Internal or external consultants for managers and leaders in organizations.

I-O professionals will typically work as internal or external consultants for managers and
leaders in organizations. With a deeper understanding of the managerial task and
priorities, I-O professionals can become more effective consultants. For this assignment,
find someone who currently works as a people manager in any organization, and interview
them for at least 45 minutes, preferably more. For this assignment, a manager is defined as
someone who is responsible for a significant aspect of an organization’s work or business,
and who has people responsibilities. This could include a business owner or entrepreneur
who managers people. (Do not interview someone who has the title of “manager” but does
not actually manage people.) IF THERE’S NO ONE TO INTERVIEW, YOU HAVE TO
MAKE UP A PERSON WHO WORK FOR THIS JOB POSITION AND PLZ BASED ON
REALITY AND MAKES AS REAL AS POSSIBLE. YOU COULD BASED ON THE
ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS TO INTEGRATED THE CONTENT.
Assignment Instructions: After interviewing the manager, write an essay summarizing who
you interviewed and what you learned about the managerial role and managerial challenges.
Make sure to incorporate important concepts or theories learned from at least 8 of the class
lectures or content from the textbook.
● In your essay, describe the manager’s job, roles and responsibilities.
● Discuss the organization and the environmental context in which the manager works and
how this has an impact on his/her job.
● Write about what you took away about the person’s management style, and the critical
management issues he or she faces on the job. Highlight new insights about management
that you took away from this interview.
● Your essay could incorporate concepts such as (but not limited to) managing
employee expectations and performance (e.g., psychological contracts), motivating,
achieving high performance, giving feedback/performance appraisal, training,
dealing with difficult people, counterproductive behaviors, or diverse individuals
and teams, work attitudes, etc. (check book chapter to find related content)
● Identify at least three ways in which an I/O psychologist can help this manager or his/her
work unit. Be as specific as possible in how you think an I/O psychologist can make a
difference.
● Specify and discuss important I/O concepts from the readings, and include a short
reference section so I know which readings you utilized (APA style).
Potential questions you could ask (you can add or use your own questions as well):
● Tell me about your job and the organization you work for.
● Tell me about the industry and the environmental factors that impact your work.
● If you were to describe a typical day in your work week, what would it be like?
● What do you expect from your people? From the organization? What do you think your
people expect from you? What do you think the organization expects from you as a
manager?
● What sorts of challenges do you face in getting your work done?
● Do you have a basic management philosophy about how to work with people and how
organizations should operate? (Or how would you describe your management style?
Communication style?)
● How do you motivate your people? How are you yourself motivated? Is the company
doing a good job attracting, motivating and retaining its best people? Why or why not?
● Suppose you had access to a consultant who could work with you on people and
organizational issues. What kinds of advice, assistance, recommendations or solutions
would be most helpful to you? (Try to be as specific as possible about your needs.) Why?
● Is your organization a diverse and/or global organization? If yes, what sorts of challenges
do you as a manager experience that is related to diversity and globalization? Give an
example or two.