3 pages essay

The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist 93

The Future of

I-O Psychology Practice,

Part 3: What Should SIOP Do?

Rob Silzer

HR Assessment and Development Inc.

Baruch College, City University of New York

Rich Cober

Marriott International

There has been a good deal of discussion of the last few years about how

SIOP can support the needs of practice and practitioners in industrial-organi-

zational psychology. We were interested in identifying the future directions

of I-O practice and discussing what practitioners and SIOP could do to sup-

port and advance I-O practice in the future.

A brief survey on the “Future of I-O Psychology Practice” was complet-

ed by 50 leading I-O practitioners, including 20 SIOP Fellows during 2010.*

This article is an extension of previous TIP articles discussing survey results

(Silzer & Cober, 2010; 2011).

Here we focus on responses to the third survey question: Based on your

own experience and insight, and thinking ahead to the next 10–20 years of I-O

psychology practice: What are three steps that SIOP could take to facilitate

I-O practice in the future?

We received 135 suggestions (an average of 2.7 comments per respondent),

and we sorted them into 19 categories emerging from the data (see Table 1). The

top four response categories for this question account for 54 % of the responses.

Below we briefly discuss the responses in each category. To fully appre-

ciate the suggestions made in each category we urge you to read the rich set

of actual survey responses found in Appendix 1. It should be noted SIOP is

taking some steps to improve support for practitioners, such as exploring

ways to provide greater access to I-O knowledge and research.

* The survey was sent to a diverse sample of 80 I-O practitioners (1Qtr, 2010). The survey con-

tained three open-ended questions: “Based on your own experience and insight, and thinking

ahead to the next 10–20 years of I-O psychology practice:

1. What are the three most likely future directions for I-O psychology practice?

2. What are the three most important activities that I-O practitioners can do in the future to

contribute to organizational and individual effectiveness?

3. What are three steps that SIOP could take to facilitate I-O psychology practice in the future?”

This survey was an extension of the SIOP Practitioner Needs Survey (Silzer, Cober, Erickson, &

Robinson, 2008).

Response Categories

1. Expand and Improve Practitioner Opportunities and Forums

Survey respondents made many suggestions on ways that SIOP should

provide more opportunities for practitioners to interact, learn, present, share,

collaborate, and communicate. The key themes are:

• Provide additional practitioner forums, discussion groups, webinars,

regional workshops that are high quality and relevant

• Provide more opportunities for practitioners to publish and contribute

to the field

• Build practitioner connections, collaborations, exchanges, and commu-

nities

2. Promote and Increase the Visibility of I-O Psychology

For many years now practitioners have been advocating for greater visi-

bility of I-O psychology in the marketplace and to clients and end users.

Although a few preliminary discussions have occurred there is much more to

do. Respondents proposed a range of suggestions such as:

• Develop a clear strategy for increasing visibility and then pursue a

dynamic public relations effort to get it done.

94 April 2011 Volume 48 Number 4

Table 1 What Are Three Steps That SIOP Could Take to Facilitate I-O Practice in the Future?

Response categories # of

responses

1. Expand practitioner opportunites and forums 32 • Provide additional practitioner forums, etc. • Encourage practitioner presentations and publications • Build professional connections, communications, and sharing

2. Promote and increase the visibility of I-O psychology 17 3. Change graduate training and professional development 14

• Include practice proficiencies in graduate programs • Promote practitioner development

4. Better understand and support practitioner needs and interests 10 5. Better define ourselves and our field 8 6. Connect with other professional groups 8 7. Promote greater understanding of business 7 8. Bridge science and practice 6 9. Help practitioners get licensed/certified 5 10. Provide access to research and state of field 5 11. Encourage practice-oriented research 5 12. Attract and engage students and talent 4

Additional suggestions: 13. Restructure SIOP 3 14. Better support and award practice 3 15. Focus on relevance to end users 2 16. Promote specific issue 2 17. Influence regulations and standards 2 18. Broaden our professional field 1 19. Advance the scientific core of practice 1

