders differ in their awareness of negative feelings, leading women to<br />

express and report strains, whereas men deny and inhibit such feelings. Second, the demands to<br />

balance work and family result in more overall stressors for women that leads to increased strain.<br />

Factors<br />

Combining housework, childcare, shopping and cooking with an outside job and trying to do<br />

everything on time is one of the biggest factors of women being more stressed at work,<br />

characterized mainly by feelings of guilt and hostility. 60% of women who have children under<br />

age six have an outside job and cope with family problems; single or married most of duties at<br />

home fall on shoulders of a woman.<br />

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Health and Healthcare Utilization<br />

Problems at work are more strongly associated with health complaints than are any other life<br />

stressor-more so than even financial problems or family problems. Occupational stress accounts<br />

for more than 10% of work-related health claims. Many studies suggest that psychologically<br />

demanding jobs that allow employees little control over the work process increase the risk of<br />

cardiovascular disease. Research indicates that job stress increases the risk for development of<br />

back and upper-extremity musculoskeletal disorders. High levels of stress are associated with<br />

substantial increases in health service utilization. Workers who report experiencing stress at<br />

work also show excessive health care utilization. In a 1998 study of 46,000 workers, health care<br />

costs were nearly 50% greater for workers reporting high levels of stress in comparison to ―low<br />

risk‖ workers. The increment rose to nearly 150%, an increase of more than $1,700 per person<br />

annually, for workers reporting high levels of both stress and depression. Additionally, periods of<br />

disability due to job stress tend to be much longer than disability periods for other occupational<br />

injuries and illnesses.<br />

Physiological reactions to stress can have consequences for health over time. Researchers have<br />

been studying how stress affects the cardiovascular system, as well as how work stress can lead<br />

to hypertension and coronary artery disease. These diseases, along with other stress-induced<br />

illnesses tend to be quite common in American work-places. There are four main physiological<br />

reactions to stress:<br />

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Blood is shunted to the brain and large muscle groups, and away from extremities, skin,<br />

and organs that are not currently serving the body.<br />

An area near the brain stem, known as the reticular activating system, goes to work,<br />

causing a state of keen alertness as well as sharpening of hearing and vision.<br />

Energy-providing compounds of glucose and fatty acids are released into the<br />

bloodstream.<br />

The immune and digestive systems are temporarily shut down.<br />

Causes<br />

Job stress results from various interactions of the worker and the environment of the work they<br />

perform their duties. Location, gender, environment, and many other factors contribute to the<br />

buildup of stress. Job stress results from the interaction of the worker and the conditions of work.<br />

Views differ on the importance of worker characteristics versus working conditions as the<br />

primary cause of job stress. The differing viewpoints suggest different ways to prevent stress at<br />

work. Differences in individual characteristics such as personality and coping skills can be very<br />

important in predicting whether certain job conditions will result in stress. In other words, what<br />

is stressful for one person may not be a problem for someone else. This viewpoint underlies<br />

prevention strategies that focus on workers and ways to help them cope with demanding job<br />

conditions.<br />

Working Conditions<br />

Although the importance of individual differences cannot be ignored, scientific evidence<br />

suggests that certain working conditions are stressful to most people. Such evidence argues for a<br />

greater emphasis on working conditions as the key source of job stress, and for job redesign as a<br />

primary prevention strategy. Large surveys of working conditions, including conditions<br />

recognized as risk factors for job stress, were conducted in member states of the European Union<br />

in 1990, 1995, and 2000. Results showed a time trend suggesting an increase in work intensity.<br />

In 1990, the percentage of workers reporting that they worked at high speeds at least one-quarter<br />

of their working time was 48%, increasing to 54% in 1995 and to 56% in 2000. Similarly, 50%<br />

of workers reported they work against tight deadlines at least one-fourth of their working time in<br />

1990, increasing to 56% in 1995 and 60% in 2000. However, no change was noted in the period<br />

