1
WESTERN UNIVERSITY
LONDON
CANADA
Department of Psychology
2014-2015
Psychology 3610G; Section 1
Using Psychology to Manage and Measure Employee Work Performance
1.0 CALENDAR DESCRIPTION
A look at the management and measurement of employee work performance through a
psychological lens. Topics include the emotionally-charged nature of the social context
surrounding work performance; work performance as viewed by the self, versus peers and
supervisors; using psychological expertise to improve the fairness and accuracy of performance
feedback.
Antirequisite: Psychology 3690F if taken in 2012/13 or Psychology 4690G if taken in 2013/14.
Antirequisites are courses that overlap sufficiently in content that only one can be taken for credit.
So if you take a course that is an antirequisite to a course previously taken, you will lose credit for
the earlier course, regardless of the grade achieved in the most recent course.
Prerequisites: Psychology 2820E or both Psychology 2800E and 2810.
Psychology Majors and Psychology Special Students who earn 70% or higher in Psychology
2820E (or 60% or higher in Psychology 2800E and 2810) also may enrol in this course.
3 seminar hours, 0.5 course
Unless you have either the requisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean
to enroll in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This
decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you
are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.
2.0 COURSE INFORMATION
Instructor:
Richard Goffin, Ph.D.; goffin@uwo.ca
Office and Phone Number:
Rm. SSC8406; 519-661-2111, Ext.84641
Office Hours:
By appointment --I try to be as flexible as possible, just email
me to set up an appointment.
T.A.:
Kevin Doyle, Ph.D. Candidate, kdoyle32@uwo.ca, SSC8400
Time and Location of Lectures: Wednesdays 1:30 to 4:30 in TH 3101
If you or someone you know is experiencing distress, there are several resources here at Western to
assist you. Please visit: http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for more information on these
resources and on mental health.
2
Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any
other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you. You may also wish to contact Services
for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at 519-661-2111 ext 82147 for any specific question regarding an
accommodation.
3.0 TEXTBOOK
No specific textbook is required but a Custom Course Book, available through the bookstore, is
mandatory.
4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course will cover the application of psychological theory and methods for the purpose of
appropriately assessing and managing employee job performance in work settings. Obtaining an
accurate assessment of each employee’s work performance is essential to a variety of vital purposes
such as employee motivation and feedback, as well as the appropriate administration of rewards such as
salary increases. However, work performance measurement typically amounts to a simple judgmental
rating carried out by a supervisor who may or may not be well-acquainted with the employee’s
performance. Moreover, there are a variety of issues, stemming from the social and political context
within which job performance ratings occur, that make the process prone to bias and an intriguing
subject for the application of psychological theory and research. A variety of approaches to assessing
employee performance will be discussed in detail and some of the more prominent topics will be the
nature and psychological antecedents of work performance, the evaluation of performance appraisals,
and attempts to improve the validity and motivational impact of work performance assessments. This
course will improve skills in evaluating research, in the assessment of individual differences, and in
developing research ideas.
5.0&6.0 EVALUATION AND TEST SCHEDULE
Although the Psychology Department does not require instructors to adjust their course grades to
conform to specific targets, the expectation is that course marks will be distributed around the
following averages:
70% 1000-level and 2000-level courses
72% 2100-2990-level courses
75% 3000-level courses
80% 4000-level courses
The Psychology Department follows the University of Western Ontario grading guidelines, which are as
follows (see www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf):
A+
A
B
C
D
F
90-100
80-89
70-79
60-69
50-59
below 50
One could scarcely expect better from a student at this level
Superior work that is clearly above average
Good work, meeting all requirements, and eminently satisfactory
Competent work, meeting requirements
Fair work, minimally acceptable
Fail
3
Essay and Presentation
An essay of 2500 words (not counting references) will be due on April 10 by 4:00 pm. More details on
the content and structure of the essay and late penalties will be provided early in the semester. A
presentation by each student, directly related to their essay, will be scheduled in the latter part of the
semester. Details regarding the exact structure of the presentation, length of time, et cetera, will be
provided by the instructor early in the semester. The essay will account for a total of 45% of the final
grade and the presentation will account for 10% of the final grade. All essays will be submitted to
Turnitin via the course website (discussed in section 8.0 of this outline).
