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Industrial & Organizational Psychology
PSY 255 (Online)
Summer Session I
May 13 – June 27, 2013
Syllabus
Instructor Information
Instructor
Supervising Faculty
SinHui Chong
e-mail: chongsin@msu.edu
Cathleen McGreal, Ph.D
e-mail: mcgreal@msu.edu
Hello! My name is SinHui Chong, a graduate
student in the Organizational Psychology
program. I will be your instructor for the PSY
255 summer online course and am in charge of
managing, organizing, and grading the course
content. Additionally, I will serve as the
primary contact point for all specific questions
about the course topics, assignments, and
grades.
Dr. Cathleen McGreal is the MSU faculty of
record for this course. Dr. McGreal oversees
online courses in the MSU Psychology
Department and acts only as a course
supervisor. She is NOT to be contacted with
questions about this course’s content,
assignments, grades, etc. Please contact
SinHui Chong if you have any questions or
concerns about those matters.
Virtual Office Hours: Thursdays 10:00am - 12:00pm (EST), and by appointment
E-mail policy: E-mail is the best way to reach me. I will do my best to respond to your e-mails
within 24 hours, but an immediate response is not guaranteed. Please include “PSY255” in
your email subject to ensure that you receive prompt replies from me.
NOTE that I may not reply to e-mails sent after 6pm and on weekends until the next
weekday.
ANGEL Troubleshooting:
MSU Help Line: 517-355-2345
ANGEL Help Line: 1-800-500-1554
Course Description
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (American Time Use Survey, 2009),
the average American will spend over 104,000 hours performing work-related activities by the
time they reach the age of 65. Over the course of an average lifetime, that amounts to over 15%
of our entire lives and almost 25% of our waking hours spent at work!
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Clearly, work holds an important role in the daily lives of people everywhere and represents a
unique domain of psychological experience. Psychology 255: Industrial & Organizational
Psychology is designed to introduce you to major areas relevant to the behavior of people at
work from the time they enter the labor force until retirement. This course focuses both on
understanding the psychological bases of work behavior and on the organizational practices used
to create a good fit between people’s characteristics and work’s demands. During this course, we
will cover a number of topics including personnel selection, placement, training, work
motivation, job satisfaction, leadership, teamwork, and work-family balance.
Course Goals
The field of Industrial & Organizational Psychology is a unique discipline that blends rigorous
research methodologies and practical applications towards one basic focus:
“How do the emotions, behaviors, thoughts, and motivations of individuals at work contribute to
their overall performance and quality of life as well as the effectiveness and efficiency of the
organizations they work for?”
Perceptions about work are an undeniable part of our cultural fabric, and treatments, opinions,
and insights into this fundamental question are rife in popular literature, media, and
entertainment. However, many of these depictions are not scientifically justified or misinterpret
basic findings from the field of I/O psychology. To this end, I have two goals for this course:
1. I want to introduce you to the concepts, methodologies, and relevant findings that
describe the manner by which I/O psychologists approach the psychological
experiences of individuals in organizations. We will accomplish this by covering a
broad range of topics that I/O psychology has traditionally researched and what we know
about those areas as they pertain to both individuals at work and organizations.
2. I want to improve your capability to think about organizations and employees
scientifically and critically. We will accomplish this by applying principles of I/O
psychology to learning activities and participating in discussions designed to provide you
with the opportunity to try out concepts covered in this course.
Course Objectives and Example Learning Objectives

You will learn about the major content areas and foundational components of
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
a. Given a term or question about a concept area, empirical finding, or methodological
application/technique relevant to the study of I/O psychology, such as “Which of the
following describes a task-oriented approach to conducting a job analysis?” you will
be able to choose the most accurate definition or factual statement.
b. Given the name of any I/O-related theory we study, you will be able to identify the
major elements of the theory, compare and contrast the theory with competing
theories, and choose a practical application of the theory
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
You will learn how to critically evaluate and apply scientifically supported solutions to an
original problem relevant to Industrial/Organizational Psychology.
a. Given an empirical article pertaining to I/O psychology, you will be able to translate
those findings into a practical application that directly addresses a specific, workrelevant problem or area of interest
Course Information: Online Nature of the Course

Overview
This course will be held entirely online through the ANGEL class system at MSU. There will
be no classes or tests at any physical location on campus. All lectures will be available
through the course web page posted on ANGEL and all graded work will be submitted
through the systems that exist on ANGEL (i.e., drop box, discussion forums, etc.). Each
assignment will tell you the ANGEL method it uses for submission.
Since this course is completely online, you will need to make sure that you have consistent
access to the Internet throughout the duration of the course. Additionally, a high speed
Internet connection is required for this course; this is especially important for quizzes and
the final exam because these assessments are timed. High-speed connections will minimize
the loading times between test questions and therefore maximize the amount of time you
have to actually answer the questions. In addition, the lecture materials using PowerPoint
slides and voice will be very slow on dial-up connections.
The lectures used in this course were developed and narrated by Prof. Dan Ilgen, Prof.
Cathleen McGreal, and Ms. SinHui Chong.

