Our Research

In recent years our research group has paid close attention to various topical areas that are related to the fundamental principles of social and industrial/organizational psychology, particularly those that deal with interactions between individuals.

Studies headed by the Graduate Students 

	I'm looking at personality differences in performance, while individuals are being monitored electronically. Also, to see if the salience of the monitoring makes a difference in performance.

In the past, I have conducted studies regarding the effects of the types of interaction mediums have on group or dyad performance. The studies have shown the effects of different mediums, such as phones and instant messaging can affect a group's performance on complex tasks.

	TBW

Current Studies

• Telework - or telecommuting, is an alternative work arrangement where paid employees work for all or a specific amount of time away from their traditional place of business, usually at home.  Over 21 million Americans telework at least part of the week and this number is growing (Source: United States Bureau of Labor Statistics).   Spurred on by the rising costs of maintaining a physical office, the negative environmental impact of commuting, and improvements in internet communication, organizations are increasingly turning to telework as a viable work arrangement. 
  
  We are conducting a longitudinal case study of a division of a market research organization which has recently made the transition to full-time telework.   We are investigating changes in employee anxiety, distraction, communication, cohesion, and performance.

Current Literature Searches

• Virtual Teams - A look at the effectiveness of geographically dispersed teams and the advantages/disadvantages versus teams who meet face to face.

• Digital Signage - Applications and issues of an area of advertising that deals with dynamic content and messages displayed via electronic means.

• Proxemics - The study of personal space and interpersonal distance and its application to new areas of psychology.
• Katrina - The ongoing impact of Hurricane Katrina on businesses and their attempts at recovery.

• Organizational Justice - Fairness perceptions in the workplace.

• Changing Technologies in the Worplace - Workplace adoption of various technologies have had a profound impact on the way that companies and their employees perform.

• Emerging forms of communication in the Workplace - Investigating the effectiveness of different types of communicating mediums in the workplace.
• Electronic Performance Monitoring and Stress - Focused on the studies done on electronic performance monitoring and the stressors related to monitoring of managers and workers.
• Telework

• Multi-tasking and Interruptions - Multitasking is the ability to perform multiple tasks within a limited time period. In recent years, multitasking has become an integral part of the workplace; the growth of personal technology, such as cell phones, Blackberries, and Palm Pilots, the reliance on e-mail and phone communication, and the heavy task load of the job often force employees to juggle multiple tasks within a limited time frame. Interruptions obstruct or delay members of organizations as they attempt to makeprogress on work tasks and, thus, are typically thought of as disruptive for organizational members₁. Today, as the workplace culture becomes increasingly complex and interactive, workers have to deal with increasing numbers of interruptions.  There is a large difference between multitasking when one is in control of when he/she switches tasks or at least receives some warning when the task switch will occur and dealing with unexpected interruptions.  

• Projects Teams - A team is an interdependent collection of individuals who work together toward a common goal and who share responsibility for specific outcomes for their organizations.  The increased use of teams in organizations presents opportunities and challenge.  Project teams are created to solve a particular problem or set of problems and they differ from other teams because they are disbanded after the project is completed₂.

Past Literature Searches

• Workplace Privacy - Concerning the need or the lack of privacy that workers experience in their work setting and the subsequent impact.

• Diversity - Workforce compositions, examines issues of human rights and changes in worker make-up and their effects. Diversity training and its effectiveness have also been investigated.

• Supervisory Feedback - Examines the outcomes of different forms of feedback. Includes research on types of feedback (e.g. normative, temporal, valence, comparative) and the most effective ways to give feedback in the workplace.

• Balanced Scorecard - A performance measurement and performance management system developed by Robert Kaplan and David Norton that allows organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action.

• Change Management - An organized, systematic application of the knowledge, tools, and resources of change that provides organizations with a key process to achieve their business strategy.

• Project Management - The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to a broad range of activities to meet the requirements of a particular project.

• Privacy Legislation - Legal aspects of workplace privacy along with its history and development.

• Achievement and Performance Goals - Examines the intrinsic/extrinsic elements behind individuals' drive in a workplace.

• Supervisory Presence - Concerns with the physical or remote presence of supervisors as a factor for one's performance and stress in workplace.

• Control - Perceived level of choice and issues related to work motivation. The burnout rate within organizations and the level of stress associated with the amount of control have been examined as well.

• Internet Addiction - A closer look at the newest addiction of the 21st century, regarding issues of dependency in workers and students.

• Empowerment - Workers' participation in an organization and their opportunity for control.