Industrial Psychology Exam with 100%
Correct Answers
Psychology definition - ANS-the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology - ANS-the application of psychological
concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces
The dual focus of I/O Psychology - ANS--Efficiency/productivity of organizations
-Health/well-being of employees
The dual nature of I/O Psychology - ANS--Application of the science of psychology to
the workplace
-Development/discovery of scientific psychological principles at work
Specific areas of concerns for I/O Psychology - ANS-Defining and analyzing jobs
Recruiting and selecting employees for jobs
Assessing performance
Training employees
Determining people feel about work
Determining why people act as they do at work
Effects work has on people
Effects people have on one another
How organizations are structured and function
Designing work
Designing tools and equipment
Employee Health and Safety
Personnel Psychology deals with: - ANS-Defining and analyzing jobs
Recruiting and selecting employees for jobs
Assessing performance
Determining people feel about work
Determining why people act as they do at work
Effects work has on people
recruitment - ANS-generation of an applicant pool for a position or job in order to
provide a number of applicants for future selection competitions
Selection - ANS-The selection of a job candidate from a previously generated applicant
pool in a way that will meet management goals and objectives, as well as current legal
requirements
,British Columbia (Public Service Employee Relations Comm.) v. B.C.G.E.U (Meiorin
Decision) - ANS-Justice McLachlin argued that while one could differentiate between
the two forms of discrimination, the distinction had little importance since the principal
concern of the Court in human rights cases was the effect of an impugned law:
The conventional analysis [of distinguishing between direct discrimination and adverse
effect discrimination] was helpful in the interpretation of the early human rights statutes,
and indeed represented a significant step forward in that it recognized for the first time
the harm of adverse effect discrimination. The distinction it drew between the available
remedies may also have reflected the apparent differences between direct and adverse
effect discrimination. However well this approach may have served us in the past, many
commentators have suggested that it ill-serves the purpose of contemporary human
rights legislation. In my view, the complexity and unnecessary artificiality of aspects of
the conventional analysis attest to the desirability of now simplifying the guidelines that
structure the interpretation of human rights legislation in Canada.
Griggs v. Duke Power (1971) - ANS-Thirteen black employees challenged the use of
new selection requirements including High school diploma, a mechanical aptitude test,
and a general intelligence test which screened out a much higher proportion of black
applicants than whites.
_________ had no evidence to show that these requirements were job-related. The
Court ruled any employment practice is prohibited if it discriminates against a minority
group and it cannot be shown to be valid, that is, related to job performance.
Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody (1975) - ANS-The US Government established Uniform
Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures for use in evaluating the validity of
personnel selection programs.
Black employees of the _________ Company in North Carolina claimed that the use of
a seniority system, High school diploma and two tests of general cognitive ability as part
of a promotion process discriminated against blacks who were employed mostly in
unskilled positions and who historically had limited access to skilled jobs in the paper
mill.
Court ruled that the research done to establish the validity of the tests did not meet the
standards on validity set by the Uniform Guidelines. Court ordered that the class of
black workers were to be compensated for their discrimination.
UNIFORM GUIDELINES ON EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCEDURES - ANS-
Discrimination defined by: Relationship between use of selection procedures and
discrimination.
Information on impact
General standards for validity studies
Use of selection procedures which have not been validated
Use of other validity studies.
Retesting of applicants
Affirmative action
, Technical standards for validity studies
Documentation of impact and validity evidence
adverse impact - ANS-occurs when the selection rate for a protected group is lower
than that for the relevant comparison group
"the four-fifths rule"
Bona Fide Occupational Requirement (BFOR) - ANS-Canada allows an employer to
defend a discriminatory policy or practice as a bona fide occupational requirement
(BFOR) if there is a good reason for it based on the need of the employer to "engage
and retain efficient employees"
(Canadian Human Rights Commission, 1988, i)
British Columbia (Public Service Employee Relations Comm.) v. B.C.G.E.U - ANS-set
out a new, "unified approach" to defining a BFOR for cases of both direct and adverse
effect discrimination:
three-step test for determining whether a prima facie discriminatory standard is a
BFOR, An employer may justify the impugned standard by establishing on the balance
of probabilities:
(1) that the employer adopted the standard for a purpose rationally connected to the
performance of the job;
(2) that the employer adopted the particular standard in an honest and good faith belief
that it was necessary to the fulfillment of that legitimate work-related purpose; and
(3) that the standard is reasonably necessary to the accomplishment of that legitimate
work-related purpose. To show that the standard is reasonably necessary, it must be
demonstrated that it is impossible to accommodate individual employees sharing the
characteristics of the claimant without imposing undue hardship upon the employer.
(Justice McLachlin)
Reasonable Accommodation - ANS-Duty of an employer to put in place modifications to
discriminatory employment practices to meet the needs of members of a protected
group
Central Alberta Dairy Pool v. Alberta (Human Rights Commission) (1990) - ANS-Jim
Christie: employee at farm since 1980.
1983, joined the Worldwide Church of God and as part of his observance of the faith he
had to take a number of days off work. Farm initially accommodated him but when he
tried to take off a Monday, which was the busiest day of the week, they refused to let
him off and told him that if he did not show up to work he would be fired. Christie did not
show up on Monday and when he returned from work on Tuesday his job was filled with
a new employee. Christie submitted a complaint under the Individual's Rights Protection
Act for dismissal based on religious grounds. Board of Inquiry ordered that Christie be
compensated for lost wages.
Appeal: Court held that attendance on Mondays was a bona fide occupational
requirement and therefore a valid ground for dismissal.
