30th Annual IOOB Conference

Nancy Tippins, PhD / Valtera

The Employee as a Stakeholder in I/O Interventions

This presentation will focus on the employee as a stakeholder in modern business and on the ways interventions associated with industrial and organizational psychology have changed as a result. The talk will explore how the changing nature of the employee contract has affected core I/O practices such as selection, performance management, training, development and how we have adapted our processes to reflect the importance of the employee's role in modern business.

Presentation Notes:

• The Employee as a Stakeholder v2a.pdf

Michael Burke, PhD / Tulane University

Dialogical Approach to Public Health Workforce Preparedness:
Enhancing Emergency Preparedness and Response

Drawing on contemporary theories of learning, this presentation will discuss the theoretical role of dialogue and action-focused reflection in the development of skilled activity in regard to worker safety and preparing the public health workforce to deal with emergencies. The presentation will stress that the extent to which research can advance our understanding of the role and relevance of dialogical activities in safety and health skill development, the practice of workplace safety and the preparedness of the public health workforce will improve.

Presentation Notes:

• Burke_IO-OB_09_version_2.pdf
• Burke_IO-OB_09_Handout.pdf

Fritz Drasgow, PhD / University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Assessing Personality 75 Years After Likert: Thurstone Was Right

Unfortunately, Dr. Drasgow was unable to attend the conference due to a family emergency. Dr. Alan Mead presented in his stead.

In the 1920s, Louis Thurstone formulated an approach to measurement based on the proximity of people and items. Likert later developed an approach based on the idea that people higher on the latent trait tend to endorse more items. Likert's approach has predominated in personality assessment since then, but Thurstone was right! These two approaches to measurement will be described and contrasted. Research findings consistent with Thurstone's model will be described. A new item response theory approach, consistent with Thurstone's model, will be described for use in situations where faking good is a concern.

Alan Mead, PhD / Illinois Institute of Technology

A Top Ten List of Measurement-Related Errors

Dr. Mead presented instead of Dr. Fritz Drasgow, who was unable to attend the conference.

Presentation Notes:

• top10_erros_Mead.pdf

Alice Eagly, PhD / Northwestern University

Through the Labyrinth: The Advantages and Disadvantages of Women as Leaders

The talk will address two questions: Why have women gained more access to powerful leadership positions? Why do men continue to have far more access than women do? The glass ceiling metaphor is no longer helpful in framing answers to these questions. The impediments that women encounter do not consist of an absolute barrier at a specific high level. Instead, research in industrial/ organizational psychology and other fields reveals a mixed picture for women as leaders. Despite growing acceptance of women in leadership roles, some skepticism remains, especially in relation to male-dominated roles. Organizational norms and culture also present challenges to women. Given such considerations, an appropriate metaphor for what women confront is labyrinth. Successful travel through a labyrinth requires persistence and careful analysis of the puzzles that lie ahead. For women who aspire to leadership, routes to success exist but present twists and turns, both expected and unexpected. Labyrinths do have a route to the center, suggesting that goals are attainable.

John Meyer, PhD / University of Western Ontario

What's good for the employer can be good for the employee: The mutual benefits of employee engagement

Much of the research on employee commitment and engagement focuses on the benefits to employers in terms of retention, attendance, and job performance, but it appears that there are benefits to employees as well. I will provide a review of the recent research examining the links between commitment/engagement and employee health and well being. I will also provide a general model of commitment/engagement to help explain its beneficial effects and to serve as a guide for future research and the design of engagement practices.

Presentation Notes:

• Meyer_-_IOOB_2009.pdf

Ellen Kossek, PhD / Michigan State University

General and Family Specific Workplace Social Support for Effectiveness On and Off the Job: Current Research and Future Directions.

In this talk I share current research and findings on general and family specific workplace social support linkages to work-life effectiveness, productivity and health I will share results from Recent Alfred P. Sloan Foundation funded studies on workplace flexibility. I also will share results from the National Work Family and Health Network which is designing model protocols for state of the art evidence-based workplace intervention studies that examine the health consequences of workplace policies and practices. These interventions should be designed to improve employees' abilities to more successfully meet work and family demands, thereby improving worker and family health (including their children and other dependents). Future directions for IO /OB psychologists will be explored.

Presentation Notes:

• CEO postcard.pdf
• Hammer_inpress.pdf
• Kelly, Kossek, Hammer et al 2008 - AOM Annals.pdf
• KossekDistelberg Style Guide Revisions Oct 25, 2007.pdf
• fulltext-1.pdf
• hbrarticleF0811Gp2.pdf

John Scott, PhD / APT

Staffing for Organizational Change While Ensuring Employee Engagement

Staffing needs that are brought about by organizational change present a unique set of challenges not typically faced in standard staffing situations. Whether as a result of a corporate merger, restructuring, or reduction in force, staffing for organizational change generally occurs under conditions of high stress, unrealistic deadlines, and uncertainty. With tremendous pressure to staff the new organization as quickly as possible, expediency often takes precedence over sound selection decisions. Unfortunately, organizations frequently risk making staffing decisions in this context without the benefit of a clear vision as to what is really required for the long-term success of the new organization. Without a structured and well-communicated staffing model to guide them, the resulting selection decisions are often perceived by employees and managers alike as arbitrary and unfair. Research and experience over the past 15 years has further shown that companies using such unstructured approaches experience decreased productivity, eroding morale and, with alarming frequency, employee challenges in the form of litigation.

This situation is exacerbated by the fact that existing selection tools relied upon to hire and promote candidates are not necessarily appropriate, or even defensible, for selecting people out of their current jobs or for placement into the newly designed jobs. Additional challenges likely to confront organizations in this situation include low morale and productivity, lack of accurate performance documentation for making selection decisions, disengaged managers who may (intentionally or unintentionally) undermine the process, turnover of key people before offers can even be made, and miscommunication about the staffing process that is perpetuated through numerous informal "grapevines".

