Category Archives: *Journal of Applied Psychology

When Does Conflict Improve Team Performance? (IO Psychology)

Reply

Topic: Teams, Conflict, Culture, Performance
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (JAN 2012)
Article: Reaping the Benefits of Task Conflict in Teams: The Critical Role of Team Psychological Safety Climate
Authors: B.H. Bradley, B.E. Postlethwaite, A.C. Klotz, M.R. Hamdani, K.G. Brown
Reviewed By: Ben Sher

There’s a battle in the meeting room! Tempers flare, fists pound the table, insults are hurled, a chair flies through the air! No, this is probably not the best way to get things done. But what happens if team members engage in spirited debate that is strictly focused on the work at hand? Will that be productive? According to research by Bradley, Postlethwaite, Klotz, Hamdani, and Brown (2012), the answer depends on the type of team climate already in place.

First, the authors discuss the difference between relationship conflict and task conflict. Relationship conflict is when team members argue on a personal level, which only leads to tension and animosity. Task conflict is when team members express differences of opinion that relate only to work tasks. Past research has shown that task conflict may sometimes be beneficial and sometimes be detrimental to team performance.

So what determines when task conflict is productive? According to this study, it is the presence of something called psychological safety climate. The authors explain that safety climate occurs when team members are not afraid to speak up and offer dissenting opinions that challenge the status quo. If people believe that they will be attacked for expressing alternative viewpoints, the climate is said to have low psychological safety. In this case, the team could be in danger of groupthink, which is when reluctance to speak up leads to poor or catastrophic team decision making.

The authors found that under a psychologically safe climate, task conflict leads to better team performance. This is because team members feel secure with discussing differing viewpoints and they understand that these opinions are strictly related to the work at hand. Under these circumstances, the team will produce more ideas and engage in healthy debate to arrive at the best solution. When psychological safety is low, team members may interpret any type of dissent as personal and threatening, even when it is task related.

This study highlights the importance of maintaining a work environment that encourages people to speak up and does not punish people for offering alternative opinions. When this happens, conflict related to work tasks will become a conduit for improving team performance and not a potential pitfall.

Bradley, B.H., Postlethwaite, B.E., Klotz, A.C., Hamdani, M.R., & Brown, K.G.
(2012). Reaping the Benefits of Task Conflict in Teams: The Critical Role of Team Psychological Safety

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

source for picture: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Business_People_g201-Multi_Ethnic_Business_Team_p66546.html

Beyond Sexual Harassment: The Importance of Considering Workplace Aggression (IO Psychology)

Reply

Topic: Employee Satisfaction, Sexual Harassment
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (SEP 2010)
Article: Comparing Victim Attributions and Outcomes for Workplace Aggression and Sexual Harassment
Authors: Hershcovis, M. S., & Barling, J.
Reviewed By: Thaddeus Rada

Sexual harassment is a common, negative component of organizational life that has received a good deal of research attention in IO psychology in recent years. However, while understanding this phenomenon is undoubtedly important, there remain other forms of organizational misconduct that can also have a substantial negative impact on organizations and their employees. One of these forms of misconduct is workplace aggression, defined by the authors of the current articles as “nonviolent negative acts perpetrated against organizational members, which organizational members are motivated to avoid” (p. 875). There are several characteristics that sexual harassment and workplace aggression share, but workplace aggression is unique in that it is likely to be experienced, by both men and women, as an attack based not on a particular group affiliation (i.e. gender, race, religion, etc.), but rather, on them personally as an individual.

Hershcovis and Barling conducted two studies that evaluated how reactions to sexual harassment and workplace aggression differ. First, the authors conducted a lab experiment, which revealed that participants made stronger internal attributions (among other attributions) after reading a hypothetical scenario in which they were the target of workplace aggression, relative to participants who read a scenario in which they were the target of sexual harassment. Second, the authors conducted a meta-analysis assessing the role that workplace aggression and sexual harassment each have on a number of organizational outcomes, such as job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Here, the authors found that workplace aggression was more strongly correlated than sexual harassment with a number of outcomes, suggesting that workplace aggression may play a stronger role in influencing these outcomes than sexual harassment does.