Test
There will be one two-hour test consisting of questions varying in length from short answer to essay.
The test will be held on March 11 (during the regular class time slot) and will cover all the reading,
lecture and other material covered up to that point. The test will be worth 30% of the final course grade
and it will be a “closed book” test (no books, notes, electronic devices, or aids of any type will be
allowed). It will consist of a variety of question-types, ranging from short answer to essay.
Class Participation
It is expected that students will become actively involved in discussions and will prepare for class by
doing the assigned readings and reflecting upon them. Class participation will account for 15% of the
final grade.
7.0 LECTURE SCHEDULE* (Note: CCB=Reading is available in the Psych3610G Custom
Course Book; PDF=Reading is available for download from the course website)
Jan 7; Week 1: Using Psychology in the Workplace: Evaluating and Managing Employee Work
Performance, Introduction
Jan 14; Week 2: Why Study Employee Work Performance? Overview of job performance
measurement and the criterion problem.
Murphy, K. R., & Cleveland, J. N. (1995). Understanding performance appraisal. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage. (pp. 1-30). CCB.
Cleveland, J.N., Murphy, K.R., & Williams, R.E. (1989). Multiple uses of performance appraisal:
Prevalence and correlates. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 130-135. PDF.
Jan 21; Week 3: Basic Measurement Principles Relevant to the Understanding of Work
Performance.
Murphy, K.R., & Davidshofer, C. O. (2005, 6th ed.). Psychological testing: Principles and Applications.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. pp. 116-140 and 153 to the top of 170. CCB
4
Jan 28; Week 4: What is Work Performance and How/Where Do We Obtain Information About
It?
Catano, V.M., Wiesner, W.H., Hackett, R.D., & Methot, L.L. (2010). Recruitment and selection in
Canada (4th Ed.). Toronto, ON: Thomson Nelson. pp. 177 to top of 184. CCB
Rotundo, M., & Sackett, P.R. (2002). The relative importance of task, citizenship, and counterproductive
performance to global ratings of job performance: A policy capturing approach. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 61, 66-80. PDF
Spector, P.E., Fox, S., Penney, L.M., Bruursema, K., Goh, A., & Kessler, S. (2006). The
Dimensionality of counterproductivity: Are all counterproductive behaviors created equal? Journal
of Vocational Behavior, 68, 446-460. PDF
Feb 4; Week 5: Self, Peer and Supervisor Ratings of Work Performance
Balzer, W.K., Greguras, G.J., & Raymark, P.H. (2004). Multisource feedback. In J. C. Thomas (Ed.),
Comprehensive handbook of psychological assessment: Industrial and organizational assessment
(Vol. 4). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. (pp. 390-411). CCB
Harris, M. M., & Schaubroeck, J. (1988). A meta-analysis of self-supervisor, self-peer, and peersupervisor ratings. Personnel Psychology, 41, 43-62. PDF
Feb 11; Week 6: Evaluating Performance Appraisal
Part I:
Bernardin, H. J., & Villanova, P. (1986). Performance appraisal. In E. Locke (Ed.), Generalizing from
laboratory to field settings. Boston: Heath/Lexington. (pp. 43-62). CCB
Murphy, K. R., & Cleveland, J. N. (1995). Understanding performance appraisal. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage. (pp. 267-298). CCB
Part II:
Economist (Sept. 10, 2009). Big Brother Bosses. PDF.
McNall, L. A., & Roch, S. G. (2007). Effects of electronic monitoring types on perceptions of
procedural justice, interpersonal justice, and privacy. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37,
658–682. PDF.
