The SIOP Exchange

A Role for Organization Psychologists in Disaster Response Efforts

By  Joy Calleja, SIOP Blogger

More than a thousand lost their lives during the massive flooding brought about by Typhoon Sendong – the tropical storm that hit the Philippine cities of Cagayan de Oro (CDO) and Iligan in 2011. It was a few days before Christmas when the news of Sendong reached those of us living in Manila. With it came web and TV footage of all forms of suffering imaginable.

Could Monitoring of Emotions in Electronic Communications Be Used to Predict the Well-Being of Organizations?

By Carrie Zapka, SIOP Blogger 

Social Scientists Wade Into the Tweet Stream, an article in the September 30, 2011 issue of Science, is a stimulating read (subscription required. Republished by University of Vermont here). The author shared recent studies that mined Twitter data for insights into human behavior.

Peter Dodds and colleagues from the University of Vermont, for example, applied a novel method to analyze years of tweets from around the world. The Twitter data suggest a global decay in mood, a decrease in “average happiness” level, which they determined by comparing the relative usage of common words associated with positive or negative moods. Their results indicate that the world is not as happy today as it was in 2009!

Discussion Boards: Win-Win for Instructors and Students?

By Jennifer Bunk, SIOP Blogger

Part 3:  Disadvantages

In my last 2 posts here and here, I introduced how discussion boards can be used in the classroom and reviewed some of their advantages.  Now, let’s move on to their disadvantages.

Disadvantage #1:  It’s not REALLY a discussion

Here are some sample responses from a discussion board where I asked students to define “job success” (click for full image):

Sustainability: Implementing Environmentally Sustainable Practice Through Employees

By David and Cathy DuBois, SIOP Bloggers

We hope this post finds many of you already registered for the upcoming Leading Edge Consortium (LEC), Environmental Sustainability at Work: Advancing Research, Enhancing Practice, October 19 and 20 in New Orleans. If you haven’t yet registered – it’s not too late!

This gathering will provide a terrific opportunity for researchers and practitioners to dialogue about the current state of research and practice in I-O involvement in supporting/promoting environmental sustainability initiatives within organizations, and lay the foundation for meaningful advancements. The small group size and access to expertise are particularly enticing aspects offered by the LEC!

Training or Selection: Battle for the Budget

By Adam Hilliard, SIOP Blogger

A few weeks ago I had a kickoff at a client site with a project team that included the regional HR staffing director and corporate training manager.  In a side conversation, we had an opportunity to talk shop about other projects and they brought up their recent budget planning and how it had always seemed they were jockeying for each other’s slice of the pie.

“How would you distribute our budget percent between our departments, Adam?  Are great employees born or made?”  This clearly was not a question I thought would bode well for me. When possible, in the world of consulting, you try to deliver win-wins, as every contact is a potential ally down the road.  After cracking a few jokes about knowing the limits of my scope and moving on, I gave it some thought on the flight home.