Despite these and numerous other challenges, this is an opportunity to create the most capable organization possible and to position its employees for future success. Fortunately, the features that need to be built into a staffing model that positions employees for success are the same features required for building a legally defensible staffing process. It is not necessary to make a tradeoff between these two goals. It is crucial to understand the key principles that should guide a strategic staffing model for the future when dealing with a restructuring or reduction-in-force situation.

This talk will outline the principles and practices that are necessary to build an effective staffing model that will fairly place the right employees, with the right competencies, into the right roles and ensure employee engagement throughout and following the process.

Presentation Notes:

• IOOB presentation 02-25-2009 - '03_Scott.pdf

Kevin Ford, PhD / Michigan State University

Training Transfer: Moving towards a view of transfer as a personal choice

In organizational contexts, positive transfer of training -- the extent towhich the learning that results from a training experience transfers to thejob and leads to meaningful changes in work performance -- is generallyregarded as the paramount concern of training efforts. This presentationreviews the last 20 years of research and thought on training transfer andidentifies predictors of transfer as well as conceptual advances.Implications of those advances for improving practice are described. Interms of future research, the argument is made that the decision to transferultimately resides within each individual trainee. We need more researchthat focuses on how trainees customize or personalize the training processto fit their own conception of needs and wants from the training experience.

Presentation Notes:

• Transfer_as_personal_choice_-_IOOB_2009_Ford.pdf
• Baldwin,_Ford,_&_Blume_2009.pdf

Jaci Masztal, PhD / Burke, Inc.

Employees validate both state and trait influencers to engagement

There is no single agreed upon definition of employee engagement and no common approach to assessing engagement. To provide additional perspective on engagement from a practical standpoint, we surveyed over 2,000 employees from various organizations across North America and asked them to provide a self-rating of their current engagement level and to indicate the primary influencers of their engagement. Employees see their work engagement as being most influenced by: 1) personal factors such as personality, work ethic, general orientation to work; 2) the job itself; and 3) interaction with customers. They were also asked about commitment and employees report commitment to their current organization as being most influenced by 1) compensation; 2) schedule/work hours; and 3) benefits.

Presentation Notes:

• Masztal IO OB conf pres on employee engagement 022809.pdf

Kevin Murphy, PhD / Pennsylvania State University

I/O Psychology's Greatest Hits and Misses

This talk discusses some of the most important successes and failures in I/O psychology theory, methods and research and uses this examination of some of our historical highs and lows to draw some conclusions about the greatest opportunities and challenges I/O psychology is likely to face in the future.

Mary Uhl-Bien, PhD / University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Leading-Up: Expanding our Views of Leadership

Leadership research traditionally reserves leadership to top-down activities performed by those in formal positions or managerial-type roles. We believe those views are too restrictive and do not engage the full leadership capabilities of organizations. In this presentation, we will discuss a research program underway at the Global Leadership Institute to develop a construct of "Leading-Up." Leading-up is seen as purposeful leadership behavior which flows from individuals in subordinate roles and that generates positive change and innovation in organizations. The skills and capabilities necessary for effective leading-up will be described and the potential impact of leading-up — particularly in terms of the well-being of the organization as well as the individuals within it — will be discussed.

Presentation Notes:

• Uhl-Bien IOOB 2009.pdf
• Carsten, et al. Social Constructions of Followership_Accepted LQ Manuscript.pdf
• Uhl-Bien & Marion Meso Model Paper.pdf
• Uhl-Bien, Marion & McKelvey 2007 LQ for sending out.pdf

• Hamel, G. (2009). Moon shots for management. Harvard Business Review, Feb., 91-98.

Rodney McCloy, PhD / HumRRO

Improving Others' Opportunities and Benefits (IOOB): The Impact of the I-O Psychologist

This workshop will use real-world examples to demonstrate how industrial-organizational psychologists can have substantial positive and far-reaching impact on the lives of employees. The examples will be taken from Rod's experiences as an employee of the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO). There will be plenty of opportunities to field questions from participants regarding such topics as the various career choices in the field of I-O psychology and ways to prepare yourself for work as an I-O consultant.

Presentation Notes:

• McCloy.pdf

David Pistrui, PhD / Illinois Institute of Technology

Entrepreneurship

The objective of this workshop is to examine the socio-cultural components associated with the individual, group and environmental dimensions impacting entrepreneurial small business development. The central objectives are to 1) identify what type of planned growth initiatives entrepreneurs intend to pursue, 2) ascertain the levels of intensity entrepreneurs have towards planned growth; and 3) investigate the role of family dynamics have on planned growth intentions. Several countries (U.S., Romania, Germany, China and Venezuela) will be looked at to evaluate how culture impacts motivation, beliefs and business development.

Presentation Notes:

• DavidPistrui-presentation.pdf

Registration

The registration table will serve to check in registered attendees as well as allowing on-site registration. Attendees are strongly encouraged to register ahead of time. This area will also serve as an information kiosk for the conference.

The 4th Annual Networking Social Event

You are invited to mix and mingle, as well as to meet representatives from our sponsoring and participating organizations, at the Networking Social Event. Enjoy the view of the city, open bar, and hors d'oeuvres.

Night Out

A night on the town, at the Wabash Tap (1233 S. Wabash St).

Jeopardy

Test your knowledge of I/O Psychology in a friendly competition among graduate students. Schools select up to 6 representatives to compete as a team for the IOOB – 2009 Jeopardy Trophy and the title of Jeopardy Winner! Please make sure to register your team at the registration table or during lunch in the cafeteria on Saturday. Hybrid teams composed of members from different schools will be accepted.