Newswise — Current issues and trends in the workplace will be featured at the 26th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology April 14-16 at the Hilton Chicago hotel.
The conference is expected to attract more than 4,000 people,, including some of the world’s top workplace scientists.
More than 600 symposia, practitioner forums, panel presentations, posters and other sessions will feature a wide range of workplace topics including how the changing world of work impacts the careers of older workers; why high IQ and education may not be enough to get and keep a job; negative and positive aspects of mentoring; strategies to select the best employees; the use of personality tests to predict worker behavior; achieving a balance between work and family; coping with change during corporate changes and how the science and practice of I-O psychology can be applied to worker and public safety concerns.
Also there will be two theme track sessions during the conference. One focuses on how the research and data I-O scientists produce can be used to impact strategic decision making within organizations. The second theme track explores how organizations can utilize their human resource areas to become more environmentally sustainable. The sessions include approaches to understanding green jobs and industries and new scholarly findings about employee behaviors that support environmental sustainability.
Other sessions will highlight various aspects of leadership including the good and the bad of leadership styles; avoiding mistakes in selecting leaders; the importance of political skill for predicting managerial success; abusive supervision; and dealing with conflict at work and understanding its impact upon employees.
Some additional topics to be discussed:• The impact of aberrant self promotion at work. Self-promoters are more likely to be unsafe, have a higher absentee rate and are likely termination risks. • Preventing deviant behavior in young workers. Strategies to create an environment that will blunt work cynicism and negative attitude towards work. • Turnover in dirty work. This study examines how animal shelter employees with euthanasia responsibilities are impacted by their job.• Workplace stigmas. Workers are expected to be healthy and capable. Being pregnant, disabled, sick or surviving can lead to stigmatization and, in turn, discrimination. This symposium features case studies involving workers facing these stigmas.• Can top dogs be fat cats? A study of 757 executives suggests that evaluations and/or impressions of top executives are negatively associated with body size. • Multigenerational talent. What’s the matter with kids today? A presentation featuring real life case studies that involve generational differences and best practice approaches for addressing these differences in a practical and productive way.• Internet pre-screening. Does it lead to better hiring decisions? Practitioners from four organizations who have more than a million on-line applicants discuss the pros and cons from the perspective of both companies and candidates.• Out of the closet and into the workplace. A dialogue of what we know and don’t know about sexual orientation and transgender identities at work. • Workplace mistreatment. The latest research will be presented on weight/obesity, personality and political party preference as predictors of incivility.• How social media is changing the workplace. A presentation on social media’s impact on organizational culture, selection, training, employee engagement and leadership.
SIOP President Eduardo Salas of the University of Central Florida will open the three-day conference Thursday (April 14) morning with the keynote address. Also, during the opening session, SIOP will present its annual recognition awards and Fellows, men and women who have made significant contributions to the field of IO psychology.
The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) is an international group of more than 7,900 industrial-organizational (I-O) psychologists whose members study and apply scientific principles concerning workplace productivity, motivation, leadership and engagement. SIOP’s mission is to enhance human well-being and performance in organizational and work settings by promoting the science, practice and teaching of I-O psychology. For more information about SIOP and the conference visit www.siop.org.
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