Our faculty specialize in the study of organizational productivity, work motivation, job satisfaction, team effectiveness, team training, workplace mentoring, person-environment fit, and workplace diversity and cross-cultural issues. As described earlier, 100% of our students participate in research. The research opportunities that we provide have resulted in co-authorship on conference presentations, book chapters, and journal articles, and the research awards that our students have received were for studies conducted under program faculty supervision. Each faculty member has a lab in which several students work.

LESLIE DECHURCH:
ldechurc@mail.ucf.edu
Work: 407-823-3912
LAB NAME: DELTA Lab (Developing Effective Leaders, Teams, & Alliances)
Lab Website: http://www.psych.ucf.edu/labs_delta.php

DELTA is short for "Developing Effective Leaders, Teams, and Alliances" ---the purpose of our lab is to advance knowledge on leadership, team effectiveness, and alliance or multi-team system effectiveness in organizations. We use computer-based game simulations to model teams and alliances, and study the effects of leadership on cognition, collaboration, coordination, and performance.

We are currently finishing the third phase of data collection using a SIMCity team-based simulation where we examined leader sense-giving and team adaptability to crisis. Our next simulation is in development, and is being designed to model a system of teams working towards complex team and network goals. We are interested in examining the impact of leadership both within and between teams on cross-team collaboration and overall system effectiveness. This research is being sponsored by the Army Research Institute for the Social and Behavioral Sciences (ARI). DELTA researchers are also engaged in a major review of leadership methodology, a survey study of work and family conflict, and several meta-analytic reviews of factors important to team functioning.

BARBARA FRITZSCHE:
bfritzsc@mail.ucf.edu
Work: 407-823-5350
LAB NAME: Human Capital and Diversity Lab: Research to Develop Human Capital and Promote Workplace Inclusiveness

Dr. Fritzsche's background includes evaluating, developing, and validating psychological tests, professional consultation to test users and test authors, survey development and analysis, and conducting job analyses. Her research interests include decision making in job selection, personality predictors of job performance, diversity in the workplace, and prosocial personality in the workplace.

HUY LE:
hale@mail.ucf.edu
Work: 407-823-2557
LAB NAME: Quantitative Research Methodology Lab

Lab research interests include personnel selection, cross-cultural issues, psychometrics, and quantitative research methods (meta-analysis, Monte Carlo simulation).

ROBERT PRITCHARD:
rdpritchard@gmail.com
Work: 407-823-2560
LAB NAME: Organizational Effectiveness & Motivation Assessment Initiative Labs
Lab Website: http://promes.cos.ucf.edu/

Dr. Pritchard is Director of the Organizational Effectiveness Initiative & Motivation Assessment Labs. The work of his research group focuses on 2 major issues: 1) measuring and improving productivity in organizations, and 2) assessing and improving work motivation. The productivity work is done with organizations in multiple countries. It uses techniques developed by Pritchard and his colleagues to measure productivity and uses these measures in specifically designed feedback systems designed to improve productivity and increase quality of work life. His approach has been used by many researchers and practitioners in organizations here and internationally. The motivation work is attempting to develop a methodology for assessing the motivational health of work settings. The approach also allows for identifying the causes of low motivation in a way that suggests specific interventions to make motivation improvements.

EDUARDO SALAS:
esalas@ist.ucf.edu
Work: 407-882-1325
LAB NAME: Institute for Simulation & Training (IST)

His expertise includes helping organizations on how to foster teamwork, design and implement team training strategies, facilitate training effectiveness, manage decision making under stress, develop performance measurement tools, and design learning environments. He is currently working on designing tools and techniques to minimize human errors in aviation, law enforcement, and medical environments.

KIMBERLY SMITH-JENTSCH:
kjentsch@mail.ucf.edu
Work: 407-823-3577
LAB NAME: Team Training & Workforce Development Lab
Lab Website: http://twd.cos.ucf.edu/

Led by Dr. Kimberly Smith-Jentsch, our dedicated team of researchers are constantly working to develop and test tools and strategies designed to help individuals succeed in the workplace.

We strive to find new and innovative ways to help others, while producing high quality research. In turn, we hope to provide our lab members with the necessary skills to continue with their own endeavors.

Online Mentoring Programs through UCF & Workforce Central Florida

Our lab research has an online mentoring program in partnership with Workforce Central Florida that investigates variables that influence the success of online mentor-protégé relationships. Experienced workers and upper division students are assigned the role of mentor to assist and guide their protégé - unemployed workers and freshman - in the skills and knowledge required to successfully complete their goals.

Voice-Responsive Soft-Skills CBT Software Administration & Validation

The purpose of this project is to demonstrate the potential of advanced techniques from modeling and simulation and dynamic media to validate technology-enabled learning systems that target specific soft-skills using techniques that combine simulation with scenario-based training, intelligent tutoring, distance learning, computer assisted coaching, role-playing, and behavior role modeling. Participants complete a voice responsive computer simulation, which requires participants to respond to a series of real-life work situations utilizing a headset and microphone.