Q: WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL (I/O) PSYCHOLOGY EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM AND THE WATERLOO ORGANIZATIONAL RESEARCH AND CONSULTING (WORC) GROUP?
WORC Group members are either faculty members who teach in the I/O Psychology program, or graduate students who are enrolled in the program. When a project is arranged between a client and the WORC Group, qualified faculty and graduate students are recruited to form a designated project team.
Q: WHAT ARE THE RESPECTIVE FACULTY AND GRADUATE STUDENT ROLES ON PROJECT TEAMS?
One or more faculty members serve as supervisor, taking responsibility for overall design and implementation. Ordinarily one graduate team member serves as project manager and primary point of contact with the client. Other graduate team members acquire various project roles in line with the project management plan.
Q: IS THE FORMAL CONTRACT FOR SERVICES BETWEEN THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO AND THE CLIENT ORGANIZATION?
Yes, the University or one of its units (e.g., the Department of Psychology) is party to the formal contract.
Q: HOW IS THE AMOUNT OF FEE FOR SERVICE DETERMINED?
Fees depend on the nature and scale of work required. Some past work with charitable or arts-sector organizations has been pro bono and relatively small scale. Other work has involved acquisition of equipment or other resources for large scale projects such as big data analysis, with corresponding budget. Contracts ordinarily include an overhead component which may or may not be itemized, depending on client needs. Fixed or variable cost contracts are possible. Some project components could potentially be outsourced by the WORC Group, and budgeted accordingly.
Q: WHAT ARE SOME POTENTIAL ADVANTAGES OF SELECTING THE WORC GROUP AS A SERVICE PROVIDER?
Clients have told us that they appreciate how we have no agenda of our own when we work with them. For example, when our tasks include diagnostic services, our diagnosis is not biased toward recommending any particular follow-up service—because we aren't in the business of selling products to organizations. We have the capacity to develop solutions to many of the needs that diagnosis may uncover, but we would be happy to aid in finding existing solutions available from other vendors as well.