Leadership

Psychology 303
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Summer 2021

Course Description:

According to the Syllabus:

"I/O psychology involves the application of psychological concepts to work settings. This course is designed to familiarize you with the psychological theories and research related to issues of critical relevance to work, such as employee selection, training, motivation, organizational development, performance, leadership, well-being, and work-life balance. Understanding the various theories, processes, and roles within an organization should prove relevant and useful for anyone entering the workforce, regardless of profession or major."

The coursework in the class consisted of 6 weeks of quizzes and reflective journals in 14 different modules. An example of this coursework has been reproduced below (click images to enlarge).

These Modules included:

What is I-O Psychology?
Methods & Statistics in I-O Psychology
Individual Differences & Assessment
Job Analysis & Performance
Performance Measurement
Staffing Decisions
Training & Development

The Motivation to Work
Attitudes, Emotions, & Work
Stress & Worker Well-being
Fairness, Justice, & Diversity in the Workplace
Leadership in Organizations
Teams in Organizations
Organizational Theory, Dynamics, & Change

Example of work (click to enlarge):

Journal 1

Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc., the Vermont-based manufacturer of ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet, was known for having a rule that the compensation for the highest paid employee (i.e., the CEO) could not be more than seven times the pay of the lowest paid employee. Applying Hofstede’s model of cultural influence, which of the five cultural dimensions is most closely related to this rule? Why? Support your answer with chapter material.

Journal 2

Correlation should not be equated with causation. The textbook presented the example of height and weight to illustrate that point. Based on your life and work experiences and observations, give three additional examples of correlations that would be misleading if they were explained using a cause-effect logic. In other words, what are (3) examples of two variables that are correlated but do not cause each other.

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Journal 3

1. If you were to complete a Big 5 personality questionnaire, how would you expect to score on each of the Big 5 traits in terms of low, medium, or high score? Why?
2. Which Big 5 trait from your personality profile do you consider most critical for your past and current successes and/or failures? Explain why.

Journal 4

1. How do you typically react to constructive criticism about your performance? Why?
2. What makes performance feedback helpful to you to improve your performance?
3. What makes performance feedback unhelpful or even detrimental to you?

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Journal 5

Select your most favorite quote on performance measurement from Box 5.2 (in Module 5.3) with the list of quotes from different public figures in Chapter 5 and explain:
1. Why did you select that particular quote as your most favorite?
2. How do your personal experiences with or opinions about performance appraisals relate to the quote you chose?

Journal 6

1. Have you experienced employment discrimination? (Yes / Maybe / No)
1.1. If Maybe or Yes, then describe your experience and relate it to the material in Chapter 6
1.2. If No, then describe employment discrimination you witnessed, heard about, or read about and relate it to the material in Chapter 6

Journal 7, Part 1

Chapter 7 discusses issues, theories, and research findings related to training and learning. Consider this course as a training program with the main goal to facilitate YOUR LEARNING about I/O Psychology.
Based on your personal experiences and knowledge of Chapter 7 content, please answer the following questions:
1. How can classes (like PSYC 303) promote and/or impede your learning?
2. How can classes (like PSYC 303) be designed to optimize your learning?

Journal 7, Part 2

3. Which class format will allow you to learn better - online or face-to-face? In other words, if you had a choice, would you take PSYC 303 in person or online? Why?

Journal 8

College can be stressful and many students encounter all kinds of challenges and issues. When college students face academic problems, often times they choose not to engage with and seek help from faculty. Based on your personal experience, observations of others, and understanding of Chapter 8 content which discusses various theories and research about MOTIVATION, please answer the following questions:
1. What makes/motivates college students to seek help from faculty when they face an academic problem?
2. What stops/demotivates college students from seeking help from faculty when they face an academic problem?

Journal 9

As mentioned in your textbook, job satisfaction has different facets (see section on The Measurement of Job Satisfaction). Which two (2) of the following seven facets of job satisfaction are most critical for you and will most likely affect your work motivation and performance ? Why?

