Organizational Psychology Quiz
What are 3 Tensions in Psychology? What is one each side of each tension?
- Science (academia, stats, research, how/why)/Practice (consulting, application, what/when/where)
- Business (how WILL it affect productivitiy, sales, economics, strategy)/ Psychology (how DOES it affect
productivity, affect, behavior, cognition, humanism, social science)
- I-side ( Personnel psychology. Who should we select? How should we evaluate)/ o-side (Organizational
Psychology. How do we change org. culture? How do we motivate?)
What did IO contribute to WW1 and WW2?
for WW1; testing soldier intelligence.
WW2; Statistical advances and integration of different psychology fields.
What was the Hawthorne effect?
An alteration of behavior due to being watched.
What is difference between positivism, post-positivism, and social constructivism?
positivism: There is a true right answer that we can find out from science.
post-positivism: There is a right and wrong answer, but it is hard to know what it is, though science can
help with biases.
social constructivisim: everything is relative, truth is defined by oneself. no right or wrong.
What is difference between correspondence theory, coherence, theory, and pragmatism?
Correspondence theory: something is true if we can study and observe it soundly.
Coherence thoery: Something is true if it fits with other known truths.
Pragmatism: its true if it is useful to believe.
What is a moderator?
Something a relationship between two variables depends on.
All statistical tests boil down to a ratio of ___________ : ____________.
Model : error
A correlation ranges from _________ to __________, and numbers close to ______________ represent
small correlations.
-1 & 1;
0.
What are the 5 roots of Organizational Development (OD)? (Be able to state conceptually what each
represents in about 1-2 sentences).
1) Training Labs-Feedback is a rich experience.
2) Action Research/Survey Feedback- Diagnose and resolve.
3) Normative Approaches- There is one "best way" to manage.
4) Quality of Work Life- Where do work and mental health interact?
5) Strategic Change- Aligning org. design, strategy, and environment.
What person's name is associated with training labs from OD? What are 2 prominent findings from this
training labs research?
Kurt Lewin; 1) Feedback is a rich experence. 2) "group building" has potential.
What are 3 main approaches to organizational change? Conceptually, how are they different?
1) planned change-unfreeze (prep the org.), movement (introduce intervention), refreeze (stabilize).
(Kurt Lewin) change is continuous.
2) action research- identify problem, consult the expert, collect data, give feedback to the client, joint
diagnosis, joint planning, action, evaluation.
3) appreciateive inquiry- 1) what are we doing well? 2) what are best practices in area? 3)Analyze
answers, what emerged? 4) envision future possibilities, 5) design future path.
How are Kurt Lewin's model of planning change and Weick and Quinn's (1999) model of planned change
different? What does each assume about organizations?
Lewin: Lewin assumes change is more abrupt, and he emphasis and says you need to unfreeze org. to
change it, then refreeze after.
Weich and Quinn: They emphasize change as gradual and needing to be frozen in order to implement
change.
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How are actions research and appreciate inquiry different?
Action research focuses on the problem and how to fix it. Appreciative inquiry focuses on expanding
strengths and improvement.
Action research is _________-focused and appreciate inquiry is ____________-focused.
problem/ solution
What is first step of consulting?
contracting (clarifying problems, setting expectations).
Be able to recognize examples of operant conditioning in the workplace and how that is different from
classical conditioning.
Operant conditioning focuses on reinforcement, classical focuses on learned associations.
Social psychology contributed a formula for human behavior, what is it?
B-f(PE)
Behavior is a function of person and environment.
What are the 5 big personality traits?
Conscientiousness (carefulness, especially with people)
Extroversion (gaining energy from being social)
Agreeableness (warm, friendly, tactful)
Neuroticism (mody, anxious, high strung)
Openness (willingness to try new things, and be around new people)
What is the first question we ask when looking at an organization?
For the sake of what?
What are the three topics with performance conversations? Be able to conceptually define them.
Performance measurement: detecting types and levels of performance.
Performance Evaluation: how to know if employees perform well
Performance Management:
What are the 9 types of performances discussed in class? Be able to conceptually define each in 1-2
sentences.
1) tasks: task performance
2) effort: consistency and persistence
3) communication: writing and speaking proficiently
4) peer/team performance: facilitating the team
5) ability to adapt: comfort with change
6) leader performance: influence and inspiration
7) counterproductive work behaviors: refraining from CWBs.
8) management: monitoring and clarifying
9) of non-tasks: contextual performances
What two performance "raters" have the most agreement in their ratings? Which one has the worst
overlap? What are %'s for best and worst performance raters?
Best ratings: two diff. supervisors (25%), two diff. peers (14%).
Worst rating: peers and self (4%)
*Conceptually, why is performance evaluation so difficult and complex? What steps and assumptions do
we make in the process?*
...
