SYLLABUS for
Personnel Psychology
APPL 644.185 Spring 2021

Instructor: Tom Mitchell, Ph.D.

          Email: Tmitchell@ubalt.edu
                   Office hours:  By appointment
                     Classes meet: Tuesdays 5:30 PM to 8:PM REMOTE on ZOOM
                   WEB BOARD FOR CLASS IS: Sakai and

Schedule of dates and assignments - Overview:

Date	Meeting	Chapter	Project Due	Activity

26-Jan	1	Chap 1 Organizations, Work, & Applied Psychology (Rev)		Select Job
2-Feb	2	Chap 9 Analyzing Jobs and Work (Rev)
9-Feb	3	Chap 2 The Law and Human Resources Management
16-Feb	4	Chap 4: Criteria: Definitions, Measures, and Evaluation
23-Feb	5	Chap 5 Performance Appraisal and Management	JA Team report
2-Mar	6	Chap 6 Measuring & Interpretation of Individual Differences		PA Project
9-Mar	7	Midterm Exam RPNow
16-Mar	Sp Bk	* No Class *
23-Mar	8	Chap 7 Validation & Use of Individual Differences Measures
30-Mar	9	Chap 8 Fairness in Employment Decisions	PA report Due
6-Apr	10	Chap 12 Selection Methods	HumRRO (ATA)
13-Apr	11	Chap 13 Managerial Selection Methods	AOE
20-Apr	12	Chap 14 Decision Making for Selection
27-Apr	13	Chap 15 Training and Development: Consideration in Design	Peter Leeds (SEM)
4-May	14	Chap 17 International Dimensions of Talent Management
11-May	15	Final Exam RPNow

I. Course Description

This course will provide a broad overview of industrial psychology & Industrial psychology. It focuses on measuring the characteristics of people and jobs and maximizing the fit between them through the HR functions (e.g., job analysis, recruitment, selection, performance appraisal, and legal issues).

II. Course Objectives: At the end of the course you should be able to:

Identify and discuss the major variables, methods, findings, and controversies associated with industrial psychology,
Demonstrate core competencies in:
    1. Conducting a job analysis
    2. Developing Criteria for measuring job performance
    3. Develop a valid applicant test battery
    4. Develop an effective training and development program
Demonstrate your ability to:
1. Write a technical report for management

III. Class format:

Assigned chapters, readings, and projects will be discussed in class
Work on two Team projects four
Sakai will be used for discussion of course readings and two class projects:

JA Project (Team project: Conduct JA) JA Team Project: Job Analysis
PA Project (individual project: PA Data analysis) PA Individual Project: PA Data Analysis

The Midterm and Final Exams will cover the class lectures, PPTs, URL links, and text chapters assigned

IV Texts:

Required: Cascio, W. F., & Aguinis, H. (2019). Applied Psychology in Human Resource Management (8^th Ed.). Sage. ISBN: 9781506375939, 1506375936. The print version of this textbook is ISBN: 9781506375915, 150637591X

To obtain this text go to the UB Bookstore https://bncvirtual.com/ubalt

Optional: Landy, Frank J., & Conte, Jeffrey M. (2010). Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology. 6^th edition Wiley Publishing ISBN- 978-1-119-49341-9 (PBK)

V. Course requirements for each student*:

Completion of two projects** 40% (20% each)
Midterm Exam 30%
Final Exam 30%
Total 100%

Grade Scale: 90-100 A; 85-89 B+; 80-84 B; 75-79 C+; 70 C

Session / Date / Chapters in texts / Due Dates /Activities

(1) Jan 26 Chap 1 Organizations, Work, & Applied Psychology (Rev)

Select Job for JA Team Projects O*Net

· Kerlinger’s definitions and questions

Greek alphabet

(2) Feb 2 Chap 9 Analyzing Jobs and Work (Rev)

Select Job for team JA Project Example of a JA Report (SAC Software Engineer)

(3) Feb 9 Chap 2 The Law and Human Resources Management

· Averse Effect Cases PPT

· Example of accommodation of disability for a job

(4) Feb 16 Chap 4: Criteria: Definitions, Measures, and Evaluation

· Logic of Prediction

(5) Feb 23 Chap 5 Performance Appraisal and Management

*** Job analysis project due ***

*** discussion of PA Data Analysis Project ***

· Summated Ratings text (P. Spector) for individual PA Project

· Kappa in SPSS to compute agreement for categorical data

(6) Mar 2 Chap 6 Measuring & Interpretation of Individual Differences

New article required: Schmidt, F., Oh, I., Shaffer, J. (2019). The validity and utility of selection in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 100 years of research findings. (Working paper) – Sakai files directory –in “APPL. 185 Sp21 Resources”

· Spurious Correlations

· Cohen’s d Effect Size (Magnusson) - Required reading

· Cognitive Ability Testing (EF Wonderlic) white ppr

(7) Mar 9 Midterm Exam RPNow

Mar 16 **** Spring Break ****

(8) Mar 23 Chap 7 Validation & Use of Individual Differences Measures

(9) Mar 30 Chapter 8 Fairness in Employment Decisions

*** PA Project Reports Due ***

(10) Apr 6 Chap 12 Selection Methods

Guest speakers: Sean Baldwin & Genevieve Ainslie, Consultants, HumRRO - Automated Test Assembly

· Personnel Selection Lecture Neil Swartz

· Selection Techniques