1995–2000 (data not collected in 1990) in the percentage of workers reporting sufficient time to<br />

complete tasks.<br />

Workload<br />

In an occupational setting, dealing with workload can be stressful and serve as a stressor for<br />

employees. There are three aspects of workload that can be stressful.<br />

Quantitative workload or overload: Having more work to do than can be accomplished<br />

comfortably.<br />

Qualitative workload: Having work that is too difficult.<br />

Underload: Having work that fails to use a worker's skills and abilities.<br />

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Workload has been linked to a number of strains, including anxiety, physiological reactions such<br />

as cortisol, fatigue, backache, headache, and gastrointestinal problems.<br />

Workload as a work demand is a major component of the demand-control model of stress. This<br />

model suggests that jobs with high demands can be stressful, especially when the individual has<br />

low control over the job. In other words control serves as a buffer or protective factor when<br />

demands or workload is high. This model was expanded into the demand-control-support model<br />

that suggests that the combination of high control and high social support at work buffers the<br />

effects of high demands.<br />

As a work demand, workload is also relevant to the job demands-resources model of stress that<br />

suggests that jobs are stressful when demands (e.g., workload) exceed the individual's resources<br />

to deal with them.<br />

Long Hours<br />

A substantial percentage of Americans work very long hours. By one estimate, more than 26% of<br />

men and more than 11% of women worked 50 hours per week or more in 2000. These figures<br />

represent a considerable increase over the previous three decades, especially for women.<br />

According to the Department of Labor, there have been a rise in increasing amount of hours in<br />

the work place by employed women, an increase in extended work weeks (>40 hours) by men,<br />

and a considerable increase in combined working hours among working couples, particularly<br />

couples with young children.<br />

Status<br />

A person's status in the workplace can also affect levels of stress. While workplace stress has the<br />

potential to affect employees of all categories; those who have very little influence to those who<br />

make major decisions for the company. However, less powerful employees (that is, those who<br />

have less control over their jobs) are more likely to suffer stress than powerful workers.<br />

Managers as well as other kinds of workers are vulnerable to work overload.<br />

Economic factors<br />

Economic factors that employees are facing in the 21st century have been linked to increased<br />

stress levels. Researchers and social commentators have pointed out that the computer and<br />

communications revolutions have made companies more efficient and productive than ever<br />

before. This boon in productivity however, has caused higher expectations and greater<br />

competition, putting more stress on the employee (Primm, 2005).<br />

The following economic factors may lead to workplace stress:<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Pressure from investors, who can quickly withdraw their money from company stocks.<br />

The lack of trade and professional unions in the workplace.<br />

Inter-company rivalries caused by the efforts of companies to compete globally<br />

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The willingness of companies to swiftly lay off workers to cope with changing business<br />

environments.<br />

Bullying<br />

Main article: Workplace bullying<br />

Bullying in the workplace can also contribute to stress. This can be broken down into five<br />

different categories:<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Threat to profession status<br />

Threat to personal status<br />

Isolation<br />

Excess work<br />

Destabilization i.e. lack of credit for work, meaningless tasks etc.<br />

This in effect can create a hostile work environment for the employees that, which in turn, can<br />

affect their work ethic and contribution to the organization.<br />

Narcissism and Psychopathy<br />

Thomas suggests that there tends to be a higher level of stress with people who work or interact<br />

with a narcissist, which in turn increases absenteeism and staff turnover. Boddy finds the same<br />

dynamic where there is corporate psychopath in the organisation.<br />

Workplace Conflict<br />

Interpersonal conflict among people at work has been shown to be one of the most frequently<br />

noted stressors for employees. Conflict has been noted to be an indicator of the broader concept<br />

of workplace harassment. It relates to other stressors that might co-occur, such as role conflict,<br />

role ambiguity, and workload. It also relates to strains such as anxiety, depression, physical<br />

symptoms, and low levels of job satisfaction.<br />

Sexual Harassment<br />

Women are more likely than men to experience sexual harassment, especially for those working<br />

in traditionally masculine occupations. In addition, a study indicated that sexual harassment<br />

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negatively affects workers' psychological well-being. Another study found that level of<br />

harassment at workplaces lead to differences in performance of work related tasks. High levels<br />

of harassment were related to the worst outcomes, and no harassment was related to least<br />

negative outcomes. In other words, women who had experienced a higher level of harassment<br />

were more likely to perform poorly at workplaces.<br />

Effects<br />

Stressful working conditions can lead to three types of strains: Behavioral (e.g., absenteeism or<br />

poor performance), physical (e.g., headaches or coronary heart disease), and psychological (e.g.,<br />

anxiety or depressed mood). Physical symptoms that may occur because of occupational stress<br />

include fatigue, headache, upset stomach, muscular aches and pains, chronic mild illness, sleep<br />

disturbances, and eating disorders. Psychological and behavioral problems that may develop<br />

include anxiety, irritability, alcohol and drug use, feeling powerless and low morale. The<br />

