Org Psych_reduced Flashcards
What did Ross think about the relationship between life values and work values?
Work values are an expression of our life values.
Work meaningful when we pursure life values
Name problems associated with work related stress
- burn out
- absenteeism/presenteeism
- staff turn over
- poor work quality
- reduced health/ mortality risk
- reduced satisfaction and org commitment
- reduced job performance
- less discretionary effort
Pros and cons of work sample
Helpful for evidencing how someone actual conducts job
Reasonably costly, standardisation difficult, not always clear what is being assessed (i.e., individual performance in group task effected by behaviour of group)
Name some ways to increase employee engagement
Goal setting
Employee involvement (given voice)
Organisational Justice
Organisational comprehension
Employee development opportunities
Sufficient resources
Appealing company vision
Good policies, applied fairly
safety and wellbeing
manager engaging
trust in trust bank
What are two main types of psychometric tests.
Cognitive ability test
Personality test
What are the six steps of job analysis
- Classify – the job, position title, level, salary, package
- Define – skills, knowledge, competencies required to perform job
- Create – summary of requirements, job description, competency framework
- Evaluate – performance management for feedback/promotion/reward
- Identify – development needs
- Plan – future workforce requirements
Expectancy is one of the two main factors in the Process Theory of Motivation. What are the three sub categories of expectancy and what do they refer to?
Valence – How desirable is end result/outcome?
Instrumentality – Belief that a certain level of performance will actually achieve outcome
Expectancy – Is it expected that efforts will achieve level of performance needed for outcome
What are the four steps in health and safety regulation and compliance
- Anticipate: Proactively aware of potential hazards and reduce/remove them before incident
- Recognise: Some hazards may be hidden, find them
- Evaluate: potential impact and make informed decisions
- Control: hazards as much as possible
Pros and Cons of CV
1 of each
Quick filtering
Often exagerrated
What is Macro Level Workforce planning
Process to ensure the right number of people with the right skills are employed in the right place at the right time to deliver an organisation’s short- and long-term objectives
What is the FLOW state. What is needed to acheive this
Flow state = when skill level meets challenge level. To achieve this, you need: clear goals, immediate feedback, good balance between challenge and skill
What are the two main subcategories of organisational justice. What do they mean?
Distributive justice = fairness in outcomes given my contributions compared to others
Procedural justice = fairness in procedures used to decide who gets company resources
What are the two main factors in the process theory of motivation?
Equity
Expectancy
What methods could be used to support job analysis
There are 5
Interview SMEs
Observation – observe SMEs performing job
Participation – perform job yourself
Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan) – Focus on behaviours from actual critical incidents
Position Analysis Questionnaire (McCormick et al) - self-report questionnaire of job activities/work behaviours
Macro and Micro Strategy in HR
Macro = ____
Micro = ____
Macro = workforce planning
Micro = job analysis
What is the ‘high committment’ HR strategy. How is this acheived?
Aims to enhance employee commitment
Uses practices to promote trust, encourage self-regulation (not micromanaging), self-managing teams etc.
What are four methods/factors to acheive better job design
Think things employees would want
- Expand – tasks and responsibilities
- Enrich – greater employee autonomy
- Job Characteristics – variety, significance/impact, autonomy, feedback etc
- Relational – factor in social interactions and associated impacts
If psych’s needed in rural area, what elements/questions would you consider during job analysis?
How many psych’s needed?
Where are they needed?
What skills/competencies do they need to have?
Which psych specialisations do you recruit?
How will you attract them?
How much to pay them?
What resources to you need to provide?
How can you onboard quickly?
What are competencies?
Set of behaviours that are key to good performance
Capture observable/objective behaviours associated with different levels of performance
Make explicit what is being asked
Name four laws/regulations relating to safety at work
Fair Work Act, section 340
Common Law: everyone has right to refuse to perform unsafe work
Workers comp law
Privacy Laws, anti-discrimination laws
When is pay most motivating?
Beginning of job
Name some factors that can lead to work related stress
high-demand job
low-demand job
poor support
poor relationships
low role clarity
low control
poor change mgmt
harassment, bullying etc.
What are two examples of personality tests.
What do we know about which factors predict good performance
Example: Big 5
Conscientiousness + Emotional Stability good predictors or work performance. Other factors vary based on job type.
Example: Character Strengths Interview good at predicting engagement
Describe Hertzberg’s 2 Factor theory of motivation
Hygiene factors (i.e., pay, job security) decrease employee dissatisfaction, but do not increase satisfaction
Motivational factors (i.e., level of challenge, creativity) increase satisfaction ONLY if minimal hygiene factors already met
What is the relationship between safety, health, wellbeing and engagement
Safety (i.e., prevent accidents) + Health (encourage health, mitigate stress) + Wellbeing (enhance overall mental/physical/emotional health)
= combine to create engagement
What recruitment strategy is missing?
Flexible:
(i.e., remote location) hard to find the perfect applicant. Need flexible methods – i.e., upskilling existing staff
What is the ‘high involvement’ HR strategy. How is this acheived?
Aims to enhance employee opportunity
By enhancing employee involvement in decisions, building power, increasing access to information
What recruitment strategy is missing?
