SIOP Members in the News

The annual SIOP conference is always a rich source of news stories for reporters and the San Francisco conference was no exception. Several presentations caught the attention of reporters and found their way into various media.

Perhaps the best part was that more writers became aware of I-O psychology and the value it brings to the workplace.

Of course, not all SIOP members’ media mentions came as a result of the conference, but as usual, SIOP members are contributing to news stories on an ongoing basis, which is good for the visibility of I-O psychology and SIOP.

Following is some of the news coverage that has occurred in the past several months:

Ben Dattner of Dattner Consulting in New York City was quoted in the April 23 Houston Chronicle for a story about the benefits companies derive from encouraging workers to express themselves. Creativity among employees is more important than ever. Retailers are in a competitive economy trying to find ways to distinguish themselves and often the edge comes from employee ideas. There are times when employees come up with valuable ideas that actually become company policy, he added.

Traditionally, mentors have been older and wiser than the protégé. Now the mentor may be wiser, but not necessarily older, says Belle Rose Ragins of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee in an April 11 Newsday story. It’s called “reverse mentoring,” and it’s becoming more common in organizations. She advises people to set aside stereotypes and age biases, which she admits is not always easy to do. She suggests those seeking mentors look for someone who has empathy, the ability to give negative feedback in a supportive way, and an understanding of how people learn.

Jennifer Deal of the Center for Creative Leadership contributed to several news stories in April. In a New York Daily News article, Deal noted that both older generations and younger generations place their families as a top priority, though they seem to apply their family values differently. In her book, Retiring the Generation Gap: How Employees Young and Old Can Find Common Ground, the top value of workers of all ages was family. She noted that putting family first for older workers meant long working hours, sometimes two jobs. Younger workers, though, often put family first by working fewer hours and spending more time at home.

In a Springfield (MO) Business Journal story, Deal listed five workplace qualities that workers of all generations seek from their leaders: credibility, trustworthiness, supervisors who listen to them, leaders with vision who can set a course and navigate the way, and leaders who encourage and support their employees.

In an April 22 Maine Business Journal story about how organizations can survive in difficult economic times, Ken DeMeuse of Lominger International was asked to provide tips about handling layoffs. First, he said, executives and owners need to identify who on the staff is best suited to excel at their present task, adapt to changes, and contribute to future success of the business. “Too often layoffs are based upon seniority and that is not a good indicator of who to keep,” he said. He also said that organizations should be honest with their employees. “People would rather hear the bad news than be misled,” he said. And don’t promise employees that the layoffs are over because if there is a second or third wave of layoffs, management will lose all credibility with employees.

Coverage by the Toronto Globe and Mail (April 14) of the San Francisco SIOP conference focused on the millennial generation in the workplace. Research shows that those born between the early 1980s and 2000 are not a bunch of job hoppers seeking instant gratification as popularly believed. Evan Sinar of Development Dimensions International noted perhaps the greatest misconception is that young people are not as engaged in their work as their Gen X and Baby Boomer colleagues. On the contrary, millennial workers are just as enthused and invested in their jobs as any other generation, he said.

In the same Globe and Mail article, Jennifer Deal of the Center for Creative Leadership pointed out that the generations are not all that different. She suggests that employers treat workers as individuals who all deserve respect, decent working conditions, and opportunities to learn and grow in their jobs.

For an April 11 story on employee retention in Investor’s Business Daily, the writer talked with Frederic Frank of Maitland, FL-based TalentKeepers. In order to stem the tide of valued employees leaving for other jobs, many firms are paying more attention to keeping skilled employees. Contrary to popular belief, many people don’t change jobs because of better pay; many leave because they are discontented with their bosses, says Frank. “If the boss isn’t skilled at building trust or developing a climate that challenges and supports people, employees will leave,” he said.

Nancy Stone of Creighton University provided some research-based comments for an April 7 Forbes magazine story about whether windowless offices contribute to employee success and productivity. Workers are happier performing creative tasks if they have a window in their office, she found. “They were using windows for inspiration. When they had a boring task, not having a window made it worse; employees were unhappy.” On the other hand, having windows in their office distracted workers performing computational tasks, she said.