spectrum of effects caused by occupational stress includes absenteeism, poor decision making,<br />

lack of creativity, accidents, organizational breakdown or even sabotage. If exposure to stressors<br />

in the workplace is prolonged, then chronic health problems can occur including stroke. An<br />

examination was of physical and psychological effects of workplace stress was conducted with a<br />

sample of 552 female blue collar employees of a microelectronics facility. It was found that jobrelated<br />

conflicts were associated with depressive symptoms, severe headaches, fatigue, rashes,<br />

and other multiple symptoms. Studies among the Japanese population specifically showed a<br />

more than 2-fold increase in the risk of total stroke among men with job strain (combination of<br />

high job demand and low job control). Along with the risk of stroke comes high blood pressure<br />

and immune system dysfunction. Prolonged occupational stress can lead to occupational burnout.<br />

The effects of job stress on chronic diseases are more difficult to ascertain because chronic<br />

diseases develop over relatively long periods of time and are influenced by many factors other<br />

than stress. Nonetheless, there is some evidence that stress plays a role in the development of<br />

several types of chronic health problems—including cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal<br />

disorders, and psychological disorders.<br />

Prevention<br />

A combination of organizational change and stress management is often the most useful<br />

approach for preventing stress at work. Both organizations and employees can employ strategies<br />

at organizational and individual levels. Generally, organizational level strategies include job<br />

procedure modification and employee assistance programs (EAP). Individual level strategies<br />

include taking vacation. Getting a realistic job preview to understand the normal workload and<br />

schedules of the job will also help people to identify whether or not the job fit them.<br />

How to Change the Organization to Prevent Job Stress<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Ensure that the workload is in line with workers' capabilities and resources.<br />

Design jobs to provide meaning, stimulation, and opportunities for workers to use their<br />

skills.<br />

Clearly define workers' roles and responsibilities.<br />

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To reduce workplace stress, managers may monitor the workload given out to the<br />

employees. Also while they are being trained they should let employees understand and<br />

be notified of stress awareness.<br />

Give workers opportunities to participate in decisions and actions affecting their jobs.<br />

Improve communications-reduce uncertainty about career development and future<br />

employment prospects.<br />

Provide opportunities for social interaction among workers.<br />

Establish work schedules that are compatible with demands and responsibilities outside<br />

the job.<br />

Combat workplace discrimination (based on race, gender, national origin, religion or<br />

language).<br />

Bringing in an objective outsider such as a consultant to suggest a fresh approach to<br />

persistent problems.<br />

Introducing a participative leadership style to involve as many subordinates as possible to<br />

resolve stress-producing problems.<br />

Encourage work-life balance through family-friendly benefits and policies<br />

An insurance company conducted<br />

several studies on the effects of stress<br />

prevention programs in hospital<br />

settings. Program activities included<br />

(1) employee and management<br />

education on job stress, (2) changes in<br />

hospital policies and procedures to<br />

reduce organizational sources of<br />

stress, and (3) the establishment of<br />

employee assistance programs. In one<br />

study, the frequency of medication<br />

errors declined by 50% after<br />

prevention activities were<br />

implemented in a 700-bed hospital. In<br />

a second study, there was a 70%<br />

reduction in malpractice claims in 22<br />

hospitals that implemented stress<br />

prevention activities. In contrast, there<br />

was no reduction in claims in a<br />

matched group of 22 hospitals that did<br />

not implement stress prevention<br />

activities.<br />

Telecommuting is another way<br />

organizations can help reduce stress<br />

for their workers. Employees defined<br />

telecommuting as "an alternative work<br />

arrangement in which employees perform tasks elsewhere that are normally done in a primary or<br />

central workplace, for at least some portion of their work schedule, using electronic media to<br />

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interact with others inside and outside the organization." One reason that telecommuting gets<br />

such high marks is that it allows employees more control over how they do their work.<br />

Telecommuters reported more job satisfaction and less desire to find a new job. Employees that<br />

worked from home also had less stress, improved work/life balance and higher performance<br />

rating by their managers.<br />

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Systems <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Systems <strong>Psychology</strong> is a branch of both theoretical psychology and applied psychology that<br />

studies human behaviour and experience in complex systems.<br />

It is inspired by systems theory and systems thinking, and based on the theoretical work of Roger<br />

Barker, Gregory Bateson, Humberto Maturana and others. Groups and individuals are considered<br />

as systems in homeostasis. Alternative terms here are "systemic psychology", "systems<br />

behavior", and "systems-based psychology".<br />

Types of Systems <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

In the scientific literature different kind of systems psychology have been mentioned:<br />

