HISTORY OF INDUSTRIAL AND
ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
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Industrial and organizational concepts
emerged during the early 1900s.
The common terms for the field were
“Economic Psychology”, “Business
Psychology”, and Employment
Psychology”.
INDUSTRIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY
-
Walter Dill Scott
- He published two works in 1911:
"Influencing Men in Business" and
"Increasing Human Efficiency in
Business," which advanced I/O.
- He was highly interested in the role of
psychology in advertising. He postulated
that most consumers would not act
rationally, therefore enhancing the power
of suggestibility.
Frederick Taylor
- He contributed to early I/O by applying
more scientific rigor to business and
management with his time-study methods
that sought to quantify how much work
could be done in a certain amount of time
by workers.
Frank and Lilian Gilbreth
- Pioneered motion studies, which similarly
sought to improve training and efficiency
in employee processes by analyzing exact
motions made during a day's work.
Time-motion studies are the natural
combination of these two techniques and
are still used today.
Hugo Munsterberg
- Published "Psychology and Industrial
Efficiency," which laid the groundwork for
what we now refer to as I/O psychology.
- The goal was to help organizations shape
workers as needed to improve.
- “Father of Psychology”
World War I
- I/O made an impact during World War I
when it was used to improve soldier
selection, performance, and morale.
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A branch of psychology that applies the
principles of psychology to the workplace.
Its purpose is to enhance the dignity and
performance of human beings and the
organizations they work in by advancing
the science and knowledge of human
behavior.
Industrial Approach: Focuses on
determining the competencies needed to
perform a job, staffing the organization
with employees who have those
competencies, and increasing those
competencies through training.
Organizational Approach: Creates an
organizational structure and culture that
will motivate employees to perform well,
provide them with the necessary
information to do their jobs, and offer
working conditions that are safe and result
in an enjoyable and satisfying work
environment.
MAJOR FIELDS OF IO PSYCHOLOGY
Personnel Psychology
● Study and practice in areas such as
analyzing jobs, recruiting applicants,
selecting employees, determining salary
levels, training employees, and evaluating
employee performance.
● Professionals working in these areas
choose existing tests or create new ones
that can be used to select and promote
employees.
● Personnel psychologists also analyze jobs
to obtain a complete picture of what each
employee does, often assigning monetary
values to each position.
● Psychologists in this area also examine
various methods that can be used to train
and develop employees.
● Individuals within this subfield usually work
in a training department of an organization
and are involved in activities such as
identifying the organization's training
needs, developing training programs, and
evaluating training success.
Organizational Psychology
● Concerned with issues of leadership, job
satisfaction, employee motivation,
organizational communication, conflict
management, organizational change, and
group processes within an organization.
● Organizational psychologists often
conduct surveys of employee attitudes to
gain insights into what employees believe
are an organization's strengths and
weaknesses.
● Organizational psychologists make
recommendations on ways problem areas
can be improved.
● Professionals in organization development
implement organization-wide programs
designed to improve employee
performance.
Human Factors or Ergonomics
● Concentrate on workplace design,
human-machine interaction, ergonomics,
and physical fatigue and stress.
● These psychologists frequently work with
engineers and other technical
professionals to make the workplace safer
and more efficient.
● Sample activities in this subfield have
included designing the optimal way to
draw a map, designing the most
comfortable chair, and investigating the
optimal work schedule.
JOB ANALYSIS
- Foundation for all human resource
activities.
- The process of studying positions,
describing the duties and responsibilities
that go with jobs, and grouping similar
positions into job categories.
- Refers to a systematic process of
collecting all information about a specific
job, including skill requirements, roles,
responsibilities and processes in order to
create a valid job description.
- Job analysis also gives an overview of the
physical, emotional, and related human
qualities required to execute the job
successfully.
- Job Analysis Program: Undertaken
when the organization is starting
operations, a new job is created, a job is
changed significantly by the nature of
operations, technology introduction and
restructuring.
IMPORTANCE OF JOB ANALYSIS
1. Writing Job Description
- Job analysis and job descriptions serve as
the basis for many HR activities including
employee selection, evaluation, training,
and work design.
2. Employee Selection
- It is difficult to imagine how an employee
can be selected unless there is a clear
understanding of the tasks performed and
the competencies needed to perform the
tasks.
- By identifying such requirements, it is
possible to select tests or develop
interview questions that will determine
whether a particular applicant possesses
the necessary knowledge, skills, and
abilities to carry out the requirements of
the job.
3. Training
- Job analyses yield lists of job activities
that can be systematically used to create
training programs.
4. Person-Power Planning
- Use job analysis to determine worker
mobility within an organization.
- Many organizations have a policy of
promoting the person who performs the
best in the job.
- Although this approach has its
advantages, it can result in the so-called
Peter Principle.
- Job Analysis results are used to compare
all jobs in the company to the supervisor's
job.
5. Performance Appraisal
- It is used for construction of a
performance appraisal instrument.
- The use of specific, job-related categories
leads to more accurate performance
appraisals that are better accepted not
only by employees but also by courts.
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When properly administered and utilized,
job-related performance appraisals can
serve as an excellent source of employee
training and counseling.
6. Job Classification
- Job Analysis enables a human resources
professional to classify jobs into groups
based on similarities in requirements and
duties.
- Job classification is useful for determining
pay levels, transfers, and promotions.
7. Job Evaluation
- Job Evaluation is a method that is used to
produce a hierarchy of jobs in an
organization as the basis for determining
relative pay levels.
- It seeks to measure the relative value of
jobs, not that of the job holders.
8. Job Design
- Also referred to as work design or task
design.
- It is a core function of IO psychology.
- Refers to the “Content and Organization of
one’s work tasks, activities, relationships,
and responsibilities.
9. Compliance with Legal Guidelines
10. Organizational Analysis
- Focuses on finding ways to improve
culture and organizational structure to
motivate employees, and improve job
satisfaction and productivity.
WRITING A GOOD JOB DESCRIPTION
● For a job description to be of value, it must
describe a job in enough detail that
decisions about activities such as
selection and training can be made.
● The concern is that an employee, referring
to the job description as support, might
respond, "It's not my job." This can be
countered with two arguments:
● Duties can always be added to a job
description, which can, and should, be
updated on a regular basis.
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The phrase "and performs other
job-related duties as assigned" should be
included in the job description.
8 SECTIONS OF JOB DESCRIPTION
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Job Title
Brief Summary
Work Activities
Tools and Equipment Used
Job Context
Work Performance
Compensation Information
Job Competencies
PREPARING FOR A JOB ANALYSIS
Who will conduct the Job Analysis?
● Trained individual in the Human Resources
department
● Job incumbents
● Supervisors
● Outside consultants
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If job incumbents or supervisors are used,
it is essential that they be thoroughly
trained in analysis procedures.
Consultants are a good choice for
conducting a job analysis because they
are well trained and have extensive
experience.
* Disadvantage: Expense
How often should a Job Description be
updated?
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Job changes significantly
Job Crafting - The informal changes that
employees make in their jobs.
Job crafting is about taking proactive steps
and actions to redesign what we do at
work, essentially changing tasks,
relationships, and perceptions of our jobs
(Berg et al., 2007). The main premise is
that we can stay in the same role, getting
more meaning out of our jobs simply by
changing what we do and the 'whole point'
behind it.
Which Employees should participate?
●
In organizations with relatively few people
in each job, it is advisable to have all
employees participate in the job analysis.
● In organizations in which many people
perform the same job, not every person
needs to participate.
● If every incumbent is not going to
participate, the question becomes, "How
many people need to be included in the
job analysis?"
The answer to this question, to some extent,
depends on whether the job analysis will be
considered based or field-based.
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Committee-based Job Analysis: A
group of subject matter experts (e.g.,
employees, supervisors) meet to generate
the tasks performed, the conditions under
which they are performed, and the KSAOs
needed to perform them.
Field-based Job Analysis: The job
analyst individually interviews or observes
a number of incumbents out in the field.
After the number of participants has been
determined, a decision needs to be made about
which particular employees will participate.
What types of Information should be obtained?
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Level of specificity
Should the job analysis break a job down
into specific behaviors or should the job
be analyzed at a more general level?
The job analysis is more effective at a
more detailed level.
Including informal requirements has the
advantages of identifying and eliminating
duties that may be illegal or unnecessary.
CONDUCTING A JOB ANALYSIS
Goals of most job analyses: To identify the tasks
performed in a job, the conditions under which the
tasks are performed, and the KSAOs needed to
perform the tasks under the identified conditions.
❖ Step 1: Identify tasks performed
Identify the major job dimensions and the
tasks performed for each dimension, the
tools and equipment used to perform the
tasks, and the conditions under which the
tasks are performed. This information is
usually gathered by:
➢ Gathering existing information
➢ Interviewing Subject Matter Experts: obtain
information about the job level rather than about
the person doing the job.
