Organizational Psychology

About this MicroMasters

Organizational psychology is a quickly growing field due to the importance of work in people’s lives. Given the amount of time most of us spend at work, it is important to create workplaces that have a positive impact on employees, and support productivity. This MicroMasters introduces this exciting and dynamic field, by presenting topics that are relevant to anyone interested in understanding working life better through learning more about the psychology of work and organizations. You will learn about concepts and skills that can be directly apply to your own work situation.

This program will be useful for anyone with some background in psychology, human resource management, or related areas, or anyone who is working, perhaps in a team leader or managerial role, and want to add knowledge and skills to their toolbox.

The topics covered in this MicroMasters are selected to give an overview of the most salient processes that organizations deal with, from the perspective of how employees are affected by these processes and how they respond to them. Each course combines the latest research evidence with our own research on leadership and employee wellbeing, brought to life by examples from our own experience working with organizations. We are bringing selected parts of the University of Canterbury’s well established and trusted organizational psychology program to you.

Completing the five courses will give you a deeper understanding of people at work, and how organizations can get the best out of their people. These courses also give you solutions to common workplace issues; getting the right person and motivating staff, how to promote psychologically healthy workplaces and create an inclusive climate where people thrive.

To get the most out of these courses, we recommend that you complete all five, since the topics are linked to each other, and you will gain a deeper understanding, and be able to see how the different topics connect as you go through the courses.

First, we start by focusing on recruitment and selection. Our second course focuses on how we get the best out of employees. We explore contemporary challenges for organizations, starting with reviewing aspects of leadership and how leaders play an important role in shaping organizational success. Then we move onto the topic of recurring changes and how employees and organizations are best supported through initiatives to support innovation. Finally, we explore factors that promote psychologically healthy workplaces.

What you'll learn

• To apply psychological theories to the process of recruiting and selecting the right person for the job while minimizing bias in the selection process.
• To apply motivation theories to performance management and appraisal, and to design appraisal systems that help promote high performance.
• To understand significant leadership theories, and to explain the development of leadership skills and how they relate to employee engagement.
• To apply core psychological concepts to explain how to build psychologically healthy and productive workplaces.
• To understand and explain the factors leading to successful organizational change and learning among employees.

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