Midterm Flashcards
Study for Midterm
Define I/O Psychology
The scientific study of individual behavior in formal
organizational settings
What distinguishes I/O psychology from psychology
at large?
Person vs. Situation: Lewin’s field theory: B = f(P,E)
Talent Acquisition vs. Talent Management
What are Industrial side topics
Recruitment
Selection
Classification
Compensation
Performance Appraisal
Training
What are Organizational side topics?
Socialization
Motivation
Occupational Stress
Leadership
Group Performance
Organizational Development
What is the difference between Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior (in Business School?
OB: (a) the study of human behavior in organizations, (b) the
interface between human behavior and the organization, and (c) the organization itself
What is Scientific Management?
- Develop science of each element of work
- Scientifically select and train each worker
- Cooperate with (oversee) workers so that it is done in
accordance to principles - Equal division of work among worker and management
Taylor (1911)
What is the lasting legacy of scientific management?
- Fostered idea that work can (and should) be studied scientifically
– science can help address practical problems in the workplace - Scientific principles can improve organizational efficiency
– (Six Sigma, lean manufacturing, etc.)
What is the origin of Industrial Psychology
Scientific Management
Taylor (1911)
What is the “Hawthorne effect”?
- Alteration of behavior due to awareness of being observed
- Textbooks generally refer only to illumination studies
Roethlisberger & Dickson (1939)
Roethlisberger & Dickson (1939)
Hawthorne studies
What are production norms?
- Work groups established and enforced production norms
- Those who did not adhere to these norms (rate busters) met very negative consequences
- Workers resisted many management initiatives
– This is a very different finding than the traditional “Hawthorne Effect”
What is the origin of Organizational Psychology?
Hawthorne Studies
Roethlisberger & Dickson (1939)
Explain Thoery X and Theory Y
- Positions Theory X as philosophy underlying traditional
management strategies (e.g., “carrot & stick”) - Proposes Theory Y as (then) new perspective, based on
humanistic ideals
McGregor (1960)
McGregor (1960)
Theory X and Theory Y
What are the underlying assumptions of Theory X?
– Humans inherently dislike work
* Man is inherently evil and lazy
– Most workers must be coerced, controlled, and punished to be
productive
* Punishments are more effective than rewards
– Most workers prefer to be directed, avoid responsibility, and have little
ambition
McGregor (1960)
What are the underlying assumptions of Theory Y?
– work comes as natural as play and, under the right conditions, will be performed willingly
– workers require little direction or control when they are given clear goals to which they are committed
– rewards for meeting goals should be directed toward physiological, safety, social, ego, and self-actualization needs
– people are not only ready to accept responsibility, they often seek to shoulder it
– imagination, ingenuity, and creativity are more widespread in the workforce than many executives recognize
– a person’s intellectual potentialities are only partially realized in modern industrial life
McGregor (1960)
Explain Integration
Creation of conditions in which workers can achieve their goals
best by directing efforts toward the success of the organization
Example: goal alignment b/w workers and organization
McGregor (1960)
Did Theory X and Theory Y survive
No, but had impact on subsequent organizational theory and research: Leadership styles (participative management, transformational
leadership), Job Characteristics Theory, Self-Determination
Theory, etc.
McGregor (1960)
Explain Senge (1990)’s circles of causality
Reinforcing loops:
– Small changes can grow over time (exponential growth)
– Self-fulfilling prophesies
– Vicious cycles (e.g., toilet paper shortage) and virtuous cycles (e.g., word of mouth marketing)
* Balancing (counteracting) loops
– System has a goal that it is attempting to maintain
» Homeostasis
» This is a fundamental aspect of many modern theories of motivation
– The goals are often implicit
» no one realizes it is there, mucking things up
– These goals can disrupt well intentioned and well-designed change efforts
» “resistance to change”
What is the distinction between micro, macro, meso, and multilevel?
- micro - smaller parts of an organization
- meso - intermediate levels of analysis
- macro - highest level
Explain levels of analysis and measurement.
- Level of Theory: refers to the focal level to which generalizations are designed to apply
- Level of Measurement: refers to the unit to which the data are directly drawn attached
- Level of Analysis: refers to the unit to which data are assigned for hypothesis testing and statistical analysis
What is a composition model?
