| Program start date | Application deadline |
| 2023-09-18 | - |
Program Overview
Why this course?
You'll develop knowledge in psychology and build analytical skills which can be applied in a range of careers, including occupational psychology, management, human resource management, recruitment, health and safety, engineering, the public sector, training and development, organisational change and development consultancy, and policy research.
Our teaching team draws from academics who are chartered psychologists, practitioners with industry experience, and expertise from a range of disciplines across the University of Strathclyde. Strathclyde Business School is home to many staff focused on the application of psychology to work and organisations, and has extensive collaborations with industry, policymakers and practitioners.
The Department of Work, Employment & Organisation, where the programme is based, is a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Approved Centre and recognised for its world-leading research and its real-world impact.
What you'll study
Classes cover seven core knowledge domains of work and organisational psychology:
Cross-disciplinary electives also allow you to choose specialist classes, for example, in data science, health analytics, and human resource management/organisational development.
You'll take 180 credits over two semesters, made up from core and elective modules.
If you hold a BA Psychology degree which provides you with the Graduate Basis for Chartership (GBC) of the British Psychological Society (BPS), the MSc allows you to proceed to Stage 2 training towards professional membership of the Division of Occupational Psychology with the BPS (once accredited). To find out whether your degree is eligible, see the BPS list of accredited courses.Conversion courses can also be undertaken following the MSc to gain GBC.
If you're not eligible for the GBC, you'll cover the same modules apart from the core research methods training and have additional elective options.
Accreditation
The MSc Work & Organisational Psychology, has been accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS), making it the only BPS-accredited occupational psychology programme in Scotland. For students with Graduate Basis for Chartership (GBC) of the BPS, the course will provide a Stage 1 qualification towards professional membership of the Division of Occupational Psychology with the BPS. Accreditation means students will be eligible to progress to a Stage 2 qualification, or Chartership.
Strathclyde Business School
Strathclyde Business School was founded in 1948 and is a pioneering, internationally renowned academic organisation with a reputation for research excellence.
One of four faculties forming the University of Strathclyde, SBS is a triple-accredited business school (AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA) and was the first business school in Scotland to achieve this accolade in 2004. The Business School is home to seven subject departments and a number of specialist centres, all of which collaborate to provide a dynamic, fully-rounded and varied programme of specialist and cross-disciplinary courses.
Strathclyde Business Network
As a postgraduate student at Strathclyde Business School, you may choose to join the Strathclyde Business Network, a student-led initiative that facilitates interaction with business and industry leaders.
The Network aims to foster knowledge sharing, facilitate discussion and enable networking opportunities with the very best business professional in industry. Every year the Network organises Glasgow Business Summit, which is the first-ever student-led business conference in Scotland and brings together students with leading businesses from across the UK.
International students
We've a thriving international community with students coming here to study from over 100 countries across the world. Find out all you need to know about studying in Glasgow at Strathclyde and hear from students about their experiences.
Visit our international students' section
Triple-accredited business school
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Program Outline
Course content
Core classes
Elective classes
Dissertation
Assessment & Selection at Work
This class engages with contemporary knowledge about the assessment and selection of people at work. As well as developing a core appreciation for the psychometric principles underpinning assessment techniques, it aims to provide you with a critical understanding of the wider context of selection by considering key stakeholders and the implementation of selection as part of wider human resource systems. Topics include:
Work, Health & Wellbeing
This class will allow you to engage critically with key concepts related to understanding worker health and psychological wellbeing in contemporary working life. Topics covered include:
Developing Talent
This class will introduce you to strategic human resource development and the theoretical and practical applications of training and career development in the workplace and labour market. Content includes:
Leadership, Engagement & Motivation
This class will introduce theories of attitude and behaviour in the workplace, as well as performance management challenges including:
Organisational Development & Change
This class will cover theoretical and critical perspectives across the following content:
People Analytics & Professional Practice (Consultancy)
This class adopts an applied approach to understanding the skills required to be an effective occupational psychologist or people management professional in practice. Topics focus on the practical and psychosocial aspects of professional practice at work, including:
Chartership route only
Qualitative Research Methods
An introduction to the theoretical and practical aspects of using qualitative methods within Psychology. Specifically, the class will focus on developing qualitative research questions, designing appropriate methods of data collection, and analysing qualitative data. To achieve this, you'll conduct a small group research project using qualitative methodologies.
Quantitative Research Methods
This class aims to provide advanced training in a range of quantitative statistics likely to be required for analyses conducted in the dissertation. The class also aims to equip you with the statistical knowledge that is likely to be needed to aid the interpretation of results from previous empirical research. In addition, you'll develop the necessary statistical competences to support transfer to doctoral programmes and careers in academic or commercial research and teaching.
Non-Chartership route only
Research Design & Analyses in Psychology
This class will develop students‘ understanding of research methods and data analyses in psychology. Students will develop an awareness of the ethical issues in research in humans, and the strengths, limitations, and applications of various research designs. Students will have the opportunity to study a range of quantitative and qualitative approaches.
People Analytics & Professional Practice (Foundations)
This class adopts an applied approach to understanding the skills required to be an effective occupational psychologist or people management professional in practice. Topics include the foundational knowledge and skill required for professional practice:
10 credits
Choose 20 credits for Chartership route and 30 credits for non-Chartership route:
People, Technology & Work
This class will cover theoretical and critical perspectives across the following content:
10 credits
HRM in a Business Context
The aim of this module is to explore human resource management as both a strategic function and essential aspect of the management role, which creates value for both business organisations and stakeholders through the effective organisation of people and associated work systems. The module examines the business context and socio-economic drivers which shape corporate strategies and in turn, shape the strategic policies and practices of human resource management.