What are some best practices for performance measurement?
logbook to document employee performance
train raters to identify own biases
less time between performance and rating
stress increases rating errors
gender and race influence raters' ratings.
What are some examples of job attitudes?
satisfaction, meaning, commitment, engagement
What are the two types of happiness used in psychology research? What are the philosophical terms
used to describe them?
Hedonism (subjective well being): maximizing pleasure, minimizing pain.
Eudaimonia (Psychological well being): actualizing human potential, living virtuously, finding purpose
What are some ways in which job satisfaction and job performance might be related?
Job Satisfaction -> Job Performance
Job Satisfaction <- Job Performance
Job Satisfaction <-> Job Performance
Job Satisfaction <-> Job Performance
^--------C----------^
Job Satisfaction <-----> Job Performance
^
C
What are two types of judgments or decision-making processes people make? What one is more
accurate?
Statistical judgement (more accurate), clinical judgement
*What are the three assumptions guiding the hiring process? And are they right or wrong? Why or why
not?*
1) it is possible to acheive near perfect precision in predicting success for an applicant (false, 70% is
unpredictable)
2) There is such thing as human judgement (i.e. reading between he lines) (false, structured interviews
unreliable)
3) The combination of statistical judgement and human judgement will be more accurate. (false, adding
subjective judgement makes the accuracy worse)
What % of performance on the job is unpredictable? Where does the remaining percentage come from?
70% unpredictable, 20% technical competencies (abilities), 10% psych factors (good personality fit, etc).
What common selection criteria is actually far less effective than most business managers believe it to
be?
unstructured interviews
What are two common rebuttals to the idea that statistical algorithms are more accurate than human
decision-making? Are they right or wrong? Why or why not?
"broken leg" cues: humans can better predict if statistically unpredictable scenarios will occur.
configurations of traits: you can't statistically accurately predict variables because there are too many.
these are wrong. there is only a .01 r correlations between residuals (configural judgement, "broken-leg"
cures, and error) and predicted outcome accuracy.
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What is the difference between disparate treatment and adverse impact?
Disparate treatment: treating people differently based on protected characteristics (intentional)
Adverse impact: treating everyone same, however processes used result in lower hiring rate of protected
class (may intentional or unintentional)
How do we know if adverse impact is occurring?
is the groups selection rate 4/5ths of their counterpart? Statistical significance testing: does a graph
reveal a biased selectioin distribution of protected classes?
What are the 3 competing demands in avoiding adverse impact? What are some tips for what
organizations can do?
Hiring for performance, hiring in a fair/equitable manner, creating a representative workplace. You can:
use predictors with low adverse impact, weight predictors with low AI as more important, combine
predictors, expand recruitment pool to be more diverse.
Know protected vs. unprotected classes.
race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disabilities, pregnancy, military, genetic information
What practices designed to increase diversity are legal vs. illegal?
Legal: diversity recruitment efforts, consideration of demographics if applicants are equal qualification,
affirmative action, preferential layoff (except in case of seniority).
Illegal: preferential treatment, disparate impact, quotas, different standards.
What are the 3 steps of the staffing process?
Job analysis, recruiting, selecting
What does job analyses tell us?
tasks, duties, and responsibilities
importance of frequency of these tasks
KSAOs for those tasks.
What business functions can job analysis serve?
performance appraisal, selection, reorganizing, training, defining "essential tasks", compensation.
What are 3 categories of job analysis techniques? From these, understand conceptually 1) the functional
job analysis, 2) the critical incident technique.
Job oriented methods: (functional Job analysis technique = creating a job description using senctences
that include a verb, and object, and how/why.)
Person oriented methods: (critical incident technique = when employees or experts write stories to
portray what poor, acceptable, and excellent performance looks like in a job.)
Combination of person and job
* What are the 5 steps from job analysis to selection?*
Job Analysis (process of collection work information), Work-related information (tasks, duties,
behaviors), KSAOs (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other), selection criteria/process (tests, interviews,
etc.), performance measures (performance reviews, 360 feedback, etc).
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Know the difference between selection constructs and selection methods.
constructs: intelligence, personality, integrity, core self-evaluation.
Methods: assessment centers, work samples, situational judgment tests, biodata, interview
If you could choose between unstructured or structured interviews, which would be a better predictor of
performance?
Structured.
What is the tradeoff when using GMA as a selection criteria?
GMA can cause adverse impact
What are the two types of conditioning? Be able to contrast them conceptually.
Classical conditioning (focus on associations and associative learning)
and Operant Conditioning (focus on reinforcement).
Know the difference between conditioned/unconditioned stimulus/responses.
Unconditioned stimulus means it provokes a natural response.
Unconditioned response is natural repsponse caused by stimulus.
Conditioned stimulus is something that now provokes a response that did not used to.
Conditioned response is a response to a stimulus that did not used to occur.
What are the two dimensions of operant conditioning?
Reinforcement and Punishment.
