Intelligence Testing: Is It Always the Smartest Thing to Do?
We’ve all heard about the unparalleled ability to predict job success by using intelligence tests, but do they tell us everything we need to know? New research uses meta-analysis to explore whether intelligence can predict other kinds of work behavior that can make an organization sink or swim. They find that in some cases, personality testing actually comes out ahead. [Read More]
Sleep Deprived Employees Engage in More Unethical Workplace Behavior
So, how many cups of coffee have you had today? New research shows that ingesting caffeine actually makes it less likely that sleep deprived employees will behave unethically in the workplace. The study also uncovered the nefarious role played by co-workers acting unethically, and showed how they can make sleep deprived people do more bad things. [Read More]
Human Resource Practices Influence How Employees Spend their Time at Work
Employees make lots of choices about how to spend their time at work, and the way they allocate their time certainly impacts organizational effectiveness. New research shows that these choices are influenced by the specific human resource practices used by an organization. Which HR management practices are the right ones to use? [Read More]
Servant Leadership Benefits Performance through Serving Culture
Servant leadership sounds like an oxymoron. After all, if you are a leader, how can you be a servant? However, new research shows that there may be clear benefits for organizations and employees when leaders learn how to pull off this unique leadership style. So how can leaders become servant leaders, and how exactly does servant leadership lead to improved job performance, creativity, and lower turnover? New research shows us the way! [Read More]
What Type of Happy Employees Can Benefit Organizations?
There has been a growing level of interest in the positive effect of happy employees on organizational outcomes, but the specific meaning of happiness is less clear. A recent article reviews four dimensions of happiness and suggests that the emotion-based dimension plays the most important role in predicting favorable organizational outcomes like job performance and employee retention. [Read More]
Happy Holidays from I/O at Work!
Thank you to all of our readers for our continued success in 2014, and we look forward to bringing you another year of fascinating content in 2015. Check back in early January to keep up with the latest-breaking I/O psychology … [Read More]
Employee Sleepiness is Harmful for the Workplace
Sleepiness is what happens when people feel a strong biological urge to sleep. Unlike fatigue, which usually occurs when becoming exhausted by hard work, sleepiness has several different causes. These causes include poor sleep quantity (not getting enough sleep), … [Read More]
Specific Cognitive Abilities Can Benefit Selection Programs
When organizations spend millions of dollars on selection programs, return on investment becomes paramount. New research shows that we can improve our ability to predict job or training success when using tests of specific cognitive abilities, as long as these abilities are aligned with the actual job requirements. [Read More]
Workplace Privacy is a Growing Need
Facebook walls, Twitter feeds, nosy co-workers peeking over cubicles, sometimes it feels like our privacy is under constant attack. But even though workplace privacy is a growing concern for many employees, not everyone has the same privacy needs. What can organizations do to fulfill the privacy needs of all their employees? [Read More]
Climate Uniformity: A New Concept with Important Organizational Outcomes
Organizational climate can be a tricky subject, especially when there are multiple distinct opinions about the quality of a workplace. So what happens when some employees feel organizational support and other employees don’t? Poor communication, heightened task-conflict, and poor performance can occur. [Read More]