<br />

Applied Systems <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

In the 1970s the term applied systems psychology was being used as a specialism directly<br />

related to engineering psychology and human factor.<br />

<br />

Cognitive Systems Theory<br />

Cognitive systems psychology is a part of cognitive psychology and like existential<br />

psychology, attempts to dissolve the barrier between conscious and the unconscious<br />

mind.<br />

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Concrete Systems <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Concrete systems psychology is the study of human systems across the varied biological<br />

contexts and situations of everyday life.<br />

<br />

Contract-Systems <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Contract-systems psychology is about the human systems actualization through<br />

participative organizations.<br />

<br />

Family Systems <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Family systems psychology is a more general name for the subfield of family therapists.<br />

E.g. Murray Bowen, Michael E. Kerr, and Baard and researchers have begun to theoretize<br />

a psychology of the family as a system.<br />

<br />

Organismic-Systems <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Through the application of organismic-systems biology to human behavior Ludwig von<br />

Bertalanffy conceived and developed the organismic-systems psychology, as the<br />

theoretical prospect needed for the gradual comprehension of the various ways human<br />

personalities may evolve and how they could evolve properly, being supported by a<br />

holistic interpretation of human behavior.<br />

Ergonomics<br />

Related Fields<br />

Ergonomics, also called "human factors", is the application of scientific information concerning<br />

objects, systems and environment for human use (definition adopted by the International<br />

Ergonomics Association in 2007). Ergonomics is commonly described as the way companies<br />

design tasks and work areas to maximize the efficiency and quality of their employees’ work.<br />

However, ergonomics comes into everything which involves people. Work systems, sports and<br />

leisure, health and safety should all embody ergonomics principles if well designed.<br />

Equipment design is intended to maximize productivity by reducing operator fatigue and<br />

discomfort. The field is also called biotechnology, human engineering, and human factors<br />

engineering. Ergonomic research is primarily performed by ergonomists who study human<br />

capabilities in relationship to their work demands. Information derived from ergonomists<br />

contributes to the design and evaluation of tasks, jobs, products, environments and systems in<br />

order to make them compatible with the needs, abilities and limitations of people.<br />

Family Systems Therapy<br />

Family systems therapy, also referred to as "family therapy" and "couple and family therapy", is<br />

a branch of psychotherapy related to relationship counseling that works with families and<br />

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couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. It tends to view the family<br />

as a system, family relationships as an important factor in psychological health. As such, family<br />

problems have been seen to arise as an emergent property of systemic interactions, rather than to<br />

be blamed on individual members. Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are the most<br />

specifically trained in this type of psychotherapy.<br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> <strong>Psychology</strong><br />

Industrial and organizational psychology also known as "work psychology", "occupational<br />

psychology" or "personnel psychology" concerns the application of psychological theories,<br />

research methods, and intervention strategies to workplace issues. Industrial and organizational<br />

psychologists are interested in making organizations more productive while ensuring workers are<br />

able to lead physically and psychologically healthy lives. Relevant topics include personnel<br />

psychology, motivation and leadership, employee selection, training and development,<br />

organization development and guided change, organizational behavior, and job and family<br />

issues.<br />

Perceptual Control Theory<br />

Perceptual control theory (PCT) is a psychological theory of animal and human behavior<br />

originated by maverick scientist William T. Powers. In contrast with other theories of<br />

psychology and behavior, which assume that behavior is a function of perception — that<br />

perceptual inputs determine or cause behavior — PCT postulates that an organism's behavior is a<br />

means of controlling its perceptions. In contrast with engineering control theory, the reference<br />

variable for each negative feedback control loop in a control hierarchy is set from within the<br />

system (the organism), rather than by an external agent changing the setpoint of the controller.<br />

PCT also applies to nonliving autonomic systems.<br />

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Narcissism<br />

Narcissism in the workplace is a serious issue and may have a major detrimental impact on an<br />

entire organization. Narcissistic individuals in the workplace are more likely to engage in<br />

counterproductive work behavior (CWB) especially when their self-esteem is threatened.<br />

Narcissism is both a personality trait and a personality disorder, generally assessed with the<br />