● Individual interview: The job analyst
interviews only one employee at a time.
● Group interview or SME conference: A
larger number of employees are
interviewed together.
➢ Observing Incumbents
The job analyst observes incumbents
performing their jobs in the work setting.
➢ Job Participation
It is easier to understand every aspect of
a job once you have done it yourself.
- The technique is easily used when the
analyst has previously performed the job.
Formal versus Informal Requirement
Formal Requirement
The actual duties of the job.
e.g. Formal requirements for a secretary
might include typing letters or filing
memos.
Informal Requirement
Extra jobs
e.g. making coffee or picking up the boss's
children from school.
e.g. A supervisor who has worked her way
up through the ranks
❖ Step 2: Write task statements
- A properly written task statement must
contain:
➢ Action: What is done.
➢ Object: To which the action is done.
Characteristics of well-written task
statements:
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One action should be done to one object.
Task statements should be written at a
level that can be read and understood by
a person with the same reading ability as
the typical job incumbent.
All task statements should be written in
the same tense.
It should include the tools and equipment
used to complete the task.
Task statements should not be
competencies.
Task statements should make sense by
themselves.
For the activities that involve decision
making, the level of authority should be
indicated.
❖ Step 3: Rate Task Statements
- Once the task statements have been
written, the next step is to conduct a task
analysis.
- * Task analysis: Using a group of SMEs
to rate each task statement on the
frequency and the importance or criticality
of the task being performed.
❖ Step 4: Determine essential KSAOs
● Knowledge: A body of information
needed to perform a task.
● Skill: The proficiency to perform a learned
task.
● Ability: A basic capacity for performing a
wide range of different tasks, acquiring
knowledge, or developing a skill.
● Other characteristics include personal
factors such as personality, willingness,
interest, and motivation and tangible
factors such as licenses, degrees, and
years of experience.
❖ Step 5: Selecting tests to tap KSAOs
- Tests such as interviews, work samples,
ability tests, personality tests, reference
checks, integrity tests, biodata, and
assessment centers
- .
OTHER JOB ANALYSIS METHODS
(Methods Providing General Information
about Worker Activities)
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Position Analysis Questionnaire
(PAQ): A structured instrument
developed at Purdue University by
McCormick, Jeanneret, and Mecham.
Job Structure Profile: A revised
version of the PAQ developed by
Patrick and Moore.
Job Elements Inventory: Another
instrument designed as an alternative to
the PAQ by Cornelius and Hakel.
Functional Job Analysis: Another
instrument designed as an alternative to
the PAQ by Cornelius and Hakel.
RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
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Recruitment is the process of searching
for and securing applicants for various job
positions so that the right people in the
right numbers can be selected to fill the
job positions that arise from time to time in
organizations.
The process of SELECTION and
PLACEMENT follows sequentially after
recruitment. The total process of
recruitment, selection, and placement can
be called the hiring process.
➢The need for additional personnel is
identified (human resource planning)
➢ Review and analyze the manpower
requirements.
➢ The human resource department will
announce the need for manpower.
➢ The recruitment officer must identify the
knowledge, skills, and abilities required for
the vacant position.
➢ The reference for the qualification
requirements is in the existing job
description.
What are the Two Major Sources of
Candidates to Fill the Vacant Positions?
A. Internal Source: These are qualified
candidates from the company and within the
ranks of its present employees.
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Advantage of boosting the morale of other
employees and encouraging them to
perform well (employees look forward to a
brighter future).
Career development and career mobility
opportunities are provided (promotions
generate a chain effect since they lead to
vacant positions).
B. External Source: Hiring from an outside
source is a management option.
● No one from within the next rank of
employees can successfully perform the
job.
● New vacant positions require added skills
due to the introduction of new technology.
● The culture of conflict among employees
who are vying for a new position.
Different Methods of Human Resource
Recruitment
Job Posting: Every time a position becomes
available, it is posted on the company bulletin
board for the information of all interested parties.
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It should specify and contain the job
description, the department where there is
a vacancy, salary grade, work schedule,
and working conditions.
The Word-of-Mouth System: It is one of the least
expensive recruitment systems.
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As soon as people learn that there's a job
opening, the word spreads around.
The Chinese company would prefer an
applicant who is recommended by
somebody who is loyal and tested and has
worked with them for a number of years.
Advertising Media: A popular and effective means
of soliciting applicants is advertising through
media, newspapers, magazines, radio, or
television.
● For hiring executive positions, the services
of a consultancy agency may be
employed.
● The ad must contain the duties and
responsibilities of the position.
● Sunday is the best day of the week to put
an ad.
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The time of the year could also affect the
applicants' response. Not many applicants
would be available in the months of
November and December due to the 13th
month pay and other company incentives.
Respond by Calling: Quickly screen the
applicants or hear an applicant's voice.
Apply in person: Want to get a physical
look at the applicant.
What are Blind Ads?
- These are ads that do not reveal the
identity of the company; instead, they give
a box number where the resume or
pertinent papers will be forwarded.
Walk-Ins and Unsolicited Applicants:
- A possible source of outstanding
employees.
- Most often, the application letters or
resumes are put in the waste basket or, at
times, put in a file.
Campus or University Recruitment:
- Many organizations send recruiters to
colleges to answer questions about
themselves and available positions.
Job Fair and Open House:
- Organizational representatives of the
company gather and interview several
applicants over a period of one or two
days in some specified fields.
● Some job fairs are conducted during the
weekend at town centers or any
convenient place in the town or city.
Government Agencies:
An employment service operated by a
state or local government, designed to
match applicants with job openings.
- Executive search firms, better known as
"Head Hunters."
Radio and Television:
- Used as mediums for manpower
recruitment.
- The coverage of advertisements is of
great magnitude, reaching more qualified
applicants.
The Internet:
- Company profiles and job placements
could eventually come into the internet.
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➢ Situation Wanted Ads:The following
advantages are:
Application letters or resumes could
immediately be sent to the company.
Immediate answers could be available
through email.
Immediate needs of the company
regarding manpower requirements could
be answered in a short time.
They are less costly and get an immediate
response.
2. Unstructured Interview: provides no
specific reference, and the applicant is given a
free hand in talking about themselves while the
interviewer makes an assessment.
Style of Interview
● One-on-one interview: Involves one
interviewer interviewing one applicant.
● Serial Interview: Involves a series of
single interviews.
● Panel or Roundtable Interview:
Usually done for managerial and
supervisory interviews, with multiple
interviewers asking questions and
evaluating answers.
● Group Interviews: Multiple applicants
answering questions during the same
interview.
SELECTION PROCESS
Problems with Unstructured Interview
1. Preliminary
Screening
5. Evaluating
References
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2. Application
Form
6. Physical
Examination
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3. Testing and
Evaluation
Results
7. Placement
4. In-DepthInterview
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PRELIMINARY SCREENING
Types of Interview
1. Structured Interview: follows a set of
procedures, and the interviewer sets the lead.
➢ Job-related questions
➢ All applicants are asked the same question.
➢ There is a standardized scoring key to
evaluate each answer.
Advantages of Structured Interview
● More focused on job-relatedness and
standardized scoring.
● Questions are based on job analysis.
● Taps job knowledge, job skills, applied
mental skills, and interpersonal skills.
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Poor Intuitive Ability: Interviewers base
their hiring decision on gut reactions or
intuition.
Lack of job relatedness: Not being
job-related.
- Why should I hire you?
- What do you see yourself five
years from now?
- What do you really want to do in
life?
Primary Effects: or “first impression”
information presented early in an
interview carries more weight than
information presented later.
Contrast Effect: The performance of
one applicant affects the perception of
the performance of the next applicant.
Interviewer-Applicant Similarities:
Applicants receive a higher score if they
are similar to the interviewer in terms of
personality, attitude and race
Interviewee Appearance:
Attractiveness bias occurred for men
and women.
Non-verbal communication:
Appropriate non-verbal communication
is highly correlated with interview
scores.
Types of Interview Questions
1. Clarifier: allow the interviewer to clarify
information in the resume, cover letter and
application, fill in gaps and obtain other
necessary information.
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Ex. “I noticed a three-year gap between
two of your jobs. Could you tell me
about that?”
2. Disqualifiers: Questions in which a wrong
answer will disqualify a person from further
consideration.
Areas:
● Work schedules (overtime, days of work)
● Start dates
● Criminal/driving/credit history
● Willingness to perform tasks
● Minimum qualifications (e.g. age, licenses,
degrees, experience)
● Previous work problems
- Being fired (frequency, reason)
- Job hopping
3. Past focus (behavioral description): Focus
on what the applicant has done rather than
what they can do.