Describes how data that originates at a lower level (e.g., individual) can be combined to represent a higher level (e.g., workgroup) construct
additive, direct consensus, referent-shift consensus, dispersion
How do multi-level influences work? What are top-down
processes? What are bottom-up processes? Examples?
– Top-down processes (contextual influences):
* nearly all phenomena are embedded in a higher-level context
* This context can have direct or moderating effects on lower-level processes and outcomes
– Bottom-up processes (emergence):
* many higher-level phenomena emerge from characteristics, cognition, behavior, affect, and interactions among lower-level units.
* People think and behave, not groups or organizations
* Composition (similarity) vs. compilation (compatibility)
* Should specify (develop theory concerning) the nature of these bottom-up emergent processes
What are types of multi-level models?
Single-Level, Cross-Level, and Homologous Multilevel Models
Kozlowski & Klein, Fig. 1.1, pg. 39
Kozlowski & Klein
Multi-level Models
What is Reliability
– Degree to which a measurement technique yields consistent results
– Types of reliability?
* Test-retest
* Multiple indicators (items, raters, etc.)
What is Validity?
– Degree to which an assessment technique measures (or manipulates) what it was designed to measure
– Types of validity?
* Content validity
* Criterion validity
* External Validity
* Face-validity
What are common data collection methods?
- Self-Report/Surveys
- Observational Methods
- Archival Data
- Experimentation
- Quasi-Experimentation
What are advantages & disadvantages of self-report/surveys.
- Advantages?
– Relatively quick, cost-efficient, convenient
– Sometimes, the best way to find something out is to simply ask
– Provides means of assessing constructs not directly observable - Disadvantages?
– lack of necessary self-insight
– Interpretation of questions influences responses
– “Response sets” across multiple measures
– Questions are often poorly structured (lack validity)
– Causality difficult to establish
– Low response rates
– Administration can sometimes be a hassle, negating the speed/price/convenience
advantage
– Same-source bias/self-report bias
What are advantages & disadvantages of observational methods?
– Why use covert observation?
* Validity/reactivity
– Why use overt observation?
* Sometimes only option
* Sometimes gives richer data
* Ethics
– Participant Observation: Joining the group being studied
What are advantages & disadvantages of archival data?
- Advantages?
– Sometimes are relatively easy to obtain
– Non-reactive - Disadvantages?
– Not always accurate, and verification/correction can be difficult (or impossible)
– Are stuck with data that already exists - may not be all the data you would like to have
What are advantages & disadvantages of experimentation?
- Advantages?
– Causality can be inferred
– Can control for other factors
– Can create the situations you are interested in observing, which may be
rare or difficult to observe otherwise - Disadvantages?
– Can be logistically difficult (or impossible) in some cases
– May be artificial - generalizability/external validity
– Although this limitation is NOT unique to experimental designs - variables studied in isolation may not provide accurate view of typical effects outside
of lab
– Participant apathy, reactance, experimenter effects, etc.
What are advantages & disadvantages of quasi-experimentation?
- Advantages?
– Practicality within organizations
– Naturalistic settings
– Examine impact of organizational interventions, and other real-world activities - Disadvantages?
– Little control
– Many potential alternative explanations
– Causal inference is constrained
Explain a mediator and provide an example.
– A variable explains the relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variable
– An example of a mediator?
* Difficult/Specific goals -> performance
* Difficult/Specific goals -> EFFORT -> performance
Explain a moderator and provide an example
– A variable that alters the relationship between two other variables
Imagine a study investigating the relationship between stress (independent variable) and job performance (dependent variable). A potential moderator could be social support. If the study finds that stress negatively impacts job performance, but this effect is weaker for employees who have high social support, then social support is acting as a moderator. It changes the strength of the relationship between stress and job performance based on its level (high or low).
What is an interaction?
When the effect of one variable depends on the level of the other; when the effect of an IV on the DV varies across the levels of a third variable
Define job performance
Behaviors employees engage in while at work that contribute to
organizational goals
What are things that dont define job performance?
The outcomes of performance
* effectiveness: evaluation of the results of one’s performance
* utility: value of a given level of performance for the organization
* productivity: cost of achieving level of performance or effectiveness (e.g., efficiency)
What are three braod categories of performance?
