Course Syllabus

 

INP 3004: Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Spring 2022

 

Instructor Contact

Instructor GTA	Dr. Victoria (Vicky) Pace Emily Hill
Office	OTC Building 600, 281J in Research Park when on campus
Zoom Office Hours	Wednesdays from 12:30 - 2:30pm or by appointment (Contact either Dr. Pace or the GTA through Webcourses); Please make an appointment if you desire to meet in person.
Phone	Webcourses email is strongly preferred and most efficient and timely.
E-mail	Use Webcourses email; For non-course items only: Victoria.Pace@ucf.edu

 

Course Information

Course Name	Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Course ID & Section	INP 3004, Section 0W60
Credit Hours	3
Semester/Year	Spring 2022
Location/Mode	Fully Online

 

Welcome!

Most people will work in organizations for a large portion of their lives. Successful economies and social systems depend on many individuals working productively to accomplish necessary goals and to meet the needs of both individuals and groups. Theories and applications of industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology have been developed to match people with jobs, optimize individual performance, coordinate group efforts, enhance employee satisfaction, and reduce negative outcomes such as stress, counterproductive behaviors, and conflict at work. For those who would like to help both organizations and employees by improving the workplace and work experience, this is a great field of study and application of psychological principles!

Course Description

This course will familiarize students with a variety of theories and project areas in the I/O psychology field. We will consider best practices for applying theory to challenges that modern organizations face. We will review the primary personnel functions of an I/O psychologist such as job analysis, staffing (recruitment & selection), performance appraisal, and training. Also, we will discuss specific procedures used when working with the business community to collect, analyze, and interpret data and present employment-related recommendations.

University Course Catalog Description

Industrial/Organizational Psychology: Psychological theories and principles applicable to problems in industrial organizations

Course Prerequisites

PSY 2012; An interest in theories, principles, and practical applications of psychology to the workplace

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to

• State short- and long-term career goals and a personalized integrative-learning plan that addresses how this course can help you meet those goals.

• Discuss how I/O theories can be applied to address common workplace challenges.

• Demonstrate understanding of ethical and legal considerations regarding employment practices and the collection and use of employee data.

• Summarize research and applications in the I/O area and identify important concepts and results.

• Describe scientific methodologies that are used in organizational research.

• Present organizational research results, interpretations, and recommendations in a style and format that would be generally acceptable to upper-level organizational members.

• Reflect on experiences and knowledge gained in this course and how those can be applied to your career goals and plan.

Required Text

Introduction to Industrial/Organizational Psychology (7th Edition)

Author: Ronald E. Riggio 

Publisher: Taylor

ISBN: 9781138655324

Course Requirements

Career Plan and Course Application

For the first week participation assignment, you will be asked to state your career goals and how you hope this course will contribute to those, based on the course objectives and assignments.

Exams/Quizzes

Five exams will be administered. Exams will cover required readings as well as PowerPoints and other material. Each exam will contain 30 multiple choice questions. You will be allowed to drop one exam (the best 4 grades out of 5 are kept). If you miss an exam, that exam is the one that will be dropped. No makeup exams will be given without documented medical emergency. Most exams will be available through Webcourses from Saturday at 11:59pm to Monday at 11:59pm to cover the dates noted in the syllabus. In other words, you usually have all of Sunday and Monday to access an exam, but once you access it you cannot stop or come back later. Online exam duration is 40 minutes. You are allowed to take each exam only once. Students will be able to see online exam results after the availability period has ended. Feedback will include the student’s answers and the correct answers.

Discussions

Participation in an online discussion group of about 10-15 students (to be randomly assigned) is expected. Please read and think about the topic before posting so that you will have meaningful ideas and experiences to contribute. There is no recommended word count for postings, but I will look for quality. You should also comment on at least one other student's post when the prompt asks you to do so. Required discussion topics are available from the beginning of the term and will usually be due by 11:59pm on Sunday of the week that covers the relevant readings. No late discussions will be accepted, so I advise posting something to this as early as possible to avoid forgetting, internet or hardware issues, etc. Multiple postings before the deadline will be allowed and considered when grading. Out of four discussions, three will be randomly selected for grading based on quality, and the remaining discussion will be graded for participation only. Quality points will be based on relevance to the topic, insightfulness, and originality of the idea(s) you share.