Narcissistic Personality Inventory.<br />

Oliver James<br />

identifies<br />

narcissism as one<br />

of the dark triadic<br />

personality traits<br />

in the workplace,<br />

the others being<br />

Psychopathy and<br />

Machiavellianism.<br />

Job Interviews<br />

Narcissists<br />

typically perform<br />

well at job<br />

interviews and<br />

have a good<br />

success rate for<br />

landing jobs. Interviews are one of the few social situations where narcissistic behaviors such as<br />

boasting actually create a positive impression.<br />

Impact on Stress, Absenteeism and Staff-Turnover<br />

There tends to be a higher level of stress with people who work with or interact with a narcissist,<br />

which in turn increases absenteeism and staff turnover.<br />

Narcissistic Supply<br />

The narcissistic manager will have two main sources of narcissistic supply: inanimate (status<br />

symbols like cars, gadgets or office views); and animate (flattery and attention from colleagues<br />

and subordinates). Teammates may find everyday offers of support swiftly turn them into<br />

enabling sources of permanent supply, unless they are very careful to maintain proper<br />

boundaries. The narcissistic manager's need to protect such supply networks will prevent<br />

objective decision-making. Such a manager will evaluate long-term strategies according to their<br />

potential for gaining personal attention.<br />

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Corporate Narcissism<br />

According to Alan Downs, corporate narcissism occurs when a narcissist becomes the chief<br />

executive officer (CEO) or other leadership roles within the senior management team and gathers<br />

an adequate mix of codependents around him (or her) to support the narcissistic behavior.<br />

Narcissists profess company loyalty but are only really committed to their own agendas, thus<br />

organizational decisions are founded on the narcissist's own interests rather than the interests of<br />

the organization as a whole, the various stakeholders, or the society in which the organization<br />

operates. As a result, a certain kind of charismatic leader can run a financially successful<br />

company on thoroughly unhealthy principles for a time. But the chickens always come home to<br />

roost.<br />

Neville Symington has suggested that one of the ways of differentiating a good-enough<br />

organization from one that is pathological is through its ability to exclude narcissistic characters<br />

from key posts.<br />

Coping Strategies for Dealing with a Narcissistic Manager<br />

DuBrin suggests the following coping strategies:<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Assess the relationship realistically<br />

Maintain your professionalism<br />

Flatter the narcissistic manager<br />

Confront the problem gently and tactfully<br />

Document your accomplishments<br />

Be willing to accept criticism<br />

Over respond to the manager's pet peeves<br />

Maintain a strong network.<br />

Workplace Bullying Overlap<br />

In 2007, researchers Catherine Mattice and Brian Spitzberg at San Diego State University, USA,<br />

found that narcissism revealed a positive relationship with bullying.<br />

Narcissists were found to prefer indirect bullying tactics (such as withholding information that<br />

affects others' performance, ignoring others, spreading gossip, constantly reminding others of<br />

mistakes, ordering others to do work below their competence level, and excessively monitoring<br />

others' work) rather than direct tactics (such as making threats, shouting, persistently criticizing,<br />

or making false allegations).<br />

The research also revealed that narcissists are highly motivated to bully, and that to some extent,<br />

they are left with feelings of satisfaction after a bullying incident occurs.<br />

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Machiavellianism<br />

Machiavellianism in the workplace is the employment of cunning and duplicity in a business<br />

setting. The term Machiavellianism is from the book The Prince by Machiavelli which lays out<br />

advice to rulers how to govern his or her subjects. Machiavellianism has been studied<br />

extensively over the past 40 years as a personality characteristic that shares features with<br />

manipulative leadership tactics. It has in recent times been adapted and applied to the context of<br />

the workplace and organizations by many writers and academics. The Machiavellian typically<br />

only manipulates on occasions where it is necessary to achieve the required objectives.<br />

Oliver James identifies Machiavellianism as one of the dark triadic personality traits in the<br />

workplace, the others being narcissism and psychopathy.<br />

A new model of Machiavellianism based in organizational settings consists of three factors:<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Maintaining power<br />

Harsh management tactics<br />

Manipulative behaviors.<br />

The presence of Machiavellianism in an organisation has been positively correlated with<br />

counterproductive workplace behaviour and workplace deviance.<br />

Workplace Bullying Overlap<br />

According to Namie, Machiavellians<br />

manipulate and exploit others to<br />

advance their perceived personal<br />

agendas but he emphasizes that they are<br />

not mentally ill. They do not have a<br />

personality disorder, schizophrenia and<br />

neither are they psychopaths.<br />

Machiavellianism represents the core of<br />

workplace bullying.<br />

The following are the guiding principles<br />

of Machiavellianism:<br />

<br />

<br />

Never show humility<br />

Arrogance is far more effective<br />

when dealing with others.<br />

Morality and ethics are for the weak: Powerful people feel free to lie, cheat and deceive<br />

others when it suits them.<br />

It is much better to be feared than loved.<br />

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High Machiavellians may be expected to do the following:<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Neglect to share important information.<br />

