ORG 303 CT 2New London Case Study:The City of New London, Connecticut, was developing a system to select police officers. One of th etests it selected was the Wonderlic Personnel Test, a cognitive abi

ORG 303 CT 2

New London Case Study:

The City of New London, Connecticut, was developing a system to select police officers. One of th etests it selected was the Wonderlic Personnel Test, a cognitive ability test that was metnitioned in this chapter. For each occupation, the Wonderlic provides minimum score and a maximum score. For police officers, the minimum score is 20 and the maximum is 27. Robert J Jordan applied for a job as a police officer but was not given an interview because his score of 33 (equivlent to an IQ of 125) made him “to bright” to be a cop. New London’s reasoning was the highly intelligent officers would get bored with their jobs and would either cause trouble or quit. The New Londdon’s deputy police chief was quoted as saying, “Bob Jordan is exactly the type of guy we would want to screen out. Police work is kind of mundane. We don’t deal in gunfights every night. There’s a personality that can take that.” Turnover was a great concern, as the city spend about $25,000 sending each officer through the academy. 

The police department in neighboring Groton, Connecticut, also uses Wonderlic but tries to hire the highest scores possible- a policy with which most I/O psychologists would agree. 

When New London’s policy recieved nathional publicity, the city became the butt of many jokes and the police became a source of embarrassment to many of the residients. According to one residient, “I’d rather have them hire the right man or woman for the job and keep replacing them than have the same moron for twenty years.” Another commented, “Your average dunderhead is not the person you want to try to solve a fight between a man and his wife at 2:00 am.” The ridicule got so bad that another city ran an ad asking, “Too smart to work for New London? Apply with us”; San Francisco police chief Fred Lau encouraged Jordan to apply to the San Fransico Police Department; and host Jay Leno rewrote the theme song for the television show to include, ” Dumb cops, dumb cops, whatcha gonna do with a low IQ?”

Jordan filed a lawsuit but lost. The judge ruled, “Plaintiff may have been disqualified unwisely bu he was not denied equip protection.”

Option #1: New London Case Study

Read the City of New London, Connecticut, Police Department in Chapter 5 of Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

Then, write a 2-4-page paper and select one of the two assignment options to accompany your paper: I will handle the slides I just need assistance with the written paper portion.

• Develop a 5-7 slide PowerPoint presentation that corresponds to your paper
• OR upload a 10-15 minute audio or video presentation that corresponds to your paper, edit if needed. 

Answer the following questions:

• Evaluate New London’s reasoning about being “too bright.”
• Critique the judge’s decision that it was not discriminatory to not hire people who are highly intelligent.
• How would an ethical leader have determined the cognitive ability requirements for this job?

Adhere to the following standards:

• Your paper should be two to four pages in length, not including the title or reference pages.
• Review the grading rubric, which can be accessed on the Materials link for each week.
• Be sure to follow the CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA.
• Your paper should include an introduction, a body with at least two fully developed paragraphs, and a conclusion.
• Support your interpretation with evidence from the book and at least two peer-reviewed journal articles from the library.
• Your PowerPoint presentation should be 5-7 slides and include a reference list and citations. See the Example PPT Presentation in the Online Research and Writing Lab OR
• Your audio or video presentation should be 10-15 minutes in length and be accompanied by speaker notes and a reference list of citations. Record your presentation with audio or video and upload to Schoology.