- Satisfaction with pay
- Satisfaction with promotions and promotion opportunities
- Satisfaction with supervision
- Satisfaction with coworkers
- Satisfaction with training and professional development opportunities
- Satisfaction with the work itself
- Satisfaction with the workplace culture

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Journal 10, Part 1

Name the top three stressors for you as an ODU student? In other words, what stresses you out the most as an ODU student? (provide a list of 3 most critical stressors)
For each of your selected top three stressors, give an example describing:
(1) What did exactly happen that created stress for you? When? Where?
(2) What were you doing at the time?
(3) Why was it so stressful?
(4) How did you feel?
(5) How did you react/respond to the stressor?

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Journal 10, Part 2

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Journal 11

Which of the three types of injustice perceptions (distributive, procedural, and interactional) have you experienced at work or school? Give a personal or other example of each type of experienced injustice and describe the results/outcomes of the experiences.

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Journal 13

Describe an example of a team (can be in any kind of setting - workplace, sports, etc.) and provide the following information about that team using terminology, models/concepts, and research from Chapter 13:
1. What type of a team is it?
2. Describe one team input, one process, AND one output that, in your opinion, are very important for your chosen team.
3. Discuss how one of the five special team issues from Chapter 13 relates to your team.

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Journal 14

In March 2019, Boeing’s 737 Max jet was grounded after two crashes killed 346 people. Internal employee exchanges revealed an organizational culture that was focused on rushing a plane into service without much consideration for passenger safety and with training shortcuts and moves to evade scrutiny from regulators and airlines.
Please complete the following tasks:
1. Research independently the facts surrounding this ongoing case
2. Identify one area for improvement in Boeing that needs organizational change. Support your choice based on material from Chapter 14 .
3. Propose a brief plan for an organizational change intervention/initiative to improve the targeted area. Your plan should be grounded in best practices discussed in Chapter 14.

Feel free to scroll through the examples of some of the work I accomplished through this six week course. The Journals pictured above were a part of the twice weekly homework assignments for this course. I felt these short writing assignments helped to apply the sometimes dense coursework into situations that helped students relate to the content. Some of the content seen in these assignments that relate directly to the concept of leadership include:

Hofstede’s model of cultural influence (Journal 1)
Constructive criticism and feedback (Journal 4)
Employment discrimination (Journal 6)
Job satisfaction (Journal 9)
Teamwork (Journal 13)
Organizational change (Journal 14)

Skills Learned:

Plan, Organize, and Prioritize Work

Because this course only ran for only 6 weeks during the summer, I had to prioritize the twice weekly homework assignments and quizzes. Organization and planning this work ahead of time was key in making sure I succeeded.

Decision-Making and Problem-Solving

In addition to making informed decisions during quizzes, this course emphasized decision making in such areas as staffing, performance measurement, team work, and job analysis.

Demonstrating Technical Knowledge

The technical knowledge I learned in this course included: The Five-Factor Model of Personality and other personality measures, types of administrative and cognitive tests, Campbell's model of job performance and other job performance tests, motivational theories including Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Vroom’s Valence Instrumentality Expectancy theory, the Demand/Control and Person-Environment Fit models of stress, forms of Affirmative Action programs, team-role theory, and Lewin’s 3-stage process of organizational change.

Looking Towards the Future:

I personally believe this LeADERS course was influential in the development of my career plan. Before taking this course, I was unsure about what field I wanted to enter and even what kind of work I was interested in. I always assumed I would end up with a generic office job. It wasn't until taking this course and learning about the different skills and knowledge involved in the Industrial/Organizational Psychology field that I even considered pursuing management, administration and human resources specifically. I have even thought about pursuing an advanced degree in I/O Psychology in the future, as I believe it could significantly benefit my career.

Leadership

Psychology 303 Industrial/Organizational Psychology Summer 2021

Course Description:

Example of work (click to enlarge):

Skills Learned:

Looking Towards the Future:

Psychology 303
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Summer 2021