Course Management System: ANGEL
The ANGEL website for our course can be accessed through https://angel.msu.edu. You will
need to use your MSU NetID and password to enter the site. If you do not already have these,
please contact the MSU Registrar’s Office (517-432-3952) and one will be assigned to you.
A brief orientation to ANGEL is described later in this syllabus. Note that I will be unable to
assist you with technical or troubleshooting problems associated with using ANGEL; if you
have questions or need assistance with technical aspects of the course such as
using/accessing online content on ANGEL, troubleshooting problems with the ANGEL
system, or listening to the recorded lectures using Breeze, PLEASE CALL THE MSU
HELP LINE at (517) 355-2345 or the ANGEL HELP LINE at 1-800-500-1554. ANGEL
support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Instructor Contact
E-mail and the scheduled “virtual” office hours through the ANGEL chat room will serve as
our primary avenues of contact and interaction throughout the course. I will hold office hours
both through the course chat room and e-mail on Thursdays from 10:00am to 12:00pm
each week during the course of the term from May 13th through June 27th, 2013. I will do my
best to respond to your e-mails within 24 hours of receiving them, but an immediate response
is not guaranteed. NOTE that I may not reply to e-mails sent after 6pm and on weekends
until the next weekday. Please include “PSY255” at the beginning of your email subject
to ensure that you receive prompt replies from me.
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Course Resources

Required Text
Landy, F. J., & Conte, J. M. (2013). Work in the 21st century: An introduction to industrial
and organizational psychology (4th ed.). Wiley Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-1182-9120-7.
This book is one of the most popular and established texts on Industrial/Organizational
Psychology for undergraduate students in the social sciences, and both authors are among the
most well-known and respected I/O Psychologists today.
My one-time only disclaimer about purchasing the textbook for this course:
It has not been so long ago that I have forgotten how much of a pain it was to buy course
textbooks, especially when it seems many instructors never use them for anything. As a
result—probably like you—there were times when I decided not buy the textbook for a
course and ended up doing just fine. THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE CLASSES—YOU
NEED TO HAVE THE TEXTBOOK. Because of the online nature of this course and our
relatively limited interaction through virtual means, having access to and reading the course
textbook is CRUCIAL to your success in the course. Questions from the quizzes and final
exam will be drawn from the text, and it is your responsibility to have read and learned that
information. The book is available through the bookstore on the campus at Michigan State
University, http://www.spartanbook.com (go to secure online ordering), the Student Book
Store (http://www.sbsmsu.com) and other area bookstores such as Ned’s and The College
Store. Note that this course uses the 4th edition text: make sure your book has a picture of a
man and solar panel on the cover! (The third edition has a different cover).
Using older editions of the text. It is not advisable for you to use older editions of the
textbook because the latest edition contains updated findings in the field. The quizzes,
assignments, and exam will also be based on contents in the 4th edition. If you still decide to
use older versions of the text, it is your responsibility to find a 4th edition text and go through
it to note that differences in contents between your version and the 4th edition.

Course Website
All lectures, quizzes, assignments, and other materials required for
completing this course will be stored and accessed through the
ANGEL course website https://angel.msu.edu. The course materials
will be gated on ANGEL so that they open and close at specified
dates according to the course schedule (more on this below). The
website will also be used to turn in all assignments and participate in
the discussion questions

Other Resources
If you are near the MSU campus, below is a list of resources outside of this course that you
may also find useful:
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o Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities. If you need special assistance for this
course because of a disability, please contact the Resource Center for Persons with
Disabilities to establish reasonable accommodations. More information can be found
at http://www.rcpd.msu.edu or by calling (517) 884-7273 (TTY: 517-353-1293).
o Learning Resource Center. The Learning Resource Center (LRC) is a self-paced
individualized learning center that assists MSU students who want to improve their
academic performance. Its goal is to help students develop the strategies and
techniques to become successful students. The LRC uses three unites to deliver its
services: a professional staff located in the main office, an interactive learning lab,
and tutoring services. More information can be found at http://lrc.msu.edu.
o Writing Center. Assists students in person and online with brainstorming, drafting,
revising, and editing writing for courses across multiple disciplines. More information
about services and scheduling appointments can be found at http://writing.msu.edu.
Course Expectations

Instructor Responsibilities
As your instructor, my responsibilities to you are to:
o Help you learn definitions, concepts, and techniques relevant to the field of
Industrial/Organizational Psychology through lecture and course assignments.
o Provide accurate information and elaborate on topics relevant to the field of
Industrial/Organizational Psychology and how it applies to real-world situations and
problems.
o Help you succeed and achieve your goals in this class by providing timely feedback
and guidance through the course materials.
I believe that every student can learn, but I’m aware that everyone has different goals and
learning styles. Unfortunately, the nature of learning and interaction with online courses makes it
difficult for me to easily adapt the presentation of materials to accommodate our class. As a
result, you bear much more responsibility in the course for structuring and accomplishing
your learning goals. Nevertheless, I will do my best to assist you in learning the material in any
reasonable manner.

