Create a 12-15 slide PowerPoint presentation integrating I-O psychology theory and scientific evidence in a business-friendly way to promote your services to the management team.
Introduction
For this assessment, you will assume the role of an I-O consultant who has been brought in to speak with a management team by the human resources department of a potential client. You will create a 12–15-slide PowerPoint presentation integrating I-O psychology theory and scientific evidence in a business-friendly way to promote your services to the management team.
The ability to explain I-O psychology in a business-friendly way to business executives brings an I-O psychologist down out of the “ivory tower” and onto the same playing field as a business person. When you can speak the language of business instead of the language of psychology with your business clients, it is much easier to do your job.
As organizations encounter an increasingly complex global environment, the personnel psychologist is seen more and more as a strategic partner. From screening individuals for overseas assignments, to developing selection instruments and designing the managerial and leadership training platforms, psychological practitioners—often Industrial/Organizational (I-O) psychologists— are becoming more and more ingrained in the strategic plan development of organizations.
Much of the practice, science, and theory surrounding personnel and human resource management is founded in psychological theory. From compensation to training, workplace relationships, and identification of successful leaders, the ability to find, place, and retain high-quality, talented individuals is a challenge for every organization or business. Organizations from professional sports and Fortune 500 companies to nonprofit organizations struggle with finding the best individuals to contribute to the success of the organization.
Many larger organizations today have expanded human resource management into a strategic role. Organizations look to HRM to ensure they have sufficiently talented staff placed in the right jobs, and that the staff is compensated well enough to be retained. The role of HRM today may also be to address shifts in organizational direction and strategy. Downsizing strategies for determining which jobs should remain and which jobs should be eliminated are also a concern in HR. The psychological practitioner may be called into play in all of these areas.
To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of the business community.
- What are the differences between the “I” and “O” of I-O psychology, and their respective contributions to human resource management?
- How do they both overlap and differ in addressing HR challenges through an I-O psychology approach?
- How do I-O psychologists and HR professionals use SIOP and SHRM? Visit both websites and research the student membership application. Would this be a valuable investment for you and do you plan on joining? What do you believe are the top three benefits of becoming a member for you and your personal career goals?
Overview and Deliverable
For this assessment, examine the following scenario:
- A growing manufacturing firm is making the leap from a relatively small organization to a medium-sized one, by transitioning into federal government contracting. In order to qualify as a recognized vendor, the company must increase the diversity of its workforce.
- Because the organization’s current human resources department is inadequate to address the situation, one of the directors suggests that an I-O psychologist be consulted to facilitate understanding of the challenges associated with creating a more diverse workforce. Some directors are skeptical that consulting an I-O psychologist is necessary, while others are unfamiliar with what I-O psychologists even do. Others believe they should simply consult a traditional human resource management (HRM) professional.
- A decision is made to conduct an initial interview with you, an I-O psychologist, to gather more information on how an I-O psychologist could help the organization make this transition. Management representatives also want to gather ideas on what the company should do to increase its workforce diversity. Your job is to promote your services to the firm, by demonstrating how an I-O psychologist can assist them.
To complete this assessment, create a 12–15 slide PowerPoint presentation for the management board, integrating I-O psychology theory and scientific evidence in a business-friendly way to support what you propose will be important in substantiating the credibility of your approach.
Requirements
Include the following in your presentation:
- Perform an analysis showing how your services will help the organization’s bottom line. Balance the costs of your services with the expected gains from it to demonstrate the return on investment (ROI).
- Compare your role as an I-O psychologist with that of HRM professional in addressing this organization’s needs. Consider:
- Education and training.
- Skill sets.
- Competencies.
- Approaches.
- Professional Associations.(Explain the role of SIOP and SHRM in terms of how a professional organization supports these roles).
- Tools and methods: You can include recommendations and support for the use of existing organizational measurement instruments (such as already published, validated instruments and surveys).
- Examine an I-O psychology instrument that you wish to employ that would help you assess the situation facing the company.
- Include a preface that addresses its appropriateness.
- If it is a commercially available instrument, be sure to also look it up in the Mental Measurements Yearbook in the Capella library, to assess its suitability for the intended purpose.
- Provide reliability and validity data to support the instrument’s use. Be sure to connect this instrument to the purpose of understanding the workforce in order to make recommendations for increasing diversity.
- Analyze an approach that the organization could employ to address its human resources challenge. Support your choice with relevant I-O psychology research and theory.
- Demonstrate how your approach could help the organization’s HRM ensure fairness and compliance with diversity regulations, as well as the organization’s return on investment.
Include 8–10 peer-reviewed I-O psychology resources within your detailed speaker’s notes.
Additional Requirements
- Written Communication: Written communication should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
- APA Formatting: Resources and in-text citations should be formatted according to current APA style and formatting.
- Number of Resources: 8–10 peer-reviewed resources.
- Length: 12–15 slides, with speaker’s notes.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
- Competency 1: Analyze the psychological theories of personnel and human resource management.
- Analyze an approach for solving a human resources challenge.
- Competency 2: Analyze the foundational models, concepts, and practices of personnel and human resource management.
- Compare the role of an I-O psychologist with that of a human resources management (HRM) professional.
- Competency 3: Analyze the psychological tools, methods, and practices typically used in personnel and human resource management.
- Analyze the benefits to an organization of an I-O psychologist consultation.
- Examine an I-O psychology instrument used to conduct an organizational assessment.
- Competency 4: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for members of the psychological professions.
- Write coherently to support a central idea in appropriate format with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics.