20 credits.
People Analytics & Professional Practice (Foundations)
This class adopts an applied approach to understanding the skills required to be an effective occupational psychologist or people management professional in practice. Topics include the foundational knowledge and skill required for professional practice:
10 credits
Contemporary Employment Relations
The aim of this class is to provide a critical understanding of current developments in employee relations in the UK. It aims to provide a conceptual and theoretical understanding of the dynamics and the contours of the employment relationship. Particular attention will be focused on exploring the resilience of the traditional institutions and modes of employment regulation, as well as exploring current attempts to recast the dynamics of employee relations.
10 credits
Labour and Diversity in a Global Context
This module aims to explore causes and patterns of labour mobility in a global context. A key focus will be on the issue of diversity management within and between nation states in an era of more integrated markets and the practical implications these have for managers working in different political and economic contexts.
10 credits
Critical Issues in HRM
The aim of the module is to build upon core theories and strategic practices of HRM by examining emerging developments in people management, within complex and volatile global business environments.
10 credits
Healthy Ageing (10 credits)
This module will provide an understanding of the ageing process and how this influences the design or delivery of technologies or services for older adults. It will highlight the diversity and complexity of an ageing population and implications for digital health technologies in:
Design of Usable Health Systems (20 credits)
In this module, you'll learn the importance of understanding different types of users, context and usage scenarios for health devices and systems.
You'll conduct practical exercises to gather real life business requirements from a variety of stakeholders including patients, consumers and clinicians and practitioners. You'll learn to design, prototype and evaluate systems that are usable and fit-for-purpose.
Health & Care Data Analytics & Decision Support (20 credits)
The module will review the different types of data that health and wellness systems collect and process to allow informed care decisions about individuals or populations. We'll also cover analytical tools as well as visualisation and multimodal output. Plus, we'll look at information structures and standards required for interoperability and decision support functionalities.
Chartership route only
Students with recognised previous experience in quantitative research methods may, with the agreement of the Head of Department, substitute Quantitative Research Methods for Big Data Fundamentals and either People, Technology & Work or People Analytics and Professional Practice (Foundations).
Business Analytics (20 credits)
Every two days, we generate as much data as the data generated in all human history up to 2003. From online data on every click of the mouse on the internet through the huge upsurge in manufacturing companies’ use of sensors to sports organisations collecting in-game data. With these increased quantities of data comes an increased need for tools to make sense of the main messages coming from these data.
The module will build on the fundamental multivariate statistics by developing both visualisation and advanced analysis techniques relevant in the area of big data. The focus will be on application and interpretation of techniques and there will be an investigation of what makes good data. The module will develop both new theoretical knowledge in the form of analytics techniques as well as new software skills in relevant analytics software.
Big Data Fundamentals (10 credits)
This module will introduce the challenges of analysing big data with specific focus on the algorithms and techniques which are embodied in data analytics solutions.
At the end of the module, you'll understand:
During the summer, you'll undertake an independent empirical research project with the support of an academic dissertation supervisor. In some cases, this may involve a placement with an organisation in order to gather data. This project is intended to allow you to apply and build on the knowledge and skills acquired in the taught programme, particularly core research methods modules. It will develop your analytical, research design, data analysis and communication skills. You'll also have the opportunity to discuss your research with professional academic and practitioner audiences.
As well as preparing you for applied research and writing professional reports in a range of jobs, including as an occupational psychologist, the skills developed during the dissertation allow progression to doctoral studies for those who are interested in an academic career path.
Learning & teaching
Core and elective classes will be taught across two semesters, running from September to December and January to March. Classes will be taught through a combination of lectures and hands-on sessions using statistical software, alongside online material, with a variety of group and individual study and assignments. The project/dissertation is undertaken during the summer months.
Assessment
Classes are assessed by various methods, including written assignments, exams, practical team projects, presentations and individual projects. Exams will take place at the end of each semester in December and April/May.
Chat to a student ambassador
Want to know more about what it’s like to be a Strathclyde Business School student at the University of Strathclyde? A selection of our current students are here to help!
Our Unibuddy ambassadors can answer all the questions you may have about their course experiences and studying at Strathclyde, along with offering insight into life in Glasgow and Scotland.
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FT Rankings 2022
Careers
The MSc Work & Organisational Psychology will provide employment opportunities broadly in management, human resource management, recruitment, health and safety, engineering, public sector management (e.g. NHS), training and development, organisational change and development consultancy, and policy research.
As a professional qualification for those eligible for chartership in occupational psychology, the degree offers a range of opportunities to work in academia, as an independent consultant, or in a practitioner or policy advisory role across public, private and third sector organisations.
The degree also provides a pathway to a doctoral degree in psychology, human resource management, organisation studies, work/employment studies, management and other aligned social science and business and management subjects, especially given its emphasis on building graduates' advanced analytical data skills.
Applying occupational psychology
Occupational psychology is aligned with the work of engineers and designers, ensuring equipment, workspaces and products are suitable for the end user.
The roles available within Scottish Government demonstrate that the knowledge of occupational psychology is crucial to the delivery of public policy in practice. The delivery of devolved services (e.g. Social Security Scotland and employability programmes such as Fair Start Scotland) demands skills associated with occupational psychologists which support people both into work and within work. Examples of these ‘new’ vacancies include:
Glasgow is Scotland's biggest & most cosmopolitan city
Our campus is based right in the very heart of Glasgow. We're in the city centre, next to the Merchant City, both of which are great locations for sightseeing, shopping and socialising alongside your studies.
Life in Glasgow
