SIOP’s Silver Anniversary
Join Us in Atlanta for Our 25th Annual Conference
April 8–10, 2010
Preconference Workshops, April 7, 2010
Sara P. Weiner
Kenexa
Julie B. Olson-Buchanan
California State University, Fresno
The annual SIOP conference is arguably the pinnacle and pivotal annual event for the industrial-organizational psychology community. As conference attendees attest, the opportunities for learning, networking, and advancing our field are truly significant.
The 2010 conference is particularly momentous because it marks the 25th anniversary of the SIOP conference. Below are just a few of the conference highlights that make this a not-to-be-missed milestone!
Submissions
For those who have submitted proposals, the results of the peer reviews will be sent in early December.
Concurrent Sessions
We will have hundreds of peer-reviewed sessions addressing I-O psychology research, practice, theory, and teaching-oriented content. These sessions will be presented in a variety of formats including symposia/forums, roundtable/conversation hours, panel discussions, posters, debates, and master tutorials. In addition, we will have addresses from our SIOP award winners, key committee reports, and an update from the fall consortium: Leading Edge of Selection and Assessment in a Global Setting.
Theme Tracks
Theme tracks will continue—now for the third year. Theme tracks are essentially individual conferences within a conference, delving deep into a cutting-edge topic or trend, and are designed to appeal to practitioners and academics. For each theme there will be multiple integrated sessions (e.g., invited speakers, panels, debates) scheduled back-to-back throughout the day in the same room. Though you may want to stay all day to take advantage of the comprehensive programming and obtain continuing education credits for participation in the full track, you may also choose to attend just the sessions of most interest to you.
Thursday Theme:
Exploring the Potential and Pitfalls of Virtually Connected Work
Vast economic and demographic changes continue to force organizations to rethink policies regarding where individuals work and how they work together. Recent surveys have indicated that nearly two-thirds of U.S. employees have engaged in virtual work. Although the use of a virtually connected workforce may have organizational benefits (e.g., the search for talent is not limited by location, reduced travel costs, potential for a 24-hour workforce), it also poses challenges (e.g., miscommunication, failure to develop meaningful relationships). Many questions remain regarding how to maximize effectiveness within this context. For example, what is the impact of virtually connected work across different levels of analysis (individual, team, organization)? How are current trends in virtual work, such as telecommuting and social networking, impacting organizational practices? What does virtuality mean in terms of selection, performance appraisal, and feedback mechanisms? What are the mechanisms by which team process and leadership are maximized in a virtual team? What are the critical enablers of effective performance when teams are a mix of colocated and virtually connected members? How can new technologies (e.g., social networking sites, YouTube, wikis, blogs) be used to best promote online education, knowledge dissemination, training, and socialization? This theme track will represent a mix of academic and practitioner views and explore practical challenges, recent scientific advances, and best practices associated with virtually connected work and identify areas where future research is needed.
Saturday Theme:
Reengineering I-O Psychology for the Changing World of Work
Economic turmoil in the later part of this decade has created a set of crises, unprecedented after an era of growth and prosperity. As a consequence, the nature of work and organizations, as we have known them, has changed. How is the world of work changing? How can I-O psychology reengineer itself to offer guidance and drive the agenda for new global growth and revitalization? These theme-track sessions will include a look at future trends, the changing employment relationship, a new perspective on people analytics, personal growth and renewal for I-O psychologists in this time of change, and new ideas in leadership and innovation.
Featured Posters
The featured posters session continues to be popular. We will once again showcase the top 20-rated posters at an evening all-conference reception. Come view some of the best submissions to the conference while sipping drinks in a relaxed atmosphere with the presenters.
