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Organizational Behavior Studies

Program Description

Just the Facts

Organizational Behavior Studies. A program that focuses on the scientific study of the behavior and motivations of individuals functioning in organized groups, and its application to business and industrial settings. Includes instruction in organization theory, industrial and organizational psychology, social psychology, sociology of organizations, reinforcement and incentive theory, employee relations strategies, organizational power and influence, organization stratification and hierarchy, leadership styles, and applications of operations research and other methodologies to organizational analysis.

This program is available in these options:

  • Certificate / Diploma
  • Associate degree
  • Bachelor's degree
  • Graduate Certificate
  • Master's degree
  • Doctoral degree

High School Courses

See the high school courses recommended for programs in this career cluster:

See the high school courses recommended for programs in this pathway:


Related Careers

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Related Programs

Often similar programs have different names. Be sure to explore all your options.

Additional Information

Think of an organization or company as a ship. Industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology students are trained to use their knowledge of human behavior to help make the crew and the entire ship work better.

I-O psychology degrees are generally offered at the graduate level. (A graduate degree is required for certification.) The master's degree typically requires two to three years of training. The doctorate takes another two to three years.

Most graduate students in I-O psychology have a bachelor's degree in psychology.

"It doesn't have to be psychology," says Theresa Kline. She teaches I-O psychology. "But given that we are a discipline that draws on a lot of our sister psychology disciplines, it's good to have at least some grounding in psychology."

If you decide to take a bachelor's degree in another field, make sure you take at least some related courses. A related job will also look good.

"Any degree is acceptable if students have a background in undergraduate statistics, research [in] industrial and organizational psychology at the undergraduate level or equivalent work experience," says Michael Biderman. He works with the psychology department at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Many programs offer research and work experience opportunities. Biderman says his students must take two practicum courses and are allowed to take a third.

Admission to a graduate I-O psychology program is pretty competitive. Universities will generally require good scores in the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE). You also need a high grade point average (GPA).

Typical courses cover topics such as research methods, performance evaluation and appraisal and personnel selection and placement. You might also study work motivation, leadership, job satisfaction and employee training and development.

Kline suggests you start being extra observant of what takes place in work settings. Get a job or volunteer for a position. Start playing I-O psychologist by noting the performance of workers and some of the things that positively or negatively affect their work.

And take your math seriously. "One of the things that they [students] should know is that this area of psychology is very math- and statistics-oriented," says Kline.

"So you need to have some comfort level with numbers. That doesn't mean you have to know everything about calculus and beyond -- it means being comfortable dealing with numbers and tables of numbers."

If you want to work as an I-O psychologist in the U.S., you will need to be licensed. Requirements may vary by state.


Links

Occupational Outlook Handbook
For more information related to this field of study, see: Psychologists

Industrial-Organizational Links
Plenty of resources available here

Encyclopedia of Psychology
Industrial psychology links

PsychCareers
A great resource for job seekers from the American Psychological Association

Contact

  • Email Support

  • 1-800-GO-TO-XAP (1-800-468-6927)
    From outside the U.S., please call +1 (424) 750-3900

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