When Normal Performance Isn’t Normal Performance

Topic: Performance, Performance Appraisal
Publication: Personnel Psychology
Article: The best and the rest: Revisiting the norm of normality of individual
performance
Authors: O’Boyle Jr., E., & Aguinis, H.
Reviewer: Neil Morelli

The gloves are off because O’Boyle and Aguinis have just challenged a perennial assumption of the performance literature. What kind of challenge you say? The authors advocate that the distribution of individual performance does not follow a normal, or Gaussian distribution, but rather a power, or Paretian distribution. On the surface this challenge may seem academic, but if true this conclusion could have serious implications for how performance, and the methods and tools used to assess it, are conceptualized and valued.

We are all too familiar with the inverted U-shaped normal distribution and its inferences that most performers hang out around the mean, while any extreme scores or deviation from this shape indicate bias or error. Instead, O’Boyle and Aguinis embrace extreme scores by arguing that the underlying distribution of performance more closely follows the ski jump-shaped Paretian distribution. In this distribution the tails are fatter and extend farther than the normal distribution, and extreme events are more accurately predicted. A helpful way to think about this distribution is the 80/20 rule common to economics—20% of performers are responsible for 80% of the results.

O’Boyle and Aguinis tested this assumption by collecting performance outcomes from 198 samples that spanned an eclectic mix of researchers, entertainers, politicians, and athletes. They compared chi-square values between models that forced the data to fit to a normal, Gaussian distribution and a power, Paretian distribution. They found that 93% of their samples fit to a Paretian distribution better than a Gaussian distribution; in other words, most of the performance outcomes were generated by a small group of superstar performers.

What does this mean for researchers? The generally accepted practice of removing outliers and defaulting to statistical tests that assume a normal distribution when studying performance outcomes may need to be rethought. Practitioners? Utility analysis, which shows the ROI of performance measurement, can be more accurate by working under this new assumption. Also, measures that track performance or are intended to select high performers may need to be readjusted to account for the “superstar effect.” Overall, the authors suggest that organizations would be well served by properly identifying, managing, compensating, and leveraging their elite performers.

O’Boyle Jr., E., & Aguinis, H. (2012). The best and the rest: Revisiting the norm of
normality of individual performance. Personnel Psychology, 65, 79-119.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

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Success Written All Over Your Face (IO Psychology)

Topic: Off the Wall
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (MAR 2012)
Article: The Hierarchical Face: Higher Rankings Lead to Less Cooperative Looks
Authors: P. Chen, C.G. Myers, S. Kopelman, S.M. Garcia
Reviewed by: Ben Sher

Can you tell which people are important by looking at their faces? Sounds crazy, right? But don’t worry, we didn’t suddenly become Pseudoscience-at-Work, and no, you still cannot run your workplace with a perpetual motion machine. Strange as it seems, we’re talking about serious research in a serious publication. Chen, Myers, Kopelman, and Garcia (2012) found that people react differently to high-status individuals after merely looking at their faces.

Okay, so what kind of study was this anyway? The authors conducted three unique and interesting experiments to arrive at this conclusion. In the first experiment participants were shown pictures of actual business school deans and were asked to rate them on cooperativeness. The participants were not given any information other than the pictures. The participants ended up rating the deans of the highly-ranked schools as less cooperative than the deans of lower-ranked schools.

In a second experiment, participants were told that they would be competing against a fellow student in a knowledge-bowl game against a student who was from an either distinctly higher or distinctly lower ranked school. Immediately after this, the participant’s picture was taken and a different group of participants rated the people in the pictures on cooperativeness. The participants who were made to feel high-ranked were rated as less cooperative than the students who were made to feel low-ranked, all based on their faces!

Based on the first two experiments, it’s pretty clear that people who are high-ranked or feel high-ranked will be rated as less cooperative based on their faces. In a third experiment, the researchers discovered that the effect does not stop at providing ratings. When people rate someone as uncooperative, they will actually act differently toward that person. Participants not only rated high-ranked business school deans as more uncooperative, but they also behaved differently in a simulated negotiation task with that dean. When the deans were from high-ranked schools, the participants made lower, more compromising initial offers on the negotiation task and estimated that the dean would be less accommodating to their requests.