- Task Performance
- Organizational Citizenship Behaviors
- Counterproductive Work Behaviors
What are Campbell’s Model of Job Performance
- Core technical performance
- Communication
- Initiative, persistence, and effort
- Counterproductive work behavior
- Supervisory, manager, executive (i.e., hierarchical)
leadership - Hierarchical management performance
- Peer/team leadership
- Peer/team management
Campbell (2012)
What is Murphy’s four-dimensional model?
- In-role behavior
- (1) Task-oriented behaviors
- Extra-role behavior
- (2) Interpersonally oriented behaviors
- (3) Down-time behaviors
- (4) Destructive/hazardous behaviors
What determines performance?
- Declarative Knowledge
- Procedural Knowledge/Skill
- Motivation
Campbell
What is the distinction between typical and maximum
performance?
– Typical:
* Relatively unaware of performance observation/evaluation (not salient)
* not instructed to perform their best
* performance observed/evaluated over an extended time period
* choices are less constrained / relatively wide discretion on how to act
– Maximum:
* explicit awareness of being evaluated
* performers are aware and accepting of instructions to maximize effort
* performance episode is of short enough time duration for performers
to keep their attention maximally focused on the task
What are Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs)? Provide examples.
– Behaviors that go beyond those formally required/rewarded the job (beyond job description) that
contribute positively to the organization’s goals
– Analogous/similar terms: contextual performance, discretionary behaviors, extra-role behaviors
Altrusim, Courtesy, Sportsmanship, Conscientiousness, Civic Virtue
How should we define Counterproductive
Work Behaviors (CWBs)?
“voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms
and, in so doing threatens, the well-being of an organization, its
members, or both” (Robinson & Bennett, 1995)
* “intentional behavior on the part of an organizational member
viewed by the organization as contrary to its legitimate interests”
(Sackett & DeVore, 2002)
* “volitional acts that harm or are intended to harm organizations or
people in organizations” (Spector & Fox, 2005)
* “actions and behaviors that employees engage in that detract
from organizational goals or well-being and include behaviors
that bring about undesirable consequences for the organization
or its stakeholders” (Ones & Dilchert, 2013)
Provide six categories of CWBs
- Ineffective Job Performance
- Absenteeism
- Turnover
- Accidents
- Violence
- Theft
Rotundo & Sackett, 2002
What is the relative contribution of task performance,
OCBs, and CWBs for ratings of overall job performance
What are three planning considerations in recruitment?
– Strategic planning – the organization’s plan for where they are going
* Ex., if organization is moving in a more creative direction, needs to have
workforce consistent with this
– Succession planning – who is expected to leave?
* Recruiting efforts directed towards individuals with skills necessary for those jobs
– Labor markets
* If applicants with needed skills are plentiful, less is gained by recruiting forthese positions
* If few qualified applicants are available, recruiting is key
What are the pros and cons of internal vs external recruiting?
- Internal is less expensive, provides incentives for current employees
- New employees bring fresh perspective, can bring skills no current employees
possess, can reduce homogeneity
How can we try to manage later turnover during recruitment?
Realistic Job Previews (RJP)
– Basic idea: prior to entry (or shortly after), provide realistic idea of what job entails,
both good and bad
– Thought to lead to lower turnover…
* Effect is weak, particularly regarding lowered expectations reducing turnover
– They are often expensive to put together
– They can lead to applicant self-selection
* An alternative: Expectation Lowering Procedure (ELP)
– General information on importance of realistic expectations and negative
consequences of inflated expectations (not job-content-specific, unlike RJPs)
– Buckley et al. (1998) compared ELPs, RJPs, and controls
* RJPs and ELPs led to lower turnover and higher satisfaction, compared to control
* Expectations mediated this effect
* ELPs have the advantage of being more general, thus less time-consuming and less expensive
* The impact of ELPs on applicant self-selection ha
What is the basic idea of ASA?
– Attraction
* People will be attracted to organizations that possess characteristics compatible (i.e. that fit) with their own.
– Selection
* Organizations tend to hire people with attributes similar to those already there
– Attrition
* Those who don’t fit leave or get fired
Schneider et al, 1987
How does the ASA framework fit with the multi-level perspective we discussed last time?
- provides an account of how the higher-level features, such as
organizational climate, emerge - provides an account of how the higher-level features, once present,
influence lower-level behavior - provides predictions regarding the configuration (variability) of features
such as climate, as well as a theoretical account of how/why it is that way - Provides some account of the temporal nature of these processes
Schneider et al, 1987
What is the Homogeneity hypothesis?
