Industrial/Organizational
Psychology
Doctoral Program
University at Albany
The Industrial/Organizational Psychology Ph.D. program at the University
at Albany follows the scientist-practitioner model. The scientistpractitioner model allows for students to experience conducting their own
research, as well as practice in the field (consulting work). Doctoral
students at the University at Albany are able to have a broad range of
experiences before they enter the workforce.
Application Requirements for the Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Ph.D. Program
A fully completed application consists of the following:
 Graduate Application
 Transcripts from current as well as all previous institutions
 General GRE
 GRE Psychology Subject Test (not required, but strongly
encouraged)
 Three Letters of Recommendation
 Personal Statement
Although an undergraduate degree in psychology is not required,
applicants will be required to demonstrate satisfactory completion of 15
credit hours of psychology courses including a statistics and methodology
course.
The deadline for the application to the Ph.D. program is January 15.
Please see our listing on the SIOP webpage (www.siop.org, choose “for
students”, and then use search engine to find our program) for
information regarding average size of incoming class, GPA, GREs, etc.
Requirements Specific to Industrial and Organizational Psychology
In addition to meeting department and university requirements for the
Ph.D., students in the Industrial and Organizational (I/O) area are required
to complete the following courses within their first four years of study:
Psy 613 Multivariate Analysis (3);
Psy 641 Survey of Organizational Psychology (3);
Psy 736 Research Methods in Psychology (3);
Psy 752 Personnel Psychology (3);
Psy 753 Psychometric Theory and Research (3);
Psy 781 Topics in Industrial and Organizational Psychology (1 credit per
semester for each of the first 6 semesters).
In addition to these courses, students are required to take at least four
advanced seminars and one advanced statistics course.
COURSES IN INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Psy 613 Multivariate Analysis (3) An overview of multivariate statistical
methods as they pertain to psychological research. Techniques discussed
include: multiple regression; MANOVA/MANCOVA, exploratory factor
analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis, discriminant analysis;
logistic regression, survival analysis, and multidimensional scaling.
Psy 614 Meta-Analysis (3) Covers such substantive issues as: rationale for
meta-analysis; estimation of study effect size; combining results of
experimental studies; combining results of correlational studies; moderator
variable analysis.
Psy 641 Survey of Organizational Psychology (3) Advanced survey of
theory and research on the behavior of individuals and groups in
organizations. Topics include organizational design, group processes and
decision-making, organizational theory, and employee attitudes.
Psy 668 Group Dynamics (3) Analysis and evaluation of concepts,
hypotheses, techniques, and results of research in group dynamics. The
study of the following group processes: communication, decision making,
cooperation and competition, cohesion, social facilitation and inhibition,
leadership and group roles.
Psy 736 Research Methods in Psychology (3) Introductory, graduate-level
treatment of a variety of research-related issues germane to psychology
and closely related disciplines. The topics considered include the
scientific method, elements of the research process, alternative strategies
for operationalizing variables, sampling, psychometrics, experimental
research, non-experimental research, research artifacts and nontraditional research.
Psy 751 Work Motivation (3) Provides a knowledge of human motivation
ass it affects organizational processes. Emphasis on major theories of
human motivation and the relation between motivational process and
organizational variables. Other issues include job design, reward systems,
and social influences on motivation.
Psy 752 Personnel Psychology (3) Advanced survey of theory, research,
and applications in major topical areas of personnel psychology. Topics
covered should include: performance appraisal, personnel selection,
training and development, uses and development of psychological tests,
and human engineering.
Psy 753 Psychometric Theory and Research (3) Major emphasis on
classical and modern measurement theories and their applications.
Includes psychological construct measurement, scale construction, and
recent developments such as Item Response Theory.
Psy 754 Training, Evaluation, and Development in Organizations (3)
Psychological principles and methods for planning and analysis of training
performance in an organizational development framework. Needs
assessment; computer assisted simulation, and behavior modification
approaches to training; training and transfer effects; design and
experimental evaluation of training techniques.
Psy 756 Practicum in Organizational Research (3-4) Supervised field
project in which students work as members of a team on an
organizational problem requiring research and/or practical skills.
Psy 757 Performance Appraisal (3) This seminar covers traditional areas of
performance appraisal and management, such as psychometric issues
associated with ratings, rater training, and rater cognitive processes,
along with some recent advances, such as the importance of rater
attitudes and the rating context.
Psy 765 Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes (3) Selected topics
involving interpersonal interactions. Topics include group structure,
helping, attraction, aggression, social influence, group decision making,
and cooperation and competition.
Psy 780 Selected Topics in Industrial and Organizational Psychology (3)
Psy 781/781Q Current Topics in Industrial and Organizational Psychology
(1)
PRACTICUM
Starting in the fall of the second year all I/O psychology graduate students
are encouraged to take a practicum with chequed.com, a local
consulting company (https://www.chequed.com/). The University at
Albany has provided scientific services to chequed.com since the
beginning of the company. Students gain experience with a wide variety
of I/O psychology techniques and practices.
CONSULTING EXPERIENCE
The Capital District area offers students many opportunities to gain
consulting experience. A few examples of internships held by doctoral
students include New York State Department of Civil Service, U.S. Office of
Personnel Management, AON Consulting Company, IBM, Verizon, ACT,
and Google.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
The Psychology Department offers a Teaching Practicum that prepares
students for teaching courses at the college level. Graduate students in
their third and fourth years in the Doctoral program often have the
opportunity to teach summer and semester-length courses.