So what does this mean for the workplace? Although this study used college rankings to differentiate between high and low ranked people, there are other types of rankings too. There may be rankings within an organization, based on status or title, and there may be rankings between organizations, based on factors like reputation. It is important to realize that status can affect the way people perceive you and the way people negotiate with you, which could affect your ability to do business. But if you want to negate the unwanted effects of rankings, you may need to hide more than your job title. You may also have to hide your face.

Chen, P., Myers, C.G., Kopelman, S., & Garcia, S.M. (2012). The Hierarchical Face: Higher Rankings Lead to Less Cooperative Looks. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(2), 479-486.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

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The Punchline: A Meta-Analytic Review of Humor in the Workplace

Topic: Off the Wall
Publication: Journal of Managerial Psychology (2012)
Article: A Meta-Analysis of Positive Humor in the Workplace
Authors: Mesmer-Magnus, J., Glew, D. J., & Viswesvaran, C.
Reviewed By: Thaddeus Rada

As a serious academic and applied discipline, IO psychology is not a field known for turning out humorists. That said, it may not be surprising that the impact of humor in the workplace has not been heavily researched. However, despite this lack of research focus, enough studies have been conducted to warrant a meta-analysis to assess the “true” relationship of positive humor (i.e. not belittling or bullying, etc.) to a variety of variables related to organizational life; a new meta-analysis conducted by Jessica Mesmer-Magnus and colleagues does just this.

Speaking about the psychological view of humor more generally, the authors note that research in this area has been plagued by a number of issues. They note that one problem with previous humor research has been a plethora of definitions of the humor construct, while the delineation of several different types of humor that serve different roles and tend to result in different outcomes has also complicated this area.

Mesmer-Magnus and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis to examine the association between employee positive humor and employee health outcomes (e.g. stress), the association between leader positive humor and leader effectiveness (e.g. follower approval), and the association that both employee positive and leader positive humor have with work-related outcomes (e.g. performance). In general, the authors found support for their hypotheses. In particular, the corrected correlation between positive humor and employee coping effectiveness (ρ = .29), and humor and work performance (ρ = .36) are especially impressive. It should be noted that some of the meta-analytic correlations that the authors found are based on small batches of studies, which means that caution should be taken when interpreting the coefficients. Nevertheless, the results of this study point to the potentially strong association that positive humor can have with a variety of important work-relate outcomes, indicating that humor may be an important, often-overlooked variable in IO psychology.

Mesmer-Magnus, J., Glew, D. J., & Viswesvaran, C. (2012). A meta-analysis of positive humor in the workplace. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 27, 155-190.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

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Making an A-Team? (Human Resource Management)

Topic: Selection, Talent Management
Publication: Harvard Business Review (JAN 2012)
Article: Gilt Groupe’s CEO on Building a Team of A Players
Author: Kevin Ryan
Reviewed by: Liz Brashier

In a recent article by the CEO of the flash sales company the Gilt Groupe, Ryan (2012) discusses what makes a company truly successful. (Hint: it’s something we focus on the most!) According to Ryan, a business idea is worth next to nothing – without the right people to implement it. While most companies claim to put people first, Ryan asks a compelling question: “do most CEOs spend more time on recruiting and managing people than any other activity?” The answer is more often than not a “no,” and for this CEO, that’s a big problem. He also challenges CEOs to consider their relationship with the head of HR in their own companies, and to make sure that this person has a real seat at the executive table. The most important thing a CEO can do is build and maintain a top caliber “A-Team” of employees.

