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Graduate Programs in I/O Psychology
- Overview
- The Master's Degree in I/O Psychology
- The Doctoral Degree in I/O Psychology
- Combined J.D./M.A. in I/O Psychology
- Course Offerings
- I/O Psychology Faculty
- Research Collaboration Between Faculty and Graduate Students
- Internships & Fieldwork in I/O Psychology
- Re-specialization in I/O Psychology
- Organizations important to I/O Psychology
- Alumni profiles of TU I/O Psychology program
- Professional Opportunities
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
-
Contact Information
Applications are due January 15 for admission during the next Fall term.
Overview
The Industrial/Organizational Psychology programs train students to work in a variety of settings,
helping organizations to make better decisions about the
utilization of human resources and organizational
processes. The M.A. and Ph.D. programs use classroom training to prepare students for research and field experience. Both programs provide students with training on historical and current issues, theories, and methods in
Industrial and Organizational Psychology and an awareness of legal trends and current issues in human resource management.
Following is a list of some of the topics covered in the I/O programs:
Personnel Assessment: Developing and using assessment tools for personnel selection, classification, and promotion; measuring the impact of cultural variables on test performance; early identification of managerial potential; and emphasis on alternatives to cognitive abilities testing, including physical fitness and personality assessment.
Criterion Development and Performance Management:
Understanding job duties and worker requirements using
both traditional job analysis and modern competency
modeling approaches; designing, implementing, and
monitoring effective performance appraisal and
performance management systems.
Quality of Work Life: Increasing effectiveness at
the organizational, work unit, and individual levels;
balancing work and family role requirements;
facilitating change in organizational systems; and
redesigning jobs to increase both employee productivity
and satisfaction.
Training and Development: Training needs assessment, formulation and implementation of training programs designed to improve individual and organizational effectiveness, and evaluating training and developmental programs in terms of their impact on employee productivity and satisfaction.
Leadership and Motivation: Employees' morale, decisions to join/leave occupations and organizations, definition of leadership and its role in developing and enhancing subordinate motivation, impact of leadership on organizational effectiveness.
Human Resource Management and Employee Relations: Design, implementation, and management of employee reward systems; understanding the implications of changing workforce characteristics for human resource management; developing and implementing systems for reducing work-related stress; increasing occupational health and safety; and balancing work and family demands.
The Master's Program
The M.A. degree program is a 42-credit-hour program designed for both full- and part-time students. It is a flexible program that permits specialization in traditional personnel topics such as selection and performance assessment, organizational development and effectiveness, or the development of research skills for diagnosing organizational problems and evaluating interventions.
Students complete two courses from the general psychology graduate core curriculum, one course in research methods and statistics, and five courses in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and related topics. All M.A. students are also required to complete a three-credit-hour internship.
Students typically supplement their education with courses from the general core curriculum or courses from clinical psychology or the Department of Management of the College of Business Administration. Completion of a Master's thesis is not required for this program.
The I/O Master's degree program has a very strong local and regional reputation and a growing national reputation. Approximately 10 students are admitted each year. Nearly all students complete the M.A. degree in two years, and many complete the M.A. degree in a year-and-a-half by taking additional courses during the summer and a slightly heavier course load during the year. The student population is diverse in gender, age, ethnicity, and nationality, and students often enter the program with extensive experience in human resource management, organizational consulting, or work experience in organizations. Students typically have undergraduate GPAs in the 3.0 to 3.7 range and combined verbal and quantitative GRE scores in the 1100-1250 range. Our students find successful employment in local businesses, consulting firms, corporations, or governmental organizations. Further, several of our M.A. students, on the strength of their training and performance, have been admitted to Ph.D. programs in industrial and organizational psychology at TU and other prominent Doctoral programs.
For more details, please review the following:
The Doctoral Program
The Ph.D. degree program requires a minimum of 90 semester hours beyond the baccalaureate degree. In addition to program elements that are required of all Doctoral students (the general psychology core, statistics, research methodology, the pre-candidacy research paper, the comprehensive exam, and the dissertation), students in the I/O program complete a flexible 15-hour core within their area of specialization. Students can take electives in psychology, business, law, education, and engineering as consistent with their professional goals.
The program is designed to prepare students for employment in industry, government, research, consulting, or university settings. Completion of a Master's thesis is not required for this program, although students complete a pre-candidacy research paper and may earn an M.A. degree as part of normal progress through the program.
