SIOP Members in the News
Clif Boutelle
SIOP members have a wealth of expertise to offer reporters, and by working with the media, they are providing opportunities to greatly increase the visibility of industrial and organizational psychology and SIOP.
Media Resources, found on the SIOP Web site (www.siop.org), has proven to be a valuable tool for reporters looking for experts to comment on their stories about the workplace. Members who are willing to talk with the media are encouraged to list themselves and their area(s) of specialization in Media Resources. It can easily be done online.
Following are some of the news stories that have been printed, using SIOP members as resources, since the last issue of TIP.
Mkay Bonner of Bonner Solutions and Services in W. Monroe, LA contributed a story on workplace bullying to the October 27 Delta (MS) Business Journal. To combat workplace aggression, she suggested that companies be thorough and cautious in their hiring and retention practices and use well- developed selection and evaluation tools. Also, she advised companies analyze the workplace culture, then define and implement appropriate policies and training programs.
Constance Dierickx of RHR International (Atlanta) was interviewed in the October 13 issue of the corporate board magazine about ways to build a solid board of directors. Among her suggestions: that effective board members ask great questions, even if they might seem stupid at the time. She cited examples of where a board member asked a key question that led to huge savings for a company.
She was also featured in a September 23 Chicago Examiner article about CEO succession planning. With CEO’s exiting their jobs at a rapid pace (101 in August alone, according to global outplacement research firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas), succession planning is getting more attention in many corporate boardrooms. Dierickx provided a list of steps boards should consider when searching for a new CEO, including developing talent pipelines within the organization, having a communications strategy with all key stakeholders, and making succession a prime board responsibility.
Anna Marie Valerio of New York City and author of the recently published Developing Women Leaders: A Guide for Men and Women in Organizations, wrote a column, based upon her book, in the October 16 BusinessWeek outlining steps organizations need to develop women leaders.
And the October 7 issue of Womenetics carried a story on coaching women leaders that quoted Valerio. The article noted that 65% of coaching clients are women, according to the International Coaching Federation. Valerio said that getting the support they need to complete challenging assignments, as well as balancing home and work life, are common issues for female clients.
Richard Arvey of the National University of Singapore authored an editorial in the October 20 Singapore Straits Times press entitled “Executive Compensation: Debunking the Myths.” He also contributed op-ed pieces to the Straits Times on June 30 (“Nature vs. Nurture: Are Leaders Born or Made?”) and July 13 (“Biases in Decision Making: There Is More Than You Think.”)
For an October 15 story on companies trying to deal with potential H1N1 influenza virus, the Boston Globe interviewed Amy Cooper Hakim of Boca Raton, FL. She noted it is important for businesses to take steps to deal with swine flu even if there is no problem at the time. It shows employees that the organization cares and is being responsible. “But preparations can make people nervous if these actions are not explained,” she said.
Research, conducted by Leslie Hammer of Portland State University and Ellen Ernst Kossek of Michigan State University, highlighted an October 13 congressional briefing on how changes in the workplace environment can benefit employees’ health and organizations’ bottom lines. The research findings were released by the Work, Family, and Health Network. Hammer and Kossek’s work was reported on an October 14 ABC News program and the October 15 issue of SHRM’s HR News. They found that training supervisors to be supportive of employees’ family and personal lives led to higher job satisfaction and better physical health and that it reduced the likelihood of turnover among workers they studied at 12 grocery chains in Ohio and Michigan.
Columns by Douglas McKenna of Oceanside Institute in Greenbank, WA that appeared in the October 8 and 15 issues of Forbes magazine focused on management issues. The October 15 article stressed the importance of busy senior executives exercising self-control over their workdays. The ability to control thoughts and actions is critical to the effectiveness of leaders, he wrote. The October 8 column discussed how face-to-face meetings with employees can be effective if done right. He advised executives to be smart about face-to-face meetings. Used carelessly, they can waste time, drain energy, and set off emotional chain reactions that makes things worse not better.
