PSYC 334 Organisational Psychology

1st Trimester 2012

School of Psychology
Course Co-ordinator:

TA

Tutors :

Trimester dates:
Lecture Time:
Lab Times:

Ronald Fischer
E-mail:ronald.fischer@vuw.ac.nz
Tel: 04 463 6548
Office hours: EA620, after the lecture
Carmen Leong
Email: Lai.Leong@vuw.ac.nz
Office Hour: Fridays, 1-2pm (EA 419)
Lachlan Davis
E-mail: davislach@myvuw.ac.nz
Office hour: TBC
Pollyane Diniz
E-mail: Pollyane.Diniz@vuw.ac.nz
Office hour: TBC
March 5 June 8
Mon, Wed, Fri 16.10 - 17pm (KKLT301)
Tue 1-11am (EA403), Thu 1-3pm (EA402), Thu 3-5pm (EA402), Fri 9-11am
(EA403), Fri 11-1pm (EA406), Fri 2-4pm (EA403)

This course aims to develop your knowledge in various aspects of industrial and organisational psychology
how psychology can be used to select and train the best people for a job, how to motivate individuals,
overcome workplace inequalities, understand and change cultural dynamics in groups and organisations, etc.
This course aims to bridge the gap between psychological theories and real life events as they apply to
business, non-profit and voluntary organisations, using a problem solving approach.

Assessment
Assessment will be done in the following way:

Three assignments for a total of 75%:

Assignment 1 (Research proposal, due April 5, 4pm)
Assignment 2 (Organisational Profile, Data & Report due May 4, 4pm)
Assignment 3 (Presentation, Material due May 14, 4pm)
Participation in Weekly Labs
End of Term Test

Ronald Fischer 2012

30%
25%
20%
5%
20%
100%

Organisational Psychology

-2Reading material
Recommended Textbook:
Landy, F. J., & Conte, J. M. (2010). Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and
Organizational Psychology (Third Edition). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Another Useful Source:
Kalliath, T., Brough, P., ODriscoll, M.P., Manimala, M. and Siu, O-L. (2010). Organisational behaviour: A
psychological perspective for the Asia-Pacific. Sydney: McGraw-Hill.
Recommended Journals to look up (in alphabetical order):
1. Academy of Management Journal
12. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
2. Academy of Management Review
13. Journal of Employment Counselling
3. Annual Review of Psychology
14. Journal of Occupational and Organisational
4. Applied Psychology: An International Review
Psychology
5. Human Relations
15. Journal of Organizational Behaviour
6. Human Resource Management
16. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology
7. International Journal of Cross-Cultural
17. Journal of Personality Assessment
Management
18. Journal of Personality Assessment
8. International Journal of Intercultural Relations
19. Journal of Virtual Environments
9. International Journal of Organizational
20. Organizational Behaviour and Human
Analysis
Decision Process
10. International Review of Industrial and
21. Organizational Dynamics
Organisational Psychology
22. Personnel Psychology
11. Journal of Applied Psychology
23. Stress Medicine
http://www.vuw.ac.nz/library/
Other journals in the area of anthropology, sociology, and management may have what interests you,
and so explore what is there in the library, and talk to reference librarians. Librarians are wonderful
people who love to help students, so seek their help and guidance.

-3Aims and Goals of this Course

This is an introductory course to Industrial and Organisational Psychology. The topics covered will provide
you with an overview of some of the important topics in this area and to give you some insights into what
the work of an organizational psychologist may entail. My goals for this course are to stimulate your interest
in this important field of psychology, assist you in finding out what area interests you most and most of all,
provide a challenging, thought provoking and creative space for learning, practicing important skills and
discussions. I have designed the course in a way to explore topics that are of interest to you, provide you
with hands-on experience in key skills of an organizational psychologist and give you some insights in
current work areas of organizational psychologists. I try and get practitioners to come and talk to you in
class, whenever possible. I encourage you to do complimentary reading and to do more research on topics
that interest you (especially if they are not covered in class). I am open to suggestions for changes in the
topics and content covered in class. Teaching is a complex process of multiple interactions between teachers
and students inside and outside of the classroom. I try to keep my classroom environment friendly, two-way
communication going, and minimize communication barriers to get the students involved in the learning
process. I strive to be a good teacher, and appreciate your feedback.
The assignments and the course topics are selected to provide you with a broad overview of I&O psyc and
develop valuable skills that are important for you in your future work life. The assignments in particular are
designed to develop your critical thinking and practical skills in the area of organizational psychology. If
you feel that you have some problems with any of these assignments or topics, please approach me as soon
as possible (latest two weeks before the deadline) and I am happy to discuss alternatives with you.