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Best predictor of future performance is
past performance
Past situation must be similar to future
situation
Can tap directly related experience(e.g.
bank teller) or experience with similar
skill set (e.g., customer service)
4. Skill or Knowledge Focus
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Skill-level determiner: A type of
structured interview question designed
to tap an applicant's knowledge or skill.
Definitional Questions: “What is
psychology?”
Knowledge Questions: “At what age
does an applicant become a protected
class?”
Casual Questions: “What would happen
if you hired someone that is not fit for
the job?”
Situational Questions: “What would you
do if you figured that your SPSS is not
working during a stat exam?”
Explanatory Questions: “Why do you
have to screen an applicant first before
moving them to the hiring manager
interview?”
5. Future Focus (situational)/Situational
Questions
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Future Focused Questions: a type of
structured interview question in which
applicant are given a
situation and asked how they would handle it.
● Can tap an applicant's:
1. Knowledge
2. Problem-solving ability
3. Common sense
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Be careful about using situations that:
Require training/experience if the
position is entry level
Require knowledge of company
knowledge, policy, or philosophy
Are easy to fake
Example of Future-focused Questions: What
small changes can you make in your life today
that will have a big impact in your future?
6. Organizational-fit Questions: A type of
structured interview questions that taps how
well an applicant's personality and values will fit
with the organization culture.
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Designed to tap how well the applicant
will fit with the:
○ Organization
○ Department
○ Supervisor
○ Coworker
These are the most difficult types of
questions
Care must be taken so that
characteristics such as age, sex or race
are not considered
Example of Organizational-Fit Questions:
What type of work pace is best for you?
THE APPLICATION FORM
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By careful screening, the employee's
information may be found closely
related to success on the job.
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Includes: education, the school where
courses were attended, years of
experience in a particular job, salary
received, membership in organizations.
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Graphology: The art and science of
analyzing individuals' traits through
handwriting. It can reveal the level of
intelligence, emotional stability,
imagination and ability to work with
others as well as discovers talents and
capabilities.
TESTING AND EVALUATION OF
RESULTS
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Testing is commonly associated
with predicting subsequent
performance on the job.
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Tests are still commonly used
instruments for determining the
qualifications and talents of
applicants.
Integrity Test (also called Honesty
Test)
Psychological Test
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PREDICTING PERFORMANCE
Using Personality, Interest, and
Character
Personality Inventories
- Has 2 Categories
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Measurement of types of normal
personality.
Measurement of
psychopathology
Determination of the number
and type of personality
dimensions measured by an
inventory can usually be:
a. Based on a theory
- Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator
- Edwards Personal
Preference Schedule
- 16 Personality Factor
- Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory - 2
(MMPI-2)
- Big Five or Five Factor
Model
- Hogan Personality
Inventory
- NEO-PI
b. Statistically based
c. Empirically based
Measuring device, a yardstick
applied in consistent and
systematic fashion to measure a
of behavior
Characteristics of Psychological
Test
- Standardization
- Objectivity
- Norms
- Reliability
- Validity
Using References and Letters of
Recommendation- Prior Experience
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Reference Checks
Reference
Letter of Recommendation
Reasons for using References and
Recommendations
● Confirming details on a resume
● Checking for discipline problems
● Discovering new information
about the applicant
● Predicting future performance
Using Applicant Training and
Education
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GPA predicts performance,
training performance,
promotions, salary, and graduate
school performance.
Using Applicant Knowledge
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Designed to measure how much
a person knows about a job.
Using Applicant Ability
Interest Inventories
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The theory behind these test is
that an individual with interest
similar to those of people in a
particular field will more likely be
satisfied than in a field
composed of people whose
interests are dissimilar
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Ability Tests: Tap the extent to
which an applicant can learn or
perform a job-related skill.
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Cognitive Ability Tests: Oral
and written comprehension,
numerical facility, originality,
memorization, reasoning
(mathematical, deductive,
inductive), and general
reasoning
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Perceptual Ability: Consists of
vision, color discrimination,
depth perception, glare
sensitivity, speech (clarity
recognition) and hearing
(sensitivity, auditory attention,
sound localization)
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Psychomotor Ability: Includes
finger dexterity, manual dexterity,
control precision, multi limb
coordination, response control,
reaction time, arm-hand
readiness, wrist finger speed,
speed of limb movement
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Physical Ability: Often used for
jobs that require physical
strength and stamina
EMPLOYEE TRAINING AND
DEVELOPMENT
● Exposure of new hires to some
kind of training before they can be
maximally effective on a new job is
essential.
● Training also increases employee
productivity and efficiency.
PROCESS OF TRAINING IN AN
ORGANIZATION
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Determining the Training Needs
- Needs Analysis (Three Types):
Organizational Analysis, Task
Analysis, Person Analysis.
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Establishing Goals and Objectives
- Importance of determining what
the organization wants to
accomplish
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Choosing the Best Training Method
○ Lecture
○ Case Study
○ Simulation Exercises
○ Role Play
○ Behavior Modeling
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Motivating Employees to Attend
Training.
○ Make the training Interesting
Factors Affecting Training Success
● Employees must have the skills and
ability to complete the training
● There should be minimal factors that
might distract the employee and keep
him from concentrating on the training
program
● Employees must be motivated to learn
● The training method must be a good
match for the employees learning style,
ability and personality
● The training method must be a good
match for the type of material being
learned
● There must be an opportunity and
encouragement to use the newly
acquired knowledge at work
Ensuring Transfer of Training
● Transfer of training will be greater when
the training situation is similar to the
actual job situation
● Transfer of training can also be
increased by teaching concepts, basic
principles, and the "big picture" rather
than just specific facts or techniques.
METHODS OF EVALUATING RESULTS
Method 1: Performance or job knowledge must
be measured twice
● Pre and post-test
Method 2: Control Group and Experimental
Group
● Experimental Group will have the
training and the control group will not
● Allows a researcher to look at the
training effect after controlling for
outside factors
Method 3: Solomon four-groups design.
● Experimental Group will have the
training and the control group will not
● Allows researcher to control for outside
factors and control for any pretest effect
EVALUATION CRITERIA
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Content Validity: Comparing training
content with the knowledge, skills, and
abilities required to perform a job.
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Employee Reactions:
○ Involves asking employees if they
enjoyed and learned from the training.
○ Employee reactions had only a small
correlation with learning and application
of training
higher the internal consistency,
as all of the items measure the
same thing.
Methods used to determine internal
consistency:
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Employee Learning: The
measurements that will be used for the
pretest and posttest, as with selection
tests, must be both reliable and valid.
1) Split-half Method: A form of internal
reliability in which the consistency of item
responses is determined by comparing scores
on half of the items with scores on the other
half.
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Application of Training: The extent to
which employees can use the learned
material.
2) Cronbach's Coefficient Alpha: A statistic
used to determine the internal reliability of tests
that use interval or ratio scales.
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Business Impact: Evaluates whether
the goals for training were met.
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Return of Investment: Did the
organization save money?
3) Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 (K-R20): A
statistic used to determine the internal reliability
of tests that use items with dichotomous
answers (Yes/No, True/False).
d. Scorer Reliability: The extent to
which two people scoring a test agree
on the test score, or the extent to which
a test is scored correctly.
- A test or inventory can have
homogenous items and yield
heterogeneous scores and still
not be reliable if the person
scoring the test makes mistakes.
CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE
SELECTION TECHNIQUES
-
Effective selection techniques have four
characteristics: (1) Reliable, (2) Valid, (3)
Cost-Efficient, (4) Fair and Legally
Defensible
VALIDITY
RELIABILITY
-
The extent to which a score from a
selection measure is stable and free
from error.
Test reliability is determined in four
ways:
a. Test-Retest Reliability: The
extent to which repeated
administration of the same test
will achieve similar results.
b. Alternate-Forms Reliability:
The extent to which two forms of
the same test are similar.
c. Internal Reliability: The extent
to which similar items are
answered in similar ways,
referred to as internal
consistency.
The longer the test, the higher
its internal consistency.
- Item Homogeneity: One factor
that affects the internal reliability
of a test. The more
homogenous the items, the
-
The degree to which inferences from
scores on tests or assessments are
justified by the evidence.
A test must be valid to be useful, but
just because a test is reliable does not
mean it is valid.
Reliability and validity are not the same
but they are related.
Common Strategies to investigate the
validity of scores on a test:
a. Content Validity: The extent to which test
items sample the content that they are
supposed to measure. The test will not be
content valid if it requires knowledge that is
outside of the appropriate domains.
b. Criterion Validity: The extent to which a test
score is related to some measure of job
performance.
c. Construct Validity: The extent to which a
test actually measures the construct that it
purports to measure.
d. Face Validity: The extent to which a test
appears to be job-related. Beware of Barnum
statements, which are statements so general
that they can be true of almost everyone.
e. Known Group: Test scores from two
contrasting groups "known" to differ on a
construct/trait in question.
f. Concurrent Validity: A test given to a group
of employees who are already on the job, with
the scores then correlated to measure the
employees' current performance.
g. Predictive Validity: A test given to a group
of applicants who are going to be hired, with
test scores then compared with a future
measure of job performance.
