Psychology and social processes

The course aims to provide students with the basic knowledge and skills to analyse and understand different organizational contexts, both as the work contexts in which they will perform their professional practice in the future, and – for those students who choose to work as work and organization psychologists – as contexts for intervention and consulting. Knowledge and understanding At the end of the course, students have to master the major relational and organizational variables that characterize the organizations (e.g. structure, work processes, organizational culture, relationships with the environment, power dynamics, decision-making processes, etc.), theories and psychological models of organizational behaviour. Applying knowledge and understanding The course includes interactive lessons, with examples, work on case study and exercises. At the end of the course the students will be able to do an organizational analysis identifying the main elements of a work context and the critical points and strengths, and to formulate hypotheses based on theoretical models. Making judgements In order to enhance the students' critical and judgmental abilities, different theoretical models and their evolutions are compared during the lessons, current examples of organizations are presented, and students are asked to do a practical activity where analyze and critically interpret information related to a chosen organi-zation (a case study). Communication skills During the lessons, the active participation of the students to theoretical discussions is asked, to improve their ability to communicate, using the proper terminology, their reflections about the different models. Further, the workshop includes both discussions in the work groups and a public presentation of the final work. Learning skills At the end of the course students will have acquired sufficient competencies to allow for further university career.