Psychology 330: I/O Psychology

Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Psychology 330

Spring 2010 Syllabus

T & Th, 3:30 - 4:45p; Room C1 Lecture Center

Instructor: Office Address: Office Phone: Office Hours: Email: Home Page:	Dr. Jim Larson 1046-C BSB 413-2642 T & Th 5:00-6:30, and by Appointment jlarson@uic.edu http://www.uic.edu/~jlarson
Teaching Assistant: Office Address: Office Hours: Email:	Ms. Olga Goldenberg 1049 BSB TBA ogolde1@uic.edu

Overview

Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology is sometimes called the psychology of work. It is at once a scientific discipline and an area of professional practice. As a scientific discipline, I-O Psychology critically examines workplace behavior and experience. The goal in doing this is to understand (a) what influences people's behavior on the job, and (b) what consequences their job behavior has for others around them and for the organizations in which they work. Thus, we might wonder what causes people to work hard, to quit their jobs, to feel good about their company, or to sabotage a colleague's efforts. Is it possible to predict when people will steal from their employer, work overtime without thought of extra pay, become "burned out" on the job, or perform above and beyond the call of duty? As a science, I-O Psychology seeks to answer such questions by conducting systematic, theory-driven research.

But I-O Psychology is also an area of professional practice. Many I-O psychologists try to apply the scientific knowledge that has been gained through research in order to solve important practical problems for client organizations. As professional practitioners, I-O psychologists often help organizations with such critical problems as selecting and training employees, designing jobs to maximize both efficiency and motivation, and managing employee performance. Thus, the science an practice of I-O Psychology go hand-in-hand. The practice of I-O Psychology is informed by solid, evidence-based research, and the science of I-O Psychology is animated by the desire to solve pressing, real-world problems.

As its name implies, there are two main branches in the field of I-O Psychology. One is industrial psychology, which is the older of the two branches. We will spend the last third of the course on topics central to industrial psychology, including job analysis, employee recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, and personnel training and development. As will be seen, some of these topics are highly technical, and professionals who work in this area usually have strong mathematical skills.

The other branch of I-O Psychology is organizational psychology. This is where we will begin the course. Many of the topics that fall under the heading of organizational psychology focus on the individual employee. These include issues related to work motivation, job satisfaction, and employee reactions to stress. Motivation is a particularly important concern in organizations, because it is often assumed (sometimes incorrectly) to be the primary determinant of performance on the job. We will address topics that focus on individual employees in the first third of the course. Then, in the middle third, we will cover a set of topics that look beyond the individual employee. These concern the social context of work. Almost all work takes place in a social environment, and a full understanding of workplace behavior and experience cannot be achieved without considering that environment. Thus, we will examine such topics as group dynamics and decision making, social power and influence, leadership, and organizational change. Regarding the last of these topics, implementing changes in organizations (which includes, but is not limited to, putting into practice some of the principles uncovered by the science of I-O Psychology) often requires the exercise of power, influence, and leadership. But a broader understanding of the change process itself is also useful.

Prerequisites

Prior to taking this course it is a requirement that students already have taken Psychology 100 (Introduction to Psychology) and Psychology 242 (Introduction to Research in Psychology). Both are important prerequisites -- it is not satisfactory to be taking either course concurrently with this one. I-O Psychology has a strong empirical orientation, as does this course. Not only will the course emphasize research findings bearing on the causes and consequences of people's behavior in work settings, we will take a close look at how some of those findings were produced. Thus, during each set of lectures we will consider in some depth a number of the most important research studies relevant to the topic at hand. Further, the optional writing project will ask you to discuss the details of two or more published empirical research studies. All of this requires a solid understanding of research design and methodology (the content of Psychology 242) and of psychology more broadly (the content of Psychology 100). A background in statistics is also helpful, but it is not a prerequisite for this course.

