Psychology at Work Flashcards
What are two aspects of purposeful work?
-flow and intrinsic rewards
-knowledge at work (feeling like you know and understand)
What is industrial psychology (personnel psych)?
psych that focuses on the process of hiring, training, developing, and accessing employee performance
What is the big 5 test?
a way to understand how successful an individual will be at work, as well as provide insight into what type of task they should be assigned
What is OCEAN in the big 5 test?
- openness
- conscientiousness
- extraversion
- agreeableness
- neuroticism
What does conscientiousness mean and what does it predict?
it is the tendency to be organized and disciplined and it predicts how successful a person will be at a job
What does extraversion predict?
predicts which job you should have
What does agreeableness predict?
what job you should have
How is neuroticism measured?
higher score = lower neuroticism
What is structured v. unstructured interviews?
structured interviews have previews questions set up, having read the interviewees resume, while unstructured is essentially making questions up on the spot
Are structured or unstructured interviews more predictive of job success?
structured
What is interviewer illusion?
tendency of interviewers to overrate their ability to interview and choose the best candidate
What are performance appraisals?
review of an employees job performance and contribution to a company
What are two drawbacks to performance appraisals?
-they don’t contribute to immediate feedback, so behavior can’t be fixed when it occurs
-they are very prone to bias
What is the halo effect/error?
other (good) characteristics of the employee cloud judgement of their actual work ability
What is leniency error?
evaluations are inflated to avoid negative confrontation
What is affective reactions?
evaluations are influenced by personal feeling towards the individual
What is attributional bias?
evaluations are biased by presumed degree of effort or motivation
What is the similar to me error?
higher evals for those with characteristics similar to the rater
What is stereotyping?
evals biased by generic character or personal social group
What is 360 feedback?
everyone in a group gives feedback to everyone in the group
What is a drawback to 360 feedback?
it takes a long time
What is a drawback to 360 feedback?
it takes a long time
What is organizational psychology?
psychology that aims to increase productivity at work as well as build a thriving work culture/environment
When are employees happier?
-supervisors are effective leaders
-recognized for individual effort
-feel empowered
-set smart goals
What are three beliefs that determine empowerment?
- self efficacy
- response efficacy
- outcome-expectancy
What is response efficacy?
belief that something will work
What is outcome expectancy?
belief that doing something is worth it
What are SMART goals?
goals that are achievable and motivational
What is the Gallup Workplace Audit?
a workplace test that helps to gauge how to improve employee engagement
What is the difference between transactional v. transformational leadership?
transactional leadership is just telling people what to do, while transformational leadership is inspiring people to be self motivated
What two factors affect the kind of leadership needed?
-need for motivation
-need for direction
What kind of leadership is needed for individuals with low need for direction and low need for motivation?
delegating
What kind of leadership is needed for individuals with low need for direction and high need for motivation?
supporting
What kind of leadership is needed for individuals with high need for direction and low need for motivation?
instructing
What kind of leadership is needed for individuals with high need for direction and high need for motivation?
coaching
What is organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)?
voluntary behavior (from employee) that goes beyond what is expected of an individual employee
What is human factors engineering?
engineering based on making everyday human work life simple
What is behavioral based safety?
using behavioral observation and feedback (what happened if this hazard comes in contact to you) to keep workers injury free
What does effective occupational safety require?
involvement of all employees in reporting environmental hazards, close calls, and minor injuries
What should “accident investigations” be replaced with?
injury analysis
