Effects of communication and negotiation training on women’s entrance into the workforce

The purpose of the project is to determine if administering a communication training program to women, with an emphasis on negotiation skills, will influence their starting salaries. More specifically, this project proposes to develop and deliver a communication and negotiation skills training workshop to all of the women in a sorority at a South-Eastern university. The project involves conducting a needs analysis to determine the participant’s current level of communication knowledge and negotiation skills. Once the results of the needs analysis are analyzed, the training program will be formally developed and administered. This study proposes that once women have higher knowledge on workplace communication and negotiation skills, their salary will increase. While no men will be included in this study, the ultimate aim is to lessen the pay gap

Does a measure of adaptive performance predict in-basket performance?

The ability for employees to adapt to a given situation is critical for organizations hoping to remain successful in today’s turbulent environment. For law enforcement officers, adapting to a situation is even more critical since this can be the difference between life or death. In an effort to assist law enforcement in promoting personnel with the adaptive performance (AP) skill required to be effective, this study examines the relationship between AP and an individual’s performance on an in-basket assessment. The study found that AP significantly predicts in-basket performance when rank is considered

How do individual and parental work centrality attitudes and social support impact young adults’ perceptions of sexual harassment at work?

The #metoo movement has spurred women and men to come forward with their stories and claims of sexual harassment. In addition to older adults, young adults have experienced sexual harassment in a variety of settings. These may include school, work, or even on the street. Around 51% of women and 53% of men had experienced some form of unwanted sexually charged interaction in public places, like cat-calling, by the age of 17 (Kearl, 2014). The purpose of the study is to examine how young adults perceive sexually harassing behaviors at work. I examine how these perceptions are influenced by one’s individual work centrality beliefs, parent’s work centrality beliefs, and social support. Participants will be recruited from MTSU’s student population to take an online survey asking them to rate their work centrality beliefs, their perceptions of their parent’s work centrality beliefs, and their perceptions of family support received. Individuals will also be rating their perceptions of sexually harassing behaviors, if they have experienced the behavior, and the frequency of experiencing the behavior. To analyze these perceptions, a series of multiple regressions will be conducted

The Effects of Resilience on Mindfulness and Stress in Students

This study tested part of a theoretical model on resilience in the workplace proposed by Rees, Breen, Cusack, and Hegney (2015). We hypothesized that resilience would mediate the relationship between mindfulness and perceived stress. Using an online Qualtrics survey, we measured 127 student participants’ levels of mindfulness, resilience, and perceived stress. The results supported a positive relationship between mindfulness and resilience. In addition, there was a positive relationship between resilience and perceived stress. As a result, the proposed mediation was not supported. Resilience did not mediate the relationship between mindfulness and perceived stress. Future research should test alternative measures of psychological adjustment within the model (e.g., job burnout)

Exploring the Feasibility of Assessing Cultural Competence in Police Officers

Pathology, personality, and integrity-related construct assessments have been widely used in the selection of police officers. However, the incidence of police brutality and misconduct is still concerning. The present study explored the feasibility of the assessment of cultural competence in police officers. We explored the extent to which the change to the agency’s first ever Black CEO would affect cultural competence of the officers as well as incidence of misconduct. Results showed that scores on a cultural competence factor of an in-basket simulation used for promotional assessments at a state highway patrol agency were not predictive of either supervisor-rated performance or incidence of misconduct. Whereas results showed that misconduct was not predicted by the agency’s first Black CEO, cultural competence of the officers did increase after the change in command. Practical implications for law enforcement agencies and suggestions for future research are discussed

Examining how the Dark Triad moderates the relationship between workplace victimization and workplace behavior

This study will examine the relationship between workplace victimization and workplace behavior. Furthermore, this study will examine how the Dark Triad of personality affects that relationship. The study will be conducted as a Masters’ Thesis at Middle Tennessee State University. We propose that the there is a positive relationship between workplace victimization and counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) and a negative relationship between workplace victimization and occupational citizenship behaviors (OCB). We also propose that the Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) each positively moderate the relationship between workplace victimization and CWB. Data on each of these constructs will be collected from participants through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. This study is intended to help gain an understanding of the range of negative effects that workplace victimization can have on both victims and organizations at large. This study will allow researchers and practitioners alike to understand the negative consequences of workplace mistreatment; also, it may motivate organizations to establish policies to protect their employees from harm

Retesting in a promotional process: Amount of time between tests accounting for magnitude of score increases

There are many reasons why an applicant may retake a selection test, whether it’s due to reasons outside of their control or perhaps their first test administration was unsuccessful. Research has shown that scores generally increase when applicants retake a test. However, research on situational judgment tests and in-basket simulations have been overshadowed by research on admissions tests, cognitive ability tests, and personality tests. Further, much research has focused on retesting effects during the initial selection process, but the current research aims to shed light on retesting effects during the promotional process. The literature shows conflicting findings regarding time between tests. While some literature says that more time between tests results in larger score increases, other research says that less time between tests results in larger score increases. The current study aims to clarify this conflicting history of research while closing the gap on types of assessments examined in the retesting literature. Results showed that more time between tests resulted in larger score gains for both the SJT and in the in-basket simulation. This is probably due to the nature of the test. SJTs and In-Baskets require a lot of job knowledge. Having more time on the job between tests would allow candidates to learn more and apply that on their second attempt at promotion. The literature on time between supports this notion. Studies that showed less time between tests resulted in larger score increases were assessing some aspect of cognitive ability. Perhaps for other tests less time between tests allows for greater score increases, but for job knowledge tests, more time between tests allows for these greater score increases. Practical implications and areas for future research are discussed. Keywords: retesting, promotion, in-basket, situational judgment tes