As the authors of the article point out, a lab experiment with a relatively small sample size was utilized in the first study; as such, the current findings should be treated as tentative, and studies should be conducted in the field to see if similar results are obtained in a more natural environment. However, the results obtained by Hershcovis and Barling hold promise for improving our understanding of the impact that workplace aggression can have on employees. Although sexual harassment has received more legislative and legal attention to this point, it may be the case that workplace aggression is just as damaging, and therefore worthy of additional attention from organizational stakeholders.

Hershcovis, M. S., & Barling, J. (2010). Comparing victim attributions and outcomes for workplace aggression and sexual harassment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95, 874-888.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management


source for picture: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Business_People_g201-Business_People_Standing_p47023.html

That Seems Fair: The Impact of Changing Justice Perceptions over Time (IO Psychology)

Reply

Topic: Fairness
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (JUL 2011)
Article: Justice as a Dynamic Construct: Effects of Individual Trajectories on Distal Work Outcomes
Authors: Hausknecht, J. P., Sturman, M. C., & Roberson, Q. M.
Reviewed By: Thaddeus Rada

Organizational justice continues to play a prominent role in the science and practice of IO psychology. Many readers are probably familiar with some of the basic types of organizational justice, such as procedural, interactional, and distributive justice. However, although much research on justice (and injustice) in organizations has been conducted, the interactive effect of time and justice perceptions on important employee outcomes has not been addressed. In a recent paper, John Hausknecht and colleagues begin to address this gap in the literature.

The importance of understanding the interaction of justice perceptions with time can be understood with an example used by the authors of the current article. If an organization is interested in understanding the relationship between justice perceptions and some outcome, such as turnover intentions, measuring justice perceptions at only one point in time misses out on crucial information that measurement at multiple time points can give us. Two employees may report identical justice perceptions at the present time, but if one employee’s perceptions were very high six months ago, while the other employee’s were very low, the implications of this difference are obviously important. Despite their equivalent levels of current justice perceptions, the first employee may be substantially more likely to leave the organization, since their perceptions have decreased a great deal, which the other employee’s perceptions have increased.

Utilizing a sample of over 500 employees, the authors found support for all three of their hypotheses: namely, that employees who reported a positive justice trend were more satisfied, more committed to the organization, and likely to have lower turnover intentions, relative to employees that reported a negative justice trend over time. This research highlights the important role that time can play in our measurement and assessment of justice perceptions (and other constructs more generally). Practitioners might take findings such as these into account when conducting assessments in organizations, by obtaining measurements at multiple time periods in order to gain an understanding of how trends and changes in the levels of variables impacts important organizational outcomes.

Hausknecht, J. P., Sturman, M. C., & Roberson, Q. M. (2011). Justice as a dynamic construct: Effects of individual trajectories on distal work outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 872-880.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management


source for picture: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Other_Objects_g271-Balance_p11750.html

Tips for Getting Tips (IO Psychology)

1

Topic: Job Performance, Personality, Training
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (NOV 2011)
Article: Want a Tip? Service Performance as a Function of Emotion Regulation
and Extraversion
Authors: N. Chi, A.A. Grandey, J.A. Diamond, K.R. Krimmel
Reviewed By: Ben Sher

Your restaurant server is quite the professional!  He manages a genuine, warm smile despite his impending apartment eviction, recurring car-transmission problems, and the fact that his favorite football team just lost in the playoffs.  But to pull that off, your server had to perform something called emotional labor, a crucial topic of interest to IO Psychologists.  New research by Chi, Grandey, Diamond, and Krimmel (2011) has found that certain emotional labor strategies are more useful than others, and that sometimes it depends on the type of person using these strategies.