Find subtle ways of making another person look bad to management.<br />

Fail to meet their obligations.<br />

Spread false rumors about another person.<br />

In studies there was a positive correlation between Machiavellianism and workplace bullying.<br />

Machiavellianism predicted involvement in bullying others. The groups of bullies and bullyvictims<br />

had a higher Machiavellianism level compared to the groups of victims and persons noninvolved<br />

in bullying. The results showed that being bullied was negatively related to the<br />

perceptions of clan and adhocracy cultures and positively related to the perceptions of hierarchy<br />

culture. The results of a moderated regression analysis demonstrated that Machiavellianism was<br />

a significant moderator of the relationships between the perceptions of adhocracy and hierarchy<br />

cultures and being bullied.<br />

In research, Machiavellianism was positively associated with subordinate perceptions of abusive<br />

supervision (an overlapping concept with workplace bullying).<br />

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Psychopathy<br />

Psychopathy in the workplace is a serious issue as, although psychopaths typically represent<br />

only a small percentage of the staff, they are most common at higher levels of corporate<br />

organizations and their actions often cause a ripple effect throughout an organization, setting the<br />

tone for an entire corporate culture. Examples of detrimental effects are increased bullying,<br />

conflict, stress, staff turnover and absenteeism; reduction in productivity and social<br />

responsibility. Ethical standards of entire organizations can be badly damaged if a corporate<br />

psychopath is in charge.<br />

Academics refer to psychopaths in the<br />

workplace individually variously as workplace<br />

psychopaths, executive psychopaths, corporate<br />

psychopaths, business psychopaths, successful<br />

psychopaths, office psychopaths, white collar<br />

psychopaths, industrial psychopaths,<br />

organizational psychopaths or occupational<br />

psychopaths.<br />

Hare reports that about one per cent (1%) of the<br />

general population meets the clinical criteria for<br />

psychopathy. Hare further claims that the<br />

prevalence of corporate psychopaths is higher in<br />

the business world than in the general<br />

population. Figures of around 3-4% have been<br />

cited for more senior positions in business.<br />

Unfortunately, even with this small percentage,<br />

corporate psychopaths can do enormous damage when they are positioned in senior management<br />

roles.<br />

General<br />

Oliver James identifies psychopathy as one of the dark triadic personality traits in the workplace,<br />

the others being narcissism and Machiavellianism.<br />

Workplace psychopaths are often charming to staff above their level in the workplace hierarchy<br />

but abusive to staff below their level.<br />

Hare considers newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell to have been a strong candidate as a corporate<br />

psychopath.<br />

Differentiation is made between:<br />

<br />

Successful Psychopaths - corporate high climbers who tend to have had a relatively<br />

privileged background with little risk of legal penalties<br />

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Unsuccessful Psychopaths - involved in regular crime who tend to have had less<br />

privileged backgrounds and much higher risk of legal penalties.<br />

The <strong>Organizational</strong> Psychopath<br />

The organizational psychopath craves a god-like feeling of power and control over other people.<br />

They prefer to work at the very highest levels of their organizations, allowing them to control the<br />

greatest number of people. Psychopaths who are political leaders, managers, and CEOs fall into<br />

this category.<br />

<strong>Organizational</strong> psychopaths are generally intelligent, powerful, charming, witty and entertaining<br />

communicators.<br />

They quickly assess what people want to hear and then create stories that fit those expectations.<br />

They will con people into doing their work for them, take credit for other people's work and<br />

assign their work to junior staff members.<br />

They have low patience when dealing with others, display shallow emotions, are unpredictable,<br />

undependable and fail to take responsibility if something goes wrong that is their fault.<br />

Careers with Highest Proportion of Psychopaths<br />

According to Dutton, the ten careers that have the highest proportion of psychopaths are:<br />

