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NSF Work Climate Workshop @ PSU

Overview of the Workshop

The “Work Climate in Organizations Workshop” was hosted by Dr. Alicia Grandey at Penn State on May 12-13th, 2016, with the goal of increasing cross-disciplinary collaboration among scholars in psychology, management, and engineering. This workshop seeks to foster communication among leaders in the fields of engineering design, business, and organizational psychology, to advance the science of organizations through interactions between these disciplines. You can read more about the event on Penn State News.

Many scholars want to optimize organizational innovation and effectiveness but each discipline tends to have a different approaches and metrics. Engineers tend to focus on optimizing the process (e.g., the resources, procedures and decision-making), psychologists tend to focus on optimizing the people (e.g., the team composition and motivation levels), and business scholars tend to focus on optimizing the organizational context (e.g., leadership, strategy, culture). Although scholars are becoming more aware that process-, people- and context-oriented approaches all matter to organizational effectiveness, this does not mean that they understand how these should be integrated.

The NSF Workshop Group poses by the Lion Shrine

Agenda and Presentations

Wednesday, May 11

TimeEvent
1:15-5pmMini-workshop on Emotions at Work (co-sponsored by PSU's Emotions Research Network)
6:30-8pmWorkshop Organizational Reception

Thursday, May 12

FOCUS ON PROCESS: PEOPLE AND TEAMS
Location: 127 Moore Building (Psych)

Time
Event

9:00-9:30am


Breakfast | Welcome and Introduction (Grandey)


9:30-10:45am


Keynote Speaker: Sigal Barsade
Work Climate and Culture:  The Role of Affect in Organizations


10:45-11am


Coffee Break


11-12:15pm


“What are the problems, and how can we better assess emotional
and interpersonal abilities/skills in organizations?”


Panel Discussion: Assessing Emotional Abilities
Stéphane Côté (Behavioral Measure)
Hillary Anger Elfenbein (Implicit Measure)
Conrad Tucker (Computerized Measure)
Sigal Barsade (Summary and New Developments)

12:15-1:15pm


Lunch Break | Creamery Ice Cream


1:15-2:30pm


What are key factors that optimize the way teams
will work together in organizations?


Presentations: Optimizing Team Dynamics in Orgs
Andrew Knight (Team Affect)
Tom Sy (Team Leaders and Followers)
Susan Mohammed (Team Cognition)
Aparna Joshi (Team Diversity)

2:30-3pm


Coffee Break with Four Breakout Group Discussions
Emotion/Interpersonal Competence
Team Cognition and Affect
Leadership
Diversity

3:00-4:00pm


How can multidisciplinary research teams work well together?” 


PANEL:  Benefits and Challenges of Cross-disciplinary Work
Sam Hunter and Scarlett Miller
Seda Yilmaz and Shanna Daly
Gul Kremer (Engineering Design Professor and NSF Program Director)

4:00-5:00pm


Wrap-Up Comments (Grandey)

5:00-6:00pm


Break


6:00pm-8pm


Gather at NLI Lobby at 6 for Dinner (Allen Street Grill)

Friday, May 13

FOCUS ON OUTCOMES: CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Location: Learning Factory

Time
Event

8:30am (leaving at 8:45!)


Meet in NLI Lobby to walk over to the ENGR building


9:00-9:30am


Breakfast and Introduction to Day 2 (Simpson)


9:30-10:45am


What are ways to foster creativity and innovation in organizational teams?”


Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives: Fostering Innovation & Creativity
Scarlett Miller (Fostering Engineering Innovation)
Kathryn Jablokow (Selecting for Engineering Design)
Sam Hunter (Climate for Innovation and Leadership)
Rikki Nouri (Cultural Diversity and Creativity)

10:45-11:15am


Coffee Break and Group Discussion


11:15am-12:15pm


“What are tools to improve creativity developed by  cross-disciplinary scholars?”


Experiential Workshop: Innovation and Creativity in Teams (led by Seda Yilmaz and Shanna Daly)

12:15-1:30 pm


Closing Comments (Grandey)


The final workshop report includes more detailed summaries of the presentations, as well as a complete schedule of the workshop.