Week 1 — Overall Study Guide

Week 1 of BUS 623 opens the course by asking a deceptively simple question: what is applied psychology, and why should a manager who has never taken a psychology class care about it? The course text defines applied psychology as the branch of psychology that seeks to apply psychological principles to practical problems in the organization — an empathetic, evidence-based method for making decisions about an organization's people, from who gets hired to who gets promoted to who gets treated fairly along the way. Chapter 1 of Cascio and Aguinis lays out where this discipline touches human resources; Chapter 2 turns to the legal scaffolding — the federal and state statutes and court decisions — that every one of those decisions must operate inside.

The week carries two registers that build on each other. The introduction post and Discussion Forum 1 are exploratory: they ask you to reflect on your own organizational experience and to go find real-world examples of applied psychology at work. Discussion Forum 2 and the Applied Psychology and Changing Demographics assignment are legal and analytical: they ask you to reason through a discrimination scenario using Chapter 2's framework and then to research an actual case of employment discrimination and explain its lasting impact. Four deliverables in seven days is a fast start, and the assignment alone is worth more than both graded discussions combined.

Overview Table of Deliverables

The table below reproduces the Week 1 Overview page's deliverable table exactly. Four assessments carry weight this week; together they account for 15% of the course grade.

The Canvas Overview page lists three Weekly Learning Outcomes (WLOs). They are reproduced verbatim below, each followed by a note on what it actually requires of you and where in the week it is assessed.

Read the three outcomes as a single arc. WLO 1 establishes that applied psychology is not academic theory but a practical management tool already at work around you. WLO 3 supplies the legal floor beneath every talent-management decision — the statutes and rulings that define what fair treatment means. WLO 2 asks you to look forward, at how a changing, more diverse workforce and a shifting legal landscape (most visibly the Supreme Court's 2023 affirmative-action ruling) are reshaping what compliance requires. The course tags each deliverable to a specific WLO, so naming the relevant concepts explicitly in your posts and paper is cheap insurance on the grade.

The required text for the course is Cascio, W. F., & Aguinis, H. (2019). Applied Psychology in Talent Management (8th ed.). SAGE Publications, available in full text through the Ebook Central database in the UAGC Library. Week 1 assigns two chapters; the Canvas Resources page describes each and ties it to specific deliverables.

For a full walk-through of each chapter's frameworks, key terms, and closing questions, see the dedicated Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 deep-dive study guides on this site — this overview does not repeat that material, only where it lands in the week's work.

Articles and the EEOC Website

Beyond the two textbook chapters, the Resources page names four articles and one government website that anchor the week's discussion and assignment work.

• Ammerman, C., & Groysberg, B. (2021). How to close the gender gap. Harvard Business Review, 99(3), 124–133. Examines the job prospects available to women in senior organizational positions and potential solutions to close the gender gap; assists Discussion Forum 2.
• Lander, E. G., & McGinn, A. S. (2023). Impact of SCOTUS Affirmative Action Ruling on Employers. GPSolo, 40(6), 74–76. Covers the effect of the Supreme Court's ruling on workplace affirmative action and diversity initiatives, and the ABA's labor and employment law response; assists the Changing Demographics assignment.
• Ryall, J. J. (2017, November 28). The impact of psychology on talent management. LinkedIn. Explains the role of psychology in the talent management process; assists Discussion Forum 1.
• Scheiber, N. (2023, June 30). Affirmative action ruling may upend hiring policies, too. New York Times. Covers workplace diversity, the Supreme Court's decision on race-conscious admission, and the challenges of implementing the ruling; assists the Changing Demographics assignment.
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (n.d.). https://www.eeoc.gov/. The site's Newsroom section lists recent discrimination-case developments; assists Discussion Forum 2 and the Changing Demographics assignment.

Chapter 1 makes the case that applied psychology is not a soft add-on to management but a rigorous, evidence-based method for solving the practical problems every organization faces — who to hire, how to assess performance fairly, how to develop people, and how to make decisions about an organization's members that hold up under scrutiny. The chapter frames talent management as the arena where these psychological principles get put to work daily, and it sets up the introspective questions this week's discussion asks you to answer: how was your own organization managed, and were the hard workers actually rewarded?

Chapter 2 shifts from what applied psychology can do to what the law requires it to do. It surveys the elements of the U.S. legal system relevant to employment and works through the federal and state statutes, agencies, and court decisions that define unlawful discrimination. The chapter is explicit about definitions that matter this week: discrimination in the employment context means giving one group an unfair advantage over members of other groups. The chapter also distinguishes lawful business necessity and bona fide occupational qualifications from unlawful exclusion — a distinction Discussion Forum 2 tests directly.

Week 1 has four graded deliverables. Post Your Introduction is light-weight and stands alone; the other three each have a dedicated study guide that takes the prompt apart in full. The summaries below orient you and point you to the right companion document.

6.1 Post Your Introduction

Tagged to WLO 1 and CLOs 1 and 3, worth 1%, and due Day 1 (Tuesday). Introduce yourself to your peers: say whether you work in an organization that manages talent using applied psychology, share a non-proprietary experience that illustrates the practice, and optionally cover why you're in the MBA program, your course expectations, and what you hope to learn. The initial post runs 250 words minimum; respond to at least three classmates with 100+ words each by Day 7.

6.2 Discussion Forum 1 — Real-World Application of Applied Psychology

Tagged to WLO 1 and CLO 1, worth 3%. After reviewing Chapter 1 and the Ryall LinkedIn article, search the internet for three examples of applied psychology in talent management — current events are a good starting point — and explain how this method of management contributes to organizational goals. The initial post runs 200 words minimum, due Day 3; two peer replies of 100+ words each are due by Day 7. See the Week 1 Discussion Forum 1 Study Guide.

6.3 Discussion Forum 2 — Unfair Employment Discrimination

Tagged to WLO 3 and CLOs 1 and 2, worth 3%. After reviewing Chapter 2, the gender-gap article, and the EEOC website, you reason through a scenario in which ACME Financial Services' CEO asks you, the HR director, to hire only Asian males between 35 and 50 — a practice you know violates federal and state law. You identify the specific Chapter 2 section that guarantees equal opportunity, explain how you would respond to the CEO, and give an example where exclusion does not violate fair employment law. The initial post runs 200 words minimum, due Day 3; two peer replies of 100+ words each are due by Day 7. See the Week 1 Discussion Forum 2 Study Guide.

6.4 Assignment — Applied Psychology and Changing Demographics

Tagged to WLO 2 and CLOs 1 and 2, worth 8%, and due Day 7. A 3–4 page APA paper in which you research an actual, recent case of employment discrimination — the EEOC Newsroom is a suggested starting point — and identify the case, explain the specific type of discrimination, summarize the issue, findings, and outcome, and explain how the case's findings apply to today's practices. The paper requires at least two scholarly or credible sources beyond the course text. See the Week 1 Assignment Study Guide.

BUS 623 is built around a progression from foundational concepts toward applied, workplace-facing skill. Week 1 lays the two pillars everything after rests on: what applied psychology is and does (Chapter 1), and the legal boundaries within which every talent-management decision must operate (Chapter 2). Later weeks build specific applications — recruitment, selection, performance management, and development — on top of this foundation, and each of them assumes you already carry Week 1's vocabulary of applied psychology and fair employment law without re-explaining it.

The legal thread introduced this week, particularly around the 2023 Supreme Court affirmative-action ruling and its ripple effects into hiring policy, recurs whenever the course touches diversity, equity, or compliance. Treat Chapter 2 not as a one-week topic to clear and forget but as the reference chapter you will return to across the term.