Because of the ASA cycle, organizations become increasingly homogenous
over time
What role does the founder and other early members have on the ASA process?
Broad organizational goals, processes, structures, climate and culture are strongly shaped by the founders and early colleagues; influence often persists.
What do we mean when we talk about fit?
Congruence between attributes of the person and the environment
What are four different targets of fit?
– Person-Organization (P-O) fit
* Match of a person and their organization
– Person-vocation (P-V) fit
* Match of a person and their career
* There is great variability in different organizations even with same vocations
– Person-Group (P-G) fit
* Match of a person and their work group
* Groups can have different norms and values than the organization at large
– Person-Job (P-J) fit
* Match of a person’s abilities and the demands of the job
* Can fit well with organization and not job (and vice versa).
* Managers can impose different norms, values, rewards, etc. than the organization at large
What are three integrating models of fit proposed by Cable & Edwards, 2004?
– Employment Relationship Model
– Social Identity Model
– Simultaneous Model
Cable & Edwards, 2004
Explain the Employment Relationship Model of fit.
Job attraction, retention, satisfaction, etc. based on rewards provided in return
for one’s investment of time and talent
* need fulfillment is primary
– Effects of value congruence are indirect, distal
* Organizational values are reflected in the rewards offered
* Individual values affect what individuals want/need
* Value congruence need fulfillment employee attitudes
Cable & Edwards, 2004
Explain the Social Identity Model of Fit.
– Organizational memberships influence employee’s identity (“Who am I?”)
* value congruence is more fundamental
– Joining an organization is expression of values; indicator of who one is
– Need fulfillment is just a spurious factor
* Organization’s values influence rewards offered
* Individual’s values influence the rewards they desire
Cable & Edwards, 2004
Explain the simultaneous effects model of fit.
Simultaneous Effects Model
– The two represent unique influences on attitudes
– Optimal fit is based on need fulfillment and value congruence
Cable & Edwards, 2004
What are the importance of unstructured training and development
– It is most widely used method of training
– Is a powerful means by which employees learn about the job, work unit, and organization (socialization)
– Informal methods of training and socialization are often more powerful than formal/structured tactics
What is organizational socialization?
“the process by which a new member learns the value
system, the norms, and the required behavior patterns of
the society, organization, or group which (they are) entering”
(Schein, 1968 p. 3).
– Later refinements have examined this construct from a process perspective and a content perspective
What are the dimensions of socialization?
- History
– Understanding foundation of org, key milestones
– Often conveys values, priorities - Language
– Promotes smooth communication, coordination
– Can differentiate insiders and outsiders - Politics
– unwritten rules and informal power structure
– Secretaries, assistants, clerical workers - People knowledge
– establishing positive relationships with others for friendship and work-relevant - Organizational goals and values
– Learn them and assimilate with their own - Performance Proficiency
– Learn to do your job well
– This is generally the top priority for newcomers
Chao et al, 1994
What are the five stages of socialization?
Anticipatory Socialization
Encounter
Change and Acquisition
Behavioral Outcomes
Affective Outcomes
Feldman, 1981
What Factors might influence information seeking during socialization?
– Degree of uncertainty
* More seeking with greater uncertainty
– Costs of seeking
* Don’t want to look stupid
What are some information seeking tactics?
– Overt questioning
– Indirect questioning
– Testing limits
– Disguised conversations
– Observation
– Third parties
What is mentorship? What functions are served by mentorship?
– Intense work relationship between senior and junior organization
members
– provides guidance and support to protégé
– goes beyond formal supervisor requirements
Functions: career development - exposure and visibility, challenging assignments, coaching, protection
psychosocial - role modeling, acceptance, counseling, friendship
What are the pros and cons of similarity vs. diversity among mentor and protégé?
– Surface-level similarity: meta-analytic evidence that protégé gender, protégé race, and demographic similarity have negligible relationships with mentoring outcomes (Eby et al., 2013)
– Deep-level similarity: similarity in attitudes, values, beliefs, or personality can matter
* greater similarity associated w/ reports of greater psychosocial
support, career support, and higher relationship quality (Eby et al.,
2013).
* deep-level mismatches can create dissatisfaction, stress, betrayal,
self-doubt, poor socialization, less career development, etc.
What factors might relate to willingness to mentor others?