The I/O Doctoral program admits three to six students each year. The program is designed to take four years to complete. Recent entrants into our Ph.D. program have undergraduate GPAs in the 3.5-4.0 range and typically have combined verbal and quantitative GRE scores in the 1100 to 1400 range.
For more details, please review the following:
Combined J.D./M.A. in I/O Psychology
In conjunction with the College of Law, the Department of Psychology offers an interdisciplinary program in law and
I/O Psychology. Students who are interested in the joint program seek admission to each individual program and consult with academic advisors in each program to plan their degree program. There are two curriculum options for the joint program. Option 1 consists of 30 credits of psychology and 81 credits of law. Option 2 consists of 33 credits of psychology and 78 credits of law. Both options include all required subjects as established by the College of Law for the Juris Doctorate degree (the J.D. is an ABA and AALS accredited degree) and all required subjects in industrial and organizational psychology as established by the Department of Psychology. This program eliminates 21 hours of course work that would be required if the programs in law and industrial and organizational psychology were taken separately.
Course Offerings
The industrial and organizational psychology program is designed to help students adapt their academic work to their professional goals and interests while ensuring that they are broadly trained psychologists. All students are required to take a graduate level introductory industrial and organizational psychology course and at least 12 additional hours of graduate level work in industrial psychology. Most of this course work consists of seminars on specific topics in industrial and organizational psychology. In recent years, these seminars have covered job analysis and personnel selection, organizational development, organizational theory, leadership and motivation, training, compensation, and occupational stress, health, and safety. Students are encouraged to conduct independent studies in specific areas of interest.
Students also may take courses in other programs that are consistent with the goals of graduate education in industrial and organizational psychology. Sample courses include organizational change, behavioral science in administration, international human resource management, human resource management law, and program evaluation. Students meeting the prerequisites are encouraged to take courses in other topics such as finance, economics, and strategic planning. Finally, the I/O program recognizes the increasing overlap between clinical psychology and industrial psychology. Consequently, students are encouraged to take certain clinical psychology courses that are relevant to the science and practice of
I/O Psychology.
For more information, please refer to our complete list of
Graduate Psychology Courses.
Internships/Fieldwork
Students in both the M.A. and Ph.D. programs begin applied work early in their training. M.A. students are
also required to complete Psy 7443 (Fieldwork in I/O Psychology), an internship in a human resource management or
Industrial/Organizational Psychology position. The internship lasts for at least a semester and consists of at least 12-15 hours per week of work (or the estimated equivalent of a three credit course). Doctoral students
may also complete Psy 7443 and may repeat it for up to a total of nine credit hours. The
I/O Psychology program has relationships with a number of local and national corporations, consulting firms, and government agencies. These relationships greatly facilitate the process of securing internships for students, and students
typically receive compensation for their internship work. Qualified students gain additional experience by participating in faculty research and internal or external consulting.
Respecialization Balance Sheet.
Re-specialization in I/O Psychology
The psychology department offers a
Doctoral re-specialization in industrial and organizational psychology. This program allows Ph.D. level psychologists to be trained in industrial and organizational psychology. This program is designed to be completed in one to two years and requires 24 credit hours of course work, fieldwork, and/or applied research experience as well as successful completion of a comprehensive examination in
I/O Psychology. Upon completion of all requirements of the program, a Certificate of Re-specialization in Industrial/ Organizational Psychology is awarded.
Professional Opportunities
Graduate students may also
develop personal and professional skills through
membership in a variety of organizations on campus,
locally, and nationally. I/O students are highly
encouraged to join
professional societies like
SIOP and the
Academy of Management as student members. Graduate
students in the I/O program may also attend monthly meetings of
two professional societies, the local chapters of the
American Society for Training and Development and the
Society for Human Resource Management.
Graduate students may also join
the Graduate Students of Psychology (GRASP)
or participate in research/community activities through
Center
for Community Research and Development (CCRD). Upon joining these
research based organizations, many, if not most, students become actively
involved, and present research at annual conventions of
these organizations. Notably, the Graduate School provides
travel support for such presentations, and students may
receive as much as $1000 to offset travel costs.
For additional information, contact:
John McNulty, Ph.D.
The University of Tulsa
600 South College Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104-3189
Phone: (918) 631-2835
Email:
sandra-barney@utulsa.edu