Industrial/Organizational
Psychology
Master of Art Program
University at Albany
The curriculum for the M.A. program in Industrial & Organizational
Psychology follows the SIOP guidelines for master's level education. It is a
competency-based program, designed to provide students with the
knowledge, skills, behavior, and capabilities necessary to function as a
master’s level I-O practitioner or to continue with graduate studies at the
doctoral level. These competency areas will be covered through a
combination of formal course work, supervised research, student-initiated
research (optional Master's thesis), and supervised experience (e.g., field
research, internships, practica).
Application Requirements for the Industrial and Organizational Psychology
M.A. Program
All applicants must submit the following:
 Graduate Application
 Official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate coursework
 General GRE
 GRE Psychology Subject Test (not required, but strongly
recommended)
 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 M.A. program is MARCH 1.
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.
Philosophy of the I/O Psychology MA Program. We are committed to
providing a personal, high quality, master’s education. We keep class size
small to ensure personal attention – on average, we admit only five MA
students per year. Furthermore, all graduate students, both in the Ph.D.
and M.A. program take the same classes, resulting in a high quality classes
with multiple perspectives.
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.
Careers: Our program is relatively new, with the first graduates in 2009.
Despite our small size, our alumni currently hold a wide range of position.
Some example positions include:
Consultant – AMG Consulting
Client Results Manager – Chequed.com
Personnel Research Psychologist – US Office of Personnel Management
Personnel Psychologist – Department of Veterans’ Affairs
Associate Assessment Specialist – Port Authority of NY & NJ
Class Requirements
36 hours of graduate credit are required, including the following:
 6 hours of statistical methods and research methodology:
Psy 510 Statistics and Experimental Methods I or equivalent
Psy 511 Statistics and Experimental Methods II or equivalent
 18 hours of specialized content:
Psy 641 Survey of Organizational Psychology
Psy 751 Work Motivation or Psy 668 Group Dynamics
Psy 752 Survey of Personnel Psychology
Psy 753 Psychometric Theory and Research
Psy 754 Training, Evaluation, and Development or Psy 757
Performance Appraisal
Psy 781 Ethics, current topics and professional issues in I & O
Psychology
 6 hours of out of area electives (e.g., Psy 603 Survey of Cognitive
Psychology, Psy 605 Social Psychology, Psy 620 Theory of

Personality, Psy 644 Human Factors, or other approved course.
At least one of the electives must be a psychology class.
6 hours of thesis credits, supervised field research, or advanced
coursework
The program is designed to allow students to finish the requirements for
the Master’s degree in two years. A typical academic plan for a full-time
student might be as follows:
Fall First Year
Spring First Year
Statistics Course, part 1
Statistics Course, part 2
Psy 752 Survey of Personnel Psychology
Psy 641 Organizational
Psychology
Elective or Psy 781 Ethics & Issues
Psy 754 Training &
Development or Psy 757
Performance Appraisal
Summer
Field research or internship
Fall Second Year
Spring Second Year
Elective/thesis/advanced course
Thesis/field
research/advanced course
Practicum: chequed.com
Elective/advanced course
Psy 751 Work Motivation or
Psy 668 Group Dynamics
Psy 753 Psychometric theory
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)
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
Cho, E., Tay, L., Allen, T. D., & Stark, S. (2013). Identification of a
dispositional tendency to experience work-family spillover. Journal
of Vocational Behavior, 82, 188-198.
Cho, E., & Allen, T. D. (2013). Work-to-family conflict and the family dinner:
What makes a difference? Community, Work and Family, 16, 88-99.
Cho, E., & Allen, T. D. (2012). Relationship between work-to-family conflict
and parent-child activities: Can guilt help? Journal of Vocational
Behavior, 80, 276–287.
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.
Ford, M. T., & Tetrick, L. E. (2008). Safety motivation and human resource
management in North America. International Journal of Human
Resource Management, 19, 1472-1485.
Han, T. Y., & Williams, K. J. (2008). Multilevel investigation of adaptive
performance: Individual and team-level relationships. Group and
Organizational Management, 33, 657-687.
Harms, P. D., & Credé, M. (2010). Emotional intelligence and
transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analysis.
Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 17, 5-17.
Harms, P. D., & Credé, M. (2010). Remaining issues in emotional
intelligence research: construct overlap, method artifacts, and lack
of incremental validity. Industrial and Organizational Psychology:
Perspectives on Science and Practice, 3, 154-158.
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.
Lourel, M., Ford, M. T., Gamassou, C. E., Gueguen, N., & Hartmann, A.
(2009). Negative and positive spillover between work and family:
Relationship with perceived stress and job satisfaction. Journal of
Managerial Psychology, 24, 438-449.
McNall, L. A., & Roch, S. G. (2009). A social exchange model of employee
reactions to electronic performance monitoring. Human
Performance, 22, 204-224.
Mearns, K., Hope, L., Ford, M. T., & Tetrick, L. E. (2010). Investment in
workforce health: Exploring the implications for workforce safety
climate and commitment. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 42,
1445-1454.
Nicklin, J. M., & Roch, S. G. (2009). Letters of recommendation:
Controversy and consensus from expert perspectives. International
Journal of Selection and Assessment. 17, 76-91.
Nicklin, J. M., & Roch, S. G. (2008). Biases influencing recommendation
letter contents: Physical attractiveness and gender. Journal of
Applied Social Psychology, 38, 3053-3074.
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.
Paquin, A. R., Roch, S. G., & Sanchez-Ku, M.L. (2007). An investigation of
cross-cultural differences in the impact of productivity Interventions:
The example of ProMES. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 43,
427-448.
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.
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.
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.
Tetrick, L. E., & Ford, M. T. (2007). Health, safety, and human resource
management. In S. Werner (Ed.), Managing Human Resources in
North America: Current Issues and Perspectives (pp. 85-100). Oxford:
Routledge.
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.
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.