Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons^™

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Site Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), through the Office of Families and Children (OFC), is responsible for Ohio’s state-supervised, countyadministered child welfare system. Ohio’s 83 singlecounty agencies and two multi-county agencies are responsible for the delivery of child protective services and ongoing case management in Ohio’s 88 counties. Sixty-three agencies are housed in a county ODJFS department, overseen by county commissioners, and 22 children services boards are stand-alone child welfare agencies overseen by citizens appointed by county commissioners. OFC is responsible for state-level administration and oversight of programs that prevent child abuse and neglect; provide services to …

Addressing Work-Related Traumatic Stress Nebraska - Site Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is a multi-service agency led by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who is appointed by the Governor. The CEO oversees six divisions including the Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS), which is the state’s child welfare agency. The divisions are supported by centralized operations that include Human Resources (HR) & Development. HR has at least one individual with a strong working knowledge of DCFS operations and who is specifically assigned to provide support solely to DCFS.

DCFS is a state-administered system organized into five geographic regions: Western Service Area (WSA), …

Competency-Based Personnel Selection Oklahoma - Site Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The Child Welfare Services division of Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) is a state-administered child welfare agency. The OKDHS divisions are supported by centralized operations including Human Resource Management (HRM). A small team of human resources professionals within Child Welfare Services work closely with HRM to support Child Welfare Services’ personnel needs.

The executive team of Child Welfare Services includes the director and deputy directors (who lead teams of district directors, field administrators, and program administrators). The agency is divided into five field regions serving 27 districts and 77 counties. At least one district director leads each district. The district directors …

How Can Child Welfare Agencies Leverage Data To Address Important Workforce Questions?, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

QIC-Tips

Child welfare agencies experience workforce turnover (14-20% annually) that can be costly and result in poorer outcomes for children and families. Although turnover is often acknowledged as a significant problem, it is not one that is easily understood or addressed. The following tips and strategies being implemented by jurisdictions working with the QIC-WD may be helpful for child welfare administrators, legislators, and other policymakers seeking to utilize agency data to answer pertinent child welfare workforce questions.

• Understand what data is collected and stored, and where. Oftentimes, there are multiple systems used by agencies during the employee lifecycle that may contain …

How Can Public Child Welfare Agencies Get And Keep A Great Workforce?, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

QIC-Tips

Public child welfare agencies continue to face complex challenges including high workforce turnover. An examination of federal data found that, from 2003 to 2015, states experienced 14-22% annual turnover rates, with caseworkers staying on the job for an average of 1.8 years. Such turnover increases workloads for remaining workers and negatively impacts children and families. The QIC-WD is working with eight jurisdictions to better understand turnover and test interventions to improve workforce retention. The following tips were compiled based on the experience of QIC-WD sites. They are intended to help child welfare administrators, state legislators, or other local policymakers consider …

Video Feedback, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is video feedback?

Video feedback refers here to a training method that involves giving learners feedback on their skills using a video recording of their behavior in a real or simulated environment. Though video feedback is used in a variety of settings (e.g., athletic, parenting, or surgical training), the focus here is on skill development among professionals that engage in interpersonal interactions (e.g., teachers, social workers, nurses; Fukkink et al., 2011). Targeted skills may be broad (e.g., empathy, nervousness, active listening) or narrow (body posture, eye contact, gestures, use of open questions). The process typically involves recording learners as …

After-Action Reviews, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are after-action reviews?

An after-action review (AAR) is “a systematic technique that turns a recent event into a learning opportunity through a combination of task feedback, reflection, and discussion” (Keiser & Arthur, 2020, p. 2). The process has been used in various fields, leading to a variety of labels, including after-event review, debrief, guided team self-correction, and reflexivity (e.g., Chen et al., 2018; Couper et al., 2013; Ellis & Davidi, 2005; Smith-Jentsch et al., 2008). Note that though the term “debrief” is sometimes used, AARs are distinct from debriefing sessions that are intended to help individuals process stressful or …

Workforce Analyses Using Combined Human Resources And Child Welfare Data, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

When conducting workforce analyses, it can be valuable to capitalize on data from both human resources (HR) databases and child welfare (CW) information systems. Each can be useful on their own, but additional information can be learned when the two types of data are connected. There are two primary uses of combined HR and CW data:

