Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Psychology 330
Spring 2008 Syllabus
Overview
Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology is sometimes called the psychology of work. It is at once a scientific discipline and an area of professional practice. As a scientific discipline, I-O Psychology critically examines workplace behavior and experience. The goal in doing this is to understand (a) what influences people's behavior on the job, and (b) what
consequences their job behavior has for others around them and for the organization in which they work. Thus, we might wonder what causes people to work hard, to quit their jobs, to feel good about their company, or to sabotage a colleague's efforts. Is it possible to predict when people will steal from their employer, work overtime without extra
compensation, become "burned out" on the job, or perform above and beyond the call of duty? As a science, I-O Psychology seeks to answer such questions by conducting systematic, theory-driven research.
But I-O Psychology is also an area of professional practice. Many I-O psychologists try to apply the scientific knowledge gained through research in order to solve important practical problems for client organizations. As professional practitioners, I-O psychologists often help organizations with such critical problems as selecting and training employees, designing jobs to maximize both efficiency and motivation, and managing employee performance. Thus, the science an practice of I-O Psychology go hand-in-hand. The practice of I-O Psychology is informed by solid, evidence-based research, and the science of I-O Psychology is animated by the desire to solve pressing, real-world problems.
As its name implies, there are two main branches in the field of I-O Psychology. One is industrial psychology, which is the older of the two branches. We will spend the last third of the course on topics central to industrial psychology, including job analysis, employee recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, and personnel training and development.
T & Th, 3:30 - 4:45p; Room C1 Lecture Center
Instructor: Office Address: Office Phone: Office Hours: Email: Home Page: Course Web Page:
Dr. Jim Larson 1046-C BSB 413-2642 M 4:00-6:00; Th 5:00-6:00, and by Appointment jlarson@uic.edu http://www.uic.edu/~jlarson/ http://www.uic.edu/~jlarson/p330/p330index.html Course materials will also be available via Blackboard. Teaching Assistant: Office Address: Office Hours: Email: Vicky Harmon Meet in 1046 BSB By Appointment Only vharmon@uic.edu
As will be seen, some of these topics are highly technical, and professionals who work in this area usually have strong mathematical skills.
The other branch of I-O Psychology is organizational psychology. This is where we will begin the course. Many of the topics that fall under the heading of organizational psychology focus on the individual employee. These include issues related to work
motivation, job satisfaction, and employee reactions to stress. Motivation in particular is an important concern in organizations, because it is often assumed (sometimes incorrectly) to be the primary determinant of performance on the job. We will address the topics that focus on the individual employee in the first third of the course. Then, in the middle third, we will cover a set of topics that look beyond the individual employee. These concern the social context of work. Almost all work takes place in a social environment, and a full understanding of workplace behavior and experience cannot be achieved without
considering that environment. Thus, we will examine such topics as group dynamics and decision making, social power and influence, leadership, and organizational change. Regarding the last of these topics, implementing changes in organizations (which includes, but is not limited to, putting into practice some of the principles uncovered by the science of I-O Psychology) often requires the exercise of power, influence, and leadership. But a broader understanding of the change process itself is also useful.
Prerequisites
It is expected that students will have already taken Psychology 100 (Introduction to
Psychology) and Psychology 242 (Introduction to Research in Psychology). Both are important prerequisites -- it is not satisfactory to be taking either course concurrently with this one. I-O Psychology has a strong empirical orientation, as does this course. Not only will the course emphasize research findings bearing on the causes and consequences of people's behavior in work settings, we will talk a close look at how some of those findings were derived. Thus, during each set of lectures we will consider in some detail a number of the most important research studies relevant to the topic at hand, and you will be asked to present and discuss the details of two or more published empirical research studies as part of a term writing project. All of this requires a strong background understanding of research design and methodology (the content of Psychology 242) and of psychology more broadly (the content of Psychology 100). A background in statistics is also helpful, but it is not a prerequisite for this course.
Attendance
Students are expected to attend every class meeting. A good deal of material will be presented in class that is not discussed in the textbook. Further, from time to time pop quizzes will be given during class. Pop quizzes that are missed because you are absent cannot be made up. Thus, by missing lectures you put your grade in the course at risk, because (a) you will be missing important material that is not in the book that you will nevertheless be expected to know for the exams, and (b) you will miss the opportunity to earn points on pop quizzes that will count toward your course grade.