Autonomous: Very precise job descriptions. Strategy implemented through specific recruitment channels.
Innovative: Diverse recruitment strategy, less defined, applicants filtered through sophisticated process.
What is micro-level job analysis?
Job analysis identifies the knowledge, skills, and behaviours that contribute to good job performance for a specific role
What is the ‘high performance’ HR strategy. How is this acheived?
Aims to improve performance, productivity, quality, profits
Uses training and development, incentive pay, rigorous selection processes
How can org psychs assist with workforce planning at macro level
Examining future/desired state (culture, workforce, leadership)
Assess current state and determine gap (then plan)
Design, develop, deliver interventions and programs (fill the gap)
What is validity/reliability of assessment centres?
Fairly good association with performance rating when raters properly trained – interrater reliability can be lower, reliabillity across different exercises/methods can also be low
Six methods of recruiting/assessing candidates
CV
References
Interviews
Psychometric Tests
Work Sample
Assessment Centre
What are pros and cons of personality tests
Pro: cost effective, can identify hidden potential, can be used to check value alignment (good for performance)
Con: 50% lie. Not valid for all populations
What is the major issue with interviews?
Impacted by Bias
What is the relationship between justice and motivation?
Injustice is extremely demotivating
Disadvantage of references/referees
Very low validity
What are 6 steps for managing absenteeism
- Monitor employees for patterns
- Deal with cause of absenteeism (i.e., conflict)
- Embrace flexible working conditions
- Manage reasonable workloads appropriately
- Encourage sick employees to stay at home
- Interview employees when they come back to work
What kind of tasks/things fall under the umbrella work sample
Role plays
presentations
written samples
in-tray exercises (i.e., priorotise list of tasks)
Describe the ‘prevent harm, intervene early, support recovery’ model of workplace safety
Prevent harm: identify hazards, assess risk, implement control, consult workers
Intervene: regularly review control measures, support early signs stress, provide early assistance
Support recovery: support access to treatment, assist recovery at work or planning to return to work, review effectiveness of measures to prevent future harm
Name 5 types of bias that effect interviews
Halo/horns - making overall judgement based on one piece of information (i.e., how they are dressed)
Primacy/recency - who was first/last easier to recall
Stereotypes – assuming members of a group share same characteristics
Attribution bias – attributing behavior to character flaws instead of situations
‘Like me’ effect – attracted to people similar to us
What are the three overarching levels of analysis in org psych?
- Individuals
- Teams
- Organisations
Org psych must understand impacts at each level
Theories on encouraging/managing performance have focused on three main areas:
- Individual differences/personality
- Role of job itself
- Rewards in helping/hindering motivation
Why is it important that job competencies accurately match the job requirements?
Increases performance and satisfaction
What are the four steps involved in workforce planning. What does each involve?
1. Strategy: If business goals change – can current HR resources meet goal? Identify what would need to change if not
**2. Analysis: **In depth analyses of current HR resources and impact of business goal change on future capabilities/demands. + analyse external factors that may influence HR/business objectives.
**3. Forecast: **Forecast demand of org and availability of supply. What is needed to achieve goals given forecast
4. Action Planning: Develop solutions to meet HR resource plan: Upskilling current staff? Methods for retaining? Downsize plans? Hiring?
What are the two categories of factors in Hertzberg’s 2 factor theory:
Provide example of each
Hygiene factors = pay, job security, working conditions, policies, work relationships
Motivational factors = level of challenge, work itself, responsibility, recognition, interest, autonomy, creativity
Recuitment strategy depends on two factors relating to the org. What are they?
- Labour marker power
- Internal resources/organisational intelligence
What are some non-financial reasons for work?
Work provides meaning. Most would work if they did not need money.
Other reasons include identification with org, opportunity for creativity, maintaining relationships
Equity is one of the two main factors in the Process Theory of Motivation. What Does this refer to
Social comparisons – compare our efforts to others and expect to be rewarded fairly in comparison
Name some ways people respond to inequity in the work place
Reduce efforts/withdraw discretionary efforts
Ask for increased pay/benefits
Increase other’s inputs (i.e., ask coworker to work harder)
Reduce other’s outputs (i.e., ask boss to stop preferential treatment)
Change perceptions or change who they compare themselves to
Quit/leave field
Describe cognitive ability tests. Give an example of one test.
Outline validity
Determine persons maximum performance in abstract, verbal, or numerical reasoning
Example: General Mental Ability (GMA)
Measures speed of processing complex info, good predictor of job performance
Better validity when test is specific to role
What are 7 ways to minimise bias in interviews
Interviewer training
Clear/unambiguous assessment criteria, related to performance only
Record interviews, and justify decisions based on criteria
Use standardised and structured interviews (ask same questions in consistent manner)
Use behaviourally anchored rating scale (BARS) to score applicants
Behavioural interviews – describe a time you have X…
Situational interviews – give scenario, ask how applicant would react
What is the importance of trust?
Making deposits in trust bank increases discretionary effort + increases self-efficacy
Easy to destroy, heavy cost as it violates psychological contract