• Have SIOP members identify themselves as I-O psychologists in the

marketplace

• Communicate to and educate the business community using a range of

media outlets

3. Change Graduate Training and Professional Development

For at least 10 years, several practice areas, such as individual assess-

ment, have been listed by SIOP as “areas of competence” in I-O psychology

but are rarely taught in I-O doctoral programs. The available research in these

areas needs to be actively complemented by greater focus on practice knowl-

edge and proficiencies. Respondents suggested putting more emphasis on

building practitioner proficiency in graduate programs and professional

development. Key themes are:

• Teach practice proficiencies and include strong internships in graduate

programs

• Provide a better understanding of business in graduate programs

• Offer more opportunities for continuing education, mentoring, and pro-

fessional development

4. Better Understand and Support Practitioner Needs and Interests

Respondents encouraged SIOP to seek input and feedback from practi-

tioners and to better understand their needs and interests. There also was clear

interest in SIOP conducting a study on what practitioners do, what are their

interests and needs, what differentiates distinguished practitioners, and why

practitioners leave SIOP. Key themes are:

• Conduct a survey of practitioners to find out what they do, their pro-

fessional needs, what distinguishes outstanding practitioners, and why

practitioners leave; and then take action on the results

• Make an effort to understand and fulfill the needs of different SIOP

subgroups

5. Better Define I-O Practice and Our Field

The practitioner respondents suggested that SIOP initiate an effort to define

I-O practice and outline guidelines for effective practice. Key suggestions are:

• Develop guidelines and standards for effective I-O practice, and build

more rigorous practice models

• Better understand and describe the future trends and market for I-O

practice

6. Connect With Other Professional Groups

Over the years SIOP is seen as somewhat insular from other psychologists

and professional groups. Respondents suggested that SIOP establish stronger

connections with other professional groups. Suggestions focused on:

• Build closer ties to HR professionals and organizations

The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist 95

• Look for opportunities to co-sponsor and partner on events with other

professional organizations such as Division 13 and SHRM

7. Promote Greater Understanding of Business

Over the years practitioners have seen the value of understanding busi-

ness in order to be effective working with and in business organizations.

Respondents see a role for SIOP in providing workshops and forums for

learning more about business. Key suggestions are:

• Provide training sessions and workshops to help members better under-

stand business functions and processes

• Focus more on understanding the needs and issues of our business clients

8. Bridge Practice and Science

Respondents expressed a desire for SIOP to do a better job connecting

practitioners and researchers. This has been an ongoing issue in our field for

many years now. The key suggestions are:

• Find ways to more effectively connect practitioners with researchers/

academics

• Create opportunities for practitioners and researchers to spend time in

each other’s world

9. Help Practitioners Get Licensed/Certified

The issues of licensure and certification have been particularly con-

tentious in the last few years. Respondents urged that SIOP provide more

support for those members who want to get licensed and also take a stronger

stand in support of licensure/certification. The key suggestions are:

• Provide support and tutorials for those members who want to get licensed

• Take a stronger stand on encouraging licensure for members

10. Provide Access to Research and State of Field

A common complaint by I-O academics is that practitioners are not suffi-

ciently familiar with the research literature. But they forget that practitioners

do not have the same access to the literature that academics have. Respon-

dents suggest that SIOP should organize a system that provides better access

for practitioners to the published literature. Suggestions include:

• Develop a reference search process that gives better access to published

literature

• Provide summaries of research on current practice topics

11. Encourage Practice-Oriented Research

Many practitioners are surprised at the paucity of research that is relevant

to their current practice areas. Respondents suggest SIOP look for ways to

bridge these major gaps in our knowledge base:

• Develop and pursue a practice-relevant research agenda for the profes-

96 April 2011 Volume 48 Number 4

sion, perhaps even sponsor major global studies

• Identify members’ organizations that have large data sets that can be

made available to others

12. Attract and Engage Students and Talent

• Respondent suggestions include attract and engage more talented stu-

dents to the field both at the undergraduate and graduate levels

Additional Suggestions

There were other additional suggestions that fell into distinct response

categories. The key suggestions are:

