Topic 1: Job/Task Analysis and Evaluation
DQ 1) Aamodt (2022) in Industrial/Organizational Psychology: An Applied Approach discusses the importance of job analysis and briefly describes competency modeling. Using this week’s reading and other scholarly references to contrast these two approaches, answer the following questions: How are the job analysis and competency modeling approaches different? Why are both approaches important in the job analysis and evaluation process?
DQ 2) Assume the role of human resources director for a new fast-food restaurant, which is exploring an expansion from Kansas to California in the United States. The job analysis is complete for all positions in the restaurant and now it is time to conduct a job evaluation to determine compensation in the new market. What are two of the challenges in determining fair and equitable compensation for the positions in the new location? What advice might you give the executive team about fair and equitable compensation prior to the expansion?
Topic 2: Legal Issues in The Workplace
DQ 3) There are many laws that govern the recruiting and hiring process that an organization uses. How does affirmative action influence the recruiting and hiring process? What is one of the employment laws that recruiting and hiring, if not followed, can put the organization at risk for being investigated and/or fined? Be sure to use the Equal Opportunity Commission, Department of Labor, and Occupational Health and Safety Association websites. Also use your readings and scholarly references to support your response.
DQ 4) Assume the role of a human resources manager in a large electric utility company. Your vice president of human resources has asked you to examine the employee privacy rights and other employment laws governing the use of surveillance cameras in the supply rooms and the supply yards. Using this week’s readings, scholarly references, and other employee law websites, discuss your findings. What advice would you give your vice president?
Topic 3: Employee Recruiting, Interviewing, And Hiring
DQ 5) Selection procedures vary between companies. In this discussion question you will analyze and discuss best practices and procedures in selecting the best candidate for a position. You should be discussing recruiting, interviewing, and hiring. Be sure to use your readings and scholarly references to answer this question. What are one best practice that should be followed in the recruiting, interviewing and hiring process when selecting the best candidate for a position? What is the most important procedure that should be implemented in the recruiting, interviewing and hiring process when selecting the best candidate for a position?
DQ 6) There are many employment laws that apply to just the interviewing process. Assume the role of a human resource consultant who has been hired to audit a client’s interviewing processes and provide advice to the human resource team. What is one of the interviewing process employment laws that you will ensure is being followed as you audit the client’s interviewing files? What advice might you give the employer about legal interviewing techniques that could reduce their risks in the interviewing process?
Topic 4: Employee Training and Development:
DQ 7) Employee training and development can often have a ripple effect throughout an organization. How does employee training and development affect work adjustments, adaptability, and change in an employee’s work? In addition, how can organizational leaders use employee training and development to increase performance across the organization?
DQ 8) Assume the role of the director of training and development in a large manufacturing facility. Your vice president is thinking about hiring a new trainer for employee training and development this year. He has directed you to provide a brief statement of the effectiveness of in-house versus outsourced employee training and development to justify the new position and salary in an upcoming board meeting. which is made up of several well-known researchers. In addition, he has asked you to provide him with two psychological training theories that he can use in this brief to show that the employee training and development program is grounded in best practice theories from the past that can provide a good foundation for the future. Use this week’s readings and scholarly articles to answer the following questions. What are the similarities and differences between the two types of training (in-house and outsourced) that can be added to your report? What recommendation would you make to the vice president to justify the new training role? What two psychological theories would you recommend as the foundation for the new training and development program?
Topic 5: Performance Evaluation and Feedback for Employees
DQ 9) Employees often think they are doing fine at work or at least there are no significant problems with their performance. However, these same employees are surprised when they are denied a promotion, reprimanded, or placed on a performance improvement plan. When employees are surprised by these types of actions, what are some of the potential issues that may be happening in an organization’s employee performance and evaluation system? How might a well-constructed employee training and development program reduce some of these issues?
DQ 10) Assume the role of an industrial/organizational psychologist consultant who has been hired to assess a medium-sized organization’s performance and evaluation system. The organization is trying to continue to grow but is having challenges with the overall implementation and consistency in the deployment of their current performance and evaluation system. The concern is that many employees are saying they are being surprised by their supervisors with feedback at the end of the year versus having an opportunity to work on their performance throughout the year. The organization has hired you to address this issue and provide potential remedies and solutions that could be implemented immediately. What legal or internal political concerns could influence the employee performance and evaluation processes? What is one recommendation you could give the organization that could be implemented immediately?
Topic 6: Healthy Work Life
DQ 11) The pandemic changed the world of work forever. Companies had to figure out how to do work differently. This put a spotlight on flexible working arrangements, a healthy view on work-life balance, and stress in the workplace. How has an employee’s work life changed in the last few years? How have these changes put more stress, or less stress, on employees and the employer?
DQ 12) Assume the health and wellness coach inside of a health-care company with 100 employees. The director of human resources is putting together a presentation for a conference and wants your assistance. She has asked you to provide data and research on the factors that contribute to a healthy work life in today’s organizations. In addition, the director would like you to provide research on how workplace stress can result in workplace conflict and, potentially, workplace violence. Use this week’s readings and scholarly articles to produce and present the information requested by the director of human resources. What factors contribute to a healthy work life in organizations? What information would you provide to the director on the relationship between stress, conflict, and violence in the workplace?
Topic 7: Employee Motivation, Satisfaction, And Engagement
DQ 13) Historically, research shows that employee motivation, satisfaction, and engagement are linked together. If this is a true statement, how are these factors linked together in research? Can any of these factors exist on their own without the other? Argue your position on this statement.
DQ 14) Assume the role of an industrial/organizational psychologist consultant who has been hired to assist with employee engagement at your commercial insurance client who has 30 employees. A recent employee engagement survey shows that there are several areas of concern. These include organizational communication, employee stress, and job satisfaction. The CEO is asking you to analyze the possible causes of the areas of concern. You have suggested focus groups with the staff. How would you justify the use of focus groups? What type of focus group strategy would you use? What is one of the employee engagement theories that would provide a foundation for your focus group suggestion?
Topic 8: Future Challenges
DQ 15) Assume the role of a research team member who is researching the future challenges in personnel and human resource management. You have been assigned to explore future challenges in personnel and human resource management and to predict one workplace challenge that will have the biggest impact in the next five years. The team is meeting next week to compare notes. What are two future challenges in human resource management that will impact the world of work in the next five years? What workplace challenge would you predict to have the biggest impact in the next five years? Would a hybrid and virtual workplace be one of these challenges? Why or why not?
DQ 16) What is meant by alignment of dissertation components? Explain. How does the theoretical framework align to the problem statement and purpose statement? Why is this important to the dissertation?