Student Responsibilities
As a participative learner in this class, I expect you to:
o Always complete the weekly readings, lectures, learning activities, and
assignments. More so than perhaps any other courses you take at MSU, your ability
to succeed in this online course is directly related to your ability to schedule your
time wisely and keep up with the course material as it is presented. Following the
lectures, keeping up with the readings, participating in the discussion forums, and
completing the class exercises are COMPULSORY.
o Plan to spend at least 15-20 hours every week on course-related work (though
you may need to spend more than that!). Summer classes are short, condensed, and
go by quick, but there is still a significant amount of material to keep up with. Any
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time commitment less than that and I’ve found that students are likely to fall behind
quickly.
o Be courteous and respectful to your classmates and me. Showing respect for all
people in our class promotes a scholarly environment. I encourage you (and you are
required) to actively participate in this class and as such, many people will be making
comments related to the material. At no time is it acceptable for anyone to be
mimicked, embarrassed, intimidated, or mistreated by anybody in this class for any
reason.
o Ask questions and/or for help when you need it. Send me your questions! I think
this course is very interesting, but I understand it can be a little dense at times. If
you’re confused by something that you read or see on the lectures, chances are that
other people are too and you will be doing us all a favor by bringing it to my
attention. Remember that I will hold weekly virtual office hour sessions and can be
reached through e-mail.
o Talk to me if you feel that I am being unfair in my expectations, policies, or
grading. You may wish to refer to your rights and responsibilities as a student should
a conflict occur (online at http://www.vps.msu.edu/SpLife). However, I think that you
will find that I do my best to be fair and reasonable if you come to me with a
legitimate complaint or problem.
o Let me know as soon as possible if outside circumstances are impacting your
participation in class. Life happens! If you become seriously ill, experience the
death of a loved one, or have a life altering experience that is negatively influencing
your participation in our class, please contact me as soon as possible so we can
discuss your options.
The course rules and my expectations for you are non-negotiable. The rules as laid out in this
syllabus, the content of the exams, the content of the lectures, and the calculation of the grade
you earn are not a starting point for negotiations. While I am always willing to work with you on
an individual basis, I cannot negotiate individual terms with each person in the class.
Keys to Success in this Course
1. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you set a weekly/daily schedule
for yourself and stick to it for the seven weeks we are together. As this
is an online course, your learning is almost entirely self-paced. If you need
help or advice on what sort of schedule you should set, please contact me
and we can try to work one out together!
2. Approach this course in the same way you would approach an in-person course at
MSU. Establish a routine for listening/watching the lectures, taking quizzes/exams, and
completing your class exercises. Find a place and time that you can “come to class” that is
quiet and free from distractions and use it over and over again. Research shows that people
tend to learn better in more familiar and comfortable (i.e., comfortable as in safe, not
comfortable as in sleeping on your bed...) environments. If you are living with roommates or
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taking this course from your family home, try to pick a time/place where you know nobody
else will disturb you and you can focus entirely on the course materials.
3. Print or save the lecture handouts from every Unit and take notes as you read and
follow along with the lectures. I appreciate and understand that it can be extremely boring
to sit in front of a computer screen and listen/watch a PowerPoint presentation; however, you
will be much more engaged and will learn and retain much more of the information if you
take notes as you do so. I believe that you will find that your understanding of lectures and
your performance in the class will be greatly improved if you take the time to jot down notes
as you complete the lectures.
4. Pay close attention to the Learning Objectives presented for each Unit. They will help
orient you to the material and outline what information you should know for the tests.
5. Get to know your team members for the Work Exercises and establish how you will
complete team assignments as early as possible. Just like in a real work place, your ability
to work effectively and efficiently with others will affect your performance in this course. As
such, it is in your best interest to get to know and communicate with your team members
early and often throughout the semester—use them as study partners, ask them questions
about the material, etc. If possible, you may even consider trying to meet together a few
times in person.
6. The time to be concerned about your grade is in the first six weeks of this course, not in
the last week. Your grades will always be accessible to you through the ANGEL website,
but it is your responsibility to monitor them. If you feel like you are falling behind, the
sooner you talk with me the better!
Course Details/Structure

Day 1 Orientation: ANGEL Technology Walk Through
When you first enter the course, you will see a “Day 1
Orientation” folder – start there. This folder contains a short
tutorial/quiz titled “Course Orientation” that covers certain basic requirements related to the
operation of ANGEL and your computer for this course. Completion of this tutorial is
required—YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BEGIN THE COURSE AND/OR ACCESS
ANY OF THE COURSE CONTENT UNTIL YOU COMPLETE IT! This tutorial/quiz is
a requirement for unlocking the course content because if you do not make sure you have the
basic course requirements, you may come across many problems during the course that could
have easily been avoided.
(Note to those reading the syllabus: the word you will need to enter during your course
orientation is “training.”)