• Restructure SIOP governance to make sure that all subgroups, not just

academics, are adequately represented in SIOP decisions

• Take action to make sure that practice is equally recognized and

rewarded in SIOP

• Ensure the relevance and usefulness of our work to clients and end users

• Focus on specific current issues of workforce analytics and change

management

• Proactively influence regulations and standards related to our field

• Broaden out field and find connections with other related disciplines

• Promote the continued advancement of science that underlies our practice

Conclusions

These suggestions by leading I-O practitioners underscore the need for

SIOP to continue to address both practitioner and researcher professional

needs. There are many useful suggestions here that would clearly help practi-

tioners and the field of I-O psychology. From a broader organizational per-

spective, we hope that SIOP puts in place and accomplishes an action plan that

includes many of these suggestions. Some suggestions, like the need for bet-

ter access to research, are currently being considered and pursued by the Pro-

fessional Practice Committee. The future for the field of I-O psychology and

the future careers of SIOP members depend on making progress in these areas.

We believe it is critical to be proactive and actively shape the future of

I-O psychology.

References

Silzer, R. F. & Cober, R. T. (2010, October). The future of I-O psychology practice: Part 1,

future directions for I-O practice identified by leading practitioners. The Industrial Organiza-

tional Psychologist, 48(2), 67–79.

Silzer, R. F. & Cober, R. T. (2011, January). The future of I-O psychology practice: Part 2,

what can I-O practitioners do? The Industrial Organizational Psychologist, 48(3), 75–90.

Silzer, R. F., Cober, R. T., Erickson, A., & Robinson, G. (2008). Practitioner Needs Survey:

Final survey report. Society for Industrial and Organizational Society. Bowling Green, OH. (See

full report at http://www.siop.org/practitioner%20Needs%20Survey.pdf)

The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist 97

Appendix 1

Responses to Question:

“What Can SIOP Do to Facilitate the Future of I-O Practice?”

1. Expand practitioner opportunites and forums

Provide additional practitioner forums and so forth

• Continue and expand practitioner forums for solution sharing (SIOP

conference, fall consortium, online).

• Continue to make the Leading Edge consortium relevant to current

practice issues.

• The new SIOP journal is very helpful and a very digestible read, even

though it is hard to find the time to contribute.

• Support less formal discussion groups around various topics.

• Continue to have a good balance of academic and practice presenta-

tions at conferences.

• Sponsor webinars on hot or critical topics (e.g., Ricci case).

• Offer 2-day regional workshops on areas of special interest to practi-

tioners (e.g., individual assessment, executive coaching, succession

management).

• Deliver webinars to I-O practitioners that bring them research informa-

tion they can readily apply to their work.

• The Leading Edge Consortium is a huge step in the right direction, but

it has to be consistently super-high quality, informative, practical, and

leave people better equipped/informed than when they got there. Two

years ago, the sessions were very mixed. Also sessions at the main

SIOP conference could also be improved.

• Develop more reach locally; there is enormous potential. Take a look at

how to get involved with the local I-O organizations; many are not

NEARLY meeting their potential. With SIOP involvement there could

be much more impact. The SIOP conference is so big it can be very

impersonal and intimidating. How can SIOP mean something to the

folks that are not at the top of the SIOP org structure, and have more

impact on its everyday constituents?

• Loosen the criteria for presentations at the annual conference to allow

for less scientific/quantitative presentations.

• Make the annual conference more international.

• Fall consortium meeting is good idea—make sure topic is sufficiently

mainstream.

• Consider webinars from leading practitioner experts.

• Expand international focus; e.g., help build I-O programs in the devel-

oping world; expand relationships with organizational and work psy-

chology groups in other parts of the world; translate SIOP publications

and journals into other languages.

• Start interdisciplinary topical tracks at or apart from the annual confer-

ence (e.g., I-O psychology and changing nature of health care; I-O psy-

98 April 2011 Volume 48 Number 4

chology for small business); invite speakers from different walks of life

and different areas of practice. Evolution of service science is an excel-

lent example of an interdisciplinary focus that encompasses psycholo-

gy, HRM, IT, operations, and organizational design.

Encourage practitioner presentations and publications

• Encourage joint presentations and publication (e.g., in IOP) by

researchers and practitioners for the improved value of the content.