1. CW data can serve as objective measures of employee job performance, which is one of the most important workforce outcomes to measure, particularly when examining the effectiveness of various workforce decisions and practices.
2. CW data can provide useful contextual information for studying workforce outcomes. …

Workforce Metrics, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

Calculating and tracking workforce metrics is a valuable way to assess workforce needs and examine workforcerelated processes, interventions, and outcomes. This resource includes over 90 metrics related to recruitment and selection, education, work hours, work arrangements, caseload capacity, supervision, career development, performance, turnover and tenure, and costs. Note that these metrics are not universal, and many other variations exist elsewhere. These have been selected or developed based on their applicability to the child welfare workforce.

Creating A Workforce Analytics Team (Video), Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

When conducting workforce analytics, it can be helpful to adopt a team approach and involve various experts and stakeholders, each of which can make a valuable contribution.

The Big Picture

• Ensure that you have the commitment and buy-in from leaders who control the agency’s budget and policies.
• Team membership may vary depending on the analytics goals and the stage of the work, but potential participants include representatives from agency leadership, Human Resources (HR), child welfare, Information Technology (IT), and training.
• It’s likely that no one person is going to possess all the skills needed; building a strengths-based, interdisciplinary team can …

Data Quality (Video), Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

Data-driven decisions cannot be effective if they are based on poor-quality data. Thus, it is important to ensure that any data that will be used for workforce analytics are accurate and can be trusted.

Data Quality Criteria

There are many potential data quality criteria to consider. Below are 9 selected criteria that are relevant for workforce data. If there are others that are also important to you, they should be included as well. These questions should be asked of every variable for which data are collected.

1. Relevance: Are the data useful and relevant for business needs?
2. Granularity: Are the data …

Creating A Workforce Analytics Action Plan (Video), Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

An action plan can be a useful tool for implementing workforce analytics, especially if there are multiple people involved in the process. This resource provides some general advice on action planning, with specific examples for advancing the use of workforce analytics.

What is an Action Plan?

An action plan outlines the actions, resources, and people needed to achieve goals. It is vital to strategic planning. Action plans include the following components:

• A well-defined goal
• Tasks/steps needed to reach the goal
• Individuals or teams responsible for each task
• Task milestones and timeframes
• Resources and data needed to complete tasks
• Evidence or …

Seductive Details In Training, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are seductive details?

In a learning environment, seductive details are interesting but unimportant details that are not necessary to achieve the instructional objective (Garner et al., 1989). The information may be tangentially related to the topic but is not relevant to the main teaching goal. Such details are often included for the purpose of making the topic more interesting and engaging. There are many potential types of seductive details; they can be visual, verbal, or aural—static or dynamic images (e.g., illustrations, photos, animations), written or spoken words (e.g., text, narration), or sounds (e.g., music; Sundararajan & Adesope, 2020).

Why …

Supporting The Child Welfare Workforce During The Coronavirus Pandemic: Addressing Worker Stress And Trauma, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

Studies and our own assessment of secondary trauma in the eight QIC-WD study sites indicate that up to 75% of child welfare caseworkers, especially those with high caseloads and exposure to traumatized families and children, are at risk of experiencing secondary traumatic stress and PTSD. The Coronavirus pandemic exacerbated an already beleaguered workforce. Data from previous pandemics is alarming. Research from the SARS pandemic indicates that survivors often developed PTSD which could last for many years. Those most affected were health care workers who, similar to child welfare workers, were impacted by the social isolation imposed by authorities to contain …

Supporting The Child Welfare Workforce During The Coronavirus Pandemic: Technology, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The child welfare workforce is responsible for ensuring children’s safety and well-being, delivering treatment, and intervention services to families. Workers must document child and family information, service plans, and visit records in secure data systems, that are often only accessible from an office. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, many states had to rapidly pivot to remote technology to conduct mandatory visits of children in foster care and engage in supervised visitation between children and their families. They also had to determine how to provide oversight of treatment and intervention services required through case plans even though many provider services had …

Workforce Scorecards, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

What Is a Child Welfare Workforce Scorecard?