Ryan offers other key suggestions for building a high caliber team:

1) Add by subtracting: if employees are no longer productively contributing, then it’s time to let them go and bring new talent in. There is no where to put a stellar new hire if all the desks are occupied – not being utilized productively.
2) Check those references! According to Ryan, most hiring managers value the resume over the reference check, while checking a reference can often provide the most valuable insight into what this candidate’s work is like.
3) Make sure you understand why people choose to leave. Often, it’s because of a manager. If talented employees are choosing to leave, make sure that their manager understands an evaluation for him or her is up next.

The clear message from this article? Put your people first, especially when in the role of CEO. Obsessing over talent while serving as CEO could provide the greatest returns for the company.

Ryan, K. (2012). Gilt Groupe’s CEO on building a team of A players. Harvard Business Review, 90, 43-46.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

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Goldilocks and the Three Levels of Adversity (IO Psychology)

Topic: Selection
Publication: Current Directions in Psychological Science (2011)
Article: Resilience: A Silver Lining to Experiencing Adverse Life Events?
Authors: Mark Seery
Reviewed By: Scott Charles Sitrin, M.A.

What is the right amount of adversity? Is it best to have a carefree life that minimizes stress and allows the person to focus on his or her job? Could a life filled with adversity build character and enable the person to function better in an unpredictable work environment? Or is something in between the best choice, where there is not too little or too much adversity and the amount is just right?

In addressing this Goldilocks dilemma, Seery (2011) reviewed the literature on several studies that examined adversity, resilience, performance, and level of functioning. It was found that individuals who had a history of some adversity had better outcomes than those who had lots and minimal amounts of adversity. Employers might want to consider this information when deciding which employees to select. In addition to educational background, previous work experience, and letters of recommendation, an applica

A New Weapon in the Fight Against Faking on Personality Tests (IO Psychology)

Topic: Faking, Personality, Selection
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology
Article: Testing the efficacy of a new procedure for reducing faking on personality tests within selection contexts
Authors: Fan, J. Gao., D., Carroll, S.A., Lopez, F.J., Tian, T.S., & Meng, H.
Reviewer: Neil Morelli

Has your organization ever used, or ever considered using a personality test as part of their selection battery? Due to personality tests’ predictive validity and relatively low subgroup differences, you’re not alone. However, one controversial issue still plagues the use of personality tests in selecting applicants: faking. Faking is defined as the intentional distortion of responses to portray a more positive image, and it can negatively affect the validity of the selection device. Fortunately, Fan et al. have recently tested a new method for identifying and reducing faking on personality tests that uses a computer-based warning system.

Fan et al. admits that there’s nothing new about warning applicants about faking, but the novel component of Fan et al.’s system is how the warning is provided. Instead of a reactive system for reducing faking via statistical controls, the Fan et al. method proactively mitigates faking by first testing for the likelihood of faking on an “initial item block” (this block consists of impression management items, a bogus scale, and a subset of items from the actual personality test). After comparing the scores from this block to a cutoff level for faking, the computer provides “a polite warning” to respondents flagged as potential fakers while non-flagged applicants are given a control message. All respondents are then given the “main item block” (a second testing of the faking items and the full personality measure).

This method’s utility rests in combining best practices from the faking literature: using a proactive mitigation strategy, only providing a warning to potential fakers, and allowing an opportunity for retest. In an organizational quasi-experiment, and a student-based true experiment, Fan et al. was able to demonstrate that flagged applicants lowered their scores after the warning was provided. Another benefit was that the perception of the test was not significantly affected. Admittedly, some of the kinks still need to be
ironed out, but as selection methods become more technologically advanced, new opportunities for reducing faking, such as the Fan et al. method, will be recommended.

Fan, J. Gao., D., Carroll, S.A., Lopez, F.J., Tian, T.S., & Meng, H. (2011). Testing the efficacy of a new procedure for reducing faking on personality tests within selection contexts. Journal of Applied Psychology.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

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Possible intervention to reduce employee absenteeism (Human Resource Management)

Topic: Burnout
Publication: Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research (2011)
Article: EAP utilization patterns and employee absenteeism: Results of an empirical, 3-year longitudinal study in a National Canadian Retail Corporation
Authors: Ashley Spetch, Alex Howland, and Rodney L. Lowman
Reviewed By: Scott Charles Sitrin, M.A.