The skills that you would have developed and broadened by the end of this course will be:
1. The ability to critically plan and evaluate research in Industrial and Organisational Psychology,
both in terms of academic value and rigor as well as practical applicability within a Aotearoa/NZ
and/or international context.
2. The skills to apply theories and empirical research findings to applied settings, considering the
cultural, legal, historical and economic context of Aotearoa/NZ.
3. Ability to carry out basic organisational research and to provide feedback to applied audiences.
4. Presentation skills, both verbally and in writing, to present your analysis, thoughts and findings
in a concise and creative way to relevant audiences.
5. Experience in organisational communication, report writing for non-academic audiences and
experiences in analysis and interpretation of organisational norms and profiles.

-4PSYC334 Course Timetable

WK1 March 5
79

WK2 March
12 14 16
WK3 March
19 21 23
WK4 March
26 28 30

Monday
Introduction &
Overview

Wednesday
What is Industrial &
Organisational
Psychology?

Culture,
Organisations &
Practices
Ethics and Research

Culture,
Organisations &
Practices
Applying IO Psyc

Leadership &
Cultural Intelligence

WK5 April 2 4 Individual

differences in
motivation
Trimester
Break April 6April 20
WK 6 April 23 Organizational
27
Behaviour
Management (MH)
WK7 April 30 Organizational
May 2 4
Behaviour
Management (MH)
WK8 May 7 9 Teams in
11
Organizations (TM)
WK9 May 14 Decision-Making
16 18
(JMC)
WK10 May 21 Communication &
23 25
Conflict
WK 11 May
Selection & Testing
28 30 June 1
WK 12 June 6 No Class
8

Friday
Ethnic Diversity and
challenges for the NZ
work place - NZ
Police Perspective
IO Psych: Research
& Practice
(Assignment 1)
Leadership

Lab/Deadlines
No Lab

Motivation Theories

Organizational
Justice

TBA

Organisational
Benchmarking &
Report Writing
(Assign. 2)

No Class

Deadline Assign 1
Report Writing
(A2)

No Class

No Lab

Training and
Development (TM)

Organizational
Behaviour
Management (MH)
Training &
Development 2 (TM)

Team Climate (TM)

ISO9000 (TM)

Gender roles &

leadership (JMC)
Communication &
Conflict
Selection & Testing

Achievement
Motivation (JMC)
Well-being & Stress

Test Preparation

Test

Presentation skills
(A3)
Presentation
(Assignment 3)
Presentation
(Assignment 3)
Test Prep &
Presentation
No Lab

Open topic

Intro & Prep

Assign. 1 & 2
Intercultural
Training

Data analysis (A3)

Deadline Assign 2

Guest lectures: Taciano L. Milfont (TM); Maree Hunt (MH), John McClure (JMC)

Study Groups
It is strongly recommended that you form study groups. It will help you to share the load of answering
questions and of getting copies of the papers. It will also enable you to get one know another a little better
which in turn will mean a better experience for you all.

Assignments
The purpose of assignments is to develop practical skills in I & O Psychology in combination with an
awareness of current academic research. Some of these assignments may appear unusual compared to other
psychology projects that you have done in the past. Use this opportunity to broaden your skill level because
the assignments were designed to develop different practical skills that are vital for psychologists in the
field. Always read up on the topics, be creative, use your critical thinking, be concise and to the point. The
learning experience lies in discovering the wider ramifications of the subject while sifting out relevant