• Provide practitioners opportunities to publish and contribute to the

field, points that weigh heavily in fellowship evaluations.

• Make it easier for practitioners to publish; it is hard (but not impossi-

ble) to be a good practitioner and also stay current with all the academic

research you need to quote in order to get published.

• Start another publication (not a book series or formal journal) that does

more translating of new research into practice-related applications with

a circulation that could reach beyond just SIOP members. Perhaps more

of a pop I-O psychology publication (e.g., monthly or quarterly) that

distills the best research and practice ideas for a more general HR audi-

ence. Something that could compete with Training & Development,

Talent Management, HR Magazine, Workforce Management, or Chief

Learning Officer. Those pubs are sitting on desks in corporate offices—

I-O journals for the most part are not.

Build professional connections, communications, and sharing

• Help pair practitioners and researchers together to advance evidence-

based practice in areas of greatest need.

• Provide information/tool sharing/resources for those willing to share.

Unfortunately, competitive advantage concerns interfere with best

intentions here, but having the forum is important.

• Develop programs that share knowledge, research, practices.

• Provide forums for dissemination of effective practices.

• Develop an idea exchange process to foster sharing of best practices.

• Hold more “teaching” or collaborative discussions led by the Society’s

leading practice experts at SIOP conference to share knowledge and

skills with other current or aspiring practitioners. Hold “professor-like”

sessions on key practice approaches that would lift the skill levels of

practitioners in each topic area. (Stop hoarding knowledge and expert-

ise, and stop marketing practices.)

• Facilitate information sharing regarding contributions being made by

using the expertise of the local I-O professionals.

• Study the feasibility of creating “communities of practice” and global

networks within SIOP.

• Explore the new technologies (including social networking) that are out

there and that corporations are using to communicate with employees.

For example, Microsoft has used a social networking technology to

facilitate knowledge sharing among employees.

The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist 99

• Build a global network of practitioners and encourage collaboration.

• Increase efforts to connect with the international community.

• Continue to evolve the conference forums in ways that foster sustained

engagement and dialogue, some of which extend over multiple confer-

ences. LinkedIn discussion groups and other media could be leveraged

to foster more of a learning community over time. The evolving practice

wiki could also be a source for output for these topical communities.

2. Promote and increase the visibility of I-O psychology

• Develop a strategy to provide a “stream of news” regarding I-O contri-

butions to individual and organizational effectiveness. Send the “stream”

to media sources such as the WSJ, Business Week, etc., as well as ALL

top executives (not just HR) in as many organizations as possible.

• Continue to build the visibility and brand of the field and the profession.

• Align our volunteer resources to advocate for and champion organiza-

tional psychology in situations where we can have an impact.

• Step up visibility efforts. View visibility from the perspective of how it

helps others rather than how SIOP practitioners gain more visibility.

Does SIOP benefit from increased visibility? Absolutely. Do practi-

tioners benefit from increased visibility? Absolutely. But, the driving

force for visibility needs to be focused on others and educating them/

informing them of the value we bring to organizations. SIOP needs to

do whatever it can to help all SIOP members understand how everyone

(academics and practitioners alike) benefits from making I-O psychol-

ogy more visible.

• Increase promotion of practitioner activities and how these are moving

our discipline forward (e.g., cutting-edge work should be included in

each TIP issue).

• Increase visibility of SIOP in the general press and encourage non-I-Os

to become involved (e.g., pull in members of SHRM).

• Clarify how I-O practice is unique and important, and then educate the

business community. Clarify the value of having a distinct psychologi-

cal perspective and how this differentiates us from other disciplines.

Help us “tell the story” rather than merely think that sharing method-

ologically sophisticated data and “facts” is sufficient to persuade others

of the value of our work.

• Keep raising the profile of I-O in the larger world.

• Keep SIOP visible.

• Turbocharge our PR efforts. I believe this has been hampered by our

reluctance and/or inability to define ourselves and our expertise). But we

need to make news—not follow it in a time where unprecedented

changes are transforming the function and relationship of people at work.

• Emphasize the role of SIOP and members in selling our science in lay-

man terms.

