Workplace Drug Testing: Review of Psychological, Financial and Legal Implications

3238 Words7 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effective drugs testing in the workplace

Human resource practitioners and I/O psychologists have at their disposal a host of personnel assessment techniques. For example, traditional predictive measures used to screen job applicants have included the use of application blanks, job interviews and psychometric measures of personality and cognitive ability. For the most part these instruments attempt to predict an applicant's potential for success by estimating her current level of functioning on some psychological construct that is believed to be related to job performance. Recently, however, personnel professionals have added a unique assessment technique to their arsenal. Unlike traditional predictive measures of job performance- mental and motor functioning and personality attributes- drug testing attempts to evaluate candidates by chemically screening their urine for mind-altering substances. By collecting urine samples from job applicants and performing chemical tests on them, employers are able tell whether or not these individuals have illegal substances in their blood streams (Muchinsky, 1997). While a negative result on a drug test certainly does not predict a high level of job performance, those applicants who test positive for drugs are generally viewed as less than desirable. Such tests have been shown to be highly reliably; more reliable in fact than most traditional measures used by psychologists. The validity of such measures, however, has been questioned. The issue of drug test validity will be discussed later in this review. The use of drug screening procedures is not limited to job applicants; and it is not uncommon for organizations to regularly test their current employees for the use of illegal substances. Much of the rese...

... middle of paper ...

...

Muchinsky, P.M. (1997). Psychology Applied to Work (5th ed.) Pacific Grove, California: Brooks/Cole.

Normand, J., Salyards, S.D. & Mahoney, J.J. (1990).An Evaluation of Preemployment Drug Testing. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 629-639.

Sheppard, B.H., Lewicki, R.J. & Minton, J.W. (1992). Organizational Justice: The Search for Fairness in the Workplace. New York: Lexington Books.

Stone, D.L & Kotch, D.A. (1989). Individuals' Attitudes Toward Organizational Drug Testing Policies and Practices. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 518-521.

Susser, P.A. (1985). Legal Issues Raised by Drugs in the Workplace. Labor Law Journal, 36, 42-54.

Tepper, B.J. (1994). Investigation of General and Program specific Attitudes Toward Corporate Drug Testing Policies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 392-401.

Show More
Related

  • Barbara Ehrenreich 's Nickel And Dimed

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    ?). Drug use and abuse has become a widespread issue within the United States. One of its most troubling aspects being the abuse of pharmaceutical and prescription drugs, painkillers raising the most concern. Drugs such as Oxycontin, Ambien, and Xanax are being prescribed by doctors and given to the public and then being misused, causing more harm than good. ADD SOURCE THAT EXPLAINS THE MANIFESTATION OF THIS. Barbara Ehrenreich, an American author and sociologist explores this very problem in her book, Nickel and Dimed. When talking about a worker’s use of medication, Ehrenreich claims that, “Unfortunately, the commercial tells us, we workers can exert the same kind of authority over our painkillers that our bosses exert over us. If Tylenol doesn’t want to work for more than four hours, you just fire its ass and switch to Aleve”(25). In other words, Ehrenreich is stating how the media is pushing drugs onto the working class and through the use of personification she illustrates how workers identify themselves with the medications they are taking. Employees will opt for the most efficient medication in order to be efficient themselves, which reduces them to a less than human kind of being for their employer’s benefit. If any of the employees fail to meet the expectations set for them, a new recruit from the company’s “pool of cheap labor” can easily replace them. Pharmaceutical and prescription drug abuse is becoming a growing concern amongst low wageworkers because of their variety, easy access, and social acceptance.

    Read More

  • New and Improved Rewards at Work

    1579 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...lley, W. H., Jennings, K. M., Wolters, R. S., & Mathis, R. L. (2012). Employment & Labor Relations. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

    Read More

  • The Unfairness of Drug Testing in Low-Wage Jobs

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    Two sources that prove that drug testing in the U.S is unfair and unjust are Nickel and

    Read More

  • Los Angeles Police Department and New York City Police Department

    640 Words  | 2 Pages

    is required to take prior to hiring. A psychological test is taken as well to evaluate

    Read More

  • A Summary of Shakespeare's Othello

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    Desdemona represents many characteristics throughout the play Othello. The attributes of one such as Desdemona appear to be the perfect qualities that a woman can possess. Yet it is these same seemingly wonderful qualities that turn against their host, blinding them to the realities of society. Her trust in her husband does not allow her to see the beast he has become. Her loyalty to her friends blurs how the relationship may be seen from outside sources. Overall, this “perfect” Desdemona leads herself to her death, yet has no knowledge of doing so while on her life's journey. She leads on the perfect life, but in the end shows to every extent, that not everything can last forever. Not even your own loyalty to a relationship can last forever.

    Read More

  • Jealousy And Jealousy In Othello

    890 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...race, beauty and status put her on a pedestal like a goddess allowing him to idolize her and therefore never truly deserve her. Beneath his noble persona on display for all to see, the idealistic view of his wife, leads him to believe that she will never be able to fully reciprocate the love he has for her. Iago’s exploitative tactics used for revenge trigger Othello’s fatal insecurities to surface for the ultimately climactic ending in which he smothers Desdemona with a pillow before discovering “honest” Iago had been deceiving him, as well as the majority of the other characters, the entire time. Outraged, Othello attempts to stab Iago as revenge for being manipulated into killing his beloved wife, however when his hasty murder attempt fails, the heartbroken and worn-out man stabs himself next to the already dead Desdemona, whom he never believed he was worthy of.

