Origin Stories - Why I chose an MAIOP

As I wrap up the last bits of my Master's in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, a few folks asked me why I picked the program. The easiest and shortest way to answer that is to share my Statement of Professional Goals for entry into the program. I'll be writing more about the journey of the last two years and what is next, but this is a good enough start.

Statement of Professional Goals

Pursuing a master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology (MAIO) is driven by my desire to develop skills and capabilities in organizational transformation and development. This degree will further equip me with the skills to be a change catalyst to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion for women and underrepresented minorities in information technology. My nontraditional background uniquely positions me to achieve this goal.

I grew up with parents who were never in a location for more than a year or two. We repeatedly moved within and between five states, where I attended seventeen schools, including five high schools, in three years before graduating early. My parents’ chronic underemployment and unemployment made us often dependent on the safety net of social welfare. The continuous cycle of moving and episodic familial and economic instability exposed me to the experience of being “othered,” which allowed me to develop empathy and a desire to change the systems and structures that limit and inhibit the less privileged, underrepresented, and traditionally unrecognized from reaching their full potential. The MAIO Psychology program would allow me to develop knowledge and skills that would enable me to work within those systems and structures to affect change.

Throughout my military service as a technical training instructor, interactive courseware developer, and instructional designer, I attended Park University to obtain my undergraduate degree in Management. Upon graduation and honorable discharge, I continued my career in various intersectional roles that utilized my teaching and instructional design background in technology applications and began my career in information technology (IT).

Instructional Design methodologies draw heavily on learning sciences and training development practices, psychology, user experience design (UX), and information architecture that intersect with Industrial and Organizational Psychology program content and their practical applications. My experience with those methodologies gives me a base of knowledge and practices to build on that would be enhanced by the MAIO Psychology program.

I completed my MBA at Park in 2018 and formal programs with coursework on inclusive leadership and coaching at the Federal Reserve System Leadership Initiative (SLI) Thrive Conference and Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) Leadership Development Program. Additionally, I have extensive formal education and a repertoire of skills and expertise in leadership, change management and agility, and organizational transformation that will contribute to my success in the MAIO Psychology program.

When I began my career in IT, the lack of gender and racial diversity was immediately glaring. Data widely corroborate my anecdotal observation. Today, women comprise just 25% of computer workers, after a decline in the early to mid-2000s (Fry et al., 2021). Black and Hispanic computer workers are underrepresented by 4% and 9%, respectively, relative to the overall workforce (Fry et al., 2021). Compounding the impact of underrepresentation, Black and Hispanic technology workers face pay gaps greater than the workforce average. Hispanic women endure the most significant inequity (Fry et al., 2021). Information Technology jobs are projected to grow at a rate three times higher than the overall employment growth rate and, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are compensated at double the mean of all occupations (BLS, 2022). This inequity is deeply problematic for society and the economy, as disadvantaged groups will continue to fall further behind.

Underrepresentation begins in the academic pipeline and continues into the workplace. Feelings of diminished interpersonal relationships and sense of belonging perceived competence or “stereotype threat,” science identity, and changing personal interest are commonly expressed by people exiting the IT field. (Rainey et al., 2018).

Observing these factors, I began working in the organizational change management and agility space in 2017 to transform our “Tayloristic” command and control structures into an agile, people-positive, markedly more inclusive, equitable, and engaging approach for all employees. My organization has strategic imperatives around equity and inclusion to further economic mobility and resilience (EMAR) in our communities (externally facing), particularly for disadvantaged groups, and organizational agility, with a focus on changing the culture of a 100-plus-year-old institution (internally facing). As part of my work, in partnership with our Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Talent Acquisition, we teamed with CodePath, an organization dedicated to improving diversity and inclusion in STEM, and have participated in virtual career fairs that enable us to recruit from a much more diverse pool of students from a broader range of universities. I am an original member of our organizational Agility Resource Circle (ARC), which has focused on improving equity and inclusion. Our work has significantly improved employee engagement survey scores regarding feelings of equity and decision rights.

Our agility journey has resulted in cultural changes and the successful improvement of our internship program, including increased diversity. Further, my participation in DEI achievements has motivated and inspired me to do more. I have become obsessed with creating a working environment where everyone has the psychological safety to thrive as their whole person in a space with an unmatched sense of belonging.

I intend to use the Park’s MAIO program to further develop my knowledge in evidence-based interventions and practices to increase equity and inclusion in my organization and, more broadly, in the IT field, and draw on the social justice focus of the program by applying a DE&I lens to the broader methods of I-O Psychology, such as identifying job stressors, creating leadership development programs, mentoring programs, and talent acquisition and retention activities.

References

Fry, R., Kennedy, B., & Funk, C. (2021, April 1). Stem jobs see uneven progress in increasing gender, racial and ethnic diversity. Pew Research Center Science & Society. Retrieved June 26, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2021/04/01/stem-jobs-see-uneven-progress-in-increasing-gender-racial-and-ethnic-diversity/

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2022, March 31). May 2021 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved June 26, 2022, from https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm

Rainey, K., Dancy, M., Mickelson, R., Stearns, E., & Moller, S. (2018). Race and gender differences in how sense of belonging influences decisions to major in Stem. International Journal of STEM Education, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-018-0115-6