The authors discuss two major strategies for performing emotional labor.  The first is called surface acting.  This is when employees fake the desired emotions even when those emotions don’t accurately reflect how they feel inside.  The other strategy is called deep acting.  This is when employees actually change their inner feelings to the desired state by focusing on past experiences.  For example, an employee who is in a bad mood might try thinking hard about a time when he was in a happy mood, causing him to project a display of authentic happiness to his customers.

But the two strategies do not always lead to similar results.  The researchers found that deep acting by restaurant servers will lead to them receiving more tips and exceeding customer expectations.  In a separate study involving simulated call-center employees, the researchers found that deep acting leads to an overall better emotional performance, meaning it is more convincing to the customers.  They also discovered that deep acting also leads employees to perform extra-role behaviors, meaning tasks that are not strictly part of someone’s job description but are nevertheless important.  The authors explain that deep acting puts employees in a good mood, which makes them more likely to do extra work.

But what about surface acting?  The researchers found that surface acting leads to receiving more tips, but only when used by extraverted, outgoing employees.  When introverted employees tried surface acting, their overall emotional performance became worse, and was not as convincing to the customers.  Specifically, this was true when the introverted employees performed extra-role behaviors.  The authors explain that “faking it” strategies like surface acting are particularly exhaustive to introverts, and while introverts may be able to “fake it” while performing their typical duties, their emotional resources may become depleted when asked to perform extra-role behaviors.

The implications of these findings are important for training in any industry that requires contact with customers.  Clearly, deep acting is a useful approach to dealing with the demands of emotional labor, and should be the preferred method endorsed during employee training.  Surface acting may be an alternative method that works when deep acting is not possible or inconvenient, but only for naturally extraverted employees.

Chi, N., Grandey, A.A., Diamond, J.A., & Krimmel K.R. (2011). Want a Tip? Service Performance as a Function of Emotion Regulation and Extraversion. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(6), 1237-1346.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

 

source for picture: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Dining_g187-3d_Waiter_Serving_Food_p39222.html

Quantitative Evidence that the Emotional Labor in Jobs is Easier with Emotional Intelligence (IO Psychology)

Reply

Topic: Emotional Intelligence
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (SEP 2011)
Article: The Primacy of Perceiving: Emotion Recognition Buffers Negative Effects of Emotional Labor
Authors: Myriam N. Bechtold, Sonja Rohrmann, Irene E. De Pater, and Bianca Beersma
Reviewed by: Mary Alice Crowe-Taylor, Ph.D.

Are jobs that require emotional labor seemingly everywhere? Well, since the service industry continues to be a growing sector of all western economies, and jobs in the service industry often do, the answer is a resounding “Yes!” Employees in these jobs must manage their own feelings in order to display correct emotions for job performance. For example, to be effective, nurses need to display a range of positive emotions, and not many negative ones. This emotion regulation constitutes emotional labor and can be quite stressful.

Previous research has shown that this job-related stress can result in low work engagement (an indicator of job-related motivation and well-being) which in turn can result in absenteeism, low organizational commitment, low job satisfaction, fewer organizational citizenship behaviors, even lower performance.

On the other end of the continuum, highly engaged employees experience greater motivation and well-being at work. They are perceived as authentic, empathetic, and dedicated to delivering a high quality performance for customers.

Therefore, EMPLOYERS need to find ways to reduce the negative effects of emotional labor and therefore increase work engagement in their employees. In this study of service providers (specifically hospice nurses and police officers), these researchers found that those with higher levels of emotion recognition (the ability to read others’ emotions) experienced less stress from the emotional labor inherent to their jobs. Four weeks later, they also reported greater work engagement than those with lower levels of emotion recognition.

So what are the takeaways from this study? Stated succinctly, if you want to decrease the stress your employees experience from the emotional labor required by their jobs, train them in emotional intelligence. Ensure that emotion recognition is part of this training. Other options? Hire employees who are already high in emotional intelligence, specifically emotion recognition.

Some organizations claim that it is enough to instruct their employees on which emotions they should display to customers. However, multifaceted or recurring customer interactions require more than general emotion display policies. These interactions require employees to be sensitive to customers’ changing or ambivalent mood states. That is, emotion recognition is often required in order for customer interactions to be less stressful and more satisfactory for both employees and customers.