100 April 2011 Volume 48 Number 4

• Especially during the difficult economic times, keep our public rela-

tions efforts vital as organizations may tend to delay or forget the longer

term value we provide.

• Become more skilled at explaining research (and science) to practition-

ers and clients.

• Ask every SIOP member, especially the famous ones, to identify them-

selves as an I-O in any external presentation. Reach out to practitioners

that are in organizations but no longer active in SIOP.

• Actively participate in forums such as Corporate Executive Board and

similar places where senior leaders come to learn from each other.

• Expand channels for communicating the value and utility of I-O

research; expand use of Web technology; more visibility in business

forums globally.

• Gain better visibility with key stakeholders (business leaders, HR, aca-

demia, students, and the general public).

3. Change graduate training and professional development

Include practice proficiencies in graduate programs

• Facilitate a focused examination of the manner in which PhD and master’s

level I-O graduate programs incorporate practice proficiency as an aca-

demic objective. This effort would require a joint effort by senior practi-

tioners and senior chairs of I-O PhD/master’s programs. (Academics tend

to interpret these issues as research issues and that more research should

be directed at practice questions.) Although SIOP is increasingly support-

ive of the practice interests/skills of I-Os (a good thing), those improve-

ments appear to be happening independent of the typical academic pro-

gram that trains I-Os as researchers. I’m not naïve about this suggestion.

This discussion about practice proficiency as an academic objective brings

many flash points into play such as licensure, internship requirements,

APA certification/approval, and I-O-oriented versions of a PsyD. This

would be feasible only if participants understood that the types of ideas to

be considered would not require resolution of these BIG DAMN DEAL

professional issues. That’s too big of a chunk to bite off.

• Influence graduate programs to include more training in the actual

practice of I-O psychology, and encourage the development of strong

internship programs. This would be important for researchers as well as

practitioners, so research will be relevant and deal with the complexi-

ties of practice. In the internships, it would be great to have more focus

on role modeling where faculty and students can work together on proj-

ects rather than just a focus on the administrative details of internships

such as the number of hours per week. We should encourage training

that helps students understand how to persuade, influence, and create

partnering relationships with clients; to work as part of teams; and to

understand the larger business context of issues.

The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist 101

• Suggest changes to I-O program curricula so that graduate students

become more highly skilled and fluent in the language of business

(increase our business and financial acumen). If I were back in grad

school now, I would definitely go get my MBA simultaneously with my

PhD. We need people coming out of grad school who truly understand

what the typical line leader thinks about, worries about, what factors go

into his/her decision making, etc.

• Make sure that we look like we understand business. We really need to start

teaching some basic business to our graduate students. We don’t have the

time to teach them everything they need to know when they do internships.

• Involve HR practitioners in development of I-O courses/curriculum.

• Have a business school component to the education program (particu-

larly org strategy and change management).

• Ensure that we maintain high standards in graduate education (not nec-

essarily accreditation of I-O programs but in some way to highlight

which ones are NOT adequate. Did anyone notice that University of

Phoenix now offers a PhD in I-O?)

Promote practitioner development

• Promote the development of well-rounded practitioners who under-

stand how organizations work in the real world.

• Facilitate internships focused on evidence-based practice in addition to

academically oriented research in organizations.

• Offer continuing education and workshops.

• We probably need more mentoring; perhaps have special interest

groups with periodic conference calls. Less experienced people or even

graduate students could be part of the call, along with more experienced

people. We could talk about the challenges that we were facing, what

worked, and what didn’t work.

• Offer internships on SIOP committees for new practitioners.

• Take a more active, even aggressive position on continuing education.

Make forums for SIOPers to learn and stay up to date on the field.

• Provide continuing education related to skills for effective practice.

4. Better understand and support practitioner needs and interests

• Continue periodic surveys to understand and track key issues facing

practitioners.

• Provide best practices, guidelines, or statement regarding what effective

I-O practice looks like. How does it differ from effective HR practice?

• Survey practitioners who have left SIOP and find out why. My perception

is we lose practitioners at a much higher rate than we lose academicians.

• Conduct a study of which practitioners (in this decade) have made a

difference and how they were able to do it.