Correct Answers
Psychology definition - ANS-the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology - ANS-the application of psychological
concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces
The dual focus of I/O Psychology - ANS--Efficiency/productivity of organizations
-Health/well-being of employees
The dual nature of I/O Psychology - ANS--Application of the science of psychology to
the workplace
-Development/discovery of scientific psychological principles at work
Specific areas of concerns for I/O Psychology - ANS-Defining and analyzing jobs
Recruiting and selecting employees for jobs
Assessing performance
Training employees
Determining people feel about work
Determining why people act as they do at work
Effects work has on people
Effects people have on one another
How organizations are structured and function
Designing work
Designing tools and equipment
Employee Health and Safety
Personnel Psychology deals with: - ANS-Defining and analyzing jobs
Recruiting and selecting employees for jobs
Assessing performance
Determining people feel about work
Determining why people act as they do at work
Effects work has on people
recruitment - ANS-generation of an applicant pool for a position or job in order to
provide a number of applicants for future selection competitions
Selection - ANS-The selection of a job candidate from a previously generated applicant
pool in a way that will meet management goals and objectives, as well as current legal
requirements
,British Columbia (Public Service Employee Relations Comm.) v. B.C.G.E.U (Meiorin
Decision) - ANS-Justice McLachlin argued that while one could differentiate between
the two forms of discrimination, the distinction had little importance since the principal
concern of the Court in human rights cases was the effect of an impugned law:
The conventional analysis [of distinguishing between direct discrimination and adverse
effect discrimination] was helpful in the interpretation of the early human rights statutes,
and indeed represented a significant step forward in that it recognized for the first time
the harm of adverse effect discrimination. The distinction it drew between the available
remedies may also have reflected the apparent differences between direct and adverse
effect discrimination. However well this approach may have served us in the past, many
commentators have suggested that it ill-serves the purpose of contemporary human
rights legislation. In my view, the complexity and unnecessary artificiality of aspects of
the conventional analysis attest to the desirability of now simplifying the guidelines that
structure the interpretation of human rights legislation in Canada.
Griggs v. Duke Power (1971) - ANS-Thirteen black employees challenged the use of
new selection requirements including High school diploma, a mechanical aptitude test,
and a general intelligence test which screened out a much higher proportion of black
applicants than whites.
_________ had no evidence to show that these requirements were job-related. The
Court ruled any employment practice is prohibited if it discriminates against a minority
group and it cannot be shown to be valid, that is, related to job performance.
Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody (1975) - ANS-The US Government established Uniform
Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures for use in evaluating the validity of
personnel selection programs.
Black employees of the _________ Company in North Carolina claimed that the use of
a seniority system, High school diploma and two tests of general cognitive ability as part
of a promotion process discriminated against blacks who were employed mostly in
unskilled positions and who historically had limited access to skilled jobs in the paper
mill.
Court ruled that the research done to establish the validity of the tests did not meet the
standards on validity set by the Uniform Guidelines. Court ordered that the class of
black workers were to be compensated for their discrimination.
UNIFORM GUIDELINES ON EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCEDURES - ANS-
Discrimination defined by: Relationship between use of selection procedures and
discrimination.
Information on impact
General standards for validity studies
Use of selection procedures which have not been validated
Use of other validity studies.
Retesting of applicants
Affirmative action
, Technical standards for validity studies
Documentation of impact and validity evidence
adverse impact - ANS-occurs when the selection rate for a protected group is lower
than that for the relevant comparison group
"the four-fifths rule"
Bona Fide Occupational Requirement (BFOR) - ANS-Canada allows an employer to
defend a discriminatory policy or practice as a bona fide occupational requirement
(BFOR) if there is a good reason for it based on the need of the employer to "engage
and retain efficient employees"
(Canadian Human Rights Commission, 1988, i)
British Columbia (Public Service Employee Relations Comm.) v. B.C.G.E.U - ANS-set
out a new, "unified approach" to defining a BFOR for cases of both direct and adverse
effect discrimination:
three-step test for determining whether a prima facie discriminatory standard is a
BFOR, An employer may justify the impugned standard by establishing on the balance
of probabilities:
(1) that the employer adopted the standard for a purpose rationally connected to the
performance of the job;
(2) that the employer adopted the particular standard in an honest and good faith belief
that it was necessary to the fulfillment of that legitimate work-related purpose; and
(3) that the standard is reasonably necessary to the accomplishment of that legitimate
work-related purpose. To show that the standard is reasonably necessary, it must be
demonstrated that it is impossible to accommodate individual employees sharing the
characteristics of the claimant without imposing undue hardship upon the employer.
(Justice McLachlin)
Reasonable Accommodation - ANS-Duty of an employer to put in place modifications to
discriminatory employment practices to meet the needs of members of a protected
group
Central Alberta Dairy Pool v. Alberta (Human Rights Commission) (1990) - ANS-Jim
Christie: employee at farm since 1980.
1983, joined the Worldwide Church of God and as part of his observance of the faith he
had to take a number of days off work. Farm initially accommodated him but when he
tried to take off a Monday, which was the busiest day of the week, they refused to let
him off and told him that if he did not show up to work he would be fired. Christie did not
show up on Monday and when he returned from work on Tuesday his job was filled with
a new employee. Christie submitted a complaint under the Individual's Rights Protection
Act for dismissal based on religious grounds. Board of Inquiry ordered that Christie be
compensated for lost wages.
Appeal: Court held that attendance on Mondays was a bona fide occupational
requirement and therefore a valid ground for dismissal.
