Derek R. Avery
Professor
Contact Information:
Department of Psychology
University of Houston
126 Heyne Bldg.
Houston, TX 77204-5022
Phone: 713-743-3705
Fax: 713-743-8588
E-mail: davery@uh.edu
Derek R. Avery, an Associate Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Management at the University of Houston, received his Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Rice University in 2001. Dr. Avery joined the faculty at UH in August 2007. His primary research interests are in workforce diversity (including, but not limited to racioethnicity, sex, age, experience, religion, and culture), diversity climate, and employee input mechanisms. Before arriving at UH, he spent four years in the Erivan K. Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University and two years on the faculty in the Rutgers School of Business.
Teaching:
PSYC 7361 Organizational Effectiveness
PSYC 8393 Managing Diversity in the Workplace
My Teaching Philosophy:
My teaching philosophy centers on helping students to develop and sharpen their critical thinking skills. I firmly believe that one’s ability to acquire and process information is a far more important determinant of life success than the content knowledge that can be acquired in any particular course. This is not, however, to suggest that mastery of content is not important. Rather, training students to become critical consumers of knowledge encourages a process of lifelong learning that commences with, but is not limited to, the material covered in my classes. To facilitate this process, I (a) actively facilitate student involvement, (b) focus on making concepts relatable, (c) promote a research climate, (d) encourage reflection, and (e) have fun.
Encouraging Student Involvement. Although there are a number of ways to get students involved in the learning process, over time I have developed a personal approach. To begin, I take every opportunity to increase student ownership of the course. I see my role as similar to that of a driving instructor during driver education: Help the student learn to engage in the process on his or her own to ensure that they won’t need my assistance to get where they need to go in the future. This means explaining lesson plans to help students understand the rationale for the topics we cover and the sequence in which we cover them. It means encouraging active questioning through the use of the Socratic Method. I find that after responding to enough of my questions, students begin to develop many of their own, examining the accuracy and validity of their existing knowledge base and any materials to which they are exposed.
Making Concepts Relatable. Nothing is more frustrating to me that being forced to do what I consider to be a waste of time. Consequently, it is of utmost importance to help students see the value in the learning process we are asking them to undertake. Material learned for the sake of a grade, or worse yet – course completion, is often fleeting. By helping students to understand why topics are important and how they are applicable in their lives, the grade becomes secondary to the learning because the learning has value on its own accord.
Promoting a Research Climate. As a faculty member, I am expected to conduct research not only to generate new knowledge for the field, but also to enhance my own understanding. By getting students involved in the research process, students shift from passive to active learning. The process of generating research ideas inspires intellectual curiosity. Learning to test these ideas fosters the development of transferable life skills (e.g., problem-solving). Empirically acquiring the answers to their questions leaves an impact greater than anything they could read from a textbook or hear in a lecture.
Encourage Reflection. Even when I’m able to accomplish the first three goals, it is easy for students not to recognize the lessons they are learning. Often, we become accustomed to learning in one fashion, such as memorizing from lectures or reading materials, and don’t realize when we’re learning via an alternative manner. For this reason, encouraging student reflection is critical. It is amazing to me how often students have told me that they never realized how much they were learning until I forced them to take time to reflect on the process!
Having Fun. Although learning can be difficult and time-consuming, it also can be quite pleasant. I’ve found that when I’m not enjoying the process, neither are my students. Enthusiasm in the classroom is often infectious, spreading from student to student and it starts with me.
Research Statement:
Workforce Diversity. Individual differences are one of the most fascinating aspects of psychology. Examining the impact of these differences, particularly along demographic characteristics, in the workplace is a central focus of my research. For instance, my work has examined racioethnic differences in applicant recruitment/job search from both theoretical and empirical perspectives (Avery, 2003a; Avery, 2003b; Avery, Hernandez, & Hebl, 2004; McKay & Avery, 2005; McKay & Avery, 2006). From a methodological standpoint, my research has examined the measurement equivalence of a popular measure of ethnic identity across racioethnic groups (Avery, Tonidandel, Thomas, Johnson, & Mack, 2007) and used Monte Carlo simulations to explore alternative explanations for asymmetrical effects in the relational demography literature (Tonidandel, Avery, McKay, & Buckholtz, 2008). My colleagues and I also have examined how different experiences can make people better or worse leaders (Avery, Tonidandel, Griffith, & Quiñones, 2003) and mentors (Tonidandel, Avery, & Phillips, 2006). My current projects in this area further examine the relationship between experience and leadership effectiveness and assess the linkage between age and counterproductive workplace behavior.
Diversity Climate. In addition to the more micro examinations of individual differences, I’m also interested in more macro examinations of diversity in organizations. One construct in particular that I’ve studied is diversity climate. For example, my work has discussed how organizations can use impression management to convey to prospective applicants that their diversity climates are hospitable (Avery & McKay, 2006). My colleagues and I also have shown that previously demonstrated racioethnic differences in employee withdrawal (i.e., absenteeism and turnover) and performance are more pronounced when employees perceive their organization’s diversity climate unfavorably (i.e., inhospitable to diversity) and negligible when they perceive it favorably (Avery, McKay, Wilson, & Tonidandel, 2007; McKay, Avery, & Morris, 2008; McKay, Avery, Tonidandel, Morris, Hernandez, & Hebl, 2007). My current work on this topic links diversity climate to several key unit-level financial outcomes, showing its bottom-line impact.