– best predictor of future willingness to mentor was previous
mentoring experience
– individuals who lack experience as a mentor anticipate greater
costs and fewer benefits relative to those with mentoring
experience
How can formal mentoring be improved?
– Selection
– Training, feedback
– Fostering motivation
* highlighting value/purpose
* providing rewards/incentives
What is motivation?
Internal and external forces that initiate, guide, and sustain an individual’s efforts toward goal-directed behavior
“motivation reflects processes involved in the allocation of limited resources
across the nearly infinite range of possibilities”
(Schmidt, Beck, & Gillespie, 2012)
What are Three Prominent Categories of Motivational Theories
Need-Motive-Value Theories
Cognitive Choice Theories
Self-Regulation Theories
What is a need?
“A force that organizes perceptions, beliefs, cognitions, and actions, giving rise to behaviors that reduce the force and bring about a steady state”
What is the primary finding of Goal Setting Theory (GST)?
Difficult-Specific goals lead to greater performance (typically as compared to DYB goals)
Locke & Latham, 2002
What is a goal?
“Internal representations of desired states”
* Important to distinguish goals vs. wishes/wants
* Goals are guides for behavior, wishes and wants are not necessarily
Explain the three components of Valance-Instrumentality-Expectancy (VIE) theory (One type of expectancy theory)
-
expectancy: perceived likelihood that a given act will lead to outcome
- E.g., if you try hard you will get an “A” in this course
- instrumentality: perception of the strength of the relationship between obtaining a first level outcome and a second-level outcome
- E.g., if you get an A in the course, this will help you get into grad school
- valance: desirability of second-level outcome
- E.g., getting into graduate school is important to you
- combined multiplicatively V $\times$ I $\times$ E = MF
Vroom,
What is Equity Theory?
– Work is an exchange processes—worker’s provide inputs to the organization in exchange for valued outcomes
– these exchanges should be fair or equitable
What are the levels of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in self-determination theory?
Amotivation: non-regulation
- Extrinsic motivation
- external: rewards and punishments are externally derived (running a 5K because your work group requires)
- introjected: things doing because of self-administered rewards and punishments (running a 5K because want to feel benefits of completing something)
- identified: personal value and importance; doing so brings you value (running a 5K because it will make you healthy)
- integrated (really part of one’s identified)
- Intrinsic Motivation: enjoyment, fun, interesting; SDT argues that controlled motivation leads to more positive outcomes
What is Job Characteristics Theory?
Individuals will work harder if they like what they are doing
– Critical psychological states needed for internal work motivation are:
* Experienced meaningfulness of work: work is consistent with and helps serve one’s values
* Experienced responsibility for outcomes of work: personal accountability, self-determination
* Knowledge of results of actual work activities: feedback
– These states facilitate personal and work outcomes (internal motivation, performance, satisfaction, lower absenteeism & turnover)
Hackman & Oldham, 1975
Briefly explain Herzberg’s Two-Factor Model.
- Determinants of satisfaction are different than those for dissatisfaction
– Motivators
– Hygienes - factors that lead to satisfaction, like recognition, interesting work, & responsibility
- Factors that lead to dissatisfaction, such as supervisory problems, low pay
Herzberg (1959)
Briefly explain Aldefer’s ERG Theory.
Focused on subjective states of need satisfaction and desire
– Existence Needs – Equivalent to Physiological and Safety needs
– Relatedness Needs – Correspond to Love needs
– Growth Needs – Parallel Esteem and Self-Actualization
(Aldefer, 1969)
Briefly explain Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
We are driven by needs that are biological and instinctive in nature
– Lower Order Needs:
* - Physiological, Safety, and Love
– Higher Order Needs
* – Esteem, Self-Actualization
(Maslow, 1943)
Briefly explain Self-Determination Theory
Three Broad Needs:
- Competence: effective dealing with environment
- Relatedness: close relationships with peers
- Autonomy vs Controlled: control the course of our lives
Deci & Ryan, 1985
Why such limited/mixed empirical support for
Need Theories?
- Inability to adequately measure needs presents a large methodological problem – leads to flawed studies
- Needs often presumed to be universal are in fact often quite variable between (and within) individuals
- Considerable ambiguity and debate about what constitutes a “need”
- These theories have been instrumental in the development of other well-supported motivational theories
- Personality constructs capture many concepts previously
approached from a “need” perspective
– E.g., Need for achievement Conscientiousness
