Psychology, Organization and Leadership

Introduction

The effectiveness, profitability, and value of organizations, broadly defined, are dependent upon human competence, interplay, effort, and leadership. This course will thus include important and evidence-based knowledge about human characteristics, processes, and leadership in complex work settings. In line with this, the course will, e.g., cover issues like learning, motivation, perception, how human traits can be organized and how such processes and traits can be associated with e.g., job satisfaction, effort, and productivity. Moreover, the course will provide knowledge on groups and teams, as well as decision-making, problem solving, and creativity. A special emphasis is put on theories of leadership, including leadership and change and e-leadership. Finally and beyond such perspectives, the course will include an introduction to organizational design and culture. This course will provide an introduction to how sustainable use of human resources can be facilitated.

Course content

• Individual level topics:
  • What can be conceived as the more important individual characteristics and how do we perceive ourselves and others?
  • Motivation and achievement
  • Work engagement, job-satisfaction, efficacy, and stress.
  • Thinking at work: learning, problem solving, decision making, and creativity.
• Group level topics:
  • Work in groups and social dynamics.
  • Communication, information, power, and influence.
• Organisational topics:
  • What can we conceive as an organisation and how can life in an organisation be understood?
  • Organisational culture, organisational change, and competence considerations in change-processes.
• Leadership theory
  • What is leadership?
  • Leader traits and behaviors (styles)
  • Gender and leadership
  • Contingency theories of leadership including self-leadership
  • e-leadership
  • Destructive leadership
• Other topics:
  • Diversity in organisations.