EVALUATING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE
Step 1: Determine the Reason for Evaluating
Employee Performance
●
●
●
●
●
Providing Employee Training and
Feedback:
Improve employee performance
by providing feedback about
what employees are doing right
and wrong.
Determine Salary Increase:
Provides a fair basis on which
to determine an employee's
salary increase.
Making Promotion Decisions:
Peter Principle: The promotion
of employees until they reach
their highest level of
incompetence.
Ensure that the employee is
evaluated well on the job
dimensions that are similar to
those of the new position.
Making Termination Decisions:
When performance
management techniques are not
successful, the results of a
performance review might
suggest that the best course of
action is to terminate the
employee.
Conducting Personnel Research
Step 2: Identify Environmental and
Cultural Limitations
For example, in an environment in which
employees are very cohesive, the use
of peer ratings might reduce
cohesiveness.
Step 3: Determine who will Evaluate
Performance
●
●
360-degree feedback:
Multiple source feedback.
1. Supervisors:
Though supervisors may not see every
minute of an employee's behavior, they
see the end result.
2. Peers:
Peer ratings usually come from
employees who work directly with an
employee.
Other employees in the organization,
those who often come in contact with
the employee, can also provide useful
information.
Peer ratings are fairly reliable only
when the peers who make the ratings
are similar to and well acquainted with
the employees being rated.
3. Subordinates or Upward Feedback:
Subordinate ratings can be difficult to
obtain because employees fear
backlash if they unfavorably rate their
supervisor.
4. Customers:
Informally, customers provide feedback
on employee performance by fixing
complaints or complimenting a manager
about one of her employees.
Formally, customers provide feedback
by completing evaluation cards.
Secret Shoppers: Current customers
who have been enlisted by a company
to periodically evaluate the service they
receive.
5. Self-Appraisal:
Employee self-appraisals tend to suffer
from leniency and correlate only
moderately with actual performance and
poorly with subordinate and
management ratings.
Step 4: Select the Best Appraisal
Methods to Accomplish Your Goals
Decision 1: Focus on the Appraisal
Dimensions:
❖ Trait-Focused Performance
Dimensions:
●
●
●
Concentrates on such employee
attributes as dependability,
honesty, and courtesy.
They provide poor feedback and
thus will not result in employee
development and growth.
For example: The supervisor
tells an employee that she
received low ratings on
responsibility and friendliness.
The employee will want specific
examples the supervisor may
not have available. The only
developmental advice the
supervisor can offer would be to
"be more responsible and
friendly." Such advice is not
specific enough for the
employee to change her
behavior.
❖ Competency-Focused Performance
Dimensions:
● Concentrate on the employee's
knowledge, skills, and abilities
.
● Advantage: It is easy to provide
feedback and suggest the steps
necessary to correct
deficiencies.
●
For example: If an employee is
evaluated as having poor writing
skills, the obvious corrective
measure would be for the
employee to take a writing
course.
❖ Task-Focused Performance
Dimensions:
● Organized by the similarity of
tasks that are performed.
●
Advantage: It is often easier to
evaluate performance than with
the other dimensions.
●
Disadvantage: It is more difficult
to offer suggestions for how to
correct the deficiency if an
employee scores low on a
dimension.
Decision 2: Should Dimensions be
Weighted?
● Some dimensions might be more important to
an organization than others.
○ For example, the dimension of patient care
would be more important for a nurse than
keeping a professional appearance.
● Many organizations choose to weigh all
performance dimensions equally because it is
administratively easier to compute and to
explain to employees.
Decision 3: Use of Employee Comparisons,
Objective Measures, or Ratings:
1. Employee Comparisons:
● Employees are compared with one
another instead of being rated
individually on a scale.
● The greatest problem with all of the
employee-comparison methods is that
they do not provide information about
how well an employee is actually doing.
❖ Rank Order
● Employees are ranked in order by their
judged performance for each relevant
dimension.
● It is easily used when there are only a
few employees to rank.
❖ Paired Comparison
● It involves comparing each possible pair
of employees and choosing which one
of each pair is the better employee.
● To determine how many comparisons
can be made:
Number of comparisons = n(n-1)/2, where n =
Number of employees.
❖ Forced Distribution or Rank and Yank
● A predetermined percentage of
employees are placed in each of the
five categories.
● To use the method, one must assume
that employee performance is normally
distributed, that there are certain
percentages of employees who are
poor, average, and excellent.
Disadvantages:
● Employee performance probably
is not normally distributed
because of the restriction of
range.
● There are probably few terrible
employees because they either
were never hired or were quickly
fired.
2. Objective Measures:
● Quantity of Work:
- It is obtained by simply counting
the number of relevant job
behaviors that take place.
- For example, a production
specialist is assessed by the
number of units he/she is able to
process.
●
Quality of Work:
- Measured in terms of errors,
which are defined as deviations
from a standard.
- To obtain the measure of quality,
there must be a standard
against which to compare an
employee's work.
●
Attendance:
- Separated into three distinct
areas: absenteeism, tardiness,
and tenure.
●
Safety:
- Employees who follow safety
rules and who have no
occupational accidents do not
cost an organization as much
money as those who break
rules, equipment, and possibly
their own bodies.
3. Rating Performance:
● Graphic Rating Scale
- 5 to 10 dimensions
accompanied by words such as
"excellent" and "poor" anchoring
the ends of the scale.
●
Behavioral Checklist:
- Consists of a list of behaviors,
expectations, or results for each
dimension.
- When creating the statements
for each dimension, one should
carefully consider whether to
write the statements in the form
of behaviors or in the form of
results.
- Behavioral Anchored Rating
Scales (BARS): Use critical
incidents (samples of behavior)
to formally provide meaning to
numbers on a rating scale.
○ Mixed-Standard Scales
○ Forced-Choice Scales
Step 5: Train Raters
●
Training supervisors to become aware
of the various rating errors and how to
avoid them often increases accuracy
and reduces rating errors, increases the
validity of tests validated against the
ratings, and increases employee
satisfaction with the ratings.
●
Frame-of-Reference Training: It
provides raters with job-related
information, practice in rating, and
examples of ratings made by experts as
well as the rationale behind those
expert ratings.
- Goal of frame-of-reference
training: To communicate the
organization's definition of
effective performance and to
then get raters to consider only
relevant employee behaviors
when making performance
evaluations.
Step 6: Observe and Document
Performance
●
Critical Incidents:
- Are examples of excellent and
poor employee performance.
- Critical incident logs: Formal
accounts of excellent and poor
employee performance that
were observed by the
supervisor.
●
Employee Performance Record:
- This method consists of a
two-color form.
- Half of the sheet is used
to record examples of
good behaviors, and the
other half to record
examples of poor
behaviors.
- On each side, there are
columns for each of the
relevant performance
dimensions.
Step 7: Evaluate Performance
●
Obtaining and Reviewing Objective
Data
○ For example, a production supervisor
might review the number of days an
employee was absent, number of units
produced, and the tons of material
wasted.
● Reading Critical-Incident Logs
○ Reading these incidents should reduce
errors of primacy, recency, and attention
to unusual information.
● Completing the Rating Form:
○ The supervisor is ready to assign
performance appraisal ratings.
○ While making these ratings, the
supervisor must be careful not to make
common rating errors:
1. Distribution Errors: Made when a rater
uses only one part of a rating scale.
- Leniency Error: Raters tend to
rate every employee at the
upper end of the scale
regardless of the actual
performance of the employee.
- Central Tendency Error: A
supervisor rating every
employee in the middle of the
scale.
- Strictness Error: Rates every
employee at the low end of the
scale.
2. Halo Errors
- Raters allow either a single
attribute or an overall impression
of an individual to affect the
ratings that she makes on each
relevant job dimension.
- Occur especially when the rater
has little knowledge of the job
and is less familiar with the
person being rated.
3. Proximity Error
- Rating is made on one
dimension affects the rating
made on the dimension that
immediately follows it on the
rating scale.
4. Contrast Error
- The performance rating one
person receives can be
influenced by the performance of
a previously evaluated person.
Step 8: Communicate Appraisal Results
to Employees
●
"Tell and sell" approach: A supervisor
"tells" an employee everything she has
done poorly and then "sells" her on
ways she can improve.
Prior to the Interview:
●
Allocating Time: Both the supervisor
and the employee must have time to
prepare for the review interview.
