5 Reasons to Choose our Occupational & Organisational MSc

Wherever your career has taken you to date, whatever your plans, boosting your understanding of Organisational Psychology could be your key to a brighter future.

Our course has been designed to help you gain insights and strategies that could have a profoundly positive effect and influence on your place of work. And because the business psychology skills you’ll build are so transferable, you’ll emerge well placed to start leading and inspiring colleagues in your current job, your next one, and the one after that.

Here are five more reasons to pick this Masters.

1. It’s a distance learning course

Our online MSc in Occupational and Organisational Psychology gives you all the flexibility you need. Not only does course content focus on the topic of wellbeing, the programme itself has been designed to look after yours. You can fit your learning around what’s important to you, from work to your personal life.

It doesn’t matter where you live – you won’t have to travel to study. Unlike many similar courses, this one is delivered 100% online and there is no need to come to campus at all. Instead, you can learn at home or anywhere else you feel productive, no matter where you are in the world.

Our course also gives you the freedom to choose when you want to study and the pace at which you work. If you can’t make the live sessions, you can watch recordings of them later, as well as picking up all your other course materials on our e-learning portal whenever it suits you. You just need to find around 15 hours a week for study. Our innovative carousel method of teaching allows you to take breaks if you need to. Even paying for the course is flexible: we offer a module-by-module payment system to help you spread the cost of your fees.

With our course, you don’t have to disrupt your work commitments or sacrifice your social life in order to transform your career prospects.

2. It’s open to people from a range of backgrounds

This course is designed both for those working in business and those hoping to become a full-time psychology professional, for example a Chartered Occupational Psychologist.

Many, like you, will be working in different organisations, be it in consultancy, training, HR, customer relations or other organisational business management roles. Some will be considering a career switch or be entrepreneurs setting up new businesses.

Throughout each of your modules, you’ll be encouraged to share and swap your ideas, experiences and learnings with other students during group tasks, discussions and more. As Neill Thompson, a senior lecturer on the course, explains:

“Students join the course with different levels of work and life experience, all of which will help them to provide valuable, unique insights. We want students to be prepared to share their existing knowledge as well as what they are learning throughout their study, while constantly reflecting on how this relates to their real-life experiences. We encourage a collaborative environment, where we share and learn from one another and find, this way, students gain an even better understanding.”

3. It’s taught by academics with real-world experience

Our Occupational and Organisational Psychology course is delivered by academics who are dedicated to teaching the most cutting-edge theory that can be applied in practice. They are experts in their field who combine years of research with hands-on practice within a variety of business settings. Their research, applied principles and methods include areas such as:

Social and Occupational Psychology in the workplace
Workplace bullying and its multi-level impact
Employee selection approaches
Human factors in healthcare
Career development and employability

Working with our academic staff, you’ll gain skills which will help you to thrive in your current role or any future one you aspire to. You’ll be encouraged to undertake your own research and to draw your own conclusions as you critically evaluate the evidence you have gathered.

4. You can apply what you learn right away

This degree in Occupational and Organisational Psychology will stand you in excellent stead in any career where an understanding of people and the way organisations function comes into play.

Throughout the different modules, tasks and assessments, you’ll be encouraged and supported to apply what you are learning to your current role. That way, you can begin to make an impact in your job even while you’re still studying.

Neill Thompson sums it up as follows:

“The course is suited for those who want to develop a specialist knowledge of psychology, while continuing in their current role or work situation. Students will be able to use the programme to add value and depth of knowledge to the work that they are currently doing. Our academic staff focus on contemporary occupational psychology as a discipline; there is a strong emphasis on how it can be applied in real-world practice, and this offers real benefits to students even before they graduate.”

5. Our degree modules are designed with employability in mind

Each of the modules that makes up Northumbria University’s Occupational and Organisational Psychology MSc is designed to help you succeed in your chosen profession or in any future role you take on:

“The Organisation” is a module that looks at contemporary case studies, examining the kind of ethical and professional issues you may encounter in different work environments today. You’ll explore leadership and team working, organisational culture, change and development, and how these impact groups and individuals.
“Organisational Research Methods” examines advanced quantitative and qualitative methods of collecting and analysing data in psychology. Using the most up-to-date reporting conventions and different hardware and software solutions, you’ll be able to carry out critical analysis of your findings – a skill that will help you in many areas of business.
“Learning and Development in Organisations” explores and compares the effectiveness of different approaches taken by individuals and organisations to develop their employees’ careers. The module examines real-world scenarios as you evaluate topics such as lifelong learning, occupational choice, training, employability, coaching and counselling.
“Workplace Wellbeing” examines a broad range of factors that affect employee health and create good working environments. The module looks at subjects such as occupational stress, employee engagement and workplace bullying and intervention. You’ll take into account biological, psychological and social factors and identify evidence-based solutions to issues.

Throughout each of these, your critical thinking will be tested, as well as your ability to apply the correct psychological principles and approaches in a range of organisational settings. These are skills that will be directly relevant to your current career and your future – no matter if that’s in HR, management, consultancy or beyond.

For more details about the modules that make up the course, click here.

Transform your future with Northumbria University

See how you could transform your career and the career of others with Northumbria University. Learn more about our flexible distance learning Occupational and Organisational Psychology MSc.