The October 14 issue of CNN.com published a list of 30 occupations that paid in the $80,000 range based on figures supplied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Industrial-organizational psychologists, at $86,460, were among the top occupations. The top paying jobs in the $80,000 range, in the survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com, were sales engineers, construction managers, veterinarians, and geoscientists, all paying about $89,000.
A story in the October 8 issue of Reliable Plant magazine featured a presentation Scott Erker of Development Dimensions International made at SIOP’s Leading Edge Consortium in October. He discussed interviewing across cultures, pointing out that “there are more expatriate managers assigned to key positions around the world than ever,” who are responsible for developing and managing teams comprised of persons from vastly different cultures. Understanding the local culture, language, and people are particularly important to the expat manager, he said. Hiring managers need to include more depth and breadth in their interviews rather than skimming over basic questions, he added.
When, during a campaign debate, the mayor of Boston had to defend his temperamental outbursts, the Boston Globe carried an October 4 story on how executive temperament affects organizations. The story quoted Douglas McKenna of Oceanside Institute in Greenbank, WA and Richard Boyatzis of Case Western Reserve University. McKenna said that CEOs who lose their temper often makes employees more insecure, less smart, less creative, and more interested in keeping their jobs than advancing the company’s mission. Boyatzis added that studies show that CEOs who regularly fly off the handle affect employees’ brain circuitry, making them more likely to conform rather than perform and less receptive to ideas.
In the September–October issue of Chief Executive magazine, Paul Winum of RHR International (Atlanta) was featured in a panel discussion on rebuilding trust in CEOs. At the root of the problem, he said, is a disconnect between centuries-old leadership principles and the context in which today’s leaders have been forced to operate, adding that confidence in business leaders is at an all time low.
He was also cited in the August issue of Corporate Board Member magazine where he discussed how boards can be more effective in managing CEO succession. The best boards regard CEO succession as a core business continuity issue that demands a comprehensive, ongoing process of oversight and management. Too often CEO succession is consigned to the back burner of board agendas, he said.
The validity of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) was the subject of a study conducted by In-Sue Oh of the University of Alberta and reported in the September 29 issue of the National Post in Canada. Although the test remains popular in graduate admissions offices, critics argue that at best the test is redundant and at worst inadequate. Oh said the study showed that the test functions quite well in its ability to predict success in graduate-level business classes. “The GMAT is more valid than previously believed and thus should be given greater weight in business school admission decisions,” he said.
David Arnold, general counsel for Wonderlic, Inc. in Libertyville, IL, was a guest on WGN Radio in Chicago September 23 talking about employee screening in the retail sector. He discussed the impact of employee theft and counterproductivity on retailers, as well as provided insight on the use of preemployment testing and other hiring tools for reducing employee theft and other forms of workplace counterproductivity.
James Outtz, a Washington D.C. consultant; Rich Cober, president of the Personnel Testing Council of Metropolitan Washington; and Eric Dunleavy of DCI Consulting Group contributed to a September 2 Washington Post story about different approaches to writing tests that are fair and avoid racial discrimination. Outtz pointed out that “multiple choice testing, in addition to whatever else you are trying to measure, measures something called convergent thinking. You are given a problem and asked to converge on a single answer that solves the problem. In real life, we don’t have many problems like that.” He added that in some cultures divergent thinking is valued over convergent thinking. Rather than looking for one answer, he said, divergent thinking values finding as many answers as possible. Cober cited the importance of sticking to testing fundamentals and added, “The important thing is that any organization has a plan.” Dunleavy said there are many different approaches, and even with Ricci v. DeStefano on the books, there really is no right answer to approach race and testing.
