W. Warner Burke Associates, Inc.

Welcome to the July issue of TIP. As you may have noticed, with this issue I am taking over as editor of this highly respected and widely read publication. Our editor for the last 3 years, Mike Coovert, has done an outstanding job and he deserves a rousing round of applause and thanks for all his hard work. Mike has truly helped bring TIP into the 21^st century in terms of everything from style to electronic submissions to layout (with the help, of course, of many others, including Phil Craiger, Lori Foster, Lee Hakel and the SIOP Administrative Office). When I went back through the comments from Kurt Kraiger (past, past editor of TIP) on his last day, he noted that for each issue he received approximately 120+ pages of faxed submissions to hand enter in the eleventh hour! Mike has worked very hard to insure that the process is now a much smoother one, with 100 emails arriving with Word doc file attachments and 20 FedEx priority packs with 3.5 inch disks, all right around the deadline. All kidding aside, as a past columnist and editorial board member, Mike did a great job as editor. I wish him the best in his next SIOP role (and thanks again for having me down to Tampa to learn the ropes—be sure to let me know how many I have frayed).

In fact, I have heard so many laudatory and appreciative comments about the current state of TIP from members, nonmembers and past editors alike, I have to admit to being somewhat fearful that I might be personally responsible for destroying its reputation. Although I am not planning to do "that vision thing" with regard to a new direction for TIP, I do hope that in the next 3 years I will be able to insure the production of a high quality publication while simultaneously making a significant contribution to its contents that is informative, interesting and at times even entertaining for Society members. Since you all will be the judges of that, I expect to hear from you. Please feel free to email (AllanHC96@aol.com) or call me with your comments, suggestions, reactions, ideas, or anything else regarding the future of TIP that strikes your fancy. Although we will certainly continue to produce the best newsletter we can, as I think almost everyone that I have ever known who has worked on TIP would agree, we would like your feedback.

What’s in a Name?

I know that this topic has been mentioned before by prior TIP editors, including Mike Coovert in 1995, but as an organizational psychologist by training with more than a little bit of organizational development experience thrown in, I cannot help but wonder why the official newsletter of SIOP—the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology—is entitled TIP and not TIOP? Of course, TIOP does not sound very interesting as a title for such an illustrious and well respected publication with long-standing name

recognition, nor is it a clever play on words regarding the tips for researchers and practitioners that are sure to be found in TIP. Although I realize that the full title of this publication when printed out is indeed The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, the acronym has always made me wonder about possible alternatives.

Knowing full well that as incoming editor it would (ok, might!) be possible to make such a transformational change to our renowned Division 14 newsletter, I thought long and hard about options. So far, I have yet to come across anything I like any better. I guess I’ll have to stick, at least for the time being, with the more mundane, transactional changes that the new editor usually makes. (Such as the addition of this column, for one. For those of you who thought you would no longer be subjected to my running commentary—fooled you!) If anyone does have any new and exciting ideas for a new name, however, I’d love to hear them.

The New Face of TIP

Ok, so now to the really burning question, the one that has been keeping you up at nights since reading Mike’s final issue of TIP back in April.... So what has Church gone and changed? I really liked TIP the way it was.

Well, first, for those of you with keen participant observer powers, you should already have noted the new look and feel of the cover. As many of you may know, the very first and most important aspect of becoming a new editor of TIP is choosing the new cover design! Thus, out with the old marble and in with the cover design voted most "artsy" by our panel of judges.

Next, and probably less noticeable, is the change of the names of the three major types of items you will find in TIP. For those of you who appreciated the prior header scheme, the new name changes should be easy to understand. For everyone else and for future reference of course (not to mention for myself), I have provided a brief description of each below, followed by a highlight of the contents of this issue.

Featured Articles

As you might have guessed, Featured Articles are those pieces sent in by SIOP membership, often unsolicited—except for the President’s Column which is always a must reading—that are intended to inform, interest, instruct, or instigate an interactive session (at a future SIOP conference or through some other medium).

In this issue, we have the first column from our President Elaine Pulakos which provides a general overview of this year’s conference in Dallas, followed by some information on committee membership changes and an update on some of the Society’s major activities and initiatives.

Next we have a cluster of articles relating to specific events and/or aspects of the Dallas conference. Mickey Kavanagh provides a report on the seemingly quite successful SIOPen Golf Outing, while Kevin Williams gives us all the statistics on this year’s annual 5K Road Race. Following these we have a short but highly instructional and humorous (i.e., totally non-serious for those who might be worried) piece contributed by past TIP Editor Kurt Kraiger on the appropriate dress code for future SIOP conferences. Finally, we have a interesting article by Robert Tett who, spurred by presentations made and conversations held in Dallas, explores a question regarding the conscientiousness factor of the Big Five as only an I-O psychologist can.

Who would have thought that someone might actually want to revisit what went on in Dallas just a few short months ago? If any of the suggestions raised during the "Meet TIP Session" held on Friday are an indication, however, by next year we might even have a set of roving reporters for the conference in Atlanta (please email me if you are interested).

Editorial Departments

Moving right along, we have a number of entries in the Editorial Departments. These represent the regular columns and contributions of the TIP Editorial Board Members. As the old wedding adage goes, with this issue we have something(s) old and something(s) new. More specifically, familiar faces such as Karen May, Dirk Steiner, Charmine Hrtel, Lori Forster, Dawn Riddle, and Phil Craiger have all been gracious enough to continue to enlighten us with their comments and reflections on such areas as workforce issues, international I-O, current trends in practice and research, student concerns, and the world of cyberspace. Thanks very much to all these people for continuing to be involved. Thanks also to David Pollack for continuing to keep track of and contribute to the Upcoming Conferences and Meetings list included in every issue.

Of course, what would a new Editorship be without some new faces as well? Thus, for starters, Mike Harris has taken over Practice Network from its long standing (and probably very tired) predecessor Tom Baker. Mike’s approach is alternatively humorous and serious and will likely be thematic in nature.

The next new addition to the team is Janine Waclawski (long-time silent contributor to my defunct From Both Sides Now) who plans to introduce us to the Real World of I-O in her new column. Focused on current perceptions and roles of our field in the mainstream, her self-titled rantings are sure to stir up some interest among readers. In her first column she tackles Dilbert and the Witch Doctors (and no, this is not a children’s story).

Last, but certainly not least, Steven Rogelberg is starting Informed Decisions: Research Based Practice Notes—a column devoted to the translation of those teetering piles of research articles into a simple and easily digestible set of recommendations for practice. Steven’s first column with co-author Alexandra Luong is on a topic near and dear to my heart—increasing survey response rates.

Please join me in welcoming these members to our hearty band of TIP quarterly column writers!

News and Reports

There are also some interesting items on that new section everyone is talking about (including just about everyone I talked to at SIOP this year) in Personnel Psychology by John Hollenbeck and Jim Smither, an article on the 19^th IO/OB Graduate Student Conference held at the California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego by Celia Chandler, and an overview of a proposal to significantly change the National Commission on Testing and Public Policy at APA by Heather Roberts-Fox.

IOTAs

I can hear it now, cries all across the known world, "Where is my name?" Well, for my final change, I have decided to move the IOTAs section to the middle of the issue. Please note that this was not done to confuse you. After several years of being told on the phone, by email, and at various conferences that a large number of people open TIP right to the IOTAs section to look for their own name, I think it might be better for all our contributors (not to mention advertisers) if IOTAs is more deeply placed in the publication. For those of you who crave the page, it will be listed in the Table of Contents.

You Can Call Me Al