Introduction to Work and Organizational Psychology

Course is elective course for students in the Bachelor program in psychology. Mandatory for students in the 1-year advanced program in public management. The course can be taken as a singular course

The purpose of the course is to give the students an overview of critical aspects of research in work and organizational psychology. Work and organizational psychology as a subject is based on applied knowledge from the field of psychology (e.g., social psychology, motivational psychology) as well as business and management studies (e.g., organizational behavior, human resource management).

The course will mainly focus on how psychological knowledge can be applied within organizations and management. Central themes will be work performance, occupational health psychology, interventions, work motivation, and people management (including leading teams). These areas are relevant to analyzing, understanding, and improving employees' work situations and organizational outcomes.

The subject is central for students who want to work in profit or non-profit organizations and interact with (other) employees, supervisors, and clients.

Successful completion of the course will lead to the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge:

Students will learn to

• Reflect on the most central topics and theories in work and organizational psychology
• Differentiate facets of work performance
• Appreciate the relevance of work-related well-being
• Know relevant high-performance work practices

Skills:

Students will develop in their skills to

• Conduct job and risk analysis
• Critical analysis and application of scientific evidence
• Develop a job intervention to implement change work in teams and organizations
• Reflect critically and develop systematic and innovative approaches to improve the status quo
• Write academically

Competencies:

Students will have developed skills that are transferable to other modules (and future employability), such as their ability to

• communicate scientific findings from research
• critically evaluate scientific evidence and its relevance to real life and interventions

If you pass the examination in this course, you will get an reduction in credits (as stated below), if you previously have passed the following courses:

• PSY-2010 Work and Organizational Psychology 10 ects
• BED-2034NETT Organisational psychology 10 ects
• BED-2034 Organisational psychology 10 ects

Language of instruction and examination

More info about the coursework requirements

Design intervention: Students shall inquire in their social network about job conditions that hinder work performance and/or work-related well-being and make a case for an intervention. Students shall describe the intervention following the principles of evidence-based management.

Feedback to fellow students on design of intervention: Students shall provide feedback on two fellow students’ cases (work requirement 1).

Re-sit examination