1. CEO<br />

2. Lawyer<br />

3. Media (TV/Radio)<br />

4. Salesperson<br />

5. Surgeon<br />

6. Journalist<br />

7. Police Officer<br />

8. Clergyperson<br />

9. Chef<br />

10. Civil Servant<br />

11. Teacher<br />

Behavioral Patterns<br />

The workplace psychopath may show a high number of the following behavioral patterns. The<br />

individual behaviors themselves are not exclusive to the workplace psychopath; though the<br />

higher number of patterns exhibited the more likely he or she will conform to the psychopath's<br />

characteristic profile:<br />

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Public humiliation of others (high propensity of having temper tantrums or ridiculing<br />

work performance)<br />

Malicious spreading of lies (intentionally deceitful)<br />

Remorseless or devoid of guilt<br />

Frequently lies to push his/her point<br />

Rapidly shifts between emotions - used to manipulate people or cause high anxiety<br />

Intentionally isolates persons from organizational resources<br />

Quick to blame others for mistakes or for incomplete work even though he/she is guilty<br />

Encourages co-workers to torment, alienate, harass and/or humiliate other peers<br />

Takes credit for other peoples accomplishments<br />

Steals and/or sabotages other person's work<br />

Refuses to take responsibility for misjudgements and/or errors<br />

Threatens any perceived enemy with job loss and/or discipline in order to taint employee<br />

file<br />

Sets unrealistic and unachievable job expectations to set employees up for failure<br />

Refuses or is reluctant to attend meetings with more than one person<br />

Refuses to provide adequate training and/or instructions to singled out victim<br />

Invades personal privacy of others<br />

Has multiple sexual encounters with junior and/or senior employees<br />

Develops new ideas without real follow through<br />

Very self-centered and extremely egotistical (often conversation revolves around them -<br />

great deal of self-importance)<br />

Often borrows money and/or other materials objects without any intentions of giving it<br />

back<br />

Will do whatever it takes to close the deal (no regards for ethics or legality)<br />

How a Typical Workplace Psychopath<br />

Climbs to and Maintains Power<br />

The authors of the book Snakes in Suits: When<br />

Psychopaths Go to Work, describe a five phase model<br />

of how a typical workplace psychopath climbs to and<br />

maintains power:<br />

1. Entry - psychopaths may use highly developed<br />

social skills and charm to obtain employment<br />

into an organization. At this stage it will be difficult to spot anything which is indicative<br />

of psychopathic behavior, and as a new employee one might perceive the psychopath to<br />

be helpful and even benevolent.<br />

2. Assessment - psychopaths will weigh one up according to one's usefulness, and one<br />

could be recognized as either a pawn (who has some informal influence and will be easily<br />

manipulated) or a patron (who has formal power and will be used by the psychopath to<br />

protect against attacks)<br />

3. Manipulation - psychopath will create a scenario of ―psychopathic fiction‖ where<br />

positive information about themselves and negative disinformation about others will be<br />

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created, where one's role as a part of a network of pawns or patrons will be utilized and<br />

will be groomed into accepting the psychopath's agenda.<br />

4. Confrontation - the psychopath will use techniques of character assassination to<br />

maintain their agenda, and one will be either discarded as a pawn or used as a patron<br />

5. Ascension - one's role as a patron in the psychopath's quest for power will be discarded,<br />

and the psychopath will take for himself/herself a position of power and prestige from<br />

anyone who once supported them.<br />

Why Psychopaths Readily Get Hired<br />

Leading commentators on psychopathy have said that companies inadvertently attract employees<br />

who are psychopaths because of the wording of their job advertisements and their desire to<br />

engage people who are prepared to do whatever it takes to be successful in business. Corporate<br />

psychopaths are thus recruited into organizations because they make a distinctly positive<br />

impression on first meeting. They appear to be alert, friendly and easy to get along with and talk<br />

to. They look like they are of good ability, emotionally well adjusted and reasonable, and these<br />

traits make them attractive to those in charge of hiring staff within organizations. Other<br />

researchers confirm that psychopaths can present themselves as likeable and personally<br />

attractive. Companies often rely on interview performance alone and do not conduct other checks<br />

such as taking references. Being accomplished liars helps psychopaths obtain the jobs they want.<br />

Why Psychopaths Readily Get Promoted<br />

Corporate psychopaths within organizations may be singled out for rapid promotion because of<br />

their polish, charm, and cool decisiveness. They are also helped by their manipulative and<br />

bullying skills. They create confusion around them (divide and rule etc.) using instrumental<br />

bullying to promote their own agenda.<br />

Bad Consequences<br />

Boddy identifies the following bad consequences of workplace psychopathy (with additional<br />

cites in some cases):<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Workplace bullying of employees<br />