Integrative Experience Project

You will form project work groups of approximately 5 students. You can include friends or other students who appear to have similar topic interests, backgrounds, other commonalities, or complementary project skills (you'll probably need at least one person who loves talking to business clients, one who is good at designing attractive presentations, and one who enjoys online library research/literature search, for example). Online discussion will help you to get to know one another to facilitate group formation. These are NOT the same groups in which you discuss weekly required questions/topics. Sign up for a project group before the deadline on the syllabus. Ask a TA or me if you need help doing this.

Each group will work with a business or organization on an employment-related project. It is up to your group to find a business or organization that will talk with you about their (volunteer) project needs in I/O-related areas such as employee/volunteer recruitment, staffing/selection (including interviewing and/or testing), training (knowledge or skills), team-building or engagement interventions/training, satisfaction surveys, etc. Your group and the client will collaboratively decide on project goals and expected products as well as communications/updates, any needed Zoom or phone meetings, and product/presentation delivery details. (These will be included in the Statement of Work, Assignment #1 below, for my approval). You are not allowed to work with a business that you or your family owns or partly owns. However, you can work with one where you, a friend, or family member is an employee. Try to avoid a conflict of interest. Let us know at least a week before Assignment #1 is due if you have tried diligently and still are unable to locate an interested client organization.

Group Assignments #1 and #2. Your project group members will cooperatively work on each of these and report a list of contributing members. Anyone who is not on the list will not receive credit. Only one submitted copy of the assignments will be expected from each group. The members who worked on it will all receive the same grade on these assignments. The first assignment will require you to develop a Statement of Work, much like a consulting agreement with an organization that will include a general description of the work to be done, a plan of steps, and scheduled dates for project review. The second assignment requires literature and other information research (through library databases and online) related to your project topic, as well as an outline/draft of the integrative experience project presentation. Additional information about the assignments can be found under the Assignments tab. Keep in mind that I expect excellent understanding of the concepts and/or procedures that you describe and professional quality writing. Lateness will result in deductions of 10% per day. Be sure you submit these on time!

Presentations. At the conclusion of the Integrative experience project, your group will submit a PowerPoint overview of the process and/or product and these will be presented online for class members to provide feedback and rate. Class members will rate each for educational value, effectiveness in addressing organizational needs or questions, and presentation quality (approximately 30% of the final project/presentation grade). I (and sometimes TAs) will provide ratings for approximately 30% of the final project/presentation grade, based on these same three aspects, plus approximately 40% for participation and responding to ratings surveys (I will ask all group members to rate confidentially the participation of their individual group members and those ratings will heavily influence this 40% of the project grade). These projects are meant to contribute to the community while being educationally and professionally rewarding (you may be able to incorporate this experience on your resume). More information will be provided under Assignments.

Reflection Paper on Career Application of this Course and its Project

Near the end of the semester, you will write a one-page reflection on how this course and its project are relevant to your career goals. How will you be able to apply experiences and knowledge you gained from this course as you pursue your career plan? As part of this, you will generate a resume line/entry to show how this project experience can be represented on either a graduate school application or a professional resume. (You will be provided with examples of these types of entries.)

Missed Assignments/Make-Ups/Extra Credit

No makeup exams or discussions will be given without documented medical emergency.

Extra Credit

Up to 18 extra credit points can be earned for SONA research participation. Students and professors conducting research often use the SONA System to ask for volunteers for their research studies. Some opportunities are online, some may be on campus. You will earn 1.5 points of extra credit for each .25 SONA point gained by participating in these studies (or 6 course points for a full SONA point). This means you are limited to a maximum of 3 SONA system points. The online opportunities may be hard to find, so start looking early and do not rely much on extra credit. SONA administrators will let me know how many points you have earned for my course at the end of the semester. When I have posted the extra credit points, I will make an announcement so that you can review them for accuracy before the term ends. See https://ucf.sona-systems.com for research participation opportunities. Alternative extra credit opportunities are available and posted if you would rather not participate in SONA research studies.

Evaluation and Grading

Extra credit points will be added to your total number of points at the end of the semester, then that total will be divided by 1000 to determine your percentage. Percentages will NOT be rounded up (e.g., 82.9% is a B-). A simpler way to do this is to look at the Total Points column in the grade book and simply move the decimal to the left one place (829 points is the same as 82.9%).

