The M. Scott Myers Award for Applied Psychology in the Workplace recognizes a project or product representing an outstanding example of the practice of I-O psychology in the workplace.
This annual award is given to an individual practitioner or team of practitioners who have conducted a specific project or developed a product representing an example of outstanding practice of I-O psychology in the workplace (i.e., business, government, or nonprofit organizations). Projects must have been conducted in the workplace within the last 20 years. Products (e.g., tests, questionnaires, training courses, online tools, software) must be used in the workplace and developed within the last 20 years. Projects or products may be in any area of I-O psychology (e.g., compensation, employee relations, equal employment opportunity, human factors, job analysis, job design, organizational development, organizational behavior, leadership, position classification, safety, selection, training).
Award recipients will receive a plaque and a cash prize of $3,000 (to be split in the case of multiple team members).
The Award for Applied Psychology in the Workplace honors M. Scott Myers (1922-1996), a SIOP and APA Fellow who was admired by his professional colleagues but was probably better known to CEOs of the Fortune 500. As head of a team of I-O psychologists at Texas Instruments in the 1960s, he helped TI to achieve record growth and profits by involving employees in management decisions and giving employees greater freedom to plan and control their own work. His classic article on “Who Are Your Motivated Workers?” (Harvard Business Review, 1964) and related book on Every Employee A Manager (McGraw-Hill, 1970) are still must reading for business executives.
Administrative Procedures
- At least five members of the SIOP Awards Subcommittee will review and evaluate each nomination package.
- The Awards Subcommittee will recommend an award winner to the SIOP Executive Board.
- The Executive Board may either accept or reject the recommendation of the Awards Subcommittee but may not substitute a nominee of its own.
- In the absence of a nominee that is deemed deserving of the award by both the Awards Subcommittee and the Executive Board, the award may be withheld.
Criteria for Eligibility
Nominations will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- Has a sound technical/scientific basis.
- Advances the objectives of clients/users.
- Promotes full use of human potential.
- Complies with applicable psychological, legal, and ethical standards.
- Shows innovation and excellence.
Call for Nominations
Nomination Guidelines
- Nominations may be submitted by any SIOP member. Self-nominations are welcome.
- An individuals or team may be nominated. An individual nominee must be a SIOP member. If a team is nominated, at least one of the team members must be a SIOP member, and each team member must have made a significant contribution to the project or product.
- If there are multiple team members, the names of each participant must be entered during the online nomination process. Please ensure that all participants in your nomination have current information in their siop.org profiles. All nonmembers should create an account at siop.org (creating accounts is not equivalent to applying for membership).
- Each nomination package must contain the following documents:
- A letter of nomination which explains how the project or product meets the evaluation criteria below.
- A detailed project or product description (a maximum of 20 pages). This may be an existing report. Note that all nomination materials are confidential, and reviewers must delete materials after the review process is completed.
- A description of any formal complaints of a legal or ethical nature which have been made regarding the project or product.
- One to three letters of support from clients who have benefitted from the project or product.
- Up to three additional documents that may be helpful for evaluating the nomination (e.g., a sample of the product, technical manuals, independent evaluations).
- The nomination package must be submitted online by the nominator.
- When submitting the nomination materials, nominators will also be asked if the nominee(s) are being investigated, or have been found responsible, for misconduct prohibited in SIOP’s Anti-Harassment Policy and to provide a brief explanation if this is the case.
Current Award Recipients
Denver McNeney, M.A. - Sr. Applied Scientist
Emran Mohammad Abu Anas, PhD - Applied Scientist
Mengqiao (MQ) Liu, PhD - Sr. Research Scientist
Matthew Kitching PhD - Manager, Applied Science
Anthony S. Boyce, PhD - Principal Research Scientist
Award Type
Achievement & Best Paper Awards