Jim Thomas of Development Dimensions International and Robert Hogan of Hogan Assessment Systems contributed to an April 3 New York Times story about the growing number of organizations using assessments when hiring or promoting employees. Assessment creators make the point that the alternative, the personal interview, is anything but scientific. Assessments also have a proven track record and when properly administered and evaluated provide results that can correlate highly, though not perfectly, with job performance and satisfaction.

A SIOP conference presentation about hiring people for high-risk jobs was featured by the United Press International in March and appeared in a number of papers around the country. Kelley Krokos of the American Institutes for Research said assessing a candidate’s cognitive ability to learn all aspects of the job and as well as measuring personality fit for the position will help find those who can perform up to high expectations in jobs such as law enforcement, firefighting, trauma center, and nuclear facility where decisions have to be made quickly. “Not everyone is well suited to work in a high-risk job,” she said. When a person doesn’t work out, it may not be the fault of the selection process, Lycia Carter of Aon Consulting noted. “Selection doesn’t occur in a vacuum. If there is a performance problem you have to look at all potential causes, not just the selection process. There are training and performance management considerations as well,” she said.

Laura Mastrangelo of Frito-Lay chaired a SIOP conference symposium on generational differences, which was the subject of several news stories including one in the March 24 Insurance Journal. Organizations are facing challenges in maintaining their workforce given the expected exodus of Baby Boomers and managing a multigenerational workforce. One constant for both issues is that organizations must strengthen recruiting and retention efforts because it is a competitive market for attracting the best employees, she said.

The April issue of Popular Science referred to a study conducted by Dov Eden and his team at Tel Aviv University that found that university faculty who stayed connected to their work through computers and cell phones did not receive a psychological relief from chronic job stress that vacations are supposed to provide. Time off is as important to productivity as work itself, he said. Ongoing stress can lead to burnout and chronic diseases so worker “refreshment” is a plus for both workers and the organization.

Rebecca Schalm of RHR International contributed to an April 21 Wall Street Journal story describing how some employers are improving retention rates by offering employees seeking career changes the opportunity to move into new roles within the company. However there can be some downsides, Schalm warned. For one, the change can build expectations for workers that can’t be fulfilled. “Someone’s aspirations may not line up with the organization’s perceptions of them or their needs,” she said.

Also, Schalm was quoted in a February 7 Toronto Globe and Mail article about succession planning in entrepreneurial companies.

The April issue of HR Performance sought comments from practitioners, including Wendell Williams of ScientficSelection.com about the best and worst hiring practices. He advised bringing a diverse range of people into organizations, which will create a more well-rounded company as well as reduce liability when it comes to federal regulations.

Most people will say they do not like meetings, that they are a waste of time. But a study by Steven Rogelberg of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, indicates that many meeting moaners are really faking. His findings were reported in various media, including the March 11 Wall Street Journal and National Public Radio on March 18. Rogelberg and his colleagues surveyed 800 employees across the country about their opinions on meetings. Of the 50% who complained about meetings, 60% of those complainers admitted they didn’t mind them that much. Rogelberg said people complain because it is socially acceptable to do so.

People who have done well in an organization often credit mentors as being important to their success. Although relationships matter in the workplace, sometimes mentoring simply doesn’t work. Kathy Kram of Boston University contributed to the mentorship discussion in a March 17 Wall Street Journal story. Formal mentoring efforts, with their online profiles and random assigning mentors who often lack interpersonal skills, are generally less effective, she said. Mentors need training and she suggests that protégés not rely on one mentor. “To rely on one mentor is really a high-risk strategy,” she said.

In the March 18 HR Magazine, a study by Michael Campion of Purdue University and Julie Levashina of Indiana University about candidates’ truthfulness during job interviews was cited. The study found that more than 90% of job candidates were less than truthful during an interview, and follow-up questions were likely to produce more false responses. The study contradicted conventional wisdom that follow-up questions and probing are a means of detecting and preventing untruthful answers.

Which is worse in the workplace, sexual harassment or bullying? Research by the University of Manitoba’s M. Sandy Hershcovis and Julian Barling of Queen’s University shows that workplace bullying is more damaging to employees than sexual harassment—causing more job stress, less job commitment, and higher levels of anxiety. Their findings were reported in several publications including the March 11 Washington Post, March 24 Forbes, and the April 7 issue of Canadian HR Reporter.