• What is meant by “facilitate I-O practice”? Does I-O practice need

facilitating?

102 April 2011 Volume 48 Number 4

• Continue to recognize the needs of those who work in nonacademic

organizations even as they continue to support academics who are

preparing our future employees.

• Continue to seek and support practitioners’ feedback on what they need

and want. SIOP has, in recent years, taken some significant steps in this

area but much more needs to be done.

• I-O practice has changed and is changing as we speak. Understanding

who practitioners are, what they do, what they don’t do, and how they do

what they do are just some of the things that SIOP needs to understand

if it is going to serve the profession and SIOP practitioners well moving

forward. This information serves many important purposes that include:

(a) Enhancing the visibility of SIOP and I-O practitioners by providing crit-

ical information that we need to communicate more effectively with

others about who we are, what we do, and how we differ from others

who have similar expertise, experience, services, and/or products.

(b) Allowing SIOP to better identify practitioner needs and create con-

ference programs and other resources to support those needs more

effectively.

(c) Allowing SIOP to use its financial and other resources more effec-

tively so that resources are allocated to those areas that practitioners

most need and want.

(d) Helping I-O practitioners better understand the profession as a

whole: what does the profession look like now, what aspects of the

profession are decreasing in terms of activity, and what are the

new/emerging areas of practice. This information would benefit not

only practitioners but academics as well in terms of providing valu-

able data to inform decisions about research and graduate training.

(e) Helping to address issues that have plagued SIOP for years around

licensure and/or certification. Knowing what practitioners do is the

first step in any kind of resolution to the licensure issue.

• Make an effort to understand the needs of different member groups—

practitioners and educators and how they differ from the dominating

academic/research group view. Put together a real action plan to

address their needs and interests.

• Take more seriously the fairly blatant signs of the emerging divergence

of I-O subgroups. Call a Boulder conference-like summit with full rep-

resentation of all subgroups to address the divergence in the field head-

on and pursue a unifying action plan.

5. Better define I-O practive and our field

• Define ourselves, beyond simple principles. Who are we? What do we

do? Are we one? Do we need to be? How will we “recognize” experts

in specific, diverse arenas?

• Learn what professional practice IS. It is not simply applying I-O research.

The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist 103

• Build out more rigorous practice models that clarify and distinguish

what works and what does not work with organization and individual

development.

• Develop and publish guidelines for effective practice.

• Ensure that SIOP continues to walk the research/practice line—BOTH

are critical to our success

• Create and protect standards for our approaches/practices.

• Quantify the size of the prize to get people to mobilize around a com-

mon set of activities that advertise the unique value of the field. What

percent of the market share do I-O psychologists have in the work done

in our major areas of expertise?

• Initiate scenario planning to stimulate dialogue and educational direc-

tions and create a discussion forum, and engage a futurist to increase

our focus on likely trends of next 20 years so we can begin to build

more adaptive ways of envisioning practice of I-O. We might start with

a SIOP workshop on distilling future trends.

6. Connect with other professional groups

• Continue outreach/influencing/partnering efforts with “friendly” non-

I-O professional practice organizations (e.g., SHRM).

• Find ways to capitalize on the SHRM link to the benefit of practition-

ers and provide some new exposures.

• Strengthen the linkage with international I-O organizations.

• Build a closer tie to human resource practitioners.

• Look for more opportunities to cosponsor events, awards, etc, with

practitioner-oriented organizations like SHRM, PTC, etc. Figure out

how to become more effective with regard to legislative lobbying in

U.S. with international standard agencies to ensure the voice of the pro-

fession, if one can be articulated, can be represented.

• Collaborate with business schools and authors who are writing books

that executives read.

• Link I-O practitioners with business leaders in presentations in business

conferences (vs. HR & I-O conferences) to broaden perspective of others.

• Look at feasibility of selected joint initiatives with Division 13, Con-

sulting Psychology.