Term Project
As part of the course you are expected to complete a writing project. It is called a "research translation" paper. Its goal is to allow you to demonstrate your understand of, and ability to apply, original published research in I-O Psychology. This project requires that you (a)
identify at least two recently-published research studies on a topic that is both relevant to the course and of interest to you, (b) describe (translate) the content of those studies in a paper written for a professional audience, and (c) discuss the applied implications of those studies. The paper is to be written in a way that a well-educated but non-technical
professional reader (e.g., a human resources manager) would gain useful, detailed,
understandable information about recent research in I-O Psychology. You have the option of doing the term project either by yourself (i.e., as an individual contributor) or as part of a 3-person team. For a complete description of the project requirements, click the link
below. Note that the project is presented there as if it were an employee work assignment, with you (and everyone else in the class) being a new employee of a hypothetical company called BSC International. This whimsical framework is intended to give the project a bit more meaning by setting it in a plausible business context. It was fun for me to imagine it that way, and I hope it will be fun for you as well!
Click here for a detailed description of the term project requirements. Please note the following project-related deadlines:
February 7, 2008: Last Date to Declare a Project Team. If you intend to do the project as part of a 3-person team, you must declare this by Thursday, February 7th. If I don't hear from you by then, I will assume that you intend to do the project as an individual contributor.
March 6, 2008: Last Date for Early Study Registration Bonus. Different students (and teams) may not write about the same research studies. Therefore, it will be necessary for you to "reserve" the research studies that you plan to translate. Once a study has been reserved, no one else may use it. To reserve a study for yourself (or your group), you must register it with course TA Vicky Harmon (a.k.a. Editor-in-Chief of Research
Translations, the hypothetical monthly newsletter for which you will be
writing). The document describing the project requirements explains exactly how to do this (see link given above). I strongly recommend that you NOT wait until the last minute to register your research
studies. The longer you wait, the more likely it is that a study you would like to use will already be registered by someone else. If this happens, you cannot use that study. Thus, it is to your advantage to register your research studies early. To encourage early registration, a bonus will be applied to your project grade if you register your studies on or before Thursday, March 6th. See the document describing the project requirements for further details.
March 21, 2008: Last Date for Early Project Review Meeting Bonus. After you have identified and registered the research studies you intend to write about, but before you actually begin writing, it is usually very helpful to meet with the Editor-in-Chief of RT, Vicky Harmon, in order to discuss the project. The purpose of this meeting is to review what you plan to say about the research studies themselves and about their applied
implications. The Editor-in-Chief can often be very helpful in
suggesting useful ways to structure and focus what you intend to say. There is no formal requirement that you have this meeting, but it is strongly recommended. Further, it is recommended that you have this meeting well before the project completion due date. To encourage you to have this meeting, and to have it early, a bonus will be applied to
Grading
Exams. Four exams will be given: three Progress Exams and a comprehensive Final
Exam. A Progress Exam will be given approximately every five weeks during the semester (see the table below for exact dates). Each Progress Exam will cover only the material presented in the lectures and readings during the preceding five-week period. (Listed readings that have a "module rating" of 0 are an exception. These will not be covered in the exams. Click here for an explanation of what the "module ratings" mean.) The Final Exam will be comprehensive, covering material presented during the entire semester. Course grades will be base on three of these four exams, as follows:
(a) If you take all three Progress Exams, the Final Exam is optional. If you choose to take the Final Exam, your course grade will be computed on the basis of your best three exam scores (the lowest score will be dropped), plus the term project. If you elect not to take the Final Exam, your course grade will be computed on the basis of your three Progress Exam scores, plus the term project.
(b) If you miss one of the Progress Exams, the Final Exam is mandatory. In this case, your grade will be computed on the basis of your two Progress Exams and the Final, plus the term project. You will be given a score of 0 for any additional exams that you miss. No make-up exams will be given.
In combination, the exams will count for 75 percent of your overall course grade, with each of your best three scores contributing equally (i.e., each will be worth 25 percent).
Pop Quizzes. From time to time, short unannounced "pop" quizzes will be given. Pop
quizzes will usually consist of 2 or 3 questions, and will focus on material presented during the prior class period (e.g., a pop quiz given on a Tuesday will focus on material presented in class the prior Thursday). Each question on a pop quiz will be worth 1 point, and these points will be added to your score on the subsequent Progress Exam covering the same material (e.g., points earned on pop quizzes given prior to the Progress Exam 1 will be added to the points you earn on Progress Exam 1 itself). One implication of this scoring procedure is that it is possible to get a score of more than 100% on a Progress Exam.