Paul Damiano of Good Works Consulting in Summerfield, NC and Ben Dattner of Dattner Consulting in New York City contributed to an August 30 New York Times career story about dealing with nonperforming colleagues. Office conversations about subjects that have nothing to do with work are time wasters, and Damiano advises that focusing on the need to get work done will make it hard for the coworker to feel personally insulted by cutting off the conversation. Dattner noted that it is easy to overvalue your work and undervalue others, but how much time you perceive someone is working is not necessarily a valid reflection of the effort they are expending or the results they are achieving.
Although pay for CEOs, like their employees, has diminished, news reports still relate that some CEOs are enjoying hefty compensation packages. Directors face a difficult balancing act because they want to retain and reward top executives who make hard choices that boost the bottom line. But, according to an August 26 BusinessWeek story, problems can emerge when leaders appear to be reaping high rewards at a time when they’re demanding sacrifices from their workers. Even the perception of inequity can damage a company, said Ben Dattner of Dattner Consulting in New York City. He added, “Concerns about employees and retention and organizational culture have been pushed aside by the demands of the global economic crisis.” Once the economy stabilizes, he said, leaders who put themselves first may see a talent drain. This year will be a true test of CEO pay equity, predicted Edward E. Lawler III of the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. If the stock market’s recent gains hold up, CEOs “may be the only people who’ve come through the downturn in good shape,” he said.
An August 24 Forbes magazine article carried a lengthy story on a joint study about employee motivation conducted by the Workplace Research Foundation and the University of Michigan. The foundation’s Palmer Morrel-Samuels spearheaded the project. The survey found that higher pay may result in higher job satisfaction but does not necessarily lead to higher motivation. Motivation cannot be purchased, he said. It has to do with intellectual challenge, pride in developing a sense of mastery, and the need to make a contribution to both the job and society, he said. Having motivated employees starts at the top with CEOs who create and support a work environment that fosters motivation, said Palmer, who is also president of Employee Motivation and Performance Assessment in Chelsea, MI.
How CEOs explain their jobs to their children was the subject of an August 14 Forbes magazine story that featured quotes from Howard Weems of Oakwood University in Alabama. He said CEOs should be especially open about their work. He also pointed out the danger that children of high-powered executives can develop a sense of entitlement. He suggested two ways of preventing that: expose them to charity work and make they earn what they get.
Cristina Banks of Lamorinda Consulting LLC in Moraga, CA contributed to an August 10 Wall Street Journal story about a lawsuit raising the question of whether hourly employees should be paid for time spent responding to work calls and e-mails after the work day is completed. With smart phones, which typically provide Internet access and e-mail as well as voice calling, “the boundaries become much more permeable” and work is difficult to monitor, she said.
In a July 23 Fast Company story about empathy and leadership, Doug Reynolds of Developmental Dimensions International, Inc. was included. He noted that empathy comes in two parts, one of which is behavioral. That’s the part that can be taught: Leaders can be encouraged to stop barking orders, listen for “empathy cues,” and ask better questions. What cannot be taught is when a person is actually feeling the other person’s emotions, the truest definition of an empathetic person. “That’s a personality trait,” he said.
Age discrimination was the focus of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission hearing in Washington in July in which Michael Campion of Purdue University was an invited presenter. His comments were reported by a number of media including the Washington Post, Reliable Plant magazine, Management Issues, and Environment, Health and Safety magazine. He said there are a number of stereotypes that influence employment decisions about older workers. He told the EEOC panel the impact of age stereotypes on employment opportunities for older persons would be diminished if employers, when faced with downsizing decisions, focus attention on the individual job-related characteristics of employees. “Employment decisions should always begin with an analysis of the work to be done and the knowledge, skills, and human attributes required to perform that work,” he said.
William Byham of Developmental Dimensions International, Inc. was quoted in a July 13 Wall Street Journal story about older workers delaying retirement plans, which could not come at a worse time for some companies struggling to shed workers. “Some companies, like GM, are paying people to retire,” he said. An alternative, he added, is not to recruit this year, but then “you get a hole in your work force. That causes all kinds of problems down the road, including not getting enough new ideas.”
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.
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