Class Attendance

Students are expected to attend every class meeting. A good deal of material will be presented in class that is NOT discussed in the textbook. Further, from time to time unannounced pop quizzes will be given during class. Pop quizzes that are missed because you are absent cannot be made up. Thus, by missing lectures you put your grade in the course at risk, because (a) you will be missing important material not found in the book that you will nevertheless be expected to know for the exams, and (b) you will miss the opportunity to earn points on pop quizzes that will count toward your course grade.

Lecture Slides

The lectures will be organized by topic, with each topic covered in 2 to 4 class periods (for a list of topics, see the table below under Reading Assignments). Approximately 24 hours before the first class period in which a given topic is covered, I will post on Blackboard the set of slides that I intend to use in the lectures on that topic. Each set of slides will cover one topic, and so will be used for as many as 4 class periods. I strongly recommend that you print these slides and bring them with you to class. This will greatly facilitate your note-taking. THE SLIDES ARE NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE LECTURES! I create slides that illustrate and amplify the points I make in class. I intentionally do not create slides that are simply an outline of the lectures. An extreme example is the slide to the right, which illustrates an important idea that is central to the entire course. It doesn't make a lot of sense by itself, but I promise that on the very first day of class you will come away understanding exactly what it means. In sum, while I believe that you will benefit from having the slides with you as I give the lectures, it is unlikely that you will benefit much by looking at the slides without the lectures.

Finally, from time to time I am likely to add, modify, or delete slides before I actually use them during a lecture but after I have already posted them on Blackboard. I will not re-post those slides on Blackboard, as doing so creates too much confusion. Instead, I will simply call attention to the additions, modifications, or deletions during the lectures.

Optional Writing Project

As part of the course you may elect to complete an optional writing project. It is called a "research translation" paper. Its goal is to allow you to demonstrate your understand of, and your ability to apply, original published research in I-O Psychology. PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU ELECT NOT TO COMPLETE THIS PROJECT, YOU WILL BE LIMITED TO A MAXIMUM GRADE OF "C" IN THE COURSE. For further details, see the next section below on grading.

The research translation paper requires that you (a) identify at least two recently-published research studies on a topic that is relevant to the course, (b) describe (translate) the content of those studies in a paper written for a professional audience, and (c) discuss the applied implications of those studies. The paper must convey useful, detailed, and understandable information about recent research in I-O Psychology, and must be written in a way that is understandable to a well-educated but non-technical professional reader (e.g., a human resources manager who has never taken a course in psychology!). If you elect to complete this project, you have the option of doing it either by yourself (i.e., as an individual contributor) or as part of a 3-person team. For a complete description of the project requirements, click the link below. Note that the project is presented there as if it were an employee work assignment, with you - and everyone else in the class - being new employees of a hypothetical company called BSC International. This whimsical framework is intended to give the project more meaning by setting it in a plausible business context. It was fun for me to imagine it that way, and I hope it will be fun for you to think of it that way as well!

Click here for a detailed description of the optional writing project requirements.

Please note the following project-related deadlines:

