Areas of Specialisation

Organisational Psychology (BBusSc)

What is Organisational Psychology?

Organisational Psychology is an applied area of Psychology that deals with human behaviour in the workplace. Working behaviour is a bit different from everyday behaviour, as it occurs within a specific context of an organisation. An organisation can be anything from a big corporate to a small business to a non-governmental organisation.

Organisational Psychology developed as an applied field in about 1910, so it is quite a new area (in comparison with applications in health and education which are older and more established as knowledge areas). Organisational Psychology has gone through a number of significant phases as the world of work has changed over the years:

• The psychotechnics or job selection phase (1910-1960) where the focus was on personnel selection and vocational guidance
• The human relations phase (1920-1980) where organisational psychologists focused on the social dynamics of the workplace (e.g. workers attitudes to work; organisational climate; etc.)
• The human resource management phase (since 1985 to the present) where the central idea is that people are to be valued as an organisational asset rather than a necessity or a cost.

In South Africa, universities differ in their thinking about Human Resource Management and Organisational Psychology. At some universities Human Resource Management is presented as a separate subject area from Organisational Psychology. At UCT we take the position that Human Resource Management is an integral part and a current historical phase of Organisational Psychology. In this way students learn about human resource systems, human behaviour and the nature of organisations in order to end up with an integrated view of people, process and context.

What it leads to

A degree in Organisational Psychology opens up a wide variety of employment opportunities. The one most people think about first is becoming a human resource manager and dealing with people issues in organisations. However, this is just one possibility. If you are interested in learning and teaching people, you can become a training and development specialist, or even specialise in on-line learning. With Organisational Psychology you can also work in the area of reward management, where you provide guidance regarding job grades and levels and the pay and benefits associated with these. Another area of work is industrial relations. An industrial relations manager is the custodian of fair labour practice in an organisation and supports other managers to treat their employees in a fair and legal manner. You can also become a recruitment and selection specialist someone who matches new staff to suitable positions in the organisation. Another area of work is organisational change. In this area you support people and organisations through change (e.g. mergers, acquisitions, new product or service offerings; organisational culture change, etc.). You can also work in fields like organisational communication; health, safety and well-being; performance management; etc. Another exciting area of work is evaluation of human resource programmes where you advise human resource practitioners which programmes are most suitable to their circumstances or which programmes have proven impact on the organisation.

In fact, the knowledge and skills you gain in Organisational Psychology will enable you to be successful in many jobs, as you will leave the university as competent knowledge workers: people who can label and describe human behaviour in the work place, people who can distinguish patterns in work behaviour and people who can identify problems and find innovative solutions for these organisational problems.

Professional Qualifications

You can register with two professional bodies in our subject area. The South African Health Professions Council registers you as a Counsellor or an Organisational Psychologist. Registration as a Counsellor in a specific area requires an Honours degree plus a six months internship. To become an Organisational Psychologist, you need a Masters degree and a one year internship. As a registered Counsellor, you can do counselling in a specific area. As a registered Organisational Psychologist, you can conduct psychometric testing.

The South African Board of Personnel Practice will register you as a practitioner after you have done a number of required courses (all included in our undergraduate programme) and worked for a specified length of time. There are different levels of practitioner registration depending on the level of the courses and the length of work experience. Currently there are no specific professional tasks demarcated for Human Resource Practitioners (the South African Board of Personnel Practice is still consulting on these professional tasks).

Frequently Asked Questions

I see that technikons offer human resource diplomas and degrees. How do these differ from a degree in Organisational Psychology?

At a technikon, your education will focus on human resource processes (recruitment, selection, training, performance management, etc.), while at the university the focus is on the behaviour of people, human resource processes and an understanding of the organisational context of working. While a technikon education will give you immediate, job-relevant skills, a university education will provide an overview of these skills, but with more emphasis on knowledge work (problem-solving, providing solutions, etc.).

Does it matter in which faculty an Organisational Psychology department is located?

Some universities have located their Organisational Psychology departments in Schools of Psychology in Humanities or Social Science Faculties. At UCT we are located in the faculty that deals with the world of work, namely the Commerce Faculty. The quality of content of the Organisational Psychology course (an integrated, in-depth offering of human behaviour in the work place) is much more important than its location within a university structure.

Is this really a good study direction for finding a job?

In South Africa, we are experiencing a general skills shortage and working in the area of workplace skills and people management is excellent preparation for the job market. As the area of Organisational Psychology is so varied, specialisation in a people, process or organisationally focused area provides even more job opportunities.

I see that the BBusSc is a four year degree. As a Business Science student, do I automatically qualify for the BBusSc Honours year when I have completed the third year?

Completing the third year of your BBusSc degree does not qualify you automatically for the Honours year. Entry into the Honours year is subject to an independent selection process.

So what happens if I am not selected into the Honours year?

Students who do not qualify for admission to the Honours year will be required to register for courses selected in consultation with the Head of the Organisational Psychology Section. Successful completion of these courses will lead to the award of the BBusSc degree.

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