    Read More

  • Improving Drug Testing for Federal Employees

    1438 Words  | 3 Pages

    In an effort to make drug testing for employees of the federal government more accurate, to deter false positives and false negatives it has been suggested to use alternative methods of testing. The Associated Press reported a movement by the federal government to "overhaul its employee drug testing program". (TAP, pg 1) Currently, the government tests its employees during the pre-employment selection and when accidents

    Read More

  • American Hegemony in the Twenty-First Century: Consensus and Legitimacy

    6585 Words  | 14 Pages

    Abstract: Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been the world’s only unquestioned superpower. How the United States evaluates its position as global hegemon has important consequences for American foreign policy, particularly with regards to the potential for future policy constraints. Thus, this paper seeks to consider the question: How durable is American hegemony? The paper first defines the state of American hegemony and then considers the primary challengers: Europe, Russia, China, Japan and imperial overstretch. It will conclude that in the long-term, East Asian geopolitical instability poses the greatest threat to American hegemony, but that in the short-term, the hegemony will prove to be quite durable as long as the United States can counteract the phenomenon of imperial overstretch. In order to diffuse both internal and international threats to hegemony, American leaders should work to pursue national interests within a framework of consensus and legitimacy as much as possible.

    Read More

  • Inappropriate Drug Use Essay

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many people associate inappropriate drug use with loss of responsibility. The user does not show up on time for work, or if they do they may not be able to work to the best of their ability since they are under the

    Read More

  • Blind Persistence

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    The play Othello by William Shakespeare is a portrayal of jealousy and deception. The two characters Cassio and Roderigo play a vital role throughout the play in portraying Shakespeare’s theme of how ignorance, whether it be words of advice from others or just indications, can lead to one’s downfall. Cassio and Roderigo both play an essential role in showing how being persistent—ignoring everything that could be signs of warning—to attain what we want is not always the correct approach.

    Read More

  • Random Drug Testing is Ethical and Necessary

    1164 Words  | 3 Pages

    Job skills and training can even be investigated by the employer. The employee is to perform services and these services must be done in a certain manner. Someone who is incoherent because of drug abuse cannot be a pilot for example. This is why employers can test to see if characteristics or tendencies would affect performance. An employee may not want to give a urine or blood sample. The employee may not want to include all of their references but this is besides the fact that an employer is entitled to them. More and more employers are starting to feel this way. "A 1996 survey by the American Management Association found 81 percent of major U.S. companies had drug-testing programs at that time compared with 78 percent in 1995 and just 22 percent in 1987." (May 2) The employer has a right to only certain information and the line must also be drawn in the procedure to obtain the information.

    Read More

  • Desdemona as a Tragic Victim in ‘Othello’

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Shakespeare’s play “Othello” the main characters Othello and Desdemona suffer a tragic fate due to their actions and unforeseen circumstances. A majority of Desdemona’s suffering is down to Iago’s manipulation. However, it could also be argued that Iago is not completely to blame for the misfortune of Desdemona. We as the readers can see evidence of this at certain points in the play where Iago has planted the seeds of despair and Desdemona and Othello have fallen for his plans. In this essay, I will look at key moments in the play where Desdemona is presented as a tragic victim by the writer and justify why she is a tragic victim using quotes from the play.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Roderigo in Othello

    992 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Shakespeare’s play, Othello, several incidents occur that portray the purpose of Roderigo’s character. If one event is isolated from the rest, the thematic desire is lost. It is only when the events are looked at as a whole that the actual theme is obtained. Roderigo is a minor character who carries out a vital role in the play. Although Roderigo has very few lines, he plays a crucial role on a thematic level.

    Read More

  • My Experience Of Psychometric Tests And My Personal Experience

    1333 Words  | 3 Pages

    Psychometric tests are designed to measure the behaviour and capabilities of possible employees. (Johnstone, 1999). Employers use these tests to measure two categories of qualities – abilities and preferences (Mills et al., 2011). This provides an effective and efficient way to find the best person for the job as the tests give a true reflection of how an employee can accomplish assigned tasks which is completed online as part of the application process. Candidates are chosen for the next stage of the process through the comparison of test scores, resulting in grouping candidates into high and low percentile scoring categories. The higher scoring applicants are put through to the next stage of the process. This would normally be the interviewing stage. The lower scoring applicants would be declined. This is a form of filtering down the number of applicants, although the interviewing stage provides the means of selection, despite its subjectivity the tests provide a uniform set of standards to measure one candidate objectivity against another (Johnstone,1999). Psychometric

    Read More

  • The Rise of Universities in Medieval Europe

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    Starkey, M. (2009) What is a University? Explaining the Rise of Universities in Medieval Europe, an Education Studies essay, 9th March, School of Education, University of Northampton, online at:

    Read More

More about Workplace Drug Testing: Review of Psychological, Financial and Legal Implications

Open Document