SUBJECT

Organisational Psychology

lecture

master

Faculty of Education and Psychology

4

Semester 1

Autumn semester

Aim of the course:

As a result of the course students will learn the main theories of organisational psychology. They get an introduction on the psychological factors of individual, team and organizational performance and effectiveness. The course will give an overview of the current issues of organisational psychology: challenges organizations and its members must deal with in today’s business environment.

Learning outcome, competences

knowledge:

• Foundations of organisational psychology
• Individuals and groups in organisations
• Reframing organisations
• Organizational culture: definition, components and relationship with strategy
• Organisational learning and learning organisations
• How organisations change and develop

attitudes:

• Representing evidence based organizational psychology
• Accepting the role and importance of psychological capital

skills:

• Ability to provide a clear explanation of the organization and workplaces according to the scientific models and results of organizational psychology research
• System thinking

Content of the course

Topics of the course

• Organisational psychology as a field of applied psychology and a scientific area
• Understanding individuals in organizations. Role of personality factors. Classic and modern theories of work motivation
• Teams in organisation. Effects of group work on performance. Trust in teams. How team develop. Diversity in teams. Formal and informal networks. Virtual teams. Psychology of crowdsourcing.
• Reframing organizations: machine, living organism, political arena, psychic prison, and other symbolic perspectives.
• Definition of organizational culture. Diagnosing and changing organizational culture. Cultural differences in organisations. Meaning making in organizations and organizational narrative.
• Organizational learning, development and innovation. Psychological aspects of knowledge sharing. Mental models and organizational memory. Characteristics of learning organization, collective learning and reflectivity.
• Positive organisational researches. The construct and measurement of psychological capital.
• The organization as a complex and chaotic system. Research in organizational psychology.
• Role of emotions in organizations.

Learning activities, learning methods

• Participatory lectures, student presentations, experiential exercises and self-assessment questionnaires
• Guest lecturers from the field of organization psychology

Evaluation of outcomes

Learning requirements, mode of evaluation, criteria of evaluation:

requirements

• knowledge of the course material and the readings
• student presentations

mode of evaluation: ………….

• test (exam)

criteria of evaluation:

• exam (80%)
• student presentation (20%)

Compulsory reading list

• Landy F.J., Conte J.M. Work in the 21st Century: An introduction to industrial and organizational psychology. 3rd ed. Wiley, 2010. P. 3-28.

Recommended reading list

• Porter, L. W., & Schneider, B. (2014). What was, what is, and what may be in OP/OB. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1, 1–21.
• Schein E.H. (2015). Organizational Psychology Then and Now: Some Observations. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2, 1–19.
• Briner, R.B. & Rousseau, D.M. (2011). Evidence-Based I-O Psychology: Not there yet. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 4, 3-22.
• Schmitt, N. & S. Highhouse (Eds.). (2012) Handbook of Psychology: Industrial and Organizational Psychology (vol 12, revised).