Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Psychology and Sociology

Consciousness: the subjective awareness of internal and external events

Hot spots: Allocating police resources to geographic location with high crime.

Communication Across Cultures is Necessary due to:

1- outsourcing 2- offshoring  3- Global supply chains

High Context Cultures

q1- Place high value on relationships

qFavor indirect communication

qAssign meaning to shared history, nonverbal signals, and the Context of the message

Multicultural Communication Guidelines

qUnderstand how your own culture shapes your beliefs, values, and Behaviors.

qLearn about other cultures while keeping an open mind and Respecting differences.

qAdapt to variations in cultural communication patterns.

qOvercome language barriers.  

Steps in the Job Analysis Process

1. Determine who will do the analysis and get top management buy-in the process.

2. Choose jobs that are critical to the success of the company and have a sufficient number of employees in them.

3. Review what has already been written about the job. One important source of information is the Occupational Information Network.

4. Select job agents, people who will provide job information, such as incumbents (people currently doing the job), supervisors, or job analysts (experts).

5. Collect job information through interviews, questionnaires, and observations.

Job Analysis Techniques

Job analysis interview: Face-to-face meeting with the purpose of learning about a worker’s duties and responsibilities.

Job analysis questionnaire:... Continue reading "Job Analysis Process: Steps, Techniques, and Results" »

What is communication? And its objective and significance

Communication is the process of exchanging information, ideas, thoughts, or feelings between individuals or groups using various methods and mediums. It is a fundamental aspect of human interaction and plays a crucial role in conveying messages, sharing knowledge, building relationships, and achieving various objectives. Communication can occur through verbal and non-verbal means, including spoken or written language, body language, gestures, facial expressions, and more.

Objectives of Communication:

1. Information Sharing: One of the primary objectives of communication is to convey information from one party to another. This can include sharing news, updates, instructions, or data.

2. Understanding:

Common Sociological Concepts

• Achieved Status
• Agents of Socialization
• Aggregate
• Alienation
• Anomie
• Apartheid
• Appearance
• Ascribed Status
• Assimilation
• Authoritarianism
• Belief
• Blue-Collar
• Body Language
• Bourgeoisie
• Bureaucracy
• Capitalism
• Capitalist Class
• Caste System
• Category
• Class System
• Clique
• Commoners
• Communism
• Conflict Theory
• Conformists
• Control Theory
• Counterculture
• Crime
• Crime Against the Person
• Crime Against Property
• Cultural Diffusion
• Cultural Relativism
• Culture
• Culture of Poverty
• Culture Shock
• Democracy
• Deviance
• Dominant Culture
• Dyad
• Economy
• Education
• Ego
• Endogamy
• Ethnocentrism
• Ethnomethodology
• Exogamy
• Formal Organization
• Gender Role
• Gender Socialization
• Global Stratification
• Globalization of Capitalism
• Government
• Group
• Group Dynamics
• Id
• Ideal Type
• Ideology
• In-Group
• Inner Controls
• Institution
• Law
• Macrosociology
• Manner

Understanding Workflow Definitions

Workflow analysis is the process of describing and registering a job's goals, its principal accountabilities and activities, the conditions under which it is performed, and the required knowledge, skills, and aptitudes.

It is used when establishing:

• The organization's structure
• Job structure
• Levels of authority
• Control levels
• Performance criteria
• Redundant employees
• Counseling

There are strong relations between job analysis and:

• Organization's goals
• Technology
• HR planning
• Employee recruitment and selection
• Performance evaluation
• Training
• Compensation
• Career planning and management
• Health and life quality at the workplace

The influence that job design has on employee satisfaction, motivation, and performance has been known since... Continue reading "Job Analysis and Recruitment: Best Practices" »

Chapter 1

1.1 How Psychologists Acquire Knowledge

Studies of behaviors

- Animals

- People

Research methods

- Research question dependent

What Do you want to know?

- Wide variety of methods

Which One to use depends on the research question you want to answer

Quiz Questions

1. How do psychologists know things?

- Systematic study using scientific method

2. What drives the development of a research design?

- The research question you’re trying to answer

3. How do you know what research method to use?

- Pick the method that will best answer your question

1.2 The Research Process

(1 Of 11) • Finding a Problem

- Beginning of a project (e.G., Not all students enjoy classroom success)

What Variables lead to higher levels of achievement?

 (2 of 11) • Reviewing the... Continue reading "Purpose and content of" »

Describe various approaches to job design

Job design focuses on determining what tasks will be grouped together to form employee jobs. There are four general approaches to grouping work tasks: mechanistic, motivational, perceptual, and biological.

1. Mechanistic Approach:
   • Job design is viewed from the perspective of creating an efficient machine that transforms labor inputs into goods and services.
   • Industrial engineers often use analyses designed to find the work methods that take the least time, such as Time and Motion studies.
2. Motivational Approach:
   • The motivational approach is aimed at increasing employees' enjoyment of their work and thus increasing their effort.
   • Jobs are designed not simply to get work done as quickly as possible, but also to provide

Review Questions & Answers

Unit 2

1. What information should be in a well-written job description?

• Job Title
• Brief summary
• Work activities
• Tools and equipment used
• Work context
• Work performance
• Compensation information
• Job Competencies (KSAOs)

2. What groups/people are most likely to conduct a job analysis?

• Internal Department
• Human resources
• Compensation
• Training
• Engineering
• Internal task force
• Supervisors
• Employees
• Consultants
• Interns/class projects

3. Briefly describe job analysis.

Job analysis is the systematic study of a job's tasks, duties, and responsibilities, and the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform the job. Job analysis is the starting point for many important personnel functions. A job analysis yields several products.

4. List and