Psychology Workplace Performance Expert Witness

Over ten years consulting in all aspects of the human side of business including pre-hire assessment, coaching, hiring, testing, staff development, litigation support, executive teambuilding, etc.

EDUCATION AND LICENSING

PhD Psychology
University of Texas at Arlington, 2001

MS Psychology
University of Texas at Arlington, 2000

BA Psychology
University of California Long Beach, 1995

Licensed Psychologist
Texas

Certified Mediator
2002 to present, Texas

EMPLOYMENT

2000 to present – Consultation to business

Company
2001 to present
Managing Principal

• Managing Principal of Company which is a Texas HUB and Woman Owned Business providing psychological and organizational consulting since 1981. Search excluded, our work involves consulting in all aspects of selection and development of management teams in a wide range of industries (described below).

MINDDATA Systems
2000 to 2001
Director of Product Development

• Wholly responsible for business applications of test development, training and oversight of web content.
• 1994 to 1996 – Applied Research/Teaching

University of Texas at Arlington
1997 to 2000
Graduate Teaching/Research

• Lectured undergraduates in Social Processes, research methods and statistical analysis. Design and management of research projects investigating social interaction, group creativity, productivity, and teamwork.

Harbor UCLA Research and Education Institute
1994 to 1996
Clinical Research Associate

• Researcher on a major National Institute of Health funded study of post-menopausal women’s health (Women’s Health Initiative/WHI).
  1991 to 1994 – Marketing, Sales and Sales Management

Dun & Bradstreet
1993 to 1994
Sales Representative

November, Lazar, Scher, Inc.,
“Healthy Kids Magazine”
1992 to 1993
Marketing Director

American Protective Services, Inc
1991 to 1992
Administration Manager

Microdot
1988 to 1991
Sales and Contract Representative

• Co-authored numerous articles for various publications, including Consulting Academy, also numerous talks and workshops for various organizations.

EXAMPLE LEGAL PROJECTS

• Support for the defendant where a Caucasian man claimed that he was part Indian and that his African American boss was discriminating against him because he was Indian.
• Support for the plaintiff, a man who had been fired for sexual harassment.
• Support for the plaintiff, an individual who was seriously injured in a company event.
• Support for the defendant, a not for profit company being sued for unfair labor practices.
• Support for the plaintiff, the family of a man who died as a result of an unsafe work environment.

EXAMPLE CONSULTING PROJECTS

• Company’s main work involves consulting and we have worked with retail, restaurant, not-for-profit, construction, medical, manufacturing, consulting and aviation to name some industries. Below are some examples of our work projects.

DEVELOPING PUBLIC DATA PROFILES

• An international research company gathered public data on a client’s competitor’s CEO. Their client wanted to understand the competitor better in terms of likely behavior, e.g., takeover bid, merger, etc. Based on the data we developed a psychological profile of the CEO. The company found the information extremely useful.

COACHING EXECUTIVES

A national retail consulting firm had two VPs both of whom had been identified as key talent and both of whom were not being accepted among other key players and external partners. Both were assessed and subsequently coached for most of the year. In one case it became clear that one VP, while talented and good with people in some areas had basic irreconcilable trust issues with management that ultimately led to an amicable departure. The second VP was good at what he did but was not ‘selling’ his ideas and projected an unintentionally negative tone. Through coaching, he developed rapidly and grew into a larger role.

EXAMINING SAFETY AND QUALITY PROGRAMS

A large refinery asked company to examine one of their plants to see if the rigorous programs in Quality (LEAN) and Safety were functioning as desired. Company did lengthy one-on-one, on-site interviews with top plant management and a large representative sample of workers in all areas and all shifts in the 24/7 operation as well as examining files, programs, films of work accidents, and other data. Company found that the information on quality, while embraced by management, was not making it to the shop floor. Workers felt that LEAN was just another “theory of the moment” and that safety was unnecessary and/or subordinate to production. Company addressed this, as well as ethnic-related factors influencing compliance. As a result of the project findings the CEO and management were able to re-oriented thinking and attitudes, raise the plant safety rating and make the implementation of LEAN more efficient and worth the investment made.

HANDLING TRAGIC INCIDENTS.