Course Materials
The materials for this course are divided into 13 Units that will be covered during the sevenweek semester. Initially, only the course materials for Week 1 (covering Units 1 and 2) will
be visible to you. The remainder of the course materials will not be visible until they are
unlocked according to the Course Schedule provided at the end of this syllabus. As course
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content is unlocked, you will begin to see new folders appear in ANGEL with various labels.
The most important folders are those labeled by week. Each weekly folder contains
TWO Units (except for Week 7, which covers only one Unit) that must be completed by
the end of that week. The folders also contain the Work Exercise for that week. Note
that once a weekly folder has opened, it will remain open until the end of the semester.
HOWEVER, the Work Exercises and tests for that week will only remain available for
completion until their associated due date (see Course Schedule).
Each Unit folder (remember there are TWO units in each week) contains:
1. Learning Objectives: These objectives outline the topics you should pay close attention
to in the lecture and text. Additionally, these are the topics that will be covered most
heavily in your quizzes and final exam.
2. Unit Readings: In this folder you will see a page that tells you the assigned readings
from the textbook for that Unit. There will also be a link to the student companion site
where you can go for additional resources such as practice quizzes. Finally, there will be
a PowerPoint presentation based on the textbook, which you can choose to review if you
wish—viewing this PowerPoint is optional.
3. Unit Lecture: In this folder you will find the audio lecture (first link) for the unit and a
handout with the lecture slides which you can print or save. When you go into this folder
and click on the first link, a page with the audio lecture will open. You will hear the
lecture while watching the screen (Be sure to take notes!). The audio text is linked to
each PowerPoint slide. If you go back to a slide earlier in the presentation, the audio will
begin with that slide.
4. Unit Quiz: When you have mastered the material in a unit, take the unit quiz. A link to
the quiz will be at the end of the unit folder. Read the directions carefully as the quizzes
are timed.
IMPORTANT: A Note on the Quiz/Exam Assessment Method
The assessment method used in the Department of Psychology is one that enhances test
security during online testing. It is called “Single-question, no backtrack.” In this type of
assessment only one question is delivered at a time. You will make a decision about that
question, select the desired answer/response option, and submit your answer. After doing so,
the next question will be presented. Once you have submitted an answer to a question, it is
not possible to go back to previous questions. In this way, instructors can ask questions
knowing that a question “gives away” the answer to a previous question. (Of course, this
could never happen on a regular paper-and-pencil test.)
This method may require you adopt a different strategy for test taking. For example, you may
have learned to first answer all the questions that you know and then go back to others you
did not. This strategy is not possible in a single-question, no backtrack testing method. On
the other hand, since this course uses open-book testing, you are able to look up answers to
those questions about which you have doubts before proceeding. Thus, many students find
that after a quick look at the book to refresh their memories, they can proceed with
confidence.
If single-question, no backtrack (and open book testing) sounds like a method with which
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you will be comfortable then this online class is probably a good fit for your assessment
style.

Work Teams and Teamwork
During this course you will be required to work as part of a virtual team to complete three of
the Work Exercises. Everyone in the course will be assigned to a team with approximately
five members. Team rosters will be listed in ANGEL and e-mail communication with your
team members will be useful for completing your team activities. It is important that you
communicate with your team members very soon after the course begins. The first team
exercise (Work Exercise 3) will open on Monday, May 27th 2013. For optimal use of your
team time, it is suggested that your team schedule a time to hold a chat room discussion of
that exercise as soon as possible after the exercise opens to organize how to work on the
exercise. I STRONGLY recommend that you introduce yourselves and schedule when you
will first “meet” to go over Work Exercise 3 before May 27th.
o Chat Rooms and Discussion Forums: Your team will also be assigned a Team Chat
Room and a Team Discussion Forum (identified by your team number) that can only
be accessed by myself and the members of your team. Both are provided as a means
for getting to know your team members and for organizing your efforts to complete
the Work Exercises. Since experience shows that chat rooms and discussion rooms
often become cluttered with a large number of messages, three separate chat
rooms/discussion forums have been created for your team:
1. Team Lounge: The Team Lounge Chat Room and the Team Lounge
Discussion forum are available to you and your team members as general
meeting place for the duration of the course after you have been assigned to
your teams. Once opened, you will be able to access these areas at any time.
2. SME (Subject Matter Experts): The SME Chat Room and Discussion
Forum should be reserved for work on the Subject Matter Experts team
project (Work Exercise 3). These spaces will open at 9:00am on Monday,
May 27th and will close at 2:00pm on Monday June 3rd when Work
Exercise 3 is due. The areas close so that people do not inadvertently leave
messages in this space when working on later exercises.
3. HR Newsletter: The HR Newsletter Chat Room and Discussion Forum
should be used for work on the newsletter (Work Exercises 4 and 5). These
spaces will open on Monday June 3rd when Work Exercise 4 opens and will
close when the newsletter is to be completed, June 17th.
Course Work