EXAMPLES OF PLACEMENT of GRADUATE STUDENTS
Academic Positions
University of Denver
Virginia Tech, VA
Ohio State University, OH
Sacramento St. (CA) University
High Point University, NC
Hong Kong Polytechnic Institute
San Jose St. (CA) University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY
Southern Mississippi University, MI
University of New Haven
University of Tampa, FL
University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, TN
Rider University
Kwangwoon University, Korea
IESE Business School, Spain
SUNY Brockport
University of Hartford
Consulting Positions
Aon Consulting, Inc.
Edelman PR Worldwide
IBM
APT
Excelsior College
Group for Organizational Effectiveness
Kentucky Fried Chicken
City of Los Angeles (Dept. of Human Resources)
Monster.com
Wonderlic
Shell Oil
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
PDRI
INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY FACULTY
Kevin J. Williams, Ph.D.,
Professor, Dean of Graduate Education, and Vice Provost
University of South Carolina
Work motivation; Self-regulation models of human motivation and task
performance; Performance evaluation; worker satisfaction and job
attitudes; work and family issues; occupational stress
Sylvia Roch, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Education for Psychology, and
Area Head of the Organizational and Industrial Psychology Program
Texas A & M University
Performance appraisal; organizational justice; group decision making
Michael T. Ford, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
George Mason University
Occupational health and stress; Attitudes toward organizations
Jason Randall, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor
Rice University
Self-regulation of attention; Training and learning; Personnel selection and
testing.
Selected Recent Publications of Industrial/Organizational Faculty and
Graduate Students
Allen, T. D., Johnson, R. C., Saboe, K., Cho, E., Dumani, S., & Estep-Evans, S.
(2012). Dispositional variables and work-family conflict: A metaanalysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80, 17-26.
Ford, M. T., Heinen, B. A., & Langkamer, K. L. (2007). Work and family
satisfaction and conflict: A meta-analysis of cross-domain relations.
Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 57-80.
Kurtessis, J., Eisenberger, R., Ford, M. T., Buffardi, L. C., Stewart, K. A., & Adis,
C. S. (in press). Perceived organizational support: A meta-analytic
evaluation of organizational support theory. Journal of
Management.
Ford, M. T., Matthews, R. A., Wooldridge, J. D., Mishra, V. Kakar, U., &
Strahan, S. R. (2014). How do occupational stressor-strain effects
vary with time? A review and meta-analysis of the relevance of time
lags in longitudinal studies. Work & Stress, 28, 9-30.
Han, T. Y., & Williams, K. J. (2008). Multilevel investigation of adaptive
performance: Individual and team-level relationships. Group and
Organizational Management, 33, 657-687.
Hurtz, G. M., & Williams, K. J. (2009). Attitudinal and motivational
antecedents of participation in voluntary employee development
activities. The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied,
94, 635-653.
McNall, L. A., & Roch, S. G. (2009). A social exchange model of employee
reactions to electronic performance monitoring. Human
Performance, 22, 204-224.
Nicklin, J. M., & Williams, K. J. (2009). Reactions to others' mistakes: An
empirical test of fairness theory. The Journal of Psychology:
Interdisciplinary and Applied, 143, 533-558.
Randall, J. G., Oswald, F. L., & Beier, M. E. (2014). Mind-wandering,
cognition, and performance: A theory-driven meta-analysis of
attention regulation. Psychological Bulletin, 140, 1411-1431.
Randall, J. G., Villado, A. J., & Zimmer, C. U. (In Press). Is retest bias biased?
Examining race and sex differences in retest performance. Journal
of Personnel Psychology.
Robbins, J. M., Ford, M. T., & Tetrick, L. E. (2012). Perceived unfairness and
employee health: A meta-analytic integration. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 97, 235-272.
Roch, S. G., McNall, L., & Caputo, P. (2011). Self-Judgments of accuracy
as indicators of performance rating quality: Should we believe
them. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26, 41-55.
Roch, S. G., & Paquin, A. R. (2009). Do raters agree more on observable
items. Human Performance, 22, 391-409.
Roch, S. G. (2007). Why convene rater teams: Investigation of the benefits
of anticipated discussion, consensus, and rater motivation.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 104, 14-29.
Roch, S. G., Woehr, D. J., Mishra, V, & Kieszczynska, U. (2012). Rater training
revisited: An updated meta-analytic review of Frame-of-Reference
Training. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology,
85, 370-395.
Tetrick, L. E., & Ford, M. T. (2008). Health protection and promotion in the
workplace: A review and application of value and regulatory focus
perspectives. In G. P. Hodkinson & J. K. Ford (Eds.), International
Review of Industrial-Organizational Psychology (pp. 239-260). Wiley:
Hoboken, NJ.
Villado, A. J., Randall, J. G., & Zimmer, C. U. (In Press). Examining the effect
of predictor method characteristics on GMA retest score gains.
Journal of Business and Psychology.
Wulfert, E., Franco, C., Williams, K. J., Roland, B., & Hartley, J. H. (2008). The
role of money in the excitement of gambling. Psychology of
Addictive Behaviors, 22, 380-390.