●
Scheduling the Interview:
Performance appraisal review
interviews should be scheduled at least
once every 6 months after an employee
begins working for the organization.
●
Preparing for the Interview:
Supervisor should review the ratings
she has assigned to the employee and
the reasons for those ratings.
●
Feedback Sandwich: Positive
feedback generally should be given first,
followed by the negative feedback, and
finishing with more positive feedback.
●
Fundamental Attribution Error:
Attribute others' failure or poor
performance to personal rather than
situational factors.
●
At the conclusion of the interview, goals
should be mutually set for future
performance and behavior, and both
supervisor and employee should
understand how these goals will be met.
Step 9: Terminate Employees
Employee-at-Will Doctrine:
● In the private sector, the
employment-at-will doctrine in most
states allows employers the freedom to
fire an employee without a reason.
● In the public sector, an employee can be
fired only for cause.
Legal Reasons for Terminating Employees:
● Probationary Period
- To prove that they can perform
well.
- Employees can be terminated
more easily during the
probationary period than at any
other time.
● Violation of Company Rules:
- A rule against a particular
behavior.
- Discipline can begin with
something simple such as
counseling or an oral warning,
move on to a written warning or
probation, and end with steps
such as reduction in pay,
demotion, or termination.
● Inability to Perform:
- For an employer to survive a
court challenge to terminating a
poor-performing employee, it
must first demonstrate that a
reasonable standard of
performance was communicated
to the employee.
● Reduction in Force (Layoff)
- Employees can be terminated if
it is in the best economic
interests of an organization to do
so.
The Termination Meeting:
● Prior to the Meeting:
- First Step: Ensure that the legal
process has been followed.
- Second Step: Determine how
much help, if any, the
organization wants to offer the
employees.
● During the Meeting:
- The supervisor should rationally
state the reasons for the
decision, express gratitude for
the employee's efforts, and offer
whatever assistance the
organization intends to provide.
● After the Meeting:
- Once the meeting is over, the
natural reaction of the supervisor
is to feel guilty.
■ To relieve some of this guilt, a supervisor
should review the facts: she gave the
employee every chance to improve, but
the employee chose not to.
- When an employee is fired,
other employees will be tense.
- Negative statements about the
terminated employee's character
must be avoided.
EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION
Motivation
➔ Internal force driving a worker to action
and external factors encouraging that
action.
➔ "Psychological forces that determine
the direction of a person's level of effort
and a person's level of persistence in the
face of obstacles" (Kanfer, 1990).
Ability and Skill
➔ Determines whether a worker can do
the job.
Are Employees Predisposed to Being
motivated?
Three work motivation-related traits:
1. Self-esteem: Extent to which a person views
themselves as valuable and worthy.
● Korman's Consistency Theory:
- There is a positive correlation
between self-esteem and
performance.
- Employees who feel good about
themselves are motivated to
perform better at work than
employees who do not feel that are
valuable and worthy people
- Employees try to perform at levels
consistent with their self-esteem
level.
● Three Types of Self-esteem:
Chronic Self-esteem: Person's overall
feeling about themselves.
- Situational self-esteem or self-efficacy:
Person's feeling about themselves in a
particular situation.
- Socially influenced self-esteem: How a
person feels about themselves based on
the expectations of others.
According to consistency theory, improving
performance can be achieved by increasing
an employee's self-esteem:
● Self-esteem Workshops
● Experience with success: Success
increases self-esteem, which should
increase performance, which further
increases self-esteem, which further
increase performance
●
●
Self-fulfilling Prophecy: an individual will
perform as well or as poorly as he expects
to perform
Galatea Effect: The relationship between
self-expectations and performance
■ When individuals have high
expectations for themselves and
believe they are capable of
achieving their goals, they are
more likely to put in the effort and
perform well. Conversely, when an
individual has low expectations for
themselves, they may not put in
the same level of effort, resulting in
lower performance.
● Supervisor Behavior: Train supervisors
to communicate a feeling of confidence in
an employee
○ Pygmalion effect: If an employee
feels that a manager has
confidence in him, his self-esteem
will increase,
as will his performance.
○ Golem effect: Negative
expectations of an individual cause
a decrease in that individual's
actual
Performance
■ As an example, two employees are
hired at the same time. Employee A
shows promise and excels in their tasks.
Employee B has the same task and
succeeds at it, but it is not to the same
extent. Employee B now has lower
expectations of their abilities. The
manager notices the discrepancy and may
subconsciously deem employee B to be
inferior. Employee A is given new
opportunities to show off their skills and
learn while employee B is given less
opportunities. Here, the manager's lower
expectations and employee B's low
self-efficacy relative to employee A leads
to a positive feedback loop degrading their
performance. Eventually, employee B may
not be suited for the task even though
they were at the beginning.
***When an employee becomes aware of others'
expectations and matches his own with them, he
will perform in a manner that is consistent with
those expectations
2. Intrinsic Motivation
● When people are intrinsically motivated,
they will seek to perform well because
they either enjoy performing the actual
tasks or enjoy the challenge of
successfully completing the task
● People who are intrinsically motivated
tend to need external rewards in a lesser
manner
● Work Preference Inventory: yields
scores on two dimensions of intrinsic
motivation (enjoyment and challenge) and
two dimensions of extrinsic motivation
(compensation and outward orientation)
● Need for Achievement and Power: a
theory developed by McClelland suggests
that employees differ iN the extent to
which they are motivated by the need of
achievement, affiliation, and power
Our work motivation and job satisfaction are
determined by the discrepancy between what we
want, value, and expect and what the job actually
provides.
● Job Expectations
-
-
A discrepancy between what an employee
expected a job to be like and the reality of
the job can affect motivation and
satisfaction
If a company does less than it promised,
employees will be less motivated to
perform well and will retaliate by doing
less than they promised
● Job Characteristics Theory
-
Employees desire jobs that are
meaningful, provide them with the
opportunity to be personally responsible
for the outcome of their work, and provide
them with feedback of the results of their
efforts
3. Needs, Values, and Wants
Three theories focus on employees' needs and
values:
I. Maslow's Needs Hierarchy
● Lower needs must be satisfied to ensure
a person's existence, security and
requirements for human contact. Higher
order needs are concerned with personal
development and reaching one's potential.
II. ERG (Existence, Relatedness and Growth)
Theory
● Developed by Clayton Alderfer
● The difference between ERG theory and
Maslow's theory is that Alderfer suggested
that a person can skip levels
● Existence needs concern our basic
material requirements for living, which
include what Maslow categorized as
physiological needs (such as air, food,
water, and shelter) and safety-related
needs (such as health, secure
employment, and property).
● Relatedness needs have to do with the
importance of maintaining interpersonal
relationships. These needs are based in
social interactions with others and align
with Maslow's levels of love/belonging
-related needs (such as friendship, family,
and sexual intimacy) and esteem-related
needs (gaining the respect of others).
● Growth needs describe our intrinsic
desire for personal development. These
needs align with the other portion of
Maslow's esteem-related needs
(self-esteem, self-confidence, and
achievement) and self-actualization needs
(such as morality, creativity,
problem-solving, and discovery).
● Alderfer proposed that when a certain
category of needs isn't being met, people
will redouble their efforts to fulfill needs in
a lower category. For example, if
someone's self-esteem is suffering, he or
she will invest more effort in the
relatedness category of needs.
III. Two-factor Theory (Herzberg's
motivation-hygiene theory)
● Herzberg and his collaborators
investigated fourteen factors relating to job
satisfaction in their original study,
classifying them as either hygienic or
motivational factors. Motivation factors
increase job satisfaction, while hygiene
factors prevent job dissatisfaction.
Motivators: job elements that do concern actual
tasks and duties
Motivation factors: factors that are related to
workplace satisfaction. They cover intrinsic needs
such as achievement, recognition, and
advancement. Motivation factors allow employees
to be content in their jobs and promote growth.
Hygiene factors: factors that are not related to
workplace satisfaction but must be present in the
workplace in order to prevent dissatisfaction.
Hygiene factors cover extrinsic needs such as
pay grade, workplace policy and relationships
with their peers.
The two factor theory has made two lasting
contributions to work motivation:
● It has helped managers realize that
money is not always the primary motivator
● It has spurred much of the interest in
designing jobs to make them more
intrinsically satisfying
GOAL SETTING
●
●
To increase motivation, goal setting
should be used.
For goal setting to be most successful,
the goals themselves should possess
certain qualities (let's use Jane'
objective to work through each
component):
SPECIFIC: In order for a goal to be effective,
it needs to be specific to get to the heart of
what you’re aiming for. A specific goal
answers questions like:
ATTAINABLE: Goal should be realistic - not
pedestals from which you inevitably tumble.
Ask yourself: is your objective something
your team can reasonably accomplish?