Letter Grade	Points
A	900 – 1000
B+	870 – 899
B	830 – 869
B-	800 – 829
C+	770 – 799
C	730 – 769
C-	700 – 729
D+	670 – 699
D	630 – 669
D-	600 – 629
F	Below 600

  

University Services and Resources

Academic Services and Resources

A list of available academic support and learning services is available at UCF Student ServicesLinks to an external site.. Click on "Academic Support and Learning Services" on the right-hand side to filter.  

Non-Academic Services and Resources

A list of non-academic support and services is also available at UCF Student Services Links to an external site.. Click on "Support" on the right-hand side to filter.  

If you are a UCF Online student, please consult the UCF Online Student Guidelines Links to an external site. for more information about your access to non-academic services.

Policy Statements

Academic Integrity

Students should familiarize themselves with UCF’s Rules of Conduct Links to an external site.. According to Section 1, "Academic Misconduct," students are prohibited from engaging in:

• Unauthorized assistance: Using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information or study aids in any academic exercise unless specifically authorized by the instructor of record. The unauthorized possession of examination or course-related material also constitutes cheating.
• Communication to another through written, visual, electronic, or oral means: The presentation of material which has not been studied or learned, but rather was obtained through someone else’s efforts and used as part of an examination, course assignment, or project.
• Commercial Use of Academic Material: Selling of course material to another person, student, and/or uploading course material to a third-party vendor without authorization or without the express written permission of the university and the instructor. Course materials include but are not limited to class notes, Instructor’s PowerPoints, course syllabi, tests, quizzes, labs, instruction sheets, homework, study guides, handouts, etc.
• Falsifying or misrepresenting the student’s own academic work.
• Plagiarism: Using or appropriating another’s work without any indication of the source, thereby attempting to convey the impression that such work is the student’s own.
• Multiple Submissions: Submitting the same academic work for credit more than once without the express written permission of the instructor.
• Helping another violate academic behavior standards.

For more information about Academic Integrity, students may consult The Center for Academic Integrity (Links to an external site.).

For more information about plagiarism and misuse of sources, see “Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices (Links to an external site.)”.

Responses to Academic Dishonesty, Plagiarism, or Cheating

Students should also familiarize themselves with the procedures for academic misconduct in UCF’s student handbook, The Golden Rule. Links to an external site. UCF faculty members have a responsibility for students’ education and the value of a UCF degree, and so seek to prevent unethical behavior and when necessary respond to academic misconduct. Penalties can include a failing grade in an assignment or in the course, suspension or expulsion from the university, and/or a "Z Designation" on a student’s official transcript indicating academic dishonesty, where the final grade for this course will be preceded by the letter Z. For more information about the Z Designation, see http://goldenrule.sdes.ucf.edu/zgrade Links to an external site..

Course Accessibility Statement

The University of Central Florida is committed to providing access and inclusion for all persons with disabilities. Students with disabilities who need disability-related access in this course should contact the professor as soon as possible. Students should also connect with Student Accessibility Services Links to an external site. (Ferrell Commons 185, sas@ucf.edu, phone (407) 823-2371). Through Student Accessibility Services, a Course Accessibility Letter may be created and sent to professors, which informs faculty of potential access and accommodations that might be reasonable. Determining reasonable access and accommodations requires consideration of the course design, course learning objectives and the individual academic and course barriers experienced by the student.

Campus Safety Statement

Fully online course sections (W, V)

Though most emergency situations are primarily relevant to courses that meet in person, such incidents can also impact online students, either when they are on or near campus to participate in other courses or activities or when their course work is affected by off-campus emergencies. The following policies apply to courses in online modalities.

• To stay informed about emergency situations, students can sign up to receive UCF text alerts by going to https://my.ucf.eduLinks to an external site. and logging in. Click on “Student Self Service” located on the left side of the screen in the toolbar, scroll down to the blue “Personal Information” heading on the Student Center screen, click on “UCF Alert”, fill out the information, including e-mail address, cell phone number, and cell phone provider, click “Apply” to save the changes, and then click “OK.”
• Students with special needs related to emergency situations should speak with their instructors outside of class.

Deployed Active Duty Military Students

Students who are deployed active duty military and/or National Guard personnel and require accommodation should contact their instructors as soon as possible after the semester begins and/or after they receive notification of deployment to make related arrangements.