7. Promote greater understanding of business

• The academic and professional grounding of SIOP members is a core

strength, but there is little emphasis or understanding of the need to com-

plement this with an equally important business grounding. The people I

benchmark off of or continue to stay close to in my career are all like

me...they have very little to do with SIOP any longer; they’ve taken what

they needed (concepts, appreciation for science and sound methodology,

and so forth) and moved on. I had hoped at one point in my career that

104 April 2011 Volume 48 Number 4

SIOP would be more than a launching pad (a great launching pad!) and

would continue to grow and be relevant. This hasn’t been the case. So my

view is to make SIOP much, much more relevant to business leaders.

• Increase the emphasis on enhancing an understanding of organizational/

business functions and processes such as strategic planning, logistics,

executional excellence, and traditional areas of business such as

finance, marketing, selling, and manufacturing in workshops.

• Hold training and workshops on business topics where practitioners

could understand better how they can contribute to a company and

business success. Basic information on business issues could be pre-

sented with facilitated discussion and presentations by I-O experts on

how to address these issues from practitioner perspective.

• Focus more on practical, business-related issues vs. heavy current focus

on academics/research.

• Teach the real world of organization/business development from the

perspective of nonpsychologists.

• Bring line managers into the SIOP fold by perhaps establishing “coun-

cils.” They are an important constituency and in a sense are one of our

“customers.” When A. G. Lafley took over P&G, he had a relentless

focus on listening to the customer and set up all kinds of creative ways

to make sure customer input was fed back to the organization. SIOP

should be doing something similar.

• Invite non-I-O business academics and practitioners to speak at our

conferences.

8. Bridge practice and science

• Reward (and motivate) practitioners and academics to “experience the

world from the other’s perspective.” Get practitioners to spend valued

time working with students who identify with a practicing psychologist

track. And invite applied researchers into the boardroom, CEO office, or

some similar, but safe, “day in the life” sampling of a practitioners’ day.

• Connect practitioners to academics. Identify the practical problems that

we need answers to and discuss what is out there in the research and

what could be researched.

• Find ways to encourage and help forge working connections between

academics and practitioners that result in applied research that (a) mat-

ters and (b) is valued by the academic community.

• Bring on a renaissance of science and practice through a “holy tri-

umvirate” of supporting the scientific core, helping members seize, or

be prepared to seize, data opportunities, and opening connections

between I-O and other disciplines.

• Continue to keep the SIOP conference and the SIOP journals rigorous

and relevant.

• Build better bridges between academia and practice.

The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist 105

9. Help practitioners get licensed/certified

• Provide licensure tutorials.

• Influence licensure laws to make it easier for I-O practitioners to be

licensed. In more and more jurisdictions, licensure will be required.

• I do think a stance on certification or standards in practice needs to be

made. If not, there is risk that any purveyor of assessments, validated or

not, can sell them and ultimately tarnish the utility of the science behind

what we do (assessments being one issue; clinical consultants acting as

coaches and calling themselves organizational psychologists is another).

• Public recognition of obtaining a psychological license, akin to what attor-

neys and physicians receive when they pass the bar or their license exams.

• SIOP should take a stronger stand regarding licensing. Right now we’re

neutral, and I’d like to see SIOP move to “encouraging” licensing. I

think it is one way practitioners can stake out turf against nonpsychol-

ogy, nonlicensed competitors.

10. Provide access to research and state of field

• Develop a ready reference search process to give practitioners better

access to the research base, e.g., cheaper access to online journals, white

paper summaries of the “state-of-the-science” written by recognized

experts in specific areas, focus sessions at the conference where

researchers can share their latest work with practitioners and practition-

ers can share the problems that they are encountering that need research.

• Create a mechanism through which practitioners could have easy

access to up-to-date research, plus anthologies of current thinking on

practice-relevant topics.

• Make research more accessible. practitioners need a convenient way to

know what is going on (what is out there) so they know what they need

to be reading to stay informed. Practitioners don’t HAVE to read a lot

of research to do their job, especially once they are established or in

their niche, although we SHOULD. There is a gold mine of information

out there that practitioners are not tapping into.

• Disseminate research related to practice through workshops, publica-

tions, etc.

• Commission teams to write up hot topics ( I-Os in the vendor commu-

nity do this work, would be helpful to have the profession weigh in).