●
Jane might look at her goal and realize
that, given her small team and their
heavy workload, creating ad campaigns
for four social platforms might be biting
off more than they can chew. She
decides to scale back to the three social
networks where she's most likely to find
new clients.
●
Increase the number of monthly users
of Techfirm's mobile app by 1,000 by
optimizing our app-store listing and
creating targeted social media
campaigns for three social media
platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram.
● What needs to be accomplished
● Who’s responsible for it?
● What steps need to be taken to achieve it?
●
Jane’s Goal: Grow the number of
monthly users of Techfirm's mobile app
by optimizing our app-store listing and
creating targeted social media
campaigns.
MEASURABLE: Specificity is a solid start,
but quantifying your goals (that is, making
sure they’re measurable) makes it easier to
track progress and know when you’ve
reached the finished line.
●
Jane and her product team want to
grow the number of their mobile app
users - but by how much? If they get
even one new signup, that's technically
positive growth - so does that mean
they're done? Same goes for their
strategy - how many platforms will they
advertise on?
●
Increase the number of monthly users
of Techfirm's mobile app by 1,000 by
optimizing our app-store listing and
creating targeted social media
campaigns for four social media
platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
and Linkedin.
RELEVANT: Here's where you need to think
about the big picture. Why are you setting the
goal that you're setting?
●
Jane knows that the app is a huge
driver of customer loyalty, and that an
uptick in their app usage could mean
big things for the company's bottom-line
revenue goals. Now she revises her
statement to reflect that context.
●
Grow the number of monthly users of
Techfirm's mobile app by 1,000 by
optimizing our app-store listing and
creating targeted social media
campaigns for three social media
platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram, Because mobile users tend
to use our product longer, growing our
app usage will ultimately increase
profitability.
TIME-BOUND: To properly measure
success, you and your team need to be on
the same page about when a goal has been
reached. What's your time horizon? When
will the team start creating and implementing
the tasks they've identified? When will they
finish?
●
●
SMART goals should have time-related
parameters built in, so everybody knows
how to stay on track within a designated
time frame. When Jane incorporates
those dates, her SMART goal is
complete.
Grow the number of monthly users of
Techfirm's mobile app by 1,000 within
Q1 of 2022. This will be accomplished
by optimizing our app-store listing and
creating targeted social media
campaigns, which will begin running in
February 2022, on three social media
platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram. Since mobile is our primary
point of conversion for paid-customer
signups, growing our app usage will
ultimately increase sales.
RECEIVING FEEDBACK ON GOAL
PROGRESS
●
Feedback should be provided to
employees on their progress in reaching
their goals.
●
Feedback can include:
○ Verbally telling employees how they are
doing
○ Placing a chart on a wall
○ Using nonverbal communication such as
smiles, glares, and pats on the back
●
Feedback best increases performance
when it is positive and informational rather
than negative and controlling.
●
For feedback to be effective, it must be
given when employees do things properly,
not just when they make mistakes.
●
Self Regulation Theory
○ Employees monitor their own progress
toward attaining goals and then make the
necessary adjustments.
○ With multiple complex goals, self
regulation becomes more difficult, and
employees must make a conscious effort
to be aware of their goals, monitor their
goal progress, and set priorities so that
decisions can be made when
encountering competing goals.
REWARDS FOR ACHIEVING GOALS
●
●
●
An essential strategy for motivating
employees is to provide an incentive for
employees to accomplish the goals set by
an organization.
The basis for these incentive systems are
operant conditioning principles
(employees will engage in behaviors of
which they are rewarded and avoid
behaviors for which they are punished)
Six factors to be considered in determining
the effectiveness of incentive programs:
- Timing of the incentive
■ A reinforcer or a punisher
is most effective if it occurs
soon after the performance
of the behavior
- Contingency of Consequences
■ Reward and punishment
must be made contingent
upon performance, and this
contingency of
consequence must be clear
to employees
- Types of Incentives Used
■ Financial, nonfinancial
and social rewards all
resulted in increased levels
of performance
■ Premack Principle: The
Premack principle states
that more probable
behaviors will reinforce less
probable behaviors.
Behavior in itself can
reinforce behavior, and the
presence of a
high-probability behavior
can make a low-probability
behavior more likely.
■ For example, an
unstudious young child may
be incentivized to do their
homework (a normally
low-probability behavior) if
their parent tells them that
they can go to the park
afterward (something that
the child is likely to want to
do on their own).
■ Financial Rewards: It
can be used to motivate
better worker performance
either by making variable
pay an integral part of an
employee's compensation
package or by using
financial rewards as a
"bonus" for accomplishing
certain goals
■ Recognition: Many
organizations reward
employee behavior through
recognition programs
-
Individual versus Group Incentives
■ Individual Incentive Plans
● Designed to make high
level individual
performance financially
worthwhile
● Two common individual
Incentive Plans
○ Pay for
performance:
Being paid by how
much you produce
○ Merit Pay: Base
their incentives on
performance
appraisal scores
■ Group Incentive Plans
● To get employees to
participate in the success
or failure of the
organization
● These plans reward
employees for reaching
group goals
● The problems with group
incentive plans are they
can encourage social
loafing
● Profit Sharing:
○ Developed by
Albert Gallatin
○ Provide
employees with a
percentage of
profits above a
certain amount can be given as a
bonus or retirement
fund.
● Gainsharing:
○ Ties group wide financial
incentives to improvements
(gains) in organizational
performance
○ A typical gainsharing
program uses a formula to
calculate the shares to be
split among employees,
Improved performance is
measured against baseline
performance. Any gains
made can be assessed
monthly, quarterly, or
annually.
○ Example: Imagine a
company that produces
laptops. In the previous
month, they produced
10,000 laptops in 5,000
working hours. After the
group came together and
worked on various ways to
make their process more
efficient, they produced
10,000 laptops in 4,000
hours during the following
month, which resulted in
savings of $150,000.The
gains are then split equally
among the group in the
company. This is an
example of gainsharing in
which a group of workers
improved efficiency.
● Stock Options
○ Employees are given the
opportunity to purchase
stock in the future, typically
at the market price on the
day the options were
granted
Expectancy Theory
●
First proposed by Vroom and then
modified by others, including Porter and
Lawler
●
Vroom realized that an employee's
performance is based on individual
factors such as personality, skills,
knowledge, experience and abilities.
●
The theory suggests that although
individuals may have different sets of
goals, they can be motivated if they
believe that:
- There is a positive correlation
between efforts and
performance,
- Favorable performance will
result in a desirable reward,
- The reward will satisfy an
important need,
- The desire to satisfy the nood is
strong enough to make the effort
worthwhile.
●
This theory has three components:
Expectancy (E): The perceived
relationship between the amount
of effort an employee puts in and
the resulting outcome
■ Employees have
different expectations
and levels of confidence
about what they are
capable of doing.
Management must
discover what resources,
training, or supervision
employees need,
-
-
Instrumentality (l): The extent
to which the outcome of a
worker's performance, if noticed,
results in a particular
consequence
■ The perception of
employees as to whether
they will actually get what
they desire even if it has
been promised by a
manager. Management
must ensure that
promises of rewards are
fulfilled and that
employees are aware of
that.
Valence (V): The extent to
which an employee values a
particular consequence
■ Valence refers to the
emotional orientations
people hold with respect
to outcomes (rewards].
The depth of the want of
an employee for extrinsic
(money, promotion,
time-off, benefits) or
intrinsic (satisfaction]
rewards). Management
must discover what
employees value.
**Vroom suggests that an employee's beliefs
about Expectancy, Instrumentality, and Valence
interact psychologically to create a motivational
force such that the employee acts in ways that
bring pleasure and avoid pain.
○ Use of Positive Incentives (Rewards) versus
Negative Incentives (Punishment)
■ Rather than rewarding desired
behaviors, we can change employee
performance by punishing undesired
behaviors
■ For punishment to be effective: An
employee must understand why he is
being punished and be shown alternative
ways of behaving that will result in some
type of desired reinforcement
○ Fairness of the Reward
■ Equity Theory: The theory is built on
the belief that employees become
demotivated, both in relation to their job
and their employer, if they feel that their
inputs are greater than the outputs they
receive. Employees can be expected to
respond to this in different ways, and may
exhibit de-motivation, reduced effort,
annoyance, or, in extreme cases, perhaps
even disruption.
■ Three components are involved in this
perception of fairness:
● Inputs: personal elements we
put into our jobs
● Outputs: time, effort, education,
and experience
● Input/output ratio: computed by
dividing output value by input value
THEORIES IN GROUP DYNAMICS
●
●
●
GROUP DYNAMICS can be defined as
a field of inquiry dedicated to the
advancing knowledge about the nature
of groups, the laws of their
development, and their interrelations
with individuals, other groups and larger
institutions.