(or positive and negative?)
What are the most effective schedules of reinforcement?
Variable interval or ratio reinforcement. Reinforcement occurs randomly first time after an interval, or
randomly after a percentage amount of times.
What are McClelland's 3 social needs/motives?
Need for achievement, Need for Affiliation, Need for power.
What is self efficacy? And what are 4 ways to develop it?
Self-efficacy: ones belief in ones ability to succeed.
How to build:
1) practice
2) modeling
3) social persuasion
4) emotional states
What are 3 things wrong with SMART goals?
Inconsistent, not research based, redundant.
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*Be able to speak to what makes for a good goal-- there are at least 7 characteristics*
Specific (time bound, measurable actions)
Difficult yet realistic (not too easy, not too hard).
Self-efficacy: strong belief you can achieve it.
Importance: goal is important to you.
Commitment: you have a sense of commitment to goal.
Feedback: you have sources of feedback as your progress.
Conceptually, what is the difference between a learning and performance orientation?
Learning orientation: try to learn, your best qualities are things the come through effort.
Performance orientation: you are who you are. Important to meet a goal, no more no less.
What are the 6 qualities of teams?
bound, stable, interdependent, social system, common goal, share responsibility.
How are teams and work groups different?
Groups: not interdependent, no shared goals, but have shared ideas.
Team: interdependent, shared goal, work together
What are 10 things important for teams?
Cognition, Conflict, Coaching, Communication, Culture, Composition, Context, Cooperation,
Coordination, Cycle
Understand the team cycle. What are 5 steps and what is another way to conceptualize it?
Forming (orient team), Storming ("growing pains"), Norming (group standards are set), Performing
*solutions, processes, and roles are solidified), Adjourning (task is completed).
AKA:
Input, process, output
When are team interventions most impactful in a team cycle?
at beginning and in middle.
Is brainstorming an effective team decision-making approach? What are some alternatives?
no
designate people to be the "thinkers"
In general, is team conflict good or bad? When is it healthy?
bad, except toward beginning of cycle, if its task-related, when trust is already established and in very
moderate amounts.
What are 4 ways to measure team composition?
SD, Average, Minimum, Maximum, Median
*Understand the role of diversity on team performance.*
Effect of diversity is small, but positive when diversity is functional, and negative when its
demographical.
What is the first step in training?
needs analysis?
What are the 3 things to encourage individual change?
motivated to improve situation or experience
when provided incentives or resources
when they want to support the change effort.
What are 5 aspects of adult learning that are unique to adults?
They want to know why they are learning, should be self directed, they bring more work related
experiences, they have a problem centered approach, they have both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.
What are some recommendations for effective program characteristics?
identify and communicate purpose,objectives, and outcomes to trainees
ensure content is meaningful and relevant
trainer should demonstrate skills. trainee should practice skills
trainer should provide feedback.
What are stressors, stress, and strain?
stressors: things that cause an automatic stress response.
stress: the internal perception or reaction to the stressor
strain: the change in behavior or internal state as a result of a stress reponse
Be able to conceptually describe general adaptation syndrome theory.
1) alarm: we react to stressor
2) resistence: we resist stress feeling
3) exhuastion: resistence to stressor wears you out
Have a general understanding of what is considered an antecedent, consequence, and moderator in
stress research.
Atecedent: a stressor, such as fear of the unknown, forecasting, lack of fit, personality, finances.
Consequence: physical and mental state caused by antecedent, such as anxiety, depression, or burnout.
Moderators: things the relationship between antecedent and consequence depend on, such as type A
personality, social support, or locus of control.
What can individuals do to relieve stress?
exercise, laugh, diet, cut smoking, sleep, establish support network.
What can organizations do about stressors, stress, and strain?
stressors: job enrichment, scheduling
stress: training on stress management, wellness brochures
strains: employee assistance programs, onsite gym, violence security measures
Understand the relationship between stress and performance.
Its a belle curve. stress is helpful to a point, then becomes inhibitory.
What are the 4 phases of leadership research?
Great man theories
behavioral theories
situational theories
the most recent phase of leadership research
Conceptually, what is a meta-analysis?
taking the average of all of the past studies that have been done on a given research question.
*Are leaders born or made? And is leader relative?*
Leaders are made (70%), except some have a genetic predisposition to excel (30%). Leadership is not
relative, great leaders show common characteristics.
What are the 4 dimensions of transformational leadership?
idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, individual consideration
What are the 3 dimensions of transactional leadership?
contingent reward, active management by exception, passive management by exception
What is Laissez-faire leadership?
absence of leadership, avoidance of taking responsibilities
What are the moments that matter in terms of leadership developments (excluding "mindful
engagement")?
Goals for development, stretch experiences, strategic networks
which philosophies are currently guiding IO psychology>
pragmatism, correspondence theory, and post-positivism.