February 4, 2010:	Last Date to Declare a Project Team. If you intend to do the project as part of a 3-person team, you must declare this by Thursday, February 4th. If I don't hear from you by then, I will assume that you intend to do the project as an individual contributor (if at all).
March 2, 2010:	Last Date for Early Study Registration Bonus. Different students (and teams) may not write about the same research studies. Therefore, it will be necessary for you to "reserve" the research studies that you plan to translate. Once a study has been reserved, no one else may use it. To reserve a study for yourself (or your group), you must register it with course TA Olga Goldenberg (a.k.a. Editor-in-Chief of Research Translations, the hypothetical monthly newsletter for which you will be writing). The document describing the project requirements explains exactly how to do this (see link given above). I strongly recommend that you do not wait until the last minute to register your research studies. The longer you wait, the more likely it is that a study you would like to use will already be registered by someone else. If this happens, you cannot use that study. Thus, it is to your advantage to register your research studies early. To encourage early registration, a bonus will be applied to your project grade if you register your studies on or before Thursday, March 2nd. See the document describing the project requirements for further details.
March 19, 2010:	Last Date for Early Project Review Meeting Bonus. After you have identified and registered the research studies you intend to write about, but before you actually begin writing, it is usually very helpful to meet with the Editor-in-Chief of RT, Olga Goldenberg, in order to discuss the project. The purpose of this meeting is to review what you plan to say about the research studies themselves and about their applied implications. The Editor-in-Chief can often be very helpful in suggesting useful ways to structure and focus what you intend to say. There is no formal requirement that you have this meeting, but it is strongly recommended. Further, it is recommended that you have this meeting well before the project completion due date. To encourage you to have this meeting, and to have it early, a bonus will be applied to your project grade if you meet with the Editor-in-Chief on or before Friday, March 19th. See the document describing the project requirements for further details.
April 15, 2010:	Project Completion Deadline. The project is due at the beginning of class on Thursday, April 15, 2010 (the 13th week of the semester), but may be turned in anytime before that date. Both a hard copy and an identical electronic copy must be submitted. Your paper is not officially submitted until both copies have been submitted. A penalty will be imposed for late submissions. See the document describing the project requirements for further details.

Grading

Exams. Four exams will be given: three Progress Exams and a comprehensive Final Exam. A Progress Exam will be given approximately every five weeks during the semester (see the table below for exact dates). Each Progress Exam will cover only the material presented in the lectures and readings during the preceding five-week period. (Listed readings that have a "module rating" of 0 are an exception. These will not be covered in the exams. Click here for an explanation of what the "module ratings" mean.) The Final Exam will be comprehensive, covering material presented during the entire semester. Course grades will be base on three of these four exams, as follows:

(a) If you take all three Progress Exams, the Final Exam is optional. If you choose to take the Final Exam, I will drop whichever one of the four exam scores is lowest (i.e., I will count only your best three exam scores). If you choose to skip the Final Exam, I will simply use your three Progress Exam scores.

(b) If you miss one of the Progress Exams, the Final Exam is mandatory.

(c) If you miss more than one of the Progress Exams, the Final Exam is Mandatory, and you will be given a score of 0 for the additional missed Progress Exam(s). No make-up exams will be given.

Exam Score Curving Policy. If less than 15% of the class earns a score of 90 or above (i.e., equivalent to a grade of A) on a given Progress Exam, I will adjust everyone's exam score upward (by adding a constant) so that at least 15% of the class scores at or above 90. These adjustments (if necessary) will be made after first adding to your exam score any pop quiz points you have earned prior to that exam (see below). A similar adjustment will also be made to the final exam scores, but in this case the size of the adjustment will be set equal to the average of the adjustments made on the three Progress Exams.

Pop Quizzes. From time to time, short unannounced "pop" quizzes will be given. All pop quizzes will consist of 1, 2, or 3 questions, and will focus on material presented during the prior class period (e.g., a pop quiz given at the beginning of class on a Tuesday will focus on material presented in class the prior Thursday, and a pop quiz given at the end of class on any day will focus on material presented earlier during that same class period). Each question on a pop quiz will be worth 1 point, and these points will be added to your score on the subsequent Progress Exam covering the same material (e.g., points earned on pop quizzes given prior to the Progress Exam 1 will be added to the points you earn on Progress Exam 1 itself). One implication of this procedure is that it is possible to get a score of more than 100% on the Progress Exams.

Term Project. The grade you earn on the "research translation" project will take into account both the substance of what you have to say and the quality of your writing, with the latter contributing 30% of the project grade. Thus, it is important to have a well-written paper. A poorly written paper -- one that lacks a strong organizational structure, is hard to follow, contains awkward sentences, grammatical errors, misused or misspelled words, etc -- can easily cost you one or two full letter grades on the project. So please pay attention to the quality of the writing. It makes more different than most students realize. Clicking here to see the full set of criteria on which the term project will be graded, as well as how those criteria are weighted.