Group dynamics is a system of
behaviors and psychological processes
occurring within a social
group(intragroup dynamics or between
social groups (intergroup dynamics)
Kurt Lewin a social psychologist,
coined the term to describe the way
groups and individuals act and react to
changing circumstances
Group Dynamics contains two words:
●
●
Group: a social unit of two or more
individuals who have in common a set
of beliefs and values, follow the same
norm and work for an established
common aim.
Dynamics: the flow of coherent
activities which as envisaged, may lead
the group towards the establishment of
set goals.
Intragroup Dynamics
●
Referred to as in group, within group,
or commonly just group dynamics
are the underlying processes that give
rise to a set norms, roles, relations, and
common goals that characterize a
particular social group. (Ex. Religious
and political groups)
●
Group Formation: starts with
psychological bond between individuals
(interpersonal attraction)
●
Social Identity Approach: individuals
perceive that they share some social
category. Ex. (smokers, nurses,
students)
●
Emergent Groups: arise from a
relatively spontaneous process of group
formation. Ex. In response to a natural
disaster.
●
Optimal Distinctiveness Theory:
suggests that individuals have a desire
to be similar to others, but also a desire
to differentiate themselves, ultimately
seeking some balance of these two
desires to obtain optimal
distinctiveness.
●
Black Sheep Effect: based on how
individuals in the group see their other
members.(upgrade likable in-group
members)
●
Group influence on individual
behavior: individuals work harder and
faster when the others are present.
●
Group Structure is the internal
framework that defines members'
relations to one another overtime.
GROUP BEHAVIOR, TEAMS, AND CONFLICT
Definition of a Group:
For a collection of people to be called a group,
the following four criteria must be met:
➔ The members of the group must see
themselves as a unit
◆ The group must have multiple
members.
◆ To be considered a group, these
two or more people must also see
themselves as a unit.
➔ The group must provide rewards to its
members
◆ People will join or form a group
only if it provides some form of
reward.
➔ Anything that happens to one member
of the group affects every other member
◆ Corresponding Effects: an event
that affects one group member
should affect all group members
Reasons for Joining Groups:
● Assignment: In the workplace, the most
common reason for joining groups is that
employees are assigned to them.
● Physical Proximity: People tend to
form groups with people who either live or
work nearby.
● Affiliation: People join groups to be
near and talk to other people.
● Identification: People join groups due
to our desire for identification with some
group or cause.
● Emotional Support: Groups like
Alcoholics Anonymous and Weight
Watchers provide emotional support for
their members.
● Assistance or Help: People often join
groups to obtain assistance or help.
● Common Interest
● Common Goals: e.g. political parties
Factors Affecting Group Performance
Group Cohesiveness:
● The extent to which group members like
and trust one another, are committed to
accomplishing a team goal, and share a
feeling of group pride.
In general, the more cohesive the
group, the greater is:
➔ Productivity and efficiency
➔ Decision quality
➔ Member satisfaction
➔ Member interaction
● Cohesiveness can also lower group
performance, especially in a work setting.
Group Homogeneity:
● The homogeneity of a group is the
extent to which its members are similar.
○ Homogeneous groups
■ Contains members who
are similar in some or most
ways
■ Result in higher member
satisfaction, higher levels of
communication and
interaction, and lower
turnover.
○ Heterogeneous groups
■ Contain members who
are more different than
alike.
○ Slightly heterogeneous
■ Groups are actually
somewhere between
completely homogeneous
and completely
heterogeneous
■ The composition of the
best-performing groups.
Stability of Membership: The greater the
stability of the group, the greater the
cohesiveness.
Isolation: Groups that are pressured by outside
forces also tend to become highly cohesive.
Group Size:
● Groups are most cohesive and perform
best when the group size is small.
● Groups perform best and have the
greatest member satisfaction when they
consist of approximately five members.
* A large organization probably works best when
it is divided into smaller groups and committees
and when work groups contain approximately five
people.
High performance is seen with only certain
types of tasks:
● Additive task
○ The group's performance is
equal to the sum of the
performances by each group
member.
● Conjunctive tasks
○ The group's performance
depends on the least effective
group member.
○ Because success on a
conjunctive task is limited by the
least effective member, smaller
groups are usually best.
● Disjunctive Tasks
○ The group's performance is
based on the most talented group
member.
○ AS with additive tasks, larger
groups are probably better at
disjunctive tasks than are smaller
groups
Group Ability and Confidence:
● Groups consisting of high-ability
members outperform those with low-ability
members.
● Groups whose members believe that
their team can be successful both at a
specific task(high team efficacy) and at
tasks in general (high team potency)
perform better than groups whose
members aren't as confident about their
probability for success.
Personality of the Group Members:
● Groups whose members have
task-related experience and score high in
the personality dimensions of openness to
experience and emotional stability will
perform better than groups whose
members do not have these
characteristics.
● Groups working on intellectual tasks will
do better if their group members are
bright, and groups working on physical
tasks will do better if their group members
score high in the personality dimensions of
conscientiousness, extraversion, and
agreeableness.
Communication Structure:
● Good communication among members
is essential for successful group
performance.
Group Roles:
● Task-oriented Roles
○ Involve behaviors such as
offering new ideas, coordinating
activities, and finding new
information.
● Social-oriented Roles
○ Involve encouraging
cohesiveness and participation.
● Individual Role
○ Include blocking group activities,
calling attention to oneself, and
avoiding group interaction.
● Individual roles seldom result in higher
group productivity.
○ Group members will often
naturally assume these roles on
the basis of their individual
personalities and experiences.
○ People high in
conscientiousness tend to fill
task-oriented roles.
○ People high in agreeableness
tend to fill social-oriented roles.
○ When roles are not naturally
filled by group members, leaders
must assign roles to certain
individuals.
Presence of Others: Social Facilitation and
Inhibition:
● Social Facilitation involves the positive
effects of the presence of others on an
individual's behavior.
● Social Inhibition involves the negative
effects of others’ presence.
Social facilitation and social inhibition can
be further delineated by:
Centralized networks are best for solving
problems.
● Audience Effects
○ Audience effects takes place
when a group of people passively
watch an individual,
○ The strength of the effect of
having an audience present is a
function of at least three factors:
■ Audience Size
■ Physical proximity to the
person or group
■ Status
● Coaction
○ The effect on behavior when two
or more people are performing the
same task in the presence of one
another.
● Explaining Social Facilitation Effects:
1. The mere presence of others naturally
produces arousal.
● This arousal, or increase in energy,
helps an individual perform well-learned
tasks but hinders him in performing poorly
learned or unpracticed tasks.
2. A coaction audience provides a means for
comparison.
● If an individual is working on a task with
another individual, he can directly
compare his performance with the other
person's.
3. Evaluation apprehension hypothesizes that
judgment by others causes the differential effects
of social facilitation.
● Individuals are aware that the presence
of others can be rewarding or punishing.
● When the task is not well learned,
however, the individual may believe that
she will not perform well and will be
embarrassed. Thus, she performs even
worse than if she were alone.
4. The presence of others is distracting to the
individual who is trying to perform a task.
● On well-learned tasks, the individual is
able to perform despite the distraction
because these behaviors are almost
automatic.
● On a novel or complicated task, the
distraction caused by other people's
presence keeps the individual from
concentrating and learning the task.
Social Loafing:
● Consider the effect on individual
performance when people work together
on a task.
Theories why social loafing occurs:
● Because group members realize that
their individual efforts will not be noticed,
there is little chance of individual reward.
● Free-rider Theory
○ Postulates that when things are
going well, a group member
realizes that his effort is not
necessary and thus does not work
as hard as he would if he were
alone.
● Sucker Effect
○ Hypothesizes that social loafing
occurs when a group member
notices that other group members
are not working hard and thus are
"playing him for a sucker"
○ To avoid this situation, the
individual lowers his work
performance to match those of the
other members.
Individual Dominance
● If the leader or group member has an
accurate solution to a problem the group
is trying to solve, the group will probably
perform at a high level.
Group think
● With groupthink, members become so
cohesive and like-minded that they make
poor decisions despite contrary
information that might reasonably lead
them to other options.
Groupthink can be reduced in several ways.
● The group leader should not state his
own position or beliefs until late in the
decision-making process.
● The leader should promote open
discussion and encourage group
members to speak.
● A group or committee can be separated
into subgroups to increase the chance of
disagreement
● One group member can be assigned the
job of devil's advocate, one who questions
and disagrees with the group
Individual versus Group Performance:
● Nominal Group
○ several people
individually work on a
problem but do not interact
● Interacting Group
○ Several individuals
interact to solve a problem
○ Interacting groups will
usually outperform one
individual, but interacting
groups do not outperform
nominal groups.