If time is money, how do corporations reduce the amount of time that their employees miss from work, and in turn, make more money? In addressing this line of inquiry, Spetch, Howland, and Lowman investigated the relationship between the utilization of the employee assistance program (EAP) and absenteeism over a three-year period. In using an archival data set of EAP use by the 3,448 employees of a national Canadian company, it was found that those who utilized EAP services were absent more during they year that they sought assistance and had rates of absenteeism equal to those who did not seek services during the preceding and following years.

One explanation of this finding is that EAP services reduced absenteeism of employees who were struggling with personal, family, and work-related issues. During the year that the employees were struggling with these stressors, they were not able to attend work as much. After receiving EAP services, they were better able to cope with the various stresses of their lives and attend work on a more regular basis.

If EAP services are able to reduce employee absenteeism, businesses should take notice and provide adequate EAP services in order to ensure the mental health of their employees and the most possible revenue for the company.

Spetch, A., Howland, A., and Lowman, R. L. (2011). EAP utilization patterns and employee absenteeism: Results of an empirical, 3-year longitudinal study in a National Canadian Retail Corporation. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 63, 110-128.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

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Using Facebook profiles to assess personality (IO Psychology)

Topic: Personality Assessment, Selection
Publication: Journal of Applied Social Psychology (in press)
Article: Social networking websites, personality ratings, and the organizational context: More than meets the eye?
Authors: Kluemper, D. H., Rosen, P. A., & Mossholder, K. W.
Reviewed by: Alexandra Rechlin

As Facebook becomes increasingly more popular, employers are starting to look at the profiles of applicants. Numerous pictures of drunken debauchery may be informative to employers, but can Facebook profiles be used to assess an applicant’s personality? A recent study by Donald Kluemper and his colleagues suggests that they can.

In this study, raters used 15 questions from the IPIP (International Personality Item Pool) to rate participants’ Facebook profiles for the Big Five (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) in 2007 and 2008. According to the authors, many indicators of personality can be found on a person’s Facebook page. For example, the number of friends that a person has is related to extraversion, and someone high in conscientiousness may be more careful regarding the types of posts he writes or comments on. Someone high in agreeableness may be more trusting and therefore post more personal information.

The authors found that raters showed good agreement about the personality ratings, and that they were fairly consistent. Also, other-ratings (the ratings based on Facebook profiles) showed pretty good agreement (r = .23 – .44) with self-ratings, which is about what would be expected based on past research looking at the accuracy of ratings from friends and family. In other words, Facebook profiles seem to be a pretty good way of getting personality ratings. In addition, the Facebook ratings were more strongly related to job performance than were self-ratings. The authors also found that of the Big Five, agreeableness and conscientiousness were the most important predictors of hirability ratings, and those ratings in turn were related to actual job performance.

These findings are interesting, but what do they really mean? We now know that Facebook profiles can be used as a source of personality ratings. However, should we really use them that way? As you can imagine, there are many potential legal and ethical issues related to using Facebook profiles in selection. In addition, many users now make their profiles private and therefore inaccessible to employers. It appears that using Facebook profiles in personality assessment could be useful, but at this point there remain potential legal risks.

Kluemper, D. H., Rosen, P. A., & Mossholder, K. W. (in press). Social networking websites, personality ratings, and the organizational context: More than meets the eye? Journal of Applied Social Psychology. doi: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2011.00881.x

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

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Employee Moods and Workplace Proactivity (IO Psychology)

Topic: Employee Satisfaction, Motivation, Performance
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (JAN 2012)
Article: Fuel of the Self-Starter: How Mood Relates to Proactive Goal Regulation
Authors: U.K. Bindl, S.K. Parker, P. Totterdell, G. Hagger-Johnson
Reviewed By: Ben Sher

What could go wrong when you are in a really bad mood? For starters, maybe nobody will like you and you will have no friends. Now that’s bad. But it gets worse: According to research by Bindl, Parker, Totterdell, and Hagger-Johnson (2012), you also may miss
out on opportunities to be proactive at work. Now that’s really bad.