Final Grade Computation: At the end of the semester the grade you earn in the course will depend in part on whether or not you elected to complete the optional writing project.

(a) If you DO complete the optional writing project, your course grade will be based on four components: Your 3 best exams scores as described above, and your writing project score. Those scores, each expressed on a 0-100 percent scale, will be averaged, and then converted to a letter grade according to the schedule given in the table to the right. Thus, when computed in this way, the three exams will count for 75% of the grade, and the paper will count for 25%.

(b) If you DO NOT complete the optional writing project, your course grade will be based exclusively on the average of your 3 best exams scores, as described above. IN THIS CASE, HOWEVER, THE MAXIMUM GRADE YOU CAN EARN IN THE COURSE IS "C" - YOU CANNOT EARN A GRADE OF "A" or "B". This is true even if the average of your exam scores is above 80. On the other hand, completing the optional writing project does not automatically guarantee that you will get a better grade -- the quality of that paper, along with your exam scores, will determine the grade you get.

Average Percentage Score	Letter Grade
90-100	A
80-89	B
70-79	C
60-69	D
Below 60	E

Reading Assignments

The reading assignments that accompany each lecture topic can be found by clicking the associated link in the table below. All of the readings are from the textbook by Landy and Conte (2010). A complete reference for the textbook follows. It is available in the UIC bookstore.

Landy, F. J., & Conte, J. M. (2010). Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology (3/e). New York: Wiley/Blackwell.

Week #

Day & Date

Lecture Topic

Click Below for
Reading Assignments

T 1/12
Th 1/14

What Is I-O Psychology?

Reading Assignment (50 Pages)

2 - 3

T 1/19
Th 1/21
T 1/26
Th 1/28

Work Motivation

Reading Assignment (41 Pages)

T 2/2
Th 2/4

Job Attitudes

Th 2/4 is RT Team Declaration Deadline

Reading Assignment (53 Pages)

T 2/9
Th 2/11

Communication in Organizations

Reading Assignment (45 Pages)**

T 2/16

T 2/16: Exam 1

6 - 8

Th 2/18
T 2/23
Th 2/25
T 3/2

Group Processes

T 3/2 is RT Study Registration Bonus Deadline

Reading Assignment (59 Pages)

8 - 9

Th 3/4
T 3/9

Leadership

Reading Assignment (47 Pages)

9-10

Th 3/11
T 3/16

Power & Politics In Organizations

Reading Assignment (11 Pages)**

Th 3/18

Th 3/18: Exam 2

F 3/19 is RT Project Review Bonus Deadline

<< Spring Break >>

T 3/30
Th 4/1

Job Analysis

Reading Assignment (48 Pages)

12 - 13

T 4/6
Th 4/8
T 4/13
Th 4/15

Personnel Selection

Th 4/15 is RT Feature Article Due

Reading Assignment (82 Pages)

T 4/20
Th 4/22

Performance Appraisal

Reading Assignment (23 Pages)

14 - 15

Th 4/22
T 4/27

Training in Organizations

Reading Assignment (29 Pages)

Th 4/29

Th 4/29: Exam 3

Finals

Week

F 5/7

Final Exam, F 5/7, 1:00-3:00, C1 Lecture Center

(Date, Time, & Location are Tentative)

Students With Disabilities

Students with disabilities who require accommodation for access and participation in this course should contact the instructor as soon as possible after the start of the semester. All such students must be registered with the Disability Resource Center (DRC). Please contact DRC at 312-413-2183 (voice) or 312-413-0123 (TTY).

LAS Course Drop Policy

Students may drop courses without penalty during the first ten days of the semester (through Friday of Week 2). From Week 3 through Week 10 students are entitled to a total of four "late drops" during their enrollment at UIC. To "late drop" a course, students must see an LAS advisor. The LAS Advising Office is located on the third floor of University Hall. Advisors may be seen by appointment (996-3366), or during advising walk-in days (Tuesdays, 8:30a to 3:00p, and at selected other times).