11. Encourage practice-oriented research

• Develop a practice-oriented research agenda. This would identify the

most important practice questions that are amenable to research and

would identify/create professional vehicles for incenting and support-

ing such practice-oriented research such as SIOP program tracks, pro-

fessional community resources for practice-oriented research strategies

such as consortia methods, etc., in addition to the existing vehicles such

as the Professional Practice Series.

106 April 2011 Volume 48 Number 4

• Encourage basic and applied research on topics that are of greatest

importance to practitioners. Examples might include (a) research grants

(perhaps funded thru the SIOP Foundation using endowments estab-

lished and funded by practitioners and consulting firms), (b) encourag-

ing I-O graduate programs to press students to conduct research that is

relevant to applied problems, (c) devoting journal issues to topics of

interest to practitioners.

• Create SIOP list of organizations that need data analyses conducted

(i.e., provide data to get pro bono analyses).

• Promote more cross-country research and sharing of information.

• Coordinate an assessment-oriented global study—similar to GLOBE for

leadership—that may provide an industry standard for assessment practice.

12. Attract and engage students and talent

• Attract great undergraduate talent to the field.

• Encourage more students to apply to I-O grad school, or inform under-

grads about I-O.

• Help universities attract people with language skills and international

acumen into the I-O field.

• Keep MS-level I-Os more engaged in SIOP and as continuing (Associ-

ate) members. Many of them are in applied settings and drop out of

SIOP. Many of our master’s-educated colleagues are performing amaz-

ing work inside practice settings, but our own organization puts limits

on their involvement in SIOP. SIOP committees, elections, etc., are

biased against practice because one of the larger groups in our mem-

bership is not allowed to vote or chair committees.

13. Restructure SIOP

• Restructure SIOP governance to let all subgroups be adequately repre-

sented not just the researchers.

• Would prefer to see a SIOP-academic organization with a president and

a SIOP-business organization with a president, and then a single SIOP

chairperson over the two suborganizations with a small executive team

around the top.

• In my view, SIOP should be left to the academics. They can work with

SHRM to apply their work. Professional psychology practice cannot

flourish in SIOP’s prevailing culture.

14. Better support and reward practice

• Ensure that the practice voice is equally heard at the Executive Board

level and equally recognized across the various reward platforms we

have so that practitioners feel that SIOP is their primary organization

(e.g., versus defecting to SHRM, ASTD, or HRPS).

• Establish some practitioner rewards for effective practice.

The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist 107

• Become sincere about facilitating I-O practice. Stop administering sur-

veys and never acting on the results. Continuing to survey, hoping for

different results, is futile, costly, and insulting.

15. Focus on relevance to end users

• Ensure relevance of focus to the primary end user: organizations.

• “Translate” I-O practice into clear business terms, what it means to

them (on a page or two define “the space” where I-O can contribute).

16. Promote specific issue

• Contribute to the advancement of workforce analytics. SIOP could

become the independent and objective AND WIDELY RECOGNIZA-

BLE leader of people-related metrics. How can SIOP become the JD

Power equivalent (i.e., not in consumer satisfaction data but in a cou-

ple of key areas like talent strength or organizational health)? Chal-

lenger, Gray, & Christmas get cited for staffing metrics; where can

SIOP plug in and become the recognizable leader?

• Spend some time on the topic of change management, should be an

annual workshop topic.

17. Influence regulations and standards

• Figure out how to become more effective with regard to legislative lob-

bying in U.S. with international standard agencies, to ensure the voice

of the profession, if one can be articulated, can be represented.

• Create initiatives to better align government guidelines regarding fair-

ness in selection testing with scientific evidence. An example of this is

the ongoing requirement of local validation studies, which is inconsis-

tent with validation research. In practice, many enforcement aspects

seem to be politically motivated rather than motivated by principle.

18. Broaden our professional field

• Continually test and break the boundaries of the profession through

articles in TIP, books, and convention programs that feature the touch

points between I-O and other disciplines that influence business.

19. Advance the scientific core of practice

• Pursue an unwavering advancement of the scientific core (data, theory)

of excellence in practice. Without this we are doomed.

108 April 2011 Volume 48 Number 4