I/o Psych Exam Ii

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1 Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)

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Graphic rating scales with actually descriptions of good and bad performance
Five Steps: SMEs identify the dimensions of the job
ANOTHER group of SMEs provides examples of job performance for each of these dimensions (i.e., critical incidents)
YET ANOTHER group of SMEs retranslate these examples of performance back into the identified dimensions
AND YET ANOTHER group of SMEs provide “points” for each of these behaviors (usually on a 5-7 point scale)
Items in which the participants all agree are chosen and the scale is done!

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2 Halo

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•Assigning ratings for specific performance dimensions based on general impression
•Halo results from:
Raters’ tendency to use global evaluations to evaluate specific dimensions
Raters’ inability to distinguish between specific dimensions of employee’s performance
True and false halo

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3 Leniency, severity, central tendency

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Leniency, severity, central tendency
• Test fails to discriminate between good and bad performers

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4 Job analysis in designing selection instruments

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Selection Battery: set of predictors (tests) used to make hiring decisions
1st step – job analysis – to determine job description/specifications, to develop/select predictors
Multiple tests likely increase the proportion of criterion variance accounted for
 Note: “selection” also refers to other personnel decisions (e.g., promotions, layoffs)

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5 We want to choose predictors that ARE/ARE NOT correlated with each other and ARE/ARE NOT correlated with job performance

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In selection, we do not have access to criteria and must use predictors as substitutes for criteria
Predictors would be unnecessary if we knew which applicants would be good performers
 Predictors are used to forecast criteria since we do not have criterion data

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6 Legally appropriate questions

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slides ch. 6

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7 Two popular assessment center exercises:

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In-basket tasks
Leaderless group discussion (LGD)

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8 In-basket tasks

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In-basket – assessee required to respond to a series of job-related scenarios; take actions, make decisions on how to proceed

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9 Leaderless group discussion (LGD)

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Leaderless group discussion (LGD) – group exercise designed to tap managerial attributes, requires small group interaction
Given an issue to resolve
Observed by assessors

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10 Situational Judgment Tests (how do you design them?)

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Paper-and-pencil tests or video scenarios that measure applicants’ judgment in work settings
“How would you handle…?”
Have incremental validity over personality, job experience, and cognitive ability
r = .26 for job performance
r = .38 w/ job analysis, r = .29 w/o job analysis

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11 Faking in personality tests

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Requires the ability to fake and the motivation to fake
Motivation to fake: influenced by demographic characteristics, individual differences, and perceptual variables
Much debate about the effect of faking on validity coefficients of noncognitive tests
However, experts agree that faking occurs frequently and has the potential to be problematic

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12 The Big Five

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Generally measure the “Big 5”: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism

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13 Incremental validity

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Evidence suggests that general cognitive ability accounts for a large proportion of variance in criterion performance
Incremental Validity-Things that predict variability above and beyond cognitive ability

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14 Validity Coefficient

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 Review of validity
Reliability and validity are important
Purpose of predictors is to predict performance criterion
Validity coefficient (r) – index of the relationship between a predictor and criterion; evidence that a test is a good predictor of job performance

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15 Speed test (e.g., typing test)

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Relatively easy items
Short time limit
Individual must complete as many items as possible before time expires

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16 Power Test (e.g., SATs)16

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difficult items
no time limit
all items must be completed/points taken away for non-answers

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17 Predictive and concurrent validity

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Investigate how effective predictors are at forecasting applicant job performance

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18 Steps for a predictive validity study:

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1.Gather predictor data on all applicants
2.Hire some of the applicants to fill open positions
3.After several months, gather performance data (criteria for validation study)
4.Compute a validity coefficient between the predictor score and the criterion score

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19 Concurrent validity studies are more viable than predictive validity studies
 Steps for a concurrent validity study:

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1.Collect predictor and criteria data from incumbents (at same time)
2.Compute a validity coefficient to assess the strength of the relationship between the predictor and the criterion score

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20 Validity shrinkage

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Validity of selection battery will always be highest for sample on which it was validated; other samples will be lower (validity shrinkage)
So, we must cross-validate (applying the same predictors and criteria to a different sample)

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21 FMLA provides…..

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Allows eligible employees to take job-protected, unpaid leave for up to 12 weeks for birth of a child, serious health condition of a family member, or one’s own serious health condition
Serious health condition: illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves in-patient care or continuous treatment by a health care provider
CA first state to pass a paid family and medical leave statute – 6 weeks paid leave

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22 Reasonable Accommodations

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Reasonable accommodations – changes or exceptions that would allow the qualified disabled individual to successfully do the job

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23 The Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects….

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Unlawful to discriminate against a person 40 years or older because of his or her age with respect to any employment-related decision
Exceptions are possible when company can demonstrate that age is a BFOQ
 Examples:
EEOC v. U. of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (1983) – upheld maximum age of campus police officers
Age 60 Rule – pilots/copilots cannot be employed on or after age 60

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24 The Civil Rights Act protects….

