Occupational and organisational psychology deals with human experience and behaviour at work and in organisations. Specifically, it is about researching how work should be organised so that people can perform well at work and develop further while remaining healthy. Among other things, the following topics are dealt with in work and organisational psychology:
• Concepts of people within organisations and organisational theories
• Analysis, evaluation, and design of work
• Effects of work, strain analyses, work and health
• Job satisfaction, motivation, engagement, and work performance
• Personnel selection, personnel development, and employee retention
• Organisational diagnostics and organisational development
• Leadership, communication, and cooperation in teams
• Division of labour between humans and machines
Courses in the Bachelor's programme
In the Bachelor's degree course in Psychology, we provide an overview of the central topics of work and organisational psychology in the lecture "Work, organisational, and environmental psychology". The main aim is to impart knowledge.
You can deepen your knowledge of work and organisational psychology in a seminar from the "Special Topics in Industrial and Organizational Psychology" section. You have the opportunity to choose between several topics. All seminars focus on interactive teaching, which includes reading original literature, presentations, discussions and group work. In recent semesters, the seminars have focussed on the following topics:
• Work Analysis
• Effective Communication in Cross-Cultural Negotiations
• Health-promoting leadership
• Learning and development through work design
• Life-domain balance
• Motivation at work
• Project and evaluation concepts for workplace health promotion
• Psychological principles of negotiation, persuasion, and influencing
• Psychosocial risk factors at work and stress
In order to specialise even further, you also have the opportunity to choose exercises from the other areas with a focus on work and organisational psychology (e.g., counselling/dialogue management in an organisational counselling setting, psychological diagnostics in an organisational psychology context). In addition, students have the opportunity to take the seminar "Psychological Research Methods III" in the field of work and organisational psychology and thus also write their Bachelor's thesis on a topic in this field.
Courses in Master´s programme
In the Master's degree course in Psychology, we deepen our knowledge of current topics in work and organisational psychology, such as virtual teamwork or health-promoting leadership, in the lecture/practical (VU) "Work and Organisational Psychology". In addition to conveying knowledge, the VU also focuses on applying the content to practical issues.
You can deepen your knowledge of work and organisational psychology in the "Applied Seminar". You have the opportunity to choose between several topics. In recent semesters, for example, the seminars have been dedicated to the following topics:
• Human factors in the digitalised world of work
• Human factors: human-system integration
• Learning and development through work design
In order to specialise even further, you have the opportunity to choose courses with a focus on work and organisational psychology (e.g. organisational diagnostics, mediation and conflict management in the workplace, concepts and practice of personnel development, psychological models and concepts of workplace health promotion) in addition to a subject-related internship. In addition, we also offer courses on specific research methods (e.g. diary studies, psychophysiological methods and methods of work psychology) and you have the opportunity to write your Master's thesis in our workgroup (see next point).
Master's theses supervised by our workgroup
We are pleased about the great interest in Master's theses in the field of work and organisational psychology. If you would like to write a Master's thesis in our field, please contact the possible supervisors or co-supervisors directly by e-mail.
If you would like your Master's thesis to be supervised by Prof. MMag. Dr. Kubicek, please send an application with a curriculum vitae, letter of motivation, and proof of fulfilment of the requirements (supplementary sheet for the "Announcement of the Master's thesis topic" with the stamp of the Examination Office) to Dipl.-Ing. Dagmar Schmelzer.
Possible supervisors in the field of work and organisational psychology are
• Univ.-Prof. MMag. Dr. Bettina Kubicek
• Ao.Univ-Prof. Dr. Paul Jiménez
• Assoz. Prof. Mag. Dr. Sabine Bergner
• Mag. Dr. Roman Prem
Possible co-supervisors in the field of work and organisational psychology are
• Mag. Dr. Anita Bregenzer
• Sabina Hodzic, Ph.D.
We would like to point out that you are welcome to submit your own topic suggestions.
Alumni
Stay in touch with us.
Subscribe to the alumni mailing list and you will receive information on exciting events and job vacancies in the field of work and organisational psychology.