A Workforce Scorecard is a tool that can be used to track key performance indicators (KPIs) related to workforce outcomes of interest. This approach is derived from the balanced scorecard (Kaplan & Norton, 1992) and HR scorecard (Becker, Huselid, & Ulrich, 2001) strategic planning tools. The process involves linking key strategic goals to workforce-related initiatives and KPIs to demonstrate the alignment between the outcomes being measured and overarching child welfare strategic goals. The scorecard allows agency leaders to monitor progress towards key HR and workforce objectives. The scope of the scorecard can be …

Pedagogical Agents, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are pedagogical agents?

Pedagogical agents are “lifelike characters presented on a computer screen that guide users through multimedia learning environments” (Clarebout & Heidig, 2012, p. 2568). Pedagogical agents can vary in multiple ways. The following characteristics have been most studied: appearance (two-dimensional [2D] vs. three-dimensional [3D]), eye gaze, facial expression, gesturing, motion, and gender. The simplest pedagogical agent would be a static, 2D image with just text, and a complex agent would be a dynamic, 3D person or character that talks, gestures, and has eye movements and facial expressions.

Why are pedagogical agents valuable?

Pedagogical agents are valuable because …

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Intervention Background, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

What is the intervention and why was it selected? The Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) conducted a comprehensive needs assessment with nine participating Ohio counties in partnership with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). The assessment revealed that organizational culture and climate across counties was above average in rigidity and resistance, and below average in engagement. In addition, over half of staff had recently experienced elevated levels of secondary traumatic stress (STS) symptoms. Supervision was also identified as a challenge at every level of the agencies (i.e., from directors to managers, managers to frontline supervisors, …

Data Visualization (Video), Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

Data visualization can communicate data in a clear, concise, and engaging way that is easy for us to understand. During the convening of the Institute, the QIC-WD Data Visualization Team lead, Robert Blagg, conducted a presentation on data visualization that addressed the following:

How to make data visualizations useful?

• How can you better collect and organize data to support visualization?
• How can you develop visualizations that respect visual perception of information?
• How can you better focus users on actionable findings?

To learn more about data visualization, watch Dr. Blagg’s 9-minute presentation.

Dr. Blagg’s Data Visualization Resource summarizes key …

Training Tests, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are training tests?

For this purpose, training tests include any form of knowledge assessment intended to gauge learning from training. Tests can be of varying lengths, formats (e.g., true/false, multiple choice, short answer), or labels (e.g., quiz, learning checks). The important feature is that they require learners to practice retrieving training-related information from memory. Thus, the focus here is on knowledge and understanding, versus skill acquisition.

Why are training tests valuable?

Training tests are valuable because the act of taking a test improves subsequent learning outcomes. More specifically, people who take a test perform better on later assessments of …

Organizational Cynicism, Dana Hollinshead, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is organizational cynicism?

Organizational cynicism is defined as “a negative attitude toward one's employing organization, comprising three dimensions: (1) a belief that the organization lacks integrity; (2) negative affect toward the organization; and (3) tendencies to disparaging and critical behaviors toward the organization that are consistent with these beliefs and affect” (Dean et al., 1998, p. 345). Measures of organizational cynicism include statements such as “I’ve pretty much given up trying to make suggestions for improvements around here” (Tesluk et al., 1990, p. 283) and “I believe that [the organization] says one thing and does another” (Brandes et al., …

Coaching, Megan Paul, Tara Myers

Umbrella Summaries

What is coaching?

There is no single universally recognized definition of coaching. In the context of the workplace, common elements of coaching definitions include a one-on-one systematic relationship, learning, behavioral change, self-awareness, and improved performance (Grover & Furnham, 2016). Some notable differences in definitions include who receives the coaching, who conducts the coaching, the type of behavior change that is targeted, and the nature of the coaching behaviors. For example, several definitions focus more exclusively on top leaders receiving coaching from external, professional coaches (e.g., Kilburg, 1996); known more commonly as executive coaching, this was a common arrangement when workplace …

Gratitude, Stephanie Weddington, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is gratitude?

