Dr. Erich Prien

Erich P. Prien, an industrial/organizational psychologist based in Memphis, TN, specializes in the development, standardization, and application of psychological tests, especially in the workplace.  He is also the founder and President of Performance Management Press (PMP, which has been the principal marketing arm for his tests.

His recent government clients include the US Department of Justice, US Department of State, US Office of Personnel Management, US Equal Employment Commission, US Capital Police, Arkansas State Office of Personnel Management, Tennessee Valley Authority, and others.  His business clients include Miller Brewing Company, Florida Steel Corporation (now AmeriSteel), Personnel Designs, Inc.(now AON, Inc.), Sara Lee Hosiery Corporation, Weyerhauser Company, National Bank of Commerce in Memphis, Marquette Cement Company, Sessel’s Inc., a Memphis-based grocery chain, Garan, Inc., a multi-plant garment manufacturer.  In addition, Dr. Prien has served as an expert witness in disputes over employee selection, training, and advancement.

Dr. Prien is best known for his work in validation research for selection and promotion and in the development of performance appraisal systems.  His research interests are in criterion development and measurement and using job analysis to improve selection, promotion, training, performance appraisal and organization analysis.

Following receipt of his bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University, he earned his master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Ph. D. from Western Reserve University, in industrial/organizational psychology.  Dr. Prien has served as a research psychologist for the Standard Oil Company, as Assistant Director of the Psychological Research Service at Case Western University, as Adviser to the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces and as a faculty member at Greensboro College, University of Akron, Georgia Technical University, and Memphis State University from which he retired in 1987.  Following his retirement from Memphis State, Dr. Prien has devoted himself to his practice, his research, and to the management of PMP.

Over his career, Dr. Prien has published more than 100 research and scholarly articles, monographs and books, and has been a speaker at more than 100 conferences and conventions.  His most recent book is Individual Assessment as Practiced in Industry and Consulting co-authored by J. S. Schippman and K. O. Prien and published in 2003 by Lawrence Ehrlbaum Associates of Mahwah, NJ.  With Leonard D. Goodstein he has updated the Mechanical Understanding Test (MUT), the Management and Organizational Skills Test (MOST), and the Test of Supervisory Skills (TOSS), all three instruments published by HRD Press.

Dr. Prien is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and holds the Diploma in Industrial Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology.  Among his many awards the Distinguished Professional Award from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Author of the Year Award from the Journal of Performance and Instruction and is the two-time winner of the Creativity Research Award Winner, American Society for Personnel Administration.