SYLLABUS for
Personnel Psychology
APPL 644.185 (class # 1771) spring 2024

Instructor: Tom Mitchell, Ph.D.

           Email: Tmitchell@ubalt.edu
                   Office / hours:  LC 411 / By appointment
                     Classes meet: Wednesdays 5:30 - 8:00 PM
                      Classroom:     BC 001
                      WEB BOARD FOR CLASS IS: Canvas

Schedule of dates and assignments - Overview:

Date	Session	Chapter	Project Due	Activity

Jan 31	#1	1 Org, Work, & App Psychology		Select Job
7-Feb	#2	9 Job Analysis		Confirm Job
14-Feb	#3	2 Law and HRM		Tyler Wurtz, DCI
21-Feb	#4	4: Criteria: Defs, Meas, & Eval
28-Feb	#5	5: Performance Appraisal &Mgt
6-Mar	#6	6 Measuring & Interpret Ind Diff	JA report	Present JA PA SPSS*
13-Mar	#7	Midterm exam
20-Mar		SPRING BREAK No Class
27-Mar	#8	7 Validation & Ind Diff Measurement		Peer Leeds (Acuity)
3-Apr	#9	8 Fairness in Decisions	PA Draft Report Due
10-Apr	#10	12 Selection Methods:		David Hamill
17-Apr	#11	13 Managerial Selection Methods	PA report
24-Apr	#12	14 Decision Making for Selection
1-May	#13	15 T&D: Design
8-May	#14	17: International Dim of Talent Mgt		Peter Leeds (SEM)
15-May	#15	Final Exam

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 one team project (Job Analysis) and one individual project (Performance Appraisal)
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: Applied Psychology in Talent Management 8th Edition by Wayne F. Cascio; Herman Aguinis and Publisher SAGE Publications, Inc. Save up to 80% by choosing the eTextbook option for ISBN: 9781506375939, 1506375936

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

Jan 31 (# 1) Chap 1 Organizations, Work, & Applied Psychology (Rev)

· Select Job for team JA Project

o O*Net

o Example of a JA Report (SAC Software Engineer)

· Kerlinger’s definitions and questions

· Scales of Measurement PPT

Greek alphabet

Feb 7 (#2) Chap 9 Analyzing Jobs and Work

· Confirm Job Analysis Team Project assignments

Feb 14 (#3) Chap 2 The Law and Human Resources Management

· Guest Speaker: Tyler Wurtz, DCI consulting PPT

· Averse Effect Cases PPT

· Example of accommodation of disability for a job

· Reasonable Accommodation is Not Enough

Feb 21 (#4) Chap 4: Criteria: Definitions, Measures, and Evaluation

1. ***** JA Project Reports due next week Feb 28 ***

2. Clarification on the report form and linkage table.

3. Chap 2 The Law and Human Resources Management (Continued)

a. Start at slide 25

4. Not required for exam:

· Logic of Prediction

· Malcolm Baldridge Awards

· ASQ Quality Standards – and ISO topics

Feb 28 (#5) Chap 5 Performance Appraisal and Management

*** Job analysis project due ***

*** Job Analysis presentations PPT ***

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

· Kappa in SPSS to compute agreement for categorical data

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

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 “Resources”

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

Not required:

· Spurious Correlations

· Cognitive Ability Testing (EF Wonderlic) white ppr

Mar 13 (#7) Midterm Exam RPNow

Mar 20 **** Spring Break ****

Mar 27 (#8) Chap 7 Validation & Use of Individual Differences Measures

· Guest: Dr. Peter Leeds (Acuity theory)

Apr 3 (#9) Chapter 8 Fairness in Employment Decisions

***PA Draft Report due *** OPTIONAL!

Not required for exam:

· IAT CRITICISM studies