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Modified in 1991 to deal with issues of monetary damages and jury trials, as well as clarifying each party’s obligations in adverse impact cases
Prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin

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25 Sexual Harassment (2 types)

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Quid pro quo harassment: advancement or continuation is contingent on sexual favors
Hostile work environment harassment: verbal or physical behavior that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment that interferes with one’s job performance

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26 Disparate Impact

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**Disparate impact – unintentionally discriminating against or unfairly affecting a minority group (most personnel law cases)
 Disparate treatment – intentional discrimination resulting from differential treatment

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27 Adverse Impact

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Defined in the Guidelines as “80% rule of thumb”
If the selection rate for a group is less than 80 percent of the selection rate for the group with the highest selection rate
Presence of adverse impact alone does not indicate illegal discrimination

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28 Selection ratio

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Selection ratio (SR) – job openings divided by job applicants (number openings/number applicants)

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29 Multiple hurdle

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Special rendition of the multiple cutoff approach
Predictors are administered in a predetermined order (least to most expensive)
Applicants move to the next “hurdle” after scoring above the cutoff on the previous predictor

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30 Transfer of training

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Extent to which the material, skills, or procedures learned in training are taken back to the job and used regularly by the employee

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31 Positive transfer

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Positive transfer – training improves performance

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32 Negative transfer

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Negative transfer – performance declines after training

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33 Distributed practice

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Distributed practice – training divided into segments, usually with rest periods in between
Better for learning skills and for long-term retention, but not always practical for organizations
Effective for low complexity tasks

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34 Massed practice

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Massed practice – training that takes place at one time, without breaks

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35 Four types of needs analyses

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Organizational
Task
Person
Demographic

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36 Organizational Needs Analysis

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Organizational
Conducted to determine the organization’s short- and long-term goals; compare goals to the organization’s accomplishments
Where organization is not meeting goals = targets for training
Organizational culture should be considered (does the culture see training and development as important?); could be a potential obstacle to training

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37 Task Needs Analysis

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Task
Examination of task requirements for successful conduct of each job
Involves task-oriented job analysis
SMEs often used to gather training needs
Identify the KSAOs needed to be further developed or refined

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38 Person Needs Analysis

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Person
Examines how well all employees are carrying out job responsibilities and duties
Performance appraisal data are often used to identify employees who need training
Some organizations allow employees to self-nominate for training or give a test to diagnose employee strengths/weaknesses to indicate who needs additional training

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39 Demographic Needs Analysis

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Demographic
Needs analysis should consider the demographic makeup of the organization
Determine specific training needs of various demographic groups
Examples: technological training for older employees, training for employees with disabilities, redesign of existing training programs to accommodate disabled employees
Trainers must avoid discriminating against employees

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40 Overlearning

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Overlearning – process of giving trainees continued practice even after they have appeared to master the behavior; results in high levels of learning

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41 Kirkpatrick’s training criteria

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Kirkpatrick’s taxonomy
Reaction criteria – trainees’ attitudinal reactions
Learning criteria – how much is learned
Behavioral criteria – on-the-job changes that take place
Results criteria – ultimate value to company

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42 Most students don’t like lectures, why would businesses use lecture to train employees?

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Very economical, can train many at once

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43 What is motivation?

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Force that drives people to behave in a way that energizes, directs, and sustains their work behavior
Energizing, results in the expenditure of effort
Directs effort, channels it toward a particular object/place
Sustains effort over a period of time
Motivation and performance are NOT the same constructs

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44 Maslow’s Theory (know the parts)

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Suggests humans are motivated by lower-order needs; when those are met, higher-order needs become more important motivators (physiological, safety, love, esteem, self-actualization)

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45 Vroom’s/Expectancy theory
Valence
Instrumentality
Expectancy

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People’s behaviors result from conscious choices among alternatives evaluated on V, I, and E
Motivation is a multiplicative function
If V, I, or E is zero, then there is no motivation
Organizations can influence motivation by identifying the weak factor in the chain and manipulating it
VIE theory is meant for intrapersonal choices, not interpersonal choices
VIE components are clearly related to work criteria

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46 Valence

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Valence (V): “value;” expected level of satisfaction to be derived from some outcome

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47 Instrumentality

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Instrumentality (I): perceived relationship between performance of a particular behavior and likelihood that a certain outcome will result

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48 Expectancy

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Expectancy (E): individual’s belief about the likelihood of achieving a desired performance level when exerting a certain amount of effort

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49 Job Characteristics Theory

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Hackman and Oldham (1980) argue that motivation is determined by the joint effects of individual differences in personality and characteristics of the job
Core job dimensions à critical psychological states à personal and work outcomes
Five core job dimensions: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback
Core job dimensions influence psychological states: experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility, knowledge of results
Job characteristics theory is considered a theory of intrinsic motivation due to emphasis on personal mastery and control

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50 Goal Setting theory

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According to Locke, goals affect behavior in four ways:
Direct attention to a particular task
Mobilize on-task efforts
Enable us to be persistent
Facilitate strategies that can be used at a higher cognitive level to move toward goal attainment

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51 Summary of major findings of goal-setting theory:

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Motivation is enhanced when employees accept and are committed to specific, difficult goals and when feedback about progress toward those goals is provided
One of the most successful yet simple motivation theories

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52 What is control theory and what are the negative feedback loops?

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Negative feedback loop results from comparison of performance feedback with some goal or standard
When a discrepancy exists, we seek to reduce it
Control system = room thermostat
Control theories of motivation (Carver & Scheier, 1998) points to the importance of gathering, receiving, and interpreting feedback
The more self-focused individuals are, the more often they engage the feedback loop
Disengagement is not always a bad thing; continued effort and giving up are necessary parts of adaptive self-regulation

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53 •Critical Incidents (pg 107)

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•Critical Incidents (pg 107): examples of job performance used in behaviorally anchored rating scales or job-analytic approaches

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leniency

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leniency: the rating error that results when (1) the mean of one’s ratings across ratees is higher than the mean of all ratees across all raters or (2) the mean of one’s ratings is higher than the midpoint of the scale

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central tendency

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central tendency: the tendency to use only the midpoint of the scale in rating one’s employees

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severity:

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severity: the tendency to use only the low end of the scale or to give consistently lower ratings to one’s employees than other raters do

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Wonderlic Personnel Test

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12 min., Speed, Intelligence