Two managers were murdered by gun shot in a robbery gone wrong in one of the many stores in a large retail chain. As is often the case there was a ripple effect of fear in the thousands of other stores about ‘it could happen to us, too.” Company was called in to consider the psychological aspects of the best way to present and deal with the information both internally and externally—and in a way that acknowledged yet calmed fears and was consistent with company culture and the strong ethics of the two founders.

HANDLING A THREATENING EMPLOYEE

A disgruntled recently-fired employee had been sending threatening mail to management. Compnay was asked to read the mail, employee records, etc to determine the extent of the threat and make suggestions for handling the employee. Our analysis showed that there was sufficient cause for concern. We suggested ways to handle the employee that showed respect, stood firm in some areas and did not keep overly engaged. The former employee handled the resulting communication well and ceased making threats.

EXECUTIVE ASSESSMENT PRE-HIRE

As one example of thousands of Company’s executive assessment procedures: a final slate of five SVP HR candidates was determined by management. Each was assessed by Compnay with reports on each individual, suggested follow-up questions and comparison contrast of all five. As is often the case the Company found that all five were highly qualified; that said, one individual was clearly the weakest in terms of experience, another was a poor fit with the culture, and among the other three there were two top contenders with strong but very different styles. In discussions with the CEO and his top staff we suggested the one that most clearly fit their needs and lead to success in the position.

DEVELOPMENT OF MANAGEMENT TRAINING PROGRAM FOR INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION

A North America/China aviation joint venture asked Company to visit their plant in China to help develop training programs with a western philosophy and approach that would be accepted by the Chinese and able to be implemented in their culture. Previously the North America HR team had made an attempt at the program creation but were unsuccessful. Company found that the management team—while mostly western educated and fluent in English—had a difficult time grasping ‘obvious’ concepts such as delegation, which in western management were considered assumed behavior. With Company’s design, guidance, and training, the program was ultimately implemented with success.

IMPROVING EFFECTIVENESS AT A MEDICAL CLINIC

A medical clinic had difficulties with inefficiencies, bickering among the staff, prima donna doctors and marked communication problems among the two doctor owners. In a series of interviews and observations with staff and doctors Company found people who were underutilized, areas in which patient information was not being communicated and the locus of problems that were impeding communication among the owners. Company showed the owners that a few alterations to their communication and management, e.g., taking a hard line in some key areas, restructure of staffing and some simple but rigorous policies and procedures all of which was used by the owners with immediate effects.

FACILITATING EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATION

A large construction company was owned and managed by four brothers. Individually good performers they had difficulty in communicating among themselves as a team. Sometimes they simply did not communicate and at other times their anger made the meetings counterproductive. Company worked with them biweekly over the course of a year and helped them achieve key changes.

COMMUNICATION TRAINING

Designed communication training for a department in a public sector hospital organization. As is our usual approach we visited with members of the department individually and confidentially. While there were systemic issues there were also personal likes and dislikes – some extreme. By looking at the department overall and individually we were able to tailor a program that had both general communication suggestions as well as some very targeted suggestions.

Worked with the Accounting and Finance department in a large manufacturing company. We visited with individuals within the department. We found some systemic issues and also found one individual who was a very divisive element. We were able to tailor the course to their needs and made suggestions to make the problem individual more of an individual contributor.

UNDERSTANDING CORPORATE CULTURE

After working with a retail client for years in numerous areas of their business, Company felt confidence in an understanding of corporate culture. To further improve effectiveness we asked the CEO to draw up a list of key culture factors, Company did so independently and working with the CEO refined many factors to six key aspects of corporate culture with concrete examples of each. Too often companies espouse culture that contains abstract terms such as ‘excellence’ with no concrete examples – the list we helped develop was much more concrete. E.g. one key aspect of culture was ‘Deep Dive’ and was defined as “A willingness to understand our business at a store level, visiting stores, talking to shop personnel looking at product layout and always staying focused at that level. We do not have a Headquarters we have a Store Support Center.” Company uses this list in assessing candidates, which has dropped turnover and increased teamwork.

HELPING TO DESIGN CULTURE STATEMENT AND DECISION MAKING

An Oil and Gas company needed to more clearly define culture, executive team roles and decision-making. Using assessment and failure analysis we improved the organization’s effectiveness, communication, and teamwork.