Employees lose their jobs<br />

Legal liabilities<br />

Shareholders lose their investments<br />

Capitalism loses some of its credibility<br />

Wasted employee time<br />

Suboptimal employee performance<br />

Increased workload<br />

Difficult working conditions<br />

Poor levels of job satisfaction<br />

Lower perceived levels of corporate social responsibility<br />

Raised staff turnover<br />

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Absenteeism<br />

Heightened level of workplace conflict - arguments, yelling, rudeness, divide and<br />

conquer<br />

Counterproductive work behavior<br />

Counterproductive Work Behavior<br />

Boddy suggests that because of abusive supervision by corporate psychopaths, large amounts of<br />

anti-corporate feeling will be generated among the employees of the organizations that corporate<br />

psychopaths work in. This should result in high levels of counterproductive behavior as<br />

employees give vent to their anger with the corporation, which they perceive to be acting through<br />

its corporate psychopathic managers in a way that is eminently unfair to them.<br />

Screening<br />

Corporate Psychopath Theory<br />

of The Global Financial Crisis<br />

Boddy makes the case that corporate<br />

psychopaths were instrumental in<br />

causing the 2007-08 global financial<br />

crisis. He claims that the same<br />

corporate psychopaths who probably<br />

caused the crisis by self-seeking greed<br />

and avarice are now advising<br />

government on how to get out of the<br />

crisis.<br />

Psychologist Oliver James has<br />

described the credit crunch as a ―mass<br />

outbreak of corporate psychopathy<br />

which resulted in something that very<br />

nearly crashed the whole world<br />

economy.‖<br />

From an organizational perspective, organizations can insulate themselves from the<br />

organizational psychopath by taking the following steps when recruiting:<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Conduct behavioral type interview<br />

Verify information contained in the curriculum vitae<br />

Conduct reference checks<br />

Obtain work samples<br />

Carry out criminal reference checks.<br />

The following tests could be used to screen psychopaths:<br />

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Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV)<br />

Psychopathy Measure - Management Research Version (PM-MRV)<br />

Business-Scan (B-SCAN) test.<br />

There have been anecdotal reports that at least one UK bank was using a psychopathy measure to<br />

actively recruit psychopaths.<br />

Workplace Bullying Overlap<br />

Narcissism, lack of self-regulation, lack of remorse and lack of conscience have been identified<br />

as traits displayed by bullies. These traits are shared with psychopaths, indicating that there is<br />

some theoretical cross-over between bullies and psychopaths. Bullying is used by corporate<br />

psychopaths as a tactic to humiliate subordinates. Bullying is also used as a tactic to scare,<br />

confuse and disorient those who may be a threat to the activities of the corporate psychopath<br />

Using meta data analysis on hundreds of UK research papers, Boddy concluded that 36% of<br />

bullying incidents was caused by the presence of corporate psychopaths. According to Boddy<br />

there are two types of bullying:<br />

<br />

<br />

Predatory Bullying - the bully just enjoys bullying and tormenting vulnerable people for<br />

the sake of it<br />

Instrumental Bullying - the bullying is for a purpose, helping the bully achieve his or<br />

her goals.<br />

A corporate psychopath uses instrumental bullying to further his goals of promotion and power<br />

as the result of causing confusion and divide and rule.<br />

People with high scores on a psychopathy rating scale are more likely to engage in bullying,<br />

crime and drug use than other people. Hare and Babiak noted that about 29 per cent of corporate<br />

psychopaths are also bullies. Other research has also shown that people with high scores on a<br />

psychopathy rating scale were more likely to engage in bullying, again indicating that<br />

psychopaths tend to be bullies in the workplace.<br />

A workplace bully or abuser will often have issues with social functioning. These types of people<br />

often have psychopathic traits that are difficult to identify in the hiring and promotion process.<br />

These individuals often lack anger management skills and have a distorted sense of reality.<br />

Consequently, when confronted with the accusation of abuse, the abuser is not aware that any<br />

harm was done.<br />

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References<br />

______<br />

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_and_organizational_psychology<br />

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_psychology<br />

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onboarding<br />

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_risk_management<br />

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupational_stress<br />

6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_psychology<br />

7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism_in_the_workplace<br />

8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machiavellianism_in_the_workplace<br />

9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy_in_the_workplace<br />

10. kin3188x_ch13lr<br />

11. https://www.nelsonbrain.com/content/9781133791942.pdf<br />

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Notes<br />

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