Bechtold, M. N., Rohrmann, S., De Pater, I. E., & Beersma, B. (2011). The primacy of perceiving: Emotion recognition buffers negative effects of emotional labor. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(5), 1087-1094.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

source for picture: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Business_People_g201-Happy_Young_Women_Peeking_Through_A_Blank_Board_p33912.html

Goals for Groups (IO Psychology)

Reply

Topic: Goals, Teams, Job Performance
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (NOV 2011)
Article: The Effect of Goal Setting on Group Performance: A Meta-Analysis
Authors: A. Kleingeld, H. van Mierlo, L. Arends
Reviewed By: Ben Sher

He shoots, he scores! No, not those kind of goals. We’re talking about workplace goals—the kind that are used to help improve performance. And while past research has shown that goals do improve performance for individuals, a new meta-analysis by Kleingeld, van Mierlo, and Arends (2011) confirms that goals can help groups as well.

Once upon a time, Locke and Latham (1990) found that goals can help individual performance if the goals meet two criteria. They said that goals ideally need to be specific and difficult to reach. This became the basis of the popular Goal Setting Theory promoted by Locke and Latham over the past two decades.

But many studies also investigated the effects of goal-setting on groups. They wanted to know if goal setting improved group performance the same way it improves individual performance. According to the new meta-analysis, group goals are not only useful, but also subject to the same criteria as individual goals: they work best when they are specific and difficult to reach. Under these circumstances, group goals will best lead to higher group performance.

Additionally, the meta-analysis looked at two types of goals that people might set while working within groups: egocentric goals or “groupcentric” goals. Egocentric goals try to maximize performance of the individual, while “groupcentric” goals aim to improve the performance of the entire group. If group members depend on each other to get work done, setting egocentric goals leads to lower group performance, while setting “groupcentric” goals leads to higher group performance. This is because egocentric goals put too much emphasis on individual performance and discourage collaboration, while “groupcentric” goals encourage team members to cooperate.

This study provides a clear path for team success: Set goals that are specific and difficult to attain. Additionally, team members should set goals which specifically relate to overall group performance, and not goals which focus on individual performance. Following this recipe will allow teams to maximize their performance potential.


Kleingeld, A., van Mierlo, H., & Arends, L. (2011). The Effect of Goal Setting on Group Performance: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(6), 1289-1304.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

source for picture: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Business_People_g201-Business_People_Clenched_Fists_p46934.html

Successful Strategies for Job Interviewing (IO Psychology)

Reply

Topic: Interviewing
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (NOV 2011)
Article: Managing and Creating an Image in the Interview: The Role of Interviewee Initial Impressions
Authors: B. W. Swider, M. R. Barrick, T. B. Harris, A. C. Stoverink
Reviewed By: Ben Sher

When we think about job interviews, we think about making good impressions. Interviewees often make a conscious effort to influence the impression they make on interviewers, sometimes truthfully and sometimes untruthfully. Trying to understand how different impression-making strategies influence hiring decisions has long been the role of IO psychologists. Research by Swider, Barrick, Harris, and Stoverink (2011) has found the significance of telling the truth and the effects of good rapport on job interview outcomes.

The researchers explain that interviewees might use one of three approaches to persuade interviewers that they are right for the job. The first category is called impression management. This is when interviewees honestly describe their accomplishments and skills in a way that suggests that they are a good fit for the job. The second tactic is called slight image creation, and involves small distortion of the truth. Interviewees using this strategy will either misrepresent information, or tailor their answers to what they think the interviewer wants to hear. The final strategy is called extensive image creation. As you might have guessed, this is when interviewees completely fabricate experiences, stories, or skills.

After staging an experiment involving simulated interviews, the researchers found that interviewees who used the truthful impression management strategies received higher ratings from interviewers. When interviewees tried one of the other methods that involves dishonesty, slight image creation or extensive image creation, the interviewees received lower scores from the interviewers. When people are dishonest, say the authors, they must use extra effort and concentration to avoid inconsistencies in their story and ensure that they are using appropriate body language. The extra effort required to streamline information makes responses shorter and less-detailed, and could negatively impact the interview outcome.