Term Project. The grade you earn on the "research translation" project will count for the
final 25 percent of your overall course grade. Both substance and quality of writing will be evaluated, with the latter contributing 30% of the project grade. Thus, it is important to have a well-written paper. A poorly written paper -- one that lacks a strong organizational structure, is hard to follow, contains awkward sentences, grammatical errors, misused or misspelled words, etc. -- can easily cost you one or two full letter grades on the project. So
your project grade if you meet with the Editor-in-Chief on or before Friday, March 21th. See the document describing the project requirements for further details.
April 17, 2008: Project Completion Deadline. The project is due at the beginning of class on Thursday, April 17, 2008 (the 13th week of the semester), but may be turned in anytime before that date. Both a hard copy and an indentical electronic copy must be submitted. Your paper is not officially submitted until both copies have been submitted. A penalty will be imposed for late submissions. See the document describing the project requirements for further details.
please pay attention to the quality of the writing. It makes more different than most students realize.
Grade Computation: At the end of the semester the scores that you earned on the four
graded components (3 best exams and the term project), each expressed on a 0-100 scale, will be averaged and converted to letter grades according to the schedule given below.
Reading Assignments
The reading assignments that accompany each lecture topic can be found by clicking the associated link in the table below. All of the readings are from the textbook by Landy and Conte (2007). A complete reference for the textbook follows. It is available in the UIC bookstore.
Landy, F. J., & Conte, J. M. (2007). Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to
Industrial and Organizational Psychology (2/e). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Average Percentage Score Letter Grade 90-100 A 80-89.99 B 70-79.99 C 60-69.99 D Below 60 E Week # Day &
Date Lecture Topic
Click Below for Reading Assignments
1 T 1/15
Th 1/17 What Is I-O Psychology?
Reading Assignment (49 Pages) 2 - 3 T 1/22 Th 1/24 T 1/29 Th 1/31
Work Motivation Reading Assignment (43
Pages) 4 T 2/5 Th 2/7 Job Attitudes Reading Assignment (50 Pages) 4 Th 2/7 RT Team Declaration
Deadline 5 T 2/12 Th 2/14 Communication in Organizations Reading Assignment (42 Pages)* 6 T 2/19 Exam 1 6 - 7 Th 2/21 T 2/26 Th 2/28
Group Processes Reading Assignment (58
Pages) 8 Th 3/6 RT Study Registration Bonus Deadline 8 - 9 T 3/4 Th 3/6 T 3/11 Leadership Reading Assignment (44 Pages) 9-10 Th 3/13 T 3/18
Power & Politics In Organizations
Reading Assignment (14 Pages)*
10 Th 3/20 Exam 2
10 F 3/21 RT Project Review Bonus Deadline
-- T 3/25
Th 3/27 << Spring Break >>
11 Th 4/3 T 4/1 Job Analysis Reading Assignment (47 Pages)
12 - 13 T 4/8 Th 4/10 T 4/15 Th 4/17
Personnel Selection Reading Assignment (79
Pages)
13 Th 4/17 RT Feature Article Due
14 T 4/22
Th 4/24 Performance Appraisal
Reading Assignment (23 Pages)
Students With Disabilities
Students with disabilities who require accommodation for access and participation in this course should contact the instructor as soon as possible after the start of the semester. All such students must be registered with the Disability Resource Center (DRC). Please
contact DRC at 312-413-2183 (voice) or 312-413-0123 (TTY).
LAS Course Drop Policy
Students may drop courses without penalty during the first ten days of the semester (through Friday of Week 2). From Week 3 through Week 6 students are entitled to a total of four "late drops" during their enrollment at UIC. To "late drop" a course, students must see an LAS advisor. The LAS Advising Office is located on the third floor of University Hall. Advisors may be seen by appointment (996-3366), or during advising walk-in days (Tuesdays, 8:30a to 3:00p).
15 T 4/29 Training in Organizations Pages)
15 Th 5/1 Exam 3
Finals
Week W 5/7
Final Exam, 3:30-5:30, C1 Lecture Center
(Date, Time, & Location are Tentative)