Tests
Two types of tests will be administered in this course—quizzes and a final exam. Quizzes
will cover material from the lecture and the text assignments for each specific Unit. The final
exam will also cover readings and lectures and will be cumulative (that is, it will include
material from the whole course).
All quizzes and the final exam have strict time limits, but both are open book. Because of
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their timed nature, it is required that you take the tests using a high-speed Internet
connection. For both the quizzes and the final exam, your questions will be randomly drawn
from a large question pool at the time that you begin the exam; as such, you will likely not
receive the exact same questions in the same order as other students in the class. However,
the questions in the pool have been designed so as to be similar in difficulty level. When you
begin the exam, questions will be presented one at a time, with the next question appearing
only after you have submitted your answer to the previous one. Once an answer is submitted
for a question, that question cannot be revisited. Thus, there is one chance and one chance
only to answer each question. The random selection of questions, presenting questions
sequentially without the chance to return to them, and the time limits are all used to reduce
cheating.
o Quizzes
There are 13 graded quizzes, one for each course Unit. There are two quizzes per
week for Weeks 1 through 6 and one quiz during Week 7. Your two lowest quiz
grades of the semester will be dropped when computing the overall quiz
component of your grade. Thus your quiz grade will be based on your 11 highest
quiz scores. The quizzes will test your knowledge of both the lectures and the
readings assigned for the Unit on which the quiz is based. All due date information
for the quizzes can be found on the Course Schedule in the syllabus.
Each quiz will consist of 10 questions (multiple choice and fill in the blank). Once
you open a quiz, you will have exactly 15 minutes to complete it. If you do not
complete it within 15 minutes, the quiz will close and any items not yet completed
will be considered wrong. The questions for the quizzes will be randomly selected
from a large test bank for each student in the class. Therefore, the same quiz will
contain different questions for different students depending on which questions are
drawn from the test bank.
The quizzes for a week’s units will be available to you on ANGEL beginning at
9:00am Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Monday of that week until Friday
2:00pm EST of that week and can be taken at any point during that time frame.
Once the deadline has passed, all further access to the week’s quiz will be denied.
Note that if you begin a quiz less than 15 minutes before it is due to close (i.e., later
than 1:45pm EST on the Friday it is due) you will NOT receive the full 15 minutes to
complete the quiz. Quizzes not taken before Friday at 2:00pm will be given a grade of
0.0 for all but the rare cases in which there is a personal emergency. In cases of
emergencies, the instructor must be notified PRIOR to the due date and time if there
are extenuating circumstances requiring exceptions to be made.
o Final Exam
The final exam will consist of 75 multiple-choice questions and will draw on
information from all 13 course Units. Once you begin the final exam, you will have
exactly 2 hours to complete it.
The final exam will take place during Week 7 on Thursday June 27th 2013, the
traditional day for Summer Session One final exams. The test will be open for you to
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take at exactly 9:00am on Thursday June 27 and will close at 9:00pm on the same
day. The final exam MUST be taken during this time frame—you will be able to
choose the two-hour block within the time period that best fits your schedule but you
must be finished on or before 9:00 p.m. Therefore, if you want the full two hours
for the exam, you must access it by 7:00 p.m. on June 27th.
IMPORTANT: A Note on Technical Concerns with Tests
In order to prevent the loss of your answers in case of a computer or Internet malfunction, the
final exam has an autosave feature that allows you to save your responses every 30 minutes.
In the past, students have noticed that after saving the exam, exam items appear to have been
deleted from the screen—that is not the case. Your answers are still saved even though
they do not appear on the screen. Since your original responses will be saved, please do not
waste your limited time going back and trying to complete those questions again.
Occasionally, students will experience technical difficulties with ANGEL during tests. These
difficulties are greatly reduced if a high speed Internet connection is used. Dial-up
connections lead to difficulties because of the timed nature of testing. Please make every
effort to use a high-speed connection during the final exam.
If you do experience technical problems with ANGEL during the exam, please contact
the MSU helpline (1-800-500-1554) and me (SinHui Chong chongsin@msu.edu)
immediately. On rare occasions, due to technical problems, I may need to reset your exam.
In these cases, you must still complete the exam on the originally scheduled exam day before
the exam deadline. Students whose exams are reset will receive a 0.0 on the exam if it is not
completed by the deadline.