● A team can do something an individual
cannot
● There is time to create a team and
properly train team members
What is a Work Team?
● A collection of three or more individuals
who interact intensively to provide an
organization's product, plan, decision, or
service.
Factors that are considered to be a team:
● Identification
○ The extent to which group
members identify with the team
rather than with other groups.
Brainstorming
● A technique where group
members are encouraged to say
aloud any and all ideas that come
to mind and are not allowed to
comment on the ideas until all
have been given.
● When comparing the number
and quality of ideas created by
nominal groups with the quality
and number of ideas created by an
interacting group in a
brainstorming session, the ideas of
nominal groups are more creative
and of higher quality than ideas of
the interacting group.
Group Polarization
● Suggests that group members
will shift their beliefs to a more
extreme version of what they
already believe individually.
● e.g. Individual group members
are on the risky side, the group will
make highly risky decisions.
TEAMS
Teams work best in situations where:
● The job requires high levels of employee
interaction
● A team approach simplifies the job
● Interdependence
○ Members need and desire the
assistance, expertise, and opinions
of the other members
○ One member greatly influences
what another member does.
● Power Differentiation
○ Members try to decrease power
differentiation by treating others as
equals and taking steps to ensure
equality
○ Members apologize for
overstepping their roles, ask
indirect questions to avoid
challenges, and are polite to one
another.
● Social Distance
○ Members try to decrease social
distance by being casual, using
nicknames and expressing liking,
empathy, and common views.
● Conflict Management Tactics
○ Team Members respond to
conflict by collaborating
Negotiation Process
● Members negotiate in a win-win style,
aiming for every person to come out
ahead.
Donnellon classified teams into five
categories:
● Collaborative teams
● Emergent teams
* Collaborative and Emergent
Teams are referred to as true
teams
● Nominal teams
● Doomed teams
* Nominal and Dommed teams are
referred to as non-teams
● Adversarial teams (somewhere between
true teams and non-teams)
Teams differ in two other ways:
● Permanency
○ Some teams are designed to
work together permanently,
whereas others are formed to
solve a particular problem and then
are expected to dissolve.
● Proximity
○ Virtual teams: Members carry out
their team functions through email,
teleconferencing, and
computer-based
videoconferencing.
Types of Teams
1. Work Teams:
● Consist of groups of employees who
manage themselves, assign jobs, plan
and schedule work, make work-related
decisions, and solve work-related
problems.
● They are typically formed to produce
goods,provide services, or increase the
quality and cost-effectiveness of a
product or system.
2. Parallel
● Also called cross-functional teams
● Consist of representatives from various
departments within an organization.
● For cross-functional teams to be
successful, it is important that they have
a clear purpose, receive support from
each functional area, and take steps to
increase the trust levels of committee
members.
3. Project Teams:
● Formed to produce one-time outputs
such as creating a new product,
installing a new software system, or
hiring a new employee.
4. Management Teams:
● Coordinate, manage, advise, and direct
employees and teams.
● They are responsible for providing
general direction and assistance to
other teams.
Team Development
Tuckman proposed that teams typically go
through four developmental phases:
● Forming stage
○ Team members get to know each
other and decide what roles each
member will pay
○ Early part of this stage: Team
members are on their best
behavior as they try to impress and
get along with the other team
members.
○ Late part of this stage: The
team concentrates on clarifying its
mission, determining the goals it
wants to accomplish, deciding on
the tasks to be done to accomplish
their goals, setting rules and
procedures, and developing
alternative courses of action to
reach their goals.
● Storming stage
○ The good behavior disappears.
○ Individual level: Team members
often become frustrated with their
roles, show the stress of balancing
their previous duties with their new
team responsibilities, and question
whether they have the ability to
accomplish the goals set in the
forming stage
○ Interpersonally: Team members
begin to disagree with one another
and to challenge each other's
ideas
● Norming stage
●
It is often the result of one person’s
misperception of another’s goals,
intentions, or behavior.
●
Conflict results in lower team
performance and member satisfaction.
❖ Dysfunctional Conflict
○ The team works toward easing
the tension from the storming
stage
●
Keeps people from working together,
lessens productivity, spreads to other
areas, and increases turnover.
○ Team members begin to
acknowledge the reality of the
team by accepting the team leader
and working directly with other
team members to solve difficulties.
●
It usually occurs when one or both
parties feel a loss of control due to the
actions of the other party and has its
greatest effect on team performance
when the task being performed is
complex.
● Performing Stage
○ The team begins to accomplish its goals
○ Group members make innovative
suggestions, challenge one another
without defensive responses, and
participate at high levels.
○ The team continually monitors its
progress towards goals, determines
additional resources that might be
needed, provides assistance and
feedback to team members, and makes
necessary strategic adjustments.
❖ Functional Conflict
●
Moderate levels of conflict can stimulate
new ideas, increase friendly
competition, and increase team
effectiveness.
●
It can reduce the risk of larger conflicts.
Types of Conflict
●
Interpersonal Conflict
- Occurs between an individual
and a group just as easily as
between two individuals.
●
Individual-Group Conflict
- Occurs between an individual
and a group just as easily as
between two individuals
- Usually occurs when the
individual's needs are different
from the group's needs, goals, or
norms.
●
Group-Group Conflict
- Occurs between two or more
groups.
Punctuated equilibrium: An alternate theory
suggesting that teams develop direction and
strategy in the first meeting, follow this direction
for a period, and then drastically revise their
strategy about halfway through the team's life.
Group Conflict
Conflict
●
It is the psychological and behavioral
reaction to a perception that another
person is either preventing you from
reaching a goal, taking away your right
to behave in a particular way, or
violating the expectations of a
relationship.
Causes of Conflict
●
Competition for Resources
- When demand for a resource
exceeds its supply, conflict
occurs.
●
Task Interdependence
-
-
●
●
●
When the performance of some
group members depends on the
performance of other group
members.
It is likely to happen when two
groups who rely on each other
have conflicting goals.
Jurisdictional Ambiguity
- It occurs when geographical
boundaries or lines of authority
are unclear
- It can be avoided through the
use of thorough job descriptions
and up-to-date org: charts.
Communication Barriers
- The barriers to interpersonal
communication can be:
Physical: Such as
separate locations on
different floors or in
different buildings
Cultural: Such as
different languages or
different customs.
Psychological: Such as
different styles or
personalities.
Beliefs
- Conflict is most likely to occur
when individuals or groups
believe that they:
■ Are superior to other
people or groups
■ Have been mistreated
by others
■ Are vulnerable to
others and are in harm's
way
■ Cannot trust others
■ Are helpless or
powerless
●
Personality
- Conflict is often the result of
people with incompatible
personalities who must work
together.
It is also very true that certain
people are generally more
difficult to work with than others
*Bernstein and Rozen (1992) describe in great
detail three types of "Neanderthals at work"
●
●
●
Rebels
Believers
Competitors
Classification of Difficult People
●
It was developed by Bramson(1981)
and enhanced by Brinkman and
Krischner (2006).
●
Brinkman and Kirschner postulated that
abnormally high needs for control,
perfection, approval, or attention form
the basis for the difficult personality
-
People with high needs for
control are obsessed with
completing a task and take great
pride in getting a job done
quickly. Among such personality
types are:
■ Tank
■ Sniper
■ Know-it-all
-
People with high needs for
perfection are obsessed with
completing a task correctly. They
seldom seem satisfied with
anyone or any idea. These
personality types include:
■ Whiner
■ No person
■ Nothing Person
-
People with high needs for
approval are obsessed with
being liked - their behavior is
often centered on gaining
approval rather than completing
a task correctly or quickly
■ The Yes Person
■ The Maybe Person
-
People with high needs for
attention are obsessed with
being appreciated - they behave
in a manner that will get them
noticed
■ Grenade
■ Friendly Sniper
■ Think-They-Know-It-All
Conflict Styles
● Avoiding Style: choose to ignore the
conflict and hope it will resolve itself
- Triangling Style
●
●
●
●
Accommodating Style
Forcing Style: Winning at all costs
Collaborating Style
Compromising Style: Acceptable
compromise
Resolving Conflict
●
Prior to Conflict Occurring
Have a formal policy on how
conflict is to be handled
●
When conflict first occurs
- Two parties should be
encouraged to use the conflict
resolution skills they learning in
training to resolve the conflict on
their own
●
Dispute
- If the two parties do not agree
and the parties should seek
third-party intervention
●
Cooperative Problem Solving
- The people affected will work to
define the problem, identify
possible solutions, and arrive at
the best one
●
Third Party Intervention
○ Mediation
■ A neutral third party is
asked to help both
parties reach a mutually
agreeable solution to the
conflict
○ Arbitration
■ A neutral third party
listens to both sides'
arguments and then
makes a decision
● Binding
● Nonbinding