But there was also another factor. After initial rapport building, interviewees rated how they thought they were being perceived by the interviewer. When interviewees thought that they were not perceived well, the advantage provided by truthful impression management strategies was even greater. Similarly, when interviewees thought that they were not perceived well, the harmful effects of untruthful image creation was mitigated. This is because interviewees who think the interview is not going well are inspired to try harder and be more creative as the interview progresses, even if it means trying harder to concoct an untruthful story.

Because interviews play such an integral role in selection, it is important for IO psychologists to continue to investigate the factors that help influence interview decisions. This study provides key information about the influence of interviewee strategy on decisions, as well as groundbreaking research about the dynamic changes that occur as the interview is taking place.

Swider, B.W., Barrick, M.R., Harris, T.B., & Stoverink, A.C. (2011). Managing and Creating an Image in the Interview: The Role of Interviewee Initial Impressions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(6), 1275-1288.

human resource management,organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

source for picture: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Business_People_g201-Job_Interview_p66417.html

Unconscious Stereotyping in Selection

Reply

Topic: Discrimination, Selection, Human Resource Management
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (JUL 2011)
Article: The Role of Automatic Obesity Stereotypes in Real Hiring Discrimination
Authors: J. Agerstrom, D.O. Rooth
Reviewed By: Ben Sher

Research by Agerstrom and Rooth (2011) has shown that if hiring managers harbor negative stereotypes about obese people, they will also be more likely to actually discriminate against them. What makes this study interesting is that these stereotypes were held unconsciously.

The study was based on dual-process theory, which states that people have both conscious and unconscious mental processes. The conscious process concerns the attitudes and beliefs that a person is aware of and can explicitly verbalize, while the unconscious process concerns beliefs that a person is unaware of. The IAT (Implicit Association Test) is a test that was designed to measure these unconscious (or implicit) attitudes, and was used by the researchers in this study.

Here’s what they did. The researchers responded to actual job openings by constructing mock resumes that included a separate page with personal information and a photo of the applicant. Starting with a pool of photos of people who were judged to be similarly attractive, they manipulated half of the photos in a way that made the person look clinically obese. Then they recorded which applicants were invited to job interviews.

Eventually they contacted the hiring managers, and many took an IAT test which measured their unconscious, implicit associations regarding obese people. After this, the hiring managers were also asked to state their preferences about hiring obese people, so that the researchers could also assess their explicit attitudes, meaning attitudes that a person is aware of and professes.

What they found is that those hiring managers who harbored unconscious, implicit negative attitudes toward the obese were also less likely to invite the obese candidates for an actual job interview. These implicit attitudes were more useful in predicting the discriminatory behavior than the explicit attitudes were. In fact, the managers who explicitly professed a preference against hiring obese people did not, as a group, discriminate against them in their actual hiring decisions.

According to the authors, the results of the study strengthen the case for studying and understanding implicit attitudes. They say that the IAT test of these discriminatory attitudes has been criticized because researchers had a hard time showing that it was related to actual workplace behavior and outcomes. This study, they argue, shows that the IAT is relevant to predicting actual workplace behavior.

Additionally, this study gives much needed attention to workplace discrimination against the obese. Currently, note the authors, 34% of the US adult population is obese. Worldwide, it is estimated that there will be 700 million obese adults by 2015. It is therefore important for researchers to continue to identify and understand the ways that these people may be treated unfairly. Likewise, it is important for practitioners to be aware of the potential for discrimination against the obese, and to understand that this discrimination may be the result of deeply held bias that they are unaware of.