There are three ways of thinking about gratitude—as a state, a trait, or a tendency that can be improved through practice. A person can experience a brief state of gratitude in response to a specific event or another person’s kind actions (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). Gratitude is also considered a more enduring personality trait, disposition, or life orientation in which an individual has a general propensity to feel grateful for, notice, and appreciate the positives in day-to-day life (McCullough et al., 2002; Wood et al., 2010). Finally, individuals can enhance their tendency to feel grateful over time …

Pre-Training Interventions, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are pre-training interventions?

Pre-training interventions refer to strategies that are implemented prior to training, for the purpose of enhancing training outcomes. Thus far, the primary strategies that have been most frequently investigated include (a) attentional advice, (b) meta-cognitive strategies, (c) advance organizers, (d) goal orientation, and (e) preparatory information (Cannon-Bowers et al., 1998; Mesmer-Magnus & Viswesvaran, 2010).

Attentional advice includes guidance to orient the learner to what they will learn. Examples include going over the main learning objectives or highlighting essential aspects of the training and how they relate to the job.

Meta-cognitive strategies include approaches for learners to …

Sleep, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is sleep?

In the context of the workplace, investigations into sleep tend to focus on two main aspects: sleep quantity and sleep quality. Though sleep is occasionally measured using objective measures that assess physiological indicators, subjective self-report measures are most often used (Litwiller et al., 2017). There are dozens of measures for assessing sleep quality or quantity, some of which are single items and others that include multiple items. A more commonly used multidimensional measure is the 19-item Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, which assesses factors like sleep duration, sleep disturbance, and sleep efficiency, among others (Buysse et al., 1989). …

Public Service Motivation, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is public service motivation?

Public service motivation (PSM) is defined as “an individual’s predisposition to respond to motives grounded primarily or uniquely in public institutions” (Perry & Wise, 1990). In other words, it is about a person’s desire or interest to serve the public, often in the public sector, but also in the private, non-profit sector. It was developed in response to calls to revive interest in working in government, to restore the country’s faith in public institutions (Perry & Wise, 1990). The goal of the research was to explore whether people had such values and interests and, if …

Union Commitment And Participation, Tara Myers, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are union commitment and participation?

Union commitment refers to the extent to which employees are dedicated to their union (Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005; Gordon, Philpot, Burt, Thompson, & Spiller, 1980). Union participation is active involvement in the union such as attending meetings, serving on committees, holding office, campaigning, voting, assisting with contracts and negotiations, managing union funds, and filing grievances (Anderson, 1979). Many researchers consider union participation as part of union commitment (e.g., Gordon et al., 1980). Others have speculated that union participation is a consequence of union commitment (e.g., Parks, Gallagher, & Fullagar, 1995). Additional ways to conceptualize …

Emotional Intelligence Training, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is emotional intelligence training?

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to abilities or tendencies related to recognizing, understanding, and managing emotions. Because of its connections to important work outcomes such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job performance, and turnover intentions (e.g., Joseph, Jin, Newman, & O’Boyle, 2015; Miao, Humphrey, & Qian, 2016), there has been great interest in developing EI via coaching and training, even though it has not traditionally been regarded as something that is amenable to change through training. EI is conceptualized, and measured, in three different ways (Ashkanasy & Daus, 2005). When it was first conceived, EI was …

Emotional Labor, Tara Myers, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is emotional labor?

Emotional labor is “the management of feelings to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display” as necessary at work (Hochschild, 2012, p. 50). Thus, people engage in emotional labor when they ensure their facial expressions and body language match what is expected for the job (Grandey, 2000). Clear display rules (e.g., always smile, show empathy, stay neutral, seem stern) are most typically seen within service industries (e.g., customer service, protective services, law enforcement). People accomplish this adherence to display rules through surface acting—managing the expression of emotions—or through deep acting—managing the experience of emotions (Hochschild, …

Workaholism, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is workaholism?

The term was coined 50 years ago and referred to the uncontrollable need to work incessantly (Oates, 1971). Since then, many different definitions have emerged, with variations related to what exactly workaholism looks like (e.g., degree of enjoyment and engagement), why it occurs (e.g., personality), and its outcomes (e.g., on health, work-life balance), among others (Clark, Smith, & Haynes, 2020). Because many of these approaches confuse workaholism with related but distinct concepts (e.g., causes and effects), the following definition has recently been suggested as a more pure description: 1) an inner pressure or compulsion to work, 2) …