Justice and Fairness

This week we discussed:

• fairness
• practical implications of justice perceptions
• legal issues in staffing decisions
• articles
• reactions to others' mistakes
• fairness, feelings, and ethical decision-making: consequences of violating community standards of fairness
• Gig- poultry factory worker, film development assistant

fairness- an individual's view of the extent to which he/she is being treated fairly will influence the emotional and behavioral reactions of that individual to the work environment

justice- a framework for looking at an organization

trust- belief in how a person or an organization will act on some future occasion/behavior

Reaction

Most of the information we reviewed in these two chapters, articles, and Gig made sense. If someone feels they are being treated unfairly, they usually retaliate. All of these materials back up that statement. One thing I did learn was that people usually feel less angry, happier, etc. after their unethical behavior stemming from a perceived injustice. 

Analysis

There are many instances in which as an employee (or potential employee) I have felt wronged. One particular instance was when I applied for an internship with an Omaha-based advertising firm. They responded to my application immediately, requesting samples be sent. I sent my samples and then never heard from them again...until I e-mailed the contact person inquiring about what decision had been made. His response via e-mail? "You didn't make the cut." In class we discussed that if you are going to reject an individual, you need to give them a decent reason for that decision. When you don't, that's when people perceive the situation to be unfair. This ties in with a concept we learned:

interactional justice- concerned with the sensitivity with which employees are treated and linked to the extend that an employee feels respected by the employer; the extend to which people are treated with respect, politeness, and dignity

• addresses the explanations provided to people about procedures and outcomes

Reflection

It is important for employers to do their best to be fair during their decision-making processes. This means they have to have a just corporate policy and stick to that when making decisions. When dealing with people in terms of hiring and firing- be understanding and warm. 

Relevance of I/O Psychology

This week we discussed:

• science
• research
• data analysis
• interpretation
• practitioner-researcher divide in I/O Psychology
• Gig- research biologist, journalist

science- approach that involves the understanding, prediction, and control of some phenomenon of interest

• I/O psychology is very much a science!
• logical and systematic
• data-based
• a communal process
• DISprove, NOT prove theories, hypotheses
• places great value on objectivity
• holds responsibilities 

Reaction

In so many other classes we have gone over the whole science schpeel. It has become so ingrained in the brains of science and psychology majors alike. When we see this part of the syllabus we groan. However, this application of the science foundation was different. I was motivated and interested in reading the research article about how important it is that practitioners stay grounded in research/researchers producing meaningful research to be applied in the field. I had not thought about the divide I/O researchers and practitioners face. Applying this understanding to finding similarities and differences between the research biologist and journalist was very helpful.

Analysis

I have a work situation that reaffirms people who are not actual practitioners in a specific field (even though they think they are) are not knowledgeable about current research. This makes it difficult when they feel they are properly practicing within the field and have no idea (or perhaps interest) in how to do things properly. It is frustrating when you work underneath such individuals and know more about the field. These types of individuals are focused on "producing results" and less worried about taking necessary steps to get proper results. I would classify them as focusing on:

popularist science- where practical relevance is high but methodological rigor is low

Where the actions they take are relevant to the end goal, they are not concerned with following a "rigorous" and researched based path. We work to obtain data, specifically:

 quantitative data- numerical, data which can be measured

and

descriptive research- observe, measure, and record behavior- hopefully without intruding; can describe but not explain

 and

correlational design- looks at the relationship between variables

It's hard to get much more descriptive about applying these terms to the position I am referring to without completely giving it away.

Reflection
I realized how very important it is for practitioners to remain rooted in research and for researchers to remain relevant to what is going on in the field.

I/O Psychology 9.9.10

This week, we were introduced to:

• the importance of I/O psychology
• how the course can help us
• foundations of organizations
• social dynamics of organizations
• research in I/O psychology from 1963-2007
• I/O vs. OBM
• Gig- Kinko's co-worker, Ford auto worker

I/O psychology- the application of psychological principles, theory, and research to the work setting (Landy & Conte)

• factors that influence work behavior
• family responsibilities
• cultural influences
• employment-related legislation
• non-work events
• personality
• the effect of work on non-work behaviors

Reaction

Wow! What a vast and increasing field. There is so much that goes into understand the work setting. All of this is so applicable to every worker in the world. I find it really interesting to break down all of the aspects that affect how we are when we work.I'm eager to delve deeper into the topic matter, especially human factors engineering.

I felt the in-class activities motivated me to prepare for class. However, I sit next to two people who rarely or fully prepare for class and they look at me and a girl next to me (who also prepared) to catch them up. I wish there were some way to force people to be prepared for class. To me, I thought the in-class activities were enough but apparently people can bluff their way through it. It's unfair to those who do prepare. The issue is I don't know how to more strongly enforce preparation.

Analysis

It is possible to apply the Hawthore Effect to what I experienced this past summer. I truly felt more motivated to perform better at the tasks I did when my manager was there and showed me he actually paid attention to what I was doing for the department.The rest of the time, it seemed he was not interested in what his employees were doing.

Hawthore Effect- change in behavior that results from researchers paying attention to the workers; ushered in HR movement; based on Hawthorne studies performed at the Hawthorne, Illinois Western Electric plant.

I worked in a bakery this summer. It could be said that we were a large batch/mass production type of organization, as presented by Woodward.Since we were making a variety of product each day. We did have an assembly line of sorts while in production mode during the mornings. The bakers would bake the products, roll them out to cool, once things were cool enough to package, we packaged the products, labeled the products, stocked the products on the shelves.

large batch/mass production- produces large numbers of discrete units, often using assembly line operations

I needed to make money over the summer, thus it was a "job" for me. Some of the people I worked with considered it a career. They knew they wanted to work for the company "family" so they slowly worked their way up to managerial positions. I never met anyone in my department who considered working in the bakery their calling. I know some of the managers and the store director were on the "calling" track. They truly felt part of the family.

job- necessary to make money

career- opportunity to advance

calling- fulfills social need 

Reflection
I was not aware of the history of I/O psychology. It was interesting to learn about the progression from the beginning to today. Most of everything we covered was a learning experience. I have come into contact with some small portions via Psychology in Films. (thinking back to Desk Set) The one area I am still confused about is I/O vs. OBM. I think I understand that OBM is a bit more in-depth than the broad scope of I/O. But, I think everyone had a different understand of that article. It might be something worthwhile to touch on again next week.