In their focal article, Chamorro-Premuzic, Winsborough, Sherman, and Hogan (2016) provide an overview of a number of new technologies with potentially significant implications for talent management related practices of industrial–organizational (I-O) psychology (both challenges and opportunities) that they label as “new talent signals.” These signals, they argue, are part of a revolution, due to increasing levels of social activity online as well as data-collection and mining techniques that have overtaken the conventional practice of talent identification in organizations. Their position is that these trends are leaving I-O psychologists in the dust in terms of our existing traditional theory, research, and methodologies. Their optimistic tone, however, also seems to suggest that while these approaches “have not yet demonstrated validity comparable with old school methods, they tend to disregard theory, and they pay little attention to the constructs being assessed (Chamorro-Premuzic et al., p. 634)” they may, in fact, have some legitimate basis in the identification of talent. Their point, of course, is that momentum in this area has surpassed human resources (HR), let alone I-O psychology, so that any concerns one might have about these trends are essentially “irrelevant.” This reminds us of a reference to lemmings going off a cliff together.

Hyland, Lee, and Mills (2015) open a door for discussing the benefits, utility, and challenges of mindfulness at work. Although it is evident from Hyland and colleagues that mindfulness can minimize negative employee outcomes (such as the experience of stress, strain, and burnout) and promote cognitive functioning, there seems to be limited consideration of how mindfulness actively promotes employee growth, development, high performance, and engagement. In this commentary, we speak to how mindfulness can encourage positive well-being at work in a hospital context. Specifically, we consider how mindfulness programs are currently being used in the ongoing training and development of nurses to cultivate patient-centered compassionate care. We propose that mindfulness can encourage positive well-being and compassionate care via the cultivation of resources and the creation of resource gain spirals, and we provide preliminary evidence for the utility of mindfulness training in hospital care settings.

Pulakos, Mueller Hanson, Arad, and Moye (2015) have stated that performance management (PM) best practices have resulted in the dissatisfaction of employees and managers with PM reviews and systems. The authors have suggested that the focus should be on driving critical PM behaviors that have been shown to increase engagement and performance. Corporate Leadership Council (2004) research demonstrated that increased engagement takes place when PM behaviors such as setting clear expectations, providing regular feedback, and helping employees develop and succeed occur. In addition, effective PM happens when employees are contributing to the process as well.

The purpose of this rebuttal to Costanza and Finkelstein (2015) is (a) to examine the findings surrounding the new generations at work, (b) to suggest the risks of not responding to change in generations with new talent strategies, and (c) to propose a new theory about the development of a new millennial culture and how practitioners and researchers may capitalize on the promise of a more positive and joyful workplace culture. We propose to accomplish these points by (a) citing recent global findings showing that Millennials (born after 1980) are turning away from companies with cultures that were designed for 20th century workers, (b) presenting a theory on the development of an emerging millennial culture that is based on positive industrial and organizational psychology, and (c) recommending that the method of innovation design teams be used to render workplaces compatible with the emerging culture.

The comments and suggestions prompted by K. R. Murphy’s (2008) description of alternate models of the relationship between job performance and ratings of job performance reflect 3 broad themes: (a) the relationship between performance appraisal and performance measurement, (b) the best psychometric models for understanding performance ratings, and (c) the appropriateness of static measures for dynamic phenomena. This paper comments on these 3 themes and suggests directions for future research and practice in performance appraisal that focuses on rater goals, organizational interventions to improve the accuracy and value of ratings, and assessments of the value of performance ratings as criteria.

For many, Penn State is synonymous with football and Coach Joe Paterno, an association that has been a source of pride for many alumni, staff, and students for years. As Alderfer's (2013) article summarizes, that overlap has now made the horrific behaviors of the former football coach Sandusky indelibly connected to Penn State. Alderfer argues that the scandal can be explained by the actions or inactions of nine Penn State groups “whose collective behavior first allowed the criminal acts to occur and then put an end to them” (p. 117).

The U.S. labor market continues to grapple with a “skills gap” (Marshall & Craig, 2019): a disconnect between the skills employers need and the number of job-seekers with those skills. Compounded by historically low unemployment rates, this gap is leaving employers with unfilled jobs and narrow talent pipelines. Concurrently, there are lingering concerns regarding underrepresentation of women and minorities in certain sectors of the labor market—particularly occupations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This article examines how the traditional interest-only career guidance tools used in education significantly influence the gender-based skills gaps that persist in high-demand careers and introduces YouScience, a company that is helping ameliorate the skills gap by combining measures of aptitudes and interests in a new career discovery platform. We close by presenting action steps for students, parents, educators, and counselors, as well as positing possible effects of COVID-19 on career exploration and counseling.

Here, we expand on Landers and Behrend's (2015) discussion of the external validity of convenience samples. In particular, we note that their focal article failed to mention one important limitation of multi-organization convenience samples (e.g., MTurk samples, student samples): Multi-organization convenience samples tend to confound levels of analysis, which affects the external validity of these samples. Specifically, between-organizations phenomena (i.e., organization-level) and within-organizations phenomena (i.e., individual-level) are distinct and separable (Ostroff, 1993; Robinson, 1950). Unfortunately, multi-organization samples such as those found in MTurk or MBA student samples can confound these two sets of phenomena. The current commentary uses a levels-of-analysis framework to expand on Landers and Behrend's discussion of what external validity is, and then the commentary illustrates how the diversity of convenience samples can actually harm external validity under some common circumstances.

Adler et al. (2016) raise some controversial issues about whether performance rating systems should be eliminated or not. We strongly believe that the decision to do away with performance ratings is premature because more research needs to be done, as suggested by “the better questions” that Adler et al. listed at the end of the focal article. We propose that those questions can be extended further by testing them in other cultures and supplemented with these questions: When, how, and why do cultural values influence performance management? Given the nature of our increasingly diverse workforce in which employees with different cultural values work together within the same organization, it is crucial to identify and document the influence of culture on performance appraisal practices. In this commentary, we briefly summarize research to date on the influence of cultural values on performance management and identify some important future research directions.