Members in the Media

Barb Ruland

More people are becoming aware of I-O psychology’s relevance and business benefits. Many SIOP members are helping raise the profession’s visibility, and these are the media mentions we found from November 27, 2017 through January 31, 2018.

We scan the media on a regular basis but don’t catch everything.  So, please feel free to send us your media mentions. We amplify them on social media and share them in this column. Use the column to look for project collaborators, spark ideas for research programs, and keep up with your colleagues.

The Profession of I-O Psychology

Mentions of the profession in general educational publications is one sign of I-O psychology’s growing visibility. The video featuring Beth Payton from Ohio’s Broadcast Educational Media Commission can be a great resource for outreach to schools. Love the bowtie the HR manager wears in the video and the fact primary and middle school students are being taught about the field!

SIOP offers a wealth of resources to help with I-O psychology outreach and education efforts, including brochures, an overview video, and the interactive career paths tool.

Although a Swedish website lists I-O as one of “the 5 Best Jobs You’ve Never Heard Of,” word about the profession is getting out. EHS Daily Advisor, a publication for environmental health and safety professionals noted that I-O psychologists enjoyed some of the highest salary growth during their most recent reporting period. US News & World Report also lists it as one of the “25 Best Jobs That Pay 100k.”

I-O psychology’s rising star is fueled by broadly useful, specifically applicable insights. As one writer for Inc. said, “the business world is turning to social scientists to really help them understand why and how people tick. It should come as no surprise that industrial organizational psychology is one of the fastest growing professions.”  

A couple examples support the idea that the ability to understand human behavior through data analysis is key to I-O’s business value: Community officials in Urbana, IL, drew on I-O psychology methods to help create a successful proposal for a community policing program, and the trustees of the University of New Mexico selected SIOP member Garnett Stokes to apply her expertise as president of their institution.

Gender and Diversity Issues

The sexual harassment scandals that rocked the country and spawned the #metoo movement brought many to seek insights from SIOP’s members. Rebecca Bennett contributed to a discussion of gendered interactions in the workplace posted in the Free Library’s Journal of Managerial Issues.

Lisa Scherer discussed what can cause sexual harassment training to backfire. Amy Cooper Hakim predicted that there will be an uptick in workplace training to “ensure that all members of an organization treat each other with respect.”

Caren Goldberg contributed I-O psychology insights to several articles on the subject for The Parallax, Bustle, and Elite Daily. Vicki Magley also fielded several requests for expert insight, including NPR’s Marketplace, Scientific American, Wired, Business Insider, and the New York Times.

Jaclyn Jensen advocated for #SponsorHer over #MentorHer for helping to solve sexual harassment in the workplace in the editorial for Women’s eNews.  Industrial Health and Safety News picked up SIOP’s article, “How Organizations Can Really Fight Sexual Harassment.”

Research conducted by Mikki Hebl and Christine Nittrouer on gender disparities in colloquium invitations, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was highlighted in a publication for those in higher education.

I-O Activism

Two student members, Alise Dabdoub and Samantha Elliott, got early career experience with advocacy work and media coverage in the Oklahoma University student paper by organizing a protest against the proposed tax increases for universities.

Rice University’s news service highlighted big data’s power for good in the school’s response to Tropical Storm Harvey as the introduction to a piece about the school’s new data science minor, cochaired by Fred Oswald.

Career Advice From and For I-Os

SIOP members were quoted in business and general publications on a wide variety of career development topics.

A Wall Street Journal article on making good on a new job that’s a bad fit drew on research by Allison Ellis, Talya Bauer, and Berrin Erdogan about how new employee behavior influences organizational support they receive.

Amy DuVernet and Tiffany Poeppelman discussed how and why finding a mentor is good for training professionals.

Kristin Shockley discussed the career drawbacks of remote work and offered several tips for mitigating them.

Ben Dattner’s list of things you should never say to your boss was covered by Business Insider and Long Room. He also reminded readers of a roundup article for Money about getting along at work, that liking everybody isn’t required for organizational success.

Allan H. Church cowrote a Harvard Business Review “Managing Up” article advising how to recognize and improve a situation with a boss who doesn’t like you. Adam Grant urged managers to express gratitude for the workers’ efforts.

Members also had suggestions for those in the job market. Amy Cooper Hakim offered job seekers advice for connecting with interviewers. Lauren Salomon discussed impression management in a Business Insider article that also cited research by Marie Waung and Jeff DiMambro.

Popular Press Topics

Adam Grant was cited in a blog post about how to beat procrastination, another on how to model resilience for children, and one about explaining love to them.  Ron Riggio contributed to a widely shared roundup article on morality and tribe mentality for USA Today. He also helped explain why Matt Lauer looks different to people in the wake of his sexual harassment charges.

Employee Recruiting and Selection, Personality

Ken Yusko’s presentation on the use of psychological assessments to provide a winning advantage in selection for sports teams was highlighted in a Forbes article. An industry publication for the wood processing, pallet, and sawmill industry quoted Ben Dattner on employment testing.

Facebook’s People VP uses a term, “disagreeable givers,” Adam Grant coined in Givers and Takers to describe one of the qualities the organization seeks in its hiring process.

Employee Engagement, Motivation, and Turnover

A Salesforce blog post quoted Grant on how to support resilience, after he gave a presentation at the company. Christine Allen argued that the competitive business advantage of resilience justifies the organizational and personal investment required to build it, and offered tips for doing so.

Paul Baard covered communication; different types of motivational drive; how organizational culture translates to the bottom line; and what to do when motivation takes a hit in his column, “Motivation Matters.”

Jennifer Cullen wrote for the Harvard Business Review about flaws in employee engagement survey questions that can lead organizations astray.

Employee Burnout, Work–Life Balance

Allison Gabriel made a bottom line argument for taking care of human resources while talking about the need to prevent burnout in a piece for KJZZ public radio.

How can rituals help you unhook from work at the end of the day? SIOP member Teresa Amabile’s research was highlighted in this article about how to leave work at work. 

Leadership, Management, and Organizational Culture

Allan H. Church coauthored an advice column for leaders on working with underachieving team members, highlighting different strategies for different types of performance issues. Ben Dattner urged leaders to address failures honestly and in plain language; whereas Adam Grant urged them to express gratitude for workers’ efforts.

Alison Eyring said the real key to successful change management is “enabling and supporting people to adapt.” Karl Weick is quoted in a Motley Fool podcast on the need for modern leaders to pay more attention to compass points than maps, metaphorically speaking.

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic collaborated on an article detailing the organizational dynamics that impede high potential programs.

Don’t forget to include SIOP on your mailing list for notices of media mentions and professional accomplishments.