Work Exercises
During this course you will complete several applied exercises to help illustrate the concepts
that you learn in lecture and in the textbook. Over the course of Weeks 1 through 6, you will
do several tasks related to being an employee in a newspaper office. Some tasks are for
individual “employees” and others will be completed by your work team. Your experience
will culminate in the creation of an HR Newsletter, which will be built during Weeks 4 and 5
in groups of four or five. The Work Exercises are described below and more detailed
information is provided in the instructions for each specific exercise in the appropriate
week’s folder on ANGEL.
New Work Exercises will open on Monday at 9:00am and will usually be due at 2:00pm
EST on the following Monday (because of Memorial Day on Monday May 27th 2013, Work
Exercise 2 will be due on Tuesday May 28th 2013 instead). This will allow you and your
team to work on the Work Exercises over the weekend if needed.
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Work Exercise Descriptions
1 Demographic
Data
2 Selection
Battery
3 Subject Matter
Expert (SME)
4 HR Newsletter
Subject
5 HR Newsletter
6 Group
Reflection

You will be asked to fill out a form with several demographic questions
as well as questions about your experience with online courses in the
past. These questions will be similar to demographic questions that are
often asked by employers. All information that you provide will be kept
confidential.
You will take a selection battery that contains several types of questions
often used in real employee selection tests that companies give, as well as
some questions that assess skills that are specifically newspaper-related.
Prior to Week 3, you will be assigned to your work team and asked to
develop a plan for interviewing a subject matter expert in the newspaper
field. This includes structuring the interview, making a list of needed
questions and deciding who will ask what questions. You will be working
with these same individuals for the Human Resource Newsletter group
exercises.
Your team will be asked to begin to develop a Human Resource
Newsletter. You will develop an HR newsletter on a topic in I/O
psychology chosen by your group. Your team will have to make a
decision on the overall topic area and write an introductory letter
explaining the importance of the topic for business and describing how
each article fits that topic. You will need to submit to the instructor what
your general topic area will be and which article each group member will
be summarizing. Your group’s topic and each member’s chosen article
will be submitted to fulfill Work Exercise 4.
Your group will finish the HR newsletter exercise that began in Week 4.
Your group will have to make an introductory letter explaining the
importance of the topic for business and how each article fits that topic.
You want to make a coherent and informative newsletter. Each team
member will need to write an article summary.
With the HR Newsletter finished you will be asked to reflect on your
group experiences. You will first be asked to fill out a typical work
survey of satisfaction. You will then be asked to reflect on your team
experience in response to some short answer questions that will tie your
experiences to concepts that have been discussed in lecture and the
textbook. This exercise is graded only in terms of whether or not it is
completed with some effort put in to reflecting on the team process. It is
an individual exercise.
Discussion Questions
Every week (except for Week 7) a discussion forum will open in the weekly folder with a
question based on the readings/lectures from the week (from one of the two units). The
question is designed to give you and your classmates the opportunity to think critically and
reflect on new concepts. For each discussion question, you will have until Sunday 5:00pm
EST to post a response to the question AND reply to two other students’ posts. Each
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discussion question will be worth 5 points. You must post something of substance for your
post and the responses to other students to receive the full 5 points. Saying only “I agree” or
“I disagree” is not substantive; do you best to contribute to the discussion by letting us know
your opinion and why you feel the way you do about something.
Course Grading
Your grade is calculated based on the total number of points you earn on the quizzes, final exam,
work exercises, and discussion questions as shown in the following table:
Assignment
Total Points Percentage of Final Grade
Quizzes (11 x 30 points each)
330
33%
Final Exam (75 items)
450
45%
Work Exercises
WE1: Demographic Data
190
(10)
19%
WE2: Selection Battery
(10)
WE3: Subject Matter Expert (SME) Interview*
(40)
WE4: HR Newsletter Subject*
(10)
WE5: HR Newsletter
Team score*
Individual score
WE6: Group Reflection
(25)
(75)
(20)
Discussion Participation (6 x 5 points each)
Total
30
3%
1000
100%
*Note that three of the items above are starred. These involve work by your team, and
EVERYONE on the team will receive the same score for these assignments. Thus,
teamwork will comprise 7.5 % of your total grade.

