People and their behaviors are what deliver results to your organization. Not systems, not processes, not computers, not machines. - Mark Hortsman
From the Show
In this episode of Department 12, Dr. Ben Butina interviews Professor Carol Kulik, co-author of the book Human Resources for the Non-HR Manager. Dr. Kulik discusses the importance of HR for all managers, even those who don’t have a formal HR role. She also talks about the importance of making HR research accessible and applicable to everyday practice.
Dr. Butina and Dr. Kulik also discuss the challenges of writing a book that is both academically rigorous and engaging to read. Dr. Kulik shares her insights on the importance of finding your voice as a writer and how to write for a specific audience.
Finally, Dr. Butina asks Dr. Kulik about her thoughts on the convergence of HR practices across different countries. Dr. Kulik discusses the similarities and differences in HR practices around the world, and she offers her perspective on the future of HR management.
What I-O Folks Are Reading
Selections from published articles, articles in press, and other academic resources.
Made You Look
In this study, we introduce the construct lookism climate, which reflects perceptions that a given work environment implicitly or explicitly values employee physical attractiveness. We develop and validate a measure of lookism climate using eight samples comprising 1,857 full-time employed adults in the United States and South Korea.
Lookism Climate in Organizations: Construct Development and Validation of a Scale. Journal of Management.
One Simple Trick! Candidates Hate It!
In line with our expectations, we found several negative applicant reactions to the use of algorithms. Specifically, in Study 1 (N = 172), informing participants that an algorithm, rather than a recruiter, had analysed their interview and personality inventory increased feelings of emotional creepiness, and reduced fairness perceptions, perceived predictive validity and feedback acceptance. In Study 2 (N = 276), we were able to replicate these effects for fairness perceptions and perceived predictive validity. Furthermore, in both studies, algorithm-based evaluations negatively affected feedback acceptance, organizational attraction and job acceptance intentions through fairness perceptions.
Applicant Reactions to Algorithm- Versus Recruiter-Based Evaluations of an Asynchronous Video Interview and a Personality Inventory. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology,
Brand & Deliver
Crafting a personal brand has become an important factor for career success…By drawing upon and integrating the marketing and careers literatures on branding, we reconceptualized the definition of PBE and delineated its dimensions and conceptual boundaries…finally, this study showed that PBE predicts perceived employability, career success, and job performance.
Personal Brand Equity: Scale Development and Validation. Personnel Psychology.
What Everyone Else is Reading
Articles, books, and resources from the popular business press.
This is Outrageous, Egregious, Preposterous!
As anyone who has endured much business writing can tell you, the impulse to puff up a piece of writing with fancy words and high falutin' diction does not end at college graduation. The authors of all these terrible reports and memos, like my students, are aiming to sound smart. Instead, they annoy everyone. The internet is full of experts and employees complaining about headache-inducing professional writing stuffed with jargon.
Want to Sound Smarter? Keep Your Writing Simple and Jargon Free. Inc.
What Happened to All the DEI?
How did all of the progress we made in 2022 become deprioritized in 2023? Shifting public opinion on DEI and a larger discussion on whether DEI is bringing people closer together or further apart. For DEI professionals, executives and everyone in between, consider recommitting to DEI and transforming the narrative from a story of division to a story of inclusion.
Companies Are Deprioritizing DEI. Why They Shouldn't and How to Recommit. Entrepreneur.
Shhhh. Don’t Tell.
Secretism may offer a temporary sense of control to leaders, but the long-term risks associated with it are substantial…to counter the dangers of secretism, it's important to actively promote a culture of knowledge sharing.
The Hidden Dangers of Secretism. Inc.
Amazon Best Sellers: Business Writing Skills
Links lead to short summaries.
Writing for Busy Readers: Communicate More Effectively in the Real World, Todd Rogers & Jessica Lasky-Flink
Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less, Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, & Roy Schwartz
Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen, Donald Miller
Financial Intelligence, Revised Edition: A Manager's Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean, Karen Berman, Joe Knight, & John Case
The English Grammar Workbook for Adults: A Self-Study Guide to Improve Functional Writing, Michael DiGiacomo
Construct of the Week
A psychological construct relevant to work psychology.
Lookism: Positive or negative discrimination based on physical appearance. It can manifest in many different ways, from subtle biases to overt forms of discrimination.
The Research Quiz
Test your intuition against this research finding.
Researchers conducted an experiment to test the boundary conditions of the “beauty premium” (a positive relationship between attractiveness and wages). In which of the following tasks was the “beauty premium” evident?