The authors explain that workplace proactivity occurs when employees solve current problems and anticipate future problems. This process involves four different elements, envisioning, planning, enacting, and reflecting. Envisioning involves considering a different future and identifying things that must change to get there. Planning involves considering different ways that the change might occur, and enacting refers to the behavior that brings about the change. Finally, reflecting is looking back to evaluate the success or failure of the change and trying to understand what happened.

So how does mood relate to the elements of workplace proactivity? The authors conducted two different experiments and found that good moods were associated with higher levels of all four elements of proactivity. But not all good moods are the same. The authors explain that moods can involve different levels of activation. This refers to the extent to which a person is motivated and ready to act. Specifically, it was the good moods that involved high activation that were related to proactivity.

But what if you really are stuck in a bad mood? Don’t worry, there is a small consolation prize. The authors found that bad moods were related to higher levels of the envisioning element of proactivity, provided that the bad mood involved a low level of activation. These people, say the authors, use their bad moods to focus on the need for improvement, which is the first step of the proactivity process.

Still, the implications of this study are clear. Good moods that are coupled with high levels of activation or motivation are good for the workplace. Not only do these moods lead to proactivity, but the authors note that proactivity has itself been directly related to work performance. This study is just another reason why it’s so important to keep your employees happy.

Bindl, U.K., Parker, S.K., Totterdell, P., & Hagger-Johnson, G. (2012). Fuel of the Self-Starter: How Mood Relates to Proactive Goal Regulation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(1), (134-150).

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

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Do You IQ? The Impact of Individual Differences on Perceptions of Cognitive Ability Testing (IO Psychology)

Topic: Personality, Selection
Publication: International Journal of Selection and Assessment (MAR 2012)
Article: The Role of Person Characteristics in Perceptions of the Validity of Cognitive Ability Testing
Authors: Reeder, M. C., Powers, C. L., Ryan, A. M., & Gibby, R. E.
Reviewed By: Thaddeus Rada

It will come as no surprise to many practitioners in IO psychology that cognitive ability tests remain a common selection test, used by many organizations when evaluating applicants. This usage is due in no small part to the effectiveness of these tests in predicting future job performance; however, cognitive ability tests can also have some undesirable outcomes, including the fact some applicants have negative perceptions of these tests. Although the fact that different applicants can have very different reactions to cognitive ability tests is well-recognized, we know relatively little about how individual differences impact these perceptions. A recent study by Matthew Reeder and colleagues begins to address this gap in the literature.

Reeder and his colleagues examined the influence of several individual differences on perceptions of two different cognitive ability tests (one mechanical reasoning test and one numerical reasoning test). Using a hybrid sample of both students and unemployed adults, the authors hypothesized that variables such as prior test experience, prior job experience, and prior selection system success (among other variables) would be positively related to perceptions of cognitive ability measures. The authors also hypothesized interaction effects, including an effect of locus of control on the relationship between self-assessed performance and test-taker perceptions (with lowest perceptions belonging to individuals with low self-assessed performance and an external locus of control).

Overall, the authors found support for the idea that these individual difference variables can impact individuals’ perceptions of cognitive ability tests, though some variables, such as prior selection system success, were only predictive of reactions to one of the tests. The authors point out that continued research should be conducted on the impact of individual differences and individuals’ implicit theories on their perceptions of selection systems. While research in this area continues, it is worth remembering that different people can have very different perceptions of cognitive ability tests, and appreciating all of these individuals’ perceptions is important.

Reeder, M. C., Powers, C. L., Ryan, A. M., & Gibby, R. E. (2012). The role of person characteristics in perceptions of the validity of cognitive ability testing. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 20, 53-64.

human resource management, organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

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