Young, K. (2010). Policies and procedures to manage employee internet abuse. Computers in
Human Behavior, 26, 1467-1471. PDF.
5
Feb 16-20: Reading week.
Feb 25: Week 7: Improving Work Performance Measurement and Management
Catano, V. M., Wiesner, W. H., Hackett, R. D., & Methot, L. L. (2010). Recruitment and Selection in
Canada, (4th ed.). pp. 199 (bottom of page) to 210 (middle of page). CCB.
Goffin, R.D., & Olson, J.M. (2011). Is it all relative? Comparative judgments and the possible
improvement of self-ratings and ratings of others. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 48-60.
PDF.
Woehr, D. J., & Huffcutt, A. I. (1994). Rater training for performance appraisal: A quantitative review.
Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 67, 189-205. PDF
Mar 4; Week 8: Conclusion of Improving Work Performance Measurement and Management and
Review for Midterm Test.
Mar 11; Week 9: Midterm Test.
March 18, March 25, April 1, April 8: Student Presentations.
8.0 STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC OFFENCES
Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and
other scholastic offenses. Plagiarism and cheating are considered very serious offenses because they
undermine the integrity of research and education. Actions constituting a scholastic offense are
described at the following link:
www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/appealsundergrad.pdf
As of Sept. 1, 2009, the Department of Psychology will take the following steps to detect scholastic
offenses. All multiple-choice tests and exams will be checked for similarities in the pattern of responses
using reliable software, and records will be made of student seating locations in all tests and exams. All
written assignments will be submitted to TurnItIn, a service designed to detect and deter plagiarism by
comparing written material to over 5 billion pages of content located on the Internet or in TurnItIn’s
databases. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference
database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of
the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between Western and Turnitin.com
(www.turnitin.com).
Possible penalties for a scholastic offense include failure of the assignment, failure of the course,
suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.
6
9.0 OTHER INFORMATION
Office of the Registrar web site: http://registrar.uwo.ca
Student Development Services web site: http://www.sdc.uwo.ca
Please see the Psychology Undergraduate web site for information on the following:
http://psychology.uwo.ca/undergradresponsibilities.htm
- Policy on Cheating and Academic Misconduct
- Procedures for Appealing Academic Evaluations
- Policy on Attendance
- Policy Regarding Makeup Exams and Extensions of Deadlines
- Policy for Assignments
- Short Absences
- Extended Absences
- Documentation
- Academic Concerns
- 2014 Calendar References
No electronic devices, including cell phones, will be allowed during the midterm test.
Maintaining a Complete Set of Notes is Your Responsibility
I understand that, through no fault of your own, you may, occasionally, be forced to miss a class. However, it is
very likely that each and every class will be covered to some extent in the test. In order to avoid having an
incomplete set of notes when it’s time to study for the test, I recommend finding two or three classmates early on
in the year whom you are comfortable sharing notes with in the event that one of you should miss a lecture.
Remember to get phone numbers, email addresses and all relevant information from these classmates so that you
can contact them on short notice if need be. If you miss a lecture, be sure to contact these colleagues ASAP so that
you can get caught up and not be confused by later lectures that may well presume that you are already familiar
with the material that was covered in the lecture that you missed. Please be advised that I do not make my lecture
notes or powerpoint slides available, and it is simply not feasible for me to repeat entire lectures for individual
students, even if the test is the next day!
Learn and Study Productively
If you feel that your progress in this course, or at Western in general, is not what it should be as a result of your
study skills, habits, or other issues (e.g., personal problems), you may wish to take advantage of the Student
Development Centre (SDC): http://www.sdc.uwo.ca. A wide range of helpful services are offered at the SDC
including psychological services/counselling and learning skills services. Additionally, the academic counsellors
in your Dean’s office may be able to help you with a variety of issues.
“Turnaround Time” for Grading
Test results will ordinarily be provided to you two weeks after the test date.
*The dates mentioned in this course outline could be changed by the instructor. Any such changes will be
announced in class and sufficient notice will be given.