The Employment Interview 

After examining 100 research articles, this review identified three primary areas that have garnered considerable attention: (1) exploring the underlying reasons behind the predictive power of “structured” interviews, (2) investigating the constructs or elements that interviews may assess (3) examining the influence of the applicant and interview-related factors on the interview process. The objective of this review was to give the reader an idea of the current state of research on the employment interview, examine progress made in our understanding and identify areas that still need improvement, and lastly to inspire further investigation and understanding of employment interviews. With the consideration of social contexts, the paper looked at the accuracy (validity) and consistency (reliability) of the constructs or ideas examined in an interview.

Old Wine in a New Bottle: Lessons on Quiet Quitting from Psychological Science

What is quiet quitting?
There is some confusion around this and really the term has a branding problem. What quiet quitting is really trying to get at is inequity in the employee-employer relationship. It means that if employees feel undervalued and overworked, they tend to disengage and reduce their productivity to reach an equilibrium. On one hand it is good that employees are drawing a line in the sand and asserting themselves to avoid burnout and being taken advantage of. On the other hand, the “quiet” part invokes feeling of insubordination and disrespect from leaders and managers. Employers need to recognize the issue within the organizational culture, subcultures, and the employee experience before employees feel this way in their thoughts and feeling leading them to behaviorally check out. 

Ability and Motivation on Employee Performance: Implications for Hiring

Employee performance, the thing all organizations wish to maximize. But what are the key things that influence employee performance? Specifically, what attributes do individuals possess that determine their performance on the job? According to Organizational Psychologists and researchers Iddekinge et al., it was indicated that there are two things that interact together to influence performance: cognitive ability and motivation. 

Role Breadth: Are Two Roles Better Than One?

When I was younger, I worked at a fast-food restaurant. I noticed that while most of my peer coworkers and I each held the job title of “restaurant team member”, we performed very different jobs and all had very different responsibilities. I mostly worked at the cash register and interacted with customers over the drive-thru intercom. Other employees were trusted with cooking, baking and preparing orders, and a couple of employees were trusted with being slotted into any sort of role. Often, this last group had been with the restaurant longer and had accumulated a variety of job-related skills during their tenure. These were the employees who were given priority for overtime shifts and were flagged for promotion into management positions at other store locations. In other words, the employees who performed the greatest variety of job tasks were also considered the “best” employees.

The term role breadth is used to describe how many different tasks or projects a person performs in their job.

It Turns Out Honesty Actually is the Best Policy: What it Means for the Workplace

The old adage, ‘Honesty is the best policy’, seems like an obvious and hackneyed platitude; of course honesty is better than dishonesty! But it’s actually backed up by the science.

Closing the Scientist-Practitioner Gap: Framework for Linking Safety Climate to Safety Performance

Griffin, M. A., & Neal, A. (2000). Perceptions of safety at work: A framework for linking safety climate to safety performance, knowledge, and motivation. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5(3), 347-358. Safety is a foundational element for many organizations. But how do organizations influence individuals to adhere to safe practices, raising safety performance? According toContinue reading “Closing the Scientist-Practitioner Gap: Framework for Linking Safety Climate to Safety Performance”

Closing the Scientist-Practitioner Gap: How Do I Choose Between Job Analysis and Competency Modeling?

Shippmann, J., Ash, R., Battista, M., Carr, L., Eyde, L., Hesketh, B., et al. (2000). The practice of competency modeling. Personnel Psychology, 53, 703−740. HR leaders are often tasked with developing job descriptions, performance appraisals, training programs, employee selection tools, career planning programs and much more. Often, the best practice first step is to systematicallyContinue reading “Closing the Scientist-Practitioner Gap: How Do I Choose Between Job Analysis and Competency Modeling?”

Closing the Scientist-Practitioner Gap: The Good, The Bad, And the Unknown About Telecommuting

Gajendran, R. S., & Harrison, D. A. (2007). The good, the bad, and the unknown about telecommuting: Meta-analysis of psychological mediators and individual consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1524 –1541. In a 2007 meta-analysis of 46 studies consisting of almost 13,000 remote employees, Gajendran and Harrison found telecommuting to have a moderate but beneficialContinue reading “Closing the Scientist-Practitioner Gap: The Good, The Bad, And the Unknown About Telecommuting”