Agerstrom, J., & Rooth, D.O. (2011). The Role of Automatic Obesity Stereotypes in Real Hiring Discrimination. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(4), 790-805.

human resource management,organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

Keep Cool: The Effectiveness of Avoiding Anger and Maintaining Poise in Negotiations

Reply

Topic: Conflict, Emotional Intelligence, Human Resource Management
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (SEP 2011)
Article: Hot or Cold: Is Communicating Anger or Threats More Effective in Negotiation?
Authors: Sinaceur, M., Van Kleef, G. A., Neale, M. A., Adam, H., & Haag, C.
Reviewed By: Thaddeus Rada

Although there are few certainties in organizational life, the presence of conflict is one facet of organizational dynamics that is virtually guaranteed to occur from time to time. When conflict does occur, there is likely to be a negotiation process between the parties involved to resolve it, and as part of this negotiation process, two things that may be communicated are anger or threats. Although these communication strategies are similar, there are some key differences between them that may impact their effectiveness in negotiations. A new paper by Marwan Sinaceur and colleagues explores these differences.

After an initial pilot study, the authors conducted three experiments to assess the effectiveness of conveying anger or threats in negotiations. Among the authors’ hypotheses, they suggested that threats (i.e. “If you do not submit your report by Friday, there will be x consequence”) would be more effective than anger at obtaining concessions in negotiations, and that threat would be mediated by poise. The authors note that anger is more emotion-based, while threats are more calculated and emotionally-neutral. This relates to the hypothesis of poise mediating the threat-concessions relationship: the authors believe that the calmer, relatively controlled nature that may characterize the communication of threats may be viewed more favorably than a more dramatic, emotional communication of anger.

Results of the experiments supported the authors’ hypotheses. The main practical implication of these findings is that it is beneficial to be rational and focus on the problem itself in negotiations, as opposed to being emotionally involved and focusing on the other participant personally. By conjunction, organizational training programs that cover conflict resolution, and even informal instruction from managers to employees, might emphasize the importance of communicating rational threats, instead of anger, when confronted with conflict and disagreements in the workplace.

Sinaceur, M., Van Kleef, G. A., Neale, M. A., Adam, H., & Haag, C. (2011). Hot or cold: Is communicating anger or threats more effective in negotiation?. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 1018-1032.

human resource management,organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

Human Resources Selection: The Promise of Pareto-Optimal Selection Systems

1

Topic: Selection, Human Resources
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (SEP 2011)
Article: Designing Pareto-Optimal Selection Systems: Formalizing the Decisions Required for Selection System Development
Authors: De Corte, W., Sackett, P. R., & Lievens, F.
Reviewed By: Thaddeus Rada

Typically, when practitioners are designing a selection system, they are looking for ways to maximize the quality and diversity of the individuals hired. Meeting this goal can be challenging, and in confronting the dilemmas associated with this goal, practitioners looking to design the ideal selection system have a number of decisions to make. For instance, they must decide which predictors to use, whether low scores on one predictor can be balanced out by high scores on another predictor (that is, will the selection system be compensatory), and the sequence of administering the multiple predictors/screens.  There are many considerations when making these decisions, including level of resources (e.g. time, money), and the characteristics of both the job and the applicant pool.

One way in which these considerations can be effectively accounted for is through the use of a Pareto-optimal selection system.  This means the new solution is identified when no other solution is at least as good on all outcome criteria (predictive validity, impact to diversity) (“Pareto” or Parity/Equal) and has at least one outcome that is more favorable (“Optimal.   De Corte and colleagues discuss a method by which selection systems can be electronically-generated and evaluated for use in a particular situation, in order to identify a system that most effectively balances the tradeoffs inherent in different systems (that is, a Pareto-optimal system).

Ideally, research on Pareto-optimal selection systems will continue, as their use can minimize adverse impact without sacrificing the quality of hires. In the meantime, practitioners should consider using the method that De Corte et al. suggest when designing a selection system. Doing so should result in the design of a selection system that maximizes oft-divergent, dual goals: a system that is both fair and effective.

De Corte, W., Sackett, P. R., & Lievens, F. (2011). Designing Pareto-optimal selection systems: Formalizing the decisions required for selection system development. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 907-926.

human resource management,organizational industrial psychology, organizational management