-5contributions for the assignment. This stimulates the imagination while identifying supporting and opposing
arguments for developing your case. A careful and systematic approach to each topic will pay dividends.
Explore the topic thoroughly at the outset.
Assignment 1: Research proposal, max 8 pages. The research proposal should propose a study as if
submitted to a governmental/organizational funding body (based on the survey data collected), clearly
specify the theoretical or practical benefits of the study and be understandable by a non-psych reader.
Assignment 2: Organizational profiles, max 8 pages. Collect data from a real organization, analyse the data
and conduct a profile analysis of the organization. For this project, you can work in groups of up to three
people to gather and enter the data. You need to submit an individual report based on your analyses and will
be marked on this individual report. The analysis part should be written up as if you want to provide
feedback to the organization (i.e., non-academic writing). It should be understandable by a lay person and
informative for management.
Assignment 3: Research presentation. Conduct the study that you proposed for assignment 2. Present the
results and application in the lab. This presentation can be as creative as you wish and be clearly focused on
interpretation and application of your findings.
More information on the assignments will be presented in the labs and the separate assignment handout.
Expected workload
The expected workload for this course is 150 hours split across the duration of the course. Of these 150
hours, there are 36 one hour lectures and 18 hours across nine labs. In addition to these contact hours the
remaining time can be dedicated as per the percentage value of the assignments and test. This means
approximately 29 hours for assignment one and assignment two, 19 hours for assignment three and 19 hours
for the test preparation. These times should be viewed as guidelines only and you may wish to dedicate
additional time to extra reading and reviewing.

Penalties
The submission of late assignments is annoying and is strongly discouraged. A penalty of one grade per day
(e.g., B down to B-) from the hand in date will be deducted from the final grade for any late work. To get
extensions you will need official certificates (medical etc.). Remember, the successful completion of work is
an example of the adequacy of your personal time management skills, an important skill to possess within
the business context.
Mandatory course requirements
To pass this course, you need to (a) submit assignments 1 and 2 and (b) obtain at least 50% in the test.
Failure to satisfy any of these criteria will result in failing the course.
Academic integrity and plagiarism
Academic integrity means that university staff and students, in their teaching and learning are expected to
treat others honestly, fairly and with respect at all times. It is not acceptable to mistreat academic,
intellectual or creative work that has been done by other people by representing it as your own original
work.
Academic integrity is important because it is the core value on which the Universitys learning, teaching and
research activities are based. Victoria Universitys reputation for academic integrity adds value to your
qualification.
The University defines plagiarism as presenting someone elses work as if it were your own, whether you
mean to or not. Someone elses work means anything that is not your own idea. Even if it is presented in
your own style, you must acknowledge your sources fully and appropriately. This includes:

Material from books, journals or any other printed source

The work of other students or staff

Information from the internet

Software programs and other electronic material

Designs and ideas

The organisation or structuring of any such material

-6Find out more about plagiarism, how to avoid it and penalties, on the Universitys website:
www.victoria.ac.nz/home/studying/plagiarism.html
Use of Turnitin
Student work provided for assessment in this course may be checked for academic integrity by the electronic
search engine http:/www.turnitin.com. Turnitin is an online plagiarism prevention tool which compares
submitted work with a very large database of existing material. At the discretion of the Head of School,
handwritten work may be copy-typed by the School and subject to checking by Turnitin. Turnitin will retain
a copy of submitted material on behalf of the University for detection of future plagiarism, but access to the
full text of submissions is not made available to any other party.
Communication of additional information
Additional information will be announced via Blackboard and during class time. Students are encouraged to
check blackboard on a regular basis.
Where to find more detailed information
Find key dates, explanations of grades and other useful information at www.victoria.ac.nz/home/study. Find
out about academic progress and restricted enrolment at www.victoria.ac.nz/home/study/academic-progress.
The Universitys statutes and policies are available at www.victoria.ac.nz/home/about/policy, except
qualification statutes, which are available via the Calendar webpage at
www.victoria.ac.nz/home/study/calendar (See Section C). Further information about the Universitys
academic processes can be found on the website of the Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at
www.victoria.ac.nz/home/about_victoria/avcacademic/default.aspx

Evaluation
This course and my teaching will be evaluated using UTDC procedures towards the end of the trimester.
Please take this seriously, the university does.
Class Representative
We will ask for nominations of a class representative. Further information will be communicated in class.

I would like to welcome you to this course and wish you a fruitful and enjoyable study.

Ron Fischer