Edward Lawler III of the University of Southern California wrote an article for the March 10 Wall Street Journal urging companies to give more respect to their human resources departments. Many companies say they consider their workforce an important asset, yet they don’t really utilize their human resource operations to enhance the value of their employees, Lawler says. In an organization that wants talent to be its source of competitive advantage, the HR department simply can’t be the stepchild it usually is, he concluded.

When a top executive leaves a position, the reason often given is the person left to “spend more time with the family.” No one really believes that, though, according to a February 13 story in Portfolio magazine. Ben Dattner of Dattner Consulting in New York City said it would be better for companies and their employees, as well as shareholders, if companies were more honest about the reasons for executive departures. “In an age where there’s supposed to be greater transparency, ‘leaving to spend time with family’ is the ultimate nontransparent answer. But there’s still a notion that this is face-saving and socially acceptable,” he said.

Amir Erez of the University of Florida shared the results of a study in the February 7 issue of TechJournal South that suggests rude bosses who browbeat employees actually do more harm than good. “When someone is screaming at you, you’re too busy thinking about the incident and how to deal with it to think about much else,” Erez said.

In a February 7 Reuters story, Brian Miller of Texas State University pointed out the hazards facing employees who wear visible body piercings and tattoos. His study found that workers “would rather not work with someone who has visible art in situations requiring face-to-to-face contact with customers, even if they are qualified to do so,” he said. His conclusion: visible body art in the workplace is unsettling to co-workers. The story, based upon a SIOP conference presentation, was also reported in Workforce Management as well as several other media outlets.

In another story about workplace stigmas, a Wayne State University study, which was covered in various media including the February 22 issues of Occupational Hazards and Reliable Plant Magazine, showed that obese workers negatively impacted fellow workers. Also, obesity was a barrier in the hiring process. The study was conducted by Cort Rudolph, who noted that “there are a whole set of stereotypes that go along with being overweight and lot of them transfer into the workplace in terms of people’s judgment about others’ abilities and appearance in relation to job performance.” The stories also cited a similar study by Boris Baltes of Wayne State. “We were amazed with the vast majority of people who strongly agreed with most of the statements” about overweight workers.

In a story in the January issue of HR Magazine about how companies collect feedback from their employees, Allen Kraut of Baruch College noted that most companies are now using online surveys to measure employee satisfaction and to enhance worker engagement. “The advantages of electronic surveys are enormous,” he said, citing time and cost savings. Studies he has done found the results of online surveys to be no different than the way people responded to paper-based surveys.

Commenting on a January 24 story in E-Commerce Times about the transition that took place at eBay when new CEO John Donahue took over the reins of the Internet auction firm, Constance Dierickx of RHR International noted that a key to the changeover would be the level of credibility the new CEO has with Wall Street and other primary constituents. “Once a new CEO is selected, only half the process is complete. Generally, it takes 12–14 months for a new CEO to effectively integrate into the role,” she said.

Scott Erker of Development Dimensions International was the primary source for a January 27 Market Watch story on questions that employers should not ask when interviewing prospective employees. A joint DDI–Monster.com survey of 3,000 job applicants revealed 43% of job seekers were annoyed that managers asked questions unrelated to the job and 38% said they were asked inappropriate personal questions. And two-thirds of the job seekers said the interviewer influenced their decision to accept or reject a job. The survey findings are “a wake-up call for organizations that (this kind of questioning) is happening behind closed doors when applicants are face-to-face with their potential boss,” Erker said.

Some people work all the time, even when out of the office, catching up on e-mails or bringing work home. “I don’t think companies know how much people are working,” said Ellen Ernst Kossek of Michigan State University in a January 28 Chicago Tribune story. Kossek and colleague Brenda Lautsch conducted a study on how people manage the relationships between their work and personal life and found that many workers blend the two and can’t seem to make a clear separation. They said people who find themselves captives of their work need to take control of their lives if they want to get out of the constant work cycle.

Please let us know if you, or a SIOP colleague, have contributed to a news story. We would like to include that mention in SIOP Members in the News.

Send copies of the article to SIOP at siop@siop.org or fax to 419-352-2645 or mail to SIOP at 440 East Poe Rd., Suite 101, Bowling Green, OH 43402.