Employee Input. For more than 30 years, researchers have studied the effects of providing individuals the opportunity to express their views about important decisions (i.e., voice). Despite considerable consistency in its demonstrated effects on outcomes (e.g., procedural fairness, satisfaction with leaders), there are important boundary conditions that serve to limit the impact of voice. My research has sought to identify and explore these boundary conditions. For instance, there are several key components involved in voice processes (i.e., voice opportunity, perceived voice opportunity, voice instrumentality, and voice behavior) and each plays a distinct role in voice effects (Avery & Quiñones, 2002). Moreover, the effects of voice are more pronounced for those placing greater value on voice opportunity (Avery & Quiñones, 2004). In examining what types of people are more likely to value voice, I found that extraverts and those who perceive themselves to be more capable of making substantive contributions (i.e., higher in voice self-efficacy) place greater value on voice than introverts or those lower in voice self-efficacy (Avery, 2003c). My current research in this area examines additional boundary conditions to further expand theory and refine practice related to voice.
Research Team Members:
Advisees:
Mark Elliott
Brooke Lerman
Aditi Raghuram
Sabrina Volpone
Other UH graduate students involved in collaborative research with Professor Avery:
Emily David
Emily Hunter
Aleksandra Luksyte
Altovise Rogers
Cristina Rubino
Robert Stewart
Raenada Wilson
Publications
Recent Scholarly Articles
Tonidandel, S., Avery, D. R., Bucholtz, B., & McKay, P. F. (2008). An alternative explanation for the asymmetrical effects in relational demography research. Personnel Psychology, 61, 617-633.
Wilson, D. C., McKay, P. F., & Avery, D. R. (2008). Affirmative action programs for women and minorities: Expressed support affected by question order. Public Opinion Quarterly, 72, 514-522.
McKay, P. F., Avery, D. R., & Morris, M. A. (2008). Mean racial-ethnic differences in employee sales performance: The moderating role of diversity climate. Personnel Psychology, 61, 349-374.
Avery, D. R., McKay, P. F., & Wilson, D. C. (2008). What are the odds? How demographic similarity affects the prevalence of perceived employment discrimination. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 235–249.
Avery, D. R., Tonidandel, S., & Phillips, M. (2008). Similarity on sports sidelines: How mentor-protégé sex similarity affects mentoring. Sex Roles, 58, 72-80.
Avery, D. R., McKay, P. F., Wilson, D. C., & Tonidandel, S. (2007). Unequal attendance: The relationships between race, organizational diversity cues, and absenteeism. Personnel Psychology, 60, 875–902.
Avery, D. R., McKay, P. F., & Wilson, D. C. (2007). Engaging the aging workforce: How age, workgroup age composition, and satisfaction with older and younger coworkers affect employee engagement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1542-1556.
Avery, D. R., Tonidandel, S., Thomas, K. M., Johnson, C. D., & Mack, D. A. (2007). Assessing the multigroup ethnic identity measure for measurement equivalence across racial and ethnic groups. Educational & Psychological Measurement, 67, 877-888.
McKay, P. F., Avery, D. R., Tonidandel, S., Morris, M., Hernandez, M., & Hebl, M. R. (2007). Racial differences in employee retention: Are diversity climate perceptions the key? Personnel Psychology, 60, 35-62. [Selected as a finalist / runner-up for the HR Division of Academy of Management Scholarly Achievement Award for 2007]
Sample of Recent Conference Papers
* Indicates current or former student.
McKay, P. F., Avery, D. R., Liao, H., & Morris, M. (2008, August). Race matters even more: How minority representation moderates diversity climate effects on customer satisfaction. To be presented at the 2008 Academy of Management Meeting in Anaheim, CA.
Avery, D. R., McKay, P. F., Wilson, D. C., & *Volpone, S. (2008, August). Attenuating the effect of seniority on intent to remain: The role of perceived inclusiveness. To be presented at the 2008 Academy of Management Meeting in Anaheim, CA.
*David, E., Witt, L. A, Avery, D. R, & Carlson, D. (2008, April). Peer influences on family-to-work enrichment. Presented at the 23rd annual SIOP conference in San Francisco, CA.
McKay, P. F., Avery, D. R., & Wilson, D. C. (2008, April). To stay or not to stay? Race and place attachment. Presented at the 23rd annual SIOP conference in San Francisco, CA.
Avery, D. R., *Volpone, S., & McKay, P. F. (2008, April). Engaging workforce 2000: Linkages between racioethnicity, appraisals perceptions, and engagement. Presented at the 23rd annual SIOP conference in San Francisco, CA.
McKay, P. F., Avery, D. R., & Morris, M. A. (2007, August). The interaction of subordinates’ and managers’ diversity climates on store unit sales performance. Presented at the 2007 Academy of Management Meeting, Philadelphia, PA. [Awarded the Dorothy B. Harlow Award for the best paper submitted to the Gender & Diversity in Organizations Division]