Copyright

This course may contain copyright protected materials such as audio or video clips, images, text materials, etc. These items are being used with regard to the Fair Use doctrine in order to enhance the learning environment. Please do not copy, duplicate, download or distribute these items. The use of these materials is strictly reserved for this online classroom environment and your use only. All copyright materials are credited to the copyright holder.

Third-Party Software and FERPA

During this course you might have the opportunity to use public online services and/or software applications sometimes called third-party software such as a blog or wiki. While some of these could be required assignments, you need not make any personally identifying information on a public site. Do not post or provide any private information about yourself or your classmates. Where appropriate you may use a pseudonym or nickname. Some written assignments posted publicly may require personal reflection/comments, but the assignments will not require you to disclose any personally identity-sensitive information. If you have any concerns about this, please contact your instructor.

Course Schedule 

 

Week/Dates	Topics	Reading to Complete BEFORE Class	Assignments DUE
January 10-16	Welcome	Read Syllabus	First Week Assignment (Career Plan and Course Application Goals due on Friday by 5pm) Start communicating with the class on the Open Discussion so that you will be able to find common interests and form your Integrative Experience Project group
January 18- 23	Introduction to I/O Psychology	Chapter 1 and PowerPoint	Syllabus Quiz Meet Potential Group Project Members through online discussion (post by Wednesday) Sign up for an Integrative Experience group online (see Assignment)
January 24- 30	Job Analysis	Chapter 3 and PowerPoint	Online Discussion 1 (Job Analysis)
January 30 & 31	Exam 1: Chapters 1, 3, and Presented Materials
January 31-February 6	Research Methods in I/O	Chapter 2 and PowerPoint	Work with Integrative Experience group on project
February 7-13	Employee Recruitment, Selection, and Placement	Chapter 4 and PowerPoint	Group Assignment   #1 (Statement of Work- details provided in Assignment and within Module)
February 14- 20	Methods for Assessing and Selecting Employees	Chapter 5 and PowerPoint	Online Discussion 2 (Job Interviews)
February 20 & 21	Exam 2: Chapters 2, 4, & 5, and Presented Materials
February 21-27	Evaluating Employee Performance	Chapter 6 and PowerPoint	Work with Integrative Experience group on project
February 28-March 5	Employee Training and Development	Chapter 7 and PowerPoint	Group Assignment #2 (Details provided in Assignment); Be sure to also send a copy via the Inbox to your group's assigned undergraduate TA and ask them for feedback
March 6- 13	Spring Break
March 14 - 20 (Important NOTE: This is a different exam window than usual)	Exam 3: Chapters 6, 7, and Presented Materials
March 14-20	Theories of Employee Motivation	Chapter 8 and PowerPoint	Online Discussion 3 (Employee Motivation)
March 21- 27	Positive Employee Attitudes and Behaviors	Chapter 9 and PowerPoint	Work with Integrative Experience group to complete presentation and any products. This would be a good week to set internal deadlines for your group members to submit their parts to a person who can pull it all together.
March 28- April 3	Worker Stress, Negative Employee Attitudes and Behaviors	Chapter 10 and PowerPoint	Work with Integrative Experience group. Suggested activity: group review of compiled work with editing and finalization of presentation and any products
April 3 & 4	Exam 4: Chapters 8, 9, 10, and Presented Materials
April 4- 10	Leadership and Power	Chapter 13: Skip ‘Applying I/O Psychology’ ‘The Decision-Making Model’ and ‘Job Design and Substitutes for Leadership’ Chapter 14: Read through Table 14.2 on p. 382; Also read ‘Applying I/O Psychology’ (Empowerment) on p. 386	Submit electronic copy of Integrative Experience Presentation and any documents/products by April 10th at 11:59pm Submit Participation Points for Group Members as soon after your presentation is submitted as possible
April 11- 17	Organizational Structure, Culture, and Development	Chapter 15 and PowerPoint	Online Discussion 4 (Leadership) Extra Credit Deadline (excluding SONA) on 4/17.
April 18-24	Integrative Experience/Service Learning Project Presentations-- View and Rate Online Deliver your group's Products and/or Presentation to Client as was agreed and appropriate (I will be sending them a link to a satisfaction survey)		Reflection Paper with Resume Entry due on 4/20. Submit Ratings of Presentations as soon after they are presented as possible  SONA Participation Deadline for Extra Credit - check their website
April 27- May 3	Exam 5: Chapter 15 and Assigned sections of Chapters 13 and 14