Friday Seminars
The Friday Seminars add significant value to the SIOP conference experience. These invited sessions focus on cutting-edge topics that are presented by prominent thought leaders. The Friday Seminars offer CE credits and require advance registration and an additional fee. This year’s seminars will present the following topics:
- Proactive Behavior at Work: Applying Positive Psychology to Organizations
- When Begging Is Not Enough: Detecting and Dealing With Nonresponse Bias to Organizational Surveys
- At Odds Over Adverse Impact: Perils and Pitfalls in Statistical Reasoning Involving Discrimination
- Self-Regulation and Older Workers
Master Collaboration Session
Collaboration between researchers and practitioners is critical for informing organizational practice and advancing our theories. To further the collaborations between science and practice, there will be two sessions including a leading researcher and a leading practitioner for the Master Collaboration series. The two sessions are “Collaborating to Drive Safety Improvements at a Fortune 500” and “Collaborating to Drive Executive Development.”
Friday Invited Addresses
In our continuing efforts to expand and strengthen the relationship between SIOP and the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP), Arnold Bakker, President of EAWOP, will join us at SIOP and his invited address is entitled “Engaged Employees Create Their Own Great Place to Work.”
We will also have another guest speaker on Friday to be announced later.
Communities of Interest (COI) Sessions
There will be 12 outstanding Community of Interest (COI) sessions. These are sessions designed to create new communities around common themes or interests. These sessions have no chair, presenters, or discussant. Instead, they are informally moderated by one or two facilitators. These are great sessions to attend if you would like to (a) meet potential collaborators, (b) generate new ideas, (c) have stimulating conversations, (d) meet some new friends with common interests, and (e) develop an informal network with other like-minded SIOP members. Topics for this year’s COI sessions include (one emerging topic will be added later this year):
- Diversity and inclusion
- Current issues in personality testing (e.g., faking)
- Teaching leadership
- Linking I-O psychological principles to the way managers actually make decisions
- Virtual teams
- Technology in the workplace/advanced technologies for assessment
- Multigenerational issues in organizations
- P–E/P–O/P–J Fit
- Bridging the science–practice gap
- Issues in multilevel research
- Executive assessment
Closing Address and 25th Anniversary Reception
The 25th conference will close on Saturday afternoon with a plenary session that includes a very special invited keynote address by noted author and professor Dave Ulrich and the announcement of the incoming president’s (Eduardo Salas) plans for the upcoming year. Don’t miss this opportunity for all of us to come together in one place and hear an interesting, thought-provoking talk that will close the conference with an exclamation point! After the address, we’ll head into an elegant, festive, evening reception to celebrate our 25th conference anniversary.
Volunteer Activities
We are very excited to continue our community volunteer efforts at the 2010 conference. The tradition of contributing to the local community started last year in New Orleans where nearly 100 SIOP members helped remodel an elementary school library in the New Orleans Recovery School District. Plans for a postconference volunteer activity in Atlanta are underway. The activities and sign-up procedures will be further described through the SIOP Web site and newsletter.
In addition, we also encouraged donations to the Make It Right Foundation to build homes for Hurricane Katrina victims in the 9th Ward in New Orleans. At the time this article was finalized (July), the total raised thus far is an astounding $22,000. Let’s keep donating and build THE HOUSE THAT SIOP BUILT! To make a donation, go to www.makeitrightnola.org, click “Donate Now,” click “Make Donation,” complete the requested information, and select “The House that SIOP Built” from the pull-down menu in the Team Sponsored Home Options.
The Conference Hotel
The Hilton Atlanta has been recently renovated and offers excellent conference facilities, sleeping rooms, and amenities. The room rates ($131/night) are nearly reminiscent of the first conference 25 years ago! The hotel is conveniently located in downtown Atlanta about 15 minutes from the airport, accessible via an easy train ride. There are many restaurants within walking distance. The fitness facility has also been renovated, and there are outdoor and indoor running tracks, tennis and basketball courts, and a pool. Please see the SIOP Web page for details on registering for your room. We encourage conference attendees to stay overnight on Saturday to take full advantage of all the 3-day SIOP conference has to offer.