Extra Credit
You also have the opportunity to receive up to 10 extra credit points in the class by
participating in 5 hours’ worth of research studies through the MSU Psychology
Department's HPR system. Alternatively, you may also complete an additional written
assignment chosen by me (however, if you wish to write the paper, you must let me know by
Monday, June 10th). The last day to earn extra credit through research participation (or turn
in the written assignment) for this course is Monday, June 24th. More information about
earning extra credit through research participation is available through the course website.
Your final grade in the course will be assigned based on the 1000 point maximum according to
the table below. If you accumulate the total points listed below, you are guaranteed that grade in
the course. Note that total points get rounded to the nearest whole number (e.g., 849.4999 is 849
but 849.5000 is 850). Imagine you are the professor assigning grades—you have to draw the
lines somewhere, and someone is always going to be just below the lines. The final semester
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grade may be curved if necessary; however, in no case will your curved grade be lower than that
based on the total points you earned in the course.
Final Grade Conversions
Number of points
Percentage
Grade
900 or above
850 – 899
800 – 849
90%-100%
85%-89.9%
80%-84.9%
4.0
3.5
3.0
750 – 799
700 – 749
650 – 699
75%-79.9%
70%-74.9%
65%-69.9%
2.5
2.0
1.5
600 – 649
550 – 599
60%-64.9%
55%-59.9%
1.0
0.5
549 or less
0%-54.9%
0.0
Course Rules and Policies

Academic Honesty:
Article 2.3.3 of the Academic Freedom Report states: “The student shares with the faculty
the responsibility for maintaining the integrity of scholarship, grades, and professional
standards.” In addition, the Department of Psychology adheres to the policies on academic
honesty specified in General Student Regulation 1.0, Protection of Scholarship and Grades;
the all-University Policy onIntegrity of Scholarship and Grades; and Ordinance 17.00,
Examinations. (See Spartan Life: Student Handbook and Resource Guide and/or the MSU
Web site www.msu.edu.)
Therefore, unless authorized by your instructor, you are expected to complete all course
assignments, including quizzes, exams, work exercises, and discussion posts without
assistance from any source not indicated in this syllabus. You are expected to develop
original work for this course; therefore, you may not submit course work you completed for
another course to satisfy the requirements for this course. Also, you are not authorized to use
the www.allmsu.com Web site to complete any course work in this course. Students who
violate MSU rules may receive a penalty grade, including but not limited to a failing grade
on the assignment or in the course.
Examples of cheating in this course include:
1. Having another student provide academic assistance or coaching during an online
quiz or test
2. Having another person take a quiz or test for you
3. Copying questions or answers from your online quiz or test and sharing them with
another student
4. Copying questions or answers from your online quiz or test and posting them on a
website for others to view
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5. Getting questions and/or answers from students who have already taken a quiz or
exam you are scheduled to take
6. Collaborating with other students on projects or assignments when collaboration is
not part of the assignment or when you do not have your instructor’s permission to
collaborate
I apologize for dwelling on cheating; however, cheating in online courses occurs and is
attempted unsuccessfully far too often. There are student-based websites that seem to
promote academic dishonesty. Please be advised that these sites are known to faculty
members who are updated on their contents by honest students and others on a regular basis.
Specifically, you are not authorized to use the http://www.allmsu.com website to complete
any course work.
Please be aware that ANGEL tracks all student login information. For example, it tracks
when you have logged into ANGEL and when you have logged out. It also tracks when you
begin your quiz and when your quiz is submitted. This is helpful for instructors because it
allows us to resolve issues if there is a problem with the ANGEL system in terms of logging
on and/or gaining access to the various sections of the site. Tracking can also help us resolve
disputes about exams and assignments, particularly those that are timed. ANGEL tracking
can also reveal academic misconduct.
Ignorance or misunderstanding of the honesty policy will not serve as an excuse for
academic dishonesty. Scholastic dishonesty will be prosecuted to the fullest extent in this
class. Please note that the general penalty grade policy at MSU has changed and become
more strict and punitive toward cheaters. If you are found to have cheated, you will get a
grade of 0.0 in the class, and a letter about the incident will be sent to the dean of your
college and to the dean of the College of Social Sciences at MSU. A description of the
incident will be added to the student’s academic record, where it will remain, unless the
student successfully grieves the allegation. Thus, cheating has a significant impact on your
current grade and your student permanent record. The majority of students work hard to earn
good grades. It isn't fair to honest students to give cheaters the same grade.

Disruptive Behavior:
Article 2.3.5 of the Academic Freedom Report (AFR) for students at Michigan State
University states: "The student's behavior in the classroom shall be conducive to the teaching
and learning process for all concerned." Article 2.3.10 of the AFR states that, "The student
has a right to scholarly relationships with faculty based on mutual trust and civility." General
Student Regulation 5.02 states: "No student shall . . . interfere with the functions and services
of the University (for example, but not limited to, classes . . .) such that the function or
service is obstructed or disrupted. Students whose conduct adversely affects the learning
environment in this classroom may be subject to disciplinary action through the Student
Faculty Judiciary process. These same policies apply to this online course as well.

Commercialized Lecture Notes:
Commercialization of lecture notes and university-provided course materials is not permitted
in this course
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
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:
Students with disabilities should contact the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities to
establish reasonable accommodations. For an appointment with a disability specialist, call
353-9642 (voice), 355-1293 (TTY), or visit http://rcpd.msu.edu.

Drops and Adds:
The last day to add this course is May 15, 2013. The last day to drop this course with a 100
percent refund and no grade reported is May 23, 2013. The last day to drop this course with
no refund and no grade reported is June 5, 2013. You should immediately make a copy of
your amended schedule to verify you have added or dropped this course.
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Course Schedule (Subject to Change)
Week 1 (May 13 – May 19)
Unit 1: World View of an I-O Psychologist
Unit 2: Basic Research Methods in I-O Psychology
Assignments
Opens
Quizzes 1 and 2
Monday, May 13th, 9:00am
Discussion Question 1
Monday, May 13th, 9:00am
Work Exercise 1
Monday, May 13th, 9:00am
Week 2 (May 20 – May 26)
Unit 3: Industrial Psyc: Individual Differences in Mental Abilities,
Physical Abilities and Personality
Unit 4: Industrial Psy: Assessing Individuals
Assignments
Opens
Quizzes 3 and 4
Monday, May 20, 9:00am
Discussion Question 2
Monday, May 20, 9:00am
Work Exercise 2
Monday, May 20, 9:00am
Reading: Ch. 1
Reading: Ch. 2.1-2.3
Due/Closes
Friday, May 17th, 2:00pm
Sunday, May 19th, 5:00pm
Monday, May 20th, 2:00pm
Reading: Ch. 3.1-3.2
Reading: Ch. 2.4 & 3.3-3.5
Due/Closes
Friday, May 24, 2:00pm
Sunday, May 26, 5:00pm
Tuesday, May 28, 2:00pm
Week 3 (May 27 – June 2)
Unit 5: Industrial Psyc: Performance and Performance Measurement
Unit 6: Industrial Psyc: Job Analysis and Evaluation
Assignments
Opens
Quizzes 5 and 6
Monday, May 27, 9:00am
Discussion Question 3
Monday, May 27, 9:00am
Work Exercise 3
Monday, May 27, 9:00am
Reading: Ch. 4.1-4.2 & 5
Reading: Ch. 4.3-4.5 & p. 430-434
Due/Closes
Friday, May 31, 2:00pm
Sunday, June 2, 5:00pm
Monday, June 3, 2:00pm
Week 4 (June 3 – June 9)
Unit 7: Industrial Psyc: Staffing Decisions
Unit 8: Industrial Psyc: Training and Development
Assignments
Opens
Quizzes 7 and 8
Monday, June 3, 9:00am
Discussion Question 4
Monday, June 3, 9:00am
Work Exercise 4
Monday, June 3, 9:00am
Reading: Ch. 6
Reading: Ch. 7
Due/Closes
Friday, June 7, 2:00pm
Sunday, June 9, 5:00pm
Monday, June 10, 2:00pm
Week 5 (June 10 – June 16)
Unit 9 : Organizational Psyc: Work Motivation
Unit 10: Organizational Psyc: Attitudes, Emotions and Work
Assignments
Opens
Quizzes 9 and 10
Monday, June 10, 9:00am
Discussion Question 5
Monday, June 10, 9:00am
Work Exercise 5
Monday, June 10, 9:00am
Reading: Ch. 8
Reading: Ch. 9 & 10.4
Due/Closes
Friday, June 14, 2:00pm
Sunday, June 16, 5:00pm
Monday, June 17, 2:00pm
Week 6 (June 17 – June 23)
Unit 11: Organizational Psyc: Leadership and Teams in the Workplace
Unit 12: Organizational Psyc: Fairness and Diversity in the Workplace
Assignments
Opens
Quizzes 11 and 12
Monday, June 17, 9:00am
Discussion Question 6
Monday, June 17, 9:00am
Work Exercise 6
Monday, June 17, 9:00am
Reading: Ch. 12 & 13
Reading: Ch. 11
Due/Closes
Friday, June 21, 2:00pm
Sunday, June 23, 5:00pm
Monday, June 24, 2:00m
Week 7 (June 24 – June 27)
Unit 13: Organizational Psyc: Organization of Work Behavior
Assignments
Opens
Quiz 13
Monday, June 24, 9:00am
Final Exam
Thursday, June 27, 9:00am
Reading: Ch. 14
Due/Closes